iRiver H10 reviews roundup
By Peter Rojas 
posted Feb 7th 2005 12:40PM
posted Feb 7th 2005 12:40PM
So maybe you weren't fast enough to score a free H10 from Napster, but if your appetite has been whetted for
iRiver's new 5GB MP3 player we've compiled a little roundup of the reviews we've seen:
Read - PC World
Read - Misticriver
Read - Head-fi
Read - Lordpercy.com
Read - Club
iRiver
Read - Pocket Lint
Some interesting reviews, not a lot of talk about any software that comes with this, does this means that it's main interface to place songs in the device is via drag and drop?
One of the reviews is a message board posting from a guy that played with it at Best Buy! That's pushing it a bit guys.
I love my iPod, but I know it's only a matter of time until someone makes a product that is attractive enough and works well enough to make me look at it.
This unit might be that device.
We thank you for breaking the cool Napster deal yesterday! Even if some of us didn't score the iRiver,we are pretty excited about the "all-you-can-download" subscription.Maybe this will put smile on all the people who fought so hard for the "Napster Trail". Power to the People.....
What's the bit rate of the Napster dl's?
Are they giving 320, or foisting 128 bit "cd-quality" on us?
Napster's artist/music selection seems to be a bit thin at the moment.
If they could find a way to squeeze 20 or 40 gigs in this form factor and add Ogg support, I'd be in heaven.
The Ogg thing I'm sure will be added via firmware update like iRiver did with the past h100 and 300 series players.
The 20-40 gig thing is a dream, for now. :(
I want one anyhow.
ogg support was already included on the h100/h300 w/o any firmware updtaes, I doubt the 5GB H10 will get a update, as the processor isn't fast enough to handle ogg vorbis.
they are making 20 and 40Gb versions of the player soon, and hopefully they will have ogg support and all the other stuff I love on my h120
the H10 looks like a good player, but needs a few bugs fixed, most notable to me is it not playing tracks in order by track number
I returned my H10 today for many reasons.
1. UMS is not present on US models (cant use it as a usb drive) and MTP was very flaky for me.
2. The DB is not sortable, it goes in alphabetical order based on title
3. Browse mode is sorted by date modified (time added to device) so all the artist folders are shuffled based on when you add them
4. Lack of album art, with a color screen i would expect it to look in the folder for a jpg, or pull it from the id3 tag.
5. Lack of ogg support, most of my collection is ogg and support will not be in the H10 ever due to hardware limitations.
6. Cannot delete files from the device (such as recorded clips you only need once and want to delete.)
7. Does not ship with iriver plus software in the US even though all the documentation refers to it. Leaving you with WMP10 as the only option for loading the player (If you want the DB built)
Aside from that the player is great...
The price point is the sucky thing. It's "only $30 more than the iPod mini" but guess what it's only $30 or so less than...
PC World's "review" was a flippin' joke. That guy who bought one at BB and posted on a forum was better.
Best review hands down was the guy from Mysticriver. Now THAT'S a review, gentlemen.
iRiver's prices seem consistently too high to me. While they generally seem to woo the enthusiast, I can't believe they aren't hurting themselves on the mass market level. Comparable players like the iPod mini and the Zen Micro are $30-$50 cheaper, albeit without a color screen. Similar story with their higher capacity players.
Ipod mini or iRiver?
I'm trying to decide. I have a 10 gig Ipod already but could live with a non-apple product. The iRiver sounds intrigiung with it's ability to show photos, its' color screen, it's fm & voice recorder. The ipod mini, however, is likely a more stable player, uses itunes, can be a backup drive, etc.
Excluding the general 'cuteness' of the mini and everyone's addiction, which is the better solution for someone who wants a light, solid player (preferably with photos) for a reasonable price?
Kreft, for the most of us, it IS a good player. The bugs you mentioned will most likely be fixed in the next firmware update. It has already been fixed in the NON-US versions.
Besides, I got it through the Napster deal, can't beat $180 for a mini killer!
I won't be getting a portable player that isn't compatible with iTunes. iTunes is so much better than any other jukebox out there, and it's music store is better than the Napster-to-Go stuff too. I don't want to rent my music and have my music collection disappear when I get sick of the subscription fees. I want to permanently own it, and I want an iPod because they're so much better. Why buy into "Oh the next version is going to be so great!" when you can get something awesome right now?
I blogged about Napster's deal here: http://blog.joshlewis.org/archives/000711.php
Has anyone figured out how to delete unwanted files from the H10 yet? Please help...
Hey. i was just wondering if you can watch movies on cuz it has 250K color's on it.
I WONT 1
GAY australia make it like #450-$500
yea so i hear that you shood buy headphones for it to make the experiance ehen BETTER? can some one PLZ PLZ PLZ tell me soon
I guess I'll get one - the touch strip can't possibly be worse than the creative zen micro disaster. However, if they release an ipod mini with fm tuner in the next few weeks I'll buy it without hesitation.
does anyone know if the itrip transmitter (made for the ipod) is compatible with the iriver h320?
Iriver's customer service is nonexistant. I totally agree with posting #8. I used Napster to create my database, which also allow me to use the playlist feature. With Napster I can remove songs from device. I do like the fact that I can listen to my music the car with my Belkin FM transmitter with clarity. In the home I use a audio Y cable to connect to my receiver and I am jammin. CD are a thing of past for me.
UK shops are selling this for around £150 now and it comes with Senheisser mx400 earphones!
songs can be deleted through wmp :)
I recently purchased an Iriver and have had nothing but problems. The problem started about one week after purchasing the unit. When attempting to turn the Iriver on, the Iriver will not power up. After attempting this a couple of times the Iriver eventually powers up. The second problem was with the sound. Sometimes the sound on the Iriver will increase on its own. The third problem is the unit powering up but showing an error message which according to tech support is the hard drive. So now I have to PAY to send the Iriver back to the company so they can look at it and determine if I get a new one. If you are looking to buy an Iriver I would suggest looking at an IPOD
go to http://www.iriver.com/html/support/download/sudw_view.asp?idx=711 to get a new firmware so you can delete w/o the computer
I was just wondering if someone could tell me about the durability on the H10 because unlike my previous Ipod, I don't want an MP3 player that will break if I drop it 5 centimeters onto my bed.
I got an iriver h10 (20G) for christmas. I put my music and photos on it with not much trouble but when i tried to turn it off a few times it totally froze up. The screen displayed the song as paused but throught the earphones it was going on and off (which sounded quite bad) and the player would not let me turn it off. So i reset it. It happened again after but with no music playing, all the buttons just froze and it wouldn't go off so i reset it. It hasn't happened again yet though it did act weird when i charged it. It had charged for a few hours and the light was off but the screen said the battery was empty. Is there any reason for these faults or have i just got a dud?