Customer Reviews

iriver H340 40 GB Digital Music Player with Color Display

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

First I'd like to say I'm more than impressed by iRiver's latest HD based music player. I researched several products to find which had the most to offer. I wound up purchasing the H340 and have had it for about a month now. Here's what I found vs the iPod (I'm using this as a benchmark product since everyone asks "is it better than an iPod?")

The H340 has the following features:
The H340 supports MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3, OGG, WMA, ASF 8Kbps ~ 320 Kbps (OGG: 32Kbps ~ 500Kbps) ID3 V1, ID3 V2 2.0, ID3 V2 3.0
The iPod does not support OGG and some of the new ID formats.

The H340 has a built in multi-region FM tuner with presets (with autoscan), the iPod does not.

The H340 is firmware upgradeable which is very important. If a new format for music comes out or they want to tweak something upgrading the firmware is a cheaper alternative than buying a new device. If you search around the internet, there is a firmware upgrade that will let you play video**. Yes real video. **However, upgrading to a non-US version may void your warranty. I've tried it myself and it works for me. The iPod does not play video, yes that includes the new iPod Photo. There is a hack out there for the iPod where video is crudely played using a 1 picture per second playback but that is not true video!

The H340 functions as a portable hard drive the iPod does not. (That is without the help of additional software the Ipod cannot store files directly like the H340) You can store not only music, photo and video files on the H340 but you can keep your documents and any other files on there as well! And unlike the iPod you do not need software to plug the device into another computer. Plug it into a USB2 port and it will show up as another hard drive!

It has a really high quality voice recorder with built in mic the iPod does not. Also, you can record radio, voice or anything from the line directly to a MP3 files using only the H340, no software or PC needed!

The screen sizes on the iPod Photo and H340 have the size, 2inch color. However, the H340 supports 260k colors vs. IPod Photo's 65.5k colors. The screen on the H340 can be so bright and clear I sometimes need to turn it down to the lowest brightness setting!

As for sound quality, absolutely incredible! The H340 comes with SRS WOW 3D sound technology built in. It also has equalizer presets to chose from or create your own settings.

The unit can be charged in 3 to 4 hrs via USB or the power adapter and battery life is 16 hrs! The iPod Photo takes 4 to 5 hours to charge

The Cons...
The iPod is thinner and a tad lighter, but it's like comparing a pack of cigarettes to a pack of playing cards (iPod). I don't mind the H340 being a little thicker.

The iPod has the brand awareness, so if you're looking for the instant recognition factor, iRiver is not yet there. Form (iPod) vs. Function (H340)!

The slideshow feature on the iPod Photo is better as it shows more thumbnails of photos, but keep in mind this may be fixed on the iRiver via firmware if iRiver chooses to do so.

In summary, the H340 offers FM playback, firmware upgrades, picture playback, video playback** (See note above as it does not ship with this functionality!), voice recorder, MP3 encoder for recording directly to it, color screen capable of 260k colors, incredible sound fidelity, is a portable hard drive with no software needed to use, awesome battery stamina and costs less than the iPod 40gb Photo version. As with anything, do your own search and see if my opinion matches your own.

My wife has an iPod which she takes with her everywhere. I used it several times, and I liked it for what it was: a dedicated mp3 player. However, when the time came for me to get one, I decided to go with the iRiver H340. I bought it about 1 week ago, and have been tinkering with and using it from morning to night ever since. Here's my take on it.

Warning: If you buy an iRiver H340, prepare to don your geek beanie. Here's why:

1. Button commands need to be memorized. It took me all of 20-30 mins to go through the manual and figure things out. There's a directional pad and 5 buttons, but the buttons have multiple functions depending upon whether you push them quickly, hold them down for a while, where in the menu tree you are, etc. I personally found the learning curve relatively easy, but this is no iPod (which practically anyone can use right out of the box). As for me, a 20-30 minute up front time investment is no big deal, and I like having the extra controls (e.g., almost 10 different shuffle and repeat commands).

2. The user interface is NOT elegant (for elegance, see "iPod"). There's a bit of a half-finished, work-in-progress feel to the H340. For instance, you can't view pictures while listening to music. It's strictly either-or. The music search function is in no way as easy to use as iPod's, either. There's a default file tree, which is essentially Windows explorer function. You literally search through folders and filenames (e.g., "beethovens5th.mp3") to get to songs. I still haven't been able to get the artist/album/genre/song search functions to work, so I can't comment.

