IRiver iFP 899 MP3 Player (Product)

Some time ago, I purchased a 40GB Apple IPod. My original plan was to take it to work with me during the day so that I could listen to music and then use it at night to play audio books during my hour workout on the threadmill.

This never really worked out.

The IPod was heavy and a bit bulky for carrying around during the day and the built in battery would be pretty much discharged by the time that I arrived home, requiring me to recharge the unit before using it during my workout. I also worried that the jostling that occurred during day-to-day use might damage the hard drive. Given these factors I decided that the IPod would be retired from daytime use and only be used at night during my time on the treadmill. I lived with this arrangement for over a year, but recently decided it would be nice to have a second MP3 player to use during the day.

The first step was to decide which features were important to me. Here’s what I came up with :

1. Must be able to play MP3 and WMA files. Audio book format would be a plus but would not be a requirement because the primary use for this device was going to be music.

2. Light weight and small. I wanted something that I could carry with me at all times without feeling like carrying it was bogging me down.

3. No built in battery. Although a built in battery saves you money in the long run, you are limited to the number of hours you can play the device before you need to recharge it. In addition to this, if you go on a trip, you must take the bulky recharger with you. I wanted none of that this time. I wanted the unit to accept standard off the shelf batteries so that no matter where I was, I could just pop in a new battery and be ready to go.

4. Long battery life. To save money and to keep from constantly having to change batteries, I wanted something that had a fairly long battery life.

5. Flash based memory instead of a hard drive. I love my IPod and I certainly love the capacity of the unit, but I’m always worried that I’m going to damage the hard drive by accidentally dropping the unit. Since the new player was going to be a road warrior, I decided that a hard drive was not acceptable this time around.

After doing a bit of research, I finally decided on the IRiver iFP 899 and I’m really happy that I did. Here’s the low down on how it satisfies the features I required:

1. Support for MP3, WMA & OGG formats.

2. Small and lightweight Dimensions are 88.5mm x 36.2mm x 27.3mm with a weight of 40g.

3. Runs on a 1.5V AAA battery.

4. Battery life of 40 hrs!

5. 1GB of flash memory.

And all the bonus features that I never asked for but are very nice to have:

1. Built in FM radio with room for 20 preset stations.

2. USB 2.0 support for really fast downloads.

3. Recording capabilities. Can record built in radio, external devices using the line in jack, and also has built in microphone.

4. Built in alarm clock.

5. Ability to automatically record at a specific time and date.

6. Can be set to automatically turn itself off after a period of time.

7. Built in equalizer.

So far I love this unit. It works quite well and it sounds terrific. The only downside that I’ve found is that there are so many features packed into player that it is quite complex to control them all though the limited three button interface. More then once I’ve started recording from the radio and have had to figure out how to stop it. I also have accidentally erased all of the preset radio stations that I had spent some time setting up. I can’t really complain about this too much though, it’s an engineering trade off. To keep the unit small you need to limit the number of buttons and if your going to jam it with features, the process to control them all will end up being complex. I’m sure with enough practice, I’ll figure them all out and running the IRiver iFP 899 will become second nature.

If you’re looking for a flash based MP3 player, this unit is highly recommended.

9 out of 10 Stars

Posted by Al on 01/10/10 at 10:41 PM in Other