iriver H340 40 GB Digital Music Player with Color Display
By: iRiver Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 47
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 On: 2007-12-12
Yes, the battery has definitely quit on me, but for it to last this long is quite a feat. This is a product of great quality. Ive dropped it too many times to count, but the mp3 player still works perfectly. And as a few people have mentioned here, the sound quality is just GORGEOUS.
Yes, its bulky, but this was definitely the best buy when I first purchased it. The only other mp3 player comparable to this was the 40gb iPod, which did not have any color, method of storing pictures, voice recording, radio, and limited audio file types that it could play. I have no regrets buying this, and will probably just continue using and dropping it for another year or two before I start looking for another.
On: 2007-11-09
An amazing product. I have it for three years now. The sound quality both for recording and playing is excellent. Very reliable and solid. All features work fine and are quite useful. Changing the battery is relatively easy once you know how to proceed. Ill probably upgrade the hard drive to a 60G soon...
 On: 2007-10-22
Wouldnt buy another iRiver product. I had battery problems from the start also it would just turn off for no reason even with a fully charged battery. The sound on my much older Archos is sounds better than the iRiver. Im about to run it over with my car. Tried calling for support, but, of course did not get any. Try another MP3 player.
On: 2007-10-21
Wouldnt buy another iRiver product. I had battery problems from the start also it would just turn off for no reason even with a fully charged battery. The sound on my much older Archos is sounds better than the iRiver. Im about to run it over with my car. Tried calling for support, but, of course did not get any. Try another MP3 player.
On: 2007-06-06
No doubt in my mind that this unit has THE best sounding audio and lots of eq features. If you like the sound of crappy mp3s then so be it, you dont need a player as good as this, but if you want to hear wav files the way they sound on a CD, powered by a great sounding amp and EQ, this is it. All you need are some good noise cancelling phones like the great Sennheiser open type, and youre good to go, coast to coast.
Waiting for my batt to die - not yet, at least! If it does I will just get another put in. Its really no big deal.
The interface is excellent and can be used blind once you learn the simple, simple, simple intuitive navigation system. Buttons neve scratch or dent even with my digg nails.
Did I say this player has the BEST sound quality? Yes I think it does. TrueBass algorithm if u want it too!
The radio works, the iRiver makes an excellent full-fi field recorder with an external mic, plus u can store all of your files, your pictures, powerpoints, and get it quick with USB. I have 30 Gb in there and it boots up in about 25 seconds, so it is a bit of a wait, but not bad.
 On: 2007-01-07
I bought my 340 roughly one year ago. I set that baby up with Rockbox and I was in heaven! I raved to everyone I could about how great it was: great sound, fm transmitter, playlists on the fly, games, creating/recording my own mp3s, 40GB for a decent price. Sadly, my 340 died a couple of weeks ago. Yes, after just 1 year. Unfortunately, I had to sell its remains in order to finance a replacement. I loved this mp3 player so much Im actually considering buying another one rather than joining the evil iPod empire. So, I give the 340 3 stars because its great while it lasts but it doesnt last very long. Just to drive the point home, I also had an h140 that died after roughly 2 years of ownership.
On: 2006-12-25
The battery crapped out in less than two years and iRiver offered to give me $75 credit in their online store by way of service. This is for a $350 player that cant be used without its power cord in less than two years. I dont mind paying them to change the battery, but they dont offer that option. The player is ok, but I wouldnt invest this kind of money again for such a short-lived product. I have ordered a battery online and am going to try to change it myself. There are videos on YouTube that show you how to do it. I dont consider myself adept at working on devices and would rather hire someone to do it, but iRiver aint helping me.
On: 2006-12-24
The battery crapped out in less than two years and iRiver offered to give me $75 credit in their online store by way of service. This is for a $350 player that cant be used without its power cord in less than two years. I dont mind paying them to change the battery, but they dont offer that option. The player is ok, but I wouldnt invest this kind of money again for such a short-lived product. I have ordered a battery online and am going to try to change it myself. There are videos on YouTube that show you how to do it. I dont consider myself adept at working on devices and would rather hire someone to do it, but iRiver aint helping me.
On: 2006-11-29
Love it, love it, love it.
First to address a couple of whiners I just read, yes, Lithium-ion batteries go bad after about a year. The iRiver is no exception to that...nor is Apples ipod, or Dells laptops, or any other Li-ion battery. But, given the eventuality of the iRivers battery dying, its totally unreasonable to say it is now worthless. I bought a new ipod battery on eBay for about $15 that had 50% more capacity. Thing will play music for 20 hours now.
Some posters have mentioned that this iRiver sounds better than most ipods...indeed, its true. Probably due to the Philips UDA1380 chip; definitely a nice audio coder-decoder chip. An added feature, and one that steered me towards the iRiver (and will certainly have to be present on my next player) is the ability to play Ogg Vorbis files. I have no use for DRM and I prefer the tonal qualities of Ogg files over patent-encumbered and proprietary MP3 files. Its a pity that iRiver is now in bed with Microsoft; Im sure weve seen the last of Ogg compatibility from them as a result. No matter; Iaudio (Cowon), Samsung, and others still support it and have not prostrated themselves over the MS feed-trough.
One other thing I should mention is that the iRiver presents itself as a UMS (USB Mass Storage) device; this means that any modern computer should see it as another hard drive and no silly drivers need to be downloaded. It also means that it works flawlessly with Linux. :-)
Anyway, a fun player, capable of customizing ([...] and playing videos. Reliable Toshiba hard drive. Couple this player with a pair of Grados and youll be in heaven.
On: 2006-11-11
Dont waste your money. What iRiver doesnt tell their customers is that once the battery goes dead, the system is useless. I will never buy one of their products again and Im doing my best to inform everyone out there that theyll be tossing their money in the trash by purchasing any iRiver products. My system cost me $340.00 and it is now as useless as the customer service department at iRiver
On: 2006-05-18
As several other reviewers have stated, this isnt the greatest player. Ive owned mine for less than a year and im shopping for a new one. First off, start-up time. ive got about 32GB of music on this and with the ID3 tags enabled, it takes almost 8 minutes to start!!! I dont care who you are, thats COMPLETELY unreasonable. FM tuner and voice recorder are nice if you need to use them, can record about 2.5 hours non-stop. About 5300 files can be put in one folder, anything more than that wont get read. I use it every day, but in under a year the battery life has gone from about 13-14 hours to half that; not even a full day at work. :( Why couldnt the other companies learn from the originals, RIO. the UI on the iRiver is poor. If you have alot of artists on the player, you have to scroll through them all... slowly... Also cannot create playlists, they have to be made and imported from your computer. Stay away.
