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Review of iRiver iFP-899
ThJ writes "The iRiver iFP-899 at $179.99 is a portable (8.9 x 3.6 x 2.7 cm), lightweight (75 grams w/battery) solid state music player. With a capacity of 1 GB, it can store ~170 songs at 6 MB each. The iFP-899 features MP3, WMA and OGG support, an FM tuner and a 3-way (line/mic-in, internal mic, FM tuner) MP3 recorder.
After purchasing one for myself and using it for a few days, I thought it would be a good idea to give it a brief review. There are plenty of screenshots. Go ahead and enjoy!" Note: this review has some words of caution for those who'd like it to play Ogg Vorbis files, but forewarned is forearmed.
And after a firmware upgrade, it works really. I'm quite pleased with it. If you're looking for Ogg or FLAC support (the HD unit) check out iAudio.
anybody got a mirror ? :(
One post, just one and the site is /.ed. I guess this is one of those, hey look at my little review and /. me so I can brag to my friends how my little home system was /.ed.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
slashdotted?
In Soviet Russia, Soviet Russia jokes make YOU!
YEEEEEHhaww!!
(Bounces off walls)Not anymore there aren't.
Please, when posting pictures to a story in Slashdot, take into account that a photo that's 50Kb is going to be loaded thousands of times, with many hundreds of hits a minute. If you don't have that kind of bandwidth, provide a mirror that can.
I had a 256MB IRiver MP3 player, with the FM tuner in it, and it works well although the software isn't as slick as I'd like it to be.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Stupid is who stupid does.
"" How about taking the safety labels off everything, and let the stupidity-problem solve itself? """
Music players won't beat ipod until two things happen:
1) they are priced dramatically lower than iPod (think 25% of the cost of one).
2) Songs can be purchased easily from places other than iTunes. Think Google (type in a song or artist name and it says "buy this song") or Microsoft (with their "Plays For Sure" thing). Microsoft is now entering this space so it'll be interesting to see what happens.
Of course ideally DRM would just be a couple of bits set in an id3 tag. Players would just comply with it. With Open DRM, independt folks can sell their music without going through a third party like iTunes who wants a cut. Yes, it can Open DRM can easily be haxx0red or editted out, but honestly I dont think a vast majority will bother. At least not for songs where they appreciate the artists work. I mean, itunes has sold nearly 200 million songs, in spite of the existence of P2P networks. Clearly not everyone will pirate good songs they like and appreciate.
Introduction
The iRiver iIFP-899 at $179.99 is a portable (8.9 x 3.6 x 2.7 cm), lightweight (75 grams w/battery) solid state music player. With a capacity of 1 GB, it can store ~170 songs at 6 MB each. The iFP-899 features MP3, WMA and OGG support, an FM tuner and a 3-way (line/mic-in, internal mic, FM tuner) MP3 recorder.
User interface
The iIFP-899 is controlled with 3 buttons (Stereo, Memory/EQ, Mode) on the back of the player, plus a 4-way joystick to the right of the display. The joystick feels clumsy at first, but you adjust to it given some time. The display is easy to read, and has a bright blue backlight with contrast and time-out adjustments. Overall, the interface is very fast and responsive.
Score: 6 / 6
Player
Playback of MP3, WMA and OGG files is supported for bitrates of 8 to 320 kbps for MP3/WMA, and 96 to 225 kbps for OGG. The player lets you organize your music in directories. These can be browsed hierarchically, and there are several playback modes to accomodate for this. There is also a user-adjustable 5-band graphical equalizer, which is neat. Using the iRiver Music Manager you can rearrange your files, and they will appear in that specific order on the player.
Score: 4 / 6
FM tuner
The tuner uses the earphone cord for reception. This works only moderately well. Only the strongest stations come out static-free, and even those frequently switch to mono because of poor reception. If you want to catch the 9 o'clock news, it works for that, but if you want record the Top of the Pops using the recorder, don't expect high fidelity. On that note, the equalizer doesn't work in the tuner, presumably because its signal chain is purely analog, and bypasses the DSP. Using the iTunes Music Manager, you can set 6 letter names for the stations.
Score: 3.5 / 6
Recorder
The recorder is actually two recorders in the menu, but they behave identically. The only difference between them is the sound source. The internal mic sounds surprisingly good, has a high distortion threshold and saturates gently. There is some degree of hiss from the preamp, so you won't be doing concert recordings with it. The impedance of the line input can be adjusted, meaning it can actually double as an external microphone input. I tested this with a Behringer XM2000S (roughly comparable to a Shure SM58) and it worked fine. The recorder's sample rate and bit rate an be adjusted individually, in mono and stereo for the line input and the FM tuner, and in mono for the internal mic. Convenient!
