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iriver Clix Gen 2 / Clix Rhapsody
Testing
Navigation My hands down favorite aspect of the Clix is the interface, so that's where I'm going to start. The Clix player is the most easy-to-use PMP I've reviewed. It was true with gen1, but the 2nd iteration is even better. Menus pop up quickly and small directional arrows animated on the display point you toward your destination. A press along the edge of the screen takes you there in style with a healthy and tactile click. The combination of easy-to-understand menus and precise clicking action kick the plastic arse of any scroll wheel or dinky D-pad I've used in the past. Unlike the Clix 1, Clix 2 has a less clunky feel when clicking through menus. And the hold button is now a fully digital switch rather than a physical lockout of the tilt-screen. Despite all my gushing, there are a few annoyances with the Clix button layout. The tiny buttons along the edge can be difficult to get to. For example, when operating the player in landscape format, it is difficult to get at the volume buttons with just one hand. Flip the display around to portrait mode, and the volume buttons are easily accessible with your right thumb, but the power and programmable menu button now require a second hand to actuate. I didn't find that these issues rendered the player unusable in any way; it just took a couple hours of use to get the body memory down.  Downloading Music Getting music onto the player is sometimes a bit of a burden with other MP3 players. If they don't require a proprietary software install, they may rely on a widely available music manager like WinAmp or Windows Media Player. Personally, I prefer the simple route-and-seek-out players that, when connected to a PC, act as an additional hard drive onto which music can be dropped. The iRiver Clix Rhapsody lets users choose from any one of these options. Users can create playlists or drag and drop tunes onto the player using Windows Media Player 11. Or, if you wish, you can utilize the Windows Explorer file tree interface and drop songs into the "iRiver Clix/music" file folder. After plugging the device into a free USB slot, the Clix player will appear as an additional hard drive under "My Computer." iriver provides their own loading software called iriver plus 3. I've found the iriver software to be easy to use and light on the resource hogging. The Clix Rhapsody player subscribers can also use Rhapsody's own installation to load rented music onto the device. I have to admit, I was dreading the Rhapsody software after my experience with computer-bogging iTunes and Zune software. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Rhapsody software was reasonably quick to load and rarely bogged or hung. Important: When installing the Rhapsody software, make sure you are running the most current version of Windows Media Player 11. I thought that I had double-checked for current updates, but then found my rented Rhapsody songs wouldn't play on the Clix. After updating WMP 11 I had no further issues. As you may have guessed, the Rhapsody software piggybacks on WMP and needs the most current version to activate all features. Rhapsody subscribers who pay $14.99/month for the Rhapsody To Go service can simply log in to the service via the Rhapsody program, connect their Clix (or any other compatible player), and start dragging and dropping songs. Rhapsody To Go is an unlimited download/transfer service and also includes access to various music channels, which can also be transferred to the Clix. Music tracks may also be downloaded directly to your PC and can only be played on a machine that has been authorized through your subscription...but only 3 computers and 3 portable music devices may be authorized to work with one subscriber account. Check back shortly for a full review of the Rhapsody service. Music Playback I was quite pleased with the sound quality of the Clix Rhapsody. First, I will say that I didn't notice a huge difference in sound quality from the first generation Clix. The full range of sound is well represented and the bass was quite adequate for nearly every song I listened to. I did find that the volume level of the Clix was astounding! The volume settings go from 0 to 40. For most situations 10 is more than loud enough and 20 is bordering on just too damn loud...40 is ear-blood forming. Luckily, there is surprisingly little distortion at high volumes, even when I used my cheapo Sony earphones. The included earbuds are sufficient, but fell out of my ears with the slightest touch. Maybe I just have small ear canals. I'm sure it's genetic. There is a multitude of sound settings as well. But, most importantly (to me anyway), there is a 5 band customizable equalizer. In addition there are the SRS, TruBass, FOCUS, and WOW settings. The TruBass is simply a bass boost that ranges from a 1-10 range (leave it set closer to 10). The FOCUS setting seemed to be a general sound "crispness" setting (if I may use that as a descriptor) that, when set to "Low," resulted in more muffled tones but also lessened background noise and distortions. I left that setting on "Medium" (there is also--you guessed it--a "High" setting). The WOW setting is a 1-7 setting that attempts to simulate 3D sound. Again, I found that aiming for the middle setting gave the best results. However, if you choose to use the custom EQ, none of these funky names will much matter as the EQ will override those settings anyway. Personally, I prefer the custom EQ since I can adjust it to the strengths (or weaknesses) of my headphones.
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Add Comment
3 User Comments 1 - Posted by
Skobbolop
on July 23, 2007 - 10:55 am Nice review... the best flash player around imo. btw. the 8 gb version should be released this august...
2 - Posted by
handrail
on July 23, 2007 - 1:46 pm i agree, the clix is one of if not the best flash player. i love reviewing iriver's players. good to know the 8gb is on the way too! thanks for your comments! brad. 3 - Posted by
chanderson
on August 27, 2007 - 7:13 pm Nice review, very thorough and non-biased. I would, however, like to point out something that wasn't mentioned. Since the Clix Gen2 plays .ogg music files and shows up as a separate "hard drive", this player is the ideal solution for us *nix users out there looking for a flash media player. I am partial to Ubuntu Linux and have had no issues with music as of yet. I have not attempted to put any videos on my Clix using Linux (I use a dual boot with XP Pro and Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn") I will report back on my endeavors when the time comes. Thanks again for the wonderfully informational review of one of the best flash PMP's on the market. -Chad Add Comment To add a comment without being a member, you may omit the password field, but you must enter your name (or nickname) along with your comment. * Denotes required fields. |
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