iRiver iHP-120 - a blast from the past that still sounds as good today (Iriver H120 20 GB)

Member Name: turntableslave

Product:	Iriver H120 20 GB
Date:	20/05/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great sound quality, huge battery life, solid build and design

Disadvantages: Very old interface, lacking a lot of features taken for granted now (scroll wheel, wifi, video etc)

I have owned this player for over 5 years now, and what an absolute cracker it has been. Yes, in this day and age of video players, MP4, wifi etc it has fallen way behind the pack leaders, even from iRiver's own output, but the fact that it is still going strong 5 years later with a battery that lasts and lasts (and lasts) is real credit to the great design and build of this device.

I bought for its sound quality at the time and the fact that it played OGG, WMA etc in addition to MP3. Additionally, the iHP range had the much under-rated optical in and out jacks (where have they gone from this generation's iPods and the like?!)

As I said earlier, the battery lasts forever and the drag and drop nature of the folder structure was such a blessing then and now.. having battled through Creative's file manager and the early incarnations of iTunes at the time, the fact that files and folders just appeared as standard Windows folder structure to drag and drop files on the iRiver meant that it was always easy to use.

The player also features an excellent recording function, although it doesn't allow you to record directly from the in-built radio, which was a little disappointing in the days before podcasts became all the rage.

So what's missing? Well, a lot of the stuff that you would expect from the current generation of MP3 players e.g. it has no video playback, not even a colour screen! The control joystick would probably seem a bit fiddly to someone who is used to using the big, friendly Apple scroll wheel and the player itself is obviously a lot bigger than the tiny devices you can buy now. On the plus side, you're not going to lose it in your coat pocket any time soon!

In summary, if you can still find one for sale and you want a solid, reliable MP3 (and more) player with great quality sound then you could pick a lot worse than this. I think I will hold a little funeral service when mine eventually shuffles off to silicon heaven!

Summary: It's an oldie, but definitely a goodie

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