Customer Reviews

iriver iFP 780T 128 MB Flash MP3 Player

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I would definitely recommend that 780T to anyone who wants a quality MP3 player for a relatively low price, especially if you are going to use it to workout.
PROS:

-The Price: No MP3 player can be considered cheap, but in comparison to other MP3 players, the 780T is pretty inexpensive.

-The Quality: The sound is perfect, and the screen is clear and easy to read. The player never skips, even when I go running and it bounces all over the place.

-The Neck Strap: I bought the iRiver primarily because I wanted an MP3 player that I could go running with, which is why I love the neck strap. Granted, the player bounces a bit while I'm running, but not enough to significantly bother or distract me. Also on the strap is a clip to attach the strap to your clothing to reduce bouncing, but I found the clip uncomfortable (it was sticking in me) so I just took it off (it's easy to take off).

-Installing the Software: Installing the program onto my computer was extremely easy, and if you make a mistake, you can just check the detailed instruction manual.

-Transferring Music: Once your music is in a format acceptable to the iRiver, it takes less than a minute to transfer a whole CD's worth of songs onto the player.

-The Instruction Manual: The iRiver comes with 2 manuals, one for the player and one for the software. The manuals could be set up a little better (it can get confusing trying to find a specific section) but overall they are very detailed and helpful.

CONS:

-The Headphones: The headphones that come with the player are made for running, so the left ear cord is much smaller than the right ear cord (it's supposed to prevent your arm from pulling the headphones out of your ear if you're wearing the armband). However, while I was running, the left earphone kept falling out anyway, so I had to buy a new pair.

-The Armband: I tried to use the armband when I went running, but my arm started going numb. When I loosened the armband, it kept slipping down my arm. Plus, it's very big and bulky.

-The Controls: You definitely need to read the instructions before using the MP3 player, because the controls are by no means obvious. However, I got the hang of the controls relatively quickly after thumbing through the instructions.

-Downloading Music: The software is kind of a pain. It's a little complicated if you don't know what you're doing.

Overall, I am completely happy with my iRiver. However, if you have the extra money to spare, I would recommend buying the iRiver iFP-790T 256MB MP3 Player, which is the same as the 780T accept that it holds more music.

Purchased this player under the advise of a friend and because of a store credit that had to be used. At first I was against the idea of neglecting my CD player, which has been my best friend for 17 years, for some new contraption. But, now that I have my MP3, I love it. It's small, so it fits right in my coat pocket, sound quality is superb, FM player gets really good reception. What I like most of all is being able to record music from any audio device. For a person with over 200 CD's it is a great option. I have not downloaded music from my computer. I record from my personal CD player and it sounds great. The keys are a little confusing, but you get the hang of them after about a week or two. Love the arm band for working out, hearphones are a little annoying due to the difference in cord lengths. It doesn't hold much music,about 25-30 songs depending on the length, enough for a 2 hour workout, but considering the size of the memory and the cost it's a good purchase. No regrets here.

Overall, the 780T is a reasonably good player. The unit itself has good sound quality, although the headphones that come with it are a bit weak. It is relatively easy to use for such a small device. 128M of RAM is on the low side. You will be able to store roughly 2-3 CDs worth of music on it. You need to decide if you are OK with managing the music on your PC and periodically shuffle songs onto and off of the iriver.

The iriver software is acceptable, however you really should consider checking out the various jukeboxes/music download services that are available before purhcasing a player. Each of the jukebox/music download services supports a small number of players, meaning you can control the player directly from the jukebox. This is a very convenient way of managing your music. I have found that Iriver works with Windows Media Player. although the Creative Labs devices seem to be integrated much more tightly and work better. If you want to use MusicMatch's jukebox you might want to consider a player that is supported by it.

I bought the iriver iFP 780 in 12/05. It worked wonderful for a couple months. But now the mode/rec button is stuck and so I am eternally stuck in radio mode with no way to switch back to any other mode. Before this issue, I was very happy and perhaps this is an issolated experience but beware of breakage.

If you're 16 years old you'll want an mp3 player with more memory. If you need an audio device to capture an hour or two of audio through a line input you'll be hard-pressed to find one that works this well.

I film weddings and need to capture the output from the venue's sound system so you can hear the ceremony, vows and all, in digital clarity. Most mp3 players include a microphone about the size of a small insect mostly as a throwaway feature. The iRiver iFP series includes a line input so plugging into the output of a sound board is a piece of cake (with punch). The downloadable software and the included USB cable make it as easy to get to the audio files as using a flash drive, just drag and drop.

I specifically bought the smaller capacity player (128 Mb used to be big, now it's miniscule) so my son wouldn't be tempted to "borrow" it. It does exactly what I needed it to do and isn't too complicated for a geezer to learn.

(...) But for the price this is a great little player. I love the interface, I love the software and I love the arm band for walking/working out. It will serve my purposes well and then when it is time I will buy a new one. Maybe I someday I will buy an IPod and then I can talk trash about these entry level, solid players.

I loved the MP3 player, it works fantastic, and its small, small enought to fit almost anywhere. I was thoroughly pleased with this purchased. It had so many different features that I wasn't aware of at the time of purchase.

I do not regret this product at all, its so good I've bought it a number of times and given as gifts. They're great to have.

I fully encourage the purchase of this product, you will not be disappointed!

If you are one of those types who can become frustrated after fiddling with a portable mp3 player for an hour just to get 9 songs transferred to it you'd better pass this baby by. I often wonder if the people that make these things ever do any real testing, with real people, to see how functional their devices really are.

The mp3 player itself played music fine. The real problem comes when you try to add or remove music.

From the time I plugged it into my XPPro machine to the time I unplugged it with 9 songs on it 60 minutes had elapsed. Everytime you plug it into your machine you have to reinstall the driver. So you'd better have a special folder setup to hold that driver..you'll be needing it. The music manager is prone to lockups. Get ready to see a lot of "Not Responding", shutdowns and launching Task Manager to try and shut down the "frozen" music manager. You will find this will not shut it down though. You will have to unplug the USB cable from your computer to get it to shut down. But do not try and deactivate the USB device like you are supposed to before unplugging any USB device. The OS will not let you. You will get "A program is accessing this device" message. That program is your "Not Responding" music manager.

When you add a song it puts the song where it wants to. You'd think a song that begins with "A" would come after the song that begins with "B" on the device but that's not the way it works. And there is no way to order the songs after you add them and they go in the wrong order. You try and drag it up or down and it locks up. And don't try renaming to get them to order that way. Because they will not rename properly. The music manager is a poor design.

As far as the device itself. You'd think that in our high tech age they could come up with a fool proof connector. Think again. You'll need a magnifying glass to connect the USB cable to the device because it CAN go in the wrong way. And this is not the type of device you want for jogging or working out. They supply this long necklace for it to dangle from. But you start running down the street with this device hanging off your neck, whipping back and forth, and you'll be knocking out fellow joggers left and right! You'd think they could also design a pair of ear phones that actually fit in your ear! Just slow walking with this device shoved in my pocket I was frequently putting the ear bobs back in my ear. And don't even ask me what it was like to replace the battery on this power hungry gadget.

I guess my 8 certifications in IT just don't qualify me to be skillful enough to use such a high tech device. Perhaps you will be more fortunate. But if you want my advice. Pass IRiver products by. The hardware may work but you need software to run it. And unless you like the message "Not Responding" try another product.

This mp3 player is a great mp3 player for people who have never had one before because this is very easy to download songs and it is easy to play them to!

Bought this Mp3 and used it consistantly for over a year. The menu's are confusing at times, but overall a good purchase. Fast and friendly shipping too!