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General discussion

iPod photo 40gb vs iRiver h10 20gb

Jun 6, 2005 10:40AM PDT

Please help me decide on which on to take. ipod is coming for $374(with all accessories) and iRiver might come around $290. Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Stay away from Iriver!!!
Jun 10, 2005 6:49PM PDT

While the Iriver is tempting with a better price and more features, stay away!! The H10 doesn't work on half of the people's computers who get it. And they have no customer service to speak you happen to be one of those customers. Their customer service department is a nightmare. Please read my horror story about the H10 so you don't get hosed by this horrible company, too!

I got an H10 6GB from Best Buy. It had syncing problem so I took it back and got the H10 20GB. Same syncing problems. It would get only a fraction of my sync list and then stop syncing and place the remaining files in aborted files (this is in Windows Media Player, it wouldn't even work at all in Napster). WMP would then insist that my player was not connected even though it was still in My Computer and my Safely Remove Hardware. I send an email to customer service. The next day I received no response so I phone customer service. I waited 30 minutes without talking to a human and hung up. Then I drove to Best Buy to return it and called customer service again on the 40 minute ride to the store. Again, no answer.

When I returned home I had received a customer service reply from me email inquiry. The first reply was complete gibberish and the second reply had nothing to do with my problem.

So I wrote an angry response and told the rep that I could still return and re-exchange for the Iriver, and that I would give him one more chance to answer my question. He wrote a sarcastic retort telling me to "enjoy your new player, genius Silly"
I'm going to post the dialogue so you can see for yourselves. DO NOT BUY IRIVER PRODUCTS AND SUPPORT THIS. If you got hosed by Iriver like I did, then write them angry letters and post about your bad experience. It's our only weapon against the corporations that like to pretend they can sell us crap and get away with it. Here is the offensive email dialogue with the Iriver customer service Rep:

Your Support Request for your iriver H10 20GB Remix Blue
Request ID Status Date Updated

288272 Closed 06/08/2005 06/11/2005

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Your Question/Problem:
Email Date:06/08/2005 05:15 pm
Sent to:support@iriveramerica.com
From:xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject:H10 Problems, Non-existant customer service

I recently purchased a 6GB Iriver H10 MP3 Player/Pic Viewer. I updated everything including WMP, firmware, napster, and WMP security settings, but it still did not work correctly. I returned it for an Iriver H10 20GB, in hope that it would work better and because I needed more space. It also would not sync correctly. Both players would sync about 5% of the tracks in the sync list and then just stop and abort the rest of the sync. The songs that did sync didnt even sync correctly and usually werent even full.

The sync would not even work with 1 item in napster, which is the main reason I purchased the h10. I tried to contact customer service, but did not even get to talk to a human afer 40 mins on hold waiting to speak to a representative. I researched this problem on the internet and found out that many iriver h10 users are having the same problem. They said they also received no replies to their customer service emails and also could not get through the phone line. I dont know if this is a bad joke, but youre selling a product that doesnt even work out of the box and offering absolutely no support to fix it, not even updated firmware that was promised for napster. Your customer service department is practically nonexistent. I will never be purchasing an Iriver product again, and I will be telling anyone who asks me to do the same. I have already returned my h10 to best buy in exchange for a creative zen touch. I hope you enjoy playing with the ridiculous amount of returned h10s you will be receiving from all around the US.

Sincerely, Alex Nichols xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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iriver Response: (06/08/2005 03:49)
Hello,

Here is the recov.....fdjafi1221...../,32/q,asb,lfab;asmbl;f'
jfjgk'fa

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iriver Response: (06/08/2005 10:20)
Hello,

A common issue as to why Napster To Go files do not play on an MP3 Player has to do with a clock setting within the Main Menu of the Player.
If the clock / date is not set, the Player will not play files as the files will appear expired to the Player.

To set your clock:

1. Power on the Player. Go into Settings / Timer / Date & Time and make your

adjustments.

