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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.
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.
Why compare it to the Shuffle. If the shuffle was made by anyone else other than Apple -- people would have laughed it out of existence for not having a screen, voice recorder and tuner or most importantly for the /. crowd OGG support.
I just love how apple can release just the opposite of what people want, and yet they jump on it like it's the most inovative thing since sliced bread. These same people don't mind a HD based player that has a battery that can not be replaced (very easily), and thats ok also, cause it is all the rage.
Or the fact that OS X is not open source....that's ok also, cause it's apple -- funny how many people abandon their ideals or principals so easily.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
It's a review of hardware that claims to play OGG files. Since there are very few such creatures on the market, and I have thousands of OGG files, it's interesting news to me to find that it does not in fact work.
get a zire and a gig of SD ram.
Does that play OGGs?
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
I don't think the iPod shuffle is The Greatest Design Ever. I think it's rather small, and doesn't have a screen, but it is fairly cheap and rugged. Doesn't solve a problem for me, but some people obviously like it OK.
I don't know where this "/. crowd" comes from. I don't recall signing a manifesto when I set up my account. You might be stunned to note that there exist more than two opinions on this board.
"release just the opposite of what people want, and yet they jump on it"
You contradict yourself. If people buy it, they obviously want it.
"Or the fact that OS X is not open source"
Darwin is, but that obviously isn't your point.
"funny how many people abandon their ideals or principals so easily."
I haven't abandoned my principles. I do not share YOUR principles.
I bought my Powerbook because it suited my needs. I bought my iPod because it best fit what I wanted. I don't give a damn about what's "cool". I've never been cool in my life.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I have a Creative NomadII MG from ages ago. It has a tiny little circular screen, fm receiver, voice recorder -- no OGG as far as I know. I haven't used it in about two years. Why? The buttons are in vertical rows on the two thin sides. It's just as easy to delete a song as to play one. On a scale of 1-10, the UI doesn't even rate. It's useless.
The reviewer notes that the joystick controller on the iriver requires the user to become accustomed to it -- maybe not the UI disaster my Nomad is, but can anyone make a usable interface? Funny thing is, the first time I picked up an ipod, I saw how the UI worked within seconds. Litterally. I didn't have to look at the manual to see what the "A-B" button does (really, that's on my Nomad). This weekend, I set my 4g mini (only $20 more for 400% more storage, solid state issue aside of course) on my dashboard and when I wanted to skip a song, I just reached out and tapped it -- didn't even have to take my eyes off the road (a slight reflection in the window was good enough guidance). I've had the ipod for two days -- no user adaptation required. With my Nomad, I couldn't possibly have done that without taking my eyes off the road even when I was using it daily.
My Nomad used AAA batteries - I definitely liked that and I agree, the ipods would be much cooler with replaceable batteries. Even so, it was just so easy to control I got it despite that limitation. Realistically, going off the road while switching songs would be a heck of a lot more expensive than prying it apart and replacing the battery in 18 months or so. As for the shuffle's lack of a screen, a tiny screen is simply a danger on the road -- important are easy to hit controls for skip and play/pause. Compared to the device size, ipod buttons are large and easy to find.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
I very much doubt the "/. crowd" care very much about OGG support. I know there are at least a few who care a lot and are very vocal about it, but I bet it's a very small percentage of us who would actually take OGG support into consideration when buying a player.
I mean, the idea behind OGG behind Free is great and all, and I think it's great that it's being used by a lot of commercial games and stuff, but it just isn't a concern for me when it comes to actually listening to music on a player. I'd much rather just rip to mp3 and listen to my music on the music player that I actually want, which probably wouldn't be an iRiver -- I just haven't read very many glowing (or even positive) reviews for iRiver players.
Moof.