iMP-1000 or iMP-1100: worth buying?

[adam917]

To anyone who owns these: are they worth buying if you have some previous iMP units? I like a colour screen on the main unit, but I'm used to a remote with a screen too now, like the iMP-250. Heck, I'd rather have the nice screen on a remote, but as I see this plays video too, it makes sense to have a bigger on-unit screen. How do videos look on this thing, though? Is the colour screen back-lit? And is this worth buying if you just will use it for audio and usually don't need a screen on the unit, but on a remote instead? If it's worth buying, how can I get it in the US? Thanks...

[topcar2000]

why bother with mp3 cd units? HDD players are pretty reliable now-a-days. and for not much more, you can store a heck of a lot

[FlameGrilled]

I'll tell you why compressed audio CDP's (MP3 CDP may be a convenient term, but it sidesteps the fact that most now support more than one codec, and some include video support) are still worth bothering with...

Say you are travelling...

A 20/40/60/80Gb HDD player may be able to contain a pretty damn massive proportion of a typical domestic music collection and have it on tap, but the HDD's mass storage is also it's not-always-traveller-friendly disadvantage.

A CD-ROM (700Mb, at ferk cost all per blank) can easily hold a pretty good selection of most-commonly-listened-to travel selection, and most CDP's (even those with gumstick main DC power source) can still be run off 1 or 2 AA's (depending on the make/model) in alkaline or rechargable form.

Given we are talking 60-130 hrs per charge (around 40-80 per pair of AA's) in compressed audio playback mode on such decks (the higher extreme of figures, is pretty exclusive to Sony units) on replaceable cells that cost ferk all (you can pay peanuts for a bulk pack of 12 Duracell AA's), that's more convenient to a traveller who's not overly able to rely on having an AC point on hand to use an CDP or HDD unit's charger with.

I've travelled, been 'out in the field' with no more than two or three CD-ROM's packed, and maybe one Audio CD album, and would pick the endurance factor and a decently compiled couple of CD-Rom's of favs over many Gb's of audio that i don't have time normally to listen to most of.

HDD's are less battery friendly, and it's battery friendlyness that counts for a lot for travelling.

Also, when it comes to security - noone takes a blind bit of notice of CDP's, where DAP's you mentally associate with computers (such as flash decks, in their resemblence to portable data keys, and HDD DAP's) are not always easily explained away as being harmless mere audio players. It's not a huge problem, in many cases, but simplicity is golden when travelling, and being able to not even need 'explain' something like that, is definately in your favour.

A closing note re CDP versions of MP3 decks - they can be purchased (here in the UK anyway) for upwards of about 45 UKP (at 45 UKP, less UDF reading capability, there is one that's pretty damn close to iMP-250/350 equvilence) and that's about 1/3rd of the cost of a HDD unit of decent capacity. Ask yourself this :-

If you were to get a deck ferked up, which would you prefer to bin, a sub-100 UKP CDP type and be able to still (with zero tools) rescue the content (aka the CD-ROM's), or a obviously ferked/not servicable multiple 100 UKP cost HDD that short of electronics assistance and poss data forensic methods, may mean a total loss of all content forever..??

For travelling, the CDP still justifies it's existance happily in the same way a MD unit stil is more than good as a subbie for a walkman.

[Astec]

While I accept the pros of a CDP deck have one on sale at the minute and its a trusty work horse. I dont accept the power side as we have proved that wrong with portable power packs. The particular model in question is 120pounds if my memory is correct about half of the cost of A h series. then there is the off setted problem of storage, CDs are not small, a cd box is a pain and if lost its a pain to re-rip them, loose one and there you have a problem again to work out what was on it.

Therefore I suggest the compromise of a Flash based player examples such as the Nex Ia have near limitless capacity taking flash cards and for the same price you could get a good 2gbs if not more with some searching, most cameras also use the medium too. These players also have huge battery lives and also are AA type or AAA.

In the end its the OPs decision but thats my 2 cents

[FlameGrilled]

Well, i don't see anyone else pointing to a 'mass storage' solution (and yes, CD-ROM goes qualify as 'mass storage') that can do 100+ hours on it's standard charge without extra powerpacks connected.

