Slim 'n Sexy CD/MP3 Player This sweet CD/MP3 player from iRiver is loaded with features sure to make any music-loving geek happy. At less than an inch thick this puppy doesn't take up much space. Add to that a sweet LCD screen to display track info, rechargeable NiMH batteries, and extended anti-skip protection, and you've got a CD player that's sure to please.
With its beautiful sound quality, royal good looks, and simple operation, the iRiver SlimX portable MP3-CD player sets a new standard for future portable units to follow.
The SlimX is one of the most adaptable players we've encountered. It rolls upgradable firmware, eight-minute antishock protection, ASF (Advanced Streaming Format) and WMA (Windows Media Audio) compatibility, ID3 tag support, and the ability to play standard audio CDs, MP3-encoded discs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs into an ultratrim (0.6 inches thick) player. And the sound is deluxe, delivering crisp highs, discernible mids, and bass thick enough to make low-end aficionados nod their heads in approval.
Since we had yet to fully investigate WMA, we felt compelled to dig into the format. At first we were hesitant: how could WMA compress music files to half their size--at, say, 64 Kbps--and still sound good? After dumping an entire, 100-song playlist onto a single CD-R, however, we were humbled. The procedure was painless, and the sound was incredible. The iRiver SlimX completely fulfilled our demands; using the gorgeous inline remote, we easily skipped ahead 10 tracks at a time, used fast-scan to hear a particular verse, and made a customized playlist on the fly.
In fact, the remote lets you operate every function (save changing a disc) without having to dig the unit out of your backpack or its carrying case (included, but frail), and it also includes a hold switch that prevents accidental playback.
After the WMA-disc success, we switched over to an MP3 compilation made by a friend. While reading the different ID3 tags (MP3 file markers that feed song, artist, and album names to your player), we first played the songs whose titles intrigued us most, like "Nannari to Naru Deshou" by the excellent Japanese female duo Puffy. That's why ID3 tags are so cool--they allow you to search by name, not track number.
Next, we took the SlimX out on a long walk to judge its portability. Unless we made silly, Pete Townshend-style windmill movements, each disc played satisfactorily. We noticed that standard audio CDs popped more than anything we burned off the Web, which was strange. We also sampled the five equalizer presets, although we noticed only subtle differences in sound at low volumes.
While listening to any Web-audio disc, the SlimX fills up its antiskip buffer with the eight minutes of music. Essentially, this means the player doesn't have to read the disc as much, which results in prolonged battery life, and ultimately the SlimX delivered on its promise of up to 23 hours playing time. To get these results for yourself, just make sure the two flat NiMH batteries are fully charged, and pop an extra pair of AAs into the external battery pod. It's that easy.
For those new to ASF, MP3, and WMA formats, you may be disappointed by the SlimX's user's manual, which is skimpy at best. Our Guide to Making MP3 Files will familiarize you with the basics and help you turn your computer into a virtual jukebox.
For those of you who are considering upgrading to the iRiver SlimX--or are looking to pick up your first player--we highly recommend this player. In fact, we miss our test player so much, we're going to buy one of our own. --Arno Kazarian
Pros:
- Upgradable firmware
- Compatibility with MP3, WMA, ASF, standard audio CDs, and CD-R/RWs
- Supports ID3 tags for easy search of MP3 files
- Nearly skip-free performance
Cons: - Relatively useless user's manual
- Shallow-sounding earbud headphones
- Frivolous carrying case
The iRiver SlimX portable MP3-CD player supports both standard audio CDs and data CDs filled with your favorite MP3, WMA, and ASF files. The upgradable firmware will also accommodate future digital audio formats.
This trim (0.6 inches deep) player's features include eight-minute antishock protection, eight equalization presets (seven prefixed and one custom setting), repeat and shuffle play modes, programmable playlists, fast-scan search (up to 6x), and an integrated FM tuner. The SlimX's inline, 11-function remote control lets you operate the player while it's stowed away in its carrying case or in a backpack. The remote's large, backlit LCD supports both ID3 tags and CD Text, simplifying song identification from any compatible disc. The ID3 text display includes track number, song name, artist name, folder (album title), and overall playing time. The SlimX also lets you navigate through directories and search for tracks individually or in blocks of 10.
The SlimX is rated for up to 13 hours on two NiMH batteries (the unit ships with a pair of rechargeables), and you'll get an extra 10 hours of music if you slip two AA batteries into the extra battery pod (also included).
A one-year warranty on parts and labor is included with purchase.
1 Still Kicking it around
great product, and i am still kicking this around but not using it as much as i used to. i used this for several years and worked like a charm, upgrades are easy. best feature is that it plays all formats. bad feature is that it's limited storage :(
2 Excellent Buy!
This mp3 player is so versatile - it's great! It plays CDs, radio, and mp3s. It's very easy to use and is loaded with tons of awesome features. I took it with me on a cross-country plane flight recently and it was so nice to have with me. A must buy!
3 Fragile player....coupled with POOR customer service
After having this player now for 6 months, I have had enough time to fully evaluate the player and Iriver's customer service.
First the good news. The player is cool looking and plays most discs without a problem. I have yet to have the player skip, although I have not put it through any rough treatment to test it.
Now the bad news:
- This player is fragile. Despite the metal top casing, the player is lightweight and is not built to last. If you don't keep the player in its fleece bag, the metal will scratch (and take away from the cool look).
- The headphones, while not bad for manufacture provided ones, leave a lot to be desired. Why can't these manufacturers follow Apple's example and provide a decent earbud? If you do get this player I would recommend getting a better set of earphones. Beware though to get an efficient pair, as the player will not be able to drive an inefficient pair to higher volumes.
- The remote itself is the most fragile of the player. Within a week, even with taking great care not to do so, the remote screen was scratched. The plastic screen is not very scratch resistant at all! Which is a shame as it is what you will be looking at as there is no screen on the player itself. Like the player, the remote is also rather flimsy in its construction. It is a lightweight plastic. It would have been nice to have the remote protected with the same metal casing as they top of the player. The original remote has wires coming out of both ends. While I though this would not be an issue, it has come to be a bother when attempting to look at the remote. I guess there is a reason that they changed the design of later remotes. Finally, after only 6 months of extremely light use (may be used once a week at most), the backlight on the remote stopped working. This is a real problem as the screen is hard to see without this feature.
- Customer Service: I contacted iRiver customer via their website concerning the remote backlight. It took them over 2 weeks to get back to me. And then they had nothing to say than sorry your remote is out of the 90 day warranty, you will have to purchase a new one.
All in all, I give the player 2 stars as the player performs its function of playing audio disks, but overall I would not purchase this player again (especially at its inflated price). If you do decide to get this player, BEWARE of the fragility of this player and expect poor customer service.
4 IMP350 and IMP550 Reviewed over 3 yrs.- Access. cost $$$
The IRiver CD/MP3 players are awesome. The sound is
excellent, they play homemade CD's and MP3's no problem.
The IMP350 has control buttons on the unit but the IMP550 does
not have these control buttons on the unit and relies solely on
the remote. Note: Amazon does not carry the accessories,
and to buy them from IRiver they are Expensive. The
unit itself is warranted for 1 year, HOWEVER, the accessories
including the controller and earbuds are only a 90 DAY warranty.
The IMP350 was a very competent machine with silver earbuds
that fall apart. The IMP550 came with different plastic grey earbuds that seemed like a cheaper quick fix. The newer IMP550 does not work with the old controller or the old AC adapter for the IMP350 so do not try to intermix these components or a
malfunction may occur. The accessories for the IMP550 are more expensive than the IMP350.
The IMP550 has a separate and different controller and earbuds. Purchasing the accessories are a bundle from IRiver. The IMP550
purchased new comes with a car kit the IMP350 does not. After, after 10 months the IMP550 earbuds fell apart, and the controller is malfunctioning and does not light. The warranty is only 90 days on these accessories so it will cost $54. to replace the earbuds and controller. Kind of expensive. Be-aware of the accessory warranty. It is ONLY 90 days.
Overall, I was very happy with both of them but they are definitely high maintenance little machines and the rechargeable batteries are $19. when they need to be replaced. At this rate
$54 to replace accessories and $19 for batteries (=$73.00 total)
I can purchase a brand new CD player of a different brand. My point is that after the 90 day warranty and the batteries run
out you may end up buying a new CD player. EXPENSIVE.
we live in a throw away society.
5 Nice and Good but also flawed
I've had mine for about 2 years. Very solid. I've treated it like crap and it hasn't really lost any steam. The sound quality is pretty good and the real metal shell is really classy. One problem is that because its so thin it can't take AA batteries in the actual unit. If you want to have the unit be battery powered you have to attach it to some sort of weird tube that holds the batteries. Makes for very clunky transportation. Another problem is that when you plug the power adapter in and you've been using batteries up to the point the unit goes dead. You have to start it up all over again to switch power sources. Would have been nice if it just switched seemlessly. Also it can take up to twenty seconds to start up. Sort of ridiculous. Much much longer to start up than say a typical regular CD player. What else? Umm, the weird cord remotes left/right push toggle level switches are very awkward. Not the most fun to use. Uses rechargable batteries that are a strange shape. They're flat and thus if I ever had to replace them it would be a nightmare. Uses a nonstandard power adapter, replacing is difficult. Charging the unit takes about 8 hours!!! Be prepared to leave it plugged in all night. Also, it doesn't just start charging the second you plug it in. You have to hit play, wait ten seconds, then hold stop. Then you get a menu asking you if you want to begin charging. Very very annoying if you want to just plug it in and have it charge the way you would for other chargable devices such as a cell phone or cordless drill.
Other than that, although I have gotten used to the cool appearance of the unit I consistently catch myself noticing how much sleaker and classier my CD player is compared to those of my friends. Definitely what you are paying for.
I paid 150 for mine and i have to say for the price it was maybe not worth it. I did listen for two years so I have definitely gotten my money's worth, but I still think I would probably have gotten similar performance from something that cost a fraction of the price.
6 Remote problems+No rebate
Remote - When i bought the player the remote's backlight wasn't working.I returned it(Amazon we're really great)and got a new one that didn't have this problem.4 months later the backlight simply died and i have to buy a new remote for $25.
Rebate - After i got the second player i took off all the labels needed for the rebate,did everything the paper(rebate instructions) included said,but 8 weeks later(when i should've got a cheque) they said that i didn't include the proper papers(i took off all the labels from the box!everything they asked..) and that i will not be getting my rebate.
Here is my advice:Don't buy from iRiver,and even if you do-don't buy something with a rebate from iRiver- you'll work too hard to get what you deserve.
P.S.- Besides the reliability problems and rebate problems the player is good,that's why i gave them 2 stars and not 1.
7 Expensive? Kind of. Worth it? Definitely.
I bought this CD player a year ago when my old Sony started randomly shutting down and skipping at every tiny scratch. At the time, the only thing that really drew me to this player was the thin size. A year later, I can tell you that this is a high-quality player that deserves consideration.
