iRiver H340 40GB MP3 Player With Tuner

I owned an iRiver H340 for about 3-4 weeks and it was an utter disappointment. The main reasons for choosing it over other players were the 40GB capacity and the ability to play WMA. Obviously there are some quality features. The colour screen looks wonderful and there is plenty of information displayed for tracks that are playing. The radio tuner is hard to fault and you can scan and save up to 20 preset stations. I personally don't listen to the radio so it was nice to have rather than critical. The player will also play avi video at 10fps. You can also rip DVDs to avi format (using an independent program called Iriverter). An episode of family guy is about 80megs. A 90minute movie will use up about 300megs. So not a bad overhead, but not something I'd use that much. Just a gimmick really, but an admirable one all the same. The player will be recognised as a fixed drive when connected via USB to your PC. So to get files on to the player it is simply a case of 'drag and drop'. With this 'filetree' method, you can browse your files on your player the same way as you would on your PC. Obviously it makes sense to organise them in some sensible way like Artist --> Album --> Track. The player can also be used as a USB host. You can hook up a digital camera to the player and transfer files to the player, using it as a picture viewer. You can also use it as a big hard drive and view text files too should you want to. The battery life is average. I found it was less than the 12 hours that iRiver claimed, probably somewhere around 6-9 hours but certainly no more than that. This is always hard to judge because excessive use of the colour screen or viewing video for a while will obviously drain the battery more. But there are some serious flaws which marked the player down for me and ultimately ended in me selling it after less than a month. The navigation has been described as 'fine once you get used to it' but I found it sub-par. A NAVI button surrounded by four directional arrows proved difficult to use when compared to my other mp3 experience, the scroll wheel on the Creative Zen Xtra. Scrolling through 180 artists was a painful exercise. If you want to use your ID3 tags to navigate around your collection, you better hope that you don't have too many tracks onboard. The 'DB Scan' option will group your tracks using Artist, Album or Genre. But with my 500-odd albums, the start-up time for the player increased hugely-to close to two minutes. Without DB Scan switched on, startup was about 15-20 seconds which was fine - about equivalent to the Zen (but which by default organised your ID3 tags without slowdown). The biggest disgrace is really the lack of on the fly playlists. This is the ability to queue tracks one after another in an 'on the fly' manner. You can only queue one at a time which really limits the usability for someone like me. I like to queue 10-12 tracks for a journey, pop the player in to my pocket and not take it out again. Taking it out 11 times to queue the next song is a pain - especially when you consider the slow navigation. My Zen was fast to navigate and you could queue as many as you want. This might not be a factor for some/many people but everyone needs to be aware of it. The fact that iRiver have not addressed this in a firmware upgrade is just lazy. Also on the subject of playlists, if you are playing a pre-defined playlist (I tend to create specific artist 'favourites' playlists), turn off the player and then turn it back on, the player will continue from where it left off but will not resume the playlist. It simply plays the next track on the player. This is basic functionality. Also worth mentioning that it won't play DRM (Digital Rights Management) which I didn't actually know anything about until loads of my tracks wouldn't play. I had to re-rip my CDs with the Windows Media Player protection switched off. There are plenty of people who love their iRiver and that's great. But I didn't enjoy using it and if you think the above problems that I've highlighted would impact your enjoyment, then you should really make sure you try it before you buy. I wish I had.

I spent several weeks deciding which portable audio device to buy. I finally settled on the i-River after seriously considering the COWAN and MPIO alternatives. I have had the player for a week now and feel that I have made the right choice. The positives - great build quality, supports a variety of formats and is pretty easy to use (don't believe those that say it is not user friendly - they obviously don't read the manual properly. The headphones aren't as bad as many reviewers make out - although an upgrade is definitely worthwhile considering. Now for the negatives. No DRM on European models - important if (like me) you want to subscribe to some internet radio streaming services. It is also a tad heavy, though not enough to put me off recommending it. Doesn't seem to support WMA Lossless - although someone may correct me on that. Overall, well worth considering. I am not disappointed.

Ive been an mp3 player owner for around a year now, and hadnt realised how attached you get to the damn things. So when i recently broke my Creative Zen, i began looking around for a new one. Initially i parted with a chunk of cash and bought the new Sony Vaio 40gb player. For anybody thinking of making the same mistake, DONT!!!!! I returned it after a week and am now the proud owner of the IRIVER H340. To put it simply, it is a thing of beauty. The colour screen is sublime, and as an earlier reviewer noted, the quality of pictures on it has to be seen to be believed. In comparison with the Sony, the thing is so damn easy to use! Simply drop your files into the folder in My Computer and your away. Its taken me about an hour and a half to put 8000+ tracks on it of varying format. By comparison, it took three days, two software upgrades, a firmware update and inumerable PC crashes for me to achieve the same feat with the Sony. As for the sound quality, again its fantastic. Its easy to change the firmware and thus defeat that pesky EU limiter, and the options on the player for fiddling with the sound are numerous to say the least. Finally I gather its very easy to make playlists using Winamp, though I must confess I have yet to attempt this, but people I know who own won say its as easy as apple pie. From what I can gather, this is simply the best machine on the market at the moment. It beats the Ipod because its not an Ipod (the colour screen also helps!). Its nearest competitor appears to be the Sony Vaio, but as i've alreay said, that is the most dreadful product imaginable!!

