IRiver: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 02:48, 16 April 2007 editPgdn963 (talk \| contribs)356 edits This is NOT promotional. Someone may want this information.. and this hide URl is not AD BANEER. and According to wiki rule. there is NO rule 'no english URL must remove'.← Previous edit		Revision as of 02:51, 16 April 2007 edit undoNatalie Erin (talk \| contribs)23,772 editsm Reverted edits by Pgdn963 (talk) to last version by Natalie ErinNext edit →
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	===Other links===		===Other links===
	* - iriver Product announced at CES 2007
	* - Mediawiki based wiki for iriver products		* - Mediawiki based wiki for iriver products

Revision as of 02:51, 16 April 2007

File:IRiver logo.png

Current iriver logo

iriver (formerly iRiver) Co., Ltd. makes digital audio players and other portable products. They typically include USB mass storage, or the Media Transfer Protocol, multiple codecs, FM tuners, recording capabilities, and upgradeable firmware. Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, iriver is the consumer electronics marketing arm of ReignCom, a company founded in 1999 by seven former Samsung executives.

Currently, iriver is preparing its first digital audio players featuring Internet telephony.

Company Profile

File:Old river logo2.jpg

Previous iRiver logo

In 1999, Duk-Jun Yang and Rae-Hwan Lee left Samsung Electronics, along with five colleagues. They formed ReignCom, with Yang as CEO, originally as a semiconductor distributor, then decided to capitalize on the growing MP3 player market. They decided to outsource manufacturing to AV Chaseway, located in Shenzhen, China, and contract product design to INNO Design, an industrial design company in Palo Alto, CA, while keeping R&D in-house.

Their first iriver product was the iMP-100, a portable CD player capable of decoding MP3 data files on CDs, released in November, 2000. It and a later model, the iMP-250, were rebranded and sold by SonicBlue in the United States under the Rio Volt name. Iriver sold later models with its own SlimX brand, billing them as the thinnest MP3 CD players in the world, before jumping to other types of players. The company rose to the No. 1 position in the global market, before being displaced by the iPod's introduction.

In 2002, iriver scrambled to develop its first flash memory player to meet demand from the U.S. Best Buy chain. A year later, it was first to market with 512MB and 1GB players, and completed its IPO at KOSDAQ, a Korean stock exchange. By this time, the company was also selling hard drive players to compete with the iPod. It also used adult film star Jenna Jameson and an Audrey Hepburn lookalike as spokesmodels promoting its products.

iriver adopted a new marketing strategy in 2005, attempting to grab mindshare from Apple. It referred to the U10 flash player as the thumb thing. This referred to users controlling their MP3 devices with their thumbs, just as they do their cell phones and text messaging devices. It is worth noting that a significant portion of iriver's customer base were alienated by the company's new direction and range of products. This is shown by the grumblings of a large online audiophile community (misticriver.net) looking for H100/H300 HD player replacements, ensuring very low depreciation of these players value amongst power users and audio professionals.

iriver's U.S. unit, based in Vancouver, WA, held 3.4 percent of the U.S. MP3 player market in 2005, according to IDC. The company targets early adopters among American users as it tries to regain dominance of the category. It also opened sales divisions in Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong and Japan.

ReignCom announced in May, 2006 that it would adjust its focus toward handheld mobile gaming. It has also reported sluggish sales for its music player business, including a loss of 35.58 billion won (US$36.68 million) in 2005, compared with a net profit of 43.46 billion won in 2004. ReignCom also owns the Korean-language Yurion and Funcake entertainment services.

In its South Korean home market, iriver accounts for 50 percent of sales and the company has bought ads claiming its products are a symbol of patriotism. It also operates a small chain of iriver Zone stores, with locations in China, Japan and Korea. The Incheon International Airport shop features a large heart-shaped art piece, which represents the corporate "Heartbeat Philosophy" of "dedication to its customers."

