So I got an iPod and an iRiver at the same time

[deftron]

Initially, I wanted to get an iRiver, just waiting on a deal.

Well, Friday, I saw a hot deal online on a 4g 20GB iPod that I couldn't pass up,
so I ordered that.

Waiting for it to come in, I was wondering if I made a mistake and should of gotten an iRiver ihp-120.
As luck would have it, I saw one in Best Buy on Monday open box for super cheap. I decided to
get it, too, since there wouldn't be any restocking fee if I returned it and it looked mint (no accesories were opened and not even any prints on the player)

Been messing around with the iRiver for the last couple days.
First impression, not real great. Looks are decent, kinda cheesy funky though like those newer
boomboxes in Circuit City, plus it rattled a bit from all the buttons, just moving it
around in your hand. Navigation and file browsing really sucks on it. The joystick
feels very cheap. Navigation is by a Windows Explorer type folder structure that is
practically useless since it only shows like half of each filename. Sound quality was good.
I only used RCA out to my stereo, not headphones. I'll probably rarely ever use phones since
I'll be hooking up to my car. The remote was kinda cool, but is should have shown Artist/Song instead of
Folder/Song. Overall, I wasn't super impressed.

Ipod came in today. First impression, sweet! Very nice looking and totally solid. No rattling and a nice
minimalist look. Navigation by the click wheel was very fluid and easy. Menu File system was great, equally fluid. I do realize however, this was due to iTunes and navigation relies on id3 tags. Unfortunately, no drag and drop from the PC. On the other hand, the iriver did have drag and drop, but navigation was still by file names, not id3 tags, unless you installed their software. I decided to do that to make comparisons fair. Basically, the iriver software was useless. It wouldn't recognize id3 tags on many albums I had that the ipod had no problem with. I later realized there is a 52 character path/file name limit, otherwise id3 tags cannot be read. Even with the few albums it did recognize, navigation with the database was still pretty bad.

So far, ipod was winning. But the main test was still ahead, a head to head sound test. From what I read on the internet, it didn't look good for the ipod, but all other reviews were using headphones . Again this was by RCA straight into my Yamaha rX-1200 with Axiom M-22ti mains. A pretty decent, and nicely accurate set up. Like I said before, the iriver sounded pretty good. Actually, the line out sounded pretty good. The headphone jack sounded fairly worse. However, the line out wasn't even truly line out since it was still controlled by the volume setting, not bypassing the circuitry. Anyways, believe or not, the ipod sound just as good, if not better. Very accurate, and a slightly better soundfield. I read complaints that it didn't have enough bass. For me, it was just right. The iriver line out was a tad deeper, but compared to an original CD, the ipod sounded more like the original song.

Thats it, ipod for me. Regardless of the hype and marketing, I honestly think it is a better MP3 player. I realize the iriver records and plays other file types like OGG and WMA. However, I'll never use the record feature, and I want an MP3 player, not some other file type. All my music is already in MP3 and if I really need loseless, I'll use apple's format. Guess I'm gonna return the iriver now.

Just a little mini take on both players for those interested.

 

Prepare to get flamed.

Good to have a real life comparison here. That whole explorer structure is great, but the cutting off of the filenames? That's horrible.

Reminds me of dloading truncated file names from mac ftpd's from a pc.

 

[xEDIT409]

Nice.

 

[Adul]

i like it to be compared with some of the other players out there head to head now

 

[vi edit]

I use ephpod to update my ipod. Works great and is a very minimalist program.

I've messed around with some of the other DAPs and none of them have the ipod beat in interface. The click wheel is leaps and bounds better than the others for scrolling through piles and piles of albums/songs.

 

[Kalvin00]

:thumbsup: Nice review.

 

[bootymac]

I'd kill for an iPod (no idea why, I just want one really bad)

 

[Sluggo]

I bought my wife an iRiver, she hated the navigation. SHe has long fingernails and somehow the navigation "joystick" on the iRiver casued her major headaches.

Returned it and got an iPod.

She pretty much agrees on all your points.

 

[gflores]

I am favoring the iRiver, but now that you mention about the shortened filenames, I may be reconsidering. My mp3-cd player has that and it bugs the hell out of me. iRiver has the Explorer folder structure. What does the iPod have? Menu? Care to explain or offer a link? Thanks.

