Rating: 
Summary: Would give it a five if it were not for....
Review: a very difficult software driver install. I am not sure if the the original disk has drivers that work for XP although it is rated for it. I had to go online to iriver.com to get the latest of everything. I never did get it to install on my (XP)notebook computer because the driver did not work. I did eventually get things running on my desktop, but not without some mindless cursing and a lucky stroke of some keys. Once the driver was recognized, it came together beautifully. Drag and drop, firmware update and status worked like a charm.Perhaps a closer look at the usb connector on the unit may prove the culprit. While moving the unit off to the side and while connected to the cable, the signal was temporarily lost. So maybe I go back and try the notebook install again, but not tonite. I was soo anxious to get the gadget going I just want to sit and listen. So don't get completely flustered during the install. My advice is to get all the updates from iriver.com and make sure the usb plug is firmly attached then cross your fingers. I hate the included earphones. Who has earholes that big!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: great audio player
Review: I am pretty satisfied with this little mp3, but a lot of functions. the voice recording quality is very good, mp3 quality is good, and it's FM radio quality is even better than my portable radio. You can also use it as a storage, but a little problem is they don't allow mp3 files upload, but other types of file is ok.you have to use their music manager to do upload/download, hope they can do some change in their future firmware upgrade to allow disk drive simulation. A great deal for the money!
Rating:
Summary: This thing is awesome
Review: I recently purchased this item as my CD MP3 Player seemed to be getting old. This MP3 player is truly great, it could do with a bit more memory but still, its good for a regular playlist of songs. It's so small and light it hardly noticable to carry unlike my previous CD MP3 player which was bulky and heavy in comparison. Also, battery wise it great, one good battery will get you about 17 hours playback, and if you use rechargables its totally economical if you use it everyday. This thing is suited to everyone, its simple to upload music and if you get bored of your songs its got the radio on it. It's simple to use anyone can figure it out. I recommened buying this if your in the market for a good priced MP3 Player.
Rating:
Summary: Great, worth almost every dollar
Review: The Iriver iFP-190T is a greater player with very, very few drawbacks. The weight of the player is less than 1.5 oz with battery. It can literally hang from the earphone chord. Few players can do that without you worrying about the safety of the player. Hanging the player around your neck with the neck strap is a convenient way of carrying it around and being able to change the songs or radio stations. You hardly notice the player when it is around your neck, it's that light. Battery power is sufficient. I am currently using rechargeable NiMH batteries a year and a half old. They last about 5-7 hours. Not bad considering I keep recharging them every other day. Battery life for an alkaline ranges around 10-15, new that is, but you have to buy new batteries. Get rechargables, the player even recognizes that you are using rechargables.
Sound quality depends mainly on the quality of your mp3s and wmas. Radio quality depends on the signal of the station. Enough on that. Several initial flaws have been fixed that previous consumers found obnoxious. The battery flap has been tightened, so the change of your battery sliding out is almost nil. The bad software bundled with the great product confused and annoyed many of their consumers. The addition of the UMS, or USB Mass Storage, allows your player to act like a massive floppy. Simply drop and drag. This is how it should have been in the first place. However, the new software iRiver Manager v2.2 allows you to check the battery power, change the radio stations, download voice recordings directly (the UMS requires a separate program to convert the special format) makes it something not to be so easily tossed out the window or defenestrated for you intellectuals.
The software, when used with the manager can be upgraded. The player uses firmware like many of the other players on the market. So if another format becomes dominant, like OGG on steroids, the company and make the player able to play the new format. You're not stuck with a piece of proprietary hardware. Earlier I had stated that you could not upload music to different computers. Recently, this has been proven false on Windows XP. The player will function as a jump drive for mp3s on Xp for sure. Please excuse the incorrect information. Thank you, and have a good day. The transfer speed is USB 1.1. Not much you can do there. However, this player isn't an ipod or more, so speed really isn't a concern. The long USB chord allows you to run the chord from the back USB 1.1 ports to the top of your desk. I do not know of any shorter chords for the more privileged people with front USB 1.1 and 2.0 ports, but the point is, you won't be crawling back under your desk into a jungle of wires to plug your player in. The controls are outlined in the manual; they don't require rocket science 101 or quantum physics 101. Give it a day and you'll be able to navigate without looking. There are a lot of user preferences. Just tinker to find what is best for you. From user EQ settings, to power off, and firmware upgrades, you can mess around all you want. The voice recording and radio recordings record at 96 kbps, not great, but fair for recording conversations and a few radio clips. The player itself is very durable. My friend has the 128-megabyte version and she has dropped it, thrown it, scraped it up, sat on it and it works fine. The armband the company sells for the $ to me doesn't seem worth it. It does come bundled with the iFP-195 512 megabyte version. The player is not compatible with Windows 95 and 98 first edition. Let that be a warning. Mac OS 8 and below are non-compatible. 98 SE, 2k, Me, XP, OS 9 and OS X are all compatible. If you want a dependable, good, solid, economical and pseudo-flash drive, by all means, purchase this product.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS! IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!