As I'm sure you've read in other reviews, it has wonderful sound, the remote is very handy, you should use headphones and a case other than what comes with it, and of course, it's a lot skinnier than most CD players. Here's some stuff you might not know:
-The quality from player to player seems to be slightly inconsistant. I absolutely loved mine. It played even my CD that was so scratched up you could hardly have damaged it worse if you'd had at it with a paperclip or something. I never had any problems with it whatsoever. It even survived numerous falls without missing a beat, no pun intended. However, my friend bought the same player a few months after I did. His had a faulty lid and had to be sent back under warrantee, no biggie. But when I finally did my player in (tragic story really) and he lent me his, I was quite surprised at the difference. His occasionally would randomly in the middle of a song skip to the next one. It couldn't play the scratched CD that mine had had no trouble with. And some CDs it had trouble reading, even a brand-new one with no blemishes of any kind. As far as I know, nothing had ever happened to his player to make it do this and he claims it had always been like that. I don't know which caliber of performance is more typical of this player, but if you have faith that you'll get one like mine was, go for it, you won't be disappointed in any capacity.
-As you may have read, iRiver's customer support is terrible. I emailed them after mine broke to ask them if they do repairs not covered by warrantee. After 2 weeks, I got no response. The only way to get a response is either to call (I've not read anything good about that either) or to register your product online and use the account you create to send them a question. On top of the difficulty of contact, it turns out that iRiver doees not do repairs and does not keep spare parts, so I'm not sure it's possible at all to get anything not under warrantee fixed. It would be fair to put this as a disclaimer on their products. I'm sure it would just do wonders for sales...
Anyway, if you are looking for a player that is sleek, puts out great sound, and will make a good many people jealous, this is a good choice. Just be wary of potential quality lapses and below-mediocre support from the company.
8 very international user-friendly CD/MP3 player i ever had!!
I have to admit, although I am currently seeking for a specific (more future-looking) sony ATRAC CD player (which I hear they are soooo cool), I have spent these last 6 months with this iRiver 350 mp3/cd player playing my music and praising it to the fullest. I couild never expect myself to even create a good cd with over 200 songs in it, letting me be able to burn all of my albums and other downloaded music i burned to a regular cd-r to cover up about 80 minutes of it, causing me to have a bunch of cds laying around, or overstocking my cd case with almost 100 cds, and how do you expect me to take all of them with me? Impossible!! I can't take them everyday, you know...well, thank GOD (or whomever or whatever you believe in) that I read about these MP3 players, and what caught my eye was that they had CD players that can play MP3 files (yeah i know I am not so advanced unlike the rest of you, when I just found this out...and i am sure i'm not alone on this one), and that iRiver have these. So, I bought one, and began transferring all my albums and cd-r burned music to a new cd as MP3...like. about 10 albums equalled to 1 cd, and even better that I don't have to put the WHOLE ALBUM...i can just put those songs I like the most, which saved me a HELL OF A LOT OF CDS...and so i finished burning and all and ended up with only 6 cds to carry around, and left the whole library home to rest!! Pretty cool, I think.
The little r.c. that came with it came in handy until recently it messed up on me...i can only hear some music, but the voices sound like echoes. So now i can only listen to the music without the remote, which is a total bummer...that's the only bad thing about this player. However, it's not really that bad to buy a replacement over the iRiver website...i think it's about $35 and you can use the iMP-450 remote for the iMP-350 player also. Otherwise, when I had it, I can actually read certain music's names in other languages, since it has a multi-language option, and, since I love japanese music so much, and can read the language, I can find out what the music says rahter than looking at all this default symbols and such...and about the fm player, I enjoy it somewhat...but it sucks when I can't get my favorite radio station due to the reception,you know.
anyway...i know i am boring all of you with my story, but i can't help it but stating how happy i have been with this player. I honestly recommend this player for those who love to fool around with your music and create a few MP3 albums and never have to worry about taking a whole box load and leave them in your car all day.
9 No Disc again
8 months I've had this, I had to RMA the 1st one because it came broken, giving no disc errors. Now this one dies with no disc errors also. 6 months ago I would have given this 5 stars, but now with it breaking again along with many other people ending up with dead players just like me, I'll never buy iRiver again.
10 worst tech support
i am, well was a fan of iriver products. i bought this imp350 player a year back i.e. 2003, and now it stops playing mp3 files but only plays fm. the darn player wont even load the cd. i contact support and they tell me they wont replace or even service the player after the 1 year wrrnty period. now that sucks, im stuck with a player that cost me $140 and now it plays FM.
in other words, if u want quality and reliability, go for sony or any other mp3 player
11 Don't buy unless willing to replace within two years -Part 2
I ACTUALLY purchased the player sometime in February of 2003 (oh dear, I am losing track of time -.-).
Also, I am a fan of Japanese pop music and many of the CDs I have purchased... let's just say that my iRiver SlimX isn't too fond of them.
12 FRIKEN' AWESOME!(...)
I swear u won't be able too find a mutch better cd/mp3 player anywhere else!!! Plus, this is the best price around, all the other prices r the same or higher. Everything about this thing is awesome! I'll list them!(...)
Good things:Everything.From FM tuner to mp3 cds great stereo & extremly slim!
Bad things: Nothing except the remote. It's not bad but its sorta hard to use. But(...) fur me after u read the remote part of the manual ur all set!
13 almost made it a year...
well the slim x 350 did many things with me..it went to school, on many trips across america, and just played music for the ears of my frinds and mine. but after about 9 months of having it, the cd reader began to fault! it would read no disc and i wanted to drop it i hated it for turning on me..but it did.
14 Awesome for the price
I just bought mine a few days ago and I love it. I've had cd players forever but this one is very unique, considering it's tons of features, the remote and awesome sound quality. I am one of those techy geeks when it comes to sound.
Trust me it's worth it.....
15 Its thin...
Thats all I really have to say about it. I bought it thinking it has the best anti-skip out there, but I take it on jogs and it starts skipping. I can take my panasonic cd player thats about 6 years old and it doesn't skip a beat on my jogs. The battery life is horrible--will last you about 4 hours if you're lucky. Don't waste your money on this.
16 Probably the best cd-mp3 player in the market
I have been using this product for almost a year now. Meanwhile it had to go through all sorts rough handling and also had to survive a very hot,humid summer in tropical climate of Bangladesh. It worked like a charm. Never let me down.The only thing that was bugging me was its rechargeable batteries. They were almost non-existent. I choose to use alkaline batteries instead. But again, the AA battery compartment is not very well designed and cling to the main set as an unwelcomed entity. The sound is great. Upgradable firmware just rocks! And ofcourse, the remote control is superb. You cant possibly imagine how many things this little devil can handle.
If you are willing to spend a lil' more for a better and durable portable mp3 player, you cant beat this..!!!
17 Could've been better.
I've had this player about three weeks ... and recharged the batteries every single day. I only play it about an hour and a half each day but that is enough to sap the battery power and then it saps the battery extension in about two hours.
I use it at work but have to fumble with the remote control when I answer the phones or go to help customers. Not to mention that I have to hit "play" for every single song on my CD-R discs!
This would be a great product (with all its features) if it only worked! This is going back to Amazon and I am getting a Sony instead.
18 Frickin Amazing!
I've had this player for about a year and a half, and it is the best piece of personal electronics I've ever had. I took it with me to Afghanistan for 9 months. Even in the harsh conditions over there, it's never had a single problem. I recommend this product to everyone I know.
19 One of the best portable CD/MP3 players ever
I like to consider myself an audiophile on a budget; very picky about how my music and movies sound, yet a don't have a bunch of money to spend on high end audio equipment. I've been through countless CD players over the past 6 years, all of which either had defects, broke, had poor sound quality, etc. Actually all of them had poor sound quality. I went through Sonys, RCAs, Panasonics, and RioVolts, using the included headphones with the first half, then a pair of good higher end ones for the second half.
So I've been through just about every portable CD player between $50 and $100, and not provide the quality, reliabilty, sound quality, features, and EQUALIZER that this one does. I purchased this player about a month ago, and I've been loving it since. So what sets iRiver's iMP-350 away from all the other brand's CD players? Well quite a few things:
SOUND QUALITY:
This player has incredible sound quality with my favorite pair of Sony headphones that I've been using for about 3 years now. The sound is rich and has a true 3 dimentional sound unlike the flat, bland sound most other players provide. What allows this to be acomplished? Well, a higher quality and more powerful amplifier ensure sound sure to please. Another very important contribution is the parametric equalizer and several presets. I will go into that later.
FEATURES:
This player has as many, if not more features than a surround sound receiver. You will rarely use the unit itself to control the player, as there are only the basic buttons on it and no display. It is meant to be used through the high quality, well designed, and back-lit remote. The remote, which also serves as a radio antenne, has two regular buttons, 3 multi-function buttons, and a hold switch. Each of the multi-function buttons goes side to side and pushes down, and depending on whether you press, press and hold, press than press and hold, etc., it will do a different task. It seems very complex, but it is quite simple and easy to learn I felt, but I am very tech savy. But the manual is EXTREMELY helpful, providing simplistic instructions and diagrams so anyone over the age of 6 should be able to use the unit. The complexity is necisary to pack all of it's features into a small unit to match the SlimX name. There are tons of settings to customize the player to you, which you can access through a menu with sub menus. Most of the features are very self explanitory and well spelled out, but a few may have to be researched in the manual. The Firmare, or software that works the CD player, can be updated using instructions on their website, allowing a few extra features to be added, and a few flaws fixed. You can see the manual at www.iRiver.com by following the links to the iMP-350 page.
EQUALIZER:
The equalizer is what really sets this player apart from the others. Insead of bass boost on or off, you have a beautifully setup parametric equalizer, where up to 3 settings can be saved depending on your firmware version. Using the EQ works by choosing the corner frequency to boost, which are 50hz, 100hz, and 200hz for bass; 2kHz, 4kHz, and 7kHz for treble. Then you can boost both the bass and treble seperately on a scale from 1 to 12. The EQ works extremely well. Setting the treble right can enrich the sound quite a bit, and setting the bass right can give you fairly deep a hard hitting bass for a portable player. If this is to complex for you, they have preset EQ settings, which can be easily cycled through.
INTERNAL RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES:
The 2 included NiMH 1450mAh provide the player with about 8-14 hours of play between charges. The included external battery pack allows you to extend this time and extra 8-14 hours using 2 standard AA batteries. I know of no cheaper players that have internal rechargeable batteries. Although they will eventually wear out, gradually providing less and less battery life, new ones can be purchased for $20 from iriver, or you could just use the ext battery back.
All in all, this unit provides much more than any other player on the market. You know Sony's jog dial? One of the multi-function buttons functions similarily, but does a much better job. It is truely a compilation of all features included on all cheaper CD players plus more. It plays normal CDs, CDs with MP3, WMA, and ASF files, as well as tune in FM radio stations. Future updates could allow more file support. Some say they had problems with it playing some disks, and I almost did not buy it because of those, yet I have had no problems except when I burnt the disk by "Disk-at-once" instead of "Track-at-once." By the way, this was iRiver's high end model 2 years ago, pricing at $200, and now is half that. A bargain!!
PROS:
-Tons of very useful features
-Great internal amp and superb EQ
-Internal rechhargeable batteries
-High build quality
-Includes everything but a car kit including AC adapter, ext Battery pack, Internal batteries, earbuds, and a carrying pouch.
-Line out adapter
-A lot for your money
Cons:
-Battery life not great because of highpowered amp, fancy remote, etc.
-ESP pretty good, but not the best ever.
-May be hard for some to operate. (complex)
Conclusion: If you like useful features, good sound quality, the idea of a real EQ, and can live with the minor flaws of not perfect battery life and ESP, than this unit is definently for you. Best unit for the price!
