iRiver iFP-799 - 1GB Flash MP3 Player With Tuner - USB2.0

Also the device isn't detected by Windows as Mass Storage Device, you have to use some program to transfer files, and you can't transfer them back, so no porting files back and forth to your friends house. There is a UMS firmware upgrade you can download for this player. This allows it to be detected as a Mass Storage Device so you can transfer files like it's a hard drive, problem is doing this downgrades it to a USB 1.1 device (check the website FAQ for this) and file transfers are painfully slow (about 4-5 mins for an album), which seems daft to me, other MP3 players function as USB 2.0 and Mass Storage.

On the plus side it does have plenty of features (voice, FM radio, inline recording etc.), and the sound quality is excellent. However, the skipping and lack of decent Mass Storage support mean this player is useless for me and I have since taken it back.

+ Easy to use
+ Sound quality good (but see comment below about noise)
+ FM radio, clock, microphone and line-in, work well and are a nice bonus
+ 1 Gb solid state storage i.e. should be robust
+ Very small and very light
+ Battery life seems to be excellent

The could do (in places very much) better...

+ NO UMS!!@?# I am new to MP3 players, but am flabergasted. I have since learn't that iRiver are not the only ones to make this stupid mistake. What were they thinking? I don't want to have to use a poxy explorer type tool that has to be installed on any PC I wish to connect to the player. File drag and drop, to and from anywhere is the only way to go ... the device should connect as a standard USB memory drive. (iRiver claim to be working on a firmware update to provide UMS, I will be trying to sell my iFP-799 if this does not appear soon.) I would never have bought the device if I had known this.

+ Music files cannot be transfered (using the poxy exporer type tool) from the device back onto a PC. I realise that this is copy protection, but it infringes my rights too. For example it stops me backing up the FLASH contents. (UMS (if it arrives) should solve this)

+ No OGG playback, despite what it says on the box and the websites! I would find this funny, if it wasn't me that was suffering... The supplied (poxy explorer type tool) software can create OGG files but not MP3. The player can play MP3 files but not OGG! (iRiver claim to be working on a firmware update to provide OGG support. It's starting sound like the iFP-700/800 series were rushed out before they were finished!)

+ It is difficult to see in the photographs on the websites but the 1 G version is purple(with sparkles)/silver, not black/silver. Put it this way, I wouldn't wear a jacket the same colour!

+ Background white noise on playback. Just on the edge of being bad enough to think about sending it back.

+ Bit cheap and plasticy looking.

+ Manual, quite bad. But fortunately the GUI on the device is good enough to make the manual redundant.

+ Does not take power from USB line when connected to a PC. So if I want to listen to music while sitting at a PC (e.g. at work) to save batteries I need to transfer all the music files onto the PC and play them from there. But hang on, I can't do that becaue the copy protection "feature" won't let me. Not impressed!

So to conclude. Great potential, not quite achieved.