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iRiver, the iPod killer is..... RELEASED!

melchior

melchior

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 17, 2002
1,241
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iRiver has released the iHP-100 although it's not on their online store yet.. (and i haven't seen one in person yet, though i'll be looking to check one out as soon as i have time to go into tokyo. )

here is a quick run down... now i love my 3G 10gig iPod. except for the battery life. that's my only complaint. i haven't done an absolute run into the ground playback, but it just feels like it's not enough... :(
iRiver --- iPod
  • Weight: 160g --- 158g
  • Dimensions: 60 x 19 x 105 --- 15.7 x 60 x 104
  • Storage: 10gig --- 10gig, 15gig, 30gig
  • formats: mp3, wav, wma --- aac, mp3, wav, aiff
  • remote: with lcd --- no lcd (and no remote with 10gig model)
  • input: analog & optical in/out --- none, zero, nada
  • fm tuner: yes --- none, zero, nada
  • price: unknown --- overpriced :rolleyes:
now, the real iPod killing feature (apart from the optical input... and output... and the fm tuner.... and the lcd remote.... :eek:)
  • playback time: 16 hours --- 8 hours

Now i have no doubts that the design is a lot closer to fugly than one would like, (although, it is a far sight better than anything from archos) and the user interface is clumsy and the supplied software is dodgy, but the features of the machine itself make a real impact. it makes me wish, pending price, that i had one.

i can live without recording, and fm tuner, but the battery life just makes my jaw drop. even if that's only 14 hours real life. maybe i'm spoiled. i am used to MD. the last MD player i bought played an easy 35 hours off a single charge with it's tiny battery....

anyway, here's the picture. don't bother saying it's ugly. we all know that already...

iHP-100-4.jpg
 
i still have to say it: it's ugly. :D

i think esthetics count a lot, especially for something that is meant to be small and portable. (of course, UI too...) that's just my opinion...

opt. in is a big plus, though are you sure it has opt out too? i thought there's some restriction on digital duplication beyond the first gen. (at least there is one on my md recorder.) i guess opt. out can just be for clearer playback, not for copying...

anyway, yeah, specs do look nice.

[edit] forgot to mention... remote is good looking too. [\edit]
 
3:56, 28th May, 2003.

It's awful. And who the hell are iRiver!?

About as trustworthy name as Archos and the like!!:p
 
I like the Digital Out. A lot!

I'll have to give it a look. Drawback, no iTunes support, no AAC support.

edit: The 6-band EQ is another plus.
 
Originally posted by jxyama
i still have to say it: it's ugly. :D

i think esthetics count a lot, especially for something that is meant to be small and portable. (of course, UI too...) that's just my opinion...

opt. in is a big plus, though are you sure it has opt out too? i thought there's some restriction on digital duplication beyond the first gen. (at least there is one on my md recorder.) i guess opt. out can just be for clearer playback, not for copying...

anyway, yeah, specs do look nice.

[edit] forgot to mention... remote is good looking too. [\edit]
Click to expand...

you are talking about SCMS. this was a single bit on md's. (sony's early DRM) it doesn't affect dvd players, sound cards, cd players and i see no reason it would affect this either. it's an MD only thing...

digital to digital just means no A/D converter in the middle. the Optical Input would be more useful in my opinion..
 
Now i have no doubts that the design is a lot closer to fugly than one would like, (although, it is a far sight better than anything from archos) and the user interface is clumsy and the supplied software is dodgy, but the features of the machine itself make a real impact. it makes me wish, pending price, that i had one.
Click to expand...
And Apple still hasn't figured that out yet... price is the #1 determining factor on whether a person buys a product in todays world. This doesn't mean it is #1 for everyone, but it is #1 overall based on averages.

Nice looking piece of kit though :) >>> US $249 and it would sell like mad! <<<
 
Well here is some info for you all, I'm a techie for iRiver, beta tester and tech support and this thing is so far behind the ipod its not funny. Shortly after the ipods were release they were thinking aout pulling these models and going for new 40Gb ones but they stuck it out and wasted time.

The price is $299 and yes it does have a few good thing, including the opticla out but thats on the dock with the ipod. And an FM tuner is a plus, but its nothing special, actually its old as hell. But overall the iPod is still the best mp3 in the world. This is nice but not nice enough

PM or email me if you wanna know anything more about this or any other thing iRiver is doing.
 