Products

File:Iriverpockettv.jpg

Pocket DMB TV Player by iRiver

iriver's current products can all play MP3 and WMA audio files. Some units support viewing of text, Ogg Vorbis audio files, Macromedia Flash, and/or BMP files. The company also supports Microsoft PlaysForSure, which allows recent products to support subscription-based music download services, including URGE, Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo! Music Unlimited. It also lets users disable its DRM functionality.

A nearly unique feature of the newer iriver players is the direct MP3-recording capability with selectable bitrate of internal (FM, microphone) and external (line) sources.

Many players supports multilingual display in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. They support Winamp playlists and allow repeat, shuffle play, and programmable functions. Several preset and one user-defined EQ settings are included, plus a built-in FM tuner.

Most iriver players include a unique feature called study mode. Users can quickly jump back and forth within tracks by a certain time interval, set from three to 180 seconds in current models. The option was designed to help people listening to recorded language lessons. SonicBlue removed this feature from its Rio Volt models, causing some users to hack their players with iriver firmware from other regions.

Portable Music Players

File:H340.jpg

iriver H340

iriver makes Hard drive, Flash and portable media players. All hard drive and flash players play WMA, MP3, and OGG files and have FM tuners unless stated otherwise.

Hard disk based players

Current

E10: (6GB) Similar interface to that of the U10 series. The device also features a remote control for the U10's cradle and a TV. PlaysForSure and UMS are supported.

Discontinued

H10: (5 GB, 6 GB, 20 GB—except Asia), available in 4 different colors (red, blue, silver and grey), 16-bit color screen, can record from Radio, Internal Microphone (Voice) or Line-In (Line in only with extra cradle). The 5GB and 6GB models are around the size of the iPod mini and are composed mainly of aluminum. The navigation is done with a touchpad designed by iriver. These devices cannot play Ogg Vorbis files. PlaysForSure and UMS.
iHP-100 series: (10 GB, 15 GB, 20 GB, 40 GB) Voice, line in and FM recording. Optical in and out. Built in lithium-polymer battery. UMS. USB 2.0 connectivity.
H300 series: (20 GB, 40GB) PlaysForSure and UMS. Built in lithium-polymer battery. Transfer with certain Digital Cameras. Voice, line in and FM recording. Plays video with Korean firmware. USB 2.0 connectivity.
iGP-100 (1.5 GB) USB 2.0 connectivity. Plays only MP3 and WMA files. UMS. Built in lithium-ion battery.

Flash memory based players

Future

T50 and T60 Series: (512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB) triangular prism shaped, white, wma/mp3/ogg/wav files supported.

Current

T10 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, 2GB). Semi-prism shaped.
T30 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB). Prism shaped, PlaysForSure and UMS.
S10: (2 GB) Very small player, only 17.5g. Has OLED screen. Uses D-click control system. Built in lithium-polymer battery. UMS. USB 2.0 connectivity.
S7: (1 GB) Small, screenless version of S10.

Discontinued

T20 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB). USB-Stick design. Voice, line in and FM recording. Built in lithium-ion battery. PlaysForSure and UMS.
H10jr.: (512 MB, 1 GB). Smaller but same shape as H10. USB 2.0 connectivity. Voice and FM recording. Built in lithium-ion battery. PlaysForSure and UMS.
N10 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB) "Medallion-style" &mdash. worn hanging from the neck. USB 2.0 connectivity. UMS.
N11 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB) "Medallion-style" — worn hanging from the neck. Features longer battery life than N10. USB 2.0 connectivity. UMS. Built in lithium-ion battery. OLED Screen.
iFP-100 series: (32 MB, 64 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB) USB 1.1 connectivity. Plays only MP3 and WMA files. Prism shaped. UMS.
iFP-300 series: (64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB). Candy bar shaped. USB 2.0 connectivity. UMS. Voice, line in, and FM recording.
iFP-500 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB). Soap bar shaped. USB 1.1 connectivity. UMS. Built in lithium-ion battery. Voice, line in and FM recording.
iFP-700 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, 4 GB). Pendant shaped. USB 2.0 connectivity. UMS. Voice, line in and FM recording.
iFP-800 series: (128 MB, 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB). Prism Shaped with rounded edges. USB 2.0 connectivity. UMS. Voice, line in and FM recording.
iFP-900 series: (256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB) Soap bar shaped. Color 1.2" LCD display. Voice, line in and FM recording. USB 2.0 connectivity. UMS. Built in lithium-ion battery
iFP-1000 series: (256 MB, 512 MB). 0.3 megapixel digital camera built-in, prism shaped, color screen. USB 2.0 connectivity. UMS. Removable lithium-ion battery

