iriver has launched three 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 T10 is the larger in shape and design (3.4 inches x 1.6 inches x 1.2 inches) than the T20 and T30 models and seems to have had the most thought put in to them. Reminiscent of the Chiba sports range from competitor Rio, the T10 doesn’t have the same rubberised edge to it or the same level of detail.
What it does have is a rather large clip on the end to attach to your belt or bag. It’s a nice idea, but one that makes the player considerably larger than it has to be.
Powered by one AA battery the music player can offer up to 1Gb of memory or according to iriver 34 hours of music (less than the 45 hours of playback iriver promises from one battery) for your MP3, WMA, OGG and ASF encoded tunes.
Buttons on the side and front allow easy access to the contents and everything is displayed on the rather tiny 1 inch 65K colour screen and the player supports the usual array of searching via artist, albums and genre.
Tracks can only be transferred to the T10 by using Microsoft’s Windows Media Player via the units USB2.0 connection. Windows Media Player, may be disliked by some, but we think this is one of the T10 saving graces as chances are, you already know how to use the software.
Compared with other MP3 players on the market, the T10 comes across considerably chunky and it looks like no effort has been made to reduce this unit in size. The design isn’t helped by the need to fit in a AA battery in the design and when compared to Apple’s iPod Shuffle - also 1Gb - you can’t seem to help wonder how iriver made this device so big.
Our quick take
The colour screen, 45 hour playback and support for Windows Media Player are the advantages here. The disadvantages are lack of Mac compatibility, the need to replace the AA battery every when it runs out of juice and the size of the unit for the memory allocation inside.
A fair stab, so to speak, but nothing to write home about.
iriver T10 MP3 player - 3.5 / 5
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To recap
A fair stab, but nothing to write home about