Rating: 
Summary: Great Player
Review: I am so happy that I finally went with the iHP 120. It is truly the easiest to use in terms of the navigation system (I use the folders option as opposed to the database option.) The USB 2 speed was a delightful surprise when I am so used to using the firewire speed with my FORMER Zen 20 GB player. I am very happy with the battery life (the best I've seen so far) and I am very happy with the size and the weight. There are no longer those REALLY annoying needed system resets that I experienced with the Zen. I am happy with the ease of the file transfer (of non-music files) and I love having the onboard radio. I have not yet used the voice record feature. I have found the volume and controls to be much easer to use than the Zen and the bootup/shutdown times are a fraction of the Zen's times. I still await, though, a player that will offer removable batteries and an option for a car power adapter. I realize that may add wieght to the device.Beware WMA users. The protected files will be nothing but a headache when you upgrade to another player. I am thrilled with the quality of OGG files and will now only rip in this format. True they are larger but the sound quality is light years ahead and with a 20 gig drive that is an awful lot of music! I am a professional musician and I expect to fill the iHP to capacity. I was worried about the response and navigation speeds, etc. No problem! Just adjust the player to your needs with the incredible list of navigation, sound and file options. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I found Amazon to have the best price and I always receive superior service from them. This is the 3rd player I have purchased from Amazon. I still have the Creative Jukebox 3 which works fine for what it is and I ended up selling my Zen. Again, enjoy the iHP!
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: This players is incredible. 2000 albums and a FM radio in a package the size of a package of cigarettes. The sound is incredible and the audio settings are fully adjustable. The USB 2 is very fast. Highly recommended! One caveat-the controls and software take patience to learn, if computer-challenged stay away. However, once you get the hang of it, the rewards are more than worthwhile. Easy to listen to with either headphones or cheap computer speakers.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than the Ipod
Review: I was originally planning on buying the 20GB Ipod, but after doing extensive research, I went for the iRiver HP-120, and I don't regret it. Let me say that again: Originally, I was drooling over the Ipod, and couldn't wait to get my hands on one. It was actual research and personal accounts that turned me around. The Ipod definitely looks a whole lot cooler and is a tad bit smaller, but for features and general usability, it simply does not compare. The bottom line is, you can get an Ipod and look cool and impress your friends, or, for the same price (cheaper on other sites), get the HP-120 and impress yourself. Here's the breakdown: Pros:
+The fully functioning remote. It can do EVERYTHING that the player itself can, so you can store the player in your pocket or bag and control everything.
+Optical input and real-time mp3 encoding. This means that you can plug this player into anything with a headphone jack and save songs directly into the player as an mp3 file, something the Ipod can't do. A computer, CD player, record player, TV/VCR/DVD, whatever. It also has a build in mike, so you can actually save anything you want into an mp3 file.
+The database feature works great, lets you browse your collection by genre, artist, album, song title, or the generic file folder set-up. The Ipod? Nope.
+FM Tuner. I have heard people complaining about reception, but I have not had any problems with it.
+All the accessories you could want comes standard - External mike, carrying case, AC adapter, USB 2 cord, software, double-male plug for the optical input.
+The optical output allows you to easily plug this into your home stereo.
+Recognizes up to 200 WinAmp playlists, which, once you learn how, is very simple to create.
+Also acts as a portable hard-drive, to transfer any file format you want
+16 hour batter life is better than many other players
+The sound quality is incredible, with some serious bass.
+Since the player is based on firmware, updates to the software are easy to download and install. Cons:
+The WinAmp playlist can only be created with songs already downloaded to the HP, as opposed to being able to make playlists from your computer, then download the list and all the songs in it to the player simultaneously.
+The resume option doesn't seem to work when listening to a playlist.
+There doesn't seem to be a way to listen to songs on a playlist in random order.
+I wish you could record directly from the FM tuner.
+It is not totally compatible with Macs, but iRiver is promising to release an update soon. More Ipod comparisons
+ The Ipod looks cooler (if you spend $400 on an inferior machine just because it looks cooler, you are what they call a sucker)
+ The Ipod is smaller, lighter (sort of. The iRiver is .03" taller, .13" deeper, and actually .04" less in width. It is less than a half of a tenth of an ounce heavier)
+ The Ipod has games, address book, alarm, etc. that the iRiver doesn't (C'mon people. This is an mp3 player. These are called gimmicks, something that most Ipod owners probably never even uses after the initial novelty wears off. Besides, I already have a cell phone with all this crap on it, as do many of us)
+The Ipod's battery, which only lasts 8 hours compared to the iRiver's 16 is pretty useless after 18 months - and that's Apple's own estimate. You'll have to shell over $100 to get it replaced by, you guessed it, Apple.
