A small, simple MP3 player from iRiver might just be the company's most attractive U.S. offering yet.
The iRiver E30, which just launched in the United States, is available in 4 GB or 8 GB capacities for $59 and $79, respectively. In addition to playing MP3 files, the E30 supports FLAC, WMA, WAV and APE for audio, plus SMV for video and JPG or BMP for photos. There's also an FM radio tuner and a digital voice recorder. SRS Labs' Wow HD processor enhances the audio.
The screen measures 1.8 inches, and the battery lasts an impressive 52 hours on audio playback. Dimensions are 3.5-by-1.53-by-0.3 inches, stacking up nicely against the iPod Nano's 3.6-by-1.5-by-0.24-inch figure. Seems like a nice holiday gift for someone who wants a simple MP3 player but doesn't need the Nano's video recording capabilities. The support for the lossless FLAC and WAV formats is a nice touch.
Last year, iRiver announced that it'd be aggressively pursuing the U.S. market with its media players, kicking things off with the E100. The E30 is essentially a smaller version, but with the same features and storage capacities for less money. No complaints there.
iRiver has high-end media players as well, such as the OLED touch screen Spinn and the LCD touch screen LPlayer (both of which happen to be dirt-cheap on Amazon right now, by the way), plus the fancy-looking P7. However, despite their classy designs, reviewers say the players aren't particularly easy to use. It's easy to see the iPod winning every time on that front, with more features for a similar cost.
With a simple MP3 player, however, there's less that can go wrong, and the price is attractive. I haven't seen any reviews yet, but the E30 looks like one to keep an eye on.
