iRiver LPlayer 2.0" Black 8GB MP3 / MP4 Player

Pros: If you want video on a small compact device, then this is it. Even comes with software from iRiver to compress your videos into a smaller size so you can fit more on the device. Not only does it compress but it also converts format if needed. I've played over 3 hours of video without charging. Could probably go longer but I usually remember to charge the device.

Cons: Does not come with a carrying case or sports band. The two page instruction booklet is a joke.

Other Thoughts: This device is perfect for my intended use. I've loaded 15 of my favorite workout videos on this device and take it with me to they gym daily. Aside from the videos I have 4 GB of my favorite music loaded which is perfect when I'm on the cardio machines. I found a decent gel skin and sports band from a cell phone accessory store for $15 that are made for the little iRiver. Overall I strongly recommend it if you need a video along with audio in a small device.

Pros: It didn't electrocute me. It came with a USB cable and a set of crummy head phones.

Cons: It wasn't recognized by Kubuntu 9.10 Linux despite having all the relevant mtp and iRiver packages, but Nautilus allowed me to transfer files to the player. But if you chose to play an Album it plays the files in a random order, not alphanumeric sequence, which makes it completely useless for audio books. Perhaps the play order is set by the order the computer copies the files to the device. The radio reception was crummy, settings were twitchy, frustrating and counter-intuitive. I tried to set the player to UMS from MTP hoping that would make a difference to the play order. I had to format the device to get the protocol change to stick. A few clicks later the unit bricked itself, it won't respond to the 'off' switch and is no longer recognized by Gnome when plugged in to USB. When I try to RMA this brand new purchase Newegg's page says "our records indicate" parts and labor warranties have expired. It was supposed to have a standard 30 day warranty. I'll call Egg in the morning.

Other Thoughts: Don't waste your money. This player is far worse than the department store generic USB stick players. It was packaged in a foil pouch that required a determined assault with edged weapons, but the installation CD didn't have a jacket.

Pros: It plays ogg and flac, in addition to the more common formats. What other player handles ogg and flac? It's also really small, and clicking the outside of the screen rather than having a touchscreen interface seems like a smarter, more durable solution. Also uses USB mass storage, which is a MUST for me, as I can plug it into any of my Linux or FreeBSD machines without a problem, and I don't have to deal with bloated, closed-source garbage software (iTunes).

Cons: The instruction manual leaves something to be desired, but if you're a computer nerd (and you are if you buy from newegg) you will be able to figure it out. No eggs taken away.

Other Thoughts: This is my first portable media player. I was unhappy with the offerings from Apple and friends, largely due to not playing ogg and flac. 100% satisfied.

Pros: picture good

Cons: scree so small

Pros: Small Form Factor, like a tiny clix. D-Click user interface.

Cons: Sound quality is noticeably worse than that of the iRiver Clix (which is pretty good) or the iRiver H340 (which is great). The case's plastic is soft compared to that of the Clix Gen1. The D-click mechanism (springs, sensors, whatever) feel weaker, more delicate. Music organization and software is not as robust as in the clix. Cannot adjust the UI to be vertical vs horizontal.

Other Thoughts: I bought the L Player thinking it would be like a smaller, 8 GB clix. (I own a 2 GB clix gen 1 and have love it, but wish I had more space). But it was really an inferior product compared to the clix.

Pros: nice crisp picture, if using for videos.

Cons: Don't bother buying this thing, it is the worst player i have owned, I would return but I don't want to bother with the hassle. no shuffle feature, if you want to skip forward or backwards, you have to press the player at least twice it rarely works the first time. In the past week that I've had it it has frozen on me three times, had to reset it all three times. it is fine as a novelty player, but if you are really going to use it , be prepared to be frustrated.

Other Thoughts: save your money fro an ipod.

Pros: Bright screen
Compact
Price and Storage Size

Cons: Sound Quality OK - low frequency fuzz in background (only hear during soft music)
THING DIED NOT EVEN A WEEK AFTER I BOUGHT IT!!!!!
Doesn't read some music tags
Hard to mount to Linux OS / Fine in Windows

Other Thoughts: I thought it was awesome! It could read my Flac and Ogg files with no problem, even played video beautifully. It was small and sleek. Then, while lying on my bed intending to sleep, it died in the middle of playing a sound recording. The screen froze, then it turned off, and refused to turn back on. (It was fully charged when I went to bed). I can only hope the replacement they send me lasts longer...I'm tempted to just sell it and get a ScanDisk.

Pros: I read a review said screen color is dull and i can say that is a lie. I watch full length movies on this player like nacho libre, and the colors are vivid and clear. I dont mind player has only 2 themes i dont stare at my screen when playing music.This player is excellent to watch movies on.This is the full package .Radio can record radio music or voice.Easy drag and drop music loading. Video playback is very sharp and clear for a such a small screen. The software included for video shrinks all my video files usually 1 gig down to under 500mb makes my mpeg 1 format movies look better amazing. has 20 radio preset to save radio station.WOW srs hd sound quality is superb i found it had this today in the eq menu and i set it and was amazed.i have purchased 3 of these so far i started w/4 gig only due to price 50 bucks i loved it so much i upgraded to the 8 gig and got one for my girlfriend.design is great d-click is simply a smart cool design.way better then all other players i have used.

Cons: none but battery life the screen is sharp and clear conveting movies to wmv has never been so much fun for me.

Other Thoughts: if they come out with a micro sd slot version of this i will be forced to buy another.this is my favorite toy.

Pros: Small. Very nice screen. Click interface works well. Decent sound quality. Great battery life. FM radio. Plays video decently and comes with video translation software.

Cons: Software isn't as smooth as Apple's or Creatives. No on the go playlists. Sorts music in same order you installed it. No music search capability. Doesn't seamlessly transfer album covers from WMP. Video requires video translation to be run on most files.

Other Thoughts: This is a decent player...rugged and small, but don't expect Ipod or Zen polish in the software.

Pros: A great little player overall. Sounds superior to any apple device including my wife's iphone. Approaching apple in usability, but not quite there yet.
*FM radio
*Easy navigation using the clickable screen interface. *FLAC support!!! I usually rip my library to transparent VBR mp3, but leave the best of the best in lossless FLAC.
*Perfect size - small enough to fit anywhere, but the screen is still large enough to read the song titles, even when running
*drag and drop - no fuss, no muss (never installed the software, as I don't need to - no software footprint is a big pro in my book)
*highly configurable volume - ~40 different levels. Doesn't seem important, but when 28 is not enough, but 32 is too loud, there's still flexibility! :)

Cons: All of relatively the relatively nitpicky sort (listed in the hope a product manager from iriver reads this and integrates into the next version):
-menus seem to be sorting by date loaded instead of alpha (haven't taken time to figure it out, but lost points for being unintuitive)
-volume button way too short . It's the type of button that pivots on a single axis like a see-saw. But each side is so short that I often turn down the volume when I mean to turn it up and vice-versa - frustrating! Another 1/4" would have solved this problem entirely.
-The lock switch (which is used anytime I'm on the move beacuse of the clickable screen) feels cheap and somewhat difficult to slide, as there's no ridged surface for my thumb to grab.
-the standard theme has you clicking down and up to cycle through the songs. Pushing to the right pauses (instead of advancing). I'm slowly (re)learning this behavior.
-You need to scroll though several rarely-used options to change from music to radio m

Other Thoughts: -somebody needs to figure a way to improve radio reception on these devices (the lplayer's reception is on par with most, but the bar is not set very high)
-companies should stop bundling substandard ear buds with decent players -- a complete waste of resources! Instead they should work with the leading headphone brands to offer discounts.