IRIVER IPF-799 MP3 player

[tibsbeatall]

well, i just recently ordered one of these bad boys. I have read numerous reviews on them, but wouild like to speak to someone who actually has one. DO any of you have any personal experience with this player??

I would like to know if it's simple to use.

If the newest firmware has enabled using this as a removable storage device.

How the sound quality is.

How well the built-in voice recorder works. Can you record a professor speaking from the back of the classroom??

Around how many songs can you fit.

WHat's the best format for you overall. MP3, wav, etc etc.

Which formats does the player support. (This is the one i am most confused on, as many people say one thing, but specs say another, while yet reviews say another thing)

How's the sound quality for the worst format.

How the FM tuner is and how well it functions.

The aesthetics of the player. Is it pretty? Is it classy? Or is it just useful and have no true beauty?

Yeah, i guess i'm kinda asking a lot of questions, but hey, i'd like to konw them.

 

[Diasper]

I have one - in fact its sitting right by me at this very minute. I love it enough that I do take it everywhere if that's anything. It's among the best money I've ever spent and highly recommend it.

To your points:
- Yes it is very simple to use
- I'm using the latest firmware and I use it as removable storage
- Sound quality is great and at 192VBR really limited by my headphones
- The voice recorder does work great actually - I was using it in a lecture hall just 10 minutes ago to record my lecture - it records at 32kps but that still seems to produce surprisingly high quality. However, if the classroom is noisy you may find it more difficult to record your professor (you may have to sit nearer the front )
- The amount of songs you can fit depends on what format you use - OGG, MP3 and its bitrate - in short for myself at 192kps I still find myself with plenty to last a day (I can always go back home latter and reload a new list)
- I don't know what you mean by worst format - all are different
- It supports mp3 at any VBR, I think also WMA and also OGG Vorbis although that does not include VBR support for it - it might even be only 128kps but mind that would be enough for most people (only audiophiles not)
- The FM radio - well I haven't actually got round to using it I've been so impressed by the music. I just tried it now but didn#'t get very much - but that might just be the area I'm in and it not being configured. Well I suppose a different way of looking at it - the FM quality will be better than the FM quality on 99% of other players out there.
- I like the looks of the player (better than the 800 series), it looks simple and elegant although not very flash and attention grabbing - how I like it. I say just look at the pictures. Build quality it is made of plastic and without a battery can feel surprsingly light.

Hope that helps. I think if you buy it you won't regret it.

 

[Pariah]

I would like to know if it's simple to use.

-It's an mp3 player, how difficult can it be? Basic functions are simple enough. That being said, there is a lack of buttons on it, and a large number of features. So without reading the manual, you'll never figure out the button combinations to press to use all the functions. Pressing the buttons will sometimes trigger one feature, while holding them down longer will trigger a different one.


If the newest firmware has enabled using this as a removable storage device.

-No, you still need to use Iriver's software, and you can not upload music files from the player to a PC.


How the sound quality is.

-Pretty good. Slightly better than Creative's which are pretty good, and definitely better than Apple's players. File quality plays a pretty big role as do the headphones you use. The bundled are decent, but not great.


How well the built-in voice recorder works. Can you record a professor speaking from the back of the classroom??

-Never used it.


WHat's the best format for you overall. MP3, wav, etc etc.

-Wav will obviously be the best quality wise, but takes up too much space per song. I encode all my music to OGG which gives the best balance of quality and compression. Better than 320kbps MP3 quality with a 40% reduction in file size (roughly 192kbps MP3 files size).


Which formats does the player support. (This is the one i am most confused on, as many people say one thing, but specs say another, while yet reviews say another thing)

-Without looking at the manual, wav, MP3 and ogg. I don't have music in any other format, so that's all I know. VBR ogg is supported, but anything above quality setting 6 (again about 192kbps) results in garbled playback, so I think there is a bitrate limit a bit over 200kbps. Even with variable q6 there are occasionally garbled points, but if I set my encoder settings to max at 215kbps, I don't get any garbled spots any more.


How's the sound quality for the worst format.

-Not sure what that's supposed to mean.


How the FM tuner is and how well it functions.

-Don't use it.

 

[tibsbeatall]

thanks for the replies. Diasper are you sure that hte latest firmware supporst the device as removable storage? Are you able to transfer files from player to PC??


And pariah what do you mean don't use the FM tuner?? It's that bad?

Also, when i asked if it was simple to use, i meant the software that iriver gives and if creating playlists and junk like that on the player is easy. My bad for not explaining.

 

[tibsbeatall]

hi

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: tibsbeatall
thanks for the replies. Diasper are you sure that hte latest firmware supporst the device as removable storage? Are you able to transfer files from player to PC??


And pariah what do you mean don't use the FM tuner?? It's that bad?

Also, when i asked if it was simple to use, i meant the software that iriver gives and if creating playlists and junk like that on the player is easy. My bad for not explaining.

Sorry, I meant, I don't use it. I don't listen to FM radio, so I don't know how well it works.

You can use the player as a storage device, but windows does not detect it as a removable storage device. If you want to transfer files back and forth between a PC and the player, you have to have Iriver's drivers and software installed on the computer. Also, again, you can only transfer music files to the player, they cannot be transferred back to a computer. The software prohibits it.

The software is pretty brain dead. It has 2 panes, one with your computer one with the mp3 player, you drag and drop between the 2. Not sure about playlists, I don't use them, and there is no obvious way of creating them in the software. I would assume it can read standard playlist formats like winamp.

 

[Diasper]

Yeah, sorry it can be used as removable storage - except you need to use iriver's software in the process. Maybe there's a hacked version of the firmware out there but I don't really know.

As for the sound quality produced you're going to be limited by your earphones/speakers and music quality before the player does actually Ipods have terrible earphones - muddy and very bassy. Creatives are not much better. In short just get a proper set of earphones afterwards - if you're looking for high quality inexpensive in-ear headphones look at Sennheiser MX500/MX550 (the latter is very crisp but lproduces less bass). Also the Boomgears are good and is what I'm using now. The sound could be a little crisper but the bass is solid as is the overall sound - but what is especially good is that they isolate the outside sound and also your sound leaking to the outside.