iRiver Does It Again
Written: Mar 13 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Very compact
Easy to master
Comes with the LINE-IN cable
Cons: 128MB might be a tad small
The Bottom Line: This is one unit that you should look into. It compact form and easy operation make it a winner.
|
|
|
| charlesmtf's Full Review: iRiver iFP-380T (128 MB) MP3 Player |
Another great product by iRiver, and very affordable. At a retail of $139, and easily obtainable for less with some searching, the iRiver iFP-380T is no doubt a winner.
Although I was eyeing the 256MB unit, I managed to receive this one with 128MB for Christmas. Who am I to complain? In general, 128MB is a bit low, storing an about of 25-40 songs, averaging about 3-5 Megs a piece. For my purposes, that's ok, since the majority of my listening is for talk radio that I record from the net (kills the time while going to work). Even with music, and the average 25/40 songs, this player is very nice.
The sound quality, while very dependant on the bit rate its recorded at, is very crisp on the player. Stereo selections will yield wonderful results. The volume, by my own experience, seemed a bit low. You can't really crank it like you would crank a standard walkman to deafening heights. It would have been nice if iRiver added a more powerful amplifier to the line out.
The player allows you to store and play both MP3 and Microsoft's own WMA audio files. While some might disapprove for the lack of WAV support, freeware is easily attainable that'll convert any track of any format to the favorite MP3 extension. More so, MP3 will yield much more satisfaction, since the compression is better and you'll be able to fit more MP3 titles on your player than one would with the WAV format.
Regardless of the format, you can store ANY file-type on the player. It can't be played or listened to unless you its MP3 or WMA, but it can be used to transport to another location. The 380T has a built-in mic and MP3 encoder. So, you can easily use the unit to record pretty much anything. You can record conversations, with the click of a button. Or, you can use the LINE-IN to connect to your favorite stereo to record noise-free. The unit comes with a LINE-IN cable, so no need to spend any extra $$$. You can easily fit about 30 hours of lower quality input. iRiver's site claims 36 hours at 8kbps. I'd say it’s a bit lower than that.
The unit also has an FM tuner. So, if you're tired of listening to your recorded tunes, you can flip to the tuner and listen to some real-time radio. And the tuner is pretty decent. While it probably won't compare to the larger boom boxes with high quality antennas, you shouldn't have a problem receiving a signal from any station unless you delve into a basement. Even then, you'll still get the signal, with some manual tuning maybe required.
At about 3.5 inches, and weighing in at under a tenth of pound, this is one killer small and compact unit. And, while the 380T is the 128MB version, there's also a 256MB version out there, which I would think is just as good. If you want small, with a decent price, go with the 380T.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 129
Recommended for: Audio Book Listeners - Download Audio Books and Radio Programs
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
charlesmtf
|
|
Member: Charles Ippolito
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.