iriver H10 Not an ipod. Read the Manual, I have a lot to say.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Works with Music Match, Windows Browseable Content.

Cons: Proprietary cabel. Lock-ups. Prepare for reloads. Read then Re-read the Manual.

The Bottom Line: 
Hate apple or itunes? Go with an iriver. Prepare to carry the extra cable on your trips. Good choice for price and capacity. Carry a pin for re-sets.

Author's Review
I have played with Iiods and wasn't impressed. This is my fourth MP3 player. The idea of losing songs by connecting to a PC that didn't load my ipod was not for me.

For the money this was a good deal, I got mine on ebay w/ a 3 yr full warranty. I had hoped Rio would have come out with better challenge to ipod. The controls are not as intuitive as the ipod, but once you get through the learning period, the navigation feels natural.


The UNIT:
My H10 has frozen five times on me in the past three months that I have owned it. The library has corrupted once. I keep a safety pin inside the case to push the reset button when that happens. The H10 has a database rebuild option buried in the settings... takes about 5 min to repair itself on 12 GB of data. Keep the firmware file handy cause if your data is corrupted, you can slick it and fully reload it in 30 min (USB 2.0)

You can browse the unit once plugged in. It is stored in MTP protocol so the info can be copied and deleted, but not read (played) from the unit. I did delete a duplicate play list folder I saw empty on the unit. It was a mistake because my play lists disappeared and it took a firmware reinstall to get them back. Reloading the unit wasn’t a big deal, but the instructions must be followed closely. The unit MUST be loaded through Windows Media Player 10 or Music Match. There might be a way to firmware the unit to a out EU/out US version, but my 2 requests for help from irivers website gave me no real assistance.

Time spent building a play list is a must. If your collection of music is from all over the internet, you probably have 2 versions of your favorite song... both the same but the tag info is just a little different... or the genre is different. So your browsing by genre isn't all that helpful... duplicate track finder is looking for clones, but these are media player problems, not iriver...except that iriver is the one letting Microsoft control their PC to unit relations.

Navigation is an up down slide bar... volume most of the time unless you have the submenus active. Scrolling is not as smooth as the ipod.

I do like the recently played play list that the unit builds as you play it. If you stop and power off, and want to continue you where you left off in a podshow list or audio book, you can go there to help you remember where you left off. It keeps about 100 tracks there... not sure if it is based on days or sessions or tracks. Manual doesn’t say and support didn’t know either.

It does take almost 2 mins for the data base to refresh on the PC before you load more info... shorter if you have less data. But this will allow you to use more than 1 PC to update the iriver library.

FM tuner with memory settings... keep the manual safe for storing and deleting stations. Great that if you want to record a radio show you can set it up to do so. No AM.

Voice in... easy enough to get to won’t accidentally get turned on. Mic is on side and will get a conversation easy enough.

I don’t own the cradle (40$), but it will allow charging mic input and sound output, USB and AC charging.

No info on paid music files, or short term wma.s

Pictures have to be loaded through media player as well. You might as well make them small on the PC first but it will make thumb views.

Plain text can be loaded as well. Plain text, reading from it is an option I don’t think I will use, you can scan to a specific paragraph if it you want.

There is an alarm that I have not used.


No games like the ipod has... irivers U series units have free flash games with video... go that direction if you need video and games.


Included:
The PC cable connection is proprietary... don't loose it! 20$ It has USB on one end for data and charging, the other end has the unique data input slot and a split input for an A/C adapter with charging indicator light. Charging time 3 hrs on USB, 1.5 hrs on adaptor. I would have rather had the split on the USB end to kind of act as an extension cord to the ac adaptor....hate forgetting to leave turn the unit off, go workout with dead player music. ((No USB charge while playing...bummer for my car cig-lighter FM Xmit unit that has a USB memstick reader... thought I could get out of buying the optional car charging adaptor.))


The battery indicator on the LCD is not always accurate. I think a power off and a PC connection is needed to update the battery meter. (Low indication after full charge)

The case is a silicon one that is snug yet easy enough to remove but there is really no need... to be honest you will likely move on to the next best thing by the time the battery wears out. The case keeps it from sliding off a surface, the clip is very sturdy and the stretch of the case should save you from ever breaking the clip.

Battery: Internal L-Ion factory sealed. The smaller 5/6GB H10s (name is confusing) have swappable batteries that will NOT work with this unit. Bummer.

Earphones: Earbuds w/ foam... nothing special.

AC adaptor: Must have the USB cable to use it. Can charge and play at same with AC. 110/240 if you travel ... adaptors needed.

webistes:

http://www.iriveramerica.com/support/hd/h10_20gb.aspx See the pictures download the PDF manual before you buy... look at the accessories.