iRiver iFP-899 - Digital player / radio - flash 1024 MB - WMA, MP3 - ruby red

by iRiver

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• ASIN: B0002DCJT0
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,990 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The skip-free iFP-899 delivers superior sound in a sleek, sport-ready design. It features 1 GB of internal memory for up to 34 hours of music, extended battery life up to 40 hours on one AA battery, a built-in FM tuner and voice recorder. It also records music from any audio source--no PC required--via the line-in connection. Plus, this lightweight player--which weighs just 1.4 ounces--can be used to store music or transfer files of any type.

The 1 GB capacity can hold approximately 16 hours (640 song) of MP3 music encoded at 128 kbps or 16 hours (1280 songs) of WMA music encoded at 64 kbps. It's also compatible with Egg Vorbis digital audio files. The integrated FM radio enables you to record FM programming to the player's memory You can also use the built-in microphone and voice recording function to capture interviews, classes, and short voice notes to yourself. Additionally, iRiver player can be used as a USB mass storage unit, allowing you to safely store your important presentations and documents and transfer them to another PC.

This player is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems, and it connects to your PC via a USB 2.0 cable (included)

What's in the Box
iRiver digital audio player, earphones, sport arm band and carrying case, neck strap, USB 2.0 cable, line-in cable, installation CD-ROM, AA battery, printed Quick Start Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best MP3 players on the market today!, June 23, 2005

By 

The_Digital_Dude (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: iRiver iFP-899 - Digital player / radio - flash 1024 MB - WMA, MP3 - ruby red (Electronics)

I've had this unit for a few days now, and I must say that it is quite impressive for what it is, especially compared to some competing products. It's not perfect, but I think it comes closer than most other attempts by other manufacturers.

First and foremost, you must read the manual. There is no getting around this. Once you've done that, operating the unit is pretty easy and nearly intuitive. There are a lot of nice custom settings and bells and whistles that are worth knowing how to use.

Overall, I think the sound quality is quite acceptable for the purpose. I primarily got this player to listen to Internet audio downloads / podcasts for subject areas that interest me to reduce boredom at the gym, along with the occasional music listening to some of my favorite ripped CD's. I think higher bitrate recordings sound quite good, and lower ones are handled respectably. If you want to listen to high fidelity audio, this probably isn't your first option anyway, but I don't think it's a bad alternative when you're on the go, considering the high portability and small size of the player.

The FM tuner sounds pretty good and has decent reception. I've easily filled up the twenty presets, which are configurable on-unit or via the iMM software. The unit remembers the last station listened to, unlike some nutty competing products. However, I do wish there was a one-button method to switch quickly between file playback and radio.

Be sure to get the v1.25 firmware update from the iRiver website. If you want USB Mass Storage capability, you could use the v1.28 firmware, but I chose not to because of the downsides, such as lower recording quality capability.

I found the iRiver Music Manager to be fine for the purpose of transferring files, so it's not a big deal. Using USB 1.1 results in slower file transfer and sluggish response in accessing the unit via the iMM software, so use USB 2.0 if you can. If not, don't lose any sleep over it, as USB 1.1 will still work, just slower.

The player uses a single standard or rechargeable AA battery, and has a configurable setting to better use either kind. I'm glad there is none of that proprietary battery / mail to the factory for servicing nonsense here.

I was very pleased that my package included the upgraded plastic case with belt clip (and improved arm band, which I don't need), so putting the player on my hip at the gym is easy.


Although this is an excellent device in many ways and has a large amount of highly useable customization options, here are some areas where there is still room for improvement:

- There is no AM or TV audio tuner. While this is not unusual in this category of device, I wish it wasn't the case, as I've had a Sony Walkman cassette player with AM/FM/TV/WB tuner for nearly ten years now, and it's still working just fine.

- You may have to experiment a little before you find the bitrate you want for some of the main codecs. MP3 seems pleasantly reliable up to 320Kbps as advertised, which is more than I can say for some competing brand players. WMA at 192Kbps results in occasional loud screeches during playback, but 160Kbps seemed to work okay, although I suspect the spec for WMA is a max of 128Kbps, as WMA at 192 and/or 160 is a more recent Microsoft improvement to the Windows Media Player capability. OGG support is quite controversial on the message boards, as the player design did not originally include it and does so only via a later firmware update. I got OGG files recorded at 224Kbps (near the top of the spec) to playback on the unit, but there was a loud annoying pop between tracks, and the playback volume for OGG files was much lower than the other two main formats. I am currently recording my CD's in MP3 at 320Kbps, as I think it just barely edged out WMA 160Kbps in terms of quality. I am one of those people who is bothered by highly compressed audio files that have the notes literally sawed off around the edges or muffled under cotton, so the less the compression the better. I'll just have to swap out songs more often. That is not to say that MP3 128Kbps or even 64Kbps files sound bad; it's just that the 320Kbps ones obviously sound better.

