Music
on the move is commonplace for many folks, with 'Walkman'
style players taking off in the cassette days. Fast forward
a few years and the cassette has been replaced by the CD,
which in turn is being supplemented by digital media such
as MP3 and WMA. The main beauty of these formats is that size
wise they can be about a 1/8th the size of a CD track yet
still maintain the same quality. The other thing that has
become a bigger business lately is flash media. Combine the
two and you have a Solid State music player. With no need
for tapes, CD's or the like, the players themselves can be
very small, usually not much bigger than the battery to power
them yet still hold a few hours worth of music. This brings
us to the item of review, the iRock
860 player that is iRock's latest Solid State player.
The iRock 860 has 256mb of non-expandable memory so enough
for a few albums. Let's check it out.
Features
•
Skip-free playback of MP3 and WMA files
• High-quality stereo FM tuner with 20 presets
• 256MB** of built-in memory (none expandable)
• Up to 30 hours of continuous playback with one AA
battery
• Displays ID3 Tag Artist/Title/Album information
• M3U Playlist and folder support
• Firmware Upgradeable
• Blue EL backlit LCD display with selectable contrast
• (5) Preset Equalizer Modes: Flat, Rock, Pop, Jazz,
Classical
• (4) Playback Modes: Normal, Repeat 1, Repeat All,
Random Sleep-Timer
• High-speed downloading via USB
• MP3i Creator™ software for making interactive
MP3s
• MUSICMATCH® Jukebox software
• Moodlogic™ software for creating custom mixes
based on your mood
• Compatible with iTunes™ Jukebox software for
MAC
Specifications
•
Size: 2.95" x 1.75" x 0.58" (75mm x 45mm x
15mm)
• Memory: 256MB** (860) (none expandable)
• MP3 Bit rates supported: 8Kbps~320Kbps
• WMA™ Bit rates supported: 5Kbps~192Kbps
• FM Frequency Range: 87MHz~108MHz
• Stereo Gain Differential: <0.5dB
• Display: Graphic LCD
• Power Supply: 1 AA battery
• Battery Life: 30 hours typical
• Signal to Noise Ratio: 90 dB
• Total Harmonic Distortion: <0.25%
• Maximum Output: 5mW
• Audio Connector: 3.5mm headphone jack
• Frequency Range: 20Hz~20KHz
**
Accessible capacity may be less (247.39mb total storage –
ED)
Requirements
•
USB port
• CD ROM 4x or Faster
• Internet Access (recommended)
• PC: Pentium® II or higher (AMD equivalent): Microsoft®
Win98/98SE/ME/2000 PRO/XP HOME/XP PRO
• 32MB Available RAM
• 50MB Available hard drive capacity (recommended)
• MACINTOSH®: OS X
The
iRock 860 comes in a round clear carton that displays all
the information and the items included. Whilst I'm not personally
a fan of this type of packaging (I hate the inferiority
complex I get when I can't get into them) the packaging
information is laid out well and shows pretty much all the
info you need to know at a glance.
Inside
is a variety of bags, books and a CD to complete the overall
package. iRock even go so far as to include a leather carry
case as well as a neck strap. The included 'Earbud'
style headphones are of a surprisingly high quality and
give out one of the best sounds I have personally heard
from earbud headphones (more on the sound later).
Moving
on to the main unit itself, we can see that it isn't much
bigger than a matchbox and just as thin. There is only one
control on this side and that is our Play/Pause button which
also doubles up as the power button. Also on this front
side we can see the display.
The rear is pretty much uneventful but this
is the area in which you install a battery. Due to the small
size of the unit, it would have been nice to have a battery
pull strap to aid in the removal of the batteries as it
can be a bit fiddly for the fingers.
On
the top we find (from left to right) the hoop to connect
your neck strap, the headphone socket and the A-B repeat
button. At the bottom is the tiny USB1.1 jack.
The
main controls sit on the right side and are (from left to
right) EQ/FM Presets button, the Volume + and – buttons
and finally the fast forward/mode/fast rewind rocker switch.
Opposite this side we find up near the strap hoop a singular
sliding switch labeled HOLD which will prevent accidental
usage of the other buttons when on the move.
NEXT
