iRiver H10

[fflakes]

What do people think about this player. If iAudio5 doesn't come out soon I'm thinking about getting this player. I like the design and battery life is decent for HD player... It's available in the U.S. very soon I think.

Since it's iRiver, the sound quality is comparable to iAudio, and I think it supports UMS on Windows XP, so I don't really see any drawbacks.

Lemme know your opinions.

http://www.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/h10_char.aspx

Hmm, it seems like H10 doesn't/cannot support OGG files. But I guess I can live with that.

I think iAudio should start looking into mini-HD players. I want something to carry around in my pocket without really feeling it.

[shaka_1205]

Sorry to disappoint you but you'll need a software to transfer files to the player --> not recognize as a UMS. Check out this website for more info: www.misticriver.net

[fflakes]

Yea I went to the forums there. It's kind of confusing. Apparently it's MTS (or whatever), meaning drag/drop on Windows 2000/XP ONLY. For other platforms, Asian versions support UMS while US version is windows only. At least, that's how I read it...

[Fido]

Hmmm, I've never thought of that, since windows media player is integrated into windows it might act as a drag and drop player even if it isn't in reality, can it take other files and act as a external harddrive? But 5GB is too small for me anyways.

[hErMa]

iRiver suxxxxx!!!!
haah! they arent able to release a firmware which supports UMS!!!
what a shame...

[jw0613]

output is 18mW (L) + 18mW
not bad for a 5GB player

[El Salvador]

I'm exactly in the same boat as you are, fflakes. I'm also waiting for the I5, or at least a high capacity (2gg) flash player, but it seems these players don't come out very soon and I don't wanna wait either. So I'm also considering to buy an H10.
From what I've read, drag&drop is possible on winXP/2000 machines (in the US/UK, that guy said) so I assume every player in Europe does support drag&drop from XP/2000 pc's. On the Mac OSX it was also possible with the Korean H10, but it won't work with non-Korean versions.
You only need the iRiver Plus software or WMP 10 when you want to use it's DB functions. But if you want it just like your windows explorer, you can simply drag and drop the files on your player.

Ogg support wil also be possible via firmware updates, but they're not sure about it because much power is needed to decode the ogg's and that's not efficient enough for the battery.

Next week it's gonna be released in the Netherlands so probably I'll buy it immediately :)