iRiver iFP-899 (1GB)

Summary: I purchased this MP3 Player after looking at iPods and other brand players. I initially picked this one because of price ($199) for the size (1GB) and the battery type (single AA that lasts 40 hours instead of rechargable battery that needs to be charged via USB port).

What I got was a powerful tool that has overcome every obstacle I have thrown at it. YES the menu is hard to learn but that's because it is does SO MUCH.

The desktop software for both MAC and PC are easy to use and intuitive. I found it easy to use for loading the player with songs and files from my computers (both MAC and PC).

The battery lasts a good long time 30+ hours but uses more battery when recording using the mic or inline port.

I bought this before I went on a cruise and loaded it up with songs and about fifteen 25minute talks by speaker that my wife and I wanted to listen to while relaxing on vacation. With 1GB of space I have still got over 40% of my free space left.

MY FAVORITE FEATURE. I got frustrated when I purchased a bunch of files from iTunes and they all arrived as MP4 files instead of MP3 files. Found lots of links on internet on how to convert these but none seemed to work. Basically if it's MP4 (basically a protected MP format) you can't load them onto MP3 players. This is where the iRiver SHINES. At first I was frustrated when I had about 20 files on my desktop that I could get to player and I was leaving the next day!!!! That's when I remembered that the iRiver has an Line In plug and cable (included). I simply plugged the iRiver to my headphone jack on my computer and started playing my MP3 files on my desktop. I set the iRiver up to record from Line In port and got them right onto the MP3 player. The iRiver to be able to "sync" with "dead air" which allows it to automatically record one song after another to seperate files each time it recognizes that a song has stopped. The music still sounds great and it was so easy.

On the cruise, I also used it to record the comedian who appeared (o.k. probably not legal but I wanted to test the built-in mic). This worked great!!

Basically you can load the player via USB, internal mic, external sounds via Line In plug (which could be a microphone) and finally straight from FM radio (more below).

O.k. I have little kids who like a favorite kids radio program that plays every Saturday moring for 1/2 hour on local FM station. I have set my iRiver to record from 8:00-8:30 every Saturday and have collected all these programs for my kids to listen to... either on the MP3 player or off my desktop or off CDs that I can burn if I want to.

The many menus on the iRiver let you adjust all sorts of input levels for all the different ways to record or loud files/songs. You can shut the thing off and it always comes back to where you left off.

I love this MP3 player. It does everything I could ask and once loaded can go anywhere without having to worry about having a special battery (uses regular AA battery) or finding a USB port to recharge.

I can find nothing negative about this computer except the fact that it does so much that it's hard to figure out all it can do in just 1 day.

I highly recommend this player.