The D-NE1 did it's 130hrs max rating (which is internal cells only rating), and that was with mp3 playback (the official rating is based on 48K ATRAC3PLUS, which is less power impact intensive) - given sufficiently high cap ni-mh's, even the iMP's could (using favourable conditions) go close to that kinda distance (about 3/4 would be more sane expectation).

I was probably dead lucky to get that OTT performance out of my deck, then again.. i somehow seem to pick the ones that do go the distance and exceed the specs in many cases, but you'd need a pretty heavy duty ext pack to get a HDD unit to go a proportionally high distance endurance without relying on total use of high-cap rechargable packs.

As for 'CDs' taking up lots of space, far from it - if you know how to pack yer bags well when travelling, it simply aint a problem (you can easily carry them in card sleeves, to protect them and seriously reduce the risk of damage).

And the loss of a CD-ROM and it's content due to an accident - well, that's no different to an accident with an HDD - if it takes sufficient a blow to ferk up readbility of the HDD's contents, you gotta rework the content (oops, now where's that ferking computer i need... !!!!, when i'm in the back of nowhere) to get it back into working order again and hopefully you aint screwed up the content...

So ask far as risks go, a 20p blank CD and a short internet cafe session (lots do allow you to burn CD's in their facilities these days) to remake a 700mb content - vs whatever aggro to get the HDD and contents back into A1 operation again (you'd be on an internet connection a good while, expensive at internet cafe prices, to restore the better part or the whole of a large DAP HDD's contents from an online accessible backup).

I know which i'd pick still

[adam917]

Originally Posted by FlameGrilled

I'll tell you why compressed audio CDP's (MP3 CDP may be a convenient term, but it sidesteps the fact that most now support more than one codec, and some include video support) are still worth bothering with...

Say you are travelling...

A 20/40/60/80Gb HDD player may be able to contain a pretty damn massive proportion of a typical domestic music collection and have it on tap, but the HDD's mass storage is also it's not-always-traveller-friendly disadvantage.

A CD-ROM (700Mb, at ferk cost all per blank) can easily hold a pretty good selection of most-commonly-listened-to travel selection, and most CDP's (even those with gumstick main DC power source) can still be run off 1 or 2 AA's (depending on the make/model) in alkaline or rechargable form.

Given we are talking 60-130 hrs per charge (around 40-80 per pair of AA's) in compressed audio playback mode on such decks (the higher extreme of figures, is pretty exclusive to Sony units) on replaceable cells that cost ferk all (you can pay peanuts for a bulk pack of 12 Duracell AA's), that's more convenient to a traveller who's not overly able to rely on having an AC point on hand to use an CDP or HDD unit's charger with.

I've travelled, been 'out in the field' with no more than two or three CD-ROM's packed, and maybe one Audio CD album, and would pick the endurance factor and a decently compiled couple of CD-Rom's of favs over many Gb's of audio that i don't have time normally to listen to most of.

HDD's are less battery friendly, and it's battery friendlyness that counts for a lot for travelling.

Also, when it comes to security - noone takes a blind bit of notice of CDP's, where DAP's you mentally associate with computers (such as flash decks, in their resemblence to portable data keys, and HDD DAP's) are not always easily explained away as being harmless mere audio players. It's not a huge problem, in many cases, but simplicity is golden when travelling, and being able to not even need 'explain' something like that, is definately in your favour.

A closing note re CDP versions of MP3 decks - they can be purchased (here in the UK anyway) for upwards of about 45 UKP (at 45 UKP, less UDF reading capability, there is one that's pretty damn close to iMP-250/350 equvilence) and that's about 1/3rd of the cost of a HDD unit of decent capacity. Ask yourself this :-

If you were to get a deck ferked up, which would you prefer to bin, a sub-100 UKP CDP type and be able to still (with zero tools) rescue the content (aka the CD-ROM's), or a obviously ferked/not servicable multiple 100 UKP cost HDD that short of electronics assistance and poss data forensic methods, may mean a total loss of all content forever..??

For travelling, the CDP still justifies it's existance happily in the same way a MD unit stil is more than good as a subbie for a walkman.

You got it all exactly right. Plus, you can't buy music on the road and play it right away on an HDD player. You must copy it to a PC first then copy it to the device.

