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- My rating: 0 stars
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15 out of 24 people found this review helpful
0.5 stars
"Fatal flaws forced a quick return"
Pros: Meaningless in light of fatal flaws
Cons: Fast forward/rewind cause havoc
Summary: RE: The iRiver H10, 20GB mp3 player/recorder. Purchased 5/29/05. Returned 5/30/05.
The pros: it has a metal case and is heavy. These 2 qualities have always symbolized high quality. Even the blue color is a beautiful, deep color that?s not going to come off if a fingernail scrapes against it. The case even resists fingerprints. The materials and design of the case itself are, well, perfect. Esthetically, it?s perfect. I think even the crystal covering the screen is the same material used on expensive watches. In that regard this thing should be on display at MOMA (Musuem of Modern Art), and deserves respect. Hold the unit in your hand, even turned off, and you could just stare at the thing.
But, and I do mean but. Where do I begin? First, this device makes me rethink the whole concept of ?portability?, that just because something is small, it?s portable. Because this thing is definitely small, and will fit in your pocket, in fact appears to be designed to be portable, but, sorry, it is definitely not portable ? keep it at home on a table, where you?ll need to be to use it.
The design of this device is seriously flawed. Serious enough to cause a health hazard under some circumstances. Because by touch alone, it?s impossible to operate. I did not say difficult, I said impossible. But this is what people need to be able to do when they?re driving, jogging, biking, etc. (Warning, do not use this when biking.) You WANT buttons to stick out a little, to be distinguishable from other controls or the main case. In fact, to operate this thing, one must sit down, pick it up and VERY carefully push the right buttons or operate the slider. This greatly diminishes the utility, and portability, of the device. Half the time I was sliding my finger downward on the slider, the scrolling effect was upward! The buttons, all of them, are so flush with the main case, and small, they?re basically impossible to locate by touch alone. And the text on the screen is simply too small to decipher if one is doing anything else, such as running, driving, god forbid operating heavy machinery.
Here are some particular complaints, which you may agree are siginificant: You can?t delete files. I consider that to be an out and out defect.
The device receives FM, and will even record FM. It can even be programmed to record FM at a certain time, for up to 255 minutes in a single session (although the unit itself can store over 336 hours of recorded music, at the higher of 2 quality settings). That?s impressive. So let?s say I?ve recorded the H. Stern show, which lasts 4 hours. This thing will actually record and store 96 shows in their entirety. It records an entire 4 hour show as a single track. Now, evidently, the device is basically designed to play back tracks from the beginning of the track. But when I?m playing back a recorded show in my car, and get to where I?m going, I want to be able to leave and come back and start listening again at the point it last left off. Does this make sense? But since the unit always wants to restart the show from the beginning, I can?t do this. And I?m not keeping track, mentally, at what part of the show I last stopped listening, so even the ability to fast forward would not be helpful. So this is a serious problem. There?s another, more idiosyncratic problem with the fast forward/rewind function, when playing back long recordings (and even regular music tracks) that is quite honestly nerve racking and reason enough to make this thing unusable: You have to keep the button pressed down ? if you slip and end up pressing the button for just a second (such as might occur when you?re running your fingers along the edge, feeling for the feather-touch buttons) the track suddenly starts playing back from the beginning! THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM!!! When I?m in my car, somewhere in the middle of a 4 hour H. Stern track, in the dark, and I want to fast forward through 15 minutes of commercials, and I don?t know exactly, or even generally, at what point in the show I am, I don?t want to suddenly be at the beginning of the show because my finger wasn?t pressing the button the right way!!!!! In fact, it should be IMPOSSIBLE to suddenly go to the beginning or end of very long recordings, unless the user specifically wants this to happen. The fact that this is LIKELY to happen at a time when it is least desireable is simply and comletely unacceptable. It is a *serious* design flaw. One doesn?t need a long list of design flaws to avoid buying something, all you need is one, and this may be it. IRiver gives me the ability to make long recordings - they need to give me the ability to play these recordings back in a reasonable time frame.
I don?t have any of these problems with my cassette tapes. Good ole, reliable analog!
This is either a problem or just irritating, you decide: the title assigned by the device to FM tuner recordings looks like Tuner050528003,mps (imagine small, hard to read text) which can?t be edited. Try looking for that from a list of similar titles while driving in heavy traffic. Or in the comfort of your living room, what?s the difference? Why not just display this information so it?s more readable, like May 28, 2005 #3, which is what it means. This actually takes up less space, and is obviously more meaningful, especially in light of the tiny text size, where the legibililty issue only compounds the problem of interpreting this ?code?.
Would you spend $315 for this?
Some notes on sound quality: the quailty of the voice on a radio program I tested seemed OK, at the higher bit rate. And the preloaded music iRiver supplied was just fine, comparable to the FM reception, which is fine in my area. Some FM stereo music I recorded at the higher quality was, surprisingly, jumpy for the first 30 seconds. Ouch. It also has about 30 equalization presets (all mostly the same) plus an overly fussy 5-band graphic equalizer. But the shortcomings I described are way too critical to be compensated for by the cool graphics on the sharp, colorful display.
Another problem with sound: the line-in/line-out cable needs to be purchased separately. When you?re paying this much for something, everything should be included, and something as mundane as playback on a car stereo shouldn?t require the purchase of ?special equipment?. I tried one of those FM transmitters in my car, which I happened to have already, and the degradation in sound quality was simply horrible, not to mention introduces static and other noise. In theory one may use one of those cassettes that have a wire coming out the side that sticks into the headphone jack, but please, more wires? Let?s everybody have a reality check: sound equipment needs to be built into the dash if you want high fidelity sound and to travel safely, without fussing with wires, batteries, and constant repositioning of the device to avoid static.
This device (nor possibly any MP3 device) is simply not a solution to any problem I?m aware of, nor is it fun, ultimately, to use. Long live analog!
iRiver. Who? I?ll stick with Sony.
- 8 replies to this review
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Pros great sound quality. Great headphones. Great screen and good size.
Cons - The fast forward and rewind are so slow it makes jumping to a certain spot on your recording almost impossible. If you hit the fast foward or rewind button by accident your recording starts from the very beginning again. I've had to make certain it is locked all the time to prevent the buttons being hit by accident. The buttons are very hard to use as they are indented into the case and don't stick out enough to be easy to use. You also cannot delete songs or any recordings on the unit itself, you have to go to our favorite, windows to delete and sync up. It makes it very difficult to keep track of stuff if you don't like to use windows all the time.
Great machine but the flaws are serious enough to make it less than enjoyable to use. -
Thank you very much for taking the time to write a very comprehensive review. I usually look at a products' naysayers carefully before I buy any product. If all people do is blow smoke on a product, you'll never get to know it as well.
Even though I do not have the same requirements in an MP3 as you (I almost never record radio), your comments enlightened me to some of the products flaws. Keep up the good reviews, saves us all a lot of time and hassle! -
Do you seriously try to operate this thing, and switch back & forth from songs while you're driving? Are you really that ignorant? Tell me, do you try operating your cellular phone while driving as well? I find it so irritating that you would criticize a piece of electronic equipment while doing something that requires your attention (you know, the ROAD).
The iRiver (or any MP3 player, for that matter) isn't MEANT to be used while driving, by the driver. That is what the radio/built in CD player/Cassette player is for. Duh?
Yes, I do posess the iRiver H10 20GB, and I find it to be PERFECTLY useful. I have never once tried to operate this thing while I am driving, and therefore have no problems - that might be why I find it so useful?? And no, I didn't pay $315 for it. My parents paid $175 for it, as my graduation gift.
As for the buttons... Do you not realize there is a "lock" button on the top of the player that you can slide over? This will prevent the accidental pressing of buttons or usage of the slider. You can change the settings of the slider - so you can adjust the speed of how fast it slides (that would be under "settings" on the main menu)..
That is all. -
I have an iriver and I never had a problem with it. Just because you dont no how to use it, dont blame it on iriver. And did you ever see the looks of sony's mp3 players 1. There Ugly and 2 they hardly make any mabye 1 or 2.Iriver is way better than any mp3 player I had everything before the iriver and the iriver is way better. I had Mp3 players mp4 players flash players ipods and you no where they are? On EBAY.
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*** are you smokin or something??? this works fine and u can delete files u dont kno what ur talkin bout PPL READ THE OTHER REVIEWS!
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I think you are expecting too much from the player. firstly i have never had a single problem with the controller. I would say if you are running and trying to use the claimed 'best' mp3 player the IPOD, you could not use the jog dial while jogging. it is common sense. why would you be using an mp3 player while using heave machinery? if you wanted a sporting mp3 player then u get a sporting mp3 player.
FM transmitter. this problem of yours is purely your fault. the quality of sound which comes out of the player is the quality it will stay at all the time. when you use this fm transmitter thing. IT is degrading the quality of the mp3 player. you do realise that it is converting the audio signal to an fm transmission? digital to anaglogue?
I think its fair enough you posted your opinions but you kept saying it was impossible to use, this should be re-written as "I found it impossible to use" "I can't use it while doing this or that" i don't think you can do this while doing that". instead of stating that it is thw worst player ladida. maybe mp3 players arn't meant for you. go back to the old cassete player which is 5 times bigger, less quality, lower quality sound output, louder to use, and overall worth its cheapness and unportability.
I have had numerous mp3 players, ranging fromt he h10 6gb, h10 20gb, ipod nano, toshiba gigabeat. all of the were hard to get used to. ipod to me was the easiest cos it had the least things to do. it was far too simple for me. toshiba was great. great screen, did take a while to get used to, some annoying features but a great mp3 player. yet it got low scores. the h10 is the best out of all these, it felt right, worked the right way, easy to use, worked with the computer great, played my songs, showed my photos (useless feature for me, i just like the color screen for playback and navigation)
in conclusion, i think your opinion is great but untrue to the device you are talking about, the problems you encountered are because of what your doign to it. You will find it hard using any mp3 player while jogging, running, operating heave machinery(which is the most stupid thing you could be doing with an mp3 player as most heavy machinery is so load you need ear muffs.("Heaven forbib"!!!!))
and as for the fm transmitter comments, it seems you don't know what your talking about, if you do then you would tell people not to buy the brand of fm transmitter you have, as it is obviously not good and probably cheap.
NOT PORTABLE? how small are your pockets? scared of lifting somethign that ways less that a can of coke? man go to gym! get pants with biger pockets!
As for your comments on not finding the controls in the dark, the touch sensative control is the one that is in the middle of the device below the screen, you know? that big crevice? and the buttons are just above it, to the left and right? GEEZ so hard to remember. now i can understand how difficault it is to find it. sorry they are not protruding 1 cm out of the device like your cassete player. i sereously think something is wrong with your fingers if you cannot find the buttons let alone use them.
You returned a great device because you couldn't know how to use back to front in one day. how stupid can you get. Im sorry but there is not mp3 player out there for you ever. with more features comes bigger menus.
Stick with your cassete player. obviously technology is moving faster than you can keep up. or your just old fashioned. -
Actually some of the things you stated couldn't be done can be done. First of all, you can delete files, just not directly from the player. You can also rename the recordings through the PC if you know what you are doing.
I have absolutely no problem with the navigation, it took me no time to master. I love my iRiver H10. Maybe your device was just defective because I never had a problem with the scroller.
I've had mine for a while now and it still stands as my favorite toy. -
being an iriver owner i have to say that most of what he is saying is completely true. the only party i can disagree with is that i think the navigations ok. i don't know how you are going to change artists or genre's while working anyways so sticking with the next/previous track buttons should be fine. i don't find those buttons to be very hard to use. the touchpad was probably to compete with ipod and it doesn't work nearly as well as it should. i stick with tapping the up and down or holding it for a scroll.
Where to buy
iRiver H10 (20GB, Remix Blue):
$362.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$362.99 | See Site |
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