CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 10/27/2004
- Released on: 08/03/2004
Controls flank the 3.5-inch TFT screen, which has a typical QVGA (320x240) resolution. To the left, there's a four-way control pad with a Select button in its center; below it are the power and record buttons. There's also a help button that brings up a control diagram--something you're likely to need quite often, unfortunately.
To the right of the screen you'll find four buttons: play/pause, Navi, A, and B. The last three are responsible for many of the PMP-120's navigation headaches--more on that later. Located along the bottom of the device is an audio-line-in/video-out jack, a TV/Hold/LCD switch, and a reset button (which requires a paper clip to press); along the top are a headphone jack and power connector. The TV/Hold/LCD switch presents another irritation: it protrudes, making it easy to switch accidentally.
The PMP-120 includes a pair of USB ports, one for the usual PC link and the other for connecting external devices such as digital cameras. There's also a small speaker just to the left of the screen; it's loud and clear enough for headphone-free viewing in a quiet area, but you'll definitely want to plug in when traveling in a car, a train, or a plane.
While we appreciate the PMP-120's attractive look and relative compactness, its interface needs work. Although it's a simple matter to access video, photo, music, and other modes from the icon-based main menu, navigation becomes a major pain once you're actually in one of those modes. The functions of the Navi, A, and B buttons change depending on what's happening onscreen and whether you press them quickly or hold them down. That's confusing enough; but certain other features are accessible only by holding down the Select button, then limited to certain screens. The aforementioned help button does provide context-sensitive instructions, but the fact remains that the buttons are poorly labeled and decidedly unintuitive. More often than not, we found ourselves extremely frustrated while using the PMP-120. That's entertainment?
Like all PVPs, the iRiver PMP-120 plays audio and video files. Like most, it can display BMP and JPEG images. Like only a few, it can record audio and receive FM radio stations. However, while it has a microphone for recording voice memos and a line-in jack for connecting from external sources, the PMP-120 can't record from its FM tuner--an odd shortcoming.As a video player, the PMP-120 supports DivX, XviD, and MPEG-4 formats--and comes with an easy-to-use Windows utility for converting existing video files--that is, everything except MPEG-2 and protected WMV files. The problem, as with many PVPs, is finding content you want to convert. Because the PMP-120 can't record video (as does the Archos AV420) or sync with Windows Media Player 10.0 (as does the Creative Zen Portable Media Center and other PMCs), you're left with a choice of recording shows on your TV-tuner-equipped PC, then converting them, downloading content from the Internet, or using third-party software to rip DVDs. The last two options are a time-consuming hassle, to say nothing of legality.
Once you get your content onto the PMP-120, you can watch it on the LCD or output it to a TV; the necessary RCA cable is included. However, because there's no wireless remote--iRiver supplies only an in-line one--the PMP-120 makes for a poor home-theater accoutrement. You can't pause a movie or skip to the next song in a playlist without walking over to the device.
The PMP-120 doesn't allow you to manually set bookmarks but does include an autoresume feature for videos. However, unlike its PMC sibling, it works for only one video at a time; if you switch to a second movie, then try to take up where you left off in your first one, the player fails to remember your spot--not too handy.
As with video, the PMP-120 has content issues when it comes to audio. Although it supports ASF, MP3, WAV, and WMA files, it won't play DRM-protected WMAs--meaning you can't listen to tunes purchased from online stores such as Musicmatch. Speaking of which, the PMP-120 doesn't support Microsoft's WMDM standard, so you can't use the likes of Musicmatch or Windows Media Player to synchronize your songs and playlists. In our tests, the player wasn't recognized by either program. iRiver should strongly consider a firmware patch to remedy this shortcoming.
The PMP-120 does support standard M3U playlists, and it's quite easy to build your own, right on the device; just press the Select button to highlight the desired files and/or folders, then press play. However, we had major problems retrieving playlists we'd created. For starters, each new playlist seemed to overwrite the previous one. And when we tried to play a saved playlist, nothing happened; it turns out you have to "load" it first--you can't just press Play, even though that's a menu option. The PMP-120's incomprehensible interface is largely to blame for all this confusion; it left us wanting to avoid playlists altogether.
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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 19 reviews
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"Quality player, but not without a few quirks. It really is a geeks device."
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Where to buy
iRiver PMP-120 (20GB):
$1,545.00
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$1,545.00 | Yes |
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