iRiver has combined the impressive storage of a skip-free 1.5GB drive for up to 50 hours of music and an extra-large, backlit LCD into one remarkably small music player. The iGP-100 also features an integrated FM tuner, a long-life lithium-ion rechargeable battery and USB 2.0 for ultra-fast music transfers.
1 Nice set-up, but quality control is an issue
When I got this is Jan 04, I had to replace it once a month for 4 months various electronic reasons. Hard drive crash, electronic issues, etc. Customer service is a bit of a nightmare. They are a small company here (bigger in Japan), and it shows.
I think one of the issues is the player has some conflicts with Macs. While they say they are compatible, sometimes it has issues moving file, and that resulted in two of the four crashed with my system.
That said, once you figure out the menu (and I still have some issues there - why does it default into changing the viewing properties instead of changing song menus? You would think that would be the more used option.), it is a nice player. Good for exercising, etc. I mean, do you really need 5 Gig to exercise? Are you running an Ironman?
2 I *LOVE* this MP3 Player !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I read a lot of reviews for just about every MP3 player out there before I bought this one. I've had this since about April-04 and I couldn't be happier. The size is more than enough to keep me happy all day at work plus there is an FM tuner, which a lot of other players don't have. My husband thinks that the controls could be easier to use, but I disagree with him. The most important thing is that it does exactly what it's supposed to do without any problems. I really love this MP3 player !!!!!
3 Best player ever!!!!!!
this unit rocks, dont pay any attention to the bad reviews, the menu took me all of hmm...2 minutes to learn flat!! the earbuds are certainly good quality, only way to get better ones would be to buy a $40-$50 pair!!!
I luv this unit, yeah, so bat will go in two years, by then ill probly want a 200 gig mp3 player not 1.5 anyways so stop whining. even if you dont want one that size then im sure you can get a tiny little 40 gig in 2 years for 100. if you dont want to trade up in two years fine, buy something else that can change the battery, but i say stay with iriver, they make good stuff!!!
4 great player, but avoid as iriver as a company are terrible
best micro hard drive player on the market in my opinion. i wouldnt buy anything from iriver though. they brag about how their products are updateable by firmware, but they release no firmware updates, also , when the battery goes in 2-3 years time iriver told me , after many many ignored e mails, they dont replace the batteries for the igp-100. the company is interested in nothing only money, not respect from their customers. if they listened to their customers they would see that their current way of treating us makes us move to the ipod or creative players. if they listened , and took our opinions into account they would have customers back again and again. i wont buy anything from them again. when everyone starts this( and most will) they will go bust and they can blame no body only themselves. back to topic though . terriffic player. pity the random play isnt exactly random. lovely size , nice software, good sound, get better headphones, the supplied ones are useless. iriver keep making good products, but get your act together in the area of support and customer relations
5 Don't waste your money on this one!!!
Poor reliability. Poor interface and menu design. Poor button action. Poor documentation. VERY poor support.
I don't normally write reviews on any product, but this one has disappointed me so terribly (not even in comparison to my Creative Lab Jukebox or my Apple iPod), that I wanted all to know to avoid this "player" like the plague.
6 great product with a few minor flaws
This product is a very good player with only a few minor flaws
Pro's
-Great battery life(@11 Hrs.)
-Storage space for at least 30 cd's
-Very small and light
-Radio a very important feature lacking in the ipod
-No included softare (just drag&drop from windows explorer)
Cons's
-No built in recorder
-Menu navigate is extremly difficult and takes awhile to get used to(be sure to read and save the manuel)
7 Just plain perfect
My co-worker and I both bought one of these, and we love it. It is the perfect size to fit into the palm of my hand and is light as a feather. The pleather holder has a belt strap (downside-no buckle, u must undo belt to put on) and it also has the hook on top to attatch to a chain while in the gym. The earbuds it comes with work great for a standard set. The buttons are easily pressable when you want to, and don't press when you don't want to (i.e. in your pocket). I rarely turn on the 'hold' feature and it works the way I want.
I have downloaded mp3 and ogg, as well as made m3u playlists and all play fantastically. Here is where you will really see the quality of your recording. If you have bad (128 bit and lower) recordings, you WILL have to turn up the volume, adjust the equalizer, etc in order to hear the song properly. That being said, most of my music is 190-220 bit, and I hear it just fine.