+The Ipod has no optical input, the remote (which is NOT fully functional) does not come with the 15GB version, the USB cord is sold separately ($400 and you can't include a USB cable for PC users, which most people are?), case sold separately, external mike sold separately, no internal mike, no mp3 encoding, and no FM tuner, ALL of which comes standard with the iRiver. Summary - If you are still thinking about buying an Ipod, you should seriously consider the HP-120, you will not regret it. I am not an iRiver salesman, nor do I have anything against Apple products. In general, I think Apple is brilliant. I just don't want people spending $400 on an inferior product simply because the company has a better marketing strategy. The few cons that I can come up with for the HP-120 are heavily outweighed by its many great features.
Rating:
Summary: iRiver and iPod both great machines... the chose is yours!
Review: Purchased iRiver for recording. Recorded voice is very good from included lav mic, and excellent when used with higher quality mic. See reviews elsewhere for minor audio issues ("glitch" when writting from buffer to hard drive once a minute (haven't noticed this) and slightly-out-of-sync (but correctable) with video over 1 hour). vs iPod:
AUDIO QUALITY: I compared by playing same mp3 file on both ipod and h120 at same time and swapped sony-bud phones from one device to the other. Very similiar but I slightly preffered the ipod sound which i found to be a bit more "natural". I believe quality is similiar, just a matter of EQ preferences.
ERGONIMICS: nothing beats the ipod scroll wheel, except maybe the ipod-mini! (but the iriver is not bad at all)
FORM FACTOR: again, advantage ipod.. although a little wider, it's thinner which i prefer.
PC INTERFACE: well, it's preference. I prefer the windows based folder navigation over the "user friendly" itunes, so i prefer the iriver, but i could understand most people preferring the itunes interface. Although the iriver has the advantage of transferring music to/from very easily... adding music from a friend's pc/mac to play on your ipod along with your music may be a challenge, and copying your music from your ipod to another pc/mac may also not be as simple as copy and paste as it is on an iriver.
(there may be DRM issues on both as well.) Overall, it's a matter of preference - neither is really better or worse than the other, IMHO. Essentially, I prefer the form factor (and the default EQ) of the ipod by a bit, but given the flexibility and features of the iriver including recording, i will likely continue to use the iriver as primary device. However, one new factor... lossless compressed format supported by ipod in new software & firmware!! This brings the ipod above the iRiver in the crucial sound quality category (although many are happy with mp3). Hopefully iriver will support a compressed lossless format soon (windows media, flac, shn, whatever...) - they would just need a firmware upgrade. Good luck in making your decision. Both these devices are lots of fun!
Rating:
Summary: Waterproof MP3 Survey - You Can WIN a PLAYER
Review: Hi,
I am an MBA student doing an intership for a start-up company in San Diego. Specifically, I am responsible for market research for a waterproof case for MP3 players. I would greatly appreciate if you could fill the following survey. There is a MP3 player drawing among people completing the survey.
Thank You (...)
Rating: 
Summary: Not even close to an iPod with iTunes, except to record
Review: I thought this might be worth getting even though I already had an iPod and iPod mini, because of the FM Radio and direct digital recording capabilities, and the by in large glowing reviews. I guess it depends on your needs and your willingness to play around, but I'd take my iPod in iTunes on the Mac over iRiver on WIndows any day any time for simple excellence of interface, playlist and music manageability and overall ease of use. I use both Mac and Windows equally and I manage a large digital recording collection. As far as I can see from using both, the only reasons to prefer the iRiver are for the recording capacity, somewhat greater flexibility in audio formats and the EXCELLENT FM radio, especially if you wanted to record FM programs direct to mp3 format. It is possible that the sound is slightly better on the iRiver too, but it's not enough difference to warrant the incredible clumsiness of dealing with loading playlists and organizing all your music in Windows explorer or winamp when iTunes does it so you don't have to think and auto updates your iPod with ease and elegance.
Rating:
Summary: Almost 5 stars
Review: From the list of features you get with the iRiver, the player is nearly unbeatable.
Here's where I think it ups the competition (while other devices offer some of these features, this is the only device that natively offers all of them):
o Support for Ogg Vorbis files (in addition to mp3, wav, asf, and wma)
o File transfer in Windows XP without any additional software (I've heard that it works fine in newer Linux distributions, as well)
o Ability to use as a portable USB drive for non-music file transfer (again, without additional software)
o Free included fully functional wired remote control
o FM radio
o Optical in/out
There are other great things, but the specs are readily available on this and other websites.
Suffice it to say that from a features perspective, this player is incredibly well thought-out. If you go on iRiver's website and take a look at their accessories store, they include most of those accessories free with the player. It has a remote, a carrying case (with a belt attachment), earbud earphones, adapters, and even a mini-plug extension cord.