On: 2006-01-10
I bought this with high hopes of having a cool mp3 player with lots of cool extras. What a dissapointment. You have to rig this player to play videos by finding and downloading a certain software which I could never locate. It did load my pictures. It would not play all the songs I loaded. They would show up like the others but only silence could be heard. Never could figure that one out. It kept locking up on Napster and totally stopped working altogether. I sent iRiver about 15 different emails begging and pleading for help but you can forget those people. They NEVER responded. I tried to return it once with all the emails I had sent only to have them send it back to me. I finally just got rid of it. It is the same size as the 60GB iPod only the iPod is about half the thickness. This player is bulky. The headphones that came with it were defective. I thought the file system would be cool but it kept ignoring where I placed my music and would store it some place else. So I absolutely do not recommend this product. I read reviews before I bought this that iRivers customer support is not good. What I didnt realize then is that it is nonexistent!
On: 2005-12-13
Im not too finicky about mp3 players. I can live without on the fly playlists or video playback (which the H340 CAN do; but I dont think its worth it). The fact that it doesnt really shuffle through ALL your mp3 files is pretty annoying. It can display pictures (quite poorly), but I hardly use it for that. The USB-OTG port is useless, and the radio and recording features are nice but unnecessary to me.
Nope, I only use it for one thing only: playing mp3s. I use the unit with Sharp HP-MD33S ear buds (from Audio Cubes), and I love it. Its been working just fine for about 1 year now. I have also used this unit just as an external, portable hard drive with no problems (btw. my iMac at work and the PCs at home). I dont hate iPods or anything; but I think having to use Apples proprietary hardware/software combo is not ideal, for me at least. Id rather just drag and drop...
On: 2005-12-12
Im not too finicky about mp3 players. I can live without on the fly playlists or video playback (which the H340 CAN do; but I dont think its worth it). The fact that it doesnt really shuffle through ALL your mp3 files is pretty annoying. It can display pictures (quite poorly), but I hardly use it for that. The USB-OTG port is useless, and the radio and recording features are nice but unnecessary to me.
Nope, I only use it for one thing only: playing mp3s. I use the unit with Sharp HP-MD33S ear buds (from Audio Cubes), and I love it. Its been working just fine for about 1 year now. I have also used this unit just as an external, portable hard drive with no problems (btw. my iMac at work and the PCs at home). I dont hate iPods or anything; but I think having to use Apples proprietary hardware/software combo is not ideal, for me at least. Id rather just drag and drop...
On: 2005-12-05
After having my original Iriver stolen, I decided to upgrade to the H340. I got the new one in March, and recently it has completely stopped holding a charge for more than an hour and a half. I am completely bummed out about this- dont want to have to deal with all the limited warranty stuff, but I have no choice. I would advise anyone considering this model to wait until Iriver works out the battery issues.
On: 2005-12-04
After having my original Iriver stolen, I decided to upgrade to the H340. I got the new one in March, and recently it has completely stopped holding a charge for more than an hour and a half. I am completely bummed out about this- dont want to have to deal with all the limited warranty stuff, but I have no choice. I would advise anyone considering this model to wait until Iriver works out the battery issues.
On: 2005-08-11
I was the very happy owner of an iRiver iHP120 player for over a year and decided to "upgrade" to the H340 40GB player. Ive tried to stay away from the iPod for various reasons, most imporant of which is the fact that iRivers serve as an external hard drive. After only 4 months with the player, I am 100% dissatisfied. Although advertised to have up to 16 hours of battery life, I have never gotten more than 10 and now get less than 7 on a full charge. In addition, my player takes over 45 seconds to start up (and I only have 10 GB of music on it). After calling iRiver multiple times about both issues, I was told that both were "expected" results. I was told that "if I did not like the product I should have returned it within the first 30 days." I find dealing with iRiver to be quite painful. They are not helpful and it seems that regardless of which issue or question I have, there is never anything wrong with my player. I will no longer buy from a company that will not stand by their $400 product after only 4 months of use. Save yourself the headache and STAY AWAY!
On: 2005-08-10
I was the very happy owner of an iRiver iHP120 player for over a year and decided to "upgrade" to the H340 40GB player. Ive tried to stay away from the iPod for various reasons, most imporant of which is the fact that iRivers serve as an external hard drive. After only 4 months with the player, I am 100% dissatisfied. Although advertised to have up to 16 hours of battery life, I have never gotten more than 10 and now get less than 7 on a full charge. In addition, my player takes over 45 seconds to start up (and I only have 10 GB of music on it). After calling iRiver multiple times about both issues, I was told that both were "expected" results. I was told that "if I did not like the product I should have returned it within the first 30 days." I find dealing with iRiver to be quite painful. They are not helpful and it seems that regardless of which issue or question I have, there is never anything wrong with my player. I will no longer buy from a company that will not stand by their $400 product after only 4 months of use. Save yourself the headache and STAY AWAY!
On: 2005-08-09
Why Do People Buy iPods??? When theres a product as great as this.... its not quite as compact as an iPod, but the screen is better.... the firmware is upgradable, more options are available, the sound is better, a line in allows direct recording to MP3, etc... the list just goes on and on... Testing using the BOSE QuietComfort 2 headphones using the same ripped music, it sounded richer on the iRiver than the iPod.
On: 2005-07-11
S.Shah "Hi-Fi 4 Ever" write a pretty good review, but I wish to supplement some additional information.
The video playback feature is great for animation and non-action movies. Basically, dont watch movies like Terminator 3 on it. But if you want to watch The Lion King, then go right ahead. The firmware upgrade 1.20 released a long time ago supports 10 frames per second, which is adequate for animated features.
But do note, movies are shown in the theaters at about 24 frames per second, while standard TV is about 30 fps. The drop down to 10 fps is quite noticeable. However, animation features tend to do fine at as low as 14 fps, therefore 10 fps is acceptable.
It is also important to note that H300 series has a much larger color LCD screen displaying far more colors. S. Shah mentioned that H340 displays 260k colors, and compare that to iPod Photos 65k color display, were talking only about 1/4th of what the H340 can do.
In short, iPod Photo can store photos, yes. But displaying those 5-mega pixel pictures on the iPod Photo is about as good as a first generation LG color cell phone looks.