Also, how much did each cost?

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: gflores
I am favoring the iRiver, but now that you mention about the shortened filenames, I may be reconsidering. My mp3-cd player has that and it bugs the hell out of me. iRiver has the Explorer folder structure. What does the iPod have? Menu? Care to explain or offer a link? Thanks.

Also, how much did each cost?

The irver has frames like Windows Explorer in list view.
Tree structure of your folders on the left pane.
File names on the right, but theres only room for about 14 characters, so the rest is cut off.

Ipod uses id3 tags.
You can browse by artist, album, song, and more.
During play it loks like this centered.
Song
Artist
Album

Might take pics later...


Prices: Iriver $239 + tax

Ipod: $215 + tax

 

[deftron]

Anyone else own either? Comments?

 

[torpid]

I summon forth gurck from the depths of the lurker underworld.

I don't know about the ipod mini, but apparently the ipod 3G sounded worse when connecting to the headphone jack and not the line out. I assume you are connecting to the line out?

Wha... $239? The retail was $300 right? Was the hard drive missing or something? That's a really low open box discount for BB.

 

[DaveSimmons]

What's the headphone amp power like on the iPod? My flash-based Yepp player has a weak amp that doesn't give me enough volume on softer / lower volume MP3's.

 

[welst10]

Not surprising AT ALL. I always thought iRiver isn't good. Too user unfriendly, too many useless features. But Creative Zen Touch beats ipod. I owned it for 23 days now. I couldn't be happier.

Summary: Zen Touch > ipod > iRiver

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: torpid
I summon forth gurck from the depths of the lurker underworld.

I don't know about the ipod mini, but apparently the ipod 3G sounded worse when connecting to the headphone jack and not the line out. I assume you are connecting to the line out?

Wha... $239? The retail was $300 right? Was the hard drive missing or something? That's a really low open box discount for BB.

I'm talking 4g, not 3g. This is the first time I've used an ipod so don't know about previos models.
Anyways, about line out, I was refering to the iRiver, not the iPod. iPod only has headphone out.
iRiver has both headphone and line out, thought the sound quality from the headphone jack didn't sound
nearly as good. $239 was for the iriver. Like I said, everything was mint, none of the accesories opened.
A pretty good deal. However, I think the ipod was a better deal.

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

What's the headphone amp power like on the iPod? My flash-based Yepp player has a weak amp that doesn't give me enough volume on softer / lower volume MP3's.

Amp power was great. The ipod actually played louder than the iriver at max volume and was still clear. I had to lower it to compare.

 

[Gurck]

Cool review, pretty much agree with your findings, although I consider UI to be very low on the scale of importance, and it's the only thing the iPod has going for it. Even at almost 30gb I know my collection like the back of my hand. If that's "2 hrd 4 u", then by all means get an iPod (to listen to during reality TV and wrestling commercials :laugh: ) The iPod's line-out is fine; its sound quality problems come about when using its headphone jack - so be sure to try that in your sound comparison Still, price figures into things, and at the price you found that iPod for, it's not a terrible purchase, though you can find players with more features, similar/better SQ, higher battery life, and support for more file types, for less $$. Never forget that a solid 30% (if not more) of the iPod's price goes toward those tacky ads.

 

[torpid]

Wow, $215 for a 20g 4G is outrageous. I misread and thought you said 4 gig and not 4G. Do you have a link to that deal?

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: torpid
Wow, $215 for a 20g 4G is outrageous. I misread and thought you said 4 gig and not 4G. Do you have a link to that deal?

Check out obese pocketbook.

Deal may be dead now, however.

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: Gurck
Cool review, pretty much agree with your findings, although I consider UI to be very low on the scale of importance, and it's the only thing the iPod has going for it. Even at almost 30gb I know my collection like the back of my hand. If that's "2 hrd 4 u", then by all means get an iPod (to listen to during reality TV and wrestling commercials :laugh: ) The iPod's line-out is fine; its sound quality problems come about when using its headphone jack - so be sure to try that in your sound comparison Still, price figures into things, and at the price you found that iPod for, it's not a terrible purchase, though you can find players with more features, similar/better SQ, higher battery life, and support for more file types, for less $$. Never forget that a solid 30% (if not more) of the iPod's price goes toward those tacky ads.

Like I said, iPod only has headphone out, not line out. Have you ever used one ?

