Customer Reviews

iRiver H320 20GB Digital Music Player with Color Display

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I am writing this review as I listen to U2 - Hasta La Vista Baby album on my iRiver H320...the sound is amazing. I have owned an eDigital Treo 15, then upgraded to a Creative Labs Zen Jukebox 20 w/FM Tuner. When I decided to upgrade, I took over 4 months researching for my next generation 1GB+ mp3 player purchase. What I was looking for was something that had storage space, on-board FM Tuner, recording capabilities and most importantly great sound. I considered Rio Karma, Creative Muvo2 w/hack 2GB CF card, iPod Mini, iPod, iPod Picture and a slew of other mp3 players available outside of the USA. I know some of my considerations didn't have all of the above, but I would have sacrificed space for sound, functionality for looks...etc. But just in the last few weeks, I came across this website www.misticriver.net . It is _THE_ user forum for iRiver products. I considered their mp3 flash devices, but not their hard drive based device, until I read their thread on how the H320/H340 can play video if you flash the bios with the European or the Korean or the Japanese bios upgrade. My jaw dropped! And it is still dropped...and I'm still drooling. You have to understand....I'm a closet geek. I like my electronic toys, I do my research and I recommend the heck out of products that impress me. I am going to do this now. First things first...go to the webpage above and read it for yourself. The H320/H340 plays converted video files. That's right!!! Convert your DVD's to AVI files; transfer then to your H320/340 and boom....play your videos on your MP3 player. The website tells you exactly how to do it. I addition to DVD's, I've converted several hour episodes of Stargate shows and have watched them on my H320. I've got a whole slew of them queued up for my 4 hour flight to LA. So with that amazing ability out of the way, I'll briefly review the H320/H340 for you. Out of the neat package comes a shiny black brick with a big 2" COLOR screen. It comes with earbud headphones, protective ballistic nylon case, AC power supply, USB2.0 cable, audio cord (line-out) and cd-rom and nice instruction book. IT DOES NOT COME with a docking station, LCD remote or the external battery pack...all of which you can buy from the iriver store. Charged the unit for 2.5 hours and plugged the USB2.0 cord into the slot labelled `data', it connected at USB2.0 speeds (the one labeled media is USB1.1 and is intended for connectivity with Windows Media Player). I first upgraded the BIOS to something that is NON-US. After reboot, the new bios took immediately. I lost the functionality of a clock on the H320, but that's ok...I have a watch. I lost the ability to manage my music with Windows Media Player....that is ok..I prefer to arrange my own music with other programs. But I did gain the ability to play videos and the USB1.1 port turned into a USB on the GO, which you can connect to other USB ported devices (like digital cameras) and transfer files from those devices-I haven't used USB2Go yet, but it does look promising. I quickly scanned over the Owner's Manual, turned on the H320. I connected as anoher hard drive device WITHOUT having to install any additional drivers. I proceeded to load MJ's Number Ones as my test music, since he has a variety of sounds to test the H320. Speed was fast. Unplugged the H320 from my computer and plugged in my Sony MDR-EX51LP (sound isolation ear buds for $40). Hit the ON button...then hit NAV to navigate to the mp3's I downloaded...and was amazed at what the stock sound from the H320 sounded like. WOW. So I tweaked the sound a bit..increased the base..it has SRS(WOW) settings, so you can tweak the low-mid-high ends of the music as well as increase the thump. Very cool. Even at the