Upside: A colour screen is always a bonus, especially if it doesn't hamper battery life. The H320 has a rated battery life of up to an impressive 16 hours; it'll be interesting to see the real-world figures. The player gives you a pleasing interface with a cool, info-packed screen, and you can view JPEG and BMP photos on it as well. The H320's body is simple, durable, and utilitarian, but its overall design is mundane. Features abound: you get an FM tuner, a built-in voice recorder, FM and line-in recording, and a line-out port. It's a phenomenal recording device, with numerous MP3 bit-rate settings and recording-level controls. It's one of the first non-PMC devices we've used to support MTP and Janus, which allow autosyncing with WMP 10.0 and subscription-based transfers to the device, respectively. These next-gen features are huge for the H320 as previous H-series models were incompatible with protected WMA files and included weak software. SRS WOW effects and compatibility with MP3, protected WMA, OGG, WAV, and ASF files round out the player's offerings.
Downside: While we appreciate the Explorer-style folder tree concept popularised by iRiver, it's not always the best way to find or play back music; an on-the-go playlist feature would help. The H320 measures only 104 x 61mm, but it's 23mm thick, and it's heavy at 187 grams. The control buttons could use some work; while they're easy to manipulate and are grouped close together, it's not immediately clear how to access and explore menus and secondary functions. Photos add a sublime touch to the user experience, but they load slowly, particularly those more than 1MB in size; iRiver is looking into automatic photo compression in WMP 10.0. The international version includes a shutterbug-friendly feature that allows you to connect many brands of digital cameras for transferring photos directly to the H320's hard drive. The U.S. version wil not support this useful trait. So far, our biggest complaint is that you can't view photos and listen to music simultaneously. The good news is that iRiver intends to add this vital feature in a future firmware update.
Outlook: Like the H100 series before it, the iRiver H320 is a formidable audio device with multiformat playback and solid recording abilities -- and a colour screen. It's thicker and heavier, though, and while many users will be interested in photo playback on what is primarily an audio device, smaller and even more feature-filled (albeit more expensive) products such as the Archos Gmini400 may outshine the H300-series players.
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ma audio
16/06/2008, 05:37 PM
rating
9/10
Highly cleared sound and best quality which brings this iriver machines for us. I like this compact designed mp3 player. Its storage is enough for me. I thanks to my aunt which gifted this gem.
Pros: Sound quality impressive.
Looks the goods.
Sturdy, difficult to damage.
A conversation starter.
Cons: Nothing.
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eruantien02
22/04/2008, 11:25 PM
rating
7/10
The H320, despite the cons below, is a fully loaded media player no matter how you look at it. Sadly mine is broken.
Pros: Great sound quality, strong bass
Sound recording ability
Radio
Accessibility
Rugged build-quality
Cons: Earphones not up to par
Quite large for an MP3 player
Expensive (video ipod was cheaper at release]
Low video quality
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srivats_n
20/01/2008, 12:09 PM
rating
10/10
I have had 2 ipods (4 gb and a 20 gb) before this iriver. iriver may not look as sleek as the ipod, but i guess performance is the biggest factor, atleast I believe so. I would recommend the iriver h320 to anyone who loves music and not so worried about looks (although I like it bulky, even my phone is blackberry)
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LAL
05/07/2007, 10:04 PM
rating
10/10
Worth every penny
Pros: Everything
Cons: Nothing
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15/09/2006, 09:44 AM
rating
10/10
Near perfect with Rockbox!
I was already happy with the iriver firmware, which worked great. About 3 months ago i installed Rockbox which adds features such as OTF playlists, album art and greatly improved while playing screen. This made an already great Mp3 player much better.
Rockbox in its present state is very stable and well worth installing.
I have used the video playback (10FPS divx) to watch a few TV shows, quality is ok but not that good compared to newer players.
There is also a voice recorder which i have used to record lectures and other entertaining things. Quality is great.
I have also used on numerous occasions the USB OTG to share Mp3's or project files to flash based devices.
I have seen this player on sale for $299AU and would highly recommend it.
Pros: In General: Audio quality, video playback, USB OTG to share Mp3's with friends, voice recorder.
With ROCKBOX: gapless playback, FLAC support, games, gameboy emulator, DOOM, OTF playlists, able to search for songs on device.
Cons: Customer support is non-existent
Rude staff lacking knowledge in Australia(more crkennedy's fault(AU distributor))
Small fault with LCD remote, No OTF in original firmware.
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06/09/2006, 02:18 PM
rating
10/10
Amazing Player hands down, everythings perfect
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rakhmathidayat
29/08/2006, 10:57 PM
rating
10/10
iriver H320 is Perfect M3
I have two H320, and only one word can express my proud to iRiver H320:
"H320 is Perfect MP3"
Pros: iriver H320 is great
Cons: nothing
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JPLvdM
22/08/2006, 03:57 AM
rating
8/10
It does it all
Pros: Audio quality, features, audio quality, decent line-in recording, audio quality, digital line out, audio quality, screen, audio quality. In other words, the best sounding portable device I've heard for ages
Cons: Bulky, NOT sexy, heavy.
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13/04/2006, 04:22 PM
IT S NOT THAT GOOD TOOO HEAVY AND CONFUSING
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asdfaer
04/04/2006, 06:37 PM
good good good
this iriver was the best thing i have ever bought it downloads photos from your digital camera directly,watch videos,heaps of quality music everyhing is perfect about this mp3/hdd.
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