20 Not a cheapie but the best you can get.
I bought this player on ebay on a fluke, icould not believe I won the bid.
I had read about them elseware and then found a recomendation from an audio company that sells excellent headphone audio gear (they do not sell any players). This unit truly is slim and feels not that sturdy, but then most portable do not anyway. The unit provides a line out, a major plus for me, which can hookup to a stereo or car audio with line inputs. I understand that the imp-550 model actually has a digital optical output and the imp-400 is the car use model with a cassette adapter.
The controlls on the side are repeated on a remote with LCD display which the headphones aso plug into. The display can be hard to read at times and the layout is different than on the unit and has a bit of a learning curve. The FM radio is a plus and has very good reception for my area (Portland Oregon). Another plus is the AA battery pack which extendes the playing time. The bag that comes with it might be nice for storage in a sock drawer so I would recommend a nicer carrying case with storage, this unit deserves it.
The sound this player produces far exceedes any of my expectations for a portable when compared to my home system but you have to use better headphones than the tinny sounding earbuds that come with it. A side comment here is the difficulty I have had trying to put the foam socks that fit over the buds, do not bother. Buying a pair of good headphones should be next after buying the iRiver. Invest in a Koss, Sennheiser or if you do not mind the size the low impedence Grado SR60. I use Grado headphones at home, but I plan to buy the Koss KSC-50 or possibly the KSC-55 as they are smaller and come highly recommended. As for the audio it does really show the difference between CD sound and mp3 which is a good indication of how good this unit is. But I will leave the format debate to others.
And by the way you get rechargable batterys and a wall wart ac adapter, its nice not having to buy this stuff seperately, the AA batterys for the extended use adapter are not included though.
All I can do here really is recommend this player as well worth the money.
21 Great Product-: Pros & Cons
The product is great in comparision to previous cd player i've owned. It is nice and small, with alot of features. Just great.
Pros:
Small/Thin
Alot of features
rechargable batteries
menu layout(easy navigation)
Cons:
easily scratched
short battery life(dont kno y but i cant even listen through 100 songs after charging the batts for a night)
Useless carrying case
not as light as other players i have owned
22 This is the best cd player ever!
I love the iRiver SlimX iMP-350 CD/MP3 Player! The Resume is awesome because im constantly having to pause and my song stays exactly where it was when i paused. Then, I love the Upgradable Firmware now, i have a password so nobody can get on my cd player unless they know my password. Also It only took me 10-15 minutes to get used to the remote which is really reasonable. Also, its so small, i can hide it on the bus, or at school. The Rechargable NiMH 1400 batteries are great because you never have to buy new batteries. Those are some of the many reasons i love my iRiver!
23 Looks May Be Deceptive
(Sighs).....I was horribly dissapointed in this cd player. They should let you rent them before you buy them. The shock protection is horrible. The radio is horrible, and everything else about this "waste of money" is horrible. I would go further into detail but it would be to distressing and dissuading to hear. It's just down-right depressing. I know my review would hardly help you out because I haven't told you any concrete evidence, but I put like this: I value my cd player as my best friend. I take it everywhere and we go through good and tough times(That was with my past sony cd player's [man's best friend]). If you're really looking for a really good cd player, PLEASE, YOU MUST READ THESE CUSTOMER REVIEWS BECAUSE THE MAAJORITY THE INFORMATION GIVEN TO YOU BY THE COMPANY ABOUT THE CD, 9 TIMES OUT OF 10, IS FEIGN(FALSE). I love cd players and I even used to be a collector of them when I was young. I know what a cd player can do and how it should perform. This fails to meet my criteria(and soon I believe will that fate of any other's expectations). I am Mr. Veracity and it was my purpose to write this review. Good-luck on cd player hunting.
24 buy this cd player if..........
buy this cd player if you dont mind sending it in 4 times a year. thats about how many times it will stop working a year. i had mine for 5 months and it stoped workng. i sent it back and they replaced it. after about 3 months of carful use it was not workng again. this cd player is perfect if you love hassles. do not buy this product if you want a quality cd player!!!!! it is a waste of money!!!!!!!!!!!!!
25 iRiver makes high quality audio devices
I had originally purchased the RioVolt 350 CD/MP3 player based on the manufacturer's glowing testimony of how great it was--I was very disappointed with the quality and soon replaced it with this player. Unlike the RioVolt, this player delivers on everything it promises.
Besides the fact that it can play CD, CD-R, CD-RW in addition to MP3 it has skip protection that actually works even while you are shaking the player all around. The car kit does the job it is supposed to and there are no problems with charging or powering the player.
iRiver seems to have hit the mark on this one. It is great for anyone who has tons of CDs and is just starting to get into the MP3 scene.
26 really nice mp3 cd player
so, i've had this for a year now, and the long and the short is that i'd recommend it as a first choice to anyone looking for an mp3 cd player. i did a ton of research, and decided to give iriver a shot over the comparable sony for price reasons, and i'm happy i did.
complaints about battery life are from the undisciplined. remember to charge it every couple of days. you get 8 hours off of the flat batteries. that's not a design flaw, it's the nature of rechargable batteries.
sound is nice. i use bose quietcomfort 2s when my ears are cold and sony fontopias when they aren't, and the noise to music on this thing is nice. it does beep too loudly sometimes, though, you know, when you turn it on or whatever. ow.
the remote is cool to have, although it sort of makes the slimness less important, which is fine, since it's a cd player, not a spatula. i hardly ever take it out of my bag, except to charge it.
like i say, i've had this for a year, and as much as i want the rio karma, i can't bring myself to get one, since this player works so well. i have no comment on customer service, and i have no comment on the overall quality of the product in terms of defects per 1,000, but then, neither do any of the other reviewers, and they seem to have no trouble calling things pieces of crap, so i'll go out on a limb on my single piece of experience and callthe iriver slimx 350 exactly what it is: the single most reliable piece of machinery every designed and produced.
seriously, though, it's really nice. highly recommended.
27 Iriver Slim-X 350 is Awesome!
I was looking for a high quality portable audio device, and at first had wanted the creative zen, however, many customers had reported heaphone jack breakages, and this turned me off. I had owned the iriver IMP 150 before it broke by being under books in my backpack and thrown around...and I wanted another mp3 player that was just as good. This turned out to be just what I wanted. Not only does it have mp3 playback, it has an internal battery charger as well. Not noted in the editorial is that it also has an FM tuner built in! This made me very happy when I opened it. It also comes with an external tube for batteries (there is no AA battery casing because it is so slim) that you must connect to the player. The two NiMH batteries have slots inside the player under the cd. However, the carrying case that comes with it does have a little cloth tube just big enough for the external battery pack to fit in (they thought of everything!) It does take about a minute for the MP3 cd to being playing, but that is really not that big a deal. Overall I am very pleased..
28 Not a Review of the Player
This is not a review of the cd player, but of Amazon. I ordered this player two weeks ago. Unfortunately, UPS delivered it to the wrong house. I sent an email to Amazon and was given a refund within a few days with no hassle. So I just wanted to praise Amazon's customer support.
29 Great MP3/WMA CD Player, super value!
I always wanted to buy this player when it first came out but it was too pricy then. Now at [affordable price] gave me the green light without a second thought.
Wow, I am very happy with it. Great sound quality and light in weight. It was very good workmanship. Ear bud phones worked great, good sound quality. You really don't need to upgrade to another pair. The remote is full of features. It really takes sometimes to learn and remember them all!
It is a great player and great value. I highly recommended.
30 What is this????
When I first took it out of the package it looked great, and I was amazed with all the great things it does. Then the remote didn't want to work and the anti- skip(like it wasn't even their). This was the player I went to get after I decided to retire my sony(D-EG3)after 4 years of most gruesome use. I was disappointed with the iRiver SlimX iMP-350. Perhaps I'll stick with sony.
31 Great product!
I have had this thing for almost a year now, and I love it -- especially at this price point (which was $69 as I write this). The remote is easy to use, easy to read. And this whole thing is SLIM! It is tiny. It looks like it would barely even hold a CD. If you want a great CD MP3 player, this is the one.
32 it works good so far!
I owned this player for over one year, it works good so far, cd, mp3, but the radio is not very clear as wished. the only thing bothered me is the remote control is relativly too big but if w/o it, hard to get controling it. well, for this price it's good enough.
33 Excellent Choice
Pros: Nice design, comprehensive remote, excellent skip protection, decent sound, lots of options
Cons: Gets a little fussy with some CDs, remote is a little complicated at first
-The sound comes in a bit staticky on the radio function, but overall, the sound is great; there are some customizable options for sound quality also.
-Design is great - slim, light, simple. I like that all the functions are pretty much on the remote.
-Setting certain functions like Shuffle or Repeat is not quite as self-intuitive as I'd like, but glance at the manual or fiddle around with the remote and it's fairly simple.
-I appreciate the timer that shuts the player off and doesn't waste batteries - nice for sleeping or long trips
-Blue backlight looks neat and is nice for the rather small font on the remote. Display is convenient & shows all the ID3 tags for songs.
-The player reads regular audio CDs fine, but sometimes the wait between songs on an MP3 CD is noticeable and a little annoying. Also, the player takes a little while to load when you first turn it on, and if you skip from an earlier song to a song way down the playlist - gets annoying, but it's not a big deal.
-I _have_ noticed that the player just won't play some CDs the first time around, don't know if this is a bug, or the CD is messed up..so it takes a little effort of turning on the player, turning off...but it always eventually works and it's just a small hassle (a minute or so to wait for player to turn off and on and load)
-Anti-skip protection is excellent; I use the CD player while walking _all the time_, sometimes going up and down stairs, short sprints (i.e. running to catch a bus or subway or train) and it has never once skipped.
On the whole, an excellent buy, especially for the features it packs. Definitely recommend!
34 Awesome Product
Having bought this, over a year ago, I am still amazed by its size, features, and more importantly, sound. For its price, the Slimx-350 is simply unmatched. There are hardly any other portable players, besides the other Iriver products, that match this one in looks. The only downside of the package is the headphones. I suggest the Sony MDR-520, which I have, to fully harness the sound from this super slim monster.
35 Great Design - Great Price
What can I say other than I love it. Just got back from a business trip to the U.K. and it worked all the way over and back. The alternate AA battery pack worked well once the rechargeables died. No problems with reading my CDs either. I'm using TDK 700mb disks all burned rather full of music. I have found that multi-session disks can cause the thing to grind at bit. I just burn disks very full once and call it a day. Disks are too cheap to scrimp.
Anybody know where to find additional batteries other than I-river - they seem pricey. Seems to be a very rare battery type.
36 Excellent software, not-so-good reliability
The software (on the player, not what you run on your PC) really
kicks ass. You can adjust everything. Excellent menu system where
you can look at files in subdirectories, etc. Miles ahead of
competing products.
I own 1 and gave 1 as a gift to my sister. I think the other
reviewers are wrong about compability. I write all sorts of
CDR's and CDRW's written from Windows and Linux, and I have no
compatibility problems. The problem is, sometimes there are
hardware problems where the player just can not load the disk.
This just happens to have to do with where it needs to read the
disk, because it "sometimes" happens with different disks of the
same exact type. With these same problematic disks, sometimes it
works ok and sometimes not. Usually I can get things to work
by squeezing the player "the right way". I'm not kidding.
