IRiver's S7 previewed, long live the choat!

The iriver S7 is alive, and it's brown, and small... iPod shuffle small as you can see from that pic above. The display-less S7 measures in at 40 x 32 x 9.6-mm / 15-g compared to the shuffle's 41 x 27 x 10.5-mm / 15.5-g. However, unlike the shuffle's integrated clip, the S7 dangles from a lanyard in choice of five colors. What's more, the chicken-goat (choat... gicken?) and leg-raising-dog come standard issue on every player -- that's no skin, son. Yeah, c|net was surprised too. For whatever reason, the animals represent volume controls whereas the humans muster up the sense to fast forward or reverse your ASF, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA audio. Don't worry, as we mentioned yesterday, there are plenty of skins you can apply to the faceplate. Oddly (as if it could get any stranger), c|net says there isn't a way to pause playback or preset FM radio stations. That's ok, their full report is coming so maybe they'll figure it out. Stay tuned as they say. More pics after the break.

[Thanks, Misticriver Fanboy]

[Todd @ Dec 12th 2006 8:15AM]

Wait the dog taking a pee is volume down or up? If the dog is LIFTING his leg wouldn't that mean to LIFT the volume up?

I am confused.

[Robert @ Dec 12th 2006 8:51AM]

Yes but the dog pees down ... trying to pee up just gets messy!

[tucker @ Dec 12th 2006 9:00AM]

hahaha this thing is great.

[Colin @ Dec 12th 2006 9:07AM]

I'm in...

How much and when and where...

[Colin @ Dec 12th 2006 9:08AM]

Oh...

And looky there...

Someone but a weird brown colour on a dap...

[Intrepid @ Dec 12th 2006 9:12AM]

Funny and should appeal to a market... they should however have a model without the crazy icons...

[Ozuwarudo @ Dec 12th 2006 9:14AM]

Wow, IRiver hit my nucleus accumbens fairly well with that weird s*it. Too bad I'll probably just make a choat sticker for my OracOm. Yes, I'm that poor.

[Clayfoot @ Dec 12th 2006 9:37AM]

I just love IRiver's stuff. They get top marks from Consumer Reports, and they actually ship with good headphones. I have no idea what these strange icons mean, but if IRiver is doing it, it must be right.

[StopSpamming @ Dec 12th 2006 10:07AM]

Well, in Singapore...chicken is pronounced as "Kay", which in the common Hokkien language means "Increase" or "Add". When a dog raises its leg, it is usually termed as "Shhhhh......". Well, hope this sheds some light to the icon mystery.

[zverg @ Dec 12th 2006 10:13AM]

+1 insightful

wait this isn't slashdot haha

um wow iRiver.. wow. I love it so much. uniqueness is hard to find these days, yes somehow you managed to make a DAP that is pretty much 100% the size of the shuffle and yet.. is 100% unique.

bravo. I hope you CAN'T pause playback, that'll just make the player even more eccentric bwahahahah!

[Bob Spencer @ Dec 12th 2006 10:14AM]

It makes the iPod look bloated.

[hasselhoff @ Dec 12th 2006 10:26AM]

To be more specific, I think it�s a rooster, cuz then the cock is either up or down, which corresponds to the volume direction.

[Christian Martin @ Dec 12th 2006 10:27AM]

Man, now I want one. The $96 choat sticker that comes with a free DAP? Sign me up.

*goes about adding "choat" to spell-checkers*

[David @ Dec 12th 2006 10:39AM]

yeah, the iPod IS bloated with extra buttons, like pause. sheesh.

[nick post @ Dec 12th 2006 10:44AM]

A little more looking indicates that the dog peeing is actually a mode button, the Choat is play/pause, but the running boys are forward and back. And CNet now has pictures of the other faces which some are text labelled, and there is a disclaimer saying, essentially, "We only had it for two hours!"

[stooky @ Dec 12th 2006 10:53AM]

Apple's chic modernist styling is getting staler with each iteration. Finally, something humorous and unafraid to be different. i'd buy it

[Revels @ Dec 12th 2006 11:16AM]

Hmm, where are all the screams of 'where's the screen?'
Guess that only applies to the Shuffle.

[John Doe @ Dec 12th 2006 11:21AM]

So as loud as a rooster or as quiet as a piss? Got it.

