this could be hot - sony's first CD/MP3 player

[JakeRoland]

According to the product info the Rio does have cdr/rw compatibility



<< sony has cdr/rw compatiblity but no tuner

rio has a tuner but no cdr/rw support

can OD coupons be used at comp4sure?


there is also a rca allinone portable w/ac adaptor & carkit at BB for $179.99. >>

 

[Nefrodite]

<< 2.) 8 minute mp3 skip protection >>



Why would you need this? Almost all songs are less than 5 minutes long.

with 192kbs mp3s thats only about 5 min of memory

 

[kyutip]

Most Sony stuff have really nice design.
But I would not trust any MP3 player made by Sony.
Remember Sony own recording label.
That's why their mp3 player (the nice looking pen like with memory stick) only support ATRAC3 (with evil magicgate to boot)
RIO have proven that they can supply new firmware to improve their MP3.
Not that I hate Sony (Sony is the only TV of choice)
but just my $.02

 

[jcballer1]

what is this sony magicgate bu11sh!t ???
does this mean they cannot play all my mp3's and will only play some of them????


cuz i was about to order the sony one tonight

 

[swNYC]

The Sony D-CJ01 plays MP3s like every other regular MP3 CD players out there (if not better).
So there is nothing to worry. I like mine very much and its much better than the RioVolt PSX-100 I had.

The MagicGate memory stick & ATRAC encoding is only for the Network Walkman *and * even then, you can convert MP3s to ATRAC using their software.

 

[jcballer1]

alright---- so www.800.com is the best deal for this thru MSN Passport ???

when is passport deal valid until ???

 

[lanb]

800.com MSN deal is long gone.

 

[jcballer1]

dammit.... so what's the best deal on the sony one now??

 

[KokomoGST]

Well, if you want iPod size and PC compatibility... that'd be the Archos Jukebox... (up to 20Gig)
and it is thankfully not overpriced like the Ipod and also thankfully not an Apple POS.

BTW, has anyone tried the 10X highspeed CDRWs in the SP250 or the new Sony unit? I'm really interested in that support since 4X CDRWs don't have much utility vs. the 4X now with the faster 10X disks. Oh, and how about their handling of LAME encoded VBR MP3s? 320KBit is just a waste...

 

[marschw]

That iRiver player looks like what I'd like to get, judging by the specs on their page, but I could find virtually no info on it (not to mention nobody selling it other than iRiver themselves, so no way to get it for less than $200 that I could find). The only info I could find was the press release.

The contact info for iRiver is 1716 Ringwood Avenue, San Jose, CA 95113, USA, which is pretty near me, so I might go down to them in person later this month and check them out. I've also sent them an email with some pertinent questions about the product, and I'll try to post the results here.

-=Marcus

 

[luv2liv]

i dont own the sony myself... but from what i read on the net, this sony model cant fast forward within a song???
if this is true... prices for it will drop any time soon, just like the horrible Mojo where u cant fast forward or fast rewind during a song.

 

[aerialcombat]

I ordered iriver imp-350 (SlimX) and received it yesterday, and I've been playing with it.

It's awesome! I knew the product was gonna be good because it's rio volt's OEM makers, but this stuff was great.

Great shock, great sounds, great battery life. It has all the best features. Also has fast forwarding. Plays playlists, supports lyrics.

I was thinking about the sony, but its display wasn't that good.

But this one is good. if you have any questions regarding this, PM me or something. I'll tell you all about it.

Even though I shelled out $200 for this, i still love it.

 

[luv2liv]

yo AC! where did u ordered the 350 from?
thanx.

 

[RossMAN]

If only this had an FM tuner and wasn't so butt ugly then I'd probably buy it.

 

[marschw]

<< yo AC! where did u ordered the 350 from?
thanx. >>


They sell it directly from www.iriveramerica.com and also link to a B&M that sells them.

-=Marcus

 

[marschw]

Here's a paste of my correspondence with iRiver. These people are GREAT about customer support it seems -- my questions were more than a bit fussy and specific, and they thoroughly researched and answered them. Here it is:



<< Marcus, I apologize for taking so long responding but I've been swamped with emails and some of your questions I had to do some research to give you accurate answers which are in red. >>

Redness of course is removed.


