iRiver iHP-140 Review

Overall Rating

Can convert from CD straight onto the HDD, can be used as an external HD, good sound quality, lots of functions, LCD display on the remote

Navigation is a bit of a pain, awful headphones

I have only been using my iRiver iHP-140 for about a week and already I love it! It only took about an hour and a half to slap 16 full albums onto the hard drive, as opposed to making MP3 CD's which would have taken me about 3 times longer (this did, however, run the battery down VERY quickly, but it didn't take long to recharge). It would have been even quicker via USB 2.0 but for our outdated computer having an older port. Apparently you can buy a card with 2 USB 2.0 slots for under £16, so I may be off down to the computer shop this weekend.

I look foward with immense glee to finding the time to add a few hundred more albums to the hard drive as quickly as possible since I never know what I'll feel like listening to when I'm on the move. So far it seems to be pretty jog-proof when carrying it about between the bus, train and the office, the remote with the LCD display making it easy to find what I want to hear; and I have yet to have to remove the actual unit from my bag, which is a relief, as my old, battered MP3 CD player was constantly in and out so I could change tracks and alter the volume.

I'm also really taken with the massive number of functions such as the ability to record, the potential to hook it up to a hi-fi via either a regular lead or optical, the FM stereo (although I have yet to tune in any stations as I never listen to FM radio), the possibility of using it as a backup drive, etc.

In fact, the only real gripe I have so far is the navigation buttons on the actual unit are a bit of a pain. Scrolling upwards seems to require a very specific touch on the dial and my fingers really don't appear to bend that way. To use the up button I have to turn it upside down. But that's probably just me and I'm sure I'll get used to it. My better half seems to have no problem with the buttons (when I let him near it). There's so many menus to scroll through and the navigation is such that I do find myself accidentally stopping the song that's playing while all I wanted to do was navigate up to the list of folders or go into the settings to play with the equaliser. I suspect this too is something that with time I will master.

Also, be forewarned, the headphones that come with this unit are APPALLING. The sound is only average, they bleed sound like a severed artery and they're uncomfortable to wear. Luckily, in case you want to use replacement headphones that aren't the right size to plug into the remote, the unit comes with a little adapter, so I was able to plug my favourite pair of headphones in and now I'm a happy camper. You would think that for £250, they could include a pair of decent headphones, though - although I suppose it's still better than Apple who make you purchase the remote separately for the iPod.

On the whole, if they made the navigation a bit simpler and could get the unit to the size and weight of an iPod (it's slightly thicker and heavier than the 40GB iPod), it would be perfect.