The control does have a learning curve to it. But once you get used to the multi-functioning buttons, it is actually more intuitive to use than the click-wheel.
H340 also packs a lot more equalizer options. As far as sound quality goes, iPods cant even touch the SRS and WOW effects.
The reason I say H340 is the "second best" is because recently Cowon released the latest iAudio (why does everyone insist on putting an "i" in front, I have no idea). The only downside is that iAudio has only a 20 GB model.
On: 2005-07-10
S.Shah "Hi-Fi 4 Ever" write a pretty good review, but I wish to supplement some additional information.
The video playback feature is great for animation and non-action movies. Basically, dont watch movies like Terminator 3 on it. But if you want to watch The Lion King, then go right ahead. The firmware upgrade 1.20 released a long time ago supports 10 frames per second, which is adequate for animated features.
But do note, movies are shown in the theaters at about 24 frames per second, while standard TV is about 30 fps. The drop down to 10 fps is quite noticeable. However, animation features tend to do fine at as low as 14 fps, therefore 10 fps is acceptable.
It is also important to note that H300 series has a much larger color LCD screen displaying far more colors. S. Shah mentioned that H340 displays 260k colors, and compare that to iPod Photos 65k color display, were talking only about 1/4th of what the H340 can do.
In short, iPod Photo can store photos, yes. But displaying those 5-mega pixel pictures on the iPod Photo is about as good as a first generation LG color cell phone looks.
The control does have a learning curve to it. But once you get used to the multi-functioning buttons, it is actually more intuitive to use than the click-wheel.
H340 also packs a lot more equalizer options. As far as sound quality goes, iPods cant even touch the SRS and WOW effects.
The reason I say H340 is the "second best" is because recently Cowon released the latest iAudio (why does everyone insist on putting an "i" in front, I have no idea). The only downside is that iAudio has only a 20 GB model.
On: 2005-07-07
What can I say? i believe that this product is about to upgraded, and probably needs some streamlining [i.e. it looks like a small brick and is a horrible colour], but in short, this is great for the price [not the one above - buy it from the UK or Ireland at a much cheaper price]. It plays video [great for long trips] with the most recent upgrade from the firmware downloads on the iRiver site; it records straight to MP3 format and has an external as well as internal mike, up to 320kbps; it plays and records FM radio at 128kbps; the earphones are great [at least in Europe; in short if you are over 25 and not taken in by the iPod saturation out there, this is the best player of its type that is out there. Whether others admit it or not this is the benchmark device and I will be very interested to see what the upgrade looks like.
On: 2005-07-06
What can I say? i believe that this product is about to upgraded, and probably needs some streamlining [i.e. it looks like a small brick and is a horrible colour], but in short, this is great for the price [not the one above - buy it from the UK or Ireland at a much cheaper price]. It plays video [great for long trips] with the most recent upgrade from the firmware downloads on the iRiver site; it records straight to MP3 format and has an external as well as internal mike, up to 320kbps; it plays and records FM radio at 128kbps; the earphones are great [at least in Europe; in short if you are over 25 and not taken in by the iPod saturation out there, this is the best player of its type that is out there. Whether others admit it or not this is the benchmark device and I will be very interested to see what the upgrade looks like.
On: 2005-06-29
I bought my H340 in Australia just before leaving for the UK. I wanted to take all my CDs with me, and this, after conducting a lot of research was the best choice.
This is why I like it:
The accessories that were bundled with it were great!
- Case (Yes it doesnt let you operate the unit, but its really solid and protects it from impact)
- Remote- Its just a basic unit, and mine died after I stood on it, but its only £20 to replace.
- External Mic (havent used yet)
- Line in Cable (Couldnt encode a Chemical Brothers Cd and had to record it directly from my Discman)
- External Battery pack. I only just used this when I went to Glastonbury. After running the unit in the campervan from London to Glastonbury, and then whilst lounging around after the gigs and in the mornings, I needed to recharge. You just put 4 AA batteries in it, clip it to the back of the unit and plug it into the charging jack. You can run the unit and charge it at the same time off the battery pack.
I have found the sound quality to be exceptional, especially after hooking up a pair of MDR-G74 Street style wrap arounds to it. The buds you get with it, are like all the other buds out there- apparently the IPod headphones arent much chop either. Lots of sound leakage, and no Bass. The MDR-G74s, absolutely do this unit justice, plently of thumping bass and rich "inside your head" effect.
Anyone who complains about the Navigability of the file tree obviously doesnt organise their files effectively - 1400 tracks on the root directory? Try this for a solution. Be organised. Put your albums in directories \\"Artist Name"\\"Album Name"\\Track 1, 2 etc.
The IDB function is quite good, but I still think the file tree is the way to go. It looks and feels just like Windows Explorer or for the old schools amongst us, XTree Gold.
File formats: MP3 is there of course, but the money shot is OGG. You can encode at 160kBit/sec, and take up less space than MP3 at 128kBit/sec, and have higher quality than a 160kBit/sec MP3 track. I just set up my encoder to rip directly onto the Iriver, and keep it hooked up when ripping CDs.
I havent used the device hookup yet, but when I do some travelling its going to be gold. I will be able to plug my Digital camera into the unit, and save my photos onto the H340. That way, I can keep my photo memory card backed up.
The shortcomings I think are, you need to be fairly technologically savvy to use this unit. Its not hard to use for standard features, but start using it to its full potential, and you have to be willing to experiment and have a bit of a clue. The other thing I have trouble with is the battery life doesnt seem to be 16 hours. Although I hear that higher bitrates drain the battery faster, and the unit uses more processor to decode OGG. Also, if you dont have the US version, you cant use the portable device function in Windows Media Player, and you cant use Napster To Go effectively either (It doesnt seem to like playing protected files)
In short, I think if you like to set and forget, get an IPod. If you like functionality and versatility, get one of these beasts, and dont be afraid to play with it until you are proficient with it!
