When buying a non-Ipod device, there are certain things I look for in a portable music player:
- Syncs with Windows Media Player
- Plays Windows Media DRM encrypted files (yeah, I own a few)
- Has a standard mini USB 2.0 socket for charging and transfer (hell, I’ll settle for 1.1)
- Doesn’t require loads of custom software to work properly
That’s my list. So far, just about every device I’ve tried has been wanting in some key way.
My girlfriend doesn’t have such a list. She bought an E10 on the recommendation of a sales guy that said it was a “Flash player” – it’s not, it’s a microdrive player that has Macromedia Flash installed. Great.
My near-rabid frothing at the mouth convinced her to keep it, to prove that I was wrong and it wasn’t a horrible and random purchasing mistake on her part. Cow. But of course, when it breaks or screws up or is generally crappy and unusable, it’s not her that has to fix it. Ohhhh, no.
On its own, the Iriver E10 is probably a competent mass storage device that happens to be able to play media files, if you don’t mind a file browser interface.
But as a music player, and as part of the overall Iriver experience/package, it’s a piece of the warmest, steamiest, most unadulterated crap you’ll ever find anywhere. You just won’t find out until after you’ve bought it, so don’t.
Why does The Iriver Experience Suck So Much?
Syncs with Windows Media Player: No
First cab off the rank, and it’s already a killer. No Media Player integration. Crappy app required for song, playlist and artist management.
I decided I’d try to rectify this- and I’d try a web search to kick off with. Well, not much around the net on the E10, so let’s go to the manufacturer’s website.
In no small part, the Iriver website is so poor it’s practically unusable. First impressions are positive, with lots of animation and fly-out things, but you quickly realize that these are pretty much the only effort expended on the site, and they’re Flash-based, making tabbed browsing hard-to-impossible. And there seem to be generic tutorials for devices that probably aren’t sold any more linked right off the top page of the site. For God’s sake Iriver, please just implement the site in real HTML, and then try to make the smallest sections possible pretty with Flash.
Once you’ve got a couple of independently-navigated browsers open to the Iriver site, you try to search for something you’re interested in: say, E10 Windows Media Player.
Nothing. Sod all.
If you painstakingly work your way through the cumbersome search interface, you’re eventually left with a list of one thing – “product manual” available. Nothing about how you’re supposed to sync the device with Windows Media Player. No firmware options at all. Reading widely in the torturous forum, you get the impression you’re after something called MTP, for which firmware seems to exist for every other Iriver device but yours.
The forum requires registration, doesn’t offer RSS feeds, looks to have a near-zero useful response rate, and bluntly: fuck that.
So we’re going to have to install the Itunes-y Iriver Plus2, which is pointless because I’ve already got Media Player and Media Center and Itunes installed, and I don’t need another goddamn music management application for a specific device. I will be watching it like a hawk.
Plays Windows Media DRM Files: Who knows?
I would bet vast sums of money on “no”, because WMP doesn’t even consider it a real device.
Has a Standard Mini USB Connector: No
The little bastard has a proprietary flat-and-wide-something-to-USB cable. It comes with one cable. Lose the cable, you’re screwed. Just hanging around at a friend’s house and need a charge? Can’t do it without the cable.
Why anyone would put a non-standard USB socket in a device this size is just beyond me. It boggles the mind. You have a universal standard that can be used with anything, and instead you slap a proprietary interface on it that makes it no good to anyone. Come ON!
Doesn’t Require Loads Of Custom Software To Work Properly: No
Perhaps not quite the vehement “no” of the others, but the fact is that it doesn’t work properly (eg, you can’t sort by artist or album or playlist) unless you install The Crappy Software.
Conclusion
I really hope that it fails within the week and we can take it back. In my humble opinion, it’s a lemon.
I guess you meant to say “being able to play DRM files is NOT a big factor”, but either way, I don’t dig ipods.
I was flying to the US on United recently, and because their in-flight entertainment systems are still from the 1980s, I picked up a new iRiver device recently.
It wasn’t an E10… it was a Clix. And it’s fantastic!
iRiver E10, Owns you all, GG
i’d just like to say to the fucking wanker who wrote the review, DO SOME STUDY BEFORE YOU RIGHT A REVIEW, to all you people who are warried about the e10 not being able to sync with wmp (windows media player) it does and you dont need some crappy app (which is soooo easy to use) to make it work and this media player is the fuckin bomb digity
THANX FOR LISTNIN
YEAH DARCY I WILL STUDY BEFORE I RIGHT A REVIEW YOUR SO WRITE.
Welcome to the top of the pillock pile for this month, you idiot.
