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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"iRiver U10 - Very Satisfied with Minor Concessions"
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.
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