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iRiver H320 (Almost) Hits The Market
skyshock21 writes "iRiver appears to now be taking pre-orders for their H320 hard drive MP3 player. This is the one with the color screen that was featured on Slashdot a while back. Although it doesn't support .flac files like the Rio Karma, it does support .ogg, in addition to the usual file formats (mp3, .wmv, .asf, .wav) and sports a nifty color screen. There is also a review posted on CNET."
I for one, don't want a color screen. I want a battery that lasts me a month. I'll deal with a small, effective, elegant monochrome screen.
Just my two bits.
--sig fault--
don't go there
Hopefully now that this is about done for the US, they will get their act together and concentrate on the firmware updates for the rest of us, instead of ignoring existing customers.
1GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes, not all memory space available for file storage.
Euhm, so.... how much space DO we have left? Could be anything really.. Damn marketing speak!
Although it doesn't support .flac files like the Rio Karma, it does support .ogg,
That's pretty close to a contradiction since we have both Ogg FLAC and Ogg Vorbis. You meant to say it supports Vorbis? Or is it just plain FLAC files it doesn't support, but Ogg FLAC is fine?
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Seems to be a major oversight and a major reason why I wont buy one.
It seems silly that it doesn't support FLAC, being a device with a large hard drive.
"Almost hits the market" is like "almost pregnant". Doesn't count. After all, Duke Nukem Forever has been "almost released" for about six years.
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
I'm a bit confused by this. 2 weeks ago I went to my local branch of Richer Sounds and was offered one of these when I asked for an iHP140. The showed me it, I prodded it a bit. So, does this 'taking advance orders' thing apply only to the US release?
#include "disclaimer.h"
On a separate note, why are they putting off until a later firmware update the ability to view pictures and listen to music at the same time? Shouldn't that have been one of the top priority jobs? Shouldn't they wait until they have that done?
Can you radio experts help me out on this one? Why do mp3 players never have an AM tuner? Always FM only, but most talk radio comes in AM, it seems only natural that they would include this. What's the holdup.
...but no support for video?
What a waste. If i wanted to look at my digital pictures on a tiny display, i'd look at them on the camera that took them.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
I personally got an E340 (40GB, same type) a few weeks back, and - being a 2G iPod owner I have a few comments about the good and the bad: The good: Recording features (internal/external mic, line-in), 40GB, file browser, FM radio, connection to USB Mass Storage devices directly, and -line out-. The bad: Here's where the Apple really beats the iRiver - the buttons make scrolling through a big list of songs/artists/albums slow, very limited settings for EQ, no option to play groups such as -all songs by Artist- (The iRiver, although comes with a -rather bad- databasing application, organises songs internally through the filetree), no LCD Remote (which is standard on the H100 series), no on-the-go playlists, and the LCD turns itself off after 20 seconds (can be changed) to save the battery. Having said that, the E300 series is one of the best MP3 players out there, but if you want ease of use and everything to work together I'd recommend the iPod...if you're a feature-hungry music geek (like me) then the E300 series, IMO, is for you. *~Aly~*
Price starts at 330.00 for the 20 gig player. Not bad, considering this is not just an mp3 player, but a multimedia player.
16 hours of battery life, but really Im thinking that running the screen at all times would drop that to at least 10 or even 8 hours if your lucky.
TruePunk | Games
and if you buy one of these, don't hold your breath for the "later firmware update". i had an H120 for a while, desperately waiting for 2 promised firmware updates (May and June of 2004). finally sold it in August. my major beef was dropped samples during audio line-in/mic recording. this is a major issue that should have stopped release of the product until it was resolved. no reputable audio manufacturer would release with such a bug. anyway, the device worked fine from a player standpoint, just just be away that FW updates will take forever, and responses from iRiver was all but non-existent.
Speaking for myself, I would not be able to use up 20 GBytes. I'm kind of lame, though.
... how much space would be the ideal maximum?
For the rest of you, I'm curious
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When I was looking for a 40GB player (yes, my music collection plus use as a portable HDD necessitates 40GB for me), I could find quite a few local places that had the iHP-120, but no one who had the iHP-140. Heck, it was even a pain finding any online store in Canada that had it.
