Rating: 
Summary: How do I love my SlimX... let me count the ways :)
Review: ...P>The size of this thing is amazing. It's no thicker than two minidiscs stacked, and it's just a bit bigger than a CD. It doesn't quite fit in my pocket though... maybe I should invest in cargo pants.Obviously, the MP3 and WMA capability is why you're buying this player (otherwise, go get a nice audio cd player with digital out), and it does the job fairly flawlessly. My only complaint with the mp3 playback is the inability to seek to a specific time in a long song. (e.g. you record a friend's concert as a single track, then you want to seek to a particular point in that concert). I haven't tested the CD-RW capability, but it should cut down on the cost of CDs for those of you who recycle your music collection frequently. Also, contrary to what some reviewers have said, the player is quite operable without the remote. (Read the manual; you can actually download it off the net.) The remote's screen is beautiful, albeit easily scratched, but it is somewhat bulky and gets in the way, so I don't always use it, especially when I don't need to control the player. Now a couple minor nits. First, the FM tuner uses the headphones as an antenna. Thus, if you get poor reception, move the CD player and your head around until you steer yourself out of the (multipath) null. Second, the UI for FM presets is a major pain to navigate (sorry, I can't fix that one for you). Third, the headphone out is super-noisy. To hear this, get a pair of nice earbuds (Etymotic ER-6 or ER-4P work well), put the volume all the way down (maybe to 1 or 2), and press play. If you're using headphones for which you can't hear the noise, you don't need this fix; otherwise, your headphones are sensitive enough to drive off the line out, and you can plug your headphones into the line out which don't have as much noise. If you're an audiophile, consider getting a different CD player, because you don't want MP3 compression anyways ;) Finally, I wish you could tell it which set of batteries to use (eg rechargable, AA, or both)...
Rating:
Summary: What else do you need? Is Perfect :-D
Review: For those who say that the sound is not that good, check out first the quality of your files or try to get a better pair of headphones, mine sounds great. I have a huge collection of mp3 in CD-R so this is probably the best gadget I could ever bought. Light, really thin (they didn't joke about the slim concept) it fits perfectly in the sleeve-side pockets of most of my pants. Is relatively easy to use, personally I haven't missed the control panel in the unit at all, the remote control is more than enough. About the features: Several music formats, terrific! Radio FM, splendid!(I don't really hear any AM radio after all). The NiMh battery performance is just amazing, and the posibility to plug an extra pair of batteries is a pretty cool idea (for those who haven't put a hand in a SlimX, the extra battery pack comes in an external cilinder that you can hide in a pocket inside the carry bag). The anti-skip memory works for me and the upgradable firmware is a great advantage. I guess this is the perfect MP3/CD player for those MP3-CD-R-compulsive-collectors, or for those who love to hear music all the time, everywhere. I suppose the detractors of this unit aren't this kind of people.
Rating: 
Summary: Great technology - poor sound
Review: I realy wanted to like this product. It is very well put together apart from a plasticy remote, has a lot of features and easy to use. The sound is very clear and has plenty of attack at both ends of the audio range. But the treble is too sharp and can be annoyingly penetrating, even when using a regular CD. In fact MP3 recordings using VBR sounded amazingly close to the original CD, but had that ugly treble. The included headphones should be thrown away immediatley, they are useless. I tried to improve things with better cans and the problem I found with 4 different pairs was that the volume would not go up loud enough. I am not deaf and do not play my music that loud but anything apart from the earbud style versions did not give enough volume. I do not know if my player was faulty, but ultimatley the sound was too thin with little depth in the mid range and with that bright treble, I returned the unit and bought a Sony Mini Disk instead. The iRiver has had rave reviews in some forums, I think a lot of it is written by people who are so enamored with the technology and convenience, that they tend to forget the sound, or at least have never heard what a good CD can do.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST player EVER .
Review: let's get to the point : I've got one iMP-350 for about 3 weeks now and it is PERFECT. NO FLAWS WHATSOEVER !!!! trust me on this ! the only small prob is the carrying case because it doesn't have a "belt hook" and is rather soft !!! 5 stars on everything(design/sound/features/antishock/.../...) G E T I T N O W ! ! !
Rating: 
Summary: A sleek and quality player
Review: With exception of a couple design flaws, I like the SlimX iMP-350 very much. What I like most is that I can burn a variety of MP3 music on a CD-RW, place the different categories of music in different folders and play whatever type of music I'm in the mood for. In the play mode, I can skip to a different folder (Jazz, Country, Pop, Classical, etc) or skip to a different selection within a folder. It's neat! A couple improvements which could be made to improve the 350 are: 1. The screen on the remote should be larger so detail would be easier to read. 2. It is a sleek and trim player which makes it somewhat cumbersome to carry. The bag provided is okay for storage but doesn't really lend itself to portability. Perhaps another type bag for transporting the player and remote might be more appropriate.
In summary, the iMP-350 is a fine player and I think most people will like its features and quality.
Rating:
Summary: This is THE MP3 Player to buy
Review: The short story.....I travel for work. I have a CD player (which I used to take with me) but I could only sensibly bring 10-12 CDs with me. I was strolling around 'The Wiz' in the US and saw the Rio Volt 90 for $US100. I bought it and burned all my CDs to MP3 so I could bring more than 10-12 when I travelled. I was not expecting good quality sound. But the sound on the Rio Volt 90 was the best I ever heard....amazing.... I thought I had found a great player at a very reasonable price. But...the last time I went home to Dublin a friend of mine from Australia was there and he had a new I-Pod. So, the competition was on (boys and their toys)!!! Clearly the I-Pod out did the Rio Volt 90 (as it should with the price difference). I had to do better!! So I searched the web for the best MP3 player. I found the SlimX and bought it.
