runsmoove Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 I've had my little MP3 Player for just under a week now, so I'll get busy and tell you about this little wonderful gubbin :) I purchased the mp3 player from for a smigget under ?220 (Including delivery) and I was supprised to find it waiting on my stairs after one working day. Details of the MP3 Player:> * Product Description: IRiver H320 - digital AV player * Device Type: Digital AV player * Key Features: Digital audio player, voice recorder, digital photo viewer, external HDD function, FM tuner * Hard Drive: 20 GB * Display Type: 2" TFT * Supported Still Images Formats: BMP, JPEG * Supported Audio Formats: WAV, WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, MP3 * Radio System: 87.5 - 108 MHz * External Control Devices: Remote control * PC Interfaces: Hi-Speed USB * Battery: Rechargeable - lithium polymer * Included Accessories: Stereo headphones, USB cable, AC adapter, audio cable, soft case * Dimensions (WxDxH): 6.2 cm x 10.3 cm x 2.3 cm * Weight: 186 g First impressions:> The first thing that stroke me when I opened the box, is how small the player actually, is I was expecting at least something the size of a brick, but it's just abit smaller than a mobile phone:)) The design and simplicity of the device is outstanding. It doesn't try to over complicate the thing with millions of buttons, but 7 that control the whole device. You hold down 1 button to get to the players main controls and you hold down another button to get to the players features, such as the radio. There is a 'lock' button on the right hand side of the device, to stop you from accidentaly hitting any of the buttons while its in your pocket. The screen is roughly 2" and has such a great depth of colour, it actually suprised me when I turned the device on. Features:> The thing that really made me choose this mp3 player over the rest, was a few of its features, such as the radio & being able to record it, the in built microphone, the text viewer and the image browser. I wasn't holding much hope for the quality of the inbuilt microphone, but after several tests, I was really supprised at the quality. The sound files are stored in a directory on the mp3 player and can be listened to at any time. One of the great features of the mp3 player, is it's radio. Most mp3 players, don't have this feature and being able to record directly from the radio is an excellent feature. There's nothing oustanding about the radio, just a simple tuner. While recording from the radio to the mp3 player's interal hard disk, there was slight intefearance, but nothing to moan about. The Picture viewer was excellent, and opened many of my large 3MB bmp images in a few seconds. There is a preview feature available, that lets you view upto 4 images on the screen at a time, and then skip through them. A handy niffty feature which I only discovered it had after I got the device, was the text vier. It's capable of reading .txt files (only), and displays the text rather well. It adds a whole new level to an mp3 player and feels more like a PDA. I'm now able to download an E-book and read it in my lunch break in work:)) Sound Quality & Battery Life> The MP3 Player comes with it's own set of earphones, which I thought were rather good. The MP3 player and headphones pump up enough bass to satisfy my thirst for bass and thats rather hard for someone who listens to trance. The earphones fit comftarbly, but don't totally enter the ear. I'm able to turn the volume nearly all the way, without hearing any distortion or cracking. The iRiver comes loaded with 5 EQs, a user EQ (so you can adjust it yourself), U. Bass, TruBass, SRS and WOW. The battery life is stated at lasting upto 16hours. I found with slight image viewing and the occasional fiddle around, while listening to music, the player lasted about 12hours, which is fine. If I just listened to music, I think it would last 16hours. One rather good feature I liked, was the fact that you could charge the MP3 Player via USB. Which is rather useful if your always next to your pc and dont have a spare plug socket. Final View:> At first, contemplating spending ?230 on something that replaced my mini disc, was absurd, but after using it, I can safely say I don't regret wasting a weeks wages on the little thing. If your always listening to music at work, or on the go, then I would defiantly suggest this mp3 player. It has all the best features of every other mp3 player and then some. Please don't waste you hard earned cash on the Ipopular, I mean Ipo;);) Get something that really does shine in the MP3 Player market, get the iRiver 32:D:D More reviews: http://www.stand-alone.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 Nice review man, its good to see some iRivers lovers on neowin :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HT2791 Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 hey, have you tried playing videos on it? i hear that its pretty good, although sometimes u have to fast forward to make the vid catch up to the audio. make sure u change ur firmware to .. uh.. 1.27 .. i think.. idk. have fun, i envy u. i ahve the H10[5gig] www.mistriver.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 1.28 is the latest, the videos are ok, but Rokbox are hopefully going to make the fps 25 instead of 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konefku Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Very accurate review, I myself own a h340 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turkishdelight Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 Good review (Y) I was considering an iRiver or a Zen Micro. Looks like the iRiver is at least as good as the Zen Micro, though I don't regret my purchase so much as if I'd bought an iPod ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Eighty Eighth Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 1.28 is the latest, the videos are ok, but Rokbox are hopefully going to make the fps 25 instead of 10 586310426[/snapback] i doubt that's possible - it's a hardware restriction (the iRiver's processer limiting its to display a maximum of 10fps) though it's only my guess. who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 They said its possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HT2791 Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 my bad, it is 1.28k. its been awhile since iriver released another firmware, right? =/ it seems rockbox is doing well with the iRiver H1xx series Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runsmoove Posted August 6, 2005 Author Share Posted August 6, 2005 I never knew you could play videos on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxondale. Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 It was never intended but since the new firmware, i think the last 3, you can play videos. Rockbox are still working on the H1xx series, and thats why we wont see the H3xx series done for a while now. Human Traffic: Download this - http://iriverter.sourceforge.net/ and that converts the video for you. Try and convert cartoons, as they work the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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