Review: This mp3 is awesome so i'll let all the other people praise it. Only complaints are headphones (no biggy), and installation.
If you get it, do not do anything and go to the iriver website and go to the installation trouble shooting. There they will give you step by step so you wont spend hours trying to figure it out like i did. BUY IT its awesome.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for first time MP3 player buyers!!
Review: I'll make this really short...I had no idea going into this venture that processes such as 'encoding' and 'ripping' would need to be familiar to me. Nothing on the package, nothing from the salesstaff. Got it home, software manual lacking in a BIG way. Loaded the player up with songs and couldn't play one of them!! Neither the software nor the manual are for beginners. I am returning the item for another brand!!
Rating:
Summary: Compact and easy to use
Review: This is an awesome mp3 player with outstanding features. Everything the user needs to get started comes with the product. It literally took me 4 minutes to download the software onto my computer and begin downloading music. It is extremely light and small in size however big in features. It holds around 50 songs or 2 hours of music. It will record your voice and is great for any physical activity. It goes for about 18 hours on a single AA battery. The triangular design is very sturdy and feels comfortable to the grip. If you already have music downloading software ie winmx, kazaa, etc. it works directly with that program allowing the user to take files from it. The backlit monitor is also very bright and the interface is extremely upfront and easily accessible. The only thing i recommend is that you might want to consider investing in a better pair of head phones. The price tag may seem a little high but its worth the money for the amount of songs it will hold for you.
Rating:
Summary: There's Something Better Out There
Review: Avaialable only through Best Buy, iRiver's 256 MB iFP-390T os www.cnet.com 's highest rated MP3 player. Its also a newer model of this one. The 256 MB is $200 and comes with all the mentioned features of the iFP-190T but has the ability to record songs directly from a portable cd player and also includes an armband and carrying case. I own the 128 MB player(I purchased it for $110 with a $30 dollar rebate). It did not come with an armband and carrying case (available at www.iriver.com for 12.99) but it came with all the same features as the 256 MB. It holds about 30 songs give or take. Battery life is advertised as 23-24 hours but its closer to 17. There is also a 64 MB player but it does not come with an armband/carrying case and does not have a radio or in-line recording capabilities. You can't go wrong with iRiver but I just thought I'd let you know there's something better out there.
Rating:
Summary: Among the Best Solid State Players
Review: I've been using portable MP3 players since the original (RIO 300) came out and the iRiver is really the best fully featured solid state player to date. PROS
It's amazingly light, with most of the weight being the AA battery. The sound quality is top notch in comparison to not only SS players but even more expensive HD based ones. The packaged earbuds are Sennheiser which is the THE brand of headphones for audiophiles (although the included ones are not the top end). The iRiver is very feature loaded. Other mp3 players have no equalizers or a few equalizer presets, iRiver has not only presets but you can create custom eq settings. It supports folder based mp3 storage. The menu navigation is via mini-joystick like on high end cell phones, most SS mp3 players just have buttons. Everything is configurable, including the LED brightness & contrast down to the speed of clicking through menus! The iRiver also supports file uploading and multi computer use. If you buy an iPod for example, you are only allowed to sync with one computer, ever. The iRiver has no such restrictions. You can upload MP3s and sync with multiple computers. The included software is very simple to use. If you can navigate through Windows you can use the software. CONS
The covering for the USB port is rather flimsy.
Because it is so customizable, there is a learning curve on how to use all its features.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent little MP3 player
Review: I've had this great little MP3 player for about four months now. It's amazingly small, has a lot of storage for a flash-memory-based player, and sounds great. I've used several mobile music players before (Sharp 722 minidisc player, TDK Mojo CD/MP3 player, and an Archos harddrive-based player), and those are absolutely huge next to this little guy. Even compared to other flash-memory mp3 players, the iFP-190T is very small. The sound quality is excellent. I've been using rechargable NiMH batteries, so I haven't been able to reach to expected 20 hours of playback time (more like 10 hours, I would guess). The best part about this player is the relatively large 4 lines of navigation displayed for a directory's contents. Additional benefits include a good FM receiver and voice recording (which works pretty well based on the few times I've used it). The only negative I can think of is that the battery door has a tendency to open unless it is firmly closed. Not a big problem in my opinion. I have to respond to the 1-star review posted by someone named "erik" previously. He brings up two points against the iFP-190T. First, he doesn't think the Sennheiser earbuds are that great and evidently returned the unit based on that. This is ridiculous. Very seldom will manufacturers provide high-quality earphones or earbuds because they know that users who spend this much on a music player will end up buying better earpieces anyways. Second, he says that you have to use iRiver's software to download mp3s into the player and that the player cannot play mp3s encoded by other software. The first part is true, the second part is completely inaccurate. You do have to use iRiver's software to download (and you cannot upload from the player back to your computer). I personally don't like this (my Archos harddrive-based mp3 player is seen by Windows as just another hard drive), but this anti-piracy gimmick is the price you pay for having such a good player. And to finish off my rebuttal, you *can* use mp3s encoded by other software. All in all, a great little player. Highly recommended.
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