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IRiver

iriver (formerly iRiver, full name iriver Limited), daughter company to ReignCom, is a consumer electronics brand founded in 1999 and headquartered in Seoul, Korea. It is known for producing portable digital audio players, or “MP3 players”, and video players. iriver’s products commonly include USB Mass Storage, FM tuner and recording capabilities. iriver’s first product was the iMP-100, a portable CD player capable of decoding MP3 data files on CDs in the year 2000. The current product range of iHP-100 (now named H100) Players (100, 120 and 140) are capable of playing MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis (with some limitations) , and WAV audio files. Viewing of text files is also supported. Models in the H300 (320 and 340) series are able to play MP3, WMV, Ogg, WAV and AVI video files (last two only with firmware upgrades) and are capable of displaying JPEG and BMP image files (which do not utilize the full screen dimensions unless converted to the appropriate dimensions/resolution).

Products

iriver H340iriver’s range, as of September 2005 is as follows. In the case of hard disk and flash memory-based players, the amount of storage built in is given in brackets. Some models have been discontinued from production and retail:

Some of the iMP-Series are known as the C-Series in Korea.

Hard disk based players

  • E10 (6GB) (2006) It comes in white and black. It uses a similar interface to that of the U10 series. The device also features a remote control for the U10’s cradle and a TV.
  • H10: (5 GB, 6 GB, 20 GB–except Asia) (2005), available in 4 different colors (red, blue, silver and grey), 16-bit color screen, can record from Radio, Internal Microphone (Voice) or Line-In (Line in only with cradle, sold extra). The device is around the size of the iPod mini and is composed mainly of aluminum. The navigation is done with a touchpad designed by iriver.
  • H300 series (2004), similar to the H100 series, but capable of transferring pictures directly from digital cameras and UMS-compatible devices such as flash drives, as well as showing digital images and XviD movies at 15FPS on a color screen (Video support is not available on US players with US firmware). The H300 also lacks the optical in/outputs that were on the H100’s. Models: H320 (20 GB) and H340 (40 GB). It has recently been discontinued in favor of the newer, and, anachronistically, less feature-packed H10 series.
  • H100 (previously branded “iHP-“) (2003): H110 (10 GB), 115 (15 GB), 120 (20 GB), and 140 (40 GB). It has been discontinued for all territories.

Flash memory based players

  • T10 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, 2GB) (2005). Semi-prism shaped.
  • T20 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB) (2005). USB-Stick design.
  • T30 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, 2GB) 2005. Prism shaped, the first iriver MP3 player that use AAA battery.
  • H10jr.: (512 MB, 1 GB) (2005). Smaller but same shape as H10. Uses Flash memory instead of Harddisk
  • N10 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB) “medallion-style” — worn hanging from the neck.
  • N11 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB) “medallion-style” — worn hanging from the neck. Features longer battery life than N10.
  • iFP-1000 series: (256 MB) and 1095 (512 MB). Both with digital camera built-in; prism shaped.
  • iFP-900 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB). With colour screen.
  • iFP-800 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB). Prism Shaped with rounded edges.
  • iFP-700 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB).
  • iFP-100T series: 195TC (512 MB), 190TC (256 MB), 180T (128 MB), 140(64 MB), 120 (32 MB). Prism shaped.

European customers should be aware that several models are missing the FM Radio functionality available in other world markets.

Criticism of the U10, T30, T20 & T10 models after iriver’s dropping of UMS support in favor of Microsoft’s Media Transfer Protocol has been partially placated by the introduction of an official iriver Firmware Updater.

Discontinued

  • iGP-100 (1.5 GB)
  • iFP-300T series: 395T (512 MB), 390T (256 MB), 380T (128 MB), 340 (64 MB, US only). Candy bar shaped.
  • iFP-500T series: 599T (1 GB) 595T (512 MB) 590T (256 MB). Soap bar shaped.
  • iFP-900T series: 999T (1 GB) 995T (512 MB) 990T (256 MB)?. Soap bar shaped. Color 1.2″ LCdisplay, microphone, line in and FM recording, usbhost usb 1.1, charge with usb – firmware updatable.
  • iMP-1000 (DivX video playback with TV-out)
  • “SlimX” sub-series: iMP-550, 450, 400, 350
  • iMP-700T (“Sports” model), 250, 125, 100, 50
  • iHP-100 series: iHP-115, iHP-120 and iHP-140 (15, 20 and 40GB respectively)
  • H300 series: H320 and H340 (20 and 40GB models)

DataPlay media based players

  • iDP-100 series: (500 MB).

Portable media players

iriver has also developed four models for the portable multimedia player (i.e. audio and video) market, capable of playing several digital video formats in addition to playing audio and displaying still images, with two models:

  • G10 which is currently being developed will play digital music, video and games. A Wi-Fi connection could possibly allow streaming of music and video from a Digital Download Service to the device. The G10 will be available with hard drive capacities of 4 or 8GB while being less than half the physical size of Sony’s PSP
  • iRiver Clix (2 GB) 2006 Rebranded U10 with upgraded parts and interface for WMP11, in US and Australia only.
  • U10 2005 (512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB flash)
  • PMC-120/140 (20/40 GB) (“Portable Media Center”) 2004, running Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Center.
  • PMP-120/140 (20/40 GB) (“Portable Media Player”)

The U10 and Clix can also play Flash Lite 1.1 games in the .swf format.

Korea-only electronic dictionary player

  • D-10 (Dicple, which is a simplified character of dictionary & (mp3) player) This is an Electronic Dictionary featuring music playback. It is selling after 2004 Dec.
  • D-20 (Dicple á) This is also an Electronic Dictionary. Featuring an improved elegant design and a 4.3, 260000, TFT color screen supporting pictures and other features that a typical electronic dictionary does not. It is designed to mimic the look of a laptop at 176(W) x 81.9(D) x 26.7(H) mm and comes in glossy red or black. The device has a 22 hour battery life for browsing the dictionary and a 30 hour battery life for audio. It is selling after 2006 Jan.

Alternative firmware

The Rockbox-Project who wrote new GPLed firmware for some Archos-players have successfully ported the rockbox firmware to the H100 and H300 series.

An official iriver Firmware Updater allows users of U10, T30, T20 & T10 models to switch between UMS and MTP operation.



Source by Clarence Harrell