Overall, the H320 is a fast, long-lasting player, with a real pretty face. Even Yoda would love it.  It does not feel like a cheap knock-off and seems as solid as a brick. Nor does it sound cheap: it produces smooth and vibrant music.  The one feature that does it for me is the recording capability. This immediately makes it a better value than just about anything else on the market. Oh, and then there is the picture viewer, the radio, and the text. With the right cajones, you can even get the H320 to play videos.  Now that's upgradeability!

There are just a few shortcomings with the H320. The quirky UI, which it inherited from the H120, will make you dive headlong into the manual. I hadn't done that in years. I also wish the firmware came with a playlist feature.  That would be real nice, but probably not possible without using WMP10 or WinAMP. The very stiff buttons do not help its case either. You also don't get the nice feature of being able to listen to music while browsing photos. This also means that you don't get pictures of albums of the songs you're listening to. More aggravating is that you can't zoom into larger pictures when you want to show your friends the $10,000 kimono your bride was wearing. The last little dink is the gapless playback, which it can't really do. It can take a very long time to switch from song to song.

When you pick up a H320 and fondle it, there is no mistaking it for anything else. It really is a lovely design. But an iPod it isn't, and it is the software that makes the difference. But because the hardware has so many features, the H320 is still competitive. For those who like to geek, the H320 is built for you.  For those who want to record their students trying to play a riff for torturing learning purposes, the H320 is perfect. But I wouldn't want to get one for my mom. Even WMP10 would be too difficult for her to use (sorry Mum!).  For those who can't handle all the freedom that the H320 offers, well, the choice is already made for you.

H320 is the last of iRiver's free players in the US.  I don't mean free as in how much it costs, but free in that it isn't tied to a particular piece of software on your computer. DRM is coming, and there's not much we can do to stop it.  For the future, tying to WMP 10 is probably a smart move for iRiver. I believe that MS will do the right thing (I may eat crow), and DRM won't be such a big deal.  I just wish WMP10 wasn't so dorky to use. For DRM to be successful (and we all want that, right?) it just has to work, without being too limited or proprietary.  Until then, there's the H320.

The Good

• Great color screen
• Plays MP3, OGG, & WMA
• Optional DRM
• Records!
• Pictures!
• Sounds good
• Upgradeable in firmware

The Bad

• Doesn't play WAV
• Doesn't record WAV
• Tricky UI
• Won't play while browsing pictures
• USB 1.1 for sync

Stuff That Is Always At the End

Thanks go to Hilbert, the Neo of our time, and to my cat, KiKi, for keeping me from working too hard.

Links:

http://www.iriveramerica.com

http://www.misticriver.net

http://www.ipodlounge.com/

http://nist.time.gov

http://www.misticriver.net/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=82&daysprune=-1&order=desc&sort=views

http://www.drmwatch.com/

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa534.pdf

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

http://lame.sourceforge.net/

http://www.mjg.net/fiveo/

http://perlmonks.thepen.com/162190.html

http://www.npr.org/

Our moment of Zen:

BAM

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