Rating: 
Summary: Once you get the hang of it - it's great.
Review: I just got this a few days ago, and am still learning the controls, which aren't completely intuitive. Some things you push the button, others you roll it backwards or forwards, I keep having to go back to the manual.Other than that, I LOVE this. Being able to just drag and drop files is wonderful, and for $70 less than the same sized iPod, it's a great deal.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent MP3 player
Review: After having this product for about a month, I have to say it has been a solid audio purchase. As advertised, the player does go well into its estimated battery lifespan. In fact, I fell asleep with the player on, and eight hours later, it was still at two bars (four bars total) and still kept working until late into the afternoon! The sound quality is also fairly balanced (the equalizer options were pretty handy), and the headphone amp provides a healthy amount of power. I had no issues playing the specified file types, and there were no cases of skippage, even during jogging activities. Pauses between songs are minimal (split second) and the hard drive itself doesn't emit significant noise. OGG Vorbis files sound wonderful on the 120, and help with space conservation. However, I would suggest that you replace the included headphones, which really don't do the player justice. Transfering files into the player couldn't be any easier. It simply appears as a seperate drive on your computer, and all you do is drag and drop. The only problem regarding this issue is the Iriver's database, which as some people have noted, omits many mp3s and is useless for other file formats altogether. Luckily, the ihp-120 allows you to browse through folders, so as long as you take the time to develop your own directory structure, this shouldn't be much of a problem. I personally organize my files by artist, then by album. Also, the lack of on-the-fly playlists is somewhat of a letdown, and you do in fact have to use winamp and set the playlist from your host computer. Other than the database and playlist issues, the Iriver really does shine. It pretty much comes with everything out of the box, from the handy remote and external mic, to the leather case, which actually feels like it can protect something. So if the $300 plus price scares you, rest assure that you're getting $300 plus worth of value. Build quality is good; it doesn't feel like some $10 tiger electronics handheld, and the sleekness of the unit does grow on you. I have yet to test the recording feature, but I'll be recording some DJ mixes soon, so we'll see how it stacks up. But in terms of its music playback abilities, the Iriver is rock solid.
Rating:
Summary: Iriver v. Ipod
Review: *I actually have the 40 gig but I'll post the review here* Well I've had this player for about 1 week now and the performance has been even better than I expected. I decided to buy this after nearly 6 months of researching different products, talking to electronic stores, and trying my friends players (all Ipod). I choose the Iriver over the highly publicized Ipod after considering some important factors: 1. User Interface...... Advantage Ipod
I have to admit that one of the resons I initially leaned towards Ipod was the incredible user interface. The second I picked up my friends I had it figured out almost instantly. this could be atributed to lack of features but it is still impressive. The Iriver is a very nice interface as well, but if you aren't willing to read over the manual you may have trouble.
2.Sound quality..... Advantage Iriver
After hearing both I was equally impressed although I listened with different earphones. There are two reasons Iriver is better in this department: 1.higher volume ability 2.Many equalizer settings which are all very customizable and provide for excellent sound.
3.Battery Life......Advantage Iriver
The numbers dont lie as Iriver gets 16 hours(mine lasted for 19 on a test) compared to Ipods 8 (often 6). Also there are frequent complaints about paying $100 to replace the already disabled Ipod battery in a year and a half.
4.Design........Advantage Ipod
Its easily Ipod as most would agree;however, the Iriver is only slightly larger, and its durability is exceptional. 5.Features......Advantage Iriver
This is basically useful features versus novelty items. While the Ipod offers games, a calender, and a notebook. The Iriver boasts a FM radio, internal microphone, real-time mp3 encoding, optical line in and out, and the list goes on.
6.Accesseries.....Advantage Iriver
Both have- usb 2.0/1.1 cable(or firewire),earbuds, power cable, case,
Ipod alone-none???? although the earbuds are better, remote(not very functional and only with 20 gig +) Iriver-fully functional reomte w/ lcd, external mic,
7.Music formats/transfers.......Iriver
each has drawbacks-ipod no wma or ogg, iriver not bought music (can get around that) or acc
The winner here is that iriver has easy drag and drop features as well as the database function supported with itunes. You can plug in the iriver to any computer and just drag or drop files without the difficulty of an ipod.
8. Price............Iriver
Not only can you get a 40 gig for the price of a 20 gig ipod, but the value is much greater. Overall... The Iriver is the clear winner here, which is why I choose this. The Ipod is a respectable player but for the price your basically paying for a design and a brand name when you could get a better (slightly less atractive) player in the Iriver. If you want a functional player, but mostly want to make a fashion statement get an Ipod.Bottomline if you really care about music and want the best technology get an Iriver and you will not be disapointed.
Rating:
Summary: What more could you want?
Review: I've had the IHP 120 for more than a week and find it an excellent value for the money. I have numerous books on it, as well as music. It took a little bit to get a handle on navigating, but that was due to the dizzying array of features more than the user interface. I also found that it's more intuitive to use the remote than the controls on the main component. Like most people I don't like the ear buds, but I don't like ear buds. A $10 pair of Koss' "The Plug" made me much happier. Sound is nice, radio is adequate (reception is decent but not fantastic), audio recording works great.
Rating:
Summary: Mp3 player - seen as hard drive
Review: Slightly larger than the iPod, the iHP120 is great. 1) supports all audio formats that I know, 2) includes FM radio, 3) looks like a harddrive when connected to your computer so just drag and drop files (you can save anything, but only hear audio files and see .txt files) 4) play lists - make 'em on your PC with winamp (but why? I never have). 5) Wish list: a) can't listen to DVD audio, b) can't reorganize the files without a PC. Battery is super 16 hrs++ Too many options for my simple brain so I actually needed to look at the manual, but now navigation is simple. Buy or not? Buy - but watch for bigger drives as the market/products mature.