Anyways, iriver's navigation wasn't too hard. ipod's was just more convenient, better organized and logical.

As for more features. All the iriver had that the ipod didn't was a mic and remote. I don't need to record and the remote wasn't that great.

Similar/better sound quality: Ipod was just as good, if not better.

Higher battery life: I'll proably only use it plugged into power on my car. However, reported battery life on the 4g and hp-120 isn't that different. About 11 - 13 hours reported for the ipod, 12 - 14 hours for the iriver.

More file types: don't need them, I wanted an MP3 player

Less money: ipod was cheaper

 

[vi edit]

Cool review, pretty much agree with your findings, although I consider UI to be very low on the scale of importance, and it's the only thing the iPod has going for it.

I'm constantly flipping through tracks, artists, albums, ect. I don't do playlists. So I have to manually dig through directories to get to what I want. For me interface is everything since I use it so much. I was looking at that Rio Carbon and didn't care for the way things worked on it. The interface was so much smoother on the ipod so I'm probably going to stick with it.

Its kinda like trying to do gaming with a trackball. Yeh, it works, but it's a pain in the ass. That's how I compare the clickwheel to others. Sure others work, but just not as well.

Smart people choose something that they can use better. It's not a lack of intelligence that makes a poorly designed UI hard to use.

I've heard a lot of talk about the Zen touch. I'd give that a fair shake but I can't find them at any B&M retailers to test out.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: deftron
Like I said, iPod only has headphone out, not line out. Have you ever used one ?

I sure have, how about you? Click me and read, or just know that a close friend of mine has the misfortune of owning one. Maybe the 4g doesn't have the line-out? Or maybe (since you had no compunction about attacking my integrity and one good turn deserves another) you're lying through your teeth about this and only trying to make the iPod look good before you put a free iClod referral link in your sig or log in with a second account and make a post about it?

As for more features. All the iriver had that the ipod didn't was a mic and remote. I don't need to record and the remote wasn't that great.

FM tuner, among other things

Similar/better sound quality: Ipod was just as good, if not better.

That's your subjective opinion. Mine is that the iRiver sounds far better, and the facts that it has much lower THD (0.04% vs the iPod's 0.42%) & a far more flat frequency response back mine up.

Higher battery life: I'll proably only use it plugged into power on my car. However, reported battery life on the 4g and hp-120 isn't that different. About 11 - 13 hours reported for the ipod, 12 - 14 hours for the iriver.

More file types: don't need them

Why pay more for less battery life / fewer features then? I love the "I don't need those extra features" argument, because those making it never comment on the extra price feature the iPod includes without the extra features

Less money: ipod was cheaper

This deal was an anomaly, iPods are generally more expensive... although if this is the beginning of the price break iPods need to not be a laughably bad purchase, then Kudos to Apple.

 

[welst10]

So you got the Staple HP ipod deal. That deal requires some GC, coupon combo, right? But 215+tax is an awesome deal.

 

[deftron]

Dear resident ipod basher,

If you're so anti-marketing, why do you have a Pentium setup?
I don't recall ever seeing AMD commercials with annoying dancing men in blue jumpsuits.

If all you care about is features and price,
why do you use Windows XP? Linux has more features and it's cheaper.

Anyways, I am comparing a 4th Generation Ipod to the Iriver IHP-120,
not a 2g thats 2 generations old.

Since you''ve never used a 4G, otherwise you'd know about no line out, your sound quality argument doesn't hold up. I don't care that the 2G had worse distortion on paper.
In real life test, the 4G Ipod sounds better than the iriver.

As for price, MSRP on the iriver is $329
MSRP on the ipod is $299 ($269 with student discount)

 

[deftron]

Originally posted by: welst10
So you got the Staple HP ipod deal. That deal requires some GC, coupon combo, right? But 215+tax is an awesome deal.

Yeah, got in on the Staples deal. Might still be going. I think there's 30 off 150 coupons that expire tomorrow, and the 25 GC expires in January. You can get them at FW. PM'ed to here

 

[torpid]

It's a losing battle. Get out while you can deftron. When gurck listened to a refurbed ipod 1g with 64kbps MP3s using his $1 headphones, it sounded worse than his iriver with etymotic er6s and mp3s at 384kbps. There's no way to defeat that argument.