Score: 3 / 6
Firmware
The iFP-899 can be outfitted with two different firmwares, known as the Manager and the UMS firmwares. The Manager firmware is the default, and lets you transfer and manage files using the included iRiver Music Manager software. The UMS firmware enables support for USB Mass Storage, making the player appear as a disk drive to the operating system, but disabling the manager.
Drawbacks
- OGG support is very limited and glitches regularly. A major drawback for audiophiles. I can only hope iRiver will fix the glitches in a future firmware version.
- UMS and iTunes Music Manager support are mutually exclusive, and UMS seems to be a little slower.
- No support for song alphabetization. This is very unpractical if you're using UMS, and can't manually change the file ordering.
- The equalizer doesn't work on the FM tuner.
- Noisy voice/microphone recording.
Conclusion
My major draw for buying this player was the OGG support. It didn't deliver on that promise, or at least, it hasn't delivered very well on it yet. It's a quality player in every other aspect, though, and fills my need for entertainment while I excersize. It has a rich surplus of volume and could do a decent job at driving larger headphones than my Koss PortaPro's. Compared to other players in the same price class, it sometimes comes short on space.
Overall score: 4 / 6
I like to listen to the iRiver while enjoying a nice cool refreshing glass of Pepsi Blue.
I need AdBlock-for-SlashDot.
These days, 8.9 x 3.6 x 2.7cm is really quite big (particuarily 2.7cm thick - that >1") and at $180 for 1 GB, its primary focus (playing MP3s) seems to be rather uncompetitive.
The review fails to mention any sort of side-by-side comparison. Compared to the iPod Shuffle at $150, you get something twice as big, but with a screen and a bunch of extra functionality. Two big factors that, I believe, makes the iPod shuffle sell well:
Size
iRiver: 3.5" x 1.4" x 1.1" (5.39 cu in)
Shuffle: 3.3" x 0.98" x 0.33" (1.07 cu in)
Weight
iRiver: 2.64 ounces
Shuffle: 0.78 ounces
So for the added weight and size, as well as $30, you get a tuner, a screen, a voice recorder, and OGG support.
Disclaimer: I don't own an iPod Shuffle, but it seems fair to compare the product to the hottest new thing out there in the market.
The space unintentionally left unblank.
1/4 the space of an iPod mini for $20 less (and no wireless)? Lame.
If you rather pay no more than $130 instead, the Sansa player is a great buy too, with equivelant feature set (except the line-in and voice recording). Reviews:n ce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=1418
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=10680
http://www.expert-zone.com/index.php?module=annou
Us wedding (and other) videographers have experienced a somewhat major revolution using the line/mic in recording function for gathering ceremony and reception audio. You can slip one of these onto the groom and officiet an hour before the ceremony, and with 7 hours of mono recording (on the 512mb) never have to sweat running out of record time....the super battery life kills worrying about your wireless mics dying, and also the concern over loss of wireless frequency or interference. Couple them with a Giant Squid Audio lav and youve got yourself one bad ass little system. I now have three (one for podium speakers).
As other posters have posted, for $20 more you can get a 4GB iPod shuffle, with a screen and 4x the storage. Size is 3.6 x 2.0 x 0.5 (3.6 cu in), and 3.7 ounces, make it only marinally larger than this iRiver device.
The space unintentionally left unblank.
Here's a text version and here's an audio version (recorded using the iFP-899).
I'm getting pretty sick of people submitting things like: "The new widget set is out from Conglomo Inc. and I've written a review on my blog."
Why can't we go back to real news stories and real reviews? I'd like to see products being reviewed by someone who does it for a living. Individual reviews are going to vary and eventually start flame wars.
Of course any review by a Ziff-Davis publication should not apply.
Get your Unix fortune now!
Looks just like a SanDisk Digital Audio Player, but costs $30 more and supports Ogg.
I have an iriver H320, it's got 20gb of space, plays any media file i have on my pc, and, after a quick firmware flash, also plays DivX. Oh and its got a bunch of other stuff that I never use, but its a great player, though the H320 isn't the nicest looking player out there.
There are a number of players with the same feature set for much less money (except maybe for ogg support). Both sandisk and creative have 1 gig players for $100 to $130.
and my 100Mhz Symbian cellphone, which isn't even stereo, plays Ogg Vorbis without a glitch (using OggPlay, go look in Sourceforge,I'm too lazy for a link)? Before anyone replies that being mono eases the strain on the machine, the Nokia 6620 is stereo and also plays OggVorbis files of high bitrate pefectly. Too bad the battery doesn't last much.