- Unlike some MP3 CD players, this unit has no gapless playback capability. That is, there is a pause between files when one ends and the next one starts. This may or may not be an issue depending on the source content, and the codec used seems to affect the amount of delay, although it's usually less than a half-second or so. Still, when the source CD tracks are audibly connected, the gap of silence on the flash player's playback between files is annoying.

- A bookmark function per file (up to say 5 or 10 files) would be most welcome, as currently, switching between files loses one's place in the file, requiring fast forwarding or rewinding through the file to back to where you were. However, remembering the position for the one current file does work unless it is a REC recording from the FM tuner. Do not confuse the lack of bookmark capability with auto-resume, which is an included feature for MP3/WMA/OGG files.

- When you record from the FM tuner, playback the file part way through, and then turn the unit off and then back on again later, it starts over from the beginning of the first FM recording file stored on the unit. That's pretty silly, but there is a workaround by transferring the FM recordings to the PC, converting them to MP3's, and transferring them back to the unit.

- The unit seems to really suck battery life when transferring files from the PC or using the equalizer option. Don't leave the unit attached to the PC longer than necessary. I have found that I can live without the EQ option, although it is nice to use on certain types of source material. I might use it more often if it didn't drain the battery so noticeably.

- Having to regularly remove the case to replace the battery or recharge it is a hassle. Ideally, the unit would have a power input on the side that would simply allow you to plug in a DC adapter that recharged the battery inside, much like other portable devices such as cellphones. My three-year-old Sony MP3 CD player does exactly this just fine.

- The backlight intensity really needs a sensor for adjustable viewing in the dark, as the backlight is blindingly bright in the pitch black. I suppose this is so that you can see the display in bright sunlight, but there's no varying the display brightness, just the LCD contrast viewing angle.

- The package included a leaking Duracell AA battery (exp. date of 2011) inside a little plastic bag that didn't stop it from getting dried battery acid on the software CD cover. No damage was done to the unit, but including a battery in the package is questionable when this sort of thing happens.


Overall, I like this unit a lot and highly recommend it. I'm not too interested in hard-drive based players right now, so hopefully the next generation flash-based player will include many of the above suggestions.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kudos to iRiver!!, July 30, 2005

By 

J. Austin (Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: iRiver iFP-899 - Digital player / radio - flash 1024 MB - WMA, MP3 - ruby red (Electronics)

I did quite a bit of research before finally taking the MP3 Player leap. Had procrastinated due to lack of options, high price and concerns over sound quality. But I wanted an alternative to my "talk radio" standard while walking. Decided on the iFP 899 and am very pleased. Sound quality is key for me. For instance, I'd rather buy more hard drive capacity for my computer than use other than WAV files to burn my own CDs. I.e., I can "tell the difference" with other file formats. But so far I have been amazed with the sound quality of MP3's on my iRiver. I'm using a set of Sony sport headphones because I prefer to hear the "outside world" while walking as a safety measure. While walking today one of my favorite Kenny Burrell tracks came on and I had to do a double take -- I thought someone in the yard across the street was tapping a cymbal. I'm using Goldwave to convert my WAV's to MP3 at 192 kbps (the unit can handle higher but I chose this to leave head room) and the sound is incredible. 1Gb capacity is also great -- more than I could ever use for my purposes, particularly given how easy it is to delete and add files. I tend to agree with other comments on the plastic case and battery cover (c'mon iRiver!), but for my purposes it has exceeded expectations. Highly recommended!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing sound quality. Great features., May 23, 2005

By 

Matthew (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: iRiver iFP-899 - Digital player / radio - flash 1024 MB - WMA, MP3 - ruby red (Electronics)

I had originally purchased a similar Samsung player that I had liked a lot in design for a flash player. Some of my tunes on that unit sounded great, some were just so-so. Having done further research. I was uncertain whether I was going to go w/ a Creative Muvo or the iRiver; I passed on an IPOD Shuffle b/c I don't like having do deal with manufactuer's overpriced batteries if they die. Creative Labs had pretty good ratings for sound quality and a very low price. However, some of the reviewers indicated issues with product defects.

So I splurged on the 1 GB iRiver 899. Though the body being plastic did not seem the most durable; the sound was outstanding, loud, and well articulated, on EVERY song- even those less than 128 resolution. There are numerous options including 3D sound, Bass boost, preset and manual graphic equalizer, that allow you to further enhance your tunes. 1 GB is holding over 120 with over a 1/4 of the hard drive still free - many of my files are 192 kpbs or higher!

There is are two minor nuisances that I chose to overlook:
* You must use the proprietary software to load the player. ( You can not drag and drop between two Windows Explorer windows. That said the software is not complicated. Just slows things up a little.

* If you want to share tunes with friends, you can not upload from the player to another computer, or even back onto your own. IRiver says this is to control piracy. Still a bit of a let down.

Albeit the above dings, I am still giving the unit five stars. The sound is unprecedented and loaded with features. These attributes substantially outweighed all.