iriver Lplayer 4 GB Video MP3 Player (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)This review covers a device loaded with version 1.06 of the firmware.
I bought the 8 GB version back in January. I was debating between this and the Sansa Clip, and boy do I wish I'd gone with the Clip.
I was swayed by pretty looks and a strange thought that I might someday want to watch movies on a tiny 1" screen. Beyond the appearance, I can think of no way to make a worse mp3 player. My basis for comparison is my Creative Zen Micro from 2005, and honestly, with exception to the screen and capacity, it wins hands down.
Honestly, you've got a pretty basic mp3 player here, but there are a couple of things that make it absolutely worthless.
The iriver LPlayer arranges your tracks alphabetically. Want to listen to an album in its proper order? Unless you stick track numbers (01, 02, 03,...) at the start of the file name, you won't be able to. I can't tell you how infuriating this is given iriver has had all the time in the world to fix such a little things. EVERY OTHER MP3 PLAYER ON THE MARKET READS ID3 TAGS PROPERLY. (ID3 tags carry information in the mp3 file that tells artist, album, etc.) There is absolutely no excuse for this, and it's a pretty clear sign that iriver doesn't listen to their customers at all. (I've emailed them on this issue to no avail.)
The next two things are not as infuriating, but still quite vexing. There is no gapless playback, and, at least with the latest firmware, iriver seems to think they can "fix" this by making fade-ins and fade-outs universal. Despite there being an option to turn fading on/off in the options, the option does nothing. And then second, the music quality is only average. If you have high-quality mp3 tracks, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, etc., and a great pair of headphones, you won't be getting anything extra out of your music.
If you want a pint-sized, cheap mp3 player, the SanDisk(R) Sansa(R) Clip+ 8GB MP3 Player (Black) is hands down my recommendation. The LPlayer simply doesn't belong in this generation of mp3 players.
UPDATE, 1/15/10: Not that I use my Lplayer any more than once in a blue moon, but there is still no firmware upgrade to fix the file organization. Even at $50, no one should ever buy this thing.

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1. Very sleek, sophisticated style & design and packed with great extrasLplayer comes with intuitive iriver D-Click System, 262K Color 2.0" TFT LCD with colorful GUI, , FM radio with FM recording, Voice Recording,Photo Viewer, andText Viewer. It natively supports OGG, FLAC audio file- both lossless file formats and most popular video formats.2. Intuitive iriver D-Click SystemLplayer also ensures comfortable usage with ‘iriver D-Click System,' which is operated by clicking the screen in the four directions, and UI (User Interface) that is intuitive and easy to control. Take original pleasure in the D-Click system exclusively for iriver that you cannot experience in other products.3. 2.0 inch Multi A/V PlayerLplayer features a 2.0 inch 262k TFT LCD color display at 320 x 240 resolution, FM radio with recording, voice recording, audio playback support for MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF and FLAC, support for MPEG-4, WMV9 and XviD video formats maximizing portability with its most enhanced moving image playing function of 30 frames per second.4. Multiplayer LplayerLplayer, the multiplayer allowing a collection of function, offers various entertainment options such as moving image, FM radio, voice recorder, image, and text viewer as well as mp3 playing. In particular, Lplayer is a moving image player maximizing portability with its most enhanced moving image playing function of 30 frames per second. a. MUSIC filesLplayer supports most popular audio formats MP3, WAV, WMA, and OGG and FLAC – both lossless file formats. Providing abundant base and three-dimensional sounds with a 7-band custom EQ, SRS WOW HD.b. Video filesLplayer with TFT LCD (320 X 240) resolution supports Xvid, MPEG-4 SP and WMV9 SP of 30 frames per second. Thus, you can simply transform various moving picture files such as movies, music videos and animations to see on the vivid screen of Lplayer using iriverplus3.

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