[adam917]

Originally Posted by Astec123

While I accept the pros of a CDP deck have one on sale at the minute and its a trusty work horse. I dont accept the power side as we have proved that wrong with portable power packs. The particular model in question is 120pounds if my memory is correct about half of the cost of A h series. then there is the off setted problem of storage, CDs are not small, a cd box is a pain and if lost its a pain to re-rip them, loose one and there you have a problem again to work out what was on it.

Therefore I suggest the compromise of a Flash based player examples such as the Nex Ia have near limitless capacity taking flash cards and for the same price you could get a good 2gbs if not more with some searching, most cameras also use the medium too. These players also have huge battery lives and also are AA type or AAA.

In the end its the OPs decision but thats my 2 cents

I was thinking of getting a flash-based player, but then decided against it because 1 GB is just too little (I'd prefer the iFP-1099 for its camera) to hold music & photos for a few days of non-stop listening (I'd rather have more on me than less, and 1 GB in just MP3 alone, at my most minimal settings with LAME (--alt-preset cbr 80), is still only about 32 hours). I can't see listening to just 32 hours of music on a 2-week holiday trip, no matter what kind of battery life, blah blah.

So CDs are best for me. Switchable content (discs) on-demand, can buy new music and play right away, AA-battery-usage (even though I always carry fully-charged 2500-mAh AAs anyway), sometimes an FM tuner (on the higher-end iMP-units), etc.

[Astec]

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/...roducts_id=220

I can also get cheap memory

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/comp...quicklinx=37RG
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/comp...quicklinx=3RYX
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/comp...quicklinx=37RD
You could easily get 3gbs if you look hard enough, all in all it would be smaller than the CD alternative, runs on AA batts and

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/comp...quicklinx=3GMH a 2gb card with change from 130

Having used a Nex I can say that compared to any CDP it has more versatility for the traveller, it takes knocks easier,no need for shock protection, better medium than both CD or hard drive. Overall a better option.

[FlameGrilled]

Staples, the uk outlet, were selling 2.2Gb CF Type II's (Microdrive HDD type, not large flash memory storage) for about 70 UKP for Sansdisk branded examples.

No point posting a link to their site, most of the content their real outlets sell aint listed on the website.

[FlameGrilled]

The only thing you should check for, in ANY CDP, over and above all the usual stuff, is to ensure it's fully CD-Extra/CD-Plus compliant for when you want to use Audio CD's.

CD-Extra/CD-Plus enhanced CD's, in essence, are like those old early game CD-ROMs where Track 1 was the data track, the audio tracks being Track 2 onwards.

In the case of CD-Extra/CD-Plus, the data track is the last track on the disc, and a compliant player (most worthy non-garbage CDP's) will discard the last track (aka Data track) - but in the old mixed mode method discs (track one being data) you'd often have to skip over the first track manually in less tolerant devices.

The reason i bring this up is :-

CD-Plus/CD-Extra discs (audio discs with extra data-stored content accessible by CD/DVD-ROM on computers usually) usually play fine in most decks that are not CD-Extra/Plus compliant, but the compliancy helps in the event you end up trying to play a Copy-Controlled CD.

Copy Controlled CD's, like is becoming more common, uses two sessions on a disc, the first session has audio tracks of 1-n as you'd expect and a data track like a CD-Extra/CD-Plus. Then it has a second recorded disc session, this is the bit where the 'copy control' extra of a on-disc media player component and other 'bits' is stored.

CD-Extra/CD-Plus compliant decks, like the iMP's, should be ok with CC-CD's - i'll whack one of my promo discs back into the iMP-250 when i get home, and remind myself if my 'off the top of my head' recollection is good still.

It was a long time ago, when 'copy control' efforts first started on Audio CD mastering, when i last tested the compatibility with the iMP-250.

[FlameGrilled]

Well, actually, it's not strictly true that you need a computer to get CD content onto a flash or HDD player, but clearly being able to temporarily use new content (in uncompressed commercial or home-made audio cd form) with tech hassles is better for simplicity.

If you could borrow use of a CD player, on your travels, and had a record capable HDD or Flash deck, you could connect line-out->line-in and real-time direct record... to mp3 commonly, and either record to one big complete disc mp3 track or manually play/record one track at a time.