If they wanted to throw in Ogg support to appeal to the few geeks that prefer it over wma (such as myself, since I refuse to have DRM-friendly media files), they could go all the way and make sure it worked first. Go figure.
Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
Mirrordot.org
Forget the bells and whistles; let's just look at the one specification that's going to be chief for many buyers:
iPod Photo = $449.00 base price / 60 gb = ~$7.48 per GB
iRiver iFP-899 = $179.99 base price = $179.99 per GB
'Nuff said. Even if you do like I do, and say to hell with the "cool" factor, the FM tuner and the recording capability, this sucks.
The people marketing and manufacturing this ought to know better. Just like you wouldn't send a VW to drag race a Corvette, you shouldn't expect this device to compete on the same playing field as the iPod.
Show me the same product, at this price, with even 10gb, and I'd consider buying. But no less than 10gb is going to fly, I think, at this point.
Yeah, so 1 Gb is impressive, but this has been out for at least 6 months. This posting is probably just to boost sales since this item is nothing new. Regardless, the interface for this product is very cumbersome. That and it is impossible to download music without installing software (making it impossible to do from Web cafes overseas). The better alternative is one by Creative. The largest Creative offers is 1/2 Gb, but that is still a load of music / books. The advantage is that the interface is super simple AND all you have to do is plug it in just like a thumb-drive (no cables, no software). Trust me, that fact alone makes it a far better player. Plus it's a lot smaller and a lot cheaper.
iaudio (aka cowon) makes a couple of small players that have all the same features as iriver (ogg included).
the iaudio players also function as usb mass storage drives right out of the box, for those who abhor stupid "media player" software and all their crappy DRM restrictions -- copying music (or any other file you want to carry) is literally plug-and-play, drag-n-drop.
iaudio has also just released 2gb flash players (I have one). within a couple of months there should be more and more 2gb players on the market.
Or the Gmini XS200 for only 189.00 (w/o shipping). 20gb sure beats 1...
.7" X 2.9" (5.9cm X 1.9cm X 7.6cm)
That with a third-party operating system, it's not that bad.
2.3" X
If there is one thing that my transition to digital music has harmed, it's my ability to tolerate repetition. No longer am I content to sit and listen to just 10 albums. If I have to listen to the same favorite song twice in a day, I just don't have enough choices. These days, I need something that can hold thousands of songs, not 170. A gig just isn't enough. All hail the HD based player.
"I'm a philosophy major. That means I can think deep thoughts about being unemployed." -- Bruce Lee
that ogg vorbis players are still so expensive. I'd rather not have to take my Zaurus jogging if I want to listen to music.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
There are plenty of players that support MP3/WMA, have a screen, 1GB memoery, FM tuner, voice recording, and way cheaper than $180. Even the iPod shuffle is only $150, although it has no screen or FM tuner, or voice recording.
Vote for Pedro
they make a player with:
... and the player needs to be able to recharge the battery via AC or USB.
a) replacable and rechargable batteries. The batteries need to be open standard like AA or AAA (so they don't charge us an arm and a leg for the battery replacements)
b) replaceable, expandable flash storage. so if the hardrive dies, we're not left with a paperweight.
c) no uploading/downloading restrictions. it works just like a movable hard-drive.
d) support for every music format under the sun. especially open standard formats.
e) a UI like the new ipod minis.
Care to elaborate on that? Or do you just like making blanket statements and bolding things to scare people?
Sorry, but how is this 'news'? Or even 'stuff for geeks?' Have you seen the specs? Near 200 bucks for just a gig of flash ram? I mean, if the thing did something new, or in a new way, I'd say sure...but this is just another mp3 player! WTF is this doing on this site?
/. worthy. As is, this is a product which is low on storage and not so high on features. Hell, j.random palmpilot does all this and more! I know my t3 and it's gig'o'SD can whup this iRiver 'till it can't swim nomore!
:P)): get a zire and a gig of SD ram. Hell, even get a PPC now that those can emulate palm apps!
Again: had someone hacked together an SD card of a gig together with his own breadboard and made an mp3 player, then this would be
So, you want my recommendation (probably not, but this is my post, so screw you
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
I'm disappointed with the Ogg portion of this review. Ogg glitches...with what exactly? I expect if he was throwing it some 320k rips, well...duh. Now, if they were lower bitrate like 128k or something, that would cause for significant cause for concern. However, there is no indication to that effect...and based on the specifications, that is an important factor.
Yes, I rip at 320k...simply because I want to.