I think the button layout is excellent. Yes, the buttons are very
small. Yes, you can click the wrong button by accident before
you get used to it. However, this is about the best layout
possible to get all those functions into a very small controller,
and it is very easy to operate with one hand.
I don't use the PC software at all because it runs only on
Windows. I write my MP3 CDs from Windows and Linux using various
MP3 and Burner programs and that works fine. If you are not
married to Windows and are comparing this to non-CD MP3 players,
keep in mind that you must use Windows for iRiver's non-CD MP3
players.
The battery life is also good (not as good as some other players,
but good). Other reviewers must have timed their players before
the batteries were "broken in" or something, because I have a
2 hour work commute and am certain that my batteries last
according to iRiver's specs.
UPDATE 2004-04-26: What I said above about iRiver non-CD MP3
players is no longer true. I understand that iRiver now has
non-CD MP3 players which do not require Windows software. If
I don't get one of those new players for my birthday, I'll be
buying one latter this year!
37 It's great when it works!
I'm glad I'm not the only puzzle user out there! I have it for almost a year by now, and still love it when it works. I am referring to MP3 CDs... It has no problem reading the older TDK CDRs (blue dye), however, it doesn't reconize the newer CDRs (tried different brands/burn speed/burners), it'd just spin and spin, sometimes it displayed the infamous NO DISC error, but most of time it just spins endlessly. What I can't understand is why it's not behaving consistently on the same MP3 CD! At times it reads a disc w/o problem, then there are times it just spins or freeze up after a while. The discs are fine, for they play fine on other MP3 portable, such as the $50 Pansonic SL420. I had emailed to iRiver and no one ever got back to me!
Can someone please tell me what brand of CDRs that would work on this player? I find that it's hard to find a brand that it likes, for even within the same batch of CDRs, the player may be happy with one disc but not the others.
38 Awsome CD/WMA/MP3 player
This is the best CD player I've ever had. I owned it for over a year and never failed to play any WMA or MP3, where else same CD could not be played on other players. One of the best feature is the control unit (with LCD display) that comes in very handy when you are driving and it control and features are beyond what you need. If you set the controls and features correctly it can control anti skip, back light, scan speed, search by folder...etc. I do admit there are some bugs where it would stop the music and have to restart, but rarely occures. Compare to other players initialization is much quicker.
39 Good for it's price
I'm very satisfied with this mp3 player, all in one thing. Just Use it with another one earphone and will enjoy the sound quality. ;)
40 Nice featuers, but...
First I have to start off by saying that this CD player has the most features in any portable CD player I have ever seen. You have limited control over treble/bass, but the majority of portable CD players give you NO control over your sound, except for some stupid bass function. The remote is extremely useful. It displays all of your ID3 tag info on a nice 4-line display. One of my favorite parts is that the remote is backlit, which I find very useful for listening to the CD player at night. One of my other favorite features is that you can upgrade the filmware. I have only touched on the features that were important to me, because if I was to go though everything, we'd be hear all day.
So we have a great sounding, feature rich, and extremely slim CD player. Sounds like a good review so far, but I am convinced that Rio/iRiver can't make a sturdy CD player. I used to have a Rio SP250 that I loved. I dropped that and it broke. I take full responsibility for that. But my slim iRiver stopped working for no apparent reason. I have had the disc player for 11 months now, and it will not work unless I hit it real hard to get the laser to move. Reading a lot of other peoples complaints, it seems like this happens way to often. A portable CD player needs to take a little abuse here and there. It can't just stop working for no apparent reason. And fortunately for me, my service plan ran out 20 days ago, so I can't do much. I could go through the manufacture and try and get it fixed, but I can't be without a CD player for that long. I use this for 8 hours and work, my car, and home. I really find it hard to live without a MP3 CD player. So I went out and picked up a Sony Atari player. It's the $100 version and thus far I am happy. Sounds good and the menu structure works well enough. I wish it was backlit and I could control treble/bass. But those are my only complaints so far. I would not recommend getting an iRiver disc player unless you get it form somewhere like a Best Buy where you can get an extended warranty. I say stay away, but it might be worth the chance.
41 Don't buy this.
This horrible, overpriced P.O.S. is the buggiest, most unstable player I've ever owed. This is even after the firmware upgrade. It skips when I walk.... Yeah, WHEN I WALK! And sometimes it skips just like a record player would. It doesn't like some CD's, and it will simply just stay on, spinning the CD, claiming it's loading when nothings happening, wasting battery life. SO you go ahead and plug in the "spare" AA battery attachment -- drinks those batteries like kool-aid on a hot day. Very clunky, and unnatural design makes taking it from place to place without the 'remote' unquestionable. and it's touchy slightest movement controls ensure that you'll accidentally change a song you're enjoying when you reach for something. The NI-CAD batteries are difficult to get out, and hard to find replacements for... Once I get a new MP3 player, I plan on skipping this piece of crap as far as I can into the nearest body of water.
42 Update on battery life
I found out that IRiver itself only lists 7-8 hours of play time on the rechargeable batteries. If you want the 23 hours advertised, you have to dangle a cord out the side and use the EXTERNAL AA battery pack as a source.
By the way, the practical power for the rechargeables are more like 2-4 hours, not 7-8. Also, hanging an external battery out the side defeats the appeal of how slim it is.
If you are buying this cool looking CD player you are either going to have to live with 2-4 hours of battery life per charge, or you are going to have to dangle an external set of batteries out the side. This compromise was apparently a design feature of the player.
Don't believe me? Here is the quote from the company's FAQ section:
Q. Will the iMP-350 SlimX operate without the external battery pack, or is it required?
A. The iMP-350 SlimX can run by itself on the flat batteries only. The approximate playing time on the flat batteries only is 10 hours for MP3 files and 7-8 hours for regular audio CDs. The two AA batteries, when used in conjunction with the flat, NiMH batteries, help increase playtime to approximately 23 hours for MP3 files. Also, they act as a backup when the flat, NiMH batteries run down.
43 Excellent for its price
I researched and tried many CD/MP3 players before buying it, and I found that this brand has so many more features compared to the other popular brands. Its sound quality is also very good. It also has ver good treble. But, Sony CD players have stronger bass, and this player's bass is not as good as Sony's players. That is the only drawback, but with 100 bucks, you won't get a Sony player loaded with too many features like this player. Highly recommend if you can tolerate its bass. For personal CD players, I would not recommend brands other than IRiver and Sony.
44 Poor battery life
I bought the player for my son. He loves the size and function of the player, except for the battery life. Unfortunately, this problem makes the player almost useless.
My son doesn't want to use the AA battery attachment hanging out from a cable. It doesn't look cool. I sympathize since the size (thin) is a big attraction.
We have used the discharge and charge feature but can only get a few hours of play time off of the rechargeable batteries. We have give it two months now and the battery life has not improved with use.
I am very disappointed with the battery life. Given the choice, I would not buy this model again.
45 a really great player for its price.
When the player finally arrived, I was ecstatic. The look of the player was gorgeous and the machine was so sleek and light, and I loved the long cord of the remote, because I tend to store my CD Player in a bag as I walk around. The remote-usage for fairly easy to use, even though the user manual is virtually useless. However, I e-mailed iRiver support and received enormous help, so that's that.
The free bag is useless as well, so I suggest you get another carrying case or something. The only problem I really have with the player is the battery-life, and the batteries that are part of the extension are kind of cumbersome when I want to carry my player around. However, I'm willing to pay the price for good-quality music. Besides, the player comes with a charger, which is enormously useful when I'm just sitting around at home, trying to block out all the sounds.
The earphones are adequate, but I purchased another set of earphones by Sony on some other reviewer's recommendation. I don't regret it, but I don't find the new set too necessary.
The player worked incredibly well, but it lagged on some tracks. When I inserted a burned CD with mp3 files, it started freezing on certain files, but I have to admit that it was probably because the CD was damaged. There's some lag time between tracks, but it's negligible.
Oh, and the biggest thing that bugs me about the player is the loud noises it makes while running. I'm planning on e-mailing iRiver support and asking some questions. It's annoying and irritating to listen to the player run.
However, all in all, the player is a great investment. I plan on using it for years to come, and the sound quality is just wonderful. I truly enjoy it.
46 Very good, but the ends don't justify the means!
This CD player is awsome. The sound is great and the remote is realy cool. The only problem I have is how long it takes to load. For me it isn't just ten seconds like another person said, but about two minutes! Once you get your CD loaded it is great but getting there is another story. I have just started using a different brand of CD-RWs and they seem to be all right, that is why I gave it four stars.
P.S. just a warning, This product scratches easily, especially the remote!
47 ugh..
i cant stand it. i dont know how so many people rave about how great it is, because i just cant stand it! i iwsh i had baught somthing else...i realy do. i find the remote wires getting tangled up constantly, and the case is completely unlogical. the only reason i gave it a two is because it worked. after about 10 seconds waiting for the cd to load. its great if u have an mp3 cd with hundreds of songs, then its ok to take 10 seconds..but when u just have a normal cd...waiting that long isnt good. I aslo have a few problems with it skipping...maybe i just got a bad one, but i dont know about you, but skipping drives me crazy!
48 iriver...not well known, but makes great CD players!
NOTE: THIS CD PLAYER DOES NOT PLAY PROTECTED .WMA FILES DOWNLOADED FROM NAPSTER!!!!
This CD player is Awesome!!!! My favorite feature is easily the firmware update. Just today I requested some features for the next firmware update. One thing that is really important about the firmware is that you HAVE to remove the disc that has the firmware on it, u can't use the CD u put your music on as the same as the firmware disc, but it tells you that in the instructions on iriver.com
Snake byte, the game (under the MODES menu) is actually really fun because it has different levels, but if you stop playing for like 20 seconds it loses your score
FM turner is good, I haven't used it much since I've just been listening to the CD (which so far has 450 songs on it!) the turner has an auto seek and memory of 20 channels, I only wish it had AM turner as well because that's where all my indoor soccer games are broadcast
The manual it comes with does suck, there are spelling errors and things left out(which may be because they were on the firmware updates), but I was able to figure it out
The anti skip thing was perfect, I was on some turbulent flights and it didn't skip at all, and that was on the lower skip setting!
Making the CDs for it is easy too, windows media player gives you an option to write play lists as .m3u, which is the type the player works with. Since CD-Rs have 700mb and CD-RWs have 650, there is plenty of room for loads of songs, especially since WMP also gives you an option to compress songs to fit even more.
True fact: it does take about 15-25 seconds to load a large mp3 CD (not normal CDs), but hey, good things take time
There are like three different types of shuffle and repeat, which are pretty confusing, i just used trial and error to figure them out.
The password feature is good because i'm always leaving my backpack places and its good to know my CD player is safe
I only gave it 4 stars because... i don't know... i guess it wasn't completely flawless, there were lots of really tiny things that added up to take away one star
I mean the support with the manual and online is great,
but This is still the best player I've ever had
49 Good, not perfect
Generally good sound quality, reasonable volume, poor battery life, and a number of neat features like upgradable firmware.
The product has some traits which I have found to be more annoying as time passes. It takes a few irritating moments to read any CD, even when just changing tracks. The length of one side of the ear bud cords is way too long. The buttons on the remote are hyper-sensitive, and I guarantee you will be unwillingly changing tracks just by moving around.