2. Reconnectyour Player to your PC, then re-transfer the Napster files to your Player.

The files will then be able to play back.

Pablo L.

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Your Response: (06/10/2005 03:25)
That is perhaps the worst customer service response ever. First you post a reply that is pure nonsense. Then you post a reply that has nothing to do with my problem of not syncing correctly at all, Napster or Windows Media Player. Part of this is probably because you did not understand WMP meant Windows Media Player. This is most likely because you speak broken English and are from Singapore or something to save this awful company money. Thank you for affirming the fact that the customer service department is awful. I returned my Iriver H10 20GB today, but I can still exchange the product I got
today to get it back. So I will give you one more chance. Here is the problem: When syncing in Windows Media Player, part of my sync list would sync to the H10, and then it would randomly stop syncing and say the rest of the files as aborted. Then, it says that
it can no longer find H10 connected to my computer. Basically, it seems that part way through synchronization, Windows Media Player suddenly doesn't recognize the H10 as being connected anymore. How do I fix this problem? I hope you do a better job on this response than you did on the last one, or you can kiss my business good bye for good.

Sincerely, Alex Nichols xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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iriver Response: (06/11/2005 12:05)
Hello,

Enjoy your new player genius.

Bye

P

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Your Response: (06/11/2005 12:05)
Thanks for proving your customer service department is worthless. You can bet I'm posting this response on about a million forums. You can also count on my notifying a supervisor if they even exist! Peace. =>REQUEST CLOSED BY CUSTOMER

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don't listen to mumpsie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jun 12, 2005 9:54AM PDT

mumpsie had a bad experience with an iriver product and now he acts like iriver is the worst thing in the world. he has no grounds to base his claims on. iriver has a great product with good customer service.

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I agree, mumpsie is just badmouthing them now.
Jun 12, 2005 11:26AM PDT

iRiver really isn't as bad as he says. And the H10 has a removeable battery which makes it aces for me. It's a fairly good player, too. Good sound, good screen. And it's rather small, about the size of an iPod mini.

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Listen to me!!
Jun 12, 2005 5:59PM PDT

I'm warning you man. Didn't work out the box and no customer service to help fix it. I'm not the only one with bad customer service experience with these guys. Have a look around these forums and the misticriver forums and see what I'm talking about.

Did you read my customer service log?

Yes I did have a bad experience with them. What's to say you're not going to?

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Hmm. Maybe it's just you?
Jun 12, 2005 6:51PM PDT

Just cause you got ****** service doesn't mean that every single other person ever is gonna get it. I'd be ok if you just said, "Hey, I got bad service this once. Be careful." But you just trash iRiver and all of their products, the good and the bad ones. That's just kinda dumb, since all the iRivers I've had have had no such problems at all. And all my friends with the iRivers don't have that either. Even the ones with the H10.

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iRiver kicks total ***
Jun 12, 2005 9:33PM PDT

Ive got a friend hu has a 5gb H10 but thing is they kick ipod *** cos they have FM, FM recording, SRS WOW,customizable EQS (unlike ipods crappy pre-set EQS), inline jack and all. Its so cool! Go with iRiver dont go iPod. iRiver is seriously cooler and better than iPod

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Photo Viewing for iRiver
Jun 13, 2005 2:15AM PDT

Hi all, Thanks for all your responses. I have one final doubt to clear before buying one of the two. Can we view the photos in iRiver in TV using some cable as can be done by iPod(I like this cool feature in iPod). Also is the photo viewing as fast in iRiver as iPod(I have a 5MP camera and usually take 3MP or 5MP size photos). I will mainly use the player for songs and photos but the other stuff in iRiver is cool and will be useful when needed.
Thanks,

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No tv output on H10.
Jun 13, 2005 9:02AM PDT

No, the H10 doesn't have an output to let you see the pictures on a tv. The photo viewing is pretty good and intuitive.

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iriver overcourse
Jun 29, 2005 7:39AM PDT

you should se my discusion the iriver is a no brainer comeone man think!!!!!!