default level 20 (30 is the highest), it was pretty loud. Very very impressed. So then I loaded a `converted' episode of Stargate Atlantis and started to watch it; very very smooth video display as well as great sound. Anything can be converted to AVI for this player as long as you have CODECs for conversion. And then I loaded some of my pictures onto my H320, they weren't formatted for the h320 display so they weren't awesome, but good enough to show off! But when I reformatted my pictures for the H320 the pictures turned out awesome on the 2" display. Again the visual display is beautiful. ID3 tags (or not) show up nicely as well as volume strength display for both ears (a mini spectrum analyzer?) So navigating the device Set-up menu, you can set the FM-Tuner regions, LCD contrast, LCD brightness, LCD power off, ways of ID3 tag scrolling, sleep-stop-standby power down times, types of shuffle, repeats, random, set the study mode that allows you to fast forward through songs and videos and much much more! The battery time has been tested..if you play mp3's only with SRS off and very minimal LCD use, you can go to 15 hours. The average seems to be 9 hours, I've had mine on all night plugged into my home receiver through the line out port and playing. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is replacable, take out a few screws and you are set. There is a HOLD button. Also it charges off of USB cable to your pc/laptop. There is a small learning curve to the buttons, and I must say its not as smooth as the touch pad of the iPods, but I prefer to have some tactile feedback when I hit the buttons. So, now I don't have to buy a media player for the plane, nor do I have to drag out my laptop to play dvd's..just convert them at home (which takes a bit of time..but lots of support online on how to do it right) and load them on my player before a plane ride. The H320 is bigger than the regular iPod but smaller than the iPod Picture. It fits nicely in the palm of my hand, doesn't feel flimsy at all. I haven't tried to record voice yet, but people say its pretty crisp and the default mic pics up everything. In addition, you can record from FM Tuner as well as record from Line In (mic or other audio devices). The FM tuner (with autoscan and store of stations) picked up 20 FM channels, my stock car stereo only picked up 14 channels. It can also read text files. I'm not sure where iRiver is going with that...could be interesting. So, the NEGATIVES (more like annoying to me) things about the H320/340. 1) I must be a greasy guy, because I'm cleaning the finger prints from it a bit 2) coverting the videos to AVI can get time consuming at first, but once you get it right, its set-it-and-forget-it 3) I bought a 20GB one 4) the US VERSION doesn't play videos UNLESS you flash the bios to another region BIOS-Korea is the best here 5) it didn't come with a power/USB docking station, but you can get one for $30 6) the case/holder only protects. That's about it...just annoying things to me that can be quickly resolved with $$ or reading around on the internet. If you are already reading this far, you are doing your research and doing a little bit more reading at http://www.misticriver.net will give you all the information you would ever need to make an informed decision. I don't hate iPod at all, I'm a bit jealous for the styling, but now after XMAS 2004, everyone will have one; but not everyone will have a iRiver H320/340 THAT PLAYS VIDEOS!!!!!!! I would recommend you go to your local Best Buy and get a feel for it. The sales people at BestBuy will tell you to by iPod. They won't tell you anything about the iRiver and how you can flash the bios and play videos on it, and all of this for $300 for H320 and about $400 for the H340. I'm sorry this has been a long post, but I just can't stop talking about this thing.