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
Personally, I'm not interested in keeping my entire music collection on a mp3 player, I can always connect earphones to my laptop for that! I want a truly portable player with long battery life. I'm rarely going to listen for more than a 1/2 hour at a time, so 1 GB is more than enough. Solid state is also more durable (droppable) as well as smaller, and I can always add/remove songs. And $450 vs $180 is really the spec that matters for many
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
You mean like an iPod shuffle, which is designed exactly for people with those needs, and is smaller and cheaper than the iRiver?
-Glitch "We all know Linux is great...it does infinite loops in 5 seconds." - Linus Torvalds
Seriously, I love digital players because I can listen to my favorite songs repeatedly, or listen to two or more performances of same song over and over. Repetition on the radio annoys me, but if its songs of my own choosing, I can't bear to only listen to it only once.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
Yes. I bought a iAUDIO 5 a couple of days ago. It's got FM (with scheduled recording), clock+alarm, runs on one AAA battery (I don't like the idea of hardware turning to junk once the battery dies), fast USB transfers, great navigation, nice screen, is small and light (28g), is available in memory sizes from 128MB to 2GB, features a five-channel user-definable equalizer, resumes play where you left off, can bookmark up to 20 positions in audio files (like audio-books), supports many character sets (including Swedish), and most importantly for me, has got great Ogg Vorbis support.
There are some downsides, it's not very solid, being just a piece of plastic, and the USB- and battery-ports are a little flimsy (especially the USB-flap), and it's pricey for the amount of memory you get.
However, overall I'm pleasantly surprised! I researched it in detail, making note of criticism such as weak FM-reception (which I can confirm -- not so good indoors, but works outdoors. Adequate), but there's lots of small features which surprised me -- especially how good the navigation is. Small stuff like the wheels protuding a little to make for easy access, to the little "knob" on top of each to not only provide grip for your thumb, but also mark the centre...
I've only used mine for a couple of days, but I think I can recommend it. I don't understand people who can compare one of these with an Apple Shuffle with no radio and no display and no Vorbis. Just because YOU don't value these features doesn't mean the rest of us are idiots because we do.
If anyone got a question about this player, just post away and I'll try to answer it.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Hey man! The MirrorDot page you are looking for is not here.
it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's a software feature that my Creative mp3 player software doesn't seem to have, and I'm annoyed at having to delete and replace files to get the songs playing in the order I want.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
Why stop at 320kbit/s? With Q10 you can go to 500!
The mini costs around $200, and you can get student discounts and free shipping. This costs $180 (pretty much the same, since it has no discount). The iPod has twice the space.
What's to impress us here? The FM tuner (which you can get from a dollar store these days)? The microphone?
The iPod does one thing, does it well, and doesn't cost too much. Sorry, but it wins.
(And for the record, I am far from a Mac Fanatic)
I'm also a little insulted when they push "randomness" as a feature, instead of an awful disadvantage. When it gets a display (a small monochrome lcd will do fine) I'll buy one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
the other day, which came with a $20 rebate.
I bought it mainly to play ogg files and not have to carry around a cdplayer along with a small case of cd's.
Here is what I have learned:
1) I have not encountered any ogg glitches. Note: I ripp my cd's using the default ogg bitrates that abcde uses. I have also updated the firmware to the latest version. The sound of the Ogg files sound wonderful on good headphones and not bad on crappy ones. So far I have listened to Thomas Newmon (he wrote the score to American Beauty and A Series of Unfortunate Events both perfect albums to test a stereo's sound quality), Tool, NIN, Tori Amos, Splash Down, Fiona Apple, Neil Gaiman (audio books), Gorillaz, Sarah Mclanchland, Komeda, Juno Reactor, and A Perfect Circle. I list these artists to give an example of the range of sound in voice, melodies, tone, and rhythm in which I have tested Ogg playback.
2) It does play songs in order within the directory the files are stored. So if each file has a number or letter uses this to to dictate order.
3) There is Linux support, indirectly, using ifp_gui file-manager program (see sourceforge). It may not work as well as the Windows/OS X program that it comes with, but it makes it so that one can upgrade firmware and upload, download or delete stored files.
4) Sounds settings, such as 3D sound option works surprisingly well.
5) One neat little feature is that one can tag a segment in a song and have it loop over that section.
6) The radio manager lets one tag RF names to stations and set programmed stations.
7) I live in an area where most radio stations come in fine. Some stations do not come in well, but I assumed it was the cheap headphones I tested it with just acted as a bad antenna.
8) 1GB is rather small, but enough to last many many hours for a trip or workout.
9) fits nicely in a hand, and pocket, if I do not want to use the armband or necklace-type thing it came with for transport.
10) One AA battery will power this baby for ~40 hrs.
11) Random song selection works quiet randomly.
