Rating: 
Summary: Great features, poor portability
Review: I bought this unit and waited 10 months to write this review.Pros:
-lightweight
-tons of features (including a language study mode, a game and the ability to program the LCD to display your name or such)
-downloadable firmware updates greatly extending the features
-good sound Cons:
-horrible, unexcusable skipping when carrying in any manner except a horisontal position; it gets so bad the player will often freeze,with the CD spinning uselessly, and then turn off. I waited for a long time, hoping a new firmware would fix it. Especially since it is so much nicer than the RioVolt I had bought and returned just before that - that one broke down in exactly seven days (though it didn't skip nearly as much). But even the latest firmware (v2.20 as of this writing) didn't help. Neither does the buit-in anti-shock feature (long click of the -10/+10 lever). The bottom line: if you're a slow walker or if you're prepared to carry your CD player clutched in your hand, trying to keep it horisontal all the time, you'll be happy with this unit. Otherwise, avoid it. Update:
1) Warranty/support
I tried to contact iRiver support before the warranty ran out and sent them an email. Three weeks, no reply. The 1-800 number features only the recorded message, "Leave your name and number and we will contact you within one business day" (wording may be not exact). I left my name and number and no one called me in two weeks. Ergo, expect NO SUPPORT from iRiver. At least, with Amazon you can return it easily within 30 days, so you can try it out safely to see if it works for you - some people do report no problems. 2) Media compatibility
Two CD-R and one CD-RW brands were tried. The results are below, with CD/dye info courtesy of Nero CD-DVD Speed.
-Phillips 40X 700MB/80 min
Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics
Recording Layer: Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Dye Color: amber/very light yellow
Compatibility (MP3): startup/seek times are slow, freeze-prone
in non-horisontal positions -Memorex 700MB/80min
Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden
Recording Layer: Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Dye Color: light blue-green
Compatibility (MP3): much better than the one above in all
departments, very occasional skips -CompUSA 650MB/74min 4X CD-RW
Manufacturer: Plasmon
Recording Layer: Phase Change
Dye Color: silver gray
Compatibility (MP3): rather close to the Phillips above, less
skipping The above is also relevant to the latest SlimX - iMP-550. I'll post more brands and results in my future review of it, but there will be no more updates here as I already sold my iMP-350.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply Amazing...
Review: This MP3 CD/Player was more than I expected. To put this in perspective, I expected 5 out of 5. Anyway, I got the package open and my dad came into the room. He said "...that's small!" That sums up how compact it is. Some people said the remote was too complicated. I haven't read the manual yet and I know every feature of this thing... The Remote is intuitive and extremely easy to use. And Upgrade the Bios (Go to iRiverAmerica.com) and you can now play a game on the thing. And the game is fun too. I thought it was cool that with MP3's, it'll load the whole song into the anti-shock memory quickly, and then stop the CD to save battery life. That brings me to something else... Battery life is great, those little things pack a punch. My ONLY complaint was that the included headphones were... strange. The one's cord was about 3 times the length of the other. This is great if say, two people are listening, or you want to wrap the cord around your neck and then put it in your ear, but it looks stupid to have all that excess cord hanging around your neck. Anyway, this MP3 player is great, it's everything it says it is and more. Buy it now.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Product
Review: I recieved the iRiver iMP-350 and I am pleased with my purchase. The CD player was indeed "Ultraslim" and had a very cool silver design. The remote is very confusing at first because some functions require long clicks and short clicks. But after one day of fumbling with it I mastered all the controls. The remote seemed lighter and more delicate than I expected and the head phones that came with it are uncomfortable. To solve this problem I recommend the Sony Street Style head phones which deliver a great bass and are very comfortable.
The batteries that come with it are rechargable and take about 5 hours to recharge. To get the best battery life you have to discharge and charge the batteries once a month. With the clunky external battery pack, I get about 21.5 hours of music. To get more battery life you could turn the back light off or minimize the changing of tracks.
PROS:
-awesome cd quality sound
-slim, streamline design
-somewhat good battery life
-plays mp3s, wmas, etc.
-firmware upgrades make the cd player better CONS:
-bad carrying case
-earbuds
-confusing remote at first
-external battery pack that dangles is a little annoying Overall I recommend this cd player for a person who has patience reading manuals.
Rating:
Summary: A nice transition before you get the portable hard drive
Review: I'm still waiting for all of the bugs to be ironed out of the iPod for Windows (and maybe for the price to drop a little), so I got this in the meantime. It goes to the gym with me almost daily, and it went on vacation with me this summer. It's sturdy and the battery life is superb. The attached remote and viewscreen gets a little unwieldy at times, but not very often--usually, I'm glad to have it, because you can keep the actual player tucked away (in a backpack or on top of a piece of gym equipment) and still control the tracks. If you're like me and hesitant about making the leap to the full-on hard drive-based mp3 players, this should tide you over nicely.
Rating:
Summary: This one rocks !!!