Howdy all, (e10 owner but i’ll try to be unbiased unlike someone else…)
First of all, yay… so it doesn’t work with Media Player… I mean, it’s not rocket science to use the iRiver program, it’s just click and drag. Personally, i’m not all that fussed (actually, i don’t even like Media Player… i play CDs on my hifi when i’m at home… yeah, that’s right, buying stuff). I use my MP3 player for MUSIC, not sit around on a pc playing with files on a program. Anyway, I’d say i spend less than 1% of the time i use the thing putting songs on it. The other 99% involves me listening to my songs with great sound quality (which you neglected to mention).
As for the “review”, nice try but poorly executed. Most of it is one sided, whereas good reviews usually try to remain passive until the time comes for the writer to give his/her opinion. Although you do highlight some of the negative aspects of the e10, you fail to mention their significance when compared to what it’s been designed to do. For example, so what if it doesn’t play certain formats? Use a different one – there are many to choose from. It plays MP3s, i mean, it IS an MP3 player, why not use that format? Geez…
Yes, i am an e10 owner, but i didn’t do it on a whim. I did my research, i suggest you do the same before you write another useless review.
And all i have to say about your girlfriend is that she’s pretty lucky to have stumbled onto something that was actually pretty good, considering the amount of crap MP3 players that the salesman could have flogged to her instead. Good for her i’d say.
P.S. Calling your girlfriend “retarded” anonymously on the internet? Lack of respect dude… lack of respect.
Wow! Unbiased!? “Good reviews”!? Not calling my (anonymous) girlfriend thick!?
Where the hell do you think you are, CNet?
You’re at a site called Pinkjoint. Surely the name screams “lack of credibility” on its own? I’m very comfortable with my ridiculously poorly considered position. And abuse of commenters.
This is, after all, a blog. An opinion site. No warranty offered, no offense spared.
This isn’t a review, it’s a rant! Do you understand the difference? I don’t *have* to consider the positive points about the device, all I am interested in doing is telling Iriver (and to a lesser extent the viewing public) why it’s a piece of crap in my opinion: Fuck sound quality – it might let you communicate with God for all I care; the stuff I listed was a deal-breaker for me at the time. You seem to be interested in retroactive purchase justification, which suggests a weak consitution and great personal angst over what others think of your toys.
What you’ve done here is to try to poo-poo my opinions on why I hate it, then comment on what you wanted to see – which if I cared would be useful feedback – only I don’t care. I think it’s shitty. I will never buy one.
You, for some reason do care, even though you’ve already bought one, and you want others to share your opinion. Otherwise, you wouldn’t bother commenting that I didn’t talk about the bits you wanted to talk about. The positive, perhaps even slightly redeeming characteristics. I don’t care!
So Wegone, you want to come into my house and then bitch about my furniture? Bring it!
I am SpongBo’s girlfriend and I don’t mind that he called me retarded in his story. With a cock that massive, he can say whatever he wants.
Come back salmon!
Does any one have a LG phone? Cos I have found that plug for the e10 fits my LG phone and vice-versa… anyway I just wanted to check…. I think my phone is a LG u880.
p.s. e10 rox
Spongey guy i agree with you i throught my iriver was the best thing ever but guess what its shit its self first it started doin its freezing thingy so it went flat after about an hour of freezing so i put it on charge cause it was flat and when i tool it off all that comes up is a grey screen now so what the fuck has happened how do i fix it please help peoples.
Thnx much appreciated.
i’ve found this site very helpful, and mildly entertaining. i’ve had my complaints about the e10, of course. but i just want to be able to use what i paid for. so if someone could please help me.
i want to delete music listed on my E10. I’ve already deleted the file from my computer and even from the Iriver Plus 3 program. but it remains listed on my device. i know the file isn’t actually there because i can’t play it if i try. its not a big deal but i’m a little OCD and i hate to see something listed on my player that i don’t use or that isn’t even there!
thanks again for the help you’ve already given me, like how to put videos on and stuff. i hope someone can help!
Pity there’s no “mildly approve” comment button. So I’ll just approve it anyway, and let the angry defensive mob sort you out.
AHH HOW DO U PUT VIDEOS ON IT THERE IS NOTHING THAT SAYS VIDEOS ANYWHERE FUCKIN
I love the iriver E10! I run Linux (Ubuntu), and the E10 has awesomely fast drag’n’drop (although it is using a proprietary cable), easy to navigate, great battery life (around 25 hours – less than the 30 claimed by the manufacturer, but still good), has a hard drive so if you listen to a lot of podcasts you don’t have to worry about wearing out flash memory,and most importantly – it works with Linux. Can’t say that about many mp3 players. And with Easypmp, you can update and change the onboard database, so you don’t have to run the crappy software that comes with it.