12) supports USB2
13) built in alarm support using either stored music or radio
Wish it had:
1) it would have been nice to have a belt clip for it or for them to at least sell one
2) play list support (but so far I have had not problem with since I like to listen to albums in order or random song selection).
3) able to charge a rechargeable AA battery.
4) come with a external power slot to be able to plug it into a wall-socket
5) for it to to be powered by the USB cord with connected.
6) option to limit how much data is displayed on the screen or at least support a sleep screen when listening, since there is no need for it to display data about a current song when it is not being looked at.
7) larger file storage option or expansion.
Speaking for the iAUDIO5.. yes, in a way.
Normally you're in "file mode" where you pick tracks in the directory (supports sub-directories of course) and they're played sequencially as you'd expect, but you also have a playlist; so you could add the songs you want to listen to in the order you want them to the dynamic playlist, and then enter "Dynamic Playlist Mode".
The only actions that can be taken on the playlist though is deleting and adding, not "rearranging". I don't know if you'd consider this good enough.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Fuck Ogg, I want something that plays back musepack
Some of you who've replied to my post - and, so far, EVERYONE who's modded it - are obviously not getting what I'm trying to say. So, I'll elaborate, as I ought to have done at the beginning.
Sorry, ladies and gents, but I'd wager that 90% or more of the buyers of portable music players in general are going to look at three things when they buy their music:
Does it look stylish?
Will it play most, or all, of the songs I already downloaded / ripped / bought?
How much can I put on it?
In my original post, I said: "Even if you do like I do, and say to hell with the "cool" factor, the FM tuner and the recording capability, this sucks." And I was right. I personally don't care whether or not an iPod plays photos. I don't own an iPod. I don't own an mp3 player, solid state or otherwise, except for the CD MP3 player in my car and a portable CD MP3 player. If I need to turn in my "geek card" for that, well, whatever.
And that was my whole point, although I didn't make it very well. Whether or not you can play Ogg files on your mp3 player, or record with it, look at pictures on it, listen to FM radio on it - all of this is a fart in a hurricane next to the three factors I mentioned above, when you're talking about the average consumer. And everyone on this site knows it. /. going to buy the iRiver? Not "no," but "hell no." I was just trying to point out what most consumers are going to see when they compare this product to others like it. It's the first, and foremost, comparison *I* make, non-jogger and non-Ogger that I am, when I browse through the MP3 players I come across in stores. Nine out of ten of the music-player shoppers out there aren't going to research this stuff. Their kids are going to ask for "an iPod," I bet, and their parents are going to look at the prices and storage space of those versus the other products they see. That's not trolling, that's common sense.
Are most of the people who're technically apt enough to read
We are not here because we're "average consumers" when it comes to electronics/computing gear!
We don't understand why you even bring it up? Why should we care what the peons settle for?
That's not trolling, that's common sense.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
First their software is buggy. Between them, the firmware and the Music Manager get all confused if there's more than a dozen files in the main directory. (Files aren't accessible from the Music Manager listing, or even disappear entirely.) You can get around that by using the UMS firmware, which makes the player look like a thumb drive, but then you lose any simple way to arrange the play order.
Second, they have no notion of support. Their U.S. support site doesn't have the latest software, and doesn't respond to support requests. Fortunately, the U.K. site is somewhat better, and does have the latest U.S. software. But hey, it's the attitude....
For my next MP3 player, I need one that has a resume-where-you-left-off feature (required, I listen to a lot of spoken word stuff) and preferrably has a bookmark feature. You'd think these would be standard in this podcast era. Any suggestions?
#!/usr/bin/env python
import os, sys
rgues=sys.argv[1:]
def encode(iTranslate):
ogg=['oggenc', '-q3', '-m128', '-M225']
ogg.append(iTranslate + '.wav')
os.spawnvp(os.P_NOWAIT, 'oggenc', ogg)
def uncode(iFluff):
unogg=['ogg123', '-q', '-d', 'wav', '-f']
unogg.append(iFluff + '.wav')
unogg.append(iFluff)
os.spawnvp(os.P_WAIT,'ogg123', unogg)
encode(iFluff)
for i in rgues:
uncode(i)
Shame on you Steve Jobs for posting that kind of stuff.
"by Adult film producer (866485)" :("
"anybody got a mirror ?
Why? You hirin?
"Derp de derp."
What are the rates available? I really want a flash player able to record from line-in for recording some music sessions...I'd like 320kbps mp3 or pure wav/pcm if possible (I think the iriver H120 offerred the wav mode). Anybody know of a good player/recorder?
Canonical Anonymous Coward
Canonical Anonymous Coward
Can a sig be more clever than it's creator?
Where's the line? I'd like to be the guy that lubes the girls up.
