The Spinn's FM radio, though lacking RDS, proved both easy to tune and to assign pre-sets. The stereo Bluetooth also worked as advertised, the connection a pair of Sony Bluetooth cans proving very straightforward. The device also comes with a voice recorder and a couple of Flash games, though ours got erased during an MTP-Mass Storage switch before we could sample them.
iRiver quotes a battery life of 25 hours for audio and five for video. We found those numbers to be about right, getting 22 hours and 4.75 hours, respectively, but they are still a long way short of what you can get from a fully charged S9. You can only charge the Spinn through the USB cable.
The Spinn is currently only available in 4 and 8GB flavours. We think a video player needs more storage, or memory card expansion. Even 8GB is only going to be good enough for ten or 11 full length .AVI feature films.
The 4GB version can be yours for £136, the 8GB for £165. With the 8GB Cowon S9 only a few quid more and the 8GB Apple iPod Touch the exact same price, we struggle to see why anyone would plump for the Spinn unless Flac playback is your absolute and overriding priority.
Verdict
As a music player, the Spinn not at all bad - it gives a strong performance across the genres and is particularly impressive when playing Flac files. As a video player, it's less successful, proving mysteriously intolerant of some file types and seriously hamstrung by only having 262,000 colours on tap. The UI is also a little too half-baked and the firmware just a bit too infused with strangeness for our liking, though the arrival of version 2.0 may see some of these issues remedied. ®
Thanks to AdvancedMP3Players for lending us the review device.
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iRiver Spinn media player
COMMENTS
Robert
Iriver should bring the Clix back with a touch screen that clicks similar to the Blackberry Bold. The interface is very similar to the Clix D click system but with a touch screen in a 16bg. This would be the move as the Clix was there most popular player.
The Demise of iriver
You have to wonder don't you how a company that produced probably the best HDD based music players on the market four or five years ago have fallen so far behind. To the point where customers aren't even considering them as part of the viable choice when buying new players.
Ben
I’m a huge fan of Iriver and have been for many years now. I currently have the Iriver CLIX second generation 8gb and I love the player. The issue I have with Iriver at this point is why they aren’t upping up the capacity on their players. I mean really they keep maxing out at 8gb. My Clix is almost full and I need more space at least 16gb.
I hear the Spinn just received new 2.0 firmware upgrade. This newfirm ware has some new features that will enhance the player but will not create more space. Iriver 16gb or 32 gb are needed at this point.
The 2.0 firmware will now allow users to take memos or draw with the stylus through the Memo function. The firmware is bundled with the Big Album Art feature that will give a much better view to a user’s albums.
The firmware has also enhanced the support for pictures by adding some new picture management tools and the FW that comes with the auto rotate attribute and takes care of other picture files. With support from the new Reservation feature, users can now auto record DMB/DAB/FM Radio.
The firmware has also improved the video and game support of the PMP. While the video feature offers extended video playback options, the game feature addition will allow users to download new games through the iAMOLED website. In addition to this, Spinn’s 2.0 firmware also includes advanced searching tools.
The 2.0 firmware is a 3.9 MB file and is available for download now, but only from iRiver’s Korean site.
Robert and Ben
If Iriver doesn’t create larger capacity soon then they will lose me to the Cowon S9 16gb or the Samsung P3 16gb.
So long and short is
It sounds good but is otherwise crap.
So why 70% rating?
