Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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139 of 158 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome!, February 3, 2005
I've been looking for a new replacement MP3 player for my Ipod 3G 30 Gig. I was thinking about Ipos Shuffle, Ipod Mini, or Zen Micro (or Zen Micro Color). Then by accident, I stumpled upon Irivier H10. It is very small, stylish, and easy to operate. It's got FM radio, voice/FM recording, color screen (to view pics), and other standard MP3 functions. It's only $30 more than Mini, but has so much more to offer. The sound quality is great (but not w/ the included earpiece) and there are 40 sound presets (including your own setting). In the package, you will also receive a transparent plastic skin. It fits the player perfectly and easy to remove if you choose to. This usually goes for $8+ for ipod, and you get it free. Sure, you can't view those pics on TV like Ipod Photo, but who cares? What's the chance of you carrying a cable w/ you at all times? The battery life is around 12 hours per charge and it is replaceble as well. That means you can buy an extra battery for your long trip to extend the battery life or change it when the battery dies in a year or so. It is a true Ipod Mini killer and I've used 2 Ipods, Sony MP3 player, and a Samsung MP3 players. Strongly recommended!
Edit 1:
*After I went to Apple Store yesterday and played around with Ipod Photo, I'm even more impressed with H10 color screen. On Ipod Photo, you have to view the screen directly (right in front of the screen) in order to see the photo clearly. Otherwise, the photo/lcd will look dim. But, Ipod Photo has faster photo browsing speed. As I said before, viewing photo on mp3 isn't a priority for me and I'm very happy as is right now.
*I haven't have much problem/bug with this machine yet as others have described here. The only thing that I've experienced is that once I connect the player to my PC, I can't see the "remove this external drive icon" in the taskbar after a while. So, I simply unplug the connection cable/usb. Luckily nothing has happened yet.
*Many people asked me about the skin, well, it is just the Ipod skin you buy in Apple store but fits much nicer on the player. I can't stress how nice it fits on H10. For my Ipod, I litterally have to force it onto my ipod (because it sticks to the player so much that the friction is making it hard to do). And yes, it will attracks dirt just like other skins. If you worry about the look of it, don't use it. If you want a good protection for the player on the go, this is a good choice.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
research this player before committing, February 7, 2005
Pros: great build, feels nice and solid;
- the touch pad is excellent very precise movement: tapping the top and bottom of the strip or simply holding it down allows excellent precision and accuracy.
- great feedback with the buttons (you don't have to wonder if you pressed a button when it's in your pocket).
- sound quality is excellent volume from 0 - 40. around 20 is already loud enough for me.
- color screen; big pictures will appear blurry, but it's expected with a small screen
- very intuitive controls. the back button always brings you back to the last screen no matter what the last screen is. example: while in the picture browser i wanted to change the song click FF then click back and i'm back in the picture browser.
- excellent shuffle mode algorithm: you will not hear the same song twice as it the player takes the played songs out of the algorithm
- MTP = drag and drop if you prefer it more than windows media player. there is no propietary software (but drag and drop is slower than syncing with WMP. it's still not UMS)
- excellent FM tuner
- battery life is excellent, it actually gets about 12 hours as advertised
- removable battery
- comes with a iskin like case (but the case attracts a lot of dust)
CONS
- IRIVER hurried to release this product; thus, the software isn't complete. there are A LOT OF BUGS. Hopefully, these bugs will be fixed soon with a firmware upgrade. here's some of the bugs
1. some might encounter problems with syncing with wmp i/o error
2. albums on player plays in alphabetical instead of by track number
3. the clock on the player might not work
4. the back light turns on and off randomly in some units.
there are some more bugs... visit www.misticriver.net
- you can rate songs on the player but it doesn't integrate with windows media. so a rating of 5 on a song does not update your library on windows media. the player just put the 5 stars first and 1 star last in a list.
- for some, this might be a con but not for me - once the backlight is off the screen is pitch black, you can't see anything. press any button turns the backlight on then proceed with function. so if you want the player to FF you got to press it twice.
- file browing is slow in browser mode (not the music browser but the file browser the music browser by artist, title.... is nice and fast)
- horrible tech support. expect long wait time. (called around 4:30 ish, never answered...finally at about 5:05 got a voice mail saying their hours are from XXXX to 5:00pm)
conclusion. i'm giving a 3 star because at $280 there are simply too many bugs with the player right now; with time IRIVER will release upgrades to fix these issues because it's their new flagship model. the functions and features of the player beats any player out there within the same price range. be patient with this player, it will be an excellent product if IRiver fix all the bugs.
for more research info goto www.misticriver.net click on forums then the H series
it's an excellent forum for support and faqs.
EDIT: regarding "tommygman" i'm glad your player works perfectly. and no i did not simply read something negative. I have a H10 myself and i'm waiting patiently for an upgrade. furthermore, i can tell you that the Korean version of H10 (UMS) which came out a month before the us version (MTP) already had 2 firmware upgrades while they're on FW1.10 the us is still on FW1.00 IRiver has a list of bug fixes which you can find at misticriver.net
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Everyman's iRiver H10 review, November 2, 2005
This is written from the perspective of a first time MP3 player owner... I've owned several MiniDisc units in the past, some of which made me happier than others. I am somewhat computer savvy and I've never played with an iPod. Basically, I'm pretty darn satisfied... vs. other competitors in its class (not the iPod itself) it wins in several categories.
1. Oh-so-sleek look. It doesn't have the same minimalist/modernist design of the iPod, but that's something I never wanted in the first place. Its appearance seems to suggest it's a distant relative of the PlayStation 2. The battery recharges quite quickly, about 2 hours on average.
2. SIMPLE and easy to figure out interface. Menu system is very logical and it's easy to choose songs to listen to based on artist, album, genre, or playlist. Touch bar has just the right amount of sensitivity and appears to be pretty rugged. Great fit in the hand.
3. Windows XP compatible. Plays most, if not all, common forms of MP3 and WMA files. I haven't tested how well it handles media with Digital Rights Managment, but that's just not in the cards for me.
4. Great sound. Has around 20 preset EQs for all genres of music, including a Custom EQ. Haven't used the headphones but I hear pretty good... I use my own pair of earphones and the sound is many times better than even the MiniDisc units I've had (by Sony!).
Alas, there are a few downsides...
1. The silicone case hides the beauty of the player, attracts dirt, and the clip is somewhat awkward. It's good for protection, if you're on the go.
2. Though it has photo capabilities, the size and resolution of the screen don't yield very good results. Text interface also has its quirks, but it does its job. Same could be said about the FM radio... it picks up only the strongest stations in your area, but when it does, sound is good.
3. The player (out of the box) and its computer interface has a few minor problems. Best recommendation is to get the latest firmware upgrade ASAP. It still doesn't solve a few things... sometimes I've gotta Refresh the music database to maintain the order of music listed the same as inputted. Also recommended is to use Yahoo! Music Engine, although no program is really required (ie. drag-and-drop files onto the player in Windows Explorer).
It does require a little tinkering to get it set up the way you want it, and therefore requires a bit of computer savvy as well as patience. But once you get used to it, it's a truly high quality and convenient item to have. Also, I found a sale here for about $50 off (I paid $199). Definitely affordable and great quality for the price paid.
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