Biggest issue to me is the rechargable battery access, the process of recharging itself, and the poor battery life. The access panels are on the table where the CD normally plays, meaning you have to open the player, and remove the CD to get to them. Why someone thought this was a good idea instead of allowing access from the exterior of the case is beyond me.
Charging the batteries takes 5-6 hours; this would be fine, but since they seem to die in no time at all it hardly seems worth the effort. The practical result for me is that I just use the (ungainly) conventional battery attachment, and buy a lot of batteries (and, regardless of what iRiver says, the conventional battery life is abominal as well...this thing eats batteries like Homer Simson eats donuts). Maybe I am exceptionally lazy, but fooling with the recharging is a pain; an annoying and time consuming process for not much gain.
For all of the above issues, the sound is pretty good, though not as loud as I like (to be fair, they don't make CD players loud these days for legal reasons), so I will be buying powered headphones to pump it up.
Pretty good product, but the longer I am living with it, the less enamored I am and the higher the price the price seems in comparison to the value.
50 Great portable CD Player for anybody
I've owned this CD player for a little over a year, and it is still one of the best CD players you can get. Now only [$] from Amazon.com, there's no comparision - with its really really thin, shiny body, the in-line remote with the display (really cool), and sounding great, this is one of the best cd players you can buy. The MP3-CD feature also is integrated very well with this cd player, where you can sort your folders right from the remote, and easily navigate around your music files. The software upgrades are still being made after almost 2 years after its debut - the last upgrade came out in October 2003. It is a great CD-MP3 player which I recommend to anyone.
51 It is okay...
I really do enjoy having this CD/MP3 Player because it can fit in many places. I do not enjoy the long cord, though. One day my friends boyfriend took my CD player and pressed one button (the volume button, I think), and suddenly the remote did not work. Well, it worked, but whenever I do so much as press a button, the screen goes away. So now I am basically guessing as to what I am doing, and because I have had it for a few months, I know how to use it pretty well. The manual for it I found to be very confusing, so I have no idea how to use MP3's on it, but I prefer my CDs, anyway.
It is okay, but I am sure there is something much better out there; but probably not this inexpensive.
52 Disappointed, pass on this one.
The one thing that is most annoying to me about a CD player is skipping. The iRiver does skip more than I think that it should. I contacted their support twice and the last time was told that it was a problem with how I have recorded all of my CDs (that play just fine on all of my other CD players). I am returning it as soon as possible.
53 Too complicated
I just wanted a cd player to use at the gym. This contraption is much too complicated for my liking. It takes too long to load a cd, the sound quality could be better, and the battery life is too short. It's also made out of cheap plastic that doesn't seem very durable. This item is overpriced and is not user friendly. Don't bother with it.
54 It died after 3 months
I loved it when it worked: great features, no problems with WMA, good battery life (though not as good as advertised). But after a couple of months it became prone to freezing when reading MP3 and WMA files, which became increasingly worse over time, and now it won't even read factory-pressed CDs. The disc just spins and spins, trying to boot up but failing. I didn't drop it or abuse it in any way. This is a huge disappointment.
55 Long Term user
I have been using SlimX IMP350 since the summer of 2001. I was amazed at the features and how many songs it can hold (700mb cd). The FM tuner is a plus. Everytime I upgrade it gets better but like everything else they're flaws. Now on to Pros and cons
Pros:
~Great price, ( i paid $200 for this, for $100 its a steal)
~Stylish
~Upgradable Firmware
~Holds TONS of songs
~FM Tuner
~Nice customizable welcome screen
~You can insert lyrics into songs
~Custom equalizer
~Rechargable (make SURE you use the AC Adapter that comes with the cd player and namebrand battery, otherwise the battery MAY explode, no joke)
~Backup battery pack
~Easy carry bag
~Many features and options
~Replacements availble on the iRiver.com store
Cons:
~The cable is too long, sometimes it gets caught
~Earphones are not as great quality and doesn't bring out the best, i suggest you buy a 3rd headphone.
~Long intro load time (but for during playtime, you may notice delay on going to next tracks, but this is probablly because you have it in Alphabetical order and it searches, but you can adjust the settings to read the cd from in - out)
~It's not the most durable material, but as long as you dont drop it.
I give it 4/5 because it is a great product and it delivers what it supposed to. But like all things it isn't "perfect" and has minor flaws. I recommend you get this player IF you're looking for a CD/MP3/FM Player. Its small but if youre looking for a small MP3 player look for their MP3 Player series.
Hope this was helpful to you :)
56 Way too many problems
PROs:
-Good sound
-Looks great
-Relatively easy to operate
CONs:
-The stop button on the remote broke after less than a year of use (not abuse). It doesn't work at all anymore and I need to press stop on the player itself. I contacted iRiver about this recently and they say that even though the unit has a warrantee of one year, the warantee of the accessories (including the remote, which is essential to the operation of the unit) is only 90 days. So if I want a working remote now, I have to buy one from iRiver for about thirty dollars.
-The battery life without the attached AA tube is awful. The stick batteries alone last for about 4 or 5 hours on one charge. One of the reasons I got this unit is because I thought the batteries would keep a charge and I'd never have to buy AA batteries again, but the included batteries left a lot to be desired.
-Loading times are really long. Even when I'm playing store-bought audio CDs, the player takes 30 seconds or so to load. I understand that reading an mp3 CD could take a while, but that kind of load time for a regular CD is unacceptable.
-The headphones are poorly designed. The cord coming out of one of the earbuds is significantly longer than the other. iRiver claims that this is intentional, so two people can share the headphones while sitting next to each other. That may be true, but if I clip the remote to my pocket, the shorter cord barely reaches my ear, and if I move my head the wrong way, it's pulled out. I'm a pretty tall guy, but the headphones SHOULD be able to reach my ears comfortably.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
Don't get this.
57 Excellent MP3 CD player
The iRiver SlimX is an amazing MP3 CD player, playing MP3 CDs, WMA CDs, and regular CDs with the same ease. I have never encountered a problem with skipping and always receive the same, excellent clarity, regardless of the type of file on the CD. The upgradable firmware is another great capability, allowing the player to be up to date with the latest technology.
However, there are a few flaws as well. There is no display screen on the CD player itself, so if you do not want to carry the attached remote, which can be cumbersome at times, there is no way of knowing what track you are listening to. Additionally, its battery life is short and carrying AA batteries in the included adaptor is awkward and makes the machine far heavier.
Overall, I recommend the iRiver SlimX.
58 It's what everyone says. . .
They're all right---every one of the reviewers. It's convenient, small, has all the features you need, is sexy, and is a wonderfully versatile object with a lot of personalized presets. It also eats its own batteries too fast, it skips and chokes, and the headphones are crap (but they all are, except the Sony MDR-W08L--read the reviews, and then spend the extra nine bucks; send iRiver's, or anyone elses, directly to the garbage.)
I'm not sorry I bought it, but now that I realize that I'm using it more as an MP3 player than a CD player I wish I'd bought an iPod, which is really a better package for MP3-only listening. The FM radio is a definite plus, however.
59 Really good
I had read tons of reviews before I purchased this CD/MP3 player, which turned out to be the right choice, so far. The sound quality is rated at 4.5, and the whole engineering is rated at 4.0. However, as noted by quite some reviewers, the carrying bag is terrible and probably you might just want to discard it... It's a good one, especially for the price.
And it is not made in Japan. In fact, it is made in China. I don't like Japanese stuff.
60 Anything better with this price?
I spent couple of weeks considering what mp3/cd player to buy. Iriver SlimX IMP-350 has anything you could possibly want. Astonishing design, thin and light, can play mp3/wma, has radio in it, reliable anti-shock system, nice lcd display and so on.
I have been using it for 3 weeks and i could so far say that it's best choice.
I like running a lot, and anti-shock system made a great job. Battery lasts really long, even though you use the lcd remote. I dont know why people does not like this product or how they had problems with this product but i highly recommend this player.
Just burn you favourite choice of over 150 songs to a cd and you're ready to go.
61 Not as good as it used to be.....
I brought this CD player last December (2002) as a christmas gift. 6 months into it, it started skipping while I was walking. Then it started reading MP3 CD's slower. Sometimes it doesn't come on when I have the power cord in it. Now I just want to send it back. It's not worth it. Don't waste your money. You'll be happy with it for a few months and then...........forget about it.
62 Was GREAT while it lasted
I've had this model for over a year, and I have used it almost daily on my bus ride to work and have been very happy with it. Battery life is acceptable for me - it does take hours to recharge, but I do it overnight and it's not been a problem. The sound quality has been great, the remote works well for me, and the antiskip feature has worked well up until recently.
BUT: in the last month or so, the unit skips and outright stops on tracks toward the end of the disc. I just record a bunch of songs on a CDR and play 'em randomly during my commute. Songs at the beginning of the disc work fine, songs at the end won't play. It's not the media. It's an inexpensive enough unit, but it should last longer than a year.
63 resume feature is the bomb
THE GOOD:
The RESUME feature is the BOMB ! For instance.. I have a 7-hour-live-dj-mixes-mp3 ( a single 700 mb-file ) that I don't want to have to re-play from 0:00:00 whenever I have to change battery or shut off the unit. Also, the upgradable firmware rocks too.. love that snake games that comes with the firmware 2.20 upgrade ! I hope on the next firmware upgrade, they'll put out more games !!
THE BAD:
seems very slow when reading cdr or cdrw (starting up). My little cousin got one of those $49 panasonic (from Target) and those plays almost right away ! And my first mp3-cd player (geneca) that i bought 4 years ago plays almost right away as well.. but of course 4 years ago they don't have the technology to play CDRW and got no resume feature.
Also, the LCD on the remote control is very hard to read. I hope they can do something bout it via firmware upgrade such as font style.
64 My most prized possession!
Bought this player a couple of months ago. Decided to test it before I write a review. First let me list all the features that I find useful. The player itself is very slim-that's because the AA batteries are externally plugged in (not shown in picture). It plays Audio and MP3 cds-even rewritables. I can fit about 120 songs on 1 cd-depends on song length. It has an FM/AM radio, and you can preset your own stations (i think up to 20). Inside the cd player there comes a pack of 2 batteries (which are flat - specially made for the cd player), that are rechargable with the AC Adapter. If you like you can attach a little tube containing 2 AA batteries (AA batteries not included)and this is for much longer use and is recommended. With the 4 batteries it lasts about 23 hours or so before the batteries die out. Then you have to change the AA batteries and recharge the other 2 in the cd player. If it sounds complicated-it's really NOT. Battery life is displayed on the little remote. Along with all this comes a cute black little carrying case in which you can carry the whole thing (which i use all the time).
Now to the little remote. It's very light plastic but very sturdy-unless you step on it, but don't try that. It has a little clip so you can clip it to your shirt or pants. It reads ID tags on your mp3's and play lists as well. You may have several folders of songs on the cd and choose what to play. Both the cd player and the little remote have a HOLD button (very useful). It displays just about everything! You can program your name into it and it shows whenever the CD player is on. The LCD lights up blue. All song names scroll (you can select speed or disable the scrolling). You can program the type of music it is, for different bass sound. The volume goes quite high on the cd player and i almost never play it at full volume -which is great for those of us who travel on loud trains and all you hear is the train moving and train annoucements while you're listening to music. Here's a great feature I never seen before: When you play a CD (Audio or MP3-doesn't matter) and if you change CD's for no matter how long, even after battery has been changed or recharged...when you put that CD back into the player-it resumes the song you last played. Of course it has shuffle and all those features, as well as just playing the first 10 seconds of each track. The manual is very helpful to help figure out how to use the remote.
