IRIVER SlimX iMP-50 Personal CD Player

I'm not a tech-nerd, but I've checked specs and reviews
all over the net and found that others are just as pleased
as I am with the performance of iRiver's affordable MP3
player.

I've owned the iRiver iMP50 for two weeks. It plays more
audio formats than any other CD/MP3 brand. Besides regular
CDs it plays MP3/M3u/WMA/ASF audio files. If other file
formats become available in future, the iMP50 is upgradeable
from the iRiver website. For instance, if Real Player .ra
files are supported in future, you would go to the iRiver
website, download the necessary codecs to your PC, burn
them to CDR disk, pop the disk into the iMP50. You merely
press 'play' and the unit automatically updates from the
disk. Cool.

Update: August 28, 2005: The iMP50 is no longer being manufactured. I am happy to report, though, that my player is still operating perfectly.

There are about 30 people where I work who listen to
portable radios & CD players. None of them had ever seen
an MP3 player before. I let several of them sample MP3
disks I had either created or bought from the net. Music,
Old Time Radio shows, etc. They were all impressed without
exception when they realized the advantages of these CD/MP3
players over traditional audio units. What impressed them most was that one could put 200+ songs one one disk, about ten times the capacity of a CD. Six of of these co-workers have given me money up front to buy iRiver CD/MP3 players for them from the net. Five of them were happy to order the low-end iMP50 and one person asked me to get an
upgraded player that incorporates an FM tuner in the
player. I ordered the iRiver iMP400 for her.

Only one accessory comes with the iMP50, an adapter for your car radio. It looks like a music cassette with a wire
attached. You pop the 'cassette' into the cassette player
in your car and insert the stereo mini-jack of the wire into
the earphone jack-port of the player and 'voila!', music
from your MP3/CDs plays through your car radio. It sounds
great. If you don't have a cassette player you have to
buy an FM sender unit. I bought a nice one from ARKON.
You can transmit an FM signal from your player to your
car radio or use it at home to send music from your player
to any FM radio in the house. At home the sender has a
30 foot range.

You can also buy 2 types of power adapters from iRiver
separately. You may need them since battery life in a CD
player is not long. iRiver rates the player at 16 hours of
battery life. My experience is about 7 or 8 hours. One
adapter plugs into the car's cigarette lighter. The other
adapter, for home use, plugs into a wall outlet.

You can shake this player all you want and it won't skip.
I put the iMP50 in a car on a really bumpy outback road. The
heap I was driving transmits all road shock into the
passenger compartment because the shocks are no good.
I put the iMP50 into the compartment under the car radio,
plugged & played. The iMP50 didn't seem to notice. It
played perfectly.

I dropped the thing twice already. I was lucky. Don't drop
it, as this low-end player is encased in plastic. The iMP50
doesn't come with a carrying case. It's the first accessory you should get so you won't drop and break it. If you lead a
rugged life I's suggest you upgrade to a metal encased
player.

All of the controls are on the body of the iMP50. It has
several functions including preset EQs. I especially like shuffle-play. There are several other functions and you can find out about them at iRiver.com

The iMP50 plays MP3 rates from 8-bit to just under 400-bit.
This is important because, if you listen to audio lectures,
audio books,or sermons, often they are encoded at a very
low bitrate for voice. Many players on the market will not
play low bitrates. The iMP350 will.

My wife gave me a limit of $50 to get a player, so I shopped
around and am satisfied that I got the best low-priced
MP3 player on the market!