<< Christopher Lee Papazian
Marketing Manager
iRiver America, LLC
Direct: 408-452-7960
cpapazian@iriveramerica.com
www.iriveramerica.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Marcus
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 4:24 AM
To: contact@iriveramerica.com
Subject: Further IMP-350 info

I'm currently looking at getting a portable mp3 cd player, and I would
like to go for the IMP-350, but there are a few important questions
about the product which I have not been able to find any info about,
some of which should probably be added to the product's web site:

1. Most importantly, I haven't been able to find any reviews or
third-party information about it on the web. All I could find was
http://www.designinteract.com/news_d/10565.html which is just the press
release, which mentions cnet awards for this product. However, I
couldn't find any mention of iRiver or IMP-350 on cnet. Are there any
reviews out there that you know of?

In January dmusic,cnet, mp3.com, and a few others are releasing their product reviews of the SlimX to the public. So far I have talked to a few of them and everything is excellent so far in their analysis.

2. Are there any major retailers that carry this product? If I'm going
to be paying list price, I would prefer to not have to order online.

Right now TRG & Wintron are working on final negociations with the chain stores carrying the SlimX on their shelves. I expect mid-January to see it in stores.

3. Does it have a built in battery recharger? I see that it comes with
rechargeable batteries, but the specs do not explicitly state that
plugging the IMP-350 in to the AC adaptor will recharge the batteries.

There is an internal NiMh flat battery recharger in the unit itself, all you need to do is plug it in to a wall outlet and select the charge feature.

4. I couldn't find any pictures of the external AA battery pack. What
does it look like and how does it attach to the main unit?

It is like a 6? cylindrical tube that has a wire with a jack at the other end of the wire that plugs into the main unit in a labeled port.

5. What material is the chassis made of? I'm worried about the
durability of such a new product.

The top is made of a durable aluminum and the bottom is plastic. Rest assured it is very durable. You would be surprised what tests our QA people did to the unit before it was released to the public.

6. What range of bitrates can it play in one vbr file? Many players
have difficulties playing vbr mp3s which have some frames at 320kbps and
some at very low (e.g. 32kbps) bitrates. The IMP-350 specs say that it
supports 8-320kbps, but I assume that is referring to cbr files, since a
vbr file should be invalid if it includes frames both that high and that
low.

iMP-100/250/350/150 supports VBR (Variable Bit Rate) MP3 files range between 8~320kbps not to mention CBR files.

Definitely, supporting VBR means player can decode VBR files without failure regardless of bite rate change within the file. ( 320-->160-->64-->8-->160 ) It's not a characteristic only of iRiver products but the majority of MP3 players do support VBR recognition.

However, if the file is non-standard (non-Xing format ) VBR MP3, playability distinctively matters.

WinAmp runs in Pentium CPU PC may have not much difficulty in arithmetic calculation for seeking and decoding VBR MP3, where as many portable MP3 players based on DSP solution lack of MIPS performance hardly decode, to be more specific seeks the proper tracks within such files.

In case of iRiver products with Cirrus' EP7212 or EP7312 can recognize the file displaying message of "VBR file" on the screen and play up to the certain point of arithmetic calculation available within the chip's MIPS performance allocated for MP3 decoding, usually maximum 50 MIPS at current with the iRiver products.

7. The specs say it supports id3v1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, but does it support
v2.4 and v2.3, which is the most common 2.x format out there?

iMP-100/250/350 supports ID3 Tag V1 1.0, V2 2.0, V2 3.0 which may refer to what you have stated as ID3 v1.0, 2.0, and v2.3 .

In case of V2 4.0, the latest version, which has an enhanced tag information, is somewhat meaningless for iRiver product or for most of the portable players compared to PC based S/W applications as the LCD display provides the same basic information of filename and artist name.

8. Are there any particular types of mp3s which have been found to NOT
work with the IMP-350? For example, those which are made with certain
encoders or certain settings. I use many of the obscure encoding
features of the LAME encoder, so this may be a significant issue for me.

As mentioned above, not perfectly for non-standard (Xing format) MP3 files which are comparatively rare in these days.
Other than these are files mixed with MP3 and non-MP3, badly corrupted files, some odd or typically encoded files, etc.
If such files with basic encoding argorithsm determined iRiver engineer can work on them to be playable within our products respectively.

