My first mp3 player was/is a iriver h340. Kicked ipod ass audio-wise. Still does. I now have an ipod touch. Now there's a piece of eqiupment with promise. I can easily predict that it will be totally outrun by others within a year. Dunno about the interface though..it's pretty slick.

You know for Mp3 players I don't get how iPod got so popular I mean there are a lot of better players out there. The unit2 looks sick! it must cost a million! look at that dock

me either ipods so cut back on features, and bland... iriver always had better players if you ask me.

i just hope its not overpriced, they normally arent tho

Any specs on screen res? And that remote is pretty slick if u ask me.

@P3nnst8r: On second thought, the total package is pretty PMP.

iRiver is one of the only companies that has consistently worked to create unique user experiences of their own, instead of just copying Apple.
In interviews I've read with their CEO, he seems really committed to making something great for people, not just rushing out a bunch of features and making a quick buck.

This is just beautiful. I can even see my Luddite dad wanting one of these.

Agreed - they also appear to be committed to quality playback. Their portable CD players were the only ones where you could defeat the awful re-sampling at low bit-rate, anti-skip feature.

iRiver has always been my fav. I bought an iRiver iHP-20 20GB hard drive based mp3 player about 4 years ago. Still use it np. Battery life is still there and has always functioned flawlessly. I agree with coolzwhip. Why ipod? iRiver has always made better equipment in my opinion sans proprietary software and file conversion.

Looks awesome, a showpiece but bulky. Apple is about simplicity and that is why it is so popular. IRiver products are more about sleek and geek.

well @Grifter
there ya go, ya wanna be simple and use tooth whitening with hand in the pocket upside down?, sure..so knock-ya self out...

ya wanna be sleek and geeky? sure, count me in.

My iRiver H20 teva malfunction last year ...the hardware is not responding to my actions... but i'm lookin for a all-rounder feature packed mp3 with web browsing... something in the upper 80Gb or may be 60Gb to satisfy my needs...

ANyone here got any recommendation what to buy as for a nice mp3? slim is not a necessity for me..

I'm buying (GPS) stock.

Too deep for my pockets, but I wonder if it has a integrated internet browser too.

@CoolZWhip:
ipods always had the slicker interface, and have always been at the leading edge of storage capacity. Using an ipod with itunes is just a smooth thing. I have a sansa, and i dont mind drag and drop at all, so the only thing that kept me from getting a nano is that for the same price at the time, i could get 8gb on the sansa to the nanos 2gb.

Why iPod - slick saturation marketing. During the major growth period for the iPod, I saw subways stations plastered with only iPod adds, and then the trolley arrives, and it also is plastered with iPod adds. Same for the buses, and lighted advertisement kiosks in the downtown area. Can you go an evening watching network TV without seeing several Apple adds - iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air?

When is the last time you saw an ad (other than in a tech mag or on a tech site) for a player other than iPod? If you have, you have probably seen 100 iPod adds for every non-iPod add you have seen.

Having owned too many iPods to justify, and found other brands with better features / audio quality, I too have wondered why the iPod is so popular. My opinion - saturation marketing which resulted in the iPod becoming the "in" "cool" device.

I don't agree with the standard response that the iPod is so popular because it is so user friendly. I am not denying the iPod is user friendly (it definitely is) , so are many other players. Other players may not have a clickwheel, but after a minute or two, you are navigating fine, and enjoying the additional features like FM, voice etc. that the iPod does not have. If you asked people why they bought the iPod, I would not be surprised if the least frequent answer is user friendliness, and the most popular answer is "it's cool", and/or I liked the ads. The iPod became such a cool, must have device for the teens, they would have purchased it even if it took both hands, and both feet to select a song ;).

IF this has GPS and I can use it for in car navigation it'll be a day one purchase for me.

All I want is a PMP that can also double as a turn-by-turn navigator - it seems there are multiple things fitting that bill later this year, woo!

The keyboard is cool as well, but I probably wouldn't ever buy it; I can buy it separate from all that docking fluff....right?!

Not trying to start a flame war or anything, but why the "Apple-esque UI" comment? I'm looking at all the media about this on here and other sites and I don't see the comparison.

I enjoy and own thier products like many others, but I don't see the need to mention Apple on any/every article that has a cool looking product from another company. Not like the fanboys won't do that for you in the comments. Just sayin.

Apple-esque? Yeah right. I'm so going to get one.

Apple-esque UI? Yeah right. This beat most iPod products I've seen already.

Can't wait to lay my hands on one.

I think that they say it has apple-esque UI because of the cheese grater "dock" and similiar looking icons. Besides those two things, it is pretty original UI

They should be comparing Apple to iRiver, not the other way round. iRiver has been consistently innovating and producing great products for years, while apple just keeps cranking out white iThings.

There is still a lot to be said for actual physical buttons. It's the haptics. This thing is boidic.

I've always had iriver. I've never had an ipod!

@jimtravis: So true. The ui is easy on an iPod, you could probably bring Socrates through a time tunnel and have him up and running in a few minutes. But like you I don't care if it takes a while, like 10 minutes instead of 5, whoopee. Besides I like figuring out the ui, and once I know how to do something I know, and one ui is as easy as any other. With some exceptions for really really crappy ones.

-1 on the apple mention, come on, Kit Eaton, have SOME self respect.

That is some serious display real estate.

This completes the iRiver ecosystem in one package.

RTOA @ [www.akihabaranews.com]

I think the reason (as with most things) why people so dislike the iPod is because it is soooo popular. Sure there is other stuff out their that is better, but the ipod is just easy to use, looks sophisticated (regardless of popularity), and the does what it needs to do well. I would have bought one if Apple was a little known company and just bringing them to market. I don't care for most of Apples other products however. The Unit2 does look pretty cool. And if anything, the GUI is Vista-esque.

My Nokia N810 has a keyboard, nice screen, Skype, GPS, blah blah blah...for a LOT less cash.

Wow. I can't wait to see what becomes of this one. So much potential. I love my little iriver s10. It's like the little shuffles but with a colored screen and 2gb. Only thing is, it has weird problems on the sides of the plastic. But it causes no problems to sound quality!

Actually I dislike ipod because:
-no drag and drop, ums, or file folder browsing
-crappy screen (just like how people say whatever feature is 'soo last year'(buttons, fm radio, mic), I'm going to go ahead and say the 64k screen on the ipod is 'sooo 2005')
-No internal mic or radio and radio recording
-you have to use itunes (tried it, prefer drag and drop)
-touch buttons (I seriously don't get why people are crazy over touch buttons or touch screens, they aren't very practical, I can sort of understand touch screens, as long as they have real tactile buttons on the side for blind use, like the cowon d2, but come on)
-no support for text files
-barely any file suport (no ogg or flac)
the list goes on, but the most important reason why I don't like ipods is..........

THEIR ****Y SOUND QUALITY

I don't know how many times I've said this, ipods have one of the worst sq of any player I've ever heard, even a cheap little $30 sandisk player has better sound quality.

Don't get me wrong, ipods aren't truly bad players, there's just a lot more players out there that completly own and ipod in the same catergory, people just need to research more beyond the ipod.