iRiver PMP 120 20 GB

I love my iriver pmp 120, I also hate my iriver pmp 120 at the same time.

First of all i will do the bad points to get them out of the way, it is very tricky to navigate with a thoroughly confusing menu system, which will leave you learning the basics and not bothering to get to grips with the more technical aspects, which is irritating as i know there are more things i could do with this, but choose not to.

There is a general lack of support for media player, which is annoying as syncronisation with that would be much easier. This leaves the options of the unwieldy iriver software, or copy and pasting through my computer, the method i use most often.

I have noticed a few bugs in mine, it sometimes skips a bit when kept in my pocket - i though mp3 players were supposed to be jogproof!!!

Audio - good audio quality through headphones, although the built in speakers arent up to much, definately only really useable when on your own. The player can be hooked up to computer speakers though and produces quite a punch, so no problems with sound quality. Making playlists is fiddly and you will find it easier to copy all the files into folders and use those.

video - good quality video, supportive of avi footage to a high degree of quality in sound and picture. the screen allows for bright vivid colours, as mentioned previously when fastforwarding or rewqinding the sound can become slightly out of sync, but I find this happens on computers often anyway.

Recording - the unit has a good quality sound recorder, handy for use as a dictophone.

radio - the unit has a built in FM radio, which is a basic fm radio really, does exactly what it says on the tin.

Photo viewer - a very well made, and effective (if slightly pointless ) feature. If you really want to show people pictures on the move then this is useful, however it seems slightly limited in its application.

Design - overall a nice looking design, if a bit beefy. (it is comfortable in the back pocket of jeans, but a bit too big for front pocket, however the large screen is partly the reason for this.

The brand has got some potential, I would like iriver to carr on with the pmp's, with future moels having a sleeker look, easier navigation, more support for media player / better loading software. and ironed out bugs.