I ended up buying an iPod since I could have it in my hands right when I purchased it, get a student discount and not have to pay any shipping.
When radio first became popular, I believe all stations were AM. When FM technology gained ground and passed AM, the AM market began to decrease. Currently talk radio is the primary reason for using AM, but since a lot of programs are available on AM and FM stations (often the AM will have an FM counterpart) there is a relatively small demand for AM these days. Adding parts/manufacturing expense - thus increasing the cost of the final product - to support AM is seen as a losing proposition (low to negative ROI for the PHBs in the audience).
I like AM. The signals propagate much further than FM, and late at night one can pull in AM stations from hundreds of miles away. However (for me) this is an amusing sidebar: the [lack of] support for AM wouldn't be a dealbreaker in the MP3 player purchase decisionmaking process.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
But I'm not sure why you'd want them on a portable system. Can anyone really tell the difference between an OGG file and a Flac file via headphones while riding in a subway, walking in the street, or driving in your car?!
I consider Flac more appropriate for home entertainment systems.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Especially with the Archos mini400 out now. Saw one today and I instantly fell in love. The thing is a geek's dream come true. My credit card is getting quite a workout.
When are these portable players/recorders going to include a decent (high-quality) microphone input. I mean, as opposed to offering some cheap 'voice-recorder' option. It would be really nice if I could record concerts, and the like, with near-original sound-quality. Until now, this seems only possible with a Sony MiniDisc.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Whoah, sure beats my iPod's 8 hour battery life!
Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped. Calvin Coolidge
Comment removed based on user account deletion
doing one thing, and doing it well? How many people seriously want to carry digital photos around wherever they go? I just don't get the color screen. I guess it's for the same people that like having a camera in their cell phone. True, the thing has an FM tuner and can record voice and radio. That's good, but it's also bulky, has a relatively poor interface and is $30 more expensive than an iPod, which /.ers already bash for being too pricey. Here's an idea: instead of giving us more bloat, why don't they just make the ultimate music player. One that will playback ALL major formats, has a good interface, and super long battery life. Although my iPod is great, it fails to meet 2 of these criteria. I guess we'll have to keep waiting. ..
"The problem with internet quotations is that many are not genuine" -Abraham Lincoln
I'm curious as to why the reviewer says that it's a bit bulky, the difference between it and the 20gig iPod being about 3/8th's of an inch more in depth, and an extra ounce for the 320.
Not much of a difference that I can see.
I dream in binary.
Er, I ordered one of these yesterday (the site I ordered off didn't have the H340 40Gb version, which is lucky from my credit card's point of view).
There was no mention of it being a preorder - they had 10 in stock, and it's now in packaging and waiting to be shipped to me.
So, how is it that they are only taking preorders on something that I have already purchased?
T.
Come to think of it, any other player that does support that? I don't need a fancy color screen, just the storage capability.
Don't believe me? http://www.iriver.com/community/notice_view.asp?pa ge=&idx=31&mode=&strque=&field=1
They admit the problems and plan a fix. Never happens. Appology note posted says that they're still working on it, with no date in sight.
Sometime later they post this... http://www.iriver.com/company/news_view.asp?idx=37 3
and there is much rejoicing at such a comprehensive list of both defect fixes and user complaints/suggestions.
And they don't make this date either, with no explanation ("Late July/Early August" != September)
Sometime later, http://www.iriver.com/support/download_view.asp?id x=609&page=2&p_name=&word=&categor y=
finally appears. But compare it's feature set with what was promised. A couple of things were fixed, but gapless playback isn't gapless, it just shortens the time between songs. With all the other mp3 players, gapless playback means that one song fades into the next. Shuffle still isn't shuffle.
No, I will not be doing business with iRiver anymore.
Here's a link to Archos Gmini 400. The specs say it works for both PC and Macs. The Archos AV 400 and Gmini 220 look pretty interesting too. The AV 400 looks like it's supposed to be a Portable Media Center for Windows XP Media Center Edition, but it isn't - it doesn't need a computer to record from television. I never heard of these products up until this point, and I think they look like serious competition for the iPod, even for Mac users.