The iRiver has actually a lot of features, a pity it does NOT work properly. I contacted a few times the iRiver help desk and they have been useless, for example I asked help on playing videos and they replied that mp3 tagging could be done with various software!! The volume on the headphones is way too low even when set to maximum (using the provided headphones) and they replied that when connected to a stereo the volume can be low!! Installation easy but everytime I tried to load the song information it generated an error on explorer. I updated to Firmware 1.27, took out antivirus, firewall, re-installed the software to no result (I am using XP on a laptop 2 months old). If you want to see pictures just get ready to wait (10 seconds to load any picture). The quality of the video is than excellent and the iRiver is bulky but well designed (except for the menus which are hard to use). A final word on the manual: you can use to light up the fire and for nothing else. If you are not a super geek and techy savy please get something else that is simpler and actually works.

OK. So if you are like me, with a fairly sizeable and ever-growing MP3 and WMA collection, then the eventuality will be that investing in a portable device becomes a major prority. Most lifestyle magazines seem to encourage their readers to buy Ipods whereas those who delve deeper into more audiophile-centred publications will see that the I-river is, after substatial testing, without a peer. I will be the first to say that the Ipod, although it is now probaly a bit too common and thus the effect has slightly worn off, is a beautiful piece of technology. In terms of functionality, the scroll wheel is very useful and helps you get to your song a fraction quicker than the I river. But looks - which is a personal thing (the I river H300 series has been getting a lot of attention out and about) and scroll wheel aside, the I river is better in every other department. The main thing that you look for of course is audio quality. The I river 340 has incredible sound. The customisable equalizer, paired with SRS surround sound technology (The same thing found in Denon Hi FI, and used by many other hi-End brands) means that when comparing it to the Ipod, with either the supplied headphones or a pair of Sennheiser px200s, makes the Apple machine sound tinny. You know that buzz that you get when you go into HMV and hook up a great CD to one of their listening posts. I get that each time with the I river. Apart from sound quality, what else is there to look for? Functionality. The brilliant thing about the I river is that you can take you player over to any computer, pull of the entire music collection, and walk off playing your newly aquired music. Unlike almost every other brand of player (Apple and the new Sony model), there is no need to format the mp3 files. They appear ezactly how they do on the computer. The device also plays WMA, which is also useful. For those who listen to the radio, then the I river again hits the spot. Good reception for an internal antenea, plus the ability to directly record straight to MP3 on the H340 is a bonus. Battery life is about double that of the Ipod at 16 hrs, and the device comes with remote, cradle, optical in & out, usb 2.0 wire, and built in dictaphone mic on the side of the unit. The colour screen is fantastic, and the ability to carry around photos which can be directly imported from any compatible digital camera is a nice touch. It is expensive, but when you consider the price of extras which you would may need to buy for the Ipod, the I river becomes increasingly more economically attractive. Essentially, if you consider yourself to be serious about music and the fashion-driven marketing machine, that is 'ipod-mania', doesn't factor into your decision making, then get this. With exactly the same dimentions as a cigarette packet, incredible sound, and the ability to upgrade firmware (new 1.04 eu update out there for those who have got it), you really wont regret it.

I bought the Iriver 40Gb MP3 player in March after reading a number of reviews of this and other similar items. Overall I am more than happy with this product, I have a large music collection of about 4Gb on the disc, that still leaves a lot of memory for storage and transfer of files. As with other viewers I found the navigation a little difficult and the manual not very clear on how to get around the system, I also found that downloading tracks onto the disc impossible until I realised that the file type had to be included to allow the machine to recognise that it was music. Once I had sorted out problems with navigation I found the system simple to use and transferring music to the hard drive is indeed simplicity itself. The headphones supplied are adequate, I have not yet bought a more sophisticated set but may do so. Battery life really is 16 hours and charge time is fairly short too. The case supplied is adequate if not terribly stylish but at 49 years old it would take more than a flash carrying case to make me appear "cool". Although the price was high I felt that you got what you paid for, I have taken this player with me whilst travelling and working in Africa and the Middle East and it has given me no problems at all. I have recommended this product to others.

This is a fantastic product I am over the moon. It does exactly what it says on the packet and it is so easy to use. I have glanced at the manual twice. It took me about 30 minutes to get it unpacked and plugged in and all my MP3 collection transferred to it and I haven't looked back since. My iRiver goes everywhere I do and I have hours and hours of fantastic music. The FM radio is a huge selling point its terrific cant believe how good reception is. Another fab thing about it is that it comes with everything you need even including an adapter to download images from your digital camera direct to the iRiver, forget expensive memory sticks. How often have I bought a product and been disappointed in some way... not this time. This thing leaves the iPod and any other MP3 player I have seen dead in the water...

For all fans of mp3 players this has set the benchmark for others to follow (including the iPod). Although the iPod is more fashionable looking and easy on the eye, the i-River makes up for its robust look with its functions. - You have a FM tuner and can record from it - the mic lets you record gigs & concerts etc. - Its Line in/out function which allows you to not only transfer files from your PC but also from you CD player or any other audio device (perfect for copyright protected CD's) - its colour screen and its ability to store good quality photos/images from your digi cmaera or pics on the PC - its accessories are all included with the product so you get a complete package unlike the iPod where you have to get accessories seperately. All in all, its quite simply the mp3 player of the moment and it would take something extraordinary to surpass it. I bought the iPod and thought that itself was brilliant but when I found out about the H-340 i sold my iPod and got myself this baby. If you dont have it get it...if you already do the utmost respect. Enuff said!

Im Vergleich mit dem iPod und der Creative Jukebox erscheint mir der Iriver H340 um Längen überlegen. Ich besitze das edle Teil seit vorgestern und bin begeistert. Da stimmt einfach alles, nur die Bedienung ist etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig.