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"Very Good Player Perfect for Sports But Not Without a Few Minor Flaws" on by Ebola27
Pros: Light Weight and Fairly Easy to Use With a GREAT Battery Life
Cons: Carrying Case, Windows Media Player 10 Issues and the iRiver Music Manager Software Isn't Very Good
Summary: The IFP-799 is a very good player for anyone who is new to MP3 and doesn't want/need a hard-drive player or for those who just want a light weight device for sports/exercise. The size and weight allow it to fit comfortably in a pants pocket, and iRiver also includes a lanyard for around the neck if one doesn't have or doesn't want to use a pocket. One of my favorite things is the battery-life. iRiver claims to get 40 hours out of one battery. Surprisingly that is very close to what I get and what CNET got when they tested the iFP-790.
The sound from the player is excellent, even better when you optimize the settings for the type of music you're listening to (you do this by changing the Equalization settings - see the manual). Although the included set is not too bad, it's probably a good idea to invest in a quality set of head-phones.
The menu system can be a little tricky to figure out at first, so I suggest getting a free PDF copy of the user manual from the iRiver website before you get the player so you can start using it right away. Once you've read the manual and played around a little with the unit itself you won't have any problems.
The only negatives I've noticed so far are the supplied carrying case, the player's connectivity with Windows Media Player 10 and the iRiver Music Manager Software. The carrying case always slips and slides covering up the toggle switch, and, if the hold button is not on, hitting stop or one of the other function keys. A new case (one which includes a decent arm-band and belt-clip) is absolutely essential! A really good one can be purchased from Amazon or any of the companies listed under the "Where to Buy" tab above. I didn't find them listed at the iRiver site, even though they carry the iRiver logo.
My biggest issue is with Windows Media Player 10 (WMP 10). After installing the included drivers the unit is recognized by WMP 10 and I am able to load songs with it. However, when I have WMP 10 automatically index (create folders) by artist/album/song it causes the program to crash. I've had to create my own folders; it's easy to do but time-consuming. I haven't been able to find a fix for this problem with either Microsoft or iRiver. The player still doesn't show up as a drive letter either - so no easy drag and drop of files (this can be done using the iRiver Music Manager Software).
Finally, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, iRiver's included music manager is not too good. You use it to drag and drop music files onto the player. This can be time-consuming because you have to search where they're stored on your computer and they are not always indexed well depending on the music program you use. Finally, although I haven't played with it all that much it looks like you still have to create your own folders (but you may be able to and I just haven't found it yet).
On the whole this is a very good player and one that I recommend to anyone who wants a relatively cheap player that has a lot of features that are relatively easy to use with a good capacity! The Windows Media Player and iRiver Music Manager issues I have are really not a problem for the casual user who just wants to listen to music and who doesn't care about indexing - so this shouldn't be a reason not to buy. -
"Lots of features, but with some glaring flaws" on
Pros: [1] Plenty of features, [2] support for USB 2.0 (fast transfers), [3] long battery life, [4] small and light
Cons: [1] The biggest flaw for me is that this device is not automatically recognized as a removable hard disk by Windows 2000 or XP. You have to install the iRiver drivers and software tools to transfer music files to the player. The software only works from
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"Super Recorder" on by Visualdude
Pros: External audio recording even from external mic;Good readability; decent controls;Good size
Cons: menu a little difficult to learn; cases are hard to get unit into; does not function as external drive
Summary: I bought this unit specifically because it outshines all others that I read about with external recording capabilities. The clincher was it's ability to adjust recording levels of the external source. I liked that the mp3 encoding rate for the voice recording option was adjustable and that it will allow the external signal to be line or mic level. The management software was quite usable and even let's you program the FM tuner presets. I bought this 3 days ago, and there was a firmware upgrade to enhance current functions and add a new one. The size of the unit is such that you won't quickly loose it, but slips into a pocket comfortably.
I will be using the unit to record live sound for CD burning and web publishing, which I had been doing by converting tape to digital audio via computer. -
"Perfect Little Tool" on by dignityy
Pros: Size, battery Life!!!,Cool looks,Full Flash Drive capabilities
Cons: Thorw the stock headphones away
Summary: At first I was disappointed that the player would not show up as a removable harddrive in windows and that the player was loaded with copyright protection software....bahh! BUT, Iriver has listened to their customers and now has released a firmware update that changes the player to a FULLY functional USB drive, you can drag and drop to your hearts content...way to go iriver(see iriver.com for update). A 1GB flash drive is just awesome. The battery life is the best in the market, and I love that the battery is not internal, I can change the battery any time I want....perfect
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"Overall, a great player, but some significant issues with it..." on by ronenbn
Pros: Sound, looks, high quality producSound, looks, high quality production, amazing recorder, easy navigatingtion, amazing recorder, easy navigating
Cons: iRiver won't let you upload MP3 files from player to PC (!!) iRiver music manager is far from good, WAV files are not supported. Time stamp for recorded files is missing
Summary: Overall this is a great player. I would love getting a higher quality ear buds. Carrying case is nice but could be better.
However, the sound is great, recording (voice and line-in) is GREAT. There's one major issue with recording, though. You can set up the line-in / external mic to a mono (vs. stereo). However, it won't let you connect a mono plug into the line-in socket. You must plug in a stereo plug. This is negligence. Mono means that you can both record mono AND can connect using a mono-type plug...
The fact that recorded files do not get a date and time is also negligence. How difficult is it to do (once you have an internal clock...)??? So now I have to remember when I recorded and if I use the voice recorder often (which I do) - this does not support me!
I would love having a regular USB connector in the future. The unique connector forces me to have the cable with me all the time.
The fact that this is NOT a flash disk makes me angry. I was surprised. I think this due to the fact that iRiver had decided to play the good cup by not allowing me to move MP3 files from the player to the PC. Guys, this sucks! Do you really think this is what's going to keep people from copying files? Absolutely ridiculous idea.
Again, I love the sound, I love the way it looks, I love to use it and listen to my audio books with it. Other than that, all the small details are very important (to the iRiver dev' team)
Ronen Ben-Naftali
ISRARLUpdated
Hi all,
I've just learned that my iRiver CAN become a USB drive (what iRiver call UMS: USB Mass Storage device). You have to upgrade the firmware not by the regular firmware but the UMS firmware upgrade.
Besides all benefits, THE major downside is that, for some reason (that I cannot grasp, although they explain it) the player "cannot" act as a USB 2.0 anymore, and becomes USB 1.1 only. So you get your drive, but for an inferior x-fer rate...
Anyway, this is the link for the proper firmware dnld and explanations:
http://www.iriver.com/html/support/download/sudw_view.asp?searchProductIdx=35&searchCategoryIdx=1&searchString=&page=1&idx=623&tmpSearchProductIdx=&tmpSearchCategoryIdx=&tmpSearchString=
Their explanation is here:
http://www.iriver.com/html/support/faq/sufq_view.asp?searchString=&searchProductIdx=&page=1&idx=45
Enjoy
Ronen Ben-Naftali
ISRAELUpdated
After the recent changes / updates with concerning the USB Storage capabilities, I must update my rate to 8...
(can't do it in the major review, but still)
iRiver iFP-799 user reviews
Where to Buy
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