Heck, I'd even be the best boy. (I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds like fun.)
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
frankly, i think the blog author just has a vendetta of some kind against his blog provider.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
The Samsung YEPP yp-c1 mp3 player plays Ogg Vorbis files fine (in my not-too-demanding experience), and works easily with Linux. If Ogg and Linux support are important to you (as they were to me), it's not a bad choice. I'm not sure whether it's readily available in the West, though; mine was bought for me in China.
Anyway, here are some pictures: http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/337/C3890/
Well, they gave me great customer service, replacing my iRiver iHP-120 (20 gig harddrive) for free after I accdentally fried it by my own fault.
I have a shelf above my desk, and I had a couple of adaptors plugged into a surge protector up there. One was for the iRiver, another was for my Nimih battery recharger. Like an idiot, I plugged the battery charger adaptor plug into the iRiver, and within a few seconds, I smelled burning. Realizing my mistake, I pulled it out, but it was to late. It was cooked. I emailed them and explained what happened, and asked if they had some reconditioned models I could purchase. Instead, they sent me a new one for free after I returned the damaged one.
A mini review: the controls aren't totally intuitive, but it is loaded with useful features, with none of the DRM crap on many other mp3 plays, like my solid state RIO for example. I don't know if the new ones are still like this, though. But it has way more features then an iPod. I wouldn't trade the iRiver for an iPod. The iPod is a crippled player compared to the iRiver.
cjsm
This ad space for rent.
Why? You hirin?
Are you cute?
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.gif
It is very true.
Mirrordot only mirrored the first two links, both of which point at the iRiver site.
Maybe she should listen to music less and interact with her peers more. Field trips are about socializing and learning, not interiorizing love, broken hearts and whatever else top 40 is about these days.
So... your daughter loses.
The whole "no display flash MP3 player" crap was tried before and was panned. The iPod Shuffle is nothing more than a brand extension for people who want to say they own an iPod but can't afford a real iPod.
Even my $20 Discman has a more useful display than the iPod Shuffle does. It's not like it's difficult to put a screen and a kickass battery in the same form factor as a Shuffle, but Apple doesn't want you spending your money on such frivolities when you could be buying a higher-end player.
For more information, click here.
A while ago I had a Timex MP3 watch. While it was kind of cool I simply didn't use it much, and when I did I did not really use the screen at all because really tiny screens with scrolling text I find very useless in practice. Even in car players where the scrolling screen is a bit larger I almost never leave it on track name and just have the display be the time.
So the Shuffle is in fact a really excellent idea independant of Apple. One of the keys to a displayless device being practical and usable is something like iTunes which lets you do more advanaced managemnet tasks without an interface on the device itself.
On a side-note while all of OS X is not open source, a whole lot is so it's again a good real-world compromise for those of us that want to get work done while still supporting open source. Darwin is of course quite open source and a lot of stuff shipped with OS X is also open (like Apache or all the GNU fileutils). One can hope that as support for Apple increases from users of Open source the degree to which they open up parts of OS X also increases.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The Rio Karma's gapless playback was awesome... but that device was a little hefty and its boxy shape made it unfriendly to the pocket, which is why I got rid of it. Unfortunately, that's the only MP3 player I know of that supports gapless. Still, there are a slew of nifty 1 GB flash players that can be had for $80 - $150. In addition to the iRiver:
iPod Shuffle (I picked up a used 1GB model for $80):
+ smallest and lightest of the bunch, iTunes integration, high build-quality, excellent sound, well-place controls, doubles as USB flash drive, recharges when plugged in
- no screen, non-replaceable battery, can't transfer music through mounted drive
Creative Muvo N200:
+ FM, AAA battery offers flexibility, voice recorder, line-in
- a little larger than iPod Shuffle, must juggle batteries
Creative Muvo V200 (I got a 1GB model on Ebay for $87 shipped):
Same as N200 but slightly larger and heavier, has integrated USB connector, no line-in
iPod Shuffle Knock-offs :
Not as easy to find, but like the shuffle but with more features (but sans iTunes integration). Mixed reviews as far as build quality goes.
JXD No-name Player :
The JXD is just one of many feature-rich no-name players on Ebay. Build and sound quality unknown; YMMV.
And there are several Rio, Samsung, and Sandisk models at Best Buy... and other more exciting ones at dynamism, like the tasty iRiver T10.
Then there's the iPod Mini, which has Apple's awesome clickwheel in a fairly small package. And the Rio Carbon, which is the most pocketable of the hdd players. Too bad neither of those have a built-in USB connector or FM.