I've read the reviews here and I'm generally in accord with what everyone says about this machine.
Visually I find this player stunning. It's very well finished, the carbon look is great.
One reviewer wrote that it took a long time to boot up. This is caused by having lots of files in the root directory. You can fix this by keeping your music in directories. I create a directory for the musician, then a directory for the album. That way it starts fast(er) and I can navigate easily to the music I want to listen to.
Using the data usb connection, copying music is extremely fast.
Navigating for me, isn't as bad as some say. The most needed functions are right there; click nav to navigate to what you want.. and play to play it. This is really all you need to do 95% of the time.
The US version of this player is quite cut down on what you can buy in Europe and that is a shame. The EU model comes with a charging base and a remote control (I believe), along with something called 'USB on the go' which I haven't quite figured out. I'm inclined to think the US model has been 'dumbed down' and the accessories removed to make the price competitive. Having said that, you are getting a whole lot for your $$$.
Anyone interested in this player should take a look at misticriver.net. There's some excellent FAQs there which will explain the best way to do things (like directory structure for your music).
This is a wonderful machine. An Ipod was never an option for me with their insistence on using iTunes to transfer music. Support for OGG is very welcome here too. There are also OEM cases available (vaja makes one for instance) that are really good quality.

Like everybody, I wanted an mp3 player. However, I was hesitant to drop the $300 bucks for a tiny electronic device without doing sufficient research. At first I was only looking at the two most popular of the mp3 players - the iPod and the Zen touch. Immediately I realized that for some reason that each side of the spectrum has rabid, biased, partisan fans. There's the iPodophiles and the Zen Buddhists that practically worship the thing. Back and forth they argued on every internet forum, on every comments page about which of the two were better. Well after reading countless head-to-heads I came to the conclusion I would get the iPod. However, if it weren't for a techy friend of mine nearly biting my head off having overlooked the iRiver - a more techno-savvy but vastly superior mp3 player - I would have never found this diamond in the rough.

I did some research and discovered that the only real gripe was the difficulty of the user interface - which is a valid gripe. It is much more complicated than that of the iPod or Zen Touch. Hand an iPod to a war vet and he'll pick up the gyst of it in no time. Hand the same man an iRiver and he'll likely use it as a cup-holder. It takes some getting used to. However, the following is the conclusion I came to:

People get used to anything. After doing some research I discovered the amazing features of the iRiver that seemed to be lacking from the iPod or Zen touch. For instance, the iRiver has a color screen - something you learn to love. I never realized the importance color makes over black-and-white monotony that the iPod and Zen sport. After witnessing the beauty of the iRivers color screen it makes me gag even looking at the bland iPod interface. Also, the iRiver has an FM tuner! This is a major plus (especially in the mornings when all I really want to listen to is NPR). The iRiver also has a recorder (something that actually HAS proven handy). Additionally, and amazingly, the iRiver has a photo storage/viewer feature which is ENORMOUSLY handy for someone like me who is both an avid photographer and graphic designer. Can't stop yet, though! The iRivers sound quality and headphones are breahtaking. Can't stop yet, though! One of the BIGGEST draws was that the battery life is TWICE as long as that of the iPod's (though not as long as that of the Zens). While yes, the iRiver is a little bigger than the iPod - the few centimeters was a sacrifice I was more than willing to make for 8 more hours.

All this for the same price!

Reviewing the situation makes me baffled when I think that the iPod is widely regarded as the "paradigm" of mp3 players. To be honest, I recommend the iRiver for anybody who is even in the LEAST bit technologically inclined (pretty much only excluding soccer moms and war veterans these days). It is such a vastly superior mp3 player that it's made me a believer in this whole mp3-player-craze. It's become my favorite personal electronic device.

I give the iRiver my highest recommendation.

i did a lot of research before buying this player. during the course of this, i had what i think are some interesting epiphanies that i wanted to share with other prospective player owners. i don't expect that this review will help anyone decide to purchase the H320, but i hope that it will help people make more informed decisions. consider this a meta-review for buying an MP3 player ...

first, a word on reliability. after reading many user reviews on different sites on many different players, i learned that all players had a large number of reviews from users that said that their player was unreliable (including ipod). again, this was the case with all players. in lieu of more scientific data, i came to the conclusion that there is not enough information to determine that any player is more reliable than any other player. also based on the large number of negative reliability reviews, it seems that all of these players have reliability problems, to greater or lesser degrees. now, take that with a grain of salt. folks are much more likely to write a negative review if their player fails than if it works. people *expect* it to work. it's when it doesn't work that people get upset and take the time to write a review.

the same goes for support. almost all of the players had significant reviews saying support was terrible.

conclusion so far? if you buy one of these players there is a significant chance (relatively) of getting a bum unit. secondly, if you do get a bum unit, expect getting it repaired or replaced to be a pain in the ass.

jukebox player vs. microdrive is something to think about. for a given $$$, microdrive players are about 1/2 the weight + dimension, and hold about 1/4 to 1/8 the data.