On: 2005-06-16
I just received my iRiver H340 from Amazon. The packaging, manual, and most importantly, the player are top notch. iRiver doesnt skimp on things like cables or a solid leather case (which now is the new open face design they used to sell as an accessory, that surprised me since I expected the old solid faced (over the display) case. The unit is solid and well finished. Unlike the Creative Nomad Zen I played with locally, the H340 is built very solidly. This player does not require any drivers (other then for win98) and is immediately recognized as an external HD as soon as it is connected. I found the menu and navigating where I needed to go, quite intuitive. In about a 1/2 hour, I felt comfortable with it. The sound options and equalizer setting allow custom adjustment of your music. The FM radio and ability to record off of it is wonderful. The sound quality and maximum obtainable volume level will not disappoint anyone. The color display is excellent, very clear and crisp and for someone like me who uses reading glasses, I find I dont need them with this display. I have yet to try out every feature on this player (and there are many) , but, plan to in the next few days. I did research the iPod 40-60Gb players, but, Apple wants to charge you for every single extra accessory, the player feels flimsy in your hand, rather fragile, and the iPods require installed software/driver to be used on your PC. Bottom line, buy the H340. It appears to be the best of the best in the current market right now. My 2-3 months of shopping and comparison paid off and I feel I have certainly made the right choice.
On: 2005-06-15
I just received my iRiver H340 from Amazon. The packaging, manual, and most importantly, the player are top notch. iRiver doesnt skimp on things like cables or a solid leather case (which now is the new open face design they used to sell as an accessory, that surprised me since I expected the old solid faced (over the display) case. The unit is solid and well finished. Unlike the Creative Nomad Zen I played with locally, the H340 is built very solidly. This player does not require any drivers (other then for win98) and is immediately recognized as an external HD as soon as it is connected. I found the menu and navigating where I needed to go, quite intuitive. In about a 1/2 hour, I felt comfortable with it. The sound options and equalizer setting allow custom adjustment of your music. The FM radio and ability to record off of it is wonderful. The sound quality and maximum obtainable volume level will not disappoint anyone. The color display is excellent, very clear and crisp and for someone like me who uses reading glasses, I find I dont need them with this display. I have yet to try out every feature on this player (and there are many) , but, plan to in the next few days. I did research the iPod 40-60Gb players, but, Apple wants to charge you for every single extra accessory, the player feels flimsy in your hand, rather fragile, and the iPods require installed software/driver to be used on your PC. Bottom line, buy the H340. It appears to be the best of the best in the current market right now. My 2-3 months of shopping and comparison paid off and I feel I have certainly made the right choice.
 On: 2005-06-07
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 didnt they? Theres 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, youll 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 youre thinking; isnt 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 thats 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 doesnt 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 thats 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 devices buttons are so small and clustered together. If youre a beefy chap and have ever tried using a poorly designed cell phone, youll 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 2.0s 480 Mbit/s (60 Mbytes per second) where Hi-Speed USB is supported.
In short, youll get more bang for your buck from the H340, but its navigation and presentation is nowhere near as well thought out as the iPods. Additional devices are available for the iPod to do most of what the H340 does that the iPod doesnt, and some of those devices are of superior quality to the ones provided with the H340. The one thing the H340 does that iPod cant is playing video, and having seen how poorly the H340 does that, I can honestly say it isnt 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 Pennys stocks at Christmas: its a radio, its a flashlight, its solar powered, it has a crank handle, its a TV, its a microwave oven, its 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 isnt quite like that because it does do one thing exceptionally well: it plays music. And thats whats important.
On: 2005-05-20
Sounds great! Easy to navigate! The unit does not correct to PC
easily in order to transfer data if you follow the manuals directions. You have to play with different configurations plugging inot the PC concerning the USB2 connection and the power adapter. Customer Service is terrible. I tried to call and e-mail Customer Service but to no avail. Left messages but they never e-mailed me back concerning the problems I was having.
On: 2005-05-17
I bought the unit in late November 2004 and have loved it ever since. Many of the reviews have told you what the features of the product are so I wont repeat them.
I bought this product for several purposes, the main one being to be able to dictate my consultation services directly into MP3 format because cassette tapes are now obsolete. I found that if I wanted to do this with the iPod I would have to pay extra for this from a 3rd party and as of my last research (May 2005 edition of Mobile Computing) it would only record in WAV format at 8kb/sec which just doesnt cut it.
The iRiver records directly from the internal mike and did so better than my professional quality external mike. I would like them to improve control on recording levels like I was able to do with my Sony professional quality cassette recorders. Still it was very good.
You can also record from the built in FM radio. I dont listen to radio so have not tried.
But I have successfully recorded various important tapes to MP3 and the iRiver worked flawlessly
I found that many of the things I wanted to do with an MP3 player I would have to pay extra for with an iPod and get them from 3rd party vendors and in the end make the iPod bulky and unsexy but these features are standard issue with the iRiver.
For those of you who think the iRiver is not as "cool" or sexy looking as the iPod I say to you what is the good of it if it doesnt do what you want it to do? Or that you have pay big bucks extra for it to be as functional as the iRiver.
Would you really be impressed with a person who was impressed with you just because you had an iPod? That is pretty shallow thinking. But I guess there must be a lot of blondes out there who think this way. (-:
Because of the functionality my iRiver literally paid for itself in the first week I had it because I was able to record my work on it and send it to my clients at $200/hr.It has by now paid for itself many times over and will continue to do so.
I also use the iRiver as a back up hard drive, and I use it to store about 20 Gigs of lectures and eBooks.
One complaint I have is that with the shipped carrying case the controls are not usable but the new case allows you to reach all controls.
Another complaint is the built in battery pack forcing you to buy something new when the battery doesnt recharge or stay tied to your adaptor. I only use the battery at the gym anyway. But this complaint seems to be there with most MP3 players.
On: 2005-05-04
If you want the easiest most functional mp3 player on the market buy the Iriver h340. The buttons are easy to use and there is no scrolling as one has to do with the Ipod. Also there is no software required with windows XP - you simply plug in the usb device and voila - add your songs by drag and drop.
I have spent time tinkering with itunes on the ipod and found it limiting and annoying to deal with that program - itunes and ipod limit what you can do with your songs.
The Iriver works amazing in the car and only required a 2 dollar plug to go into my home stereo - very much an impressive device and to top it off the screen is brilliant and the picture device is a good surprise.
The one thing I was unsure of when I bought it was the built in record device - I am able to record myself and my guitar faster than I ever was with a tape recorder- record into mp3 -whatever it is you want - voice, instrument or radio - even plug in your external microphone - its a real bonus and then just transfer and edit the files that you want onto your computer - I cant ask for much more - a great device for any songwriter.
I would choose Iriver as my mp3 player - its an amazing product!
On: 2005-05-04
H340 is slightly thicker than H320, thus falling in the very thick category. Rest of the review is applicable to both 20GB and 40GB versions, as I ordered both (accidentally), and then instead of keeping one, decided to return both, as they were not suitable for my needs.
