You've seen it toyed with, you've seen it unboxed and you've read the review. Now, the moment of truth has arrived. iriver's Lplayer is officially on sale here in the USA, with the 4GB models going for $109.99 and the 8GB editions demanding $159.99. You'll also have to choose between white, pink and black, but don't sweat the details, okay?

[Thanks, Jenn]

If anyone is going to make a decent waterproof MP3 player this time around, it would have to be someone like the tight bathing suit-producing Speedo brand. The Speedo Aquabeat -- made by Iriver -- contains 1GB of storage, plays for nine hours on one charge, come in three colors, and weighs just 35 grams. So what's so Speedo about them? These players (and earphones) are good for up to 3 meters below the surface and they float -- so you can just leave the things floating about while you go mix another margarita. Retail price is $145, available now from your local Speedo dealer or high school coach -- just listen for the whistle.

iriver's Lplayer, which we just got done handling ourselves, made it over to the review crew at PC Magazine. As expected, both design and interface were smiled upon, and critics also felt the price was fair. Upon using the admittedly wee device, they seemed to have problems getting the click buttons to respond like they wanted, but aside from that, hardly anything negative was said. The broad codec support was praised, the built-in equalizer worked as advertised and the FM tuner / voice recorder were welcome extras. All in all, it was seen as a worthy rival to the iPod nano, and if you're the type that prefers something different in the pocket, this puppy just might be the ticket.

We unwrapped iriver's new US-bound Lplayer from its space age packaging and took it for a whirl. It must be said, iriver's design chops really shine when comes to these tiny little D-Click experiences -- perhaps the E100 is just too much canvas to work with. The 2-inch QVGA screen is plenty sharp, even if it could withstand a stronger backlight, and the interface is as intuitive as ever. Codec support is just dandy, with MP3, WMA, ASF, FLAC and OGG Q10 for audio, and MPGE, WMV9, XVID for video -- no AAC, though. Sound is decent enough with the included headphones, but plugged into our regular home stereo setup the player pushed out very little low end. FM worked fine, as did voice recording, but there aren't many other frills here. The 4GB version will go for $110, while the 8GB is slotted for $160 (the same prices its much larger E100 counterpart goes for), and both should be available in the States on June 24.

We first spotted iriver's Volcano back at CES, and it looks like the stick-shaped DAP is finally shipping in Europe under the T7 model number. Specs are the same as we had in January: 2 or 4GB, OLED display, MP3 / WMA / ASF/ Ogg, FM, and voice recording in a variety of colors. €35 ($54) for the 2GB, €50 ($77) for the 4GB. Let's hope we get word on an official US release with some more dollar-friendly pricing soon, eh?

[Via DAPreview]

We haven't heard much about iRiver's shiny new Spinn PMP since it was unveiled at CES earlier this year, but Crave has now turned up a couple of fresh new details on the device, including word of the all important release date. That'll apparently come sometime in August (in the UK, at least), although there's unfortunately still no word on prices. Otherwise, Crave has confirmed that the player will still be arriving in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB varieties, and that it'll be shipping with built-in DAB radio in the UK, as well as built-in Bluetooth and a dedicated (but unspecified) 3D acceleration chip to spice up the interface a bit. In case you missed 'em the first time around, you can find our shots of the device (under glass) here.

[Thanks, Alsyl]

Is it us or does iriver's new Mplayer advertising campaign send the wrong message? "Find Pluto and you have found my murderer!" Ceremonial aftermath pictured after the break.

Warning: The KKClay will get you too.

It took 'em a year, but iriver is finally ready to unleash its P10 touchscreen mega-PMP upon the world -- or at least Korea. The player rocks T-DMB, an 800 x 480 4.3-inch LCD, 33GB of storage and quite unique UI. There's also an included stylus and built-in handwriting recognition, with dictionaries for English, Chinese and Japanese. For about $312 US you can get a DMB-free unit, or spring for mobile TV at a $390-ish pricepoint, but again, those are both Korea only. If you're looking to spice up your life this side of the Pacific, iriver is also bringing its D5 clamshell multimedia dictionary to the States, at $300 for 2GB and $350 for 4GB.

Read - P10
Read - D5

Apparently reviewers weren't the only ones not totally satisfied by iriver's new E100. Crave UK has gotten wind of an upcoming revision from iriver already in the works that will get rid of that built-in speaker and redo the casing in aluminum -- which would certainly be a nice switch from that weightless plastic of the E100. The lackluster screen is also getting swapped out for a "much brighter" version. No word of slimming the device down, but hopefully that's in the works as well. Word is we can expect the E150 and E200 sometime later in the summer, but obviously none of this is official just yet.

[Thanks, T.I.]

Yeah, we had our fun just toying with the W7 at iriver's CES booth earlier this year, but the lucky souls at Pocketables were able to secure one long enough to write up a full-blown review. Straight out of the packaging, critics found the design to be attractive enough, albeit a tad chunky; particularly with this device, we'd say opinions on sexiness will vary widely depending on what floats your boat. Nevertheless, reviewers found the touch panel easy enough to navigate, and thankfully, the perceived audio quality was dubbed "great." Those interested in the video capabilities will be delighted to know that all was well on that front too, as the slew of welcome extras (FM tuner, text viewer, e-dictionary, etc.) were all praised. Now, if only this critter would show up in America, we'd have yet another solid choice when it comes to pocket-friendly media players.

[Thanks, Jenn]

We weren't terribly impressed by the iriver E100's size or functionality, but at $110 for a 4GB player with this size of screen, it's certainly hard to complain. For $50 more you can get an 8GB player, and both sizes come in pink, black, blue and brown and white flavors. You can pick it up now at Amazon.com or J&R, and we're sure other online retailers will be quick to jump on board.

[Thanks, KC]

We just got a special surprise on our doorstep this afternoon in the form of an E100 from iriver. You've already seen the review, so we won't bore you with a full rehash, but suffice it to say that this thing is well built but feels suspiciously lightweight -- not to mention inexplicably thick. The software is all nice and responsive, though it takes a bit of getting used to the d-click interface, and while you're certainly not going to get much mileage out of the built-in speaker, it is a nice touch. The screen is great straight on, but suffers from some viewing angle woes. We really can't fault the player for much, but there's nothing too compelling here to make us leave any members of our current assortment of DAPs. Video is after the break.

Reincomm just announced the new iriver NV Life, the official name of its M20 prototype. New in that they've done away with the big, navigation pad of the original NV in favor of a more sleek, easily portable SatNav device with PMP functionality. Still, it's a near spec-for-spec clone of the bigger, bulkier NV. Available in either 2GB ₩328,000 (about $367) or 4GB ₩358,000 (about $400) capacities, the SiRF Star III GPS device dedicates an SD slot to maps and second to augment the onboard flash. Inside, the WinCE 5.0-based device packs an FM-transmitter, DMB TV (with GPS PiP support), and a wide selection of codecs synonymous with the iriver name. The only downside is the display: 800 x 480 pixels spread across 7-inches of glass. On par with the industry but pretty poor when compared to cellphones which offer the same resolution on 2.8-inch displays.


[Via Akihabara News]