The few I had at 120 I am re-recording at higher bitrates.
It doubles as a portable file transport well, though you have to take the custom USB cable with you everywhere. Power cable is nice though my dog chewed it up.
The battery lasts for quite a while. I listen about 2 hours a day, and charge once a week.
It doesn't require any drivers except for WinME/98 so when you plug it in, it recognizes it as a drive. If you add files, clicking remove hardware works fine. If you delete files from it, 'remove hardware' will not work (at least with USB 1.0).
Overall, this is a dream to behold. That 1.5 GBs holds about 300 of my songs, and is plenty of room for all my needs.
8 iRiver Rocks!
I bought one of these last November for my son's 22nd birthday. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but as soon as he plugged the USB port into his computer and Windows Explorer came up, he "got" it. He was so enthused about it that I convinced by husband to get me one for Christmas.
We both use ours for music and transferring data files. As for line out, my son has a connection that he plugs into the headphone jack and into the front panel of his car stereo. Works like a charm.
Battery life is okay. About 9 hours I think. I'm hard of hearing so generally have the volume turned a little higher. The ear buds are comfortable and the sound is excellent. This baby has been with me on airplanes, at work, in the casino and just sitting at home.
We like ours so well that now my husband and younger son each wants one of his own.
The only CON I have is that this iRivers firmware doesn't support DRM, so you can't load legally downloaded songs without burning a CD first and then ripping it. It's strange, because iRiver's flash players do support DRM. Go figure.
9 Got it for working out...
I just got mine this week, and I like it a lot. It comes with a sweet case, which is basically the same as people put on their cell phones. Thin and black, doubt any scratches will get through. The case also allows you to still access all the buttons, unlike some companies who really dropped the ball on the case! The iGP-100 doesn't come with an armband for those of us who want to work out with it. Its like $8 extra online, but whatever.
For those of you who cant imagine what 3.2x3.1 inches look like, its basically the size of a circle inscribed in a POST-IT note.
I wanted this for working out and did a lot of research. My friend had the iRiver 395, which is basically a 512 flash player. It is a little smaller and lighter, but I chose the iGP-100 b/c it holds 1.5 gigbs (though only about 1.38 of them are usable...) and it costs less. 512MB is plenty for working out, but I also take it to class, do HW with it etc...basically, I didn't want to pay $200+ and end up with limited memory. Another advantage is that the iGP-100 is recognized as an external HD, so its basically drag and drop. Also, this allows you to put documents or even programs on your MP3 player. Might not be useful to you, but I do find it convinient to have important homework files handy. It hasnt skipped yet.
The volume is the same on all iRiver products: from 0-40. Level 10 is good for studying or background music, and I dont think there is a need to go over 30-35. Loudness isnt an issue with this player.
The sound quality is superb. Excellent bass, and the EQ works very nicely. The headphones they gave me procude good sound, dont expect to work out with them though- theyll fall out a million times. No big deal, any set of head phones will work.
The FM tuner is what made me pick iRiver. Other companies (Rio, RCA) put out 1.5 Gigs for about $150, but I like the radio a lot. Otherwise I'd never hear new songs, so it would get boring.
A nice feature would have been a timer to see how long I've been running for. It does come with a sleep timer, so I guess I could use that.
As far as batter life goes, I dont think it will live up the the advertised 12 hours if you want to turn it up, add some bass and upload some songs, but its definately enough to get you through the day.
I hope this has been a helpful review for you!
10 Poor Quality!
I received this as a gift in Nov 03, loaded it up and used it four times before putting in a drawer for a month. Then I got it out and the hard drive had failed!! Just popped up with an error message of "Check HDD" and that's it. Emailed IRiver tech support, never heard from them. Radio still worked, however, but it showed zero MB available.
I could see if I had dropped it or mishandled it. It just died without any reason. It's a piece of crap.
11 Excellent player for the money
I was looking for an MP3 player to use during long flights and while working out in the gym. I wanted an iPod but the short battery life was the biggest mark against it. I currently have 309 songs on this player and see no reason to update it in the near future. At any rate, updating the song list is quite easy using any Windows PC. No special software needed. Using the Sony MDR-G72 behind-the-head phones, it provides good sound. I have played everything from Judas Priest and Rob Zombie to Carmina Burana and Dave Brubeck. The bass and treble is excellent for such a small package. The FM reciever appears to work very well too. So far the battery appears to be lasting about 9 hours with continuous play. That makes it through any domestic flight in the US. If you want a dependable player to simply play music, get this one.