So, if you want to save time and skip to the next review, then in summary, this is a v. good Mp3 player with gr8 sound and lots of extra features, but its a little too ugly,too bulky, and lacks a good scroll wheel or click wheel for easy navigation.
OK, here are the details.
If you buy this unit, you get:
1)An MP3 player which sounds excellent
2)An FM radio with 20 presets possible
3)Picture viewer and potentially a starter video player
4)An excellent Recorder which does the following
a) Voice Record through In Built Microphone
b) Radio Recorder
c) Line in Recorder. Which means, you could feed input from a cassette player, external radio, external microphone, electric guitar, electric piano, record TVs audio, basically anything that could feed your Line-In.
5) Portable Harddrive.
So, yes, in terms of features its extremely rich. Unfortunately, it looks very ugly. If looks are even slightly important to you, you might want to stay away from this player. But if you are willing to trade looks for features, only then is this player for you.
One more important feature its missing is a scroll button, or click wheel. Dell has it, Creative has it, IPOD has it, why not this player? I think no MP3 hardrive player should be without one. How do you expect me to get to the 106th song in my folder or playlist by clicking the next button 105 times. You should be able to even zip through 300 songs without much trouble. I have used these scrolling buttons in DELL and Creative, so I can tell you, its v. important in a Mp3 player.
I grant this player has lots of additional and good features, but if you are looking for a mp3 player which is easy to use (not talking about learning curve here), then this player is not your perfect choice.
I gave it 3 stars, because this unit may be perfect for some but not so great for others..I fall in the others category, so I will be returning it. Sure, all the features # 2,3,4 & 5 sound very appealing to me, and things I could put to good use, but for me, #1 is the most important. I need an Mp3 player which is easy to use, which looks acceptable, not too bulky or ugly to carry around, and most importantly offers easy navigation. So in the future, if they improve the styling and offer easy navigation of your songs,I will be ready to get this again.
I may have offered two criticisms, which broke the deal for me, but if you can live with those two flaws, then this player may be a really good player, because it offers great sound quality, and all those additional features which are so cool.
On: 2005-05-04
For the last few months, I have been shopping for a portable media
player. When people think of these things, the first one to come to mind is
the over the top popular, iPod from Apple. Let me tell you about another
one.
After a TON of research and consideration, I went with the H340 40GB by
iRiver. Now, you wanna talk about a full service media player. Although
slightly (VERY slightly) larger than the iPod, not only can you listen to
music and view picture (but not while listening)...with the firmware updates
offered by iRiver and a video converter program, you can watch videos on
this thing. Yes, it is a small 2" screen, but that is pretty cool. I am
still experimenting with the video aspect but it looks like I have put a few
in successfully....including Buddy Rich and Animal(Muppet Show); SNLs Blue Oyster Cult
More Cowbell skit and the entire movie of The Incredibles.
Along with that I have also loaded in tons and tons of music (about
3700 songs and growing) to enjoy in my travels or my daily walks of the lake
by my house. Just put on random and go.
This player also comes with a built in radio tuner and an internal
mic. Yes, it has recording capabilities too. You can record through the
mic, or off the radio....And it even has a line in for recording direct and
a line out for hooking it up to whatever system you wish.
The sound on this thing is killer to with several factory presets and
two or three adjustable ones to be customized by the user....in this case,
ME. Crystal clear though both my Westone ES2s and Etymotic ER6s. Gotta
give my old Sony 7506s a test run too in the future. In almost every review
I read comparing this to the iPod, the iRiver H300 series won out in sound
hands down!! (Note: There is a 20 GB H320 version too)
In fact the only downside any review had about the iRiver was the
"user interface"....in other words...The controls. Yes, the iRiver does
have a slight learning curve in figuring out the controls, but nothing that
reading the manual and working with it a bit wont fix quickly. If you want
ease of use out of the box, get the iPod, but if you want features and sound
with a small (minute, actually) learning curve, get the iRiver.
Another bonus about this player is that it acts just like a hard drive
attached through a USB cable. No software required, although it comes with
some (unnecessary), just plug the player in and start dragging and dropping
what you want in it.
Almost forgot to mention the absolutely stunning color display this thing has. According to the specs, it supports about 200,000 more colors than the iPod which is very impressive for something this size.
This thing is just too cool. I had to get on here and sing its
praises since iRiver doesnt seem to have the advertising budget that Apple
does. If you need any other opinions on this player, check out the standard
sites, like www.cnet.com, but also look at www.misticriver.net. This is a
site of iRiver owners or those considering being owners. Everyone there is
very helpful in guiding you towards the player for you and will continue to
help with the operation after you have it.
On: 2005-04-28
I love this device. It gives me all the functionality I need & more. I only have one major complaint: It comes with a cover that does not give you access to any of the function keys, so every time you want to do something you have to take it out of the cover. They do sell a cover with access to all the ports & function keys, but they want another $29 for that. Why not give you that instead of this cover?
On: 2005-04-26
The good things youve been reading are all very true. I love this baby! This thing is worth every penny. Try the 1.27 Korean firmware and I have been watching all my movies on this H340. No crushes, no problems, no bugs--the bad things, if any that you have read about it must be paid to be posted here by iPod manufacturers.
On: 2005-04-25
The good things youve been reading are all very true. I love this baby! This thing is worth every penny. Try the 1.27 Korean firmware and I have been watching all my movies on this H340. No crushes, no problems, no bugs--the bad things, if any that you have read about it must be paid to be posted here by iPod manufacturers.
On: 2005-04-13
after borrowing friends ipods numerous times i figured that it was time to get a jukebox for myself. i looked into virtually ever player out there and finally decided upon the h340. i bought it and instantly started loading music onto it. very quickly i discovered that the "DB scan" that organizes the music for you is a pain in the neck. so i spent the time and organized the files how i wanted them. now the navigation is much easier than any of the other player ive used. i think that the best feature is that i dont need software to down/upload music. the H340 shows up as an external hard drive. uber easy. as far as sound quality goes, its only as high as the bit rate of the track you are playing. some of the music that ive downloaded sounds like crap and the music ive ripped (@ 192kbps) sounds great. id recommend iriver to just about anyone who is computer savy. i still think the ipod would be better for those who dont know/care very much about their gadgetry and computers.
On: 2005-04-12
I bought my Iriver 4 months ago . I was quite satisfied with quality . Suddenly it stop working yesterday . Its not coming up , its not showing lcd light. I tried to contact customer service but phone is alwasy busy. I wrote them email also but no reply.