BATTERY: It is recommended that you "discharge and charge" the battery inside the cd player once a month - it's supposed to make the batteries last. I do that process whenever batteries die. This takes about 6 hours (i do it overnight). Here's the most important thing. This cd player (in about 3 months since I bought it) has NOT ONCE skipped. I don't jog with it, but I've connected it into the car and drove over many pot holes and it never once skipped. Also I carry very scratched up CDs with me and it reads them perfectly.
I'm very happy that i do not have to list any flaws, because there aren't any. It's a great product and well worth the money-which is inexpensive too.
65 No Doubt...its a great product
Perfectly balanced and has all the features you need.
66 Good , but last only some month
I bought this discman in the same time than a friend did. And we had the same results:
The sound is amazing, in the end anti skip is good, it reads cd's quite fast, upgrading system is very intresting and it really works.
But batter last for 6 hours (aprox), and anti skip goes down. (in fact now my anti skip do not work anymore). The reader do not work anymore. Sincerly i'm very upset.And my friend to.
I think it may be cheaper.
67 THIS IS THE BEST CD/MP3 PLAYER
My first cd/mp3 player was the Riovolt SP100 and I was blown away then by it's sound quality and features. I paid 145 dollars for this 2 years ago. But because it was the first generation of cd/mp3 players, it was fairly heavy and battery life was not too great (10 hours max). So in the summer 2003, after seeing the new models out there I decided to get a new player. I contemplated getting the iPod, another Riovolt and other players, BUT this model has caught my eye since last year. It is incredibly thin, lightweight, and easy to use. And of course the sound quality is crystal clear. Amazingly, I only bought it for 100 dollars online and it is even lightyears ahead of the Riovolt SP100. The battery life is about 20 hours with the external pack and about 10 hours standing alone. This outlasts any other cd/mp3 player out there AND even the iPod. It would have been great to have 20GB of space, but my whole music collection of favorites fits on just a few CD's. I highly recommend this player for all. Everything about it in the editorial review is true and you are losing out on much music pleasure if you buy something else. Bottom line: Relatively inexpensive, great battery life, excellent sound quality, easy to use, great remote, many features, FEATHER LIGHT, SLIM.
68 Great Deal
I'm from Brazil and a friend of my father bought this player for me at the US
I can tell u a thing: It's wonderful, i use to had an old sony player that didn't have even anti-shock, and now i got this with tons of functions, it was hard, but i found a few cons of it, here are they:
Pros:
-Beautiful slim design
-Great sound, when used with other headphones, the ones that comes with it are terrible, i use my old sony and they are great
-The preset equalizer really works
-The game that came with the nem firmware is nice ;)
-The remote is good, right size and good buttons, just could come without that clip behind it
-Overall battery has a good life
Cons:
-The FM turner doesn't work very good with all the stations here (i think in us it works better)
-Sometimes it "drains" the battery magicaly, i look at the remote and its full charge, and 5 minutes later it's almost in the end, but it hapenned once or twice only
-The "carrying case" (should i call that a carrying case?) is horrible, it's just a little bag
-the earphones included have a good sound, but it's too low, and they are ugly too
-take too long to load mp3 cds, about 15, 20 secs, but with regular cds it works great
If you are looking for a good and small cd player this is what you are looking for, it's a great deal, i got mine and now it doesn't get out of my backpack, i listen it everywhere i go
Some newer informations:
This week i tested it while running and jogging, i jogged with it inside my camelback aand it didn't skipped just like when I use it in my backpack while i walk at the city, but when I tried to walk with it in my pocket it was impossible, it doesn't play a second of music, i waited lots of times to see if he reads a litlle and then sto skipping, nothing... it skipped all time... but in the backpack it doesn't skip a second, even while runnig
And today the remote was freaking out, first the lcd stopped working for a time, I waited a litlle and later it got back work, with no explanations =] and before thet the two button to select the music, beside the hold buttton at the remote stipped working for a while too, I tried everything to make tehn get back working, nothing solved the problem, and I was about to send an email to iriver talking about the problem it suddendly worked... this player is crazy.... but it's veery nice ;]
Sorry about any gramatical errors
...
69 battery's life is too short!!!
I used this player for a week and returned it back (...)because of too short bettery's life. I charged them to full level and they died in couple of hours. The display was blinking about an hour before switching the power off after recharging.
The sound was good though, there's nothing to say about.
Remote is too small and a little confusing to operate.
I think this player is not ready for mass production, or maybe it's just a defective item.
Whoever is going to buy this player, please be aware of the issues described above.
70 Simply GREAT.... Must Have
This is my 2nd CD/MP3 player after RIO SP100. And I'm really happy with this one. It works great... sound quality is awesome for both Audio & MP3s... & look-wise is simply wonderful... cannot belive a CD player can be so slick before having this oen in my hand... Supplied battery performance is acceptable... someone goin' for a long trip, can plug-in other batteries using the external battery compartment; though it looks little odd, it was really handy during my trip, though external batteries wasn't lasting for a very long time.
Also it has one A/C adapter which is very useful if u r in home. Manual is good enough to use all available features which is kinna cool.
71 Incredible
This is the best CD/MP3CD player I have ever seen. The controls are easy to understand and there are numerous amounts of options to tweak things the way you like them. I would reccomend this to anyone!
-The Battery Life is very very long
-Controls are easy
-Incredible sound qaulity
-480 seconds of anti-skip!
-Sleek design
72 Great player
I just bought this player few days ago and i really love it.
There are few small minuses in this player, but compared to others it's a really good deal imo. Though rating says 4 its more like 4.5 stars really.
Minuses:
* Remote buttons are a bit small
* Screen size is rather small in length
* No screen on player itself
* Carrying bag is a joke (though it gave me a good laugh so it can be considered as a pro:) )
* Font size is a bit too small
On average it takes around 7-12 seconds to load cd with 120-150 songs. Switching to a random song might sometimes take second or so, but thats quite acceptable.
Pluses:
* Unlike many other players it can resume just fine
* Supports over 30 languages
* loud and clear sound
* Good FM reception
* Bass and tremble boosts
* Can shuffle in many different ways
* Couple of predefined equalizers
* Sleep timer
* Takes about 10 min to learn how to navigate and change options
P.S.:
After seeing few complains about battery decided to edit this post: battery life is really long if you select "Discharge and Charge" option instead of just charging right away. If charge is selected, it indeed can last only couple of hours.
One more minus noticed: Battery indicator on display is kind of strange - it does not usually reflect an actual amount of the battery life left
73 Excllent Product Excellent Price
Once again IRiver has manufactured one of the most awesome pieces of hardware to date. This combination player has so many features i cannot name them all. It has yet to disappoint me and my only complaint is 2 days after i bought it Iriver released a newer a better version of my player. Kudos Iriver and keep up the good work.
74 Excellent player; not perfect
I bought this player about a month and half ago on Amazon. I was looking for a player that played all the common formats (mp3, audio cd, etc.). I also listen to FM radio a lot so ideally liked to have that too. This player came with all that and more. It's compatible with more formats that most players. It's also outstanding looking...really slim and light. The remote is gorgeous and informative and easy to use. It comes with a simple cover (that picks up a lot of lint!) that won't do much more than provide light protection from dust.
Cons:
1. The reviews and comments say that this player handles every format of music files and has outstanding skip protection. I've not tested it with very exotic file combos but agree with the file compatibility. However, the skip protection is not all that it's cranked up to be....it struggled a couple of times with mp3 cds (and I was sitting down & not in motion)
2. If you have your music organized in folders then accessing the files in these is not very easy and quite often I found this slows the player down some.
3. The earphones are adequete with a few design faults. One bud is connected by a shorter wire than the other and these lengths are not adjustable...I prefer the more traditional layout as this configuration limits where you hold your player or which ear you put a bud. This is specially an issue when you want to put the player in your backpack and find that one bud keeps getting pulled out of your ear as the wire isn't long enough )while the other one has excess length).
4. The paint on the remote's surface is already chipped in a couple of places and I've not abused the player at all; only a couple of trips to school and back.
Pros: 1. The player's amazing looking and very light.
2. Pretty versatile player...several formats, radio, decent skip protection (but not as good as advertised), etc.
3. Excellent remote (as long as you don't loose it although many regular operations may be done via the main body controls)
4. Control locks on both the main unit and remote to prevent accidental button pushes.
75 Worked great in the Middle East
I bought this before deploying to the middle east for several months. Instead of carrying 300 standard CDs with me, I burned them all onto MP3 discs and took them with me. It's been in the dirt, dust, sun, and sand and no problems. Great battery life, great sound. It traveled with me to virtually every country in the middle east and endured hundreds of hours of use without the slightest defect. I did extensive research before purchasing this and you simply can't beat it.
76 More Bad News than Good
This player has done the job for a while. I was not and still am not impressed by the unit. It takes quite a while to load a CD and that drives me crazy. I am on amazon looking for a new system as I type. Another down side is the external battery pack and rechargable battaries. Its a pain to have to recharge the system when I could simply replace the batteries on a differant system. Also, the external battery pack makes it hard to organize all the the loose cords. I know the unit comes with a case, but it was unexeptable at best. If you are looking for a CD/MP3 player, do yourself a favor and stay away from this one. The only good thing to this is that it is thin. But that is only a superficial benifit.
77 Great features, poor portability
I bought this unit and waited 10 months to write this review.
Pros:
-lightweight
-tons of features (including a language study mode, a game and the ability to program the LCD to display your name or such)
-downloadable firmware updates greatly extending the features
-good sound
Cons:
-horrible, unexcusable skipping when carrying in any manner except a horisontal position; it gets so bad the player will often freeze,with the CD spinning uselessly, and then turn off.
I waited for a long time, hoping a new firmware would fix it. Especially since it is so much nicer than the RioVolt I had bought and returned just before that - that one broke down in exactly seven days (though it didn't skip nearly as much). But even the latest firmware (v2.20 as of this writing) didn't help. Neither does the buit-in anti-shock feature (long click of the -10/+10 lever).
The bottom line: if you're a slow walker or if you're prepared to carry your CD player clutched in your hand, trying to keep it horisontal all the time, you'll be happy with this unit. Otherwise, avoid it.
Update:
1) Warranty/support
I tried to contact iRiver support before the warranty ran out and sent them an email. Three weeks, no reply. The 1-800 number features only the recorded message, "Leave your name and number and we will contact you within one business day" (wording may be not exact). I left my name and number and no one called me in two weeks. Ergo, expect NO SUPPORT from iRiver. At least, with Amazon you can return it easily within 30 days, so you can try it out safely to see if it works for you - some people do report no problems.
2) Media compatibility
Two CD-R and one CD-RW brands were tried. The results are below, with CD/dye info courtesy of Nero CD-DVD Speed.