Originally posted by melchior
you are talking about SCMS. this was a single bit on md's. (sony's early DRM) it doesn't affect dvd players, sound cards, cd players and i see no reason it would affect this either. it's an MD only thing...

digital to digital just means no A/D converter in the middle. the Optical Input would be more useful in my opinion..
Click to expand...

OPT out - home theatre in.
 
Originally posted by mac15
Well here is some info for you all, I'm a techie for iRiver, beta tester and tech support and this thing is so far behind the ipod its not funny. Shortly after the ipods were release they were thinking aout pulling these models and going for new 40Gb ones but they stuck it out and wasted time.

The price is $299 and yes it does have a few good thing, including the opticla out but thats on the dock with the ipod. And an FM tuner is a plus, but its nothing special, actually its old as hell. But overall the iPod is still the best mp3 in the world. This is nice but not nice enough

PM or email me if you wanna know anything more about this or any other thing iRiver is doing.
Click to expand...

in your opinion, and i am presuming you have used and 'tested' this particular unit, what is wrong with it? where does it fall down? (at least most badly, hehe :rolleyes: )
 
Re: iRiver, the iPod killer is..... RELEASED!

Originally posted by melchior
the user interface is clumsy and the supplied software is dodgy, but the features of the machine itself make a real impact.
Click to expand...
For me the user interface and included software are more important than how it looks and what features it has. What good are features you don't (or can't due to complexity, bug etc...) use. That's what makes the iPod great for me. I gave my grandma a 5gb iPod several months ago, preloaded with all her cd's. She was using it minutes out of the box. The only call I have ever gotten from her concerning the iPod was a thank you call.
 
iRIVER

Iriver is the company that creates the internal mechanisms for many mp3 based cd players on the market today especially the RIO systems. I had originally wanted an Ipod however was very low on cash. So I opted for a cd based mp3 player. I narrowed down my choice to a sony based cd player and the iRIVER slimx. At the time iRIVER was a new company so I had decided to go for the sony system. However the iRIVER system had loads more features and was nearly half the price. I purchased the iRIVER slimX mp3 cd player from amazon, the mechanism is brilliant, has loads of functions, is firmware upgradable, comes fully accessorised, is extremely durable and most importantly was cheap. A year on I still look at it and marvel at its durablity. Looking at this new model all I can comment from just looking at the pictures is that it will be a good Ipod competitor. The only downside is why is everyone trying to copy the ipod and add new features to it rather than coming up with soomehting totally new.

One might also wasnt to check out the iRIVER homepage they have some very nice products, all fully loaded with features.

http://www.iriveramerica.com/
 
i know you said not to say it again, but jeez it is ugly - very PC looking. the lcd remote is a good thing though. and recording and an FM tuner are also good things. these are things i would like to see in an iPod, but i think i'll wait for that to happen - as those features will inevitably come to the iPod.

i'm really surprised that Sony hasn't come up with some real competition for the iPod. i bet they could actually make something cool. who would have thought that the walkman for the 21st century would be made by Apple.
 
Originally posted by szark
Interesting, but 10GB is too small for my collection.

I'd still choose my 30GB iPod. :)
Click to expand...

50GB is too small for my collection. :p so it doesn't really bother me none if my music player is holding 2000 tracks or 10000. especially when it plays less than 8 hours... =(

i should really do a run-down test. to make sure i don't have a dud. the problem with this? it's bad for the iPod's battery, in an ideal world you would always keep at least one bar left on the battery indicator and top it up...

i feel like a real whinger about this and i hate reading other people whinging. so i'm sorry. am i the only one who finds the iPod's battery inadequate.

i mean frankly. and i'll make it very clear. i don't, personally give a toss about recording, optical i/o, fm tuner or storage capacity. i care about size. weight. playback time.

so what do i want? i want a fuel cell powered nanotube ram device the size of my thumb that plays all formats including ogg. is that so much to ask? :cool:
 
Originally posted by andrewlandry
i'm really surprised that Sony hasn't come up with some real competition for the iPod. i bet they could actually make something cool. who would have thought that the walkman for the 21st century would be made by Apple.
Click to expand...

i agree with this. i think right now Apple has major name recognition with the iPod. people are douobtful of the small unknowns like archos and iRiver. but apple needs to do more than just milk it until it's gone. i can just see the ipod going the way of the newton. a great device. ahead of it's time. filled a niche with a technology that changed everything. but then dropped out of the race because apple likes nice, fat margins...
 
Optical in and out?

... OK, I know MDs have them, but the main reason they had it wasn't to make better copies, but to get the track/album names and autostart the recording when you pressed play on the CD player.

