iRiver U10 (512MB)
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"iRiver U10 - Very Satisfied with Minor Concessions" on by KK4069
Pros: Superior sound quality, Design and interface is best of breed, Video capability in a flash player, Unique interface works well in car, Cool factor
Cons: The small capacity limits the many features of the U10
Summary: My ultimate goals were to purchase a high-quality player that would be a compact companion for taking music and other media with me for use in the car, workouts, on flights. I’m not a fan of products that are “closed” and limit the types of files that can be used with a device… in other words I was not shopping for an ipod. Though not shopping for an ipod, I did want a device that made a statement (yes, I’m a closet narcissistic techno-snob). I had no significant manufacturer preference, though I preferred to purchase from a leading company, with my initial brand preferences being for Creative. This is a premium device and it will always be more expensive than bargain devices with standard interfaces. With that said, the U10 offers a design and cool factor that can’t be matched by any other device right now.
USER INTERFACE
The iRiver's user interface is extremely well designed and novel in that it allows the entire front of the device to be used for the screen display and not needing space for a click-wheel slider or other mechanism. In my opinion, the iRiver U10 is the first “click-wheel killer.” As video playback becomes more common, larger screen sizes will be a necessity. Devices that maximize screen size over navigation will have a distinct advantage in maintaining a portable size. Other manufacturers will inevitably shift to adopt U10-esque interfaces as video becomes a common feature for mobile devices, otherwise their devices will be twice the size of U10 style devices with the same screen size.
By clicking the edges of the screen and following the arrow prompts added to the menus, the U10 is a very satisfying way of navigating through menus, songs, etc. This interface is simple, and it is a little hard to place into words why this interface is so pleasing. Another manufacture could probably have done something similar, but cut costs and the result would not have been the same.
The U10 interface is extremely well-suited for operation while driving. Every option to navigate menus, play songs, and switching between video, audio and other modes can be done through controls on the front of the device with one hand.
FEATURES
The U10 includes a wide variety of features, I only use the video and music playback. Sound quality is excellent and definitely what would be expected for a device in this price range. I found the video quality to be perfectly acceptable given the screen size. This device is not expected to replace personal video devices (PMPs), so any comments that detract from this feature for the size of the screen or frame rate, should be discounted. The U10 is an extremely small device that does play video, enough said. I’ve found with animae or cartoons, you can even relax the frames per second to get an even smaller file size without any perceptible affects on quality. SHAME ON IRIVER FOR NOT INCLUDING VIDEO CONVERSION SOFTWARE. This is completely unacceptable for a manufacturer selling in the US market. With this said, it only took me 30 minutes to Google U10 and video to find an open source video conversion tool, learn the tool, and convert a video that worked on the U10. For more info, search for irviverter. You’ll also want to find a tutorial for using this and the video specs for the U10.
All other features worked as expected, I would defer to other reviewers who have devoted more time to the FM tuner, recorder, etc.
CONCESSIONS
The U10 is a premium device and you definitely pay for it. If you are only shopping for storage space and price, this is not the device for you. Fortunately, other than memory size, the other features are what would be expected for a high quality device. I purchased the 512 version, which was the concession that I made for the user interface and other features. I agree with the other negative opinions on the U10, anyone who purchases a $200 device with only 512 of space should have their head examined. This is an extremely sore spot with me and this device, but in actuality it is a liveable decision given my needs. 512 is enough space for music and 2 hours of video to cover a plane ride. Anything less would be even more ludicrous. The U10 and all other microdrive devices aren’t designed for housing an entire music collection and realistically, you are going to have to transfer files onto and off of most devices under 20-30 gigs. Given this, you’ll have to transfer files much more frequently with the U10. This was an acceptable tradeoff in my case. At the time of purchase the 1gb device was pretty much unavailable, though I think the issues of storage and transferring files would still be about the same. I’d rather put the 50 bucks towards the next big thing.
CONCLUSION
The iRiver U10 makes Gigabeats, Zen Sleeks, ipods, and other large capacity mp3 players look like TI85 calculators and as uncool as diskmen. There is a cool-factor that this device has which no other device can match right now. As a drawback you definitely sacrifice for the lack of storage space with this device. Even with the drawback for lack of storage space, I would highly recommend this device and would purchase it again. iRiver plans to redesign all of their mp3 players into the U10 design and style, and if you aren’t in a hurry, you might want to wait until these other products are released. -
"The best in function and feature...out performes the iPod" on by jasonbeckett
Pros: Good size display(for the unit size), easy to use interface, packed with features
Cons: EXPENSIVE! expensive, expensive
Summary: It is completely reasonable for people to compare compact media players to the iPod and suggest that they may be better. As we all know, iPod rules on the mp3 front...but I suspect that a majority of the iPod users are actually PC users as well. With that in mind, you must admit, the new iRIVER is a possible iPod killer for the PC users.