"SlimX" sub-series: iMP-550, 450, 400, 350

European customers should be aware that several models are missing the FM Radio functionality available in other world markets.

Iriver's initially dropped UMS support for the U10, T30, T20 & T10 models in favor of Microsoft's MTP. The company later released an official that allows users to switch between the MTP and UMS interfaces (for some models except 256MB and 2GB ones).

Although the T10 2GB version distributed in the US and Canada does not officially support such firmware, the European version does. There is currently ongoing discussion on the to port this firmware for use on the US version.

Portable media players

Future

File:Iriver-u10.jpg

iriver MP3 Player Clix(U10)

W10 which is currently being developed will play digital music, video and games. A Wi-Fi connection allows for the use of wifi-based positioning software, and could possibly allow streaming of music and video from a Digital Download Service to the device. The W10 will be available in capacities of 2, 4 or 8GB of flash memory while maintaining a very small, slim form factor.. The W10 was introduced at the Consumer Electronic Show in 2007. It should be available in April of 2007.

File:Iriver clix2.jpg

iriver Clix2

File:IriverS10w1.jpg

iriver MP3 Player S10 in watch

File:IriverS10w2.png

iriver MP3 Player S10 in watch

Current

iriver Clix (2 GB, 4 GB flash), rebranded U10, currently iriver's flagship product; it weighs 2.5 ounces, boasts a 2.2-inch screen and can play music, video and games. Microsoft helped develop, test and market this player and specified upgrades to its chips and graphics engine.

The Clix supports Ogg Vorbis files.

iriver Clix2 (2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB flash): 2.2 inch-Active Matrix OLED Display, 30 fps movie, Adobe Flash Lite 2.1, Slimmer and lighter design, Advanced D-Click System, SRS WOW HD support, customizable User Interface. Released only in Korea so far, US release expected on April 11, 2007.
X20 Series: Portable video player (PVP) with a removable battery. Expandable with Micro SD cards

Discontinued

PMC Series: (20 GB,40 GB) ("Portable Media Center") running Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Center.
PMP Series: (20 GB, 40 GB) ("Portable Media Player") discontinued in favor of more expensive and less feature rich PMC series.

The U10 and Clix can also play Flash Lite 1.1 games in the .swf format.

File:Iriverbook2.jpg

iriver e-book reader Book2

Korea-only electronic dictionary player

D-10 (Dicple, which is a simplified character of dictionary & (mp3) player) This is an Electronic Dictionary featuring music playback. It is selling after 2004 Dec.
D-20 (Dicple α) This is also an Electronic Dictionary. Featuring an improved elegant design and a 4.3, 260000, TFT color screen supporting pictures and other features that a typical electronic dictionary does not. It is designed to mimic the look of a laptop at 176(W) x 81.9(D) x 26.7(H) mm and comes in glossy red or black. The device has a 22 hour battery life for browsing the dictionary and a 30 hour battery life for audio. It is selling after 2006 Jan.
D-25 (Dicple 51) This Electronic Dictionary features 4.3, 260,000, TFT color screen, 1.3gb flash memory. This device is also known as Dicple 51 due to its number of contents. It is selling after 2006 Aug.

Alternative firmware

The Rockbox-Project who wrote new GPLed firmware for some Archos-players have successfully ported the rockbox firmware to the H10, H100, and H300 series.

An official iriver Firmware Updater] allows users of U10, T30, T20 & T10 models to switch between UMS and MTP operation but the updater will only connect to the player from Windows XP SP1 or above.

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