iRiver IFP-890 any good for recording?

[FX]

I'd figured I'd throw this question out there:

Is the iRiver IFP-890 any good for recording? Anyone have any experience with it?

I noticed you can get this 256MB mp3 player/recorder for very cheap on ebay.

[Craig]

The short answer to your question is yes, the iRiver 700 and 800 series are well-loved by podcasters for portable recording (and even studio recording). The long answer is to use the forum search feature for "iriver" ... you'll find plenty to read up on!

Craig

[audiocollective]

it rocks!

[Craig]

It rocks!
That would, of course, be the much shorter answer.

Craig

[kickasspodcast]

Does anyone know if there are any nice IFP900 series or better (maybe the 999) that feature the same recording abilities as the IFP 799 that we have now?
Thanks for the help.


The 850 is supposed to be good, but 256MB is unacceptable for our usage. Especially with their disclaimer

**1MB equals 1 million bytes, not all memory space available for file storage. Actual accessories and product color may differ from photos. *Hours of music storage determined using Windows Media encoded at 64kbps.

1GIG IFP799's sell for $150 (which includes shipping) on newegg and on other sites. Best of luck- because we have had no probs with our iriver.

But if anyone knows of the "High End" irivers that can do the same things (for podcasting) as the 799 that would be great- Like IFP799 only maybe the 899 or 999 or nicer- I wanna try and get the nicest Iriver that will allow us to record as we do with our 799.

Except for looks I cant even tell the difference between the 899 and 799.

Like what is your Dream iriver? Is it the H340?
Thanks alot-

Jack

Can you tell I am getting married and am trying to figure out what to ask for?

[SFEley]

That's an interesting question. Unfortunately, I don't have a solid answer; I went Googling a few days on "iRiver 799 vs. 899" but found nothing useful. If anyone's done an actual sound test on the recording features of the various iRiver devices I haven't been able to find it.

Just from reading reviews I know that the 89x is supposed to have a somewhat better interface than the 79x. It also has optional firmware allowing it to be mounted like a plain old USB drive, so you aren't stuck using iRiver's software. (I don't know if the 79x offers that or not.) Otherwise I'm not aware of any differences.

The 99x series has a color screen, of course, and the 109x has a color screen and a crappy camera. ("0.3 megapixel" means the pictures would look horrible on any screen bigger than an inch.) Both of them also use built-in LiIon batteries instead of AAs, and iRiver's support boards have some questions about the 9xx's battery wearing out quickly.

Again, though, if any of these have better voice recording I haven't heard about it. This may mean that the differences aren't dramatic enough for anyone to think it's worth the upgrade; or maybe it just means that nobody's bothered to get two of them to compare.

That's all I know from research. I don't actually own any of these. I did the research because I was thinking about picking up a cheap iRiver for beercast recording & a backup recorder in case my computer crashes. The 890 is running on Ebay for about fifty bucks. (And since I'd only be recording on it, 256MB would be plenty.)

And FWIW, I've heard your podcast, and I'm actually quite impressed that you've got all of that going on with just an iRiver and a couple of splitters. Your sound quality's good enough that I wouldn't have guessed.

[dmgm01]

I was curios about this as well so I called iRiver directly and they told me the only difference between the 700 and 800 series is cosmetic and the only difference between the 900 series and the 700/800 series is the color display.

[jeffoest]

I thought I heard (maybe Craig?) that the 800 series was specially made for distirbution through "Best Buy" but, of course as stated, was the same machine as the 700 series. Offhand I'm not sure I see the marketing benefit of this vs. the additional back-office inventory issues, etc... but I'm sure there's some reason they did it that way....

[SFEley]

I thought I heard (maybe Craig?) that the 800 series was specially made for distirbution through "Best Buy" but, of course as stated, was the same machine as the 700 series. Offhand I'm not sure I see the marketing benefit of this vs. the additional back-office inventory issues, etc... but I'm sure there's some reason they did it that way....
Well, for one thing, any time you increase a model number, people believe automatically that the new one has to be improved, and may be willing to pay a bit more for it. >8->

[jeffoest]

Yea, fair point. Of course it does sort of cannibalize their other channels. But maybe they do most of their business through Best Buy.

[kickasspodcast]

50 bucks for an 850!??! Wow, It would be hard not to buy that.

Thanks for the info, Its nice to know I am not the only one who can't seem to tell much of a difference between the 799 and 899. I really love the AA battery feature of the 800s & 700s and with those darn propietary batteries you just can't win. They seem to be getting better, but I would rue the day I had to buy a new one.

As for the sound on the cast, Thanks much! We were really were shocked at how good those cheap $20 radioshack combos sounded. Its nice to see reasonably good quality gear come way down in price. Hopefully it will sound better with a trusty mixer (espcially the GAIN knobs for overall sensitivity). And of course Nice Soundcare & Mic's. ;) The reason I keep posting that link to the picture of our 799 setup is because it does sound good enough to podcast and its price is about 200 bucks for everything- reasonably enough for the on-the-go podcaster.

I wish I knew which iRiver model had the jacks on the side instead of that cranky recessed style of the 799. I know there was another thread- but I can't recall which model had the nice design with the input jacks on the side where its nice and flat.