But that's kinda adding a complication to the extent it's quicker to borrow a computer than go through that routine.

And since a traveller's friend is simplicity, that recording/encoding of new content is kinda stepping outside of the keep-it-simple ethic

[codemastaflex]

Originally Posted by adam917

To anyone who owns these: are they worth buying if you have some previous iMP units? I like a colour screen on the main unit, but I'm used to a remote with a screen too now, like the iMP-250. Heck, I'd rather have the nice screen on a remote, but as I see this plays video too, it makes sense to have a bigger on-unit screen. How do videos look on this thing, though? Is the colour screen back-lit? And is this worth buying if you just will use it for audio and usually don't need a screen on the unit, but on a remote instead? If it's worth buying, how can I get it in the US? Thanks...

Well, I ended up buying the imp-1100 because of the nice screen thats on it. If I wanted to, I could pick up a remote somewhere off of ebay. Not having a good remote is the only thing that is bad about having the imp-1100. If you want to save some money, and you only plan on watching divx movies on your television, I reccomend getting the imp-1000. It comes with a remote in box.

Unfortunatly the only way to get an imp-1/100 is to get one from a diffrent country, I got mine off of ebay for about $200 shipped from Australia. Then you are going to have to get a power converter to charge your imp -1/100or use your external battery pack for charges (which got expensive after buying batteries). You can pick up the AC adapter converters for $40 depending where you live at Radio Shack.

BTW: the imp-1/100 is really really picky about what it plays as divx video, so its a safe bet to convert all of your media using the iRiver Media Converter a very powerfull piece of software that will convert everything from mpeg, avi, asf, and .wmv to divx 5.

Hope this helps.

[adam917]

Originally Posted by codemastaflex

Well, I ended up buying the imp-1100 because of the nice screen thats on it. If I wanted to, I could pick up a remote somewhere off of ebay. Not having a good remote is the only thing that is bad about having the imp-1100. If you want to save some money, and you only plan on watching divx movies on your television, I reccomend getting the imp-1000. It comes with a remote in box.

Unfortunatly the only way to get an imp-1/100 is to get one from a diffrent country, I got mine off of ebay for about $200 shipped from Australia. Then you are going to have to get a power converter to charge your imp -1/100or use your external battery pack for charges (which got expensive after buying batteries). You can pick up the AC adapter converters for $40 depending where you live at Radio Shack.

BTW: the imp-1/100 is really really picky about what it plays as divx video, so its a safe bet to convert all of your media using the iRiver Media Converter a very powerfull piece of software that will convert everything from mpeg, avi, asf, and .wmv to divx 5.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help. I have no videos above the required specs, so this shouldn't be much fo a problem. (As the maximum resolution/framerate happens to be DVD's NTSC resolution & framerate anyway.)

[adam917]

Originally Posted by FlameGrilled

The only thing you should check for, in ANY CDP, over and above all the usual stuff, is to ensure it's fully CD-Extra/CD-Plus compliant for when you want to use Audio CD's.

CD-Extra/CD-Plus enhanced CD's, in essence, are like those old early game CD-ROMs where Track 1 was the data track, the audio tracks being Track 2 onwards.

In the case of CD-Extra/CD-Plus, the data track is the last track on the disc, and a compliant player (most worthy non-garbage CDP's) will discard the last track (aka Data track) - but in the old mixed mode method discs (track one being data) you'd often have to skip over the first track manually in less tolerant devices.

The reason i bring this up is :-

CD-Plus/CD-Extra discs (audio discs with extra data-stored content accessible by CD/DVD-ROM on computers usually) usually play fine in most decks that are not CD-Extra/Plus compliant, but the compliancy helps in the event you end up trying to play a Copy-Controlled CD.

Copy Controlled CD's, like is becoming more common, uses two sessions on a disc, the first session has audio tracks of 1-n as you'd expect and a data track like a CD-Extra/CD-Plus. Then it has a second recorded disc session, this is the bit where the 'copy control' extra of a on-disc media player component and other 'bits' is stored.

