If you’re in the market for a little clip-on or not so clip-on MP3 player, our friends at Generation MP3 has prepared a comparison chart for us. The lightest is Samsung’s YP-S2, which is shaped like a pebble, and also ties the Zen Stone for cheapest at $39 for the 1GB. The priciest is the Mickey-inspired MPlayer fro a partnership between iRiver and Disney. The MPlayer costs $59 for the 1GB but not nearly as pricey as the original price of the iPhod Shuffle.
One can now purchase the iRiver E100, a rather capable PMP, for less than the announced price at online store Amazon and J&R. The 8GB, which was priced at around $200 is selling for $160 at Amazon, while the 4GB is selling for $110.
Unlike the other players iRiver released at CES, the E100 still uses the D-click navigation control and not the new SPINN technology. A video demo can be found here.
In my opinion, the colors available are better than the iPod Nano colors.
If you’re looking for a basic PMP with video playback and horizontal or landscape viewing, the E100 is good alternative to the iPod Nano. While the Nano is strictly an earpiece player, the iRiver E100 has speakers and an FM tuner to boot. For $215 for the 8GB player, it’s definitely a good buy.
Anythingbutipod has reviewed one of iRiver’s new PMPs it showed at CES. We know the W7 will be sold at a reasonable enough price of 215 euros for the 8GB but it remains to be seen if this iPod Touch-like price is justified. perhaps the most crucial feature is the stylus-based user interface. There is no finger touch and stylus could be a little annoying to use on a 3.0-inch screen. As far as audio and video playing, the W7 holds out fine though the W7 is very “picky” in playing the exact video formats. The built-in e-Dictionary function would’ve been nice with English customization. Overall, the W7 is not a bad PMP but the user interface is inferior to several of the top competitors in the market, and to think th upcoming iRiver Phone will be using the same hardware design.
Pocketables has published the first comprehensive review of iRiver’s simple PMP. The E100 is not the thinnest mini-PMP out there but, as we have remarked before, this little device got style. There are a few disappointments like the supposed D-Click control, so it’s even far behind other iRiver models announced at CES that will use the new SPINN controls. The control pad is a more traditional affair with four arrows as controls and a middle button as the OK button. Other disappointments are the poor quality of the stereo speakers and a microSD storage that is not integrated with the built-in memory. Plus points include the design, of course, automatic landscape orientation (right side only for video playback) but up to 270 degrees for photos and the 24-hour audio and 5-hour video battery life. It will be available in US late March or early April for 2GB ($117), 4GB ($147), and 8GB ($215).
Though Sony may have been looking forward to having their latest PMP, the NWZ-A820, compared to the iPod or th Zune, someone in Korea had a different idea in mind. The iRiver E100 is the lowest spec’d player to have come out of iRiver’s remarkable showing at CES 2008. I know everyone is looking forward to the launch dates of the LPlayer and SPINN, but what we have already available is the E100, a 2.4-inch A/V player with FM tuner and cheap MSRP. The Sony A820 is the same-sized player and even weighs exactly the same number of grams (59) as the E100, but has Bluetooth and storage that tops 16GB. So how these two similar players match up, and which one will you be tempted the most?
CES superstar iRiver has released the E100 in Europe. The first of the series of devices, iRiver previewed at CES 2008, the E100 is a 2.4-inch QVGA player supports FLAC, MP3, WMA, ASF and OGG, MPEG-4, WMV9 and XVID (video playback at 30fps). It has stereo speakers and a built-in FM tuner. The internal memory is supplemented by microSD cards. Price is very reasonable starting at $119 for the 2GB and topping at $194 for the 8GB.
Apparently, you can take your music with you when you go diving using the iRiver iFP-380T. I’ve never actually gone scuba diving before but I imagine that part of the experience is listening to the sounds of underwater life. Well, to each his own. The iFP-380T runs on one 9-volt battery and one AA and comes with its own with its own headset and waterproof case. Clip it on to your mask and take with you up to 200 feet underwater for only $99 (formerly $199).
The iRiver X20 has been around for a while but its new and improved 8GB version has just been released in the UK. The 8GB iRiver X20 comes with 22 hours of battery life, a microSD slot, support for a wide variety of audio and video formats, and a white clickwheel that doesn’t really work as smoothly as the iPod’s. You gotta get new earphones if you want better sound quality though and looks-wise, something like the Creative Zen trumps this one any day. Still, the X20 isn’t so bad for its battery life, video playback, and relatively affordable price at £130.
The video was taken a month ago during CES. We’ve only seen pictures of the iRiver SPINN and liked both the external design and the functionality, has Bluetooth and FM tuner, which iPod Nano doesn’t have.
Though CNET couldn’t show the new iRiver GUI, Molly Wood got to paw a very sleek PMP (she calls it an MP4 player) that can be a serious rival to the iPod Nano. The iRiver SPINN will come in 3 capacities: 4GB, (white) 8GB and 16GB (silver). The SPINN will launch May this year. We can’t wait.