This is a great device. It features everything you want in a portable media player and then some. Long before the iPod Video, iRiver was giving us video, pictures, radio and more in one device. The new U10 is the culmination of a great concept.
The user interface is equal (if not better than) the iPod disk because the unit can have a larger display without making room for clumsy buttons. The speed of the device is great and it seamlessly transitions from one function to the other.
The learning curve to control the unit is very short and most people will be using this player right out of the box. Although the iPod enjoys a nearly endless supply of accessories, the new U10 has some great options that expand the uses of the device including the clock dock and controller.
In the end, the devout iPod users will never think anything could unseat their beloved media player. But for the rest of us...the iRiver is a real contender. Just using it once is enough to convince you that this is a real cool device with a ton of features and just may win back all the PC users who jumped to the iPod.
Many people don't seem to realize how small this unit really is...
When I originally posted my comments on this product I assumed that everyone realized how tiny this product was in dimensions (2.7in x1.8in). It is smaller than the iPod NANO (which is way longer) and I think more substantial to work with. I don’t feel like I’m going to break it if I put it in my pocket or in my bag (I can’t say the same for the iPod).
I can’t over emphasize what a great device this is! The user interface is great and easy to use. The 2.2in screen fills most of the actual unit so you don’t feel like there is a bunch of wasted space on the unit.
For those who complain about the size…1gb is plenty for this type of player (after all, this is not a music archive device, it’s a player). The price is in line with iPod and the unit is a definite competitor. I don’t think people give this unit its due because iRiver have been terrible at promoting it.
On the whole, I still love this unit and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an awesome MP3 player and easy potable video player. -
"Mhhh not quite" on by rleibman
Pros: Very pretty.
Cons: bad ogg support, wmp required
Summary: OK, I got one of these from my wife for Christmas. Here's what I see:
Good:
- Very Pretty
- Seems to sound good, though I have nothing to compare it to.
- Plays ogg (ok, kind of, see below)
Bad:
- IRiver advertises that it plays ogg files. It does, but you don't put them into the player in the same way as you do MP3's, and you can't have all of the things with ogg that you should be able to (ordering by title, genre, author, etc). I had to call Tech support to figure out how to add them to the device
- Forces users to use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Media Player. I have not (and have spent considerable time) been able to make it work under Linux or Mac OSX. The device should simply show up as a USB storage device: it doesn't. This is a serious drawback
- The headphones that come with the device are even more of a joke that you expect. For a device this expensive you expect a bit better. It is nearly impossible to keep them in your ear without surgery.
- The interface is not the best. When you pause the device for more than a few seconds you have to reboot it in order to get back to where you were, about a minute.
- It's capacity is somewhat small for the price. Not a big concern for me (It has enough capacity for audio, which is the primary function for which I'll use it) but video may be a different thing.
- There's no way to upgrade its capacity to take advantage of falling prices in memory. This is very unfriendly.
- Tech support is spotty
Fortunately for iriver some of these are fixable by firmware, so I hope they read this review.
I'll likely keep it because it sort of does what I want it to, but barely and in a half- assed way. -
"Amazing, but short on compatibility" on by Savvy88
Pros: Awesome design, great feature set
Cons: Poor compatibility - WinXP ONLY
Summary: iRiver has made a very cool multi-format media player, but it has a crippling compatibility problem. The Pros: The design is very sleek and almost the entire top surface is used for the brilliant color screen. It is a very cool looking player with good sound, innovative design and a brilliantly clear screen. It even lets you read text files (reading PDFs would be better, but the text display could make it useful for business travel) and play flash games. The Con: It is only compatible with Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Media Player. If you use a different version of Windows or if you use Mac or Linux this player won't work at all for you. After researching online I found that there is no firmware update that can fix this problem. iRiver is shipping only crippled MTP versions of the U10 to North America and Europe; the fully functional UMS version is only available in Korea and certain other countries. Apparently iRiver is now doing this with all their T and U products distributed in North America and Europe. I don't want to be tied to Microsoft software and don't want the risk of my player and music files becoming obsolete with the next wave of software updates or DRM technology. Unfortunately I only discovered this compatibility problem after purchasing. I have since bought a Cowon iAudio and absolutely love my iAudio. The iRiver U10 is very cool and I hope the compatibility problem is fixed.
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"Creatively Yours" on by ryan.g.jones
Pros: built-in radio, set your own background, and alarm
Cons: slight delay when returning from idle, holder not included
Summary: This compact player offers a fair number of features compared to its counterparts. With the ability to load your own backgrounds, an alarm clock, and built in radio it's ready to travel and keep you entertained. The real drawback is the lack of ascessories. In the end, the real bang will come in the novelty of being the first of your friends to show it off.
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