iRiver H10 (5GB, Remix Blue)

March 18, 2005 05:20

4.0/5
I have waited to take the mp3 plunge until a service like napster-to-go came out. people can argue the merits of rent vs buy, but renting made sense to me, as my tastes are eclectic and fleeting (i dont listen to cds i bought a year ago).

i used cnet to review compatible players, and it seemed like the h10 was the best choice. But it did not work out of the box. Finally, three phone calls to iriver later (reps are nice, but the wait to talk averaged a 30 min), it does. Napster does not have a phone number anywhere on their website and 3 days later, has not responded to my emails.

Flaw 1. i followed instructions, loading to-go songs via media player 10. while i could see the songs on the player, they did not work.
Solution - rep walked me through the h10 system recovery utility, available on the website. after that, to-go songs played.

Flaw 2 - all the songs i loaded were viewable in the browser, but not all of them were visible where they should have been, under artist and album.
Solution - go to settings/extra/database refresh. it should file the songs properly by artist and album. (this is not in the manual)

Flaw 3 - this is rediculous - songs on an album play in their alphanumeric order, not the proper order for the album. how was this not in any major article reviews? (cnet, wsj, ect). you can go to the browser, where miraculously, they are in order, but playing from there is slow and cumbersome. the rep suggested i can add in numbers in front of the songs to get them in order. yea right - type numbers for 5 gigs of songs

Anyway, the only persistent problem is number 3. I am happy with the player other than that. If you have a bit of patience, and you really want to rent, the h10 is good.

- bombashack

March 1, 2005 08:23

5.0/5
i HIGHLY recommend this product!!!

- jameshkim87

April 22, 2005 07:15

4.5/5
This player has a very cool design, a sleek mini look that doesn't look "chic" (like the iPod mini and Creative Zen micro).
Its controls a very easy for me (just had to bump the scroll speed up a notch), you can move your thumb up and down the touchpad for fast scrolling or tap the arrows to move up or down one place in the menus.
The voice recorder is awesome; it has a clear sound and records in mp3 format, unlike the Zen Micro which records as a large WAV file.
The FM radio had good reception on all stations in my area, unlike the radio in my Rio Chiba that had static on a couple stations.
The feature that really sets this player apart from the other minis is the color screen. It looks very crisp, and the first comment someone has when they see my H10 is, "Ooh, a color screen!"
A reason to get this over an iPod is that you have more choices to buy music from. buymusic.com has singles for $.79 and Walmart.com has all songs for $.88.

On the downside, it did take some work for me to get it working correctly out of the box. My suggestion: upgrade the firmware (found at www.iriveramerica.com) BEFORE you put any songs on. The new firmware fixes the order the songs play in. Songs will play in album order if you go to "Artist"->"Album." Once the songs are loaded, do a database refresh in the "Extra" settings.

It's definitely a perfect choice for someone looking into cool minidrive players, Napster to Go, or an alternative to the iPod mini.

- knghtwhosaysni

April 12, 2007 05:30

4.0/5
The thing would not sync. Period.Being dumb me I did not ask for a warranty. So I ditched it and got a sansa.Then one day my sansa broke,(which I later fixed due to sandisk's very helpful service)and I needed music.I decided to tinker with my iRiver.It worked all my songs synced on it,FIRST TRY! I had tried to fixed it before but it did not work. Now it does and I have to great Mp3's.AWESOME! It was kinda a waste of money, but I don't really care.It rocks and I am currently choosing it OVER my sansa, just because it's RED! I love it highly reccomended.Just be patient!

- Audioman113

July 30, 2005 03:08

3.5/5
This is a great MP3 player and the color screen is very useful. Music and other files are very easy to put on the player. However,in playback mode the buttons are hard to use,eg. when you are fastforwarding and let go it sometimes goes back to the beggining. Battery life is good.

- Carnsucks

May 24, 2005 07:12

4.5/5
I'm yet to determine whether this is a beefed up Ipod Mini or a toned down Ipod Photo. I got mine on newegg.com at 225.00, only 25 more then a 4 gb Ipod Mini. The color screen is used amaziningly and photos are nice and crisp. Viewing .txt files is also useful to view lyrics while you're listening to the song.

Setup is easy, if you have XP and the latest window media player just plug in the player to your computer and it automatically starts.

Loading files is probably the easiest ever thanks to Windows Media Player. Just load a file and it automatically sorts it like most players, however, the h10 has the edge. Windows Media Player allows you to click a song and search for 'album info' basically filling in the ID3 tags(the tags used to sort the song on the player) for you. Many times these tags are messed up causing new folders and misplacement of files on the h10.

Placing the forward/play/backwards button on the side has some pros and cons. It gives the player a nice neat look but it is a little tricky to learn to use all the buttons with one hand. You must use your thumb for the scroll pad and buttons on the front and your index finger for the side buttons, god help you if you're left handed. The touch pad also is a bit narrow and a tad undersensitive.

In the end I think its worth the extra 25 bucks for a color screen, picture viewer, txt viewer, a fm radio, and an extra gig of storage.

- psychojuggler55

February 11, 2005 04:57

4.0/5

January 20, 2005 01:57

3.5/5

June 24, 2005 08:16
Mediocre
1.0/5
This device from the start was a hassle. It took me two hours just to prep the device for Napster to go. Two days after normal use the device screen cracks. I could understand if it broke after 6 months. Customer service in my opinion does not exsist. If you face any problems you will have to wait on there 1800-number for a good two hours waiting time.They must have a staff of three people. If your device breaks you are out of luck there warranty does not cover any damage. DO YOUR REASEARCH BEFORE YOU BUY.