If i didn;t get the response then i am just gonna loode $400 with all my 14gb songs collection . :-))))))
i don;t know what to do.
On: 2005-04-11
I bought my Iriver 4 months ago . I was quite satisfied with quality . Suddenly it stop working yesterday . Its not coming up , its not showing lcd light. I tried to contact customer service but phone is alwasy busy. I wrote them email also but no reply.
If i didn;t get the response then i am just gonna loode $400 with all my 14gb songs collection . :-))))))
i don;t know what to do.
On: 2005-03-31
3 days after purchase, the data port quit working on my player. No way to download files. I called customer service. Their line was busy throughout the day. When I did get through, I sat on hold for almost 2 hours. After the 2 hour hold time, the system informed me the last rep had gone home, to leave a message, and my call would be returned in 2 business days.
WHAT A TERRIBLE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
On: 2005-03-15
I dont 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 havent 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 havent had long enough to be conclusive). Its bright, easy to read color screen is a big benefit. Its keys click nicely when pressed and wont 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 wont 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 havent). You can also buy a remote control (I havent).
The biggest drawback of iRiver H340 is its weight. I understand that iPod is smaller and lighter, but I cant 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 wouldnt be reading this review in the first place), give iRiver a serious considerarion.
On: 2005-03-01
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 dont 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.
On: 2005-02-28
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 dont 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.
 On: 2005-02-10
The reason that this thing gets 2 stars is (NOT because its a crappy player) but because I expected a lot more for the amount of $$$money$$$ ($400) I paid for this. Granted that it is probably the only MP3 player with a very crisp, excellent 2" color screen and a marvelous voice recorder, plus a decent MP3 player... I expected A LOT more from this from the quality of sound....the biggest reason I look for in an MP3 player. Yes, despite everyone saying that the sound quality was great, I found it to be just above average. I had bought the Sony Fontopia earbuds (MDR-EX71) and found the sound quality of the earbuds to be superb from listening to music from my computer. I plugged it into the MP3 player and I could hear fading in and out, a weak verging on watered-out treble that I could never get strong and crisp enough (just like my polk audio stereo speakers in my car...whose treble gives me those wonderful chills down my bones). I went to the SRS wow and treble boost and base boost adjust to try to adjust it, but everytime i adjusted the treble it would affect the base, and vice versa. I could never adjust it to give me the fantastic highs and heart-pounding lows. I purchased a $35 MP3 player (only 512MB that I wanted to replace with this iRiver), and the sound quality on my cheap MP3--especially the treble--was much better....I tested it using the exact same headphones. I just thought to myself that it was ridiculous for me to spend $400 on an MP3 that just wasnt giving me the sound quality that I formerly loved listening to my albums with.
I give iRiver credit for an OVERALL DECENT MP3 with the very crisp clear color screen, the relatively easy to navigate menus (not to mention all the options they let you customize from sleep timer...to minutes til auto shut off), great voice recording, good as a portable hard drive, smaller size, design, portability, and ease of use. BUT for $400 for sound quality that I could get better from a $35 MP3 player... it just boggled my mind. I tried a friends Pogo Products RipDrive MP3, and found the quality of Sound to be SUPERB over the iRiver at 40GB and at Half the Cost. Granted the RipDrive only has a blue backlite plain LCD and is about 20% bigger and heavier, Im not too keen on portability because I dont use this to jog, etc.. you will almost have to get a new case for jogging. And its still about the size and weight of the old portable tape players.
One more point, the hard drive gets really slow in starting up at the beginning (at least 2 minutes, perhaps more) when I fill this thing up with at least 10 GB worth of music. I hate to imagine if I put even more music. It does have a USB 2.0 so loading and unloading data if everything youve got is 2.0 is a breeze. If you only have a USB 1.1 port, watch out you are about to waste your whole day waiting for data to load and unload.
I really want to give this thing 3 stars, but dont think the $400 price tag justifies the sound. (almost $450 with tax). If you dont care too much about the sound quality being REALLY GOOD, and just want a place to store and listen to all your tons and tons of music, and if you dont mind paying $400 for a just-ok sound MP3 with a color screen, go for this. If this were $150 - $200 i would give it 4 stars. But if you dont want to wait a year, keep dreaming!
On: 2005-02-09
The reason that this thing gets 2 stars is (NOT because its a crappy player) but because I expected a lot more for the amount of $$$money$$$ ($400) I paid for this. Granted that it is probably the only MP3 player with a very crisp, excellent 2" color screen and a marvelous voice recorder, plus a decent MP3 player... I expected A LOT more from this from the quality of sound....the biggest reason I look for in an MP3 player. Yes, despite everyone saying that the sound quality was great, I found it to be just above average. I had bought the Sony Fontopia earbuds (MDR-EX71) and found the sound quality of the earbuds to be superb from listening to music from my computer. I plugged it into the MP3 player and I could hear fading in and out, a weak verging on watered-out treble that I could never get strong and crisp enough (just like my polk audio stereo speakers in my car...whose treble gives me those wonderful chills down my bones). I went to the SRS wow and treble boost and base boost adjust to try to adjust it, but everytime i adjusted the treble it would affect the base, and vice versa. I could never adjust it to give me the fantastic highs and heart-pounding lows. I purchased a $35 MP3 player (only 512MB that I wanted to replace with this iRiver), and the sound quality on my cheap MP3--especially the treble--was much better....I tested it using the exact same headphones. I just thought to myself that it was ridiculous for me to spend $400 on an MP3 that just wasnt giving me the sound quality that I formerly loved listening to my albums with.
I give iRiver credit for an OVERALL DECENT MP3 with the very crisp clear color screen, the relatively easy to navigate menus (not to mention all the options they let you customize from sleep timer...to minutes til auto shut off), great voice recording, good as a portable hard drive, smaller size, design, portability, and ease of use. BUT for $400 for sound quality that I could get better from a $35 MP3 player... it just boggled my mind. I tried a friends Pogo Products RipDrive MP3, and found the quality of Sound to be SUPERB over the iRiver at 40GB and at Half the Cost. Granted the RipDrive only has a blue backlite plain LCD and is about 20% bigger and heavier, Im not too keen on portability because I dont use this to jog, etc.. you will almost have to get a new case for jogging. And its still about the size and weight of the old portable tape players.
One more point, the hard drive gets really slow in starting up at the beginning (at least 2 minutes, perhaps more) when I fill this thing up with at least 10 GB worth of music. I hate to imagine if I put even more music. It does have a USB 2.0 so loading and unloading data if everything youve got is 2.0 is a breeze. If you only have a USB 1.1 port, watch out you are about to waste your whole day waiting for data to load and unload.