So if you think that itunes and windows media player both suck this is for you.
As far as freezing goes, just hit the reset button on the side. It’s what its there for. RTFM?
haha you people arent very nice to your girlfriends are you. anyway this comment should kind of fit… things i hate about my e10: 1: wht ever happened to good old drag and drop, its not like these files need to be converted or anything! 2: why even have movies on here when you have to go through all fo this crap to get them on, shame on you iriver. and finally 3: the universal remote… i dont know if its just my e10 but whenever i change channels to 2 or 4 it dosent change chanels, it just turns onand off the tv! funny never the less, there was a guy playing the demo playstation 3 and i turned it on and off etc. haha he ran like a litle coward when the thought he just ruined the stores $1000 console hahaha good times. but it still mutes, and you can turn up and down the volume and turn it on/off with the power button. my final statement is, if you have ever owned a crappy, bullcrap asian wholesale 256mb mp3 player, like me, you will be highly impressed with this!
yer ive had the E10 for a couple of weeks, fairly dissapointed with it all but for the price it was a steal.
My belief is they should bring out the old ipod minis but in colour and they do videos as well, kinda like the e10, but with the best parts from both the old mini and the e10, i would still b using my old mini cept i fkd it putting a new battery in, damn those thngs were nice and invincable.
Has anyone come across the problem of songs not playing in the order they’re in on the album?! Or am I just really dumb?!?! It really defeats the point of albums like Dark Side of the Moon!! Does anyone know what I’m doing wrong? i’ve tried changing the ‘order’ in the advanced settings to ascending/descending but still all my tunes play all jumbled up!
Please help me out guys.
I want to download iriver plus 3 software from the official site. I have an iriver U10 with me. Where do i find the serial number? as it is needed to download
1. How many characters make up the u10 serial number?
2. are they all digits? if so how many?
3. Is the serial number alpha numerical?
4. Is the serial number located on the back of the product?
Kindly answer these questions as that i can identify the serial number.
I have a 15 digit number at the back of my U10. I enter that with the email address, the download box appears and says 1% downloading, and then an error message, “your connection was reset”. I want to download plus 3 software. Please help
Spongbo,
R u sure you your Girl friend bought this or your boyfriend. You Wankstick homo
Do the security team at defence.gov.au know you’re using their computers to post hate speech? Just wondering…
iriver e10 has some qualities, but has some bad things
i had brought mine for two months and i found out that i had a connection prob
it says on my e10 is connected but i can’t access it from my comp
Anyone who noe help me pls!!!!!
the e10 does work with windows media music file types
themes can be found in mysticriver and such sites, also ready formatted mp4 clips as well (anyone herd of google?)
one point i do agree on is that the official iriver site is no help at all, better off checking out the forums
i strongly disagree with the point to sync with windows media, windows media is just crap (honestly i dont find the need all that strong in using windows media player, its normally my last resort)
i dont think there is any major fault with the e10
windows media player has always pissed me off, i use it now and then but its not as good, its b-grade
i suppose the iriver plus software is a bit daft, confusing at first, but a challenge only to the beginners (not to mention idiots who cannot operate a computer to a certain extent)
i wouldnt really say e10 is bad or extremely good
but the remote control fucking rocks ass as a prank
i’ve had it for a while and am quite satisfied, i rate it 75% to 85%
trying to be unbiased but i think i basically failed
but i do agree strongly this is not a review but more of a rant
Hi,
Spongbo, I agree with your criteria for a good player, and that the E10 is severely lacking in some ways. However, once you’ve dealt with the proprietary cable and software, it is actually an OK player. It has excellent sound quality, a not-too-bad menu interface, and can play videos, Flash content, Flash games etc.
It is because of these features that I persevered with it, and I want to share my tips for getting around the software issues:
1. DON’T bother with the bundled software, iRiver Plus, it is a piece of crap. Also, DON’T expect any help or support from the iRiver website (unless you can read Korean, and I’m still doubtful you will find any help). Instead, be thankful for the open-source community, who have created software to do everything you need.
2. Video – IRIVERTER. This great, free piece of software is simple to use, small and works perfectly – everything iRiver’s software isn’t. It will convert almost any video file to the format that most iRiver players need. It will even extract a full DVD movie, from a disc and reduce the filesize to 100mb or so. All you have to do then is copy the result .avi file into the E10’s Video folder, and it shows up in the “Video” menu on the device. See Jesse’s post above for how to set it up, because it doesn’t come with E10 support, however it is very easy. Also see http://iriverter.thestaticvoid.org/.