No players force you to DRM. You can go and steal /troll/ anything and put in your whatever player. The DRM is an ability to give you access to legal, for sale music - not a limit on you. Personally, I intentionally got a play-for-sure device so I could use Napster (and then I switched to Yahoo).
.. has all the features of iriver's ifp 899 (1 gig, ogg, voice recording, Fm tuner). it only lacks a line in.
It is smaller, lighter (AAA battery instead of AA) and cheaper for what i've seen
only problem is that it's available on bestbuy canada, but not US...
A ToshPod killer! I was wondering when the cloners would notice this device and try to take some of Toshiba's share of the pie.
Best Buy can have you arrested
Wife's got the ifp 799 which is the same player in a different housing. Bought it after a very frustrating weekend trying to get to grips with an iPod mini. Well, I can tell you, the iriver has everything the iPod doesn't (except teh image). It's incredibly easy to use and has by far the best sound quality I've ever heard on a portable device!
Where's the line? I'd like to be the guy that lubes the girls up.
Heck, I'd even be the best boy. (I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds like fun.)
Wouldn't you rather be the guy who spooges all over the girls bum crack and all over her face?
Sorry, people! Should've known better, and configured my server a bit better. It has a good connection, I just hadn't allocated the proper resources. Cheers, Thor
And you must upgrade the player to have UMS. I had to borrow a Windows machine from a friend to do that, so be warned.
The OGG support is good but you must stay within the 96kbps to 225 kbps range. Encode your files like this:The player don't have any support for playlists. And it doesn't sort the files in a directory. I name all my songs with a tracknumber first, so if I play the songs in alphabetical order, I get them in the track order on the album. But when you save files on the iRiver, they are stored in inode (!) order, and are not sorted. So to preserve ordering I transfer directories (albums) to the iRiver like this:The transfer speed with UMS is somewhat slow. Also, with the UMS upgrade, the maximum recording rate is 96kbps. But since I don't use the device for recording I don't care.
The battery life is excellent. I use the same battery for weeks! With OGG, the battery life is reduced somewhat but is still very good.
And the most important thing: The sound is very good. Especially if you get a better headset.
)9TSS
Well, as they say: You can always switch the channel. I have tuned the server (which isn't a home server at all) a bit. It's out of the Slashdot storm now.
The slashdotting seems to have eased a bit. Try viewing it now. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to answer them. :-)
The book (in my hot little hands) lists:
"MP3, WMA, ASF & Ogg (sic) Plaback"
and:
"Direct MP3 Recording" (from radio & line-in)
The article's device is the same as YP-T6Z,
except it seems to have a USB port (covered by a
rounded cover)?
Both have the same joystick, etc. (rare feature),
so, I suppose that Samsung makes both of them.
I think the majority of the whiners are missing the point. No, it isn't an ipod. Yes, ipod has more storage. Yes ipod seems to engender a greater love for it's user interface (never touched one). But for what I bought it for, it has worked out great. I use it for several things, but my favorite is making it into a BASIC tivo device for the radio. I like to listen to several shows on the weekends on NPR. I am never in my car or by a radio when they come on. Solution: iriver FM Tuner + Timer + Record. Now I have my weekend shows on tap for my weekday commutes. Works just fine for this. A bonus is the line in recorder, which I am using to rip my vinyl to MP3. Please don't respond back complaining about the 1.21gigawatt vs. 296mhz encoding/playback/whatchamacallit that your player can do that this one can't. I honestly don't care. It's V I N Y L. Scratchs. Pops. Hisses. And they all sound just fine to my ears. I also listen to books on tape, and it does have a resume function that works just fine, contrary to what someone else posted. So, if you are looking for some time-shifted radio, maybe some encoding, and an MP3 player, take a look. If you are looking for an ipod, cover your face and walk into an apple store. Easter, OUT!
The player is limited to 96~225 kbps for OGG files. Read the appendix that I wrote just now. It should clear up a few things.
The only difference between the G3 and iaudio 5 is that the G3 has an AA battery (easily replacable but slightly heavier) and the 5 has a built-in lithium ion battery.
Both have excellent ogg, fm tuner and above all (important for me since I listen a lot to audio books) they are the only players that have really good bookmarks. Also you can speed the playback up which is good for slow paces audio books.
I intended to buy an iriver before but after some research found out about the iaudio, clearly the better choice at this time.
Ipod is ooold news my friend. Those of us who do not believe the hype have known that all along.
I tried to play low bitrate Ogg Vorbis files on my iFP-790. The results are quite interesting. It seems that it uses the Tremor decoder http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/ and the bitrate is computed by its ov_bitrate function. This function can be fooled in two ways with specially crafted files. The first way is to change granule position of pages to make the decoder think that the total time of the song is shorter and the bitrate is higher than the lower limit. The second way is to append a file with broken headers, which causes the decoder to think that sum of logical bitstreams lengths is bigger than it actualy is (the decoder puts -1 to the starting offset of the second stream). Interested readers should read the Ogg Vorbis specification and Tremor source code to find the details.
