iRiver iHP140 40 GB MP3 Jukebox Player

Rating:
Summary: One of the best mp3 players available
Review: This is a beautiful, feature-packed mp3 player. I've owned this player for almost 6 months, and I've never regretted choosing it over other hard-drive based mp3 players available.

The H140 is almost the same size as the 40GB iPod, (about a quarter of an inch thicker and 9 grams heavier than the iPod), but has more features - most importantly, much better battery life. The iRiver manual claims up to 16 hours of battery life. Manufacturers' claims are usually exaggerated, being based on "ideal" conditions. But I've gotten 13-14 hours of playing time on a charge, and that's twice what you'd usually get from an iPod. Hard drive based players typically spin the drive either when (1) navigating menus, or (2) when you select a song to play. Once you select a track, the player loads the file to memory, and the hard drive shuts down. Battery life depends a lot on how you use the iRiver. If you load a play list and then just sit back and listen, the charge will last longer. On the other hand, if you fiddle with it a lot and keep switching songs after only listening to each a few seconds, the hard drive will spin constantly and battery life will not be as good. In any case, the iRiver offers the best battery life of any hard drive player in its class.

The iRiver plays mp3, wma, wav, asf and ogg format files. It reads ID3 tags (V1, 2, 3) and displays the ID3 information, if available. If no ID3 information is available, it displays the file name. I've had no problem with mp3/wav/wma/ogg files at various bit rates, both CBR and VBR.

The FM tuner works well. You can save up to 20 stations to memory. The voice recorder is handy for dictating quick memos, like where you parked your car or a phone number, and works well off the internal microphone (or you can attach the included external microphone). Since the H140 has a built-in hardware mp3 encoder, you can also record from the Line Level input or the Optical input at any bit-rate you choose. For playback, you can select from various preset equalization settings, or create your own.

Navigation is not as intuitive as the iPod, but it's not hard to get used to. Once you're accustomed to it, it's easily as fast as navigation on the iPod. One big advantage the iRiver has is the LCD on the remote (which the iPod lacks). This is very handy, because it makes it completely unnecessary to ever remove the player itself from your belt clip or pocket or backpack. The remote can control ALL the functions of the iRiver. You can lock either the player or the remote (or both) so you won't have to worry about accidentally hitting a button.

The iRiver comes with Moodlogic's software for organizing your music, and device drivers for your operating system. If you use Windows XP, you don't need to load anything. The iRiver is automatically recognized and shows up as a drive in Windows Explorer when you connect it with the USB cable. If you use WinAmp on your PC, you don't need the Moodlogic software either. The iRiver can read WinAmp play lists (*.m3u files).

Sound quality is very good, possibly the best of any portable mp3 player I've used. You can dramatically enhance the sound quality of ANY mp3 player by substituting better headphones and buying an external amplifier, but that makes it less portable. When I use the iRiver with a set of Sennheiser HD600 headphones and a tiny cMoy amplifier, it sounds as good as the headphone output from my stereo.


Rating:
Summary: Best in class
Review: I couldn't be more delighted with this player. Upon receiving it, I opened the package, connected the AC Adapter, and connected the included USB 2.0 cable.

WindowsXP immediately recognized the player as an external drive. I flashed the BIOS, and then started copying files. About 20 minutes later, my 15GB MP3 library was on the player. I immediately started listening to music, and I was bowled over by the sound quality.

Since I wanted to be able to choose music by genre or album title, I downloaded the "Moodlogic" software from the iRiver website; and a few minutes later my music library was sorted and categorized in the iRiver's database. The set-up couldn't have been easier, and the manual is excellent.

With just a few taps on either the wired remote (which has a bright LCD with all of the functions of the main unit) or the navigation button, I can be listening to a random selection of all of my "Folk Rock" songs; or listening to my favorite Van Morrison album. Build quality, design, and feature set are all top notch; and I've yet to find something that I want it to do that it can't. Although I rarely use it, the FM tuner also works very well.

In addition, it's a great way to back-up your PC. The iHP-140 works flawlessly as an external drive.

This is one of the few cases where you actually get more than you pay for. Highly recommended.

As an added note, the Moodlogic software and BIOS updates are here: http://www.iriveramerica.com/support/H100.aspx

Rating:
Summary: just another iPod wannabe
Review: I mean seriously! Who wouldn't get an iPod?!! After all, the iPod has half the battery life, worse sound quality, plays fewer audio formats, has no radio, has no built in mic, can't read text files, has no remote, has no realtime mp3 encoding, needs software to port music over, and can't create playlists without the computer! Who would want a player like the iRiver that does all that?

</sarcasm>

Rating:
Summary: an easy choice
Review: 40 gigs is a lot. not only coes my iRiver carry all the music i have ever owned. it also carries movies, pictures, school documents etc etc. it really nice to be able to pick up the player at a friend's place and start watching some movie...

it supports ogg. why use mp3 or wma when ogg is smaller, better sound quality, and open source? why support microsoft when you have another option?

optical line in/out. finally i can plug it into my dvd-video and record my dvd-concerts right into cd quality wave files, totally lossless.

voic recording. now i dont have to carry papers and a pen wherever i go.

and i like the design. the white plastic hospital look of the ipod made me concentrate of not scratching it all the time. one is black, and the metal in the ends of it makes it look really robust and powerful.

even though the firmware have been delayed a couple of times, this version of it really rocks. people are mostly angry about that the promised on-the-fly playlists and the gapless playback didnt come with the last version. but hey, i can live without those.

unfortunately the battery doesnt keep up for the promised 16 hours, but its still better than the ipod's 12 (or whatever it is).

this is a really good player. his player really has as least as many features as the ipod's design rewards. why even consider the ipod an option?

Rating:
Summary: don't even hesitate to buy this best MP3 jukebox
Review: I have been using IHP 140 for 3 months now. It is excellent. There were no issues with installation and start using the device. Initially did not install any of the software that came with it. And everything worked fine. My Win XP Professional recognized the device and copied files into it really fast and started listening songs (I used MS-MPlayer 9 files to rip CDs). Controls and buttons are as difficult as some reviewers mentioned. I played with Ipod's, IHP is not as "cute" but it is very sturdy and plays everything. Belt clip is well built. Headphones are not that good but it should not be deal breaker for this unit. If there are a lot of files in the device, it takes a while to start as it checks the files. I currently have 2000+ wma's in approx. 200 folders. It takes 5 seconds to power up. Battery life is excellent. Sound quality is excellent. I use it with several different headphones. I have researched HD MP3 players for 1 month and decided on IHP. After I purchased several editorials picked IRiver IHP 140. I think they are right. I you are hesitating you don't need to.