For us its hardest feeling spread thin and then noticing some of that even slightly affect our show. I mean it does take a ton of work to fully devolop your website, finally hammer out all the kinks and details to whatever Hardware setup(s) that you wanna use, figuring out how to get your show out there and advertise as well as coming up with good content for the show. The content is obviously really all that matters, but clearly there are other factors that must be addressed. (as if I need to tell anyone here that)

Just an insight on the overall, ongoing process we all equally deal with.

Thanks for the thoughts-

Jack

[Craig]

The 800 series was, as I understand, manufacturered for Best Buy. It is nothing more than the 700 series repackaged with some minor design changes, the most significant of which is the repositioning of the line/mic-in jack to the bottom of the unit, which is good or bad depending on how you look at it. I've also noticed that the control joystick is "softer" on the 800s, which makes it harder for me to control accurately when pressing. Personally I prefer the 700s.

Other than that, there is no difference that I'm aware of. I'm not sure what firmware they ship with but you can get the USB-drive firmware for the 700s as well. If you do, be forewarned that it limits the maximum recording quality settings.

As for price, the 800 series is generally slightly less expensive than the 700 series, not the other way around.

Craig

[kickasspodcast]

Ah.. so the 899 is the one to get then. At least for us, those pesky (1/4" > 1/8")adapters don't want to fit into the recessed part of the 799. It is totally nice of you to mention that the UMS firmware does limit recording quality. It should be noted at the whole UMS firmware upgrade can be really tricky if your not careful- Fosco tried to do it late and schwilly and he ended up with UMS firmware in Korean and couldn't change anything. And when you go to UMS you can't use the actual software (IMM) that comes with the device you bought. I am not sure why anyone would want to use UMS for their 799- (you can get a bigger thumb drive for much less)- But its nice that there is the option to do so because some people love it.

For those of you non-korean speaking people who (like us) tried out the UMS and hated it. All you have to do to fix it (which is tricky the 1st time) is download the original firmware from iriver and drop it into the root directory of the UMS while its attached via USB. Back up your data. Disconnect and then go to the onboard firmware upgrade selection on the actual device and upgrade the firmware. It will pick up the original in its Root and about 5 minutes later it will be back to the way you got it. I had to post this because it can seriously drive you nuts.

For everything iRiver of course to go:
http://www.misticriver.net/

Jack

[timtak]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but are these iriver 700 800 series still the only devices which allow the use of an external microphone?

They were great products.

I don't exactly podcast but I make audio for online learning, which comes to the same thing. I had an iriver ifp 899 but, while it stilll plays and records, the display malfunctioned gradually - losing bands of pixels - over the 3 years that I have used it. No complaints. It is a great device.

The subsequent iriver T10/20/30/40/50/60 do not allow microphones and towards the end of that series, the triangular ones, use AAA batteries. The clix(2) went the way of video. I don't know about other makers. I had a T10 but it was mike-less, and very sensitive to water, and died.

There are still a few iriver ifp 799's on the Japanese version of ebay (auctions.yahoo.co.jp) that can be had for about 60 USD and I am thinking of getting one.

I have read (both in the Amazon reviews, which are positive and legion, and in auction descriptions) that some people had problems with the side buttons on the 799. Particularly the mode/record, and occasionally the stop/play button ceases to function. I am not sure if this is a problem with the 899 too because there are fewer reviews. Mine does not have that problem. But it is a bit of a concern when thinking of purchasing a second hand unit. I have my eye on a 799 that has already had its buttons repaired.

The problem with built-in microphones is their lack of directionality. They provide good quality sound and sensitivity but they pick up too much background noise. If you want to record one voice then you need directionality or a sound proof/less environment. I guess that gradually directionality will be achieved digitally by processing the sound from one or more built in microphones but it had not happened yet. Directionality seems to require corporeality (a thing, that juts out, that has a casing or length).

Also, the ability to use AA batteries is still very attractive to me. These days AA rechargable batteries can be had for $1, so I can keep a stack of them charged and ready and not have to recharge devices. I can buy a battery anywhere when I am on the move. Lithium has a great capacity to size ratio, but standardisation has gone the way of the wind. I hope that one day there will be the lithium equivalent of the AA battery. Till then all my digital gear has its own battery, and I can't always afford to buy spares and seperate chargers.

I am an old geezer. Technology advances. Players play every audio and video format under the sun, have wonderous colourful, "organic", touch screens. They have interactive GUIS, and speak to you. But the technological advance also results in a loss of functionality.

I think there are two causal issues and both may be related to East Asian culture, wherein is produced all the best gear, and which are non-logo/phono-centric, of non-book, totem/idolatrous/mirror religions.
1) East Asians are not into the sound of their own voice Try and find a video camera that allows a microphone input and you face similar problems.
2) East Asians are into looks. Functionality that requires corporeality (a battery of a certain standard physical size, a directional microphone that must ex-ist, jut out, taking place in space) is not cool, looks-bad, bulky.

I wish that manufacturers would re-emphasise functions that put a burden upon corporeality (taking-place-in-space) of their products. Looking good and beng small is cool but, please give us microphone inputs and the ability to use standard batteries

Tim