So what features/accessories really do affect battery life?

[gdog]

Headphones?

EQ settings (or lack thereof)?

Shuffle modes?

Bitrate and/or codec choice?

All of the above? (If so please do elaborate )

Thanks,

gdog

Edit: Even being new to this I am pretty sure I already have an idea as to what the correct answers are, but this is still good information that can help myself and others, especially in realizing just how important a good quality battery really is when considering one purchase over another.

gdog

[seadzz]

Based only on my experience here goes:

1. Codec-ogg eats batteries fastest followed by high bitrate MP3 VBR files

2. EQ settings with high base

3. Loud volume

4. Track changing\backlight use

5. Low outside temps-If it is cold outside battery life goes down

6. Type of headphones-hi effiency vs low eff

sdz

[skiflyer]

Do type of headphones really matter by themselves, or is it just that you'll turn low efficiency head phones up louder, thereby draining the battery faster?

And shuffle mode would depend on how it's implemented... as I understand the iHP pre-shuffles so it can cache things up properly, so it shouldn't adversely effect the battery.

[seadzz]

On the headphones...you are correct..low eff require more power to drive thus eating more battery.

The shuff question I can't help you with. I listen to albums the way they were intendend...in track order.

sdz

[rob13800]

i would think that the headphones would be less of a drainer than say...the backlight, HDD use, EQ, etc etc.

[DiGdUb]

to me, playing ogg encoded music uses up the battery fast.

[coreman]

"Eating batteries" is defined (by me) as those actions that drain a battery faster than the advertised 16 hours.

What eats batteries is anything that draws current and the amount of time it is on....so what this means is the biggest power users will generally be those items that are on all the time (above and beyond whatever conditions iRiver used to get 16 hours), followed by the items that are on intermittently but draw current...personally I think the headphones can eat a lot of power if the volume is up to 30 or 40 as some people on IF claim.....the headphone output is 20mw max so if you turn up the volume, you use more current.

Backlight usage clearly sucks current, the more it is on..the more it uses, spinning HD draws current, EQ settings suck power as well since they are on all the time and likely weren't part of the iRiver battery model... driving the "thumping" bass also drives the power output to the headphones.

Shuffle will have minimal effect since it isn't really random..no, just kidding , actually it shouldn't have noticeable effect.

My 2 euros worth...

[profingersk8er]

-shuffle mode

[nacboy]

Also keep in mind the backlight....i dont really like to always listen to the smae stuff, so i find myself with the backlight on every four or five songs (tho, that sometimes can be a lot, if you listen to what i listen to), so yeah, i think another thing is that a lot of people with ipods keep the backlight on always (???), and that cuts their battery life just about in half....