I don't see why they don't just add stylii to these things so they can also be PDAs. Surely they can function as PDAs if you can install software like games on them. If they did so, these things could compete with PalmPilots, and they already look like they are already good competition for the iPod, Portable Media Centers, GameBoys, and Portable Playstations.
For awhile now, I've been waiting for a music player that supports ogg vorbis. Not because I want to play ogg files (I have an iPod), I've just wanted to see what the new official slashdot why-i-wont-buy-it whine will be.
In a million years, I couldn't have predicted "It doesn't have an AM tuner". AM TUNER!?? Are you friggin kidding me?
Come on, just flat out say that you are never gonna buy one of these things.
No, I will not be doing business with iRiver anymore.
But...But...But they support OGG! How can any company that supports OGG be poorly run? Could it be that maybe supporting free file formats instead of file formats licensing fees is a way of cutting corners? Could it be that companies that cut corners in some areas MIGHT cut them in others?
Hey freaks: now you're ju
then I might be interested in any of iRiver's new models.
.REC before copying them into the MP3/ directory on their flash players -- they play fine, but you can also copy them back out if need be).
A warning to everyone: their flash players are decent, but intentionally cripple their UMS firmware to limit MP3 recording to lower bitrate (well below 128kbps/44.1kHz -- I don't have my player here right now).
The regular firmware requires their special iRiver Manager program, which tries to prevent MP3 and WAV files being copied back off the device. (Hint: rename your files to
iRiver has always given a totally lame-ass explanation that UMS functionality somehow prevents high-bitrate encoding. Tell me how the USB interface code has *anything* to do with the audio signal path or the A/D convertors used for recording.
And, as others have said, they promise to ugrade their firmware but it always gets pushed back. Nice players if you like the features they offer at time of purchase -- but don't buy one if you are waiting for one of their 'real soon now' promises.
ERROR 144 - REBOOT ?
You know it supports MP3 (and I think WAV) as well, right? What format do you consider to be missing?
Surely it's the players that don't support free formats that are cutting corners!
I'm not sure you can say it's clearly not the best player, for the simple fact that best player means completely different things to different people. Just to illustrate that, which player is clearly the best?
To trot out the same old pony of ipod arguments, it's the complete package that makes it so appealing. Sure you can find one's that are smaller, cheaper, higher storage, possess more features, have decent design, better battery life, etc etc....but I have yet to see one that puts all of them together as well as an ipod. Apple certainly chose to make sacrifices in its design, but IMHO they chose the (so far) best set of choices.
As for the itunes/ipod lockin (aside from the fact that itunes seems pretty well designed, especially for someone espousing WMP10), ipods do *not* only work with itunes. You can get various third-party apps that sync (j river media center, ephpod, xplay) to it. You are only locked into itunes music store if your other store doesn't allow CD burning, or if you don't count real's whole helix situation.
-Ted
-=-=- Quantum physics - the dreams stuff are made of.
But then, after I bought the device, they merely posted an apology when they failed to release a firmware on their first deadline date. And then, silence. For months. You can go check out their online forums and you'll see that they are positively filled with irate customers screaming for iRiver to get its act together and release the updates it promised, but as far as anyone can tell nobody from iRiver even reads the forums.
This was a real disappointment, because in the past I owned an iRiver CD-based MP3 player and their firmware updates were regular, timely, and added all kinds of valuable features, from extended battery life to extra anti-skip protection, etc. It seems clear that iRiver's focus is now on pumping out new products (such as the H320, the market for which isn't entirely clear) rather than satisfying past customers. A real shame.
Right now, the H-series from iRiver is still missing:
- Gapless playback
- On-the-fly playlists
- A proper shuffle feature (the current one is not particularly random)
- Level indicators for the record function
I'm sure other people can point to other bugs and missing features that had been promised earlier.Breakfast served all day!
Or equivalent? http://rockbox.haxx.se/
If not, I'll pass. If open-source firmware isn't available for it, I'll buy another model that does...