12 Not for a Mac!!
Have had this for 3 frustrating days. Two tech support people said it is FULLY compatible with my OS 9.2.2, BUT they offer no drivers, no encoder info or software, and the word Mac is not shown ONCE in their manual. Latest email not answered, and spent 22 minutes on support line with no answer. Would give it zero stars if possible. Will be sending it back to Amazon and look for a reliable company.
Will change my review to 2 stars as I had to purchase outside software to get it working. But still no answer to my email and unable to delete any files in the unit even though I deleted them out of the folder on my computer. No instructions in the manual om using the Trash folder. This manual is sad as is the support site.
13 Iriver iGP-100 is the right approach
This mp3 player truly is perfect for almost anyone. Many people say they need a ton of memory like the Ipods but truthfully all the other features of this product make it a perfect buy. It fits approxamitly 350 songs - which even if you have 1000 or more songs, 350 is packable. The interface does not need any getting used to (infact it's quite clever), it functions properly and is the most durable hard drive mp3 player out (the closest to a flash player). It gets beautiful reception in terms of fm radio - and the preset setting mode is great. The case is perfect - alloing access to all the controls, and the sound quality is far superior to the Ipod. Transfering songs is as simple as drag and drop. For those who are not familiar with those terms, it means: the mp3 player pops up as a folder and you copy paste files from your computer. If you do not like this feature you can use the pain in the neck method the Ipods use (CD-ROM). So realy the only problem is the limited memory (which is not even 1.5 gb, cause only like 1.35 is accessable), but with radio, perfect interface, perfect size and weight - 3.5 ounces, and a great value, you get the perfect mp3 player.
14 Simple and Functional
Great sound quality, easy to use, small and easy to carry!
15 Almost Perfect
The iGP-100 is almost perfect. I am very pleased I choose it over the iPod.
Pros:
- Small: The size fits easily in my shirt pocket.
- Loud: The volume goes to 40; anything over 21 is excessively loud for me. Hard to believe so much sound could come from such a small player.
- Case: Bundled in the package is a nice leather wrap, like what some folks put on cell phones. I don't see many scratches making it through the leather, very nice touch iRiver!
- Battery: As others have noted, VERY good battery life. I fully charged it and took it to work. I never took them off and listened all day (9hrs) and it still had two bars of charge. Only time will tell if it can hold that performance up over the long haul.
- OGG Support: Long needed on the iRiver CD players, I am glad they are finally on board with OGG
- Software: NO special software to load or unload songs. It mounts like a hard drive. Just drag and drop songs.
Cons:
- Line Out: I am unable to connect this to my home, car or other devise because there is no line out! Considering iRiver puts line outs on all its CD/MP3 players I guess I wrongly assumed it would be on this one too.
- Recorder: No recorder/microphone built into it. I had hoped to use this to record business meetings, etc.
- 1.5G: Since its stiffest competitor is 4G (iPod), it would be nice if it had more space.
- Audible.com support. Because of the "ease of use" software there is no inherent song protection. I guess that is why Audible.com does not support it. I hope in the future iRiver can add a firmware upgrade allowing audible downloads.
Conclusion: I like my iGP-100. It's small, loud and holds enough music that I don't have to listen to the same song twice in a week. The few features I listed in the cons (except audible.com) are available on the iHP line from iRiver. Since this is the entry-level product for that line I assume the line out was kept off as a marketing thing. I am very disappointed in that one thing but I should have read closer to the specs when I made my purchase. If you are interested in portable music only used through headphones, this is a clear choice in my opinion. If you want to use that portable music in your car or home stereo step up to the iHP-100 with its optical input and output.
16 ipod? no irvier
Just picked this up about a week or two ago after much debate of whether to wait for the ipod mini.
Def. made the right choice. The ipod does have a larger hd and is probably a bit smaller (thought weight is close to the same and the design is square as compared to round), but the iriver makes up for this in other areas.
One, it has a great fm radio on board. You don't realize how much you want this option until you don't have it (such as with an ipod).
Two, it handles WMA files perfectly. WMA files are windoms media players preferred file (so if you've burned all your cds onto your hd using windows media player, they are likely all WMA. They are smaller than the same file in MP3 format and have as good, if not better, playback quality as an MP3 file. Ipods don't read WMA, so for any PC user, this could be a major shortcoming.