CD-Extra/CD-Plus compliant decks, like the iMP's, should be ok with CC-CD's - i'll whack one of my promo discs back into the iMP-250 when i get home, and remind myself if my 'off the top of my head' recollection is good still.

It was a long time ago, when 'copy control' efforts first started on Audio CD mastering, when i last tested the compatibility with the iMP-250.

iRiver CDPs are compatible with all this (CD Extra/plus, Enhanced CD). You can even switch off & on multisession! I have a decent amount of old console games & they have data track(s) at the beginning and CD-DA afterwards. All plays well. I never tested out a copy-protected audio CD, though.

[vinnie97]

That Nex ia looks rather nice...all it needs is at least q0-q9 ogg support and WAV encoding and I'd be on it like a jimmy hat. For the person above encoding to mp3 at ~80 kbps, I think you would be very pleased with the latest tuned (7-2005) ogg vorbis encoder at that same nominal bitrate. On my Iaudio I5, the stereo separation, clarity and quality of Q1 (~80 kbps) encodes are impressive in environments requiring portability, to say the least. Unfortunately, my I5 disappoints with regards to line-in encoding quality and the lack of a removeable media slot...

Also, there is a Sandisk CF card available on Newegg with a capacity of 8 GB. With 5 of those miniscule things (granted the price is far from miniscule at over $600 USD each, lol) plus the Nex ia, you've got yourself the capacity of an average HD DAP.

If SD cards are your thang, then this player (assuming it sees a release) will be of interest: http://www.dapreview.net/comment.php?comment.news.1055 (the internal Li-ion battery doesn't thrill me). The highest SD cards currently available are only a fraction of the CF capacity, 2 GB.

That being said, and to back up the Cat, my iMP-350 still gets use in the car. [it's just obviously not as shock-absorbent as my I5 sensation, and this is important when I want to take something and run (literally) in the spur of the moment.]

[froes]

To return to the origin:
The iMP-1100 is worth buying. The color display gives great opportunities in navigation and information. The display of the cable remote controls are a joke compared with the iMP-1100 display.
It has four fearure lacks what can be removed by a to be developed firmware.
1. It doesn't support Ogg.
2. Missed artist and album name in CD text.
3. Playing of VCD and SVCD not supported.
4. Different lines for displaying of artist and track title (There is enough place above the spectrum analyzer) could be more useful.

But at all I love it!

[adam917]

Originally Posted by froes

To return to the origin:
The iMP-1100 is worth buying. The color display gives great opportunities in navigation and information. The display of the cable remote controls are a joke compared with the iMP-1100 display.
It has four fearure lacks what can be removed by a to be developed firmware.
1. It doesn't support Ogg.
2. Missed artist and album name in CD text.
3. Playing of VCD and SVCD not supported.
4. Different lines for displaying of artist and track title (There is enough place above the spectrum analyzer) could be more useful.

But at all I love it!

How much can it be bought for, including shipping to USA? Can you honestly say that it's worth the money, especially if you don't watch or have many video clips (but could see liking a colour screen)? #1, 2, & 4 you mention above are present issues in previous iRiver iMP units. So, I don't know if you're trying to say that it's worth spening as high as 300 USD for a colour screen. I already have an iMP-150, '550, & '900 (iMP-900 is the only one that I'm EXTREMELY dissatisfied with due to a problem noted in a thread I just created regarding the player jumping two files when the memory buffer runs out).

[froes]

Originally Posted by adam917

How much can it be bought for, including shipping to USA?

The cheapest price I found in Germany is € 134,-
Look at Geizhals.at!

Originally Posted by adam917

Can you honestly say that it's worth the money, especially if you don't watch or have many video clips (but could see liking a colour screen)?

It's worth to me. Video is a goodie and not a feature I frequently use.

Originally Posted by adam917

#1, 2, & 4 you mention above are present issues in previous iRiver iMP units. So, I don't know if you're trying to say that it's worth spening as high as 300 USD for a colour screen. I already have an iMP-150, '550, & '900 (iMP-900 is the only one that I'm EXTREMELY dissatisfied with due to a problem noted in a thread I just created regarding the player jumping two files when the memory buffer runs out).

300 USD would be a bit heavy to me. You should get it for 200 + shipping.

Shine On, Frank