3. Weight/size. The H340 is about the same length and width as an iPod, but it's perhaps twice as thick and somewhat heavier too.

Not that we got the bad stuff out of the way, and scared off the iPodders, let's get to the stuff I like.

1. Fantastic array of functions. The voice recorder uses the external mic built into the H340 to give you stunning recordings. There's more recording options and settings than you can shake a stick it (although I have seen some reviewers rue the lack of some advanced functions - but it's not like I'd know what they were in the first place). The Photo Viewer is crude but handy. There are some file size restrictions you have to observe. Also, unless the pictures fall into a narrow range of dimensions, the picture will not fill up more than 50-60% off the LCD screen. It almost makes you wish for a zoom function. Still, I like it just fine (again, not iPod level, but good enough). And the LCD screen is gorgeous, with high resolution, contrast and brightness. It's perfectly readable in daylight. The Text Viewer is nice, but is limited only to .txt files. I don't plan on using it a lot, but it's nice to have. I'm sure iRiver will come out with additional functions in future firmware releases. The Browser function allows you to use the H340 as a storage drive.

2. Plug 'n Play. You just plug'n'play this puppy into any computer. No CDs or drivers to mess with. It goes right into the USB port of any computer and Windows will automatically recognize it. BIG PLUS in my book. And loading music into the unit is as simple as copying and pasting or dragging 'n dropping files from the computer right into the unit. The H340 just appears as another drive on your desktop, folks. This was critical to me, because I plan to use the H340 as much more than a mere mp3 player; i.e., I'm a lawyer, so I will be using this to record witness oral statements, take digital pictures and plug my Nikon camera right into the H340 to download the pics and view them (USB on the go rules!). Note, you have to install and use 3d party software in order to extract music files from the iPod.

3. Great hardware. Fantastic sound (beats the iPod by a MILE, came with Sennheiser earbuds too!). The LCD screen is gorgeous, as I mentioned above. The hard drive storage is more than most people will ever need, whether 20 or 40 gigabytes. The hard drive runs nice and quiet too. The battery life isn't the 16 hours advertised, I've been getting around 9-10, but I figure the battery just needs to be broken in. It still beats the iPod by a mile.

Ok, I gotta go, but I hope this helps people. If I have time, maybe I'll come back and expand on this review.

IN SHORT, I love this unit. It's perfect for me and does everything I need. People who are just looking for an mp3 player only should consider iPod. If you want power, awesome sound quality, battery life, large array of functions, and are willing to put up with some minor inconveniences, then get this.

The H340 is the newest 40 gigabyte digital music player from iRiver, long a leader in MP3 type players. The unit is well built and does what it's supposed to do. It has very high sound quality and is fairly easy to use once you get over the initial short learning curve. Besides playing music files the system also allows you to store digital pictures and ebooks. The color display seems to be of good quality. File management is easy as the H340 hooks into your computer with a standard USB cable and allows you to create, move, and rename folders just like you would do on your internal hard drive. Moving music files is just a matter of dragging them into the folders. Setting up a play list is a snap using www.winamp.com which iRiver recommends.

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is that there are a few areas for improvement. The first is that the supplied ear buds are just average. I replaced them with Sennheiser PX100 headphones (approx $40) which I have found to be some of the best sounding headphones on the market for portable music players. Another issue is the supplied case. Although it is of good quality you have to unsnap and remove the H340 from the case every time you want to access the controls. Hopefully iRiver or someone will come up with a case with a front access flap that fastens with velcro or something. Also the manual really isn't very good but it isn't too hard to figure the player out. Another issue I have is that it takes about 2 minutes for the H340 to load the 12 gigabytes of music that I have on it but once I got used to that it's not really a bother.

As far as a few other things, right now you can't look at pictures and listen to music at the same time although the unit's firmware is upgradeable so hopefully iRiver will add that in the future. Another issue is that the version of the H340 that has been on sale in Europe for several months allows you to download pictures directly from a digital camera into the H340 but the newer USA version requires that you download your pictures to a computer and then to the H340. I'm not sure why this is unless iRiver had some problems with the direct connect.

Overall this is a good unit somewhat ahead of the Apple IPod (At least as of today, things change quickly). If you are looking for a good portable digital player I would recommend the iRiver H340 or the H320 which is the same unit in a 20GB version for about $100 less.