Three, truely drag and drop of folders onto the iriver. Ipod doesn't allow you to keep your music organized into the folder as most windows users typically do. It tags music by song, artest, album, etc. then sorts it out itself. It does allow playlists, but I still feel like I lose a bit of general organization. The iriver allows you to quickly just drag you existing folders onto the machine as if it were a stand alone drive. Very, very easy playback and navigation.
Too bad it doesn' have a 4 g capacity, but if you use WMA format you get almost 50 hours of skip free music. The ipod at 4 g will only get you about 75 if using mp3 format, so the ability to use WMA pays off again. Plus, the IPOD is not skip free past 25 minutes of continuous shaking. So, if you run aggressively for longer than 25-30 music, you might be in trouble.
17 A Great MP3 Player!!!!
I bought the IGP-100 a few days ago. So far, there has been no major problems.
PROS
1. Excellent SOund Quality, with several equalizer presets that can really adjust sound to suit your taste. BASS is perfect.
2. Good size for a 1.5 GB player, and uniquely shaped if i might add.
3. Very Good LCD display
4. WORKS perfect on Windows XP, no more extra software to download. XP recognizes the player as an extra hard drive.
5. Battery life is very good, 12 hours of Listening. I think IPOD only has 8 hours of playing time....
CONS
1. Jog Dial needs practice to operate, takes about a day or two to master. (Don't try calling tech support for Jog Dial problems, the support technician will just tell you to practice operating the dial)
2. The player seems to be made of cheap plastic (not really a major issue though)
IF YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM WILL SUPPORT THE PLAYER, BUY IT. IT IS GREAT.
18 Use JetAudio For DRM WMA's...
I just bought this one for my husband, and I own the iRiver ihp-120 and the iRiver 256 MB flash player. Great products! I was in a bit of a panic when I tried to use DRM WMA's on my iRiver products. Then I purchased a small software package called jetAudio (www.jetaudio.com). It has a conversion tool that will convert DRM WMA's to WMA or MP3 format...a handy tool whether you own an iRiver or not... It also has some other interesting features as just a music player. I tried the Samsung Napster player prior to buying the iRiver, and I felt the sound wasn't as good as iRiver, and iRiver is easier to use. I'm very pleased with all my iRiver products. They also have a great community chat room on their web site. Battery life is excellent on all my products.
19 Great mp3 player!!! One flaw though.
This is an incredible unit. The sound quality cannot be beat. It is very reliable and battery life is great. A very good mp3 player for exercising. The only flaw is that it does not play DRM WMA files (copyright protected). Thus, files purchased online will not play. In addition, if you make your own wma files from CDs you must make sure they are not copyright protected - this must be adjusted in windows media player. I contacted customer service and they responded in 2 days. They said DRM WMA compatibility issues would be forwarded to R&D, so hopefully a firware upgrade will be available soon for DRM WMA file compatibility.
For me, I have a lot of wma files I've ripped from my CD collection, so I would definitely buy this player again.
20 Nice little player
I have had this since Christmas. The iRiver iGP-100 is about the size of a hockey puck, perhaps a bit smaller and not as thick. It has a large screen which in play mode displays the folder name, artist, song title, elapsed time, battery status and some other odds and ends. The display is large, easy to read and has a soft blue backlight. It also will allow you to configure all sorts of parameters and is firmware upgradable. Battery life is great and although I have never timed it, it seems to run forever on a charge. The manual states 2 hour charging time and 12 hours of playback time on full charge. I would agree with that.
My computer, running Windows XP Professional recogized the player as another USB hard drive. You can just move files and folders around in Windows Explorer like you would to any other hard drive. It uses USB 2.0 so transfers are faster.
On the player, the jog dials weren't intuitive for me at least at first, and required consulting the users manual periodically. I found the users manual to be nicely written. There are plenty of pictures and step-by-step instructions. Included in the package is a protective case which is nice and it has a belt loop, but an armband would have been helpful. The audio quality is very good and it has several EQ settings as well as a custom mode. It has a good range of volume settings.
I use this when doing housework and in warmer weather, will replace my flash player for yard work. Chores are less of a hassle when you are jammin' to tunes. I have also dropped it once and it still works.
