iriver E100 MP3 Player

Reviews: Multimedia

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Bradford Day
Kurtis
iriver
Jul. 13, 2008

Specifications

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Introduction

Staying on top of the Portable Media Player (PMP) market is all but impossible these days. The digitally uninitiated need only to know that Apple makes a few flavors of the iPod and little else matters. For the rest of us who require a gadget fix, the pool of options is getting pretty deep.

iriver has been a major culprit in the world of minor music player companies, i.e. not Apple. For years iriver has been silently churning out capable and stylish players while steadily garnering a loyal following of users in North America. On the other side of the globe iriver is more commonly know by their parent company's moniker, Reigncom. In South Korea you are probably more likely to find a Reigncom product than an iriver player in the U.S.

Despite their underdog status, iriver continues to impress with their ever expanding and evolving line of digital toys. I have generally been a fan of their various digital players and often refer friends to iriver's website when exploring non-Apple options. Their newest offering, the E100, boasts big league features at a budget price. But for $99.99, will this cheap model deliver quality or just quantity?

First looks

There was a time when I could say, almost definitively, that the E100 was direct competition for some Apple product. But now that everyone and their dog are aiming to carve out a niche, it's practically impossible to predict at who and where companies are aiming these days. That said, I suppose you could say that the E100 is positioned somewhere between an iPod nano and the iPod touch...with a price that is closer to a shuffle. Right. Let's forgo the Apple comparisons and just focus on my E100. It's pink. The E100 is also available in white, black, brown and sky blue. Mine is pink.

My pink-as-Laffy-Taffy E100 is a cute little thing, a medium sized PMP with an impressive 2.4" 320x240 TFT LCD screen, microSD expansion slot, external speakers, voice recording, FM radio, text reader and video playback. Oh, and it also plays music. Quite a lot of features for a $99 4GB player (an 8GB version is available for $149.99). And despite its rather bulky dimensions (92.8 x 47.8 x 11.3 mm) the E100 comes in at just under 60 grams. System power and volume control buttons grace the right side of the player with a sliding lock switch on the left. The headphone jack, video out jack and USB connection are along the bottom edge and the microSD port lives up top. The typical quick start guide, software CD, USB connection cable and requisite ear buds are included. And iriver still has the coolest cable ties of any digital media player company. I love Mr. Cable cable ties.

As with the Clix2 and other past models, iriver has gone with a D-pad style navigation system. Unlike the cleverly designed Clix2, the plainly-designed E100 sports a nearly flush center button surrounded by a single tilting directional pad printed with nearly invisible directional arrows. The D-pad is situated just below the LCD screen and is so smoothly integrated with the case that at first glace there appears to be only the single button staring up at you. There is just a slight amount of play in the D-pad but the clicking action is unaffected. The USB and microSD connection ports are well disguised by color matched plastic plugs but they feel chintzy and weak. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they eventually snapped right off. Overall the E100's design is a bit on the bland and cheap side, but all the bells and whistles are there.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Testing - Navigation, Music Playback & Software
Page 3: Testing - Video, Pictures, Text, Recording & FM Radio
Page 4: Conclusion

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1 User Comment

1 - Posted by sci_fianime on August 6, 2008 - 1:32 am

Love the review - puts into words the experience I have with my black E100...

However, I do find the video viewing angle range very limited, they look washed out once you are slightly off...

Otherwise, I am very happy with the feature set which cannot be found in any other player around the same price range....

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