- qwerty5912

June 11, 2005 02:09
Terrible
0.5/5
I got an H10 6GB from Best Buy. It had syncing problem so I took it back and got the

H10 20GB. Same syncing problems. It would get only a fraction of my sync list and then

stop syncing and place the remaining files in aborted files (this is in Windows Media

Player, it wouldn't even work at all in Napster). WMP would then insist that my player

was not connected even though it was still in My Computer and my Safely Remove Hardware.

I send an email to customer service. The next day I received no response so I phone

customer service. I waited 30 minutes without talking to a human and hung up. Then I

drove to Best Buy to return it and called customer service again on the 40 minute ride

to the store. Again, no answer.

When I returned home I had received a customer service reply from me email inquiry. The

first reply was complete gibberish and the second reply had nothing to do with my

problem.

So I wrote an angry response and told the rep that I could still return and re-exchange

for the Iriver, and that I would give him one more chance to answer my question. He

wrote a sarcastic retort telling me to "enjoy your new player, genius :P"
I'm going to post the dialogue so you can see for yourselves. DO NOT BUY IRIVER

PRODUCTS AND SUPPORT THIS. If you got hosed by Iriver like I did, then write them angry

letters and post about your bad experience. It's our only weapon against the

corporations that like to pretend they can sell us crap and get away with it. Here is

the offensive email dialogue with the Iriver customer service Rep:

Your Support Request for your iriver H10 20GB Remix Blue
Request ID Status Date Updated

288272 Closed 06/08/2005 06/11/2005

------------------------------------------------------
Your Question/Problem:
Email Date:06/08/2005 05:15 pm
Sent to:support@iriveramerica.com
Fromxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject:H10 Problems, Non-existant customer service

I recently purchased a 6GB Iriver H10 MP3 Player/Pic Viewer. I updated everything

including WMP, firmware, napster, and WMP security settings, but it still did not work

correctly. I returned it for an Iriver H10 20GB, in hope that it would work better and

because I needed more space. It also would not sync correctly. Both players would sync

about 5% of the tracks in the sync list and then just stop and abort the rest of the

sync. The songs that did sync didnt even sync correctly and usually werent even full.

The sync would not even work with 1 item in napster, which is the main reason I

purchased the h10. I tried to contact customer service, but did not even get to talk to

a human afer 40 mins on hold waiting to speak to a representative. I researched this

problem on the internet and found out that many iriver h10 users are having the same

problem. They said they also received no replies to their customer service emails and

also could not get through the phone line. I dont know if this is a bad joke, but youre

selling a product that doesnt even work out of the box and offering absolutely no

support to fix it, not even updated firmware that was promised for napster. Your

customer service department is practically nonexistent. I will never be purchasing an

Iriver product again, and I will be telling anyone who asks me to do the same. I have

already returned my h10 to best buy in exchange for a creative zen touch. I hope you

enjoy playing with the ridiculous amount of returned h10s you will be receiving from all

around the US.

Sincerely, Alex Nichols xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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iriver Response: (06/08/2005 03:49)
Hello,

Here is the recov.....fdjafi1221...../,32/q,asb,lfab;asmbl;f'
jfjgk'fa

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iriver Response: (06/08/2005 10:20)
Hello,

A common issue as to why Napster To Go files do not play on an MP3 Player has to do with

a clock setting within the Main Menu of the Player.
If the clock / date is not set, the Player will not play files as the files will appear

expired to the Player.

To set your clock:

1. Power on the Player. Go into Settings / Timer / Date & Time and make your

adjustments.

2. Reconnectyour Player to your PC, then re-transfer the Napster files to your Player.

The files will then be able to play back.

Pablo L.

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Your Response: (06/10/2005 03:25)
That is perhaps the worst customer service response ever. First you post a reply that is

pure nonsense. Then you post a reply that has nothing to do with my problem of not

syncing correctly at all, Napster or Windows Media Player. Part of this is probably

because you did not understand WMP meant Windows Media Player. This is most likely

because you speak broken English and are from Singapore or something to save this awful

company money. Thank you for affirming the fact that the customer service department is

awful. I returned my Iriver H10 20GB today, but I can still exchange the product I got
today to get it back. So I will give you one more chance. Here is the problem: When

syncing in Windows Media Player, part of my sync list would sync to the H10, and then it

would randomly stop syncing and say the rest of the files as aborted. Then, it says that
it can no longer find H10 connected to my computer. Basically, it seems that part way

through synchronization, Windows Media Player suddenly doesn't recognize the H10 as

being connected anymore. How do I fix this problem? I hope you do a better job on this

response than you did on the last one, or you can kiss my business good bye for good.

Sincerely, Alex Nichols xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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iriver Response: (06/11/2005 12:05)
Hello,

Enjoy your new player genius.

Bye

P

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Your Response: (06/11/2005 12:05)
Thanks for proving your customer service department is worthless. You can bet I'm

posting this response on about a million forums. You can also count on my notifying a

supervisor if they even exist! Peace. =>REQUEST CLOSED BY CUSTOMER

- mumpsie