iRiver H10: Between Rhapsody and a sale, this was WAY worth it!

Bottom line...someone stole my Rio Cali. Heh. They got what they deserved. I hated it, and never used it. But that left me in the unpleasant position of having to find another MP3 player.

After going crosseyed looking at all the comparative shopping grids and reading endlessly about what features there were, what features there weren't, etc., I was pretty fed up.

Until one day, I decided to go to the Best Buy site, and lo, they were having a sale. They knocked 15 bucks off of the iRiver H10 (20GB), which wasn't really a big deal... I dutifully read through the very helpful comparison grid, as well as some nice info about music formats, music services, etc. After all, this was the player I had been leaning toward and lusting after, but terrified to actually buy until I figured out all the compatibility issues, music services, the software... As you can probably guess, I would have gone without a player at all for quite awhile. So what made me jump in? Well, there was the reduced price AND there was a nice $100 rebate when you subscribe to Rhapsody to Go for a year. That service, however, is for another review. But even if I hated either one of them, I got my H10 for $184. And a music service for a year with .89 downloads.

I shudder to think I almost bought an iPod. Not that that's bad, but there are limitations to using an iPod and iTunes. But there are definite limitations with this beast--it requires WinXP, so no go for Mac users. The H10 has tons of features (you can find those in one of the previous reviews, as well as more technical information, or visit the iriver site for full specs and accessory options) but I'm simply going to talk about ease of use.

Picking it up and getting the package open was the hardest part. Which, if you've ordered online and then picked up at BestBuy, isn't hard at all.

Once I got the thing out of the tremendously slick packaging, I sat down and started. Read the manual? Nope. Not really. Being a techie and tremendously stubborn, I like to sit down with things and see how intuitive they are. I was listening to the cheesey included tracks within 5 minutes (the battery came fully charged and ready to roll) and within 10 minutes, I was ripping CDs and adding the tracks to my player. Seriously. I was very impressed with the ease of use, and pleased that it used Windows Media Player 10 as an interface.

The player interface? Gorgeous and easy to read. Being, um, older, I appreciate being able to see what's on the tiny little screen (which, at almost 2" square, isn't so tiny). Love the graphics, and the ease of configuring the player. Adore the touch slide feature as opposed to the touch wheel, even though, as was said in previous reviews, it isn't exponential regarding scrolling speed. It takes some practice, but soon you'll tapping and sliding your way around without even looking.

Carrying case: stretchy rubbery thing with a belt clip. It only has openings for the on/off switch and the slide pad and the in-slots for the USB and headphones. Figure out what the buttons are for and where they are before actually putting it on. The controls are accessible through it, but you can't see the designations. Carrying case effectively covers up the case color. It was a good thing I am ambivalent about the color of the case.

Ear buds: really good quality and at least for me, they don't hurt my ears when they're in. The sound is fantastic.

I've ripped only 30 of my CDs, but I've taken big advantage of downloads from several different sources. As of now, I still have 16GB left with about 500 songs and some photos on the thing. More later when I get more of my ridiculously large CD collection ripped and transferred.

Battery life: TBD-- but after hearing horror stories about iPod batteries, I am fairly certain this will live up to the hype.

Accessories: Doesn't come with much and the iRiver site shows that there isn't much to get really excited about; there are remote controls available and little else of any note that I could find. I am assuming more will be offered later. I know that iRiver Korea has tons of stuff that has yet to be released here.

I'm happy. I was listening to great-sounding music within minutes, adjusting the EQ, importing and reading text files, viewing pictures (didn't mention those, did I?)and I'm going to play around with the FM tuner and presets and the recording features (voice and line-in). But I have to break down and read the manual for the recording features; the screen calls for a cradle, which I don't seem to have...

I think that even at full price (lists at $299) this is a great deal. The Rhapsody deal is/was a limited offer, but that really sweetened the pot for me. Knowing what I know now, I would buy it again at full price! For everyone from audiophiles and early adopters to MP3 player-virgins, this would be my pick.

It's also Rhapsody To Go and Napster To Go ready, has the PlaysforSure seal, and a 1 year warranty.

If this one gets stolen, I'll be really really upset.