3. Music Transfer – EasyPMP (also free, open source). This software rebuilds the library on the device, so that you can access your music with the Artist/Album/Genre menus instead of having to go to Browse Device. The beauty of this software is that you can copy your music files to the device whichever way you want. You can use Explorer and just drag and drop, or if you actually like a “Media Center”-type interface you can try Microsoft’s free SyncToy. The point is, you can do away with iRiver Plus completely, just copy your music the old-fashioned way, and then run this program. Download it at http://pmplib.sourceforge.net/. There is a good tutorial on this site which shows you how to use it, but it is fairly easy.
4. Every thing else – for flash games, themes, pictures etc. just drag and drop in explorer.
I don’t know about DRM files because I don’t have any, and as far as I know you still can’t use it with Windows Media Player (although some commenters have said that it does). However, DRM and MTP etc. are proprietary and also a load of crap in my opinion. The way I have said does require you to install some custom software, but both pieces are small and fast, (together they are only 1mb or so), and don’t require installation.
Hope this is helpful.
If you cant figure out how to put music on an E10 then you shouldn’t have one.
You don’t even need to install the program that comes with it to put music on it. Copy music from your computer folder and paste it into the music folder on the mp3 player. Done.
Browse the device to play the music and your all set.
No need for anymore bullshit programs on your pc. (You can put WMP on that list of bullshit programs too.)
The E10 kicks ass.
I have an Iriver E10, I would like to know how to get what looks like a ghost file off it. (title of song remains on the e10, but no music file). It spends a long time flicking through the empty file titles before it gets to the new music I have put on there. I do not have the software that came with it.
Please, no abuse required, just answers….Please.
got a e10
to tell you the truth it is $#@%
two computers and one laptop and the e10 all come up as : unknown device
im ready to smash it up
Have a bitch why don’t you? I love my E10, it’s really an excellent player. Plus it outlasts the crappy ipod by miles. If you don’t like installing programs on your computer for specific devices then why install itunes? It’s quite evident to me and a host of other people that iriver is much better than an ipod. Plus, who gives about the website? Aren’t you meant to be complaining about the player or your ‘slightly-retarded’ girlfriend? If she’s that retarded then dump her.
Most of us disagree because you’re picky and can’t make a good point. So when you call us imbeciles, take a look in the mirror, dumb fuck.
If you’re after a mindless bitch about poorly constructed music products, then bitch about the ipod company and their product. Not a perfectly good player which works fine and doesn’t break a year after it’s bought.
Stop wasting your time.
Jessica, I defer to your obvious wonderfulness.
The Ipod perfectly meets all of my criteria and *that’s* why I was singing its praises.
Oh, wait – I wasn’t!
If I’m a dumbfuck that can’t make a point, how dumbfucked does that make you to respond to a point I didn’t even make!?
Love your work!
I’m glad you like your E10. I don’t. I like my Clix.
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING youre comparing it to the ipod which can only be synced with I tunes its much simpiler as you can just drag and drop files the cord i agree that is a bit strange the itunes products al ways pop up on your screen where the iriver dosnt advertise everything yesterday i put a whole movie on it my iriver has NEVER EVER mucked up so i rekon maby u SHOULD DO A LITTLE MORE RESEARCH
Hey SpongBo, I really agree with you your specifications make it a horrible device. I have to say though, you should do some more research before you buy any device. I’ve been using the E10 for a little over a year now, I run linux and almost all of my music library are ogg files, I used the H10 for a few years before the E10 and in my opinion you chose the wrong player. I’m glad it looks like you were able to return it, I hope you take my advice and do some research if you do decide to buy a smart phone. I’m enjoying the look of the new hTC Touch pro, you should take a look. I’ll probably be getting it if the North American version comes out with 3G…
Hey Guys,
How do you get the universal remote working on the e10 and how do you know which tv’s its compatible for? is it on their website?
Thx
the e10 is a load of crap i bought one and when i try to sync some songs in it comes with errors theres no point buying it ur better off buying a ipod instead
Yeah, I agree with you there mate. My E10’s screen goes really bright all the time so I’m forced to use a dark background. I need to freaking download a program to watch videos, what is this crap? And the random freezing is stupid as well.
The E10 is a horrible excuse for an MP3 player, its only upsides and reasons why I would use it over any other player is the FM Radio, and the ability to set my own background (which is pointless because the screen goes bright).
It’s not all that bad-I use it with a Mac (mainly for photo and video transfers)-but I use it with iRiver plus 3.5.7 on my PC which seems to be more easier use to use than v2.