now to the H320 review ... for each rating criteria below, i've specified an importance factor between 1 (not important) and 3 (very important)

size+weight: 2
battery life: 2
open standards: 3
fm tuner: 3
extra features (beyond simple music playing): 1
ease of use: 1

size+weight-
the h320 is about middle-ground for jukebox players. it's bigger and heavier than an ipod, but smaller than some of the creative jukebox players. one thing to note, the length + height of the h320 is about the same as the ipod, however, the depth is about 40% greater. i use the h320 mostly for gym use. with it's stock belt clip, it's okay for low-impact activities, but i think there'd be a problem for jogging.

battery life-
the h320 is better than average. this wasn't terribly important to me. i would only use the player for about 2-4 hours a day, and all players last longer than that.

open standards-
i keep my music collection in standard file folders. it was important that i got a player that did not insist on categorizing things into it's own database, directory structure, or otherwise. i wanted to be able to just dump files onto the player. the h320 handles this excellent. when you plug it in, it simply shows up as a hard drive in windows. apparently, there is a way to allow the player+software manage your collection at a higher level, but i have not even tried that.

also, the h320 plays OGG files. for those who don't know, OGG is an open music encoding standard (mp3 is not open). OGG has smaller files and better sound quality than MP3.

fm tuner-
the h320 has a nicely integrated FM tuner.

extra features-
the h320 has lots. picture viewer. can play video files. line in and microphone mp3 encoding. interesting, but i'd have preferred to have paid $50 less and not had these things.

for those not interested in an fm tuner, the archos gmini is a nice simple player for a good price. i would have opted for it if i did not want an fm tuner.

ease of use-
the h320 rates poorly here, as you know if you've read a few reviews. they took an odd approach. instead of having a simple set of navigation keys and then all options and features available by navigating on screen menus, they made features accessible through un intuitive key sequences. here's an example. hwne using the FM tuner, you press and hold the "A-B" key to auto-program the FM presets. that is non-obvious.

if you get the h320, you're going to have to carry the manual around with you for a few weeks to learn your most common functions. and there will be times when you wish to do something obscure and you simply will not be able to find it until you look on the manual.

that all being said ... the color screen on the h320 looks very slick.
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hope this helps.

There is a controversy in this day. A battle of epic proportions. The fight of the century:

iPod vs. iRiver

My original purchase was of the iRiver iHP-120 20 GB. It was stolen from me (the thief recognized quality). So I got a new one. But this time, I got the iRiver H320 20 GB.

This is one the greatest MP3 players that I have ever seen or owned (I've also used a NOMAD Creative Jukebox Zen 2.0). Its features boggle the mind.

To start, it plays basically any music you have. MP3's, WMA's, WAV's, or OGG's, they will be played. The only thing missing is a *.ram file. In this case, you can plug the iRiver into the headphone port, and use the BUILT-IN CODECS to re-record your files as MP3's. This also allows you to rip music from your favorite videos, flash presentations, or DVD's. Also, if you're too lazy to use a program to copy CD music (such as Windows Media Player or MUSICMATCH Jukebox), you can just plug the iRiver into a CD player and record the music as an MP3!

Onto the next feature: the FM Radio. Yes, this player does FM Radio. No matter where you are, just open the radio and go! The headphones act as an antenna, so there're no problems with that. And one new feature from the iHP-120 is the ability to record FM radio. Yes, you heard me right. Hear your favorite song is about to come up? Just press the record button, and you're good to go! Listening to the news and want to record an interview for a school club? Just hit that little button with the circle!

As we all know, the H3xx series has a color screen. That's nice, but why!? Well, because the player can also display BMP and JPEG images!! I know what you're thinking, but it can be used for other things too =p. Also, with the use of some other firmware, video can be brought to the iRiver (this will void your warranty however, be warned).

