iriver's SPINN up for pre-sale, shipping October 3rd

If you've been seriously jonesing for a viable and attractive alternative to Apple's iPod offerings, you may just be in luck. According to iriver, the geek-lust SPINN PMP will be available -- and shipping -- on October 3rd in both 4GB ($249.99) and 8GB ($289.99) varieties. In case you're unclear on the specs, the unique widescreen device sports a 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 AMOLED display, support for MP3, WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC, AVI, and WMV (amongst other) files, FM tuner, and Bluetooth 2.0. Of course, the devices are destined for XP / Vista setups, and don't feature any of that fancy wireless connectivity users are likely getting used to -- but then again, they certainly don't look like other players on the market.

[Via Pocketables]

[gad get @ Sep 29th 2008 3:05AM]

Give us a 16 gig, and drop those prices!

[oGMo @ Sep 29th 2008 3:52AM]

16? How about 160GB? What's with the scores of expensive yet low-capacity flash players these days? A decade ago it was easy to find 40GB+ players... hell, iriver's H-series are still some of the best there were. Now you're lucky to find anything over 8GB, AND you pay more.

[Valicore @ Sep 29th 2008 4:21AM]

Totally right, oh God I loved my H140 and my H340. The H140 in my opinion is one of the best MP3 players EVER. It did what it was supposed to - play MP3s!

[Iain @ Sep 29th 2008 7:22AM]

@oGMO: why flash and not HDD?
How about reliability and battery life for a start? Plus the fact that a HDD would likely force the player to become a bloated version of what it is just now.

Plus, who actually NEEDS to carry round 160GB of files with them?
When are you ever going to watch or listen to even half of them?

[Ramifications @ Sep 29th 2008 3:06AM]

I must say, every iRiver player I have owned has been quite amazing, especially my nearly 5 year old and still going strong H320. This new player looks great, if only my H320 would break, I would totally buy one. lol

[brandon_r87 @ Sep 29th 2008 3:12AM]

Why is it that all the small storage capacity players support FLAC? Give us something with some room for those big files.

[scape @ Sep 29th 2008 5:42PM]

flac, woot!
yea though, this is seriously overpriced...too bad

[avester @ Sep 29th 2008 3:19AM]

What's with the tiny 4gb/8gb PMPs, I have 60gb HDD in my music-only player, and it's quite full...

[Jamesy @ Sep 29th 2008 3:28AM]

Looks like a really nice player, but 4GB for $250? Cmon, drop the prices and give more storage!

[Wwhat @ Sep 29th 2008 10:59AM]

You have to accept that the dollar is worth less than 2/3rd of what it was a year ago (your national expenditure/debt is now much higher than your GDP), so that makes 250 equal 166 even when being optimistic.

[Mitch @ Sep 29th 2008 3:32AM]

That is a beutiful interface, and generally nice specs, but it neads more storage and cheaper prices to do any good

[helloUser @ Sep 29th 2008 3:33AM]

8gb of capacity on a portable device thats supposed to play movies? You throw on 4-8 movies on that thing and you wont have much space leftover for anything else.

Originally the spinn was to have an expansion slot which would excuse its small capacity, but this is just weak.

Also, with it being touch sensitive, they should have added some kind of simple navigation buttons on the sides (play/pause, next, previous). Pulling out the thing from a pocket only to pause it, or go to the next song (because u cant see where ur pressing) will be hell.

Yet another potentially true ipod killer mp3 player, except, the manufacturer bricks it before its even released to the public, and many months TOO LATE, seeing how its been, what, 6+ months?

[carmen @ Sep 29th 2008 4:23AM]

the audio amp on the lplayer is so bad i wish i hadnt bought it

bass? whats that

[Strafan @ Sep 29th 2008 4:58AM]

Hard drives = Bigger space, bigger risk (moving parts), therefore, cheaper.

Flash = Smaller risk (solid state?), smaller space, however, faster, stronger, and a slim sexy beast, therefore, expensive...(er).



As what the iPod hooker said, "Pay up."

Unless you want a fat old ugly...thing of shiny metal *cough Archos cough*...(just kidding...I love metal paper weights).


P.S
I try really really really very hard for proper English, grammarians can suck my keyboard.

[gad get @ Sep 29th 2008 6:16AM]

It's all right. Engadget readers would never make fun of someone's language skills. Right, guys? Guys?

[Decoy @ Sep 29th 2008 2:53PM]

"grammarians can suck my keyboard"

Somethings already sucking on it.

[voodoo @ Sep 29th 2008 5:23AM]

Those AMOLED displays look absolutely awesome. Anybody complaining about price/capacity has obviously completely missed the fact that the player has pushed ahead to the next gen of screen tech.

[gad get @ Sep 29th 2008 6:18AM]

No, we just don't see the point of paying $250 for a measly 4 GB of non-expandable memory, just because of the screen.

[voodoo @ Sep 29th 2008 7:16AM]

Its simple economics. Its one of the first devices with a 3.3" AMOLED, so price is going to be high. Thats just the way it is.
If you don't understand the 'point' of a device pushing ahead to a new/better technology, you probably shouldn't be reading engadget.

[Iain @ Sep 29th 2008 7:33AM]

Actually no voodoo, we haven't missed the point. You have.
Yes, AMOLED screens are still relatively new and, therefore, relatively expensive but that doesn't for one second excuse what iRiver have done here.