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 Photo 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 purchased my HD-340 last week, having upgraded from my RioRiot (20Gig). It does everything it claims to do and quite well. The sound output is sufficient to drown out any other noise and the all the equalizer settings from SRS Labs really fills the sound quite nicely. The screen display is bright, even in daylight and displays JPEG images from my 4 MegaPixel camera without conversions.

However, you might want to CAREFULLY read the specs and the manual:

1) there are two USB ports, one for Media and another for Data. The Media port is USB 1.1 and the Data port is USB 2.0. This is important because if you use a software plugin that recognizes the iRiver as a media device, you only get USB 1.1 (using the media port). However, if you plug in the data port, the device shows up as a driver letter in Windows with USB 2.0 speed. Use normal file copying to get your music over, or else you'll be spending days. Don't worry, if you install the software, you get a program which runs each time you connect into the data port, which (re)builds the ID3 database on the device.

2) It would be nice if there was an option to display the Album Art in a MP3 file in the glorious display. Hopefully a firmware update?

3) Browsing and selecting files to play can take more time than necessary. It would be great if you could select by first letter and get to a subset. If your artist name starts with an "L", expect to scroll through half the list, either way you go. Hopefully another firmware update????

4) Accessories are not yet available (Nov 26, 2004) except for a better case, which also shows the screen.

5) The included case is extremely sturdy and protective, but only allows access to the "top" connections, the "lock" button on the side and the microphone on the other side. You have to remove the device from the case if you want to change anything (although this should be understood, since the controls are in the center), but a clear plastic window could provide access to these buttons.

Although it sounds like I don't like it, that is far from the truth. A better case and a small firmware patch would make it perfect. The FM tuner and the ability to record via line-in, mic and tuner, the display, and the fact that the controls are flush with the unit and less likely to get damaged make this far better than any other harddrive based player out there.

I did a lot of research on MP3 players before settling on the H340 and I am very happy with my decision. I decided against going with an iPod because of the built in restrictions on sharing between computers and the way it adds some encoding to all the mp3 files so that it cannot function effectively as a backup of your music. None of this nonsense with the iRiver H340, just plug it in to any computer's USB port and it shows up like a hard drive, no software required (except for Win 95/98 which requires a driver, and I can't speak for the Mac end of things). This is super convienient and the way that all MP3 players should work in an ideal world. I also strongly considered the Creative NX Xtra since it is available in a 60GB drive and I have a ton of music files but the reports of poor reliability and faulty headphone jack made me steer clear of that one.

The H340 feels very solid and sturdy and I find it quite intuitive and easy to use. To me the sound quality seems good with the supplied ear phones and I have not found the need to change them. It has some nice bells and whistles like built in radio and a recorder (and yes you can record from the radio).

So now on to the reasons why I give it 4 instead of 5 stars. It's called a jukebox right? What's a juke box? All the jukeboxes I know are music playing machines where you can select and line up the songs you want to hear and all the songs selected will play in the order you selected them in. But that's not the way this little machine works. You can only line up one song to play while another is playing. You can not line up a series of songs to play without hooking it up to your computer and creating a playlist. For me that is the number 1 negative with this player. However the firmware is upgradable and there is some glimmer of hope that my player may be able to have this very impotant missing feature added some time in the future. The other negatives are just minor gripes. The way it recharges from USB is badly implemented, when recharging it cannot connect as a drive and vice versa. If you plug your unit into the USB by default it will start charging and you can not do anything with the player. In order to connect to your computer you must disconnect it, power it up, and change the USB charging option to turn it off. So it is best just leave USB charging turned off alltogether.

I have taken up much of this review with negatives but I must stress that I am very happy with my purchase and I think the H340 is a wonderfull little device which could use a firmware upgrade to make it damn near perfect. Highly recommended.

I don't own an iPod and I never did, because I am turned off by the hype and because I am naturally inclined in favor of the underdog. However, I have owned Creative Zen players, including the recent Zen Micro. Creative is so-and-so: not bad but far from perfect. My new iRiver H340 (I have had it for several weeks) is perfect on all accounts. I particularly like its Windows-like file-tree navigation. My MP3 files are arranged on the hard disk in artist/album hierarchy and the same hierarchy is mirrored on the iRiver screen. Therefore, file navigation on the iRiver is identical to navigation in Windows Explorer. When the unit is connected to the computer via a USB port, you see a new disc in Windows Explorer, enabling copying and deleting files with no need for special software. I use ID3-TagIT (a wonderful freeware downloadable from the Web) to automatically ID3-tag my MP3 files, and this tagging is being copied to the iRiver, so I can easily find songs by artist or album on the iRiver, if I want to.