9. Is the unit really inoperable at 0 degrees C? That's an unusually
high minimum temperature. Where I live, it will often be below freezing
this winter, though probably not by all that much -- has the unit ever
actually been observed to fail at ~0 degree C temperatures?

The typical operating temperature recommended is between 0~40 C, normally refer to room temperature.

Player may used below or over the range, may not fully guarantee the functional consistency if it is left for considerably long period time. i.e. Delayed LCD display response time , delayed power on, less continuous playtime, some malfuction at button operations, etc.

Please be noted it does have sensitive electronics parts.

10. And lastly, are there any plans to add support for Ogg Vorbis
format? Additional formats I'm interested in are MPEG-1 Layer 2,
uncompressed WAV, and possibly some of the RealAudio codecs.

Latest CODEC of interests are MP3Pro, Ogg Vorbis, Real Audio codesc, MP4, etc. which are under consideration and under progress to be supported.

However, besides the developemnt leadtime, as it requires licencing issues at certain business condition we cannot say at current when will be the exact time to release the upgraded firmwares.

MPEG-1 Layer 2 and uncompressed WAV can be played with current iRiver players

P.S. Are the shoulder bags you were giving away to the first 300
customers gone yet?

I do not handle orders myself, I just handle marketing and dabble in tech support. >>

 

[AznRyda]

Wow marschw, that tech support seems GREAT!

 

[Luden]

that iriver player looks sweet, i wish they would release a player with all the same features but take 3 inch disks instead.

 

[Askani]

I have the iRiver iMP-350 "SlimX" and I must say it's hands down the best mp3/cd player on the market currently. Though it is a bit pricey at $200, deals are not only about the cheapest price but also about the best quality. I absolutely love the SlimX. Anyone who sees or uses it instantly falls in love with it. Thank you iRiver for such a great product.

 

[kelvingk]

I just purchased a iRiver SlimX myself. I drove down to San Jose (from Oakland) and picked it up personally. I must say, their customer service is excellent. In case anyone was wondering, I spoke with a CS rep, and she told me that if I wasn't satisfied with the player, I could return it and be refunded the full purchase price. Doesn't look like I'll be returning it though, because the player is perfect. It is solidly constructed and has quality components throughout. Even the earbuds that were included are pretty nice. Sound quality, probably the most important issue, is excellent. There is no distortion, and you don't hear interference from the drive as you would in cheaper units. On top of this, it looks really good. It is definitely worth the extra $50 more than the Sony player, if only because it's much smaller and has a lot more features.

 

[chexi]

From Iriver FAQ.


Q> Can iMP-350 support 8-cm CDs and CD-RW discs?

A> Yes, it can support 8-cm CD and CD-RW discs as well as a regular 12-cm 650M and 700M CD-R and CD-RW discs.



Q> The AA & NiMh flat batteries do not last for 23 hours as indicated in the manual, it runs out quickly.

A> A new rechargeable battery does not show its performance to the full. It shows its best performance only after several times of charge and discharge. If you use a new rechargeable battery, charge and discharge several times and check its lifetime again.



Another reason for quick wearing out of a battery is poor environment. If you use batteries at the cold place where the temperature is below 10°C, the efficiency of battery can drop down. It is reported that its performance shows about 80 percent under 10°C temperature and 50 percent under 0°C temperature. The best temperature for the battery is between 18°C and 30°C.

 

[serzone]

Get a Genica from eBay for a third of the price - linked

 

[Daishiki]

ah, my friend just got the sony one, but i love my riovolt. can't live without the tuner.

 

[riprock]

Hmm, a bad unit maybe?

I love my RioVolt. I bought it last summer and have used it about 20hrs/wk with the remote at work, walking around with it in a belt carryer. No problems except the remote cord wore and the wires inside broke. Had to order another remote ($30!!!) and it had a thicker cord on it, no problems now.

I think RioVolt is an awesome player. Firmware upgradable. The company is good about doing updates. Only think I didn't like was the original remote cord.

 

[marschw]

<< Get a Genica from eBay for a third of the price >>



Specs say they don't even support vbr or bitrates higher than 192kbps.

-=Marcus