[Brian @ Dec 12th 2006 11:56AM]

phtt... these two players have nothing on my Sandisk Sansa e130; it has a more settings compared to these two, and expandable memory... And just like these two, NO SCREEN! anymore... Now I get a nice abstract looking cracked monochrome LCD :D

That design on the iriver is like crazy Dadaism; any news on pricing?

[Christian Martin @ Dec 12th 2006 12:58PM]

If iRiver is smart, the Choat will become the icon the s7 is known for. I'd sport a "Long Live the Choat" t-shirt. IN BROWN.

[EatingPie @ Dec 12th 2006 12:59PM]

When Microsoft is done stealing Apple's Icons, at least they have another source to go to! The problem is finding exactly WHICH application is most appropriate for the pee-ing dog.

Kidding... Kidding! :)

-Pie

[o rly @ Dec 12th 2006 3:21PM]

@ EatingPie : "When Microsoft is done stealing Apple's Icons, at least they have another source to go to!"

http://iconfactory.com/design/clients

Try again.

[cuby @ Dec 12th 2006 2:43PM]

wow ... what a breath of fresh air this crazy thing is ...

[James @ Dec 12th 2006 5:53PM]

I refuse to buy an MP3 player that I can swallow ...

[La-z-CADtech @ Dec 14th 2006 8:22AM]

I do believe that is a rooster... you know those dumb ass things that wake you up in the morning, hence the reason it's used for volume up, at least as far as i can guess.

[MY21 @ Dec 14th 2006 2:39PM]

lol, read about it, interesting how iriver uses these funny symbols to represent the volume and other functions. how much??

[Ceci @ Dec 22nd 2006 12:53AM]

$[e-mail] - not a bad price considering their unique outlook.

[Anil Passi @ Dec 14th 2006 4:57PM]

iRiver looks tempting enough to bin my 1year old 20gb iPod..

http://oracle.anilpassi.com

[Spacehopper @ Dec 15th 2006 7:50AM]

IRiver - Fugly is a word that comes to mind!

[Christopher @ Dec 15th 2006 2:00PM]

For me iRiver is more about funtionality over making a fashion statement - which keys with me perfectly. That's why I've owned an H140 for a looooooong time, I've taken it apart when it broke, I've done little tweaks and stuff to it, put on the Rockbox firmware to make the already-great player even better... I don't like being one of the sheep, and now with Apple's ubiquity really making me sicker than ever, there's a little part of me which derives great satisfaction from owning a really good MP3 player which isn't the same as everybody else's.


Ironic that Apple's slogan for the longest time was 'Think Different'...

[SilentBen @ Dec 18th 2006 11:15AM]

It seems that the article on C|Net got the controls wrong. If you look at images for the other skins, several of them replace the choat with a play/pause icon and the peeing dog with an "M" for mute. So these buttons are NOT the volume controls.

[Joe in Ohio @ Dec 18th 2006 1:56PM]

So the cock is "play". Ok. That makes sense, since the rooster crowing is the first thing you hear and it has a "make big sound now" quality to it. It's wise they avoided the inevitable "cock up" association, too.

I'm guessing the dog is supposed to be pointing, like a hunting dog. This would make sense for "freeze immediately in the middle of whatever you are doing", aka pause.

[klwdallas @ Dec 18th 2006 5:11PM]

The older 1Gig and 2Gig nanos can be had refurbished for $89 and $99 right now on Apple store. I'd rather have a screen. I bought two and they look perfect.

[Brent @ Dec 19th 2006 9:18AM]

I think it's a dog peeing. You know. Taking a break. Perfect for pause.

Or, it could be a play on "Paws" like dog Paws. Pause.

[Derek @ Dec 28th 2006 10:45PM]

I am an American living in South Korea. I just demoed one of these at the Lotte store in Myongdong. I bought the S10, but listened to this too. The S7 sounds excellent. Pretty much the same as the S7, from what I could tell through the provided earphones. Much better sound than the shuffle. Good bass response with SRS sound option.

[erinator @ Jan 2nd 2007 7:13PM]

choat? i think not. goats have floppy ears, _4_ legs, and (sometimes) horns, but there is nothing goat-like about this rooster button.

[Olaf @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:09AM]

Just bought one from South Korea, i'm loving it!

Only comes with one skin, but will get my korean girlfriend to find me more :)

[Chethan @ Jan 11th 2008 7:18PM]

UMM i bought something that looks just like this 2 months ago
from USB Brando HK
http://usb.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00359

its 2 gigs and only $39 and it lights up
the only downside is that the plastic is a little cheap and the battery doesn't last all that long. But you can pause playback!