The unit has other useful features such as FM radio, voice recording, image viewing, and text files display. Personally, I haven't used them, but some users may want to.

The unit feels comfortable to hold and appears to be rather robust (whether it is indeed remains to be seen; I haven't had long enough to be conclusive). Its bright, easy to read color screen is a big benefit. Its keys click nicely when pressed and won't be pressed accidentally, which is good (although it also has a hold key to prevent accidental pressing). Its battery usage time is reasonable (several hours). Contrary to others (Creative, for example), iRiver won't mislead you with false promises (Creative boast 12 hours for Zen Micro, which become 3 hours in reality). Furthermore, you can buy an external battery pack that uses ordinary off-the-shelf batteries (I haven't). You can also buy a remote control (I haven't).

The biggest drawback of iRiver H340 is its weight. I understand that iPod is smaller and lighter, but I can't tell you whether this difference buys you a greater convenience in everyday use. As for me, I continue to use my Zen Micro in "weight critical" scenarios (of which there are few).

Like all MP3 players, the iRiver comes with cheap basic earphones, so most people will use earphones of their choice, I guess.

In summary, unless you are one of those who are sold on Apple (and then you probably wouldn't be reading this review in the first place), give iRiver a serious considerarion.

I bought an iRiver a few months ago. As a DJ I needed a replacement for my minidisc player that I use for both listening to music as well as recordings my sets. The iRiver is one of the only portiable MP3 players that provides recording functionality. I've been loving it so far. I haven't had any problems. The battery is amazing -- I recorded a 5 hour set last week on the battery without any problems. Another great feature is the way you can hook the device up to any computer and transfer music off/on to it -- no need for installing specialized software. The only complaint I might have is the size of the iRiver -- its definitely not as sleek as the ipod. Regardless, for what you're getting there is no alternative to the iRiver. The screen is beautiful and the playback volume is also excellent.

Contrary to the review by "S. Shah Hi-Fi 4 Ever", all iPods (at least 4g+) can function as storage devices without the need for additional software. If you plug an iPod into any PC (I have done this), you will be able to use it as a storage device. However, the iPod Photo cannot play video, and currently, this seems to be the H340s selling point. Admittedly, both players have such tiny screens that the value of such a feature is somewhat questionable; or maybe not - people used to watch those tiny portable TVs didn't they? There's not much difference in screen size and the H340 has a display far superior to any portable TV! What it lacks is a framerate to match. At 10 frames a second, you'll get better (or similar) quality from streaming in RealPlayer. However, there is that radio thing! Additional devices are available for tuning into radio stations from your iPod, but at a cost. Now, I know what you're thinking; isn't the idea of MP3 players generally that you listen to MP3s rather than the radio? However, the H340s inbuilt record function is very handy. Record your radio shows (or anything, for that matter) and listen to them later. Brilliant! Especially if your university lectures are broadcast over radio frequencies for those in the audience hard of hearing.

The iPod Photo is available in 30 and 60gb models compared to the H340s 40gb. 40gb is still a lot of data, but it is interesting that a device that supports video has less space available to store it.

Contrary to the H340s gimmicky advertising (sound that somehow embraces physics in an exceptional "3D" manner), the iPod Photo and H340 are of equal quality in audio playback. Needless to day, the H340 is a dream to listen to, and that's the important thing, right?

The H340 can last for 16 hours when playing MP3s at volume 20. Impressively, it can last about six hours playing video! The iPod Photo can last up to 15 hours playing music and does not support video.

Like all well planned devices, including the iPod Photo, the H340 is Firmware Upgradable, enabling potential support for future audio formats.

The H340 is slightly shorter and slightly thicker than both iPod Photo models and weighs 1/5 of an ounce more than the 30gb model. It doesn't have a Click Wheel, of course, which some consider a cumbersome gimmick anyway, but instead has a frontpiece of rather geeky, rather fiddly buttons that are actually harder to operate through a shirt pocket than the compass points of the Click Wheel. The entire device is, like all iRivers, actually rather ugly. It looks somewhat like an old portable television that's gone on a diet.

