iriver has launched 3 new MP3 players that all sit in the same space. It’s a strange move as rather than offer different memory sizes or different features, they pretty much all offer the same thing: music on the go in a small package.

The T30, although current the highest T number isn’t top of the range. Coming in a completely different shape to the T10 and T20 it too offers 1Gb of storage to hold the same promise of 34 hours of tunes.

Lighter and smaller than the T10 (27 grams and dimensions of 2.4 inches x 1.2 inches x 1.9 inches) the T30 looks like a rectangle box with the edges slightly chiselled. To break up the monotony the player comes in a number of different colours - we tested the green one - and buttons have been positioned on the side and in such a way that you can’t see what they and see the monochrome screen with blue back light at the same time.

Powered by one AAA battery the music player strangely promises less playback time than the T10 even though the T30 doesn’t include the colour screen.

Like the T10 and T20 the unit supports MP3, WMA, OGG and ASF encoded tunes. This time you can simply transfer music tracks to and from the player as if it’s a removable drive, however the you have to do you own file management to make finding the tracks easier. Additionally the player cannot read the ID tags to tell you what track you are listening to.

Unlike the more expensive T10, the T30 does include a Line in option to transfer tracks directly to the MP3 player without the need for a computer. Likewise the player has a built in voice recorder.