The iRiver also features a very simple navigation system. The iPod, for example, has a very sexy wheel thingy, yes. However, the iRiver has all the buttons you need around the center, with a directional pad instead of a wheel, which is kinda nice.

As far as file navigation, this is also a WONDERFUL feature of the iRiver. The Creative Jukebox players, for example, organize based on the file tags. This can be annoying if, for example, you want Riverdance (composed by Bill Whelan) and Lord of the Dance (composed by Ronan Hardiman) to both be listed under a folder called "Michael Flatley." The iRiver, however, is recognized as an external harddrive via the USB port. Therefore, all you need to do is plug it in, and you can whatever you want! Design your own folder system, drag-and-drop your files, and that's all you have to do!

This ties in with the fact that the iRiver can be used as an external hard drive! Windows XP requires no special drivers in order to recognize the player (nor did Linux, but earlier Windows or Macs may), which means that you can stick any file you want on the player to transfer it elsewhere.


I had originally thought that the iRiver iHP-120 was the greatest MP3 player ever made. I was wrong. The H320 is the best MP3 player I have ever seen, far exceeding the iPod, the Jukebox, or anything else.

I bought both the H320 and the 30G Zen Xtra planning to return one. Each has good and bad points but I kept the H320.

The key question to answer in choosing between the 2 has nothing to do with the players. The key criteria is you, the owner. Are you smarter than your computer? If so, the H320 is the one for you. Otherwise, go with the Zen.

The Zen is downright Apple-esque in its control. It copies the music for you. If you find dragging and dropping a chore, then the Zen is right for you.

But the Zen is not simple to use either. I installed the software, plugged the Zen into my computer, and couldn't figure out how to get music onto the Zen. I read the documentation repeatedely and still couldn't figure it out. I went to Creative's website customer support and finally found an article under "Advanced Topics" that finally explained to me how to transfer music to the Zen.

Other than usability, the H320 beats the Zen Xtra into the ground in terms of sound quality and features.

The sound is unbelievably awesome on the H320. Now that I can carry most of my music with me, I am rediscovering music. Stuff I haven't listened to in years is beautiful again, and I'm finding a texture and fullness to the music which I never heard before. I notice notes in the music which I had missed completely before. On loud airplanes I use Aiwa noise-dampening head phones; I never have to push the volume past 15 and the sound is still amazing.

When I first got the Zen I thought its sound quality was great. But then I put the same music on the Zen and on the H320 and started the same music at the same time. I listened through the Aiwa head phones on the Zen, then pluged them into the H320, and then back again. The difference was astounding. Each is great. But side-by-side the H320 beats Zen hands-down. Note that the Zen EAX sound feature is nothing but a gimmick and a dumb one at that. I simply can't imagine any reason why I would want to listen to music as if the band were in my bathroom.

The H320 beats the Zen on sound quality even with a variety of music: rock, electronica, classical, folk. The only thing which didn't sound better on the H320 was a Beatles album that was digitally remastered.

The voice recorder on the H320 works great. The color screen on the H320 makes the Zen screen look like carbon paper. Battery life on the H320 is good.

I thought the gap between tracks on the H3320 would spoil the whole thing but it doesn't. In the few places where I've noticed it, it isn't a big problem.

The H320 has some warts:

- The provided case is simply ugly.
- The user interface is excessively complex. It must have been put together by two monkeys, a gorilla, and a Borg, each working separately from the others. But once you get used to the fact that there are at least 3 separate menu systems and two separate USB ports (WTF???), it gets easier.
- The random shuffle feature is about as random as the sunrise.
- The database-building tool provided with the H320 simply doesn't run. Don't even bother installing it. I use tdd but I hear iRiverium is good too.

If you buy an iRiver product, be sure to check out misticriver.net.

Having said all that, I've had the H320 for a month and I simply love it.