What's it like? Sound to die for!!!! It is hard to describe how good this thing sounds. I love my Pink Floyd music but I have never heard 'Dark Side' like I have heard it since I bought the SlimX. There are sounds on that CD that I never knew existed. It's like listening to my entire music collection for the first time all over again. Sure the slimx has other features like the rechargable batteries, external battery holder, great little control device. But what really mattered was having better portable sound than my friend!!! And the sound on the Slim-X is unbelievable. You just have to hear it for yourself. If you listen to some of your favourite music on a Slim-X you will buy it. Sure it cost me more than the Rio Volt 90 but better sound costs more, always has. If you want better sound (perhaps the best sound?), you will buy the Slim-X. Minuses? The only thing I was a little surprised by was that the headphones that come with the Slim-X did not seem to play the higher frequencies as well as other headphones I own (I own quite a few). I have an excellent set of 'open ear' sony headphones to complement the sound quality of the Slim-X....
Rating:
Summary: Best Choice of ANY MP3 Player
Review: So what's out there in the mp3 world? 1) Tiny players with flash ram. These are like the rio 600. Why is the SLIM better? More space. Cheap Space. Slightly larger, but radio, rechargable batteries, and plays normal cds - which I'm sure you have tons of lying around. 2) Hard disk players. Nomad Jukebox is an example. Why not? Too heavy, too bulky. Who actually has 20gb worth of mp3's? And who wants to sort through all of those on a little lcd? They're pretty expensive too. 3) CD players. None of these are close to the slimx. IRiver designed the Rio Volts. They are larger and not even close to as cool. Other's aren't upgradeable (can we say MP3 pro in the future?) and aren't as sturdy. OVERALL: This is the one you want to buy. Mine is great, sounds great. Just get new headphones and you'll be set. The remote is top notch. You can fiddle with everything. The only downside is that it takes a little time to figure out how to use the remote and the battery add on pack is awkward. This is the best thing out there though.
Rating:
Summary: amazing, one of the best purchases i've ever made
Review: this thing is incredible. i've had it for almost three weeks and have had zero problems. it hasn't skipped once and i've used it almost everyday since i've had it. the player looks incredible and the remote is so damn slick. aside from the remote looking good it provides all the info you'll need and makes navigating your cds a breeze. my only complaint is the external 'AA' battery pack looks junky but you can hide it in the little pouch that comes with the SlimX. being able to upgrade a personal cd player is amazing as well. unless you're loaded and have money for the nomad jukebox buy this. seriously... don't buy anything else.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry, Sony (?!)
Review: In terms of software, this is the machine for Sony to beat in terms of MP3 player: it is excellent. Why?
The upgradeable software(firmware) ensures that this machine will have a long product cycle. Also, except for the small LCD screen, the display is simple, neat and legible(in blue). It reads so many formats(unlike great-design,closed-format Sony MP3 players that obviously flopped for these reasons) Oh, it can also read CD-RW media, so you can save and delete unwanted files(of course, you have to use a PC for this). Now, in terms of hardware, it is very good(note that I did not say excellent). This has a RISC chip for the firmware-upgrade, is very thin(16mm thick) and light for people on the move. The machine inserts two Ni-CD batteries internally that gives double the battery life than any normal CD-player(a really nice idea). You also can really raise the volume, something that I have not expected from this small a player.
However, why is this not as excellent as the software? The things that I complain about are the fit and finish: iriver does not seem to have the fit and finish quality of Sony's CD players. The body's black plastic is dull in color, and the metal plate cover for the top just does not look good as a Sony-actually, Iriver's CEO did note this.
Also, the remote is kinda stubby, and headphones are just normal ones that does sound no justice. Last, the manual is disorganized, drawings are too big, and it does not provide any explanations about the file formats it uses(ASF, WMA etc) and gives no CD-ripping software or instructions on how-to-do one. The thing is, once you get over these problems, this machine really deserves its high praise. Simply put, the smart ideas and great software are excellent enough for me not to return it and invest more time to work the problems on my own.
First, I got a new pair of headphones(Sennheiser HD497), searched throught the web for good and free ripping software(CDex software) and once I started ripping musics from my CDs on to a CD-RW, all the problems just melted away. The search and play function, the powerful output(please, get yourself a good headphone: either a Sennheier HD497 or Grado SR60). Worth your time and money, this machine is for anyone with some CD collection, high-speed internet and a CD writer. Definitely recommended, also because their customer service is outstanding: they constantly heed to customers' input, and it shows in their products. ...
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Personal Music System
Review: Buy This Unit! I purchased the iRiver SlimX a couple of weeks ago and it is so fine that I just ordered another as a gift for my wife. A little costly but worth every penny. Something of a status item too, I suspect. The SlimX is intuitive as to basic play functions, which are easily mastered, but is so feature-rich that I haven't yet explored all that it can do--I only today discovered the nifty discharge-then-charge function for the superb stick NiMH batteries that are included. And the ergonomics and asthetics are simply magnificent. We're talking SLIM and brushed aluminum here. And you will love the high-pixel backlit inline remote. All in all, this unit is top of the line. As for play, I have been throwing MP3 and WMA playlists burned onto CD-RWs at it, as well as commercial CDs. It simply knows what to do with each, no questions asked. I haven't wasted my time on the earbud phones but with a decent pair of Sony's the machine is absolutely high fidelity at any volume. Oh, and I haven't been able to make it skip with burned CD-RWs. Shake it hard--nothing. Nice buffering, iRiver. Three small caveats to ignore: 1) toss the aformentioned earbuds and use some decent phones; 2) toss the useless velvet carrier and get a Case Logic shoulder or belt pack; 3) accept that the instruction manual explains unit functions and nothing more--if you need help with MP3 or WMA, seek additional resources. Otherwise, this baby is a keeper.
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