In conclusion, save for the exclusion of an armband, inclusion of substandard ear buds (as most do) this is one sweet mp3 player.
21 Fast, practical, very good battery life, great sound and LCD
It is a good compromise between a Flash player (bought then returned iRiver 395 - great but pricey and no USB 2.0 support) and a jukebox player. 1.5G is more than enough for my needs and the transfer is ultra fast. Works withour problems with my Windows XP Professional and Windows 2003 Server. It shows up as an removable HD and that's perfect for me: no music software needed.
While the rounded shape is very practical, I wished it had a scroll wheel or the joystick found on the other iRiver players at the center. The jog dials are better than the ones found on the Nomad players (thicker and not flimsy) but require some learning curve.
The battery life is great, the radio is terrific and the large LCD is a big plus. Oh and the sound with SRS turned on is amazing.
Overall, a great device for the features and price, highly recommended!
22 purchase with caution
I recently purchased this player and was excited about its cute design and ability to interface with .wma files. I have had no problems with the radio or the ability of this device to play MP3 audio files--the sound is very good. However, none of the .wma files (files burned from my own CD's) will play on the player. Perhaps this is a mistake that I am making in attempting to download these files, however noone seems to be willing to help me with this problem. I have been extremely frustrated with customer support--I have sent 3 emails to their customer support center and received no replies in over 2 weeks. In addition, no one answers their customer support line--I've stayed on hold in excess of 30 minutes multiple times. Because of this, I am left with returning the player and not recommending it to those who may require any sort of technical support.
23 DO NOT BUY!
This product does not communicate with computers running Windows 2000 or Windows XP Home, therefore it is a waste of money. It is definitely not plug and play. Don't waste your money.
24 I'm keeping this one.
My Archos 20GB died after more than two years and being dropped one too many times... So, after too many moments of silence, I started looking for a replacement that was sturdier --> and less than $200. Fortunately, iRiver ended this nightmare quest for me. After buying and returning nine different alleged mp3 devices this weekend, I'm keeping this one.
The iGP-100 is in the same price range as much smaller Flash players (including iRiver's own Flash products, which seems odd). It's got everything I want, except expandability, but at a gig-and-a-half I ain't complainin'... and it's less than 1/4 of the weight of that darn Archos brick.
The iGP-100 doesn't come with any extras besides the charger and some earbuds I'll never use. A sports arm-band would have been nice, though! Lifting weights with it is going to be awkward until I find one that fits.
Windows XP treats the iGP-100 like a removable drive and no funky software is required to drop WMA files on it and start jammin'. In fact, it doesn't seem to come with any software besides drivers for obsolete operating systems, which is cool and probably kept the price down. Windows Media Player 9.0 does everything else a guy (or gal) could need with regards to music management. We hates Music Match, yesss, we do, so not seeing it was bliss.
Within 120 seconds of opening the package, I had copied eight (8) CDs worth of 64kpbs WMA (three CDs of Creed, four CDs of Nickelback, and the entire soundtracks from XXX, Scorpion King and Daredevil) onto it and was rockin' with 1.1GB still free on the player. The USB 2.0 is very cool after suffering with every other slow USB 1.1 player I bought and returned this weekend...
The quasi-jog-dial navigation could be better, but I'll get used to it. Lot's of wandering into the system menu by accident to start with... The whole "long click" or jog-dial thing isn't something I'm used to. And one could wish for replaceable batteries of a standard type, just in case, but not with this one.
A slightly smaller, squarer form factor would be ideal... the roundness is a little awkward.
Nevertheless, the iGP-100 beat out both of the RCA Lyra players (they have great XP driver support and SD expandability but no way to organize/play music in folders -- I don't want to listen to 500 songs on random repeat, that's as bad as the radio), the iRiver 256MB Flash player (requires funky software and doesn't act like Flash drive), anything by Sonic Blue (I returned both the Rio Chiba and the Rio Cali == junk), the TDK Mojo 256 (in spite of good technical support and customer service, it's junk -- it ate the contents of my favorite SD card full of tunez and spat them out and does *not* act like Flash drive) and anything by Mpio (they seem to use the same junk software and firmware as TDK and their English, well, it isn't).
All in all, I'm tired of standin' in the return line and I've tried all the other < $200 alternatives already, so the iGP-100 is the one I'm keepin'.