The 8GB Clix2 retailed for around $250 when first released, if memory serves.
It also has an AMOLED screen, albeit a smaller one. But the difference in screen size will have been more than out-weighed by the fact that the technology has moved on in the past year and will, therefore, have reduced production costs, also the drop in flash memory prices will have also gone some way to counteract the increased costs that go along with an increased screen size.
So, there's absolutely no reason why this player should cost such ridiculous amounts for such small capacities.

iRiver created a great concept in the SPINN but then they did exactly the same thing they've done to all their recent players, stripping it of features, cutting corners to reduce costs and then releasing it at a price that's unmarketable.
There's only so many times excuses can be made before you have to accept that they're just a bunch of cowboys - and we're well beyond that point now.

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 29th 2008 7:40AM]

It could have the most beautiful screen ever crafted by man, but it still wouldn't make a 4gb media player worth owning.

[web designer @ Sep 29th 2008 5:24AM]

The product itself looks well constructed.

But their website could be improved. It looks like someone scanned a manual and converted it to .html.

Times new roman and Verdana on the same page; spelling mistakes, God.

Seriously, they ought to get a good or even average web designer to give it an overhaul.

[GO @ Sep 29th 2008 5:43AM]

Umm youre looking at a nameless retailers website, not irivers official website dude

http://www.iriver.com/

their websites (as in their japanese, hong kong, korean, european, etc) are excellently designed in terms of both graphics and interface... you should probably make sure youre barking up the right tree next time.

[phanbouy @ Sep 29th 2008 12:08PM]

"web designer" can has can't-surf skillz?

[Jash Sayani @ Sep 29th 2008 5:36AM]

Looks very impressive ! Just a bit expensive...

[Nathan @ Sep 29th 2008 6:02AM]

*Bangs head against wall*. How STUPID is this company.

They come with this awesome looking device and don't include support for AAC. I mean have they been hiding under a rock whilst billions of AAC (not all DRMd) songs were sold on iTunes and billions more were ripped by iPod owners.

Don't they want iPod owners to switch to the SPINN ?

[Iain @ Sep 29th 2008 7:41AM]

Just because someone owns an iPod, that doesn't mean they use AAC.

But, no, iRiver probably aren't expecting many people to switch - they've been making superior products for years and yet Apple are still the market leader, so why would that change now?
Most iPod owners are now entrenched in iTunes because the vast majority of songs bought from there are the crappy-quality, DRM-ridden versions. People who are prepared to pay for songs like that won't walk away from their locked-down music collection so they can have a better DAP, they'll just keep buying more iPods.

[0megapart!cle @ Sep 29th 2008 8:16AM]

Yea. This is exactly what I was looking for on the spec page. In vain. About 95% of my music library is in AAC. No AAC means no sale. I'm sure it is like that for the majority of current iPod owners. So unless iriver doesn't want to tap into that humongous market, they need to add AAC, pronto.

[Nathan @ Sep 29th 2008 8:20AM]

Iain: the default for ripping CDs within iTunes is AAC. So for 99.999% of the iTunes-using population who will never change the defaults they will have a lot of content in AAC format. The same format this device won't play.

And if you think all iPod owners are just mindless sheep who won't contemplate a different device then your just as dumb as iRiver.

[jorvay @ Sep 29th 2008 9:22AM]

Also keep in mind that iRiver's big markets are everywhere BUT North America. iPods and, by extension, iTunes are a lot less popular in asia...especially South Korea. Trying to get people to switch from iPods is really an after-thought for these guys: it's a hard switch to sell, and there isn't a tonne of extra money in it for them compared to their very easy sell in other markets.

[Vik @ Sep 29th 2008 6:03AM]

Yeah, I'll wait for the next update with more storage capacity, hopefully no lower than 32 GB. I was looking forward to this.

[nanobis @ Sep 29th 2008 6:54AM]

If the price did drop down a fair bit it would be nice, especailly with the larger storage cappacity.

The GUI and screan are awsome tho,

[Kiamat @ Sep 29th 2008 5:48PM]

@lain I for one need 160GB because my musical tastes are so varied and my moods so capricious. I can be listening to "Hung, Drawn, Quartered? by Cancer and suddenly need to hear "China Roses" by Enya and from there bounce over to some Armin van Buuren or Tim McGraw. So, yeah, I need 160GB because I have to carry all my music.

[Rocketboy @ Sep 29th 2008 10:12AM]

Sorry, I just cannot even consider a PMP that has Dave Matthew's Band branding on the freakin main menu.

[xValentine @ Sep 29th 2008 11:44AM]

If only they could add a touchscreen, wi-fi, and a browser. It could compete against the iPod Touch.

[Smileypanda @ Sep 29th 2008 4:38PM]

PILF

[Twigs @ Sep 30th 2008 9:53AM]

Just preordered the 8 GB Spinn. Completely worth it. Better than any iPod out there, massive codex support, and a beautiful AMOLED screen. Now I can watch Dexter and rewatch Code Geass in class rather than listen to my calculus teacher ramble on about **** I already know.

Also, I don't know why people complain so much about the memory. You can always switch stuff out.
I've been waiting for this player for such a long time. I'm a long-time happy iriver customer. In fact, I still use my H10 20 GB nearly daily.

[Relyt @ Oct 8th 2008 4:56PM]

I do love iriver, but agree with all of you on WHERE IS THE 16GB MODEL? iriver was on the first for higher-capacity flash models (4, 8 GB) but now doesn't seem to want to advance any more.

fyi the screen is AMOLED, which is different then OLED.

[Jonathan Marks @ Oct 9th 2008 3:05AM]

The photo seems to indicate that it comes with DMB, a variation of DAB Digital Radio. Useless in the US but rather important in South Korea and a few European countries. Curious to see the results - at IBC 2007 they had a DMB receiver which did nothing but suffer from drop-out when they tried to operate it inside the building. Not a big fan of iRiver in Europe, gave up trying to work with their press department and the user interface on earlier models was truly awful.