If Amazon.com offered a 4 1/2 stars rating, I would have given the iRiver 4 1/2 stars instead of four. I didn't choose five because the device is not perfect. Here's what I don't like about it (in order, with the first item being the worst):
o User interface. This is minimalism taken to the extreme. Four peripheral buttons and one main button in the center of the device control everything from playback to navigation, preferences, and firmware upgrading. Thus, each button can be "long clicked" (as the documentation calls it) or "short clicked", and the buttons are all context-sensitive (meaning that the "record" and "A-B repeat" buttons do more than just record and A-B repeat, depending on where you are in the menus). You get used to it, but this is a real trial for people who don't like to read the instruction manual. And technophobes may opt for an iPod, which has a much, much more intuitive interface.
o FM radio is weak. It is very difficult to get good reception on my device. When I'm walking down the street, other stations occasionally abruptly intrude upon my station, even though the signal is strong.
o Winamp playlists are shown in a separate menu from the files. Consequently, if your folders all have identically-named playlists, like "Playlist.m3u" for example, you will find yourself navigating a menu of dozens of playlists named "Playlist.m3u". This has the potential to be fixed in firmware, though, though I've contacted iRiver and they won't even tell me whom to talk to regarding feature requests. ("We do not handle development, that is all overseas," is what they said.)
o Speaking of which, support seems to be lousy. I've only contacted them once, but it took them weeks to get back to me, and they answered the question with a canned response that seemed to indicate that nobody even read my e-mail. When I replied to their response, they got back to me 28 hours later, but their answer, though correct this time, still wasn't helpful (see the previous bullet point).
The four above items are not dealbreakers, though, and I still don't regret my purchase, one bit.
Other problems: on an interesting, and somewhat related note, it uses the remote control as an antenna, so the remote is pretty much required when you use the radio. I can't fault iRiver for that problem, though, because they didn't invent the rule that larger antennas get better reception. Also, the wires of the remote and my earphones get tangled easily. But again, I can't fault iRiver for that problem.
To summarize, I think that this device is the best portable music player out there, at this time. The features are very well-thought out and generously applied. But the user interface is the biggest downer, and it can be quite frustrating for people who expect that they can rely on intuition, and not an instruction manual, to operate the device. Still, though: highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great Product, Just a Couple of Wee Bitty Nags
Review: I won't rehash all of the praise given below. It is all well deserved, and the iHP-120 is a very flexible music reproduction device. It came down to the iPod and iRiver for me, and the selling points here are the digital output, lower price for comparable product, and support of Ogg Vorbis format. I have a pretty nice stereo at home, and this is probably the only player that will appeal to a true audiophile. The digital output lets me connect the iRiver to my external digital-to-analog converter, which in turn yields excellent sound. A great feature! The nags here are fixable. The first is the latest firmware. As mentioned, the files play with 3 second gaps between files. This is JUST like the difference between burning a CD in TAO mode (track-at-once) and burning in DAO mode (disc-at-once, no gaps). If CD-R drive makers can all get their act together, so can iRiver. (Contrary to previous reviews, I have not seen anything on iRiver's site to indicate this issue will be fixed in the future. Maybe I'm missing something, which is always a possibility. Also, I am not using the provided database software, so using it just like an external drive in Windows does NOT cure the gap issue.) I also suggest different headphones, it makes a world of difference with the player. If anyone is looking for a tremendous device which can hold a whole lot of music, this is a really good find. You'll be pleased.
Rating:
Summary: Best for your Money
Review: I bought mine from amazon about a month ago. The player, as you know, has 20gb. I don't know how anyone can use all of this space unless they are transferring files between computers. The player is surprisingly small. When I looked at the pictures, it looked much bigger. It is very comparable to the iPod, it may not be as thin, but don't not buy this because of the size. The case that comes with it, is perfect. It keeps the player clean, and it does pad it a little bit in case you drop the iRiver. The remote, is very cool. However, the cord connected to the player could be much shorter. The only major gripe I have is the headphones. It's not that they have bad sound, it's just that they periodically fall out of your ears, and the length of the wire to your right ear is much longer than the length to the left ear - very annoying. The headphones are usually the only spot where companies cut corners. I still haven't figured out how to make playlists through winamp, let alone transferring them to the player, but I will learn eventually. The interior and exterior recording feature is surprisingly clear. You can record in 320 kbps! Yes, you can hear the hard drive, but I can't think of a reason why anyone professional would use the iRiver as a recorder. It's good, but it is first and foremost an mp3 player. By getting good headphones, which I am going to do, I don't see any faults with this. I am totally satisfied with this product. When I was in the process of buying an mp3 player, I decided that batterly life (not iPod), warranty (not Rio Karma), was the most important to me. the iRiver has this and extra features that make it worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: Great Product
Review: I purchased the 120 about a month ago and so far have been very pleased with it. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, just a little bigger than a deck of cards. The remote is awesome, for the most part, I leave the main unit locked and use the remote. The battery life was great, it lasted about 5 minutes over 16 hours when I tested it playing at 256 kbps and the volume at about 30. The only bad part are the factory headphones, the sound quality is pretty lame and they fell out of my ears a lot. I went out and bought some Sony monitor headphones and the sound quality is excellent. Overall, I think this is a great product for a great price.
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