The devices are aimed at different operating systems is the short answer to the question of file type support. iRiver is not, however, the tool of Microsoft in the same way that iPod is very obviously the tool of Apple. It supports the Windows Media files, but most impressive and commendable is its support of Ogg Vorbis

The display, small though it is, is very clear, very colorful, very bright, very good. Needless to say, better than the iPod Photo. The navigation, however, is not. This is partly because the device's buttons are so small and clustered together. If you're a beefy chap and have ever tried using a poorly designed cell phone, you'll understand my problem. The remote on the headphone cord, however, is very helpful.

Notably, especially for those considering transferring a lot of data (like, 40gb), although there is no FireWire support for the H340, the iPod only supports FireWire 400, slower than USB 2.0's 480 Mbit/s (60 Mbytes per second) where Hi-Speed USB is supported.

In short, you'll get more bang for your buck from the H340, but its navigation and presentation is nowhere near as well thought out as the iPod's. Additional devices are available for the iPod to do most of what the H340 does that the iPod doesn't, and some of those devices are of superior quality to the ones provided with the H340. The one thing the H340 does that iPod can't is playing video, and having seen how poorly the H340 does that, I can honestly say it isn't worth it. Handling the device feels a little like handling one of those `does it all' flashlights. You know the sort I mean, the ones JC Penny's stocks at Christmas: it's a radio, it's a flashlight, it's solar powered, it has a crank handle, it's a TV, it's a microwave oven, it's a karaoke machine! And guess what? All of those features get in the way of each other and you end up with a device that, while it does a lot, does none of those things exceptionally well. The H340 isn't quite like that because it does do one thing exceptionally well: it plays music. And that's what's important.

I need to rebut the review that Marked Man "Maverick" posted.

I received my IRiver H340 6 weeks ago and I truly love it. I cannot imagine how I functioned without it. Great battery life, color screen, sound, voice recorder, radio, picture viewer, text viewer and functionality. I love that I can have my entire CD collection to listen to in the palm of my hand. If you are a music junkie like I am then you will know there is nothing better.

The only thing I do not like is the horrible case that came with it. You cannot even access the screen or the buttons to operate the player, it is simply a holder for the player with a belt attachment. It may not be an earth shattering issue but is something that can be improved. I would also like to note that before I purchased the H340 I purchased the H320 model from a local Best Buy and it came with a better case that allows access to the screen and buttons. I would really like to tell IRiver to come up with a standard case for all their players or at least let you know what the case looks like before you purchase your player. But that information withstanding, if it truly becomes an issue you can purchase a better case from www.misticaudio.com for less than 40 bucks that allows access to the screen and buttons and is truly superior to the two IRiver cases.

But getting back to Marked Man "Maverick" issues.

Sound Quality:
I have a pair of those ridiculously expensive Bose noise -canceling headphones and I have to disagree with his review of the treble being watered out. Now, I understand that sound quality is subjective but there is no way the sound can be as bad as he described. The actual MP3 quality comes down to the source music quality and the ripping method. I can crank my IRiver through my home stereo system (a pretty expensive Onkyo 6.1 system) and it sounds fabulous. There are also several good presets on the equalizer that can help tailor the sound of the player to your liking.

Slow Boot Up:
He also complained about slow boot times. This can be tricky because if you constantly copy and delete files from the player the hard drive is going to get fragmented (like any hard drive would.) If this becomes the case you can simply defrag the hard drive (after backing up, of course) and you will be amazed at what a difference it makes. My player is nearly full, less than 1GB free and it boots in under a minute. Now that may sound like a long time but this is a computer with a hard drive after all and you cannot realistically expect an instant boot. I do not know what the boot times are for an Ipod or Creative MP3 player but I have to imagine it is also not instantaneous.

Slow transfer with USB 1.1
I own a Pentium 2 300 MHZ pc that runs Windows 2000 and it has a USB 1.1 connector. It actually moves the files from the pc to player pretty fast. I uploaded 1GB of music to the player this weekend and it took about 20 minutes. Now I know that USB 2.0 and Firewire are really fast, but 20 minutes to move 1GB is not so bad. I am as impatient as you can get and the transfer times don't really bother me. Again, I think there are some unreal expectations.

As always, make your own opinions and do your research before you purchase your MP3 player. The IRiver is not as trendy as an Ipod but it is something that I believe is much better and has way more uses than the standard Ipod, Ipod photo and Creative Labs Nomad series.