You were still recording to a lossy format like you are with MP3/AAC. And with iTunes what's the point of it?

I actually read reviews in up-their-own-arses hi-fi magazines which said they prefered the warmth that recording via analogue gave!

I'm curious how they'd get double the play time out of a drive that uses similar, if not the same, technology as an iPod. A break-through in battery science? No.

Stu
 
Amusing track selection for an mp3 device!

With all the noise they made about napster, I find it pretty funny that a metallica track is being played in a promo shot for an mp3 player!!!

The mp3 player looks like the equivelent of an alba personal stereo, no style, horrible, plastically looking appearance. it kills the iPod on specs though.
 

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Price can't be the overriding concern. Otherwise the iPod wouldn't have ~26% of the MP3 player market (or is that just in Japan? I don't remember. still, it's impressive either way).

Oh, and it's not FireWire, so unless you have a PowerMac with a USB 2 card, putting anything on that thing will take hours.
 
Originally posted by GeeYouEye
Price can't be the overriding concern. Otherwise the iPod wouldn't have ~26% of the MP3 player market (or is that just in Japan? I don't remember. still, it's impressive either way).
Click to expand...

i think steve-o said it's 70% (maybe?) of the japanese market. but this isn't exactly telling since the japanese mp3 market is relatively small compared with the MD market which is not just big, but amazingly prominent.

i haven't seen any hard stats for the USA...

what does the iPod have? far superior aesthetic quality, exceedingly superior computer software (iTunes), somewhat superior device UI (iPod OS).
what does the competition have? far superior functionable features

who will win in the end? the competition
unless apple ramps itself up. recording is expected in june, right? how much will this change the ball game? quite a bit i think. how can they beat the crap out of the competition? improved battery.
 
well i think its hideous. the os looks very complicated. 10gb is pretty small for most people. this is not an ipod killer, apple has the number 1 mp3 player in japan and us and a bunch of other smaller countries that we dont really hear of. just looking at that cramped screen makes me not want to use it. after using the scroll on my ipod i dont think i oculd use an mp3 player without it.

iJon
 
My girlfriend had major complaints about the iPod's battery life issues, but said the recent update helped.

She also found that switching the lock switch to the 'off' position when the iPod wasn't in use kept the battery from draining down to zero every night.
 
Originally posted by rt_brained
My girlfriend had major complaints about the iPod's battery life issues, but said the recent update helped.

She also found that switching the lock switch to the 'off' position when the iPod wasn't in use kept the battery from draining down to zero every night.
Click to expand...
is she saying turning on hold the battery drains, never thought of that, ill have to try it.

iJon
 
Firstly, I don't think its as ugly as you're all making it out to be. The metallic finish is different than the iPod. Its not better or worse --- just different. The iPod looks more simple and plain. But the OS on this thing looks like a pain in the ass. :eek:

Secondly, I would take this machine overa 10GB iPod simply because of the battery life. I don't care about the other features.

Thirdly, thank you, Nikfel, for the iRivers link. Too bad they don't have the 10GB HD based machine on that website yet.

Fourthly, what is wrong with it, mac15? What is faulty with the machine? Is it the software? Also, which mp3 player is better: the iFP-390T mp3 player, or the iFP-195T. Its just that they're both listed at the same price ($199), and both have 256MB built-in memory (non-expandable????), but the 195T appears to be the newer machine based on the front page of the iRiver site.
 
iRiver is the Korean company that used to supply products for Rio, until they decide that they're good enough to launch their own brand and instantly became a hit.

they've produced the best CD MP3 player to date. namely, the SlimX IMP-350 and SlimX IMP-400. they're the thinnest CD MP3 player with full features, compatible with almost all audio formats, capable of reading CD-R and RW, user firmware upgradeable, their design is only matched by Sony (i like iRiver's better actually) and the price is very competitive.

i have no doubt that this will be the best HDD based audio player that is ever conceived from the windows world and outside of Apple's kingdom.

i think the design's not 'that' ugly. it is rather attractive in fact. maybe some of you are too biased to admit it. but the design's pretty good and that remote will kick apple's current one to pulp.

besides, when you have a fully functional remote, most of the time, the player itself will be tucked away in the pocket or backpack, and 'if' it's ugly, it won't be visible. but it's not. it's quite attractive. to me at least. much better than all the crap Rio and Creative has put out so far, well maybe not creative, but their flagship jukebox is huge and ugly in my opinion.

if the price is right, i'll take it. go iRiver :)
 
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