iRiver T30 (512MB, silver)

CNET Editors' Rating

3.5 stars
    Overall score: 7.3 (3.5 stars)

Very good

Average User Rating

19 reviews

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iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - overview iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - front iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - sides iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - back
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  • iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - overview
  • iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - front
  • iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - sides
  • iRiver T30 (512MB, silver) - back

CNET Editors' Review

CNET Editors' Rating

3.5 stars Very good
    Overall score: 7.3 (3.5 stars)
  • Reviewed by: John Frederick Moore
  • Reviewed on:
Edited by: Jasmine France

The good: Supports subscription WMA files; small and light; solid audio quality; voice and line-in recording.

The bad: No FM radio; occasional glitches in playing subscription downloads.

The bottom line: The T30 is a basic player by iRiver standards, but Janus support makes it an attractive flash-based device.

Review: Although they're often considered well designed and comprehensive, iRiver's digital music players can also be somewhat complicated. By the company's standards, the 512MB T30 is rather straightforward both in appearance and operation. The big attractions for this streamlined version of the iRiver T10 is its support of subscription music downloads and its price. The 512MB version retails for $100, and the 1GB version is available for $150.

At 2.4 by 1.2 by 1.9 inches and weighing 1 ounce, the iRiver T30 is ideal for using while working out. Slip it into a shirt pocket, ... Expand full review

Although they're often considered well designed and comprehensive, iRiver's digital music players can also be somewhat complicated. By the company's standards, the 512MB T30 is rather straightforward both in appearance and operation. The big attractions for this streamlined version of the iRiver T10 is its support of subscription music downloads and its price. The 512MB version retails for $100, and the 1GB version is available for $150.

At 2.4 by 1.2 by 1.9 inches and weighing 1 ounce, the iRiver T30 is ideal for using while working out. Slip it into a shirt pocket, and you'll hardly notice it's there. The dull black and silver plastic case of our 512MB test model isn't particularly striking--the 1GB version is a little more stunning in red--and the player lacks the joystick controls found on other flash-based iRiver devices. But the T30's simplicity will appeal to MP3 novices.

The most common compliant regarding iRiver's players has been the abstruse, techie user interface. Operating the T30, however, is fairly straightforward: Press and hold the Menu button to access the Browser (the music directory), the recording settings, and the system settings. Some users, though, will still balk at having to decode the process of setting up shuffle/repeat modes.

The iRiver T30 plays MP3, OGG, and DRM-protected WMA files, including those downloaded from subscription services such as Napster To Go and Yahoo Music Unlimited. Although we had no trouble transferring Janus files using Napster and Windows Media Player, we experienced occasional dropouts during playback of those tracks. The company just released some Janus-related firmware, however, which may address this problem; it explicitly applies to Rhapsody To Go content.

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Average User Rating

3.0 stars out of 19 user reviews

Rating Breakdown

  • 5 star: 5
  • 4 star: 8
  • 3 star: 1
  • 2 star: 4
  • 1 star: 1

My Rating

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Most Helpful User Review

4.5 stars 16 of 17 users found this review helpful

"I compared Ipod Shuffle/Creative Zen Nano and iRiver T30 side by side" By Jimro

Pros Superb Sound, size, SRS WOW

Cons Doesn't come with a case

Summary couldn't find any posting of side by side comparisons of these three
units...so already owning a Ipod Shuffle, I purchased both a Creative
Zen Nano Plus and an IRiver T30. I loaded the same song files into all
three so that the comparison would be valid. I used


... Expand full review

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Specifications

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Quick Specs

  • Digital Storage / Capacity: 512 MB
  • Flash memory installed: 512 MB
  • Digital player supported digital audio standards: MP3 MPEG 2.5 Audio MPEG 2 Audio MPEG 1 Audio WMA ASF Ogg Vorbis

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