I really want to give this thing 3 stars, but dont think the $400 price tag justifies the sound. (almost $450 with tax). If you dont care too much about the sound quality being REALLY GOOD, and just want a place to store and listen to all your tons and tons of music, and if you dont mind paying $400 for a just-ok sound MP3 with a color screen, go for this. If this were $150 - $200 i would give it 4 stars. But if you dont want to wait a year, keep dreaming!
On: 2005-02-06
I just got this beauty of a player 2 weeks ago and I have to say I was blown away. The color display is awesome, sturdy, tech heavy execution, and solid battery life. I bought the IPod a year ago and had to return it after it crashed my PC twice (????), and the battery had to be replaced after 2 months. IPods are for the conformist rattleheads, I should have nown better, I learned my lesson. Damn it this thing even plays MOVIES!!!! Im still halfway through loading my CD collection and its still hungry (about 60% memory used so far.) It just goes to show, whoever sells the most isnt necessarily the best. Get THIS player, well worth it.
On: 2005-02-05
I just got this beauty of a player 2 weeks ago and I have to say I was blown away. The color display is awesome, sturdy, tech heavy execution, and solid battery life. I bought the IPod a year ago and had to return it after it crashed my PC twice (????), and the battery had to be replaced after 2 months. IPods are for the conformist rattleheads, I should have nown better, I learned my lesson. Damn it this thing even plays MOVIES!!!! Im still halfway through loading my CD collection and its still hungry (about 60% memory used so far.) It just goes to show, whoever sells the most isnt necessarily the best. Get THIS player, well worth it.
On: 2005-01-27
And so far, its been excellent. The sound is crisp and clear, the battery life is good. I own an iPod and decided that it wasnt exactly the product I was looking for. Dont get me wrong, iPods are a great choice if you are a more casual user with only music in mind. I needed something that could function as an easy external hard drive in a pinch as well as play music over long car rides, flights, etc. The H340 performs all of these functions admirably. The interface is not as quick as my iPod however; it takes longer to find the songs and artists I want. It is easy to figure out and use though. The recording and radio functions are nice. Comparing the two sonically, I have a pair of nice Sennheiser headphones that I used on a 192kbs song on both my H340 and my iPod and personally (now, bear in mind, my iPod is a third generation), I felt that the H340 has superior sound. Thats just me though. If you get an H340, make sure you check out www.redchairsoftware.com and www.misticriver.net. Red Chair has a great program (Irivium) for syncing and managing all of the files on your H series and mistic river has a community of H series owners. The only reason this product gets four stars is because the touch wheel is slightly more convenient than the navigation on an H340. Given the choice now, I would wait until the iRiver H40 comes out in a couple months for the extra features I need and the ease of a touch-scroll mechanism. Im still glad, however, that I got an H340 for christmas.
On: 2005-01-25
Bottom line is- if anyone is whining about the usability of this product- they are simply lazy or inept. I have had to have my iPod replaced three times under warranty before finally demanding my money back. On top of that the iPod would freeze my system even the entire OS!.
I have had this thing for a day and the difference is clear. If you are in the least bit technically savvy you will love this product.
Ive finally found what Im looking for!
-Nick
it has been years now- this thing still works... good stuff.
On: 2005-01-20
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. Ive been loving it so far. I havent 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 youre getting there is no alternative to the iRiver. The screen is beautiful and the playback volume is also excellent.
On: 2005-01-19
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. Ive been loving it so far. I havent 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 youre getting there is no alternative to the iRiver. The screen is beautiful and the playback volume is also excellent.
On: 2005-01-09
I think that the IRIVER H340 is the best MP3 player I have come across thus far. I do alot of traveling and always listen to music, and this sound is great for traveling. When you travel from NY to North Carolina, California, Florida, etc., the drive and or flight can become tedious. This device gives you great sound and it feels like the music is being sung right next to you. As far as muffled sound, that is perposterous and if you dont like the sound there is a number or preset equalizers as well as a custom equializer. The device is very easy to navigate and transfer songs to as well. The display is sharp and vivid, and I wish my television had the same picture. All in all, this device is the best out there at the moment and blows IPOD out of the water.
On: 2005-01-08
I think that the IRIVER H340 is the best MP3 player I have come across thus far. I do alot of traveling and always listen to music, and this sound is great for traveling. When you travel from NY to North Carolina, California, Florida, etc., the drive and or flight can become tedious. This device gives you great sound and it feels like the music is being sung right next to you. As far as muffled sound, that is perposterous and if you dont like the sound there is a number or preset equalizers as well as a custom equializer. The device is very easy to navigate and transfer songs to as well. The display is sharp and vivid, and I wish my television had the same picture. All in all, this device is the best out there at the moment and blows IPOD out of the water.
On: 2005-01-08
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 computers USB port and it shows up like a hard drive, no software required (except for Win 95/98 which requires a driver, and I cant 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. Its called a jukebox right? Whats 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 thats 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.
On: 2005-01-07
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 computers USB port and it shows up like a hard drive, no software required (except for Win 95/98 which requires a driver, and I cant 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. Its called a jukebox right? Whats 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 thats 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.
On: 2005-01-06
I HAVE READ ALOT OF THE REVIEWS ON THE IRIVER, AND I CAN ONLY SURMISE THAT : SOME OF THESE PEOPLE DO NOT OWN THE IRIVER PLAYER, OR THEY WORK FOR IPOD. SOMEBODY SAID THAT THE SOUND WAS MUFFLED. WELL THEY MUST WORK FOR IPOD. ALL DIGITAL SOUND IS CLEAN. ITS THE BIT RATE THAT PLAYS A LARGE PART IN THE QUALITY OF THE SOUND, AND THE SPEAKERS YOU HEAR IT THRU.
IRIVER HAS TERRIBLE EARPHONES. I USE THE SONY MDR SERIES AND THE SOUND IS VERY CRISP. AFTER ALL WHAT YOU HEAR IS THE SPEAKERS, NOT THE MP3 PLAYER.
SOME PEOPLE HAVE SAID THAT IRIVER OVERSTATED THE BATTERY LIFE. IN THE MANUAL IT SAYS THAT 16 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE IS EXPECTED AT 128 BIT RATE. MOST OF MY MUSIC IS BETWEEN 192 AND 600 BIT RATE. DO I GET 16 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE? I DONT KNOW, AS I CHARGE IT WHEN IVE USED HALF OF THE LIFE. FOR ME THATS ABOUT 5 HOURS OF USEAGE.
