iRiver MP3 Players
Yawn, another DAP seeks to be the next iPod killer
Reigncom is a South Korean company that sells MP3 and mobile media devices under the name iRiver. Although both have been long time MP3 market players, competition between iRiver and Apple's iPod has only been as recent as the first quarter of 2005- when both companies entered each other's respective market space.
Previously, iRiver made MP3 players that used smaller yield flash ROM for storage. Apple's iPod is a higher capacity hard drive-based MP3 player. Now the real struggle begins with Apple releasing the iPod shuffle, its own miniature flash ROM based MP3 player. At the same time iRiver released their H10 line of hard drive based MP3 players- a model with exactly 20Gigs of storage aimed directly at iPod's place in the MP3 player market.
As iRiver seeks to be the next iPod killer with a feature rich line of MP3 players, they've succeeded in producing some sleek looking devices. The H10 is available in four colors: red, grey, blue and silver. The 20 gig line retails at the same price as the iPod 20 gig (currently $299), but tries to tip the balance in their favor by adding a couple of extras. The H10 includes an image viewer so you can look at pictures through its 1.5 inch color LCD display. The device also includes an FM radio just in case you get sick of the thousands of MP3s stored on the H10's 20 gig drive. Yeah right!
The iRiver missed the mark on the 20-GB model by not including a removable battery- a feature included on the 5-GB H10 model. Forget the FM radio; a removable battery would make the 20 gig H10 a true iPod killer. The shelf life for non-replaceable lithium ion batteries is infamous- about 2 years and the device is landfill. A removable/replaceable battery should be a bigger priority than charge time which is probably why iRiver abandoned the removable battery in the 20-GB model. The 5-GB model had problems keeping the promised 15 hour charge which was more like 10 hours in the real world.
iRiver has a complete line of "ultra portable" MP3 players. By ultra portable iRiver means these things are tiny, keychain sized MP3 players- the norm for smaller Rom storage players. The T-30 is a 512 MB device with a slick indigo display that shows basic information about the file being played. It runs for $99 and takes AAA batteries. Using low bit MP3s you can pack about 17 hours of music on board.
The N10 is another 512 MB iRiver MP3 player designed to be a wearable piece of jewelry. This one is black and silver with a deep blue LCD display. The piece can hang from a necklace with discreet lines to ear-bud style headphones. The N10 is attractive, but the lack of flexibility in its choice of headphones is certainly a drawback.
iRiver is one of the top players in the MP3 and media player market. If you're shopping for an MP3 player, iRiver is trying hard to get your attention with extra features not offered by iPod.