Rating:
Summary: After a month I still love this MP3 player.
Review: I have now had this MP3 player for over a month and I just love it. I mainly bought this MP3 player for music in our second vehicle. I thought about buying an new car CD/MP3 system for it, but decided on this instead. I'm glad I made that choice since I have had no problems listening to it and driving on the road. The battery lasts for a good 10 hours with use of a tape deck convter to play plus my bitrate for my files vary greatly on their size. The player does not skip at all when hitting a huge bump or anything. Plus the remote is pretty nice while driving, I just clip it to the seatbelt and can change songs around with no problems. The other great thing I like is being able to put on some huge data files onto it and take it to a friends house and swap some files. So far I have not had any problems with getting it to connect to any computer at all.
The only con I have against it right now is that the random setting is not really to random. It is more of a repeating random then anything. It has a tendency to play songs from the same artist over and over, instead of jumping around. Hopefully a firmware upgrade will fix that problem. Also I would like to see a car adapter for it which I imagine is in the works from someone. Overall those two little cons are not enough to drop it down from my rating. I would highly recommend this product if you own a PC and skip the iPod.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Product -- Poor Support
Review: Upon receiving the player I opened the package and began reading the manual. All it talked about was how to use the keys -- not about the software or anything else. I installed the software looking for help there was none -- It didn't install anything on my desktop and I couldn't find anything that would open. I called support. They told me that this was just an external drive. I had to place Music on my PC using my own software and then use Windows Explorer to drag it over. I expected that the cd's software would help me do both of these. I consider myself to be an above average computer/technology user. I found this to be poor product and support was pretty bad. I ended up returning the player.
Rating:
Summary: Great piece of electronic gadgetry!
Review: This is my second experience with a jukebox--I purchased a Creative Nomad for my daughter for Christmas and found it adequate. I LOVE the iRiver. I have an H140. The batteries seem to last forever and the sound is excellent! It came with all accessories known to man. There are a couple of shortfalls:
1. The database is unmanageable; hopefully, someone will develop some software soon to allow direct editing of the DB.
2. Songs with a very long name are not recognized. Took some sleuthing to figure this out.
3. The software with the iRiver is minimal.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't get much better!!!
Review: First Impressions:
After reading many reviews on both this product and the iPod, I decided that the iRiver would be a better purchase and I was not disappointed.
As it was sent to my work, I accidentally left my instruction manual there, so I had to try and figure out how to download the music and also work my way around the features without it. This was not hard at all. After a little while of playing around with the remote it became very easy. Downloading the music was a breeze with the "drag and drop" feature.
Looks:
Alot of people have said that the iRiver comes second to the iPod in the looks dept, I have to say that I disagree. The silver version of the iHP-120 is very nice and looks a very solid unit. The blue screen on the main unit is very clear and easy to read. The font on the remote however is slightly more harder to read, but the fact that you can have control of all the features via the remote, means that the small font is alot easier to swallow.
Sound:
The sound through the buds provided was very clear. However the fact that the right bud kept falling out was a bit annoying. This, however has now been remedied by buying a pair of Senheisers HD 212Pros and the sound through these are unbelievable. There are several equalizer options and it is nice to have alot of control over the way it sounds.
Battery:
As I have burnt most of my music at a higher bit-rate, the battery doesn't last as long as the 16 hours quoted, as that estimate is based on a 128kps. However, even at 300kps+ I still get a good 8 hours from the battery, which I can live with.
Overall:
This was my first mp3 player that I have owned and I am not disappointed in the slightest. The addition of the radio is very handy, although the signal is sometimes quite weak. I have had this player for 2 weeks now and I have yet to find any real bad points that have made me regret buying it. After doing alot of research on this and the iPod, I came to the conclusion that it came down to user preference. The battery life seems to be the main bad point of the iPod, plus it does not have a radio. These were the reasons why I chose the HP-120 over the iPod. I would highly recommend the iRiver.
Rating:
Summary: The 'Only' Way To Carry Your Music (and other) Files
Review: There are many ways to carry music with you now. A full sized CD, Minidisc (my choice until now), solid state MP3 players but this product from I-River beats them all. First you're not just limited to transferring music files to this mini hard drive. It accepts any kind of file so you can transport computer files from home to work or use some of the 20 gigabytes available to store personal files. If it's on your computer's hard drive it can be stored on the IHP-120. For music the IHP-120 is exceptional.
You can sort files for playing by title or artist of course but also by tags you've added to your mp3 files like album names or music genre. You can easily shuffle between titles in one directory or choose to play songs from multiple directories (maybe you have an 'rock' directory and a 'country' directory) shuffling between them. You can certainly find a sound setting to suit your style (and quality of speakers/headset) with fully adjustable bass and treble levels, an equalizer and other features. Don't forget the built in FM radio (with auto seek and storage for up to 50 presets that you choose). The included (and lighted) remote control mimics all buttons and settings on the main unit so you can search or change settings on the fly. Need to take verbal notes? There is a built in recorder (and included microphone) or you can utilize high quality optical(laser) inputs and outputs for recording direct from your stereo (if it's equipped). Is there a downside to this unit? Maybe. You'll have to read the instruction manual....probably more than once. Each button has multiple functions so while pressing something once might produce one option pressing then holding the same button might produce another. You can spend hours just playing with all the pre-sets. Once those are settled on and your music (or other files) loaded all you'll probably be concerned with is turning the unit on/off and scrolling through the files which is very simple. You 'must' use Winamp (a free download) to create playlists. I-River doesn't use a fancy interface, it's a simple drag and drop using Explorer on your Windows desktop. This one's a winner!
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