iriver T30 MP3 player
- Reviewer
- Stuart Miles
- Review Date
- 2 November 2005
- Manufacturer
- iRiver
- Price as reviewed
- £99
- Latest price
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Reader review
User: b33k34, London, UK
Date Posted: 11 January 2006
Review: Like another of the user reviews above I'd disagree with most of Stuart Mile's review. The AAA battery is the big advantage of this player. High capacity re-chargeable’s are cheap as chips now and you can carry a spare. However long the battery life on the competition if you forget to charge an all-in-one player it's no use to you at all. If you're out for the day and your re-chargeable runs flat in the T30 you can pick up a disposable AAA almost anywhere. The controls are simple to use and the screen easy to read. Colour screens add no value to a music player and are more difficult to see in sunlight. That's not to say the player is perfect - it does read id3 tags but seemingly only on playback. When browsing music to play you can do so only by directory and filename NOT by artist/album or song title. Files are listed by the order they are added rather than alphabetically. It's not possible to create playlists on the player and the method of transferring them from WMP seems laboured (I’ve not managed it yet). However, the firmware is upgradeable so there’s an outside chance iriver could address some of these weaknesses. Overall 7.5 out of 10 for me. The AAA battery was my main requirement (and battery life is good). Sound quality is great but the selection of music could be better.
Rating:
7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Trent Doyle, USA
Date Posted: 14 December 2005
Review: Perfect player. It is the best player for the buck. Simple to use and simple to learn. Adjustable srs, ogg, mp3, wma. All in one player that is smart looking and compact. Adjustable playing content. So many adjustable options. I can't think of a way to make it even better. My Score would be 9.9
Rating:
7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Reid, Toronto, Canada
Date Posted: 5 December 2005
Review: Note that because it is branded as "Plays for sure", it won't work on Macintosh computers at all. i.e. "Doesn't work for sure".
Rating:
2 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Jim, New York
Date Posted: 1 December 2005
Review: I couldn't find any posting of side by side comparisons of these three units...so already owning a iPod Shuffle, I purchased both a Creative Zen Nano Plus and an IRiver T30. I loaded the same song files into all three so that the comparison would be valid. I used only the earphones that came with each unit. The iPod is simple as can be to use. Partly good design and partly fewest features. The Creative Zen Nano has a decent LCD and a menu system that has a short learning curve. It is also the only one of the three to have a built in radio. The IRiver has the greater learning curve partly because it has more customizable options. Both the Creative and the IRiver have line in ability to copy directly from CDs. Of course only the Shuffle has a built in rechargeable battery (not user replaceable) while the other two use AAA’s. Of course you can purchase rechargeable AAA’s (Rayovac makes ones that take 15 minutes to recharge!). Sound quality...my primary concern. All three have pleasant sound with plenty of volume (too much!). First of all the iPod Shuffle has no controls at all to customize the sound. It does sound very good, however. The Creative Zen Nano has an equalizer. The IRiver T30 has both an equalizer and an entire set of other sound controls from the SRS WOW component. A fair comparison requires us to set both the Creative and the IRiver to what I and my son believe to give the best combination of bass and treble response. Of course that is somewhat subjective. However we both agreed on the settings. I know that some 'tests'/reviews say they leave the settings at 'neutral' to be fair...I beg to strongly disagree...after all why shouldn't the Creative Zen Nano and the IRiver benefit from a capability that they have built in! Users would surely use those controls, so they should be evaluated. Each unit producing the best it can! Again, all three sounded very good. Treble...The Apple Shuffle iPod and the IRiver T30 had the best treble. Clear…The Creative was somewhat muddied in response, but not bad. Bass...Here the IRiver shone above the others... definitively. The Creative was second with the iPod Shuffle not far behind. I found the following SRS settings to be the 'best' on the IRiver; SRS...08 Focus..Low Trubass...10 Boost...60 Overall..the IRiver's sound was definitely the best of the three. P.S. iRiver does have ID tag support and supports subscription music services.
Rating:
3 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Steven Gilberd, Wellington, New Zealand
Date Posted: 28 November 2005
Review: I would disagree with most of the above review writen by Stuart Miles. The player DOES support id3 tags (all versions), as well as tags from WMA and OGG - a feature many players lack. Being a portable device with only six buttons, one can become familiar with these very quickly - there is no actual need to see the buttons at all. Track organisation is excellent, with the latest version of the firmware providing excellent playlist support; although the playlists cannot be created on the device itself, doing so with the bundles software is extremely easy. There is also a comprehensive and easy to use file browser on the device. All menus are laid out in a clear and logical way, and most settings can be reached extremely quickly. iRiver offers frequent firmware updates to the player and the (Win32) software that accompanies it. One nifty feature for this player is the ability to switch the battery display between alkaline and rechargeable batteries - this gives a much more accurate idea of just how much battery life is really left. It is incredibly cheap to run - rechargeable NiMH batteries are cheap, and will last for a very long time (approx 1200 charge cycles if cared for) before deteriorating. The player feels small, but this doesn't hinder it's usability, even for my big fingers. It also feels solid, unlike a lot of cheap imported junk you can get these days. I would strongly recommend this product - 10/10.
Rating:
2 people have rated this review helpful
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iRiver T30 (1 GB) MP3 Player
(1 GB (Built-in Memory), 250 Songs, 1 oz., Audio Files: MP3, WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis.)