The gripes others made about the interface being somewhat enigmatic has some truth to it but once you get use to it, it's a piece of cake. The feature set of the player is unbelieveable. I brought this player because I wanted a mp3 player that was also a voice recorder, it delivers that and so much more. The picture viewer is beautiful, the FM tuner is clear, the text reader works fine. But here is the clincher, go to www.MisticRiver.net and check out all the tips. With some firmware updates (korean), the player can be used to view video. There are some tradeoffs with this feature so check out the site.
I love this player, if I had a ipod, I would sell it and pick up this player.
As for the playlist issue, I had no problems, my playlist work fine (just follow the instructions)
I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I am sure some people will want a simpler interface. If you want rich features, this is your player.

I did a lot of research on MP3 players, spoke to many people and then settled on this as I thought it got over many of the issues with an I-Pod. Multiple file format compatability, shows photos, built in radio, built in recorder, 3 hr USB Charge for 16 hrs of playback, easy winexplorer file management. A few litle firmware issues were sorted out by helpful on line support.

I have now had it for two months of easy use and IPod users I know are jealous!!!

I have been using this player for 3 months now and are fairly satisfied with it. I started searching for a mp3 player several months ago and finally narrowed down on this model. Although I have never seen or touched this model before I bought it, most of the reviews I read say good things about it.

After these months of use, I can summarize all the good and bad points of this player so readers can make their own decision about this model:

Pro:

1. Great sound. Sound is way better than any computer sound card, and many CD player. It is especially pleasing in the low to middle end of sound spectrum. If you turn on super-bass, the bass could blow your head off. However, I do find the high end is a bit soft, not as crisp as some great CD player. This could be due to MP3 encoding (I choose 256kbps for most songs).

2. High headphone amplifier output. I use Sennheiser HD600 which need big headphone output to drive. Most CD/MP3 players out there have miserable output (5mW to 8mW per channel) so they are totally out of question. The sound out of HD600 is great and I don't need to buy and use a standalong expensive headphone amplifier.

3. Very solid construction. Contrary to many people who want slim player, I like player which feels solid in hand. This one is like poker size and the weight is assuring.

4. Very good support of different languages. It deals with most languages people can think of. Of course, for me, Chinese language support is a must and this model does it flawlessly.

5. Color display. This beats the hell out of competitors which only provide black and white LCD display.

6. Sufficient storage size. 20GB is enough for sotring thousands of high quality MP3 songs. Buy a 40GB version if you have more songs.

7. Do not need special software to copy songs. When you use USB interface to connect this model to computer, it appears as a USB storage device so you can directly copy/delete songs on it. It is much easier for users. I hate to learn some software simply to copy/delete songs.

8. FM capability is definitely a plus. The reception quality is very good (even better than my home receiver!).

9. Line in and out are potentially useful to transfer old songs analogally. But I have never used them though.

Cons:

1. Fiddling with its controls can be fun or pain. The buttons definitely are not the most intuitive. You have to read thick manual and remember them through practice. Fortunately, for simple playback, you don't need too much fiddling.

2. Buttons are bit too small for me. I wish they can a bit larger for easy control.

3. Startup time is too long. I counted the time for the player to come up and play songs - 18 seconds. I wish it could be a couple of seconds.

4. It seems there are some interfaces on the player, but there are no corresponding connection in the package. Maybe something is removed from U.S. version, but I wish I got a complete package so I can use the full potential of it (my guess is that something might be for wireless/wired control).

5. I wish battery can be replaced. But it can't.

I got the new color iRiver a week ago and could not be more satisfied. It has excellent sound quality, crisp color screen, and so many extra features all for the same price as the 20GB ipod. It has voice recorder, image viewer, line out jack, FM radio and you can record the radio songs, and can charge through the USB port in 3 hours, for a 16 hour battery life. It acts as an external hard drive so transferring files is a piece of cake compared to using iTunes for the ipod. Plus it came with a case [...].

The only con is it takes a little time to get used to navigation, but after that it's a piece of cake.

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