DONT LET BIG INDUSTRY (IPOD) CONVINCE YOU THAT THEY MAKE A BETTER MOUSETRAP, THATS JUST HYPE.
On: 2005-01-04
Despite the praise given to the iRiver, a prime reason to buy this device, is to show it to other designers as to what not to do when designing.
Before describing why it is bad, here is a quick run down of what it offers. It has lots of features. Beyond playing mp3 and wav files, it has an FM tuner, recording device, picture viewer, file storage, lines in, lines out, and even a carrying case. It can also be found for a comparitively reasonable price.
So why is it annoying to use. Well first, the buttons are small and close together. When the volume was to high once I went to lower it but manged to hit the nav button. I then was in navigation hell and couldn’t get out resulting in my ears being blasted into deafness. As for the Nav button, its not even the only Nav button. In fact sometimes, you have to hit the left arrow button or even worse, the record button. Of course, if you do not hold the record button long enough to get to the correct nav screen, that’s right you start recording when you don’t want
to.
When listening to the radio, it is not even easy to change between preset and non-preset channels. Therefore you may not get to the channel you want.
Of course, one might just buy it for listening to music. Frankly, when buying a digital music device I want an interface that’s a little bit more than a standard file tree. It has metadata such as artists and albums, it should not be hard to get to them and have all their songs play. With the iRiver your stuck to navigate through sometimes lengthy file trees.
In a nutshell, if you need lots of features, this may work for you. You will, however, have to deal with an incredibly user unfriendly device.
On: 2004-12-23
I purchased the H340 last week. Every piece of literature I read said the H340 plays WAV files. Even the box it came in says it plays WAV files. It doesnt!!!!
Im an audiofile and store my CD collection on my PC in WAV format. I was hoping I could simply copy these files to the H340. Since it doesnt play WAV files (yet anyway, maybe a future firmware upgrade will add this functionality), Ive spent hours ripping my CDs to MP3 files at 256 kbps.
Amazon.com offered to let me return the unit since the literature was misleading. Ive not yet decided though. I do like that it includes a FM tuner, picture viewer, and color display, all for less than the price of a 40 GB iPod.
On: 2004-12-22
I purchased the H340 last week. Every piece of literature I read said the H340 plays WAV files. Even the box it came in says it plays WAV files. It doesnt!!!!
Im an audiofile and store my CD collection on my PC in WAV format. I was hoping I could simply copy these files to the H340. Since it doesnt play WAV files (yet anyway, maybe a future firmware upgrade will add this functionality), Ive spent hours ripping my CDs to MP3 files at 256 kbps.
Amazon.com offered to let me return the unit since the literature was misleading. Ive not yet decided though. I do like that it includes a FM tuner, picture viewer, and color display, all for less than the price of a 40 GB iPod.
On: 2004-12-17
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 didnt 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 Im still drooling. You have to understand....Im 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. Thats right!!! Convert your DVDs 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 DVDs, Ive converted several hour episodes of Stargate shows and have watched them on my H320. Ive got a whole slew of them queued up for my 4 hour flight to LA. So with that amazing ability out of the way, Ill 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 thats 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 havent used USB2Go yet, but it does look promising. I quickly scanned over the Owners Manual, turned on the H320. I connected as anoher hard drive device WITHOUT having to install any additional drivers. I proceeded to load MJs 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 mp3s 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 werent formatted for the h320 display so they werent 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 mp3s only with SRS off and very minimal LCD use, you can go to 15 hours. The average seems to be 9 hours, Ive 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 dont have to buy a media player for the plane, nor do I have to drag out my laptop to play dvds..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, doesnt feel flimsy at all. I havent 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. Im 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 Im 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 doesnt play videos UNLESS you flash the bios to another region BIOS-Korea is the best here 5) it didnt come with a power/USB docking station, but you can get one for $30 6) the case/holder only protects. Thats 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 dont hate iPod at all, Im 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 wont 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. Im sorry this has been a long post, but I just cant stop talking about this thing.
On: 2004-12-09
I am not adding anything to the great reviews of this product. I like all its features. However, the amazon review is incorrect describing the size of this puppy. The h340 is bigger than the h320, but the amazon description is the same! The h340 is like 0.2 inches thicker than the h320. No its not a great difference, but somewhat makes the h340 bulkier than the h320. I own the h320 and I got the h340 from amazon, expecting a similar size and found the increased size a bit dissapointing. Anyway, a great product.
On: 2004-12-03
First Id like to say Im more than impressed by iRivers 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. Heres what I found vs the iPod (Im 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. Ive 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 Photos 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 its like comparing a pack of cigarettes to a pack of playing cards (iPod). I dont mind the H340 being a little thicker.
The iPod has the brand awareness, so if youre 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.
On: 2004-12-02
First Id like to say Im more than impressed by iRivers 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. Heres what I found vs the iPod (Im 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. Ive 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 Photos 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 its like comparing a pack of cigarettes to a pack of playing cards (iPod). I dont mind the H340 being a little thicker.
The iPod has the brand awareness, so if youre 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.
On: 2004-11-27
Ive 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 youll be spending days. Dont 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 dont 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.
On: 2004-11-22
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. Heres my take on it.
Warning: If you buy an iRiver H340, prepare to don your geek beanie. Heres 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. Theres 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"). Theres a bit of a half-finished, work-in-progress feel to the H340. For instance, you cant view pictures while listening to music. Its strictly either-or. The music search function is in no way as easy to use as iPods, either. Theres 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 havent been able to get the artist/album/genre/song search functions to work, so I cant comment.
3. Weight/size. The H340 is about the same length and width as an iPod, but its perhaps twice as thick and somewhat heavier too.
Not that we got the bad stuff out of the way, and scared off the iPodders, lets 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. Theres 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 its not like Id 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. Its perfectly readable in daylight. The Text Viewer is nice, but is limited only to .txt files. I dont plan on using it a lot, but its nice to have. Im 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 plugnplay 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., Im 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 isnt the 16 hours advertised, Ive 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 Ill come back and expand on this review.
IN SHORT, I love this unit. Its 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.
On: 2004-11-08
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 its 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 didnt 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 isnt very good but it isnt 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 its not really a bother.
As far as a few other things, right now you cant look at pictures and listen to music at the same time although the units 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. Im 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.
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