New T10, New to iriver

[Avier]

Hey folks.
July 20th I will get mi first iriver, a T10, and my second mp3 player.
This is my story:

I bought a 40gb ipod 4th generation last year and I changed it 4 times. Yes, four. The first time, left channel failed. Second time, the hard drive just cracked, won't pass hdd test. the third time, it stoped working, and the last time, I sold it. At that time it cost me 450 euros. I sold it for 370 dollars a year later, so it was not that bad.
At the same time, a friend got an IFP iriver. I liked it also, but I was very happy with my 40gb size and the portable HDD capacity. Battery was a down-side for the ipod, and after so many failures I realized that HDD players are not a reliable solution for portable audio devices, no matter how carefull you are.

So i thought to go for a ipod nano. It has a nice screen, it's really slim, same audio quality and it is flash tipe.
but $250? my god... too much for 4gb. Y have no money now, it's fragile, no local warranty (I'm in Argentina).

So a few months ago I tried my friend's iriver again. I liked the quality, it feels very solid in the hand, the battery can be changed anytime and it works for a lot of hours (much more than an ipod) and finally, there is that ogg vorbis thing.

I googled for ogg vorbis and started to make my own research about it. I found that between 2 and 3 quality size, it works better than a 192kbps mp3. Of course that depends on each ones ears, but vorbis is a lot crisper and has no " hiss" efect, high vibes and echos sounds a lot better too. I found it's a fantastic replace for mp3 and matches the audio quality of standar ipod codec. And there's more: a quality 2 vorbis sizes about 60% of a 150kbps mp3. Fantastic.

So after making some maths about it, maybe a iriver was adequate for my money and my hard style of usage.
I started ebaying...amazon, local resellers...And I was going for a ifp 899.
My friend is now at Tokyo, so i ckecked www.iriver.co.jp . I found a strange-designed iriver, the T10. A t first glance i did not liked it, but it looks even more resistant than the others.
And color display, and srs wow, and...oh! 2GB MODEL COMING SOON? ( already came out nowdays). I did not liked the lime color model, but hey...they were offering an all-black shiny model. Nice!
When I went to the store in the site, the price was 14980 japanese yens. How much is that?
Amazing! 115 u.s.a. dollars. I could not believe it.

So I emailed my friend, and two days latter he bought a lime-black t10 2gb iriver for himself to check them out. He told me that it's sportish like, very tought, sounds excelent, battery seems to work for 53hs and it does not consume as much battery as before for ogg files. And the color screen is a goodie.
They runned out of all-black models in japan, so he placed a order for two more T10s at the end of June. Yes, at this price I decided to go for one for myself and another for my girlfriend.

So I waiting my friend's email when he will have those T10 in his hands. Hope he will!
I spent 230 dollars, got 2 flash-based players, and they should be more resistant than ipod nanos. If I record my songs in 2 or 2.5 quality level, I should be like having a 4gb player, because the quality-size aspect of ogg vorbis.

First my girlfriend was not too intrested on having a portable player, but when I told her it will load a single AA battery, last for 50 hs and has microfone built-in, she became very happy because now she can record her classes and use it on the gym.

I do not have these players on my hand yet, but I think I made the right choice.
I welcome myself to the iriver world haha.

I just wanted to share my story with you =)

[Avier]

Ok 16 reads and everybody is mute.

[Fury Three]

I just purchased a 1GB (Blue) T10 myself off Amazon, should arrive within a week. They've been running for $90, which is an absolute steal. I wish I could get a hold of one of those 2GB models, though.

[Avier]

I will post a review of the 2gb model as soon as I get it.

[michaelzhang]

nice story

support you,good luck,good choice^_^

[xnr]

Yeah, Avier, you'll just get the best DAP ever, there's nothing else to say. I'm totally in love with mine.

Enjoy !!

[Avier]

I glad with the specs XNR, I hope it works fine.
I'm a bit confused about the UMS thing, my friend told me that his new version needs no firmware update to drag&drop files onto it, that would be great.
The SRS is promising too.