Review: In plain simple words, the iRiver SlimX iMP-350 CD/MP3 Player Rocks !!! And I mean every word of it. I have owned this product for over a year now and still I am not ready to part with it. There is no other product in this category that even comes close to it. Ofcourse, I am not considering the newer versions, the iMP-400 or iMP-550, as I have not tested them yet. I have tested the SonicBlue Riovolt SP-250 and the Sony DCJ-01 though. None of the other models or brands deserve a mention over here. The iRiver SlimX iMP-350 CD/MP3 Player sets higher standards for others to catch up to it. So far I have had no problems with skipping while traveling in car. I mostly play mp3 and wma formats. The rechargeable batteries that came with the unit still gives me more than 5 hours of continuous playback. The remote is still working perfectly, I did not have to change the LCD contrast yet. The units position at times need to be positioned correctly so that it catches the FM signals properly, but this does not matter much to me. Overall, this unit is worth every buck you spend on it.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent, but beware
Review: Speaking as someone who has had this thing for 6 months or so, it has the potential of being the best mp3 cd player out there for the price. but there are some drawbacks The good:
-Unbelieveable sound quality
-Easy interface
-Upgradable firmware
-Sweet anti-skip
-Decent battery life
-Lots of accessories
-VERY thin The bad:
-Virtually useless case
-Not very resistant to shock (dropped it once, threw the laser allignment out of whack)
-Occasionally freezes
-Cheesy cord that connects the remote control. Wears down very quickly and renders the controller useless
-Slow power-on
-Comes with cheesy headphones with cords that also go bad quickly Overall, its a great product, as long as you dont drop it, and prevent the cords from getting tangled, itll work great for you. But if you're like me and you take it everywhere, its hard to do that. I do not reccommend this for anyone that uses this for school or is constantly on the go, because it's too sensitive to damage. Customer support is horrible, so if you have problems, dont expect a reply from e-mail within a week. But I am trying to find something a little more durable (preferrably a hard-drive MP3 player)
Rating:
Summary: 350's Report Card
Review: Korea has been steadily rising with electronic devices (supercomputer chips, mp3 players, to the first camera cellphones), and from such a small country 1/5 the size of Japan, it is interesting how they're developing. iRiver has created a fantastic little mp3 player, to which I've rated: A+ Sound - Excellent!(bass/treble adjustments)
A+ Organization - sub menus, plays playlists, personalized name
A+ Versatility - upgradeable firmware, mp3, cdrw, wma, asf, cd, fm tuner
A+ Design - Comes with black pouch, slim to fit in pocket, extended earbuds so you can share w/ someone while listening, external AA battery pack, internal ultraslim NI-mh batteries!
A+ Options - Ability to play LYRICS on LCD screen, supports ID3 tagging in 25 different languages from French, Korean and Japanese /katakana hiragana kanji / characters.
A+ Life - Batteries 23 hours long, recharge/discharge Besides all those options, all this baby has to do is have good sound, and it does deliver. I've tried SONY's mp3 player but the sound from iriver is INCOMPARABLE. THE BEST. A+ student.
Rating:
Summary: Love in begging, ending in divorce
Review: I bough this CD player 3 months ago and it was amazing. It did everything. After I realized I needed more space than 700MB disc and am so lazy to bring more than 2 disc. I wanted a iPod ir a Jukebox by Nomad. Now after these 3 months my remote has an issue with the headphone jack and it is amazingly staticy. So maybe I would recomend the Imp-500 is you where bold. But I would go with a jukebox of some sort due to more advantages.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: About as thin as cd players go...you have the convenience of being able to play normal cds, mp3 cds, radio. The battery life is great to begin with..although my batteries are now starting to give only about 3 hrs on a full charge after a year...get new headphones, the ones that come with it aren't great. I kept this in my bookbag the whole year, and just whipped out the superbly designed remote anytime i wanted to listen...again, extremely convenient and way more versatile than a flash player, and way cheaper than any hd based player worth getting..overall great value for money even at the [money amount] I paid
Rating:
Summary: Great for everyone including audiophiles
Review: This player pretty much does it all in such a thin package. There are loads of features which are available from the remote control which can keep any electronics fan busy for a while. Once you get the hang of how it operates via the remote, you can really see that the developers at iRiver really put some thought into making it. To my knowledge there really aren't any other cd/mp3 players that rival this one (except for iRivers other cd/mp3 players).
As far as the sound quality is concerned, this is definitely top notch and without cheap components. I have typically been a Sony discman user, but this unit without a doubt surpasses them in this department. I usually rip mp3's at 320kbps to get the full spectrum of digital sound and the Slim X delivers in great fashion and terrific noise to sound ratio...just read the specs.
To everyone's good fortune, the price has dropped considerably from the time it was introduced to now. I just recently purchase mine from Amazon for under $$.
It would be wise to buy this unit and spending the extra $$ vs. some other lower end units for quality, performance, great support and firmware upgrades.
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