-Phillips 40X 700MB/80 min
Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics
Recording Layer: Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Dye Color: amber/very light yellow
Compatibility (MP3): startup/seek times are slow, freeze-prone
in non-horisontal positions
-Memorex 700MB/80min
Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden
Recording Layer: Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Dye Color: light blue-green
Compatibility (MP3): much better than the one above in all
departments, very occasional skips
-CompUSA 650MB/74min 4X CD-RW
Manufacturer: Plasmon
Recording Layer: Phase Change
Dye Color: silver gray
Compatibility (MP3): rather close to the Phillips above, less
skipping
The above is also relevant to the latest SlimX - iMP-550. I'll post more brands and results in my future review of it, but there will be no more updates here as I already sold my iMP-350.
78 Simply Amazing...
This MP3 CD/Player was more than I expected. To put this in perspective, I expected 5 out of 5.
Anyway, I got the package open and my dad came into the room. He said "...that's small!" That sums up how compact it is.
Some people said the remote was too complicated. I haven't read the manual yet and I know every feature of this thing... The Remote is intuitive and extremely easy to use. And Upgrade the Bios (Go to iRiverAmerica.com) and you can now play a game on the thing. And the game is fun too.
I thought it was cool that with MP3's, it'll load the whole song into the anti-shock memory quickly, and then stop the CD to save battery life. That brings me to something else... Battery life is great, those little things pack a punch.
My ONLY complaint was that the included headphones were... strange. The one's cord was about 3 times the length of the other. This is great if say, two people are listening, or you want to wrap the cord around your neck and then put it in your ear, but it looks stupid to have all that excess cord hanging around your neck.
Anyway, this MP3 player is great, it's everything it says it is and more. Buy it now.
79 Wonderful Product
I recieved the iRiver iMP-350 and I am pleased with my purchase. The CD player was indeed "Ultraslim" and had a very cool silver design. The remote is very confusing at first because some functions require long clicks and short clicks. But after one day of fumbling with it I mastered all the controls. The remote seemed lighter and more delicate than I expected and the head phones that came with it are uncomfortable. To solve this problem I recommend the Sony Street Style head phones which deliver a great bass and are very comfortable.
The batteries that come with it are rechargable and take about 5 hours to recharge. To get the best battery life you have to discharge and charge the batteries once a month. With the clunky external battery pack, I get about 21.5 hours of music. To get more battery life you could turn the back light off or minimize the changing of tracks.
PROS:
-awesome cd quality sound
-slim, streamline design
-somewhat good battery life
-plays mp3s, wmas, etc.
-firmware upgrades make the cd player better
CONS:
-bad carrying case
-earbuds
-confusing remote at first
-external battery pack that dangles is a little annoying
Overall I recommend this cd player for a person who has patience reading manuals.
80 A nice transition before you get the portable hard drive
I'm still waiting for all of the bugs to be ironed out of the iPod for Windows (and maybe for the price to drop a little), so I got this in the meantime. It goes to the gym with me almost daily, and it went on vacation with me this summer. It's sturdy and the battery life is superb. The attached remote and viewscreen gets a little unwieldy at times, but not very often--usually, I'm glad to have it, because you can keep the actual player tucked away (in a backpack or on top of a piece of gym equipment) and still control the tracks. If you're like me and hesitant about making the leap to the full-on hard drive-based mp3 players, this should tide you over nicely.
81 This one rocks !!!
In plain simple words, the iRiver SlimX iMP-350 CD/MP3 Player Rocks !!! And I mean every word of it. I have owned this product for over a year now and still I am not ready to part with it. There is no other product in this category that even comes close to it. Ofcourse, I am not considering the newer versions, the iMP-400 or iMP-550, as I have not tested them yet. I have tested the SonicBlue Riovolt SP-250 and the Sony DCJ-01 though. None of the other models or brands deserve a mention over here. The iRiver SlimX iMP-350 CD/MP3 Player sets higher standards for others to catch up to it.
So far I have had no problems with skipping while traveling in car. I mostly play mp3 and wma formats. The rechargeable batteries that came with the unit still gives me more than 5 hours of continuous playback. The remote is still working perfectly, I did not have to change the LCD contrast yet. The units position at times need to be positioned correctly so that it catches the FM signals properly, but this does not matter much to me. Overall, this unit is worth every buck you spend on it.
82 Decent, but beware
Speaking as someone who has had this thing for 6 months or so, it has the potential of being the best mp3 cd player out there for the price. but there are some drawbacks
The good:
-Unbelieveable sound quality
-Easy interface
-Upgradable firmware
-Sweet anti-skip
-Decent battery life
-Lots of accessories
-VERY thin
The bad:
-Virtually useless case
-Not very resistant to shock (dropped it once, threw the laser allignment out of whack)
-Occasionally freezes
-Cheesy cord that connects the remote control. Wears down very quickly and renders the controller useless
-Slow power-on
-Comes with cheesy headphones with cords that also go bad quickly
Overall, its a great product, as long as you dont drop it, and prevent the cords from getting tangled, itll work great for you. But if you're like me and you take it everywhere, its hard to do that. I do not reccommend this for anyone that uses this for school or is constantly on the go, because it's too sensitive to damage. Customer support is horrible, so if you have problems, dont expect a reply from e-mail within a week. But I am trying to find something a little more durable (preferrably a hard-drive MP3 player)
83 350's Report Card
Korea has been steadily rising with electronic devices (supercomputer chips, mp3 players, to the first camera cellphones), and from such a small country 1/5 the size of Japan, it is interesting how they're developing.
iRiver has created a fantastic little mp3 player, to which I've rated:
A+ Sound - Excellent!(bass/treble adjustments)
A+ Organization - sub menus, plays playlists, personalized name
A+ Versatility - upgradeable firmware, mp3, cdrw, wma, asf, cd, fm tuner
A+ Design - Comes with black pouch, slim to fit in pocket, extended earbuds so you can share w/ someone while listening, external AA battery pack, internal ultraslim NI-mh batteries!
A+ Options - Ability to play LYRICS on LCD screen, supports ID3 tagging in 25 different languages from French, Korean and Japanese /katakana hiragana kanji / characters.
A+ Life - Batteries 23 hours long, recharge/discharge
Besides all those options, all this baby has to do is have good sound, and it does deliver. I've tried SONY's mp3 player but the sound from iriver is INCOMPARABLE.
THE BEST. A+ student.
84 Love in begging, ending in divorce
I bough this CD player 3 months ago and it was amazing. It did everything. After I realized I needed more space than 700MB disc and am so lazy to bring more than 2 disc. I wanted a iPod ir a Jukebox by Nomad. Now after these 3 months my remote has an issue with the headphone jack and it is amazingly staticy. So maybe I would recomend the Imp-500 is you where bold. But I would go with a jukebox of some sort due to more advantages.
85 Brilliant
About as thin as cd players go...you have the convenience of being able to play normal cds, mp3 cds, radio. The battery life is great to begin with..although my batteries are now starting to give only about 3 hrs on a full charge after a year...get new headphones, the ones that come with it aren't great. I kept this in my bookbag the whole year, and just whipped out the superbly designed remote anytime i wanted to listen...again, extremely convenient and way more versatile than a flash player, and way cheaper than any hd based player worth getting..overall great value for money even at the [money amount] I paid
86 Great for everyone including audiophiles
This player pretty much does it all in such a thin package. There are loads of features which are available from the remote control which can keep any electronics fan busy for a while. Once you get the hang of how it operates via the remote, you can really see that the developers at iRiver really put some thought into making it. To my knowledge there really aren't any other cd/mp3 players that rival this one (except for iRivers other cd/mp3 players).
As far as the sound quality is concerned, this is definitely top notch and without cheap components. I have typically been a Sony discman user, but this unit without a doubt surpasses them in this department. I usually rip mp3's at 320kbps to get the full spectrum of digital sound and the Slim X delivers in great fashion and terrific noise to sound ratio...just read the specs.
To everyone's good fortune, the price has dropped considerably from the time it was introduced to now. I just recently purchase mine from Amazon for under $$.
It would be wise to buy this unit and spending the extra $$ vs. some other lower end units for quality, performance, great support and firmware upgrades.
87 this is awsome!!
when i bought this, i just expected this thing to play mp3 cd's and have some regular fuctions. When i looked at the instructional manual, i was surprised. It can play almost everything that you can put on a cd, and it has loads of fuctions that i never thought a cd player could have. 9 modes of repeat and shuffle, 6 types of EQ, 480 sec of protection etc. you can control litterally everything on this cd player including beep volume, language, lcd contrast, b.light time, sleep mode, Left and right Balance.
You should really consider buying this cd player.
88 More like 4.5 stars
This is a great product and I'd recommend it to anyone who (like me) hates to waste money on batteries. With rechargable batteries that last for a pretty decent time this player surely saves you a whole lot of money.
The only disadvantage is, and thats an understandable one because this is not a hard drive based player, there are chances of jumps and skips sometimes. But that does not happen a lot.
The sleek design sure makes it a head turner. All in all, a great deal.
89 bacillus sphaericus
i have recently got this mp3 player. i think this is the excellent deal that i have ever got for the MP3 players. its nice and handy. it operates on AA as well as given rechargeble batteries.nice voice quality.i have got it for 99 $ from best buy --- 30 $ mail in rebate.before that i had SONY MP3 player that was excellent too but that was for 130 $ and with less features.
90 sharp aesthetics, admirable battery life, buy headphones
Perhaps the best thing about this player is the fact that it ships with the rechargeable batteries and AC adapter. I've gotten roughly 5-6 hours continuous play from my unit thus far on a full charge, which is more than enough for me. The upgradeable firmware offers more advanced remote options with each update, yet one wastes a CD-R when I burn a paltry 600Kb file just to update the player. CD-RW's a not recommended for this procedure since the player seems to have trouble reading them.
Nevertheless, I've found the iMP-350 a solid buy. The remote unit is snazzy, intuitive and easy to read. The player also has amazing buffer protection. I've shaken it, dropped it and thrown it onto my bed without hearing a single skip. The included earphones, however, should probably be replaced with something a bit more comfortable.
Overall, a most excellent mp3-CD player. It's stylish, it's comfortable and it works well.
91 Somewhat disappointed but I'll still keep it....
Before purchasing a new music player, I had a few criteria for it to meet.
<> First, it had to play CDs AND MP3s.
<> Second, it needed to have some kind of extra bass feature.
<> Third, it would need to have good anti-skip protection.
<> Fourth, it had to cost less than $$$.
I took my time sifting through mountains of on-line reviews in search of the player with the highest average rating. Units from iRiver, Rio, Sony, Panasonic, Aiwa, Creative, and many others were evaluated. In the end, it seemed like the SlimX 350 from iRiver was the winner.
It received accolades from editors at all of the big online computer and electronics publications. It had tons of great reviews from customers of Amazon.com and other e-commerce sites. Most of the other players had just a few reviews, but the 350 had HUNDREDS!
Enthusiastically I placed my order with great confidence that my purchase would turn out to be a great buy.
Now, I've had my player for about four months. The verdict?
Disappointed but I'll keep it.
First, the positives:
<> I love the look.
<> The remote control is quite handy, as it lets me use all of the controls with one hand. Because of other electronics I've owned, like cell phones and video cameras, I found the interface to be very easy to learn and use.
<> The SlimX also handled every disc and file type I threw at it.
<> I didn't have any problems with long access times, although it usually takes about 15 to 20 seconds to play the first track of a disc, which is only a little longer than other CD players I've had.
<> The software accomodates the naming of folders and tracks, which gives me added incentive to burn discs with MP3s. It's so easy to organize my music!