It seems that the player just compares the computed bitrate with the limits and refuses to play the file if it is out of the range. Fooling the ov_bitrate function does not work however, because the player computes the total time of the song from the bitrate and the size of the file (it could use the same routine that the ov_bitrate function uses, but apparently it doesn't) and it plays only for that time, so better compressed files are not fully played. Appending some garbage to the file increases the play time, which confirms that the player uses the physical size of the file to compute the play time.
There is one reason not to play some Ogg Vorbis files. Some of them use big window sizes (the size of a chunk of music processed in one step) which requires more memory to decode. It is not directly related to the bitrate, the Ogg Vorbis encoder (from xiph.org) uses bigger windows only in very low quality settings (-q -1 or something like that). I do not know why the player checks the bitrate and not just the window sizes. Used window sizes are stored in the headers and it is not more difficult to check them than to compute the bitrate.
I suppose the firmware could be easily hacked to enhance the limits, but apparently noone has descrambled the firmware to the iFP players.
The Samsung Yepp MT6 1GB seems OK as well, and is cheaper here in Belgium than iRiver. At least it was when I bought my 512MB version 3 months ago.
80% of my collection is Ogg Vorbis. Battery life is pretty good, but presumably worse than MP3, anyway it lasts me over a week on my daily commute. It's also handy that the Samsung has a replaceable AA battery.
40 hours of continous play on a single AA (LR6) battery! Very slim: 25x60x24 mm. 36 grams without battery. It can encode directly to MP3 (max 128kbps) via its line-in or built-in mic that support AutoSync!
Interface is USB 2.0
The sound is incredible with SRS or WOW effects turned on.
I bought it online from www.fnac.com (french site) for 149 EURO (179 US Dollars) More info here
The only problem is that it's a tad expensive (about $80) but it is one of the few options for waterproof mp3 players and the only one that allows an FM radio and OGG.
I haven't tried it, but I'm seriously considering it for doing laps. Especially since the 128Mb IFP-780 is $50 after rebate at Staples until the end of the month.
Since when do audiophiles care about compressed audio? I'm not aware of any true audiophiles who would use devices to playback compressed audio.
Just an observation.
-Nick
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Yea, but try copying your music files back to your computer. The iRiver, at least my model, is seen as nothing more then an external hard drive by windows. I can acess if fully with Windows Explorer. That was my point.
This ad space for rent.
Consumers are taught to take whatever is put in front of them, regardless of whose interests are being served.
Your post is particularly ironic given that so many technocrats argue along the "build a better mousetrap" philosophy. Ogg Vorbis has better tagging support, fewer encumberances (even for proprietors), and, according to every blind listening test I have read, sounds better at comparable filesizes to an MP3 encoding of the same audio. But for years Apple has not added any Ogg Vorbis compatibility to QuickTime, so Apple users can't even make Ogg Vorbis audio files out of their own copyrighted audio files if they want to. Media conference organizers (like the one which just happened in St. Louis) are only available if one gets proprietary QuickTime software (both the archive files they distributed for a while and the live stream were only for QuickTime users). And these are the folks who are ostensibly sensitized to the problem of restricting media access to the large corporate players! It takes a trip to Brazil or Spain to see Ogg Vorbis+Ogg Theora live coverage of conferences, simultaneously broadcasting what happens in multiple rooms.
On /., all you have to do is point the readership to the next sci-fi movie. Your posts get moderated down if you dare to mention that this is one way the multinational movie corporations make money which they use to bring you horrible new copyright laws. The concept of not funding one's own oppression is not something corporate media publishers want you to dwell upon.
Digital Citizen
It really isn't *you* or anyone else. It just seems we get a lot of crappy reviews lately.
I read your text and I get +4 Informative.
Now I'm off to click on a few ads (if you've got them). I always support good websites by clicking a few ads.
Get your Unix fortune now!
I actually can do this with my DRM/PFS device, so I'm not sure what player you had an issue with. I think the Ipod might limit this, but I think there are tools out there that allow it.
How would the iRiver iFP-799 and iFP-899 compare to the:
- iAudio 5 and U2
- Samsung YP-MT6Z and YP-T6Z
- MPIO FY 400
Using a single device as both a USB key an an MP3 player is convenient.
See my review here:
http://forums.xandros.com/viewtopic.php?t=16248&hi ghlight=
Evolution is a fact. Darwinism is a joke.