<> The sound is clear.
<> The build is quite solid, so I feel confident that it can sustain some abuse. I've dropped the unit a couple times onto hard surfaces without evident damage. Compared to my last Sony, which died within a year even though I babied it, this is a huge improvement!
<> The battery life is fine. It lasts at least as long as other units I've used, perhaps longer. One thing people should keep in mind when measuring your unit's battery life to manufacturer's claims is that the manufacturer doesn't base their setting on the unti being played at the highest volume, whereas many users do play their units at maximum volume. More volume consumes more power. Of course if this unit had more power, fewer people would listen at max volume.
<> The FM receiver. The reception seems to be fine and since I really wasn't looking for a unit with this feature, it has been a pleasant bonus. Now I can actually check the news on my way to work.
Unfortunately, there are some substantial negatives as well:
<> The sound, while clear and fairly smooth, is rather thin. The EQ/DSP really doesn't help this at all. I could barely notice any difference from one setting to the next. This was very disappointing since one of my main requirements was a player with an added bass feature. The Sonys I've owned all had much punchier, more detailed sound.
<> On a related note, the sound isn't nearly loud enough. It's adequate for quiet conditions, but most of my use is during my commute to and from work. The sound from the bus or train combined with traffic and people talking invades and distracts from the music. Fortunately, I can burn MP3s at a louder volume to compensate, but this adds a little distortion to the mix. It's not bad, but still less than ideal.
<> The cords are out of control! I had to ditch my preferred headphones because the cord was too long when combined with the remote. Not only was I constantly getting them tangled, but on numerous occasions, the long length of extra cord got caught on things.
<> The anti-skip is not adequate for certain activities. While it's fine for the most part when holding the unit in your hand while walking, or in a backpack when riding a bike, it skips badly if placed in a pocket while running or even walking. Obviously this makes the remote control kind of pointless if you have to hold the main unit in your hand all the time. It also subjects it to more potential abuse.
Overall, considering the cost, it's a good unit. I just wish I didn't have to compromise so much on the sound and anti-skip features. Mainly I think that if iRiver wants to really make their players the best, they have to refine the sound quality.
In the end, I would probably have gone to a store to test this and other players personally, even if I wound up paying more than at Amazon.com Even if I still picked the SlimX 350, I wouldn't have this lingering sense of doubt that I have now.
92 Honestly.... IT ROCKS!!!
I had done alot of researching and searching around for a good all in one media player(You should too). I saw the 350 in a best buy catalog and decided to check it out. I was planning to get the slim sony model, i dunno what it was called... but when i saw all the features of the 350 slim x, i was blown away. I went to the store to see it first hand. I saw the slim 400 too but i thought it looked kinda boring, not as good as the 350 with that sharpish curve on the top and they both had almost the same features so i decided to get a 350. OMG it is awesome. People say it takes a while to load songs, it really doesnt. I have my super mp3 disc with 165 songs on it, over 16 hours of music, and it takes exactly 6 secs to load, which is great considering all the stuff it has to read. The firmware update works great. You get updates at iriver.com, the new update even puts the game snakebyte on to play on the remote which is great to kill some time in a train or bus. Theres even a program that lets u put lyrics on your songs which will display on the remote as the song progresses. I found the program a little hard to figure out... but i got it after reading the intructions at iriver.com. The radio sounds great. I would recommend getting better headphones, not that they sound bad, but they kinda look cheap. I have to agree with some other reviewers that say the remote is a bit hard to use at first. IT is for about the first 2 days but this is because the remote controls so much different things, i swear there are like over 80 different things u can tweck to suit your listening needs, u can have ur nam displayed on the remote, u can change the visuilzations(yes it has 3 differnt ones)Considering all the remote can do id say that it is really simple to use and the font size is just right. I have 20/20 vision but my mom has really bad vision and wears these thick lens glasses and she could read the remote fine too. My bro owns a new panasonic cd player and its so funny to put the slim x next to his. The slim x is literally half the thickness of the panasonic. and it is smaller and yet the slim x has so much more features on it. I got mine for 120. I bet if u shop around, u can get it cheaper, the 550 is coming out also, or it did, but it still has relatively the same features and i still think the 350 looks better than the 400 and 550. Well i hope this review helps u alot. I highly recommend this all in one player.Im sure there is nothing out there that can beat these slimx player, i think its all about thich of the 3 models u think look the best. O and some people worry about the brand name, iriver, its a great brand, they specialize in making mp3 players, maybe u have heard of the rios, iriver makes them. Well i again hope this review is helpful.
93 No problems yet..
...Battery problems: Sorta wierd for me, I've yet too have decreased battery output ( for those of you have, you could be overcharging, storing it in a hot place, etc, get some info on this stuff.) The only problem I had was some of the battery usage info for me appeared wierd. At times it would say I was half done, but then work it's way back to full, but ...
As for sound quality, great, everythings fine. The remote really does get handy, but don't lose it or else your player will become pretty useless.'
Now, here's the hard part. The main reasons I bought this is: A)Ipod does not support Wma files B) I don't want to shell out the money for Ipod ( I hate apple :))
Now I am saying if you do have the money, and you use mostly mp3's and you'd like soemthing now, go with an Ipod. IF you can wait a little longer, the yp-900 looks to be pretty promising. If you do have the money for the Ipod, but you'd rather go with an mp3/cd ( like me after a few bad mp3 experiences) This is great. It's really great. I spent some of the money I saved on a nice pair of sennhiesers after...
94 Very Good Value For The Price
The iRiver iMP-350 is a good choice for a slim CD player.
Pros:
This CD player can play CDs, MP3s, ASFs, and WMAs. Upgrading the firmware was very simple, if you have a burner. I downloaded the file, burned it to a cd, and it took 30 seconds. The display is great for a CD player this size. It does play 8cm as well as standard size CDs. And it also has a backlight to make it easier to read.
Cons:
The LCD is a little small but do-able if you have good eyes, but the backlight makes it easier to read. The FM stereo memory system is hard to do and if you don't be careful, you could wipe them out. And please get better headphones because the ones included are not very comfortable.
Overall, the iRiver iMP-350 is a great choice for a slim CD/MP3 Player.
95 Fantastic! Great buy with excellent sound and features
I just got my iRiver SlimX iMP-350 player and started working with it today. It has tons of features and options for using the CD, MP3, and FM Radio Tuner functions. The sound quality is crisp and rich. The player itself is very lightweight.
This is my first portable CD/MP3 player; it has met all of my expectations so far. A few pros, cons, and discoveries:
I use my own Sony headphones with the player, so the quality of the earbud headphones is not an issue for me one way or the other, although it is for some.
The remote that comes with the player is extremely lightweight, is well lit with good contrast, but has very small writing. The remote has a good, strong clip on the back of it for attaching to clothing and that is usually how I wear it.
You can play CDs without the remote...you'll have the basic features - play, forward, back, pause/play, stop, volume control. However, to take advantage of the player's many CD, MP3, and FM Tuner features, you will need to use the remote.
The instruction manual that comes with the player is sometimes a bit hard to follow in learning the more advanced features, but I found that if I followed it step by step for a particular feature I wanted to use, I was able to understand it after a few tries.
In particular, I found phrases in the instructions such as "long click" and "long press" vs "click", and the phrase "pushing the jog lever" to be a little confusing at first.
The idea for programming or using the advanced features is that there are 5 buttons on the remote, 2 of which are the play/pause/mute button and the stop button. The other 3 are jog levers that have 2 types of movement...the first type of movement is left to right and vice versa - without pressing down on the button - , and the 2nd type of movement is a downward pressing or clicking down of the button. The duration of how long you hold a button down activates certain functions (short "click" vs "long press"/"long click" in the instructions). You use a combination of the jog levers and their movements / 2 other buttons to operate all of the features/functions.
The remote can be confusing at first, but don't let that throw you. It is simply a matter of clicking/moving the jog levers to activate various features, similar to using menus on a cell phone. Once past the learning curve, the remote is very easy to use.
The iRiver SlimX iMP-350 has a built-in battery recharger, and (in addition to the headphones, remote, soft fabric carrying pouch, and instruction booklet), it also comes with 2 rechargeable batteries, and an AC adapter. Plug one end of the adapter into the player and the other into a wall unit, click one of the remote's buttons (the remote also needs to be plugged into the player while recharging), and the player will recharge the batteries.
I have not used the extra AA battery pack yet, and am still able to play music and listen to the FM tuner for several hours at a time. It is important to discharge and then recharge the batteries once a month - this is one of the options in the recharger menu on the remote and it is also covered in the instructions. Doing this will extend the battery life and help ensure that the batteries hold their charge.
The batteries used in the player are iRIVER IR-14M NiMH Rechargable Battery. If you wish to purchase extras, they can be ordered online.
I also ordered Sony NH14WM batteries along with the Sony BC-7HT International Battery Charger (just in case), also available at Planet MiniDisc. I understand that they are compatible, but have not used the Sony batteries yet. I was happy to find the actual iRiver batteries at their site.
I found the FM Tuner to have very good reception, although this would largely depend on one's location. You can program up to 20 station presets for your favorite stations. Find a station in preset mode, click twice on it, and it's programmed. Repeat for each station you want to add to your presets. You can then select a favorite station to listen to from among your presets without having to scroll thru the entire FM tuner to find it. You can also scan the FM range for stations, or go from station to station up the scale, if desired.
There are many more features than I can go into here, but in closing, I wish to add that I am very pleased with the player's versatility, features, playback, and sound quality.
96 Skip Skip Skip Skip Play
Got one for my firlfriend. She really wanted to jog with it. I put the antiskip at 180 seconds and it still skipped. Basically between the complexity of the interface and the inconsistent anti-skip, it's a dud. I should have just gone for an MP3 player.
97 iRiver SlimX iMP-350 CD/MP3 Player with Ultraslim Design
Greetings! I purchased this product to listen to OTR (Old Time Radio), MP3 on CDs. I was able to connect everything the same day it came in the mail and off I went listening to some great Old Time Radio! ... It's slim and sleek in it's look and feel. The ear plugs were comfortable. I'm very pleased with my purchase!
98 AWSOME!!!
This is one of the best things I have ever owned! It has never malfunctioned so far! It is very light weight, the display on the remote has an extreamly high resolution, however, the screen is not that big, but that is not a problem because of the high resolution. It is small and light weight. It takes a while to load an MP3 CD when you first start it up (about 6-10 seconds) but who changes MP3 cds even once in one siting? The remote is easy to use once you get used to it, which takes at most a day.
99 The TRUTH.
Hi there. Firstly, I had ordered iMP-350, but unfortunatelly it wasn't in stock at that time so I ordered iMP-400, and I'm fully satisfied with it. However, I changed the headphones for a KOSS one but stil the whole device is excellent so I can really recommend it.
PS: My rating is for iMP-400...
100 Excellent player, BUT...
I love the player. Sound is great, even getting used to the remote was not that difficult. The user manual leaves a lot to be desired. I also do not like bud earphones and used my Sennheiser 477s. A great combination. BUT, the rechargeable batteries bring the entire unit down. What are supposed to be 20 hours minimum of playtime was 6 - 10 hours max. I thought that I was doing something wrong, but after 2 or 3 additional trials, I knew that something was wrong. Even after fully discharging and recharging the batteries, it made no difference. I wish that the batteries were better or just use a different type battery.
