Just by looking at the iriver E100’s expansive feature set—built-in stereo speakers, line-in recording, microSD Card slot, FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) support—it appears to be a compelling option for music fans. A wonky control pad and pedestrian design, however, keep the E100 from being a premier portable music player.
E100 Design
Measuring 3.6 x 1.8 x 0.4 inches and weighing just 2.1 ounces, the iriver E100 slides easily into a shirt or pants pocket without adding too much bulk. Our pink unit (it’s also available in Black, Chocolate, Sky Blue, and White) featured a 2.4-inch TFT LCD that’s nearly half an inch larger than the iPod nano’s, but photos and video still looked cramped on the 320 x 240-pixel screen. Colors were rich, but the on-screen image became distorted if we moved even a little left or right of center, not that you’d ever have to. The nondescript design reminds us of the Microsoft Zune minus the slickness, and the plastic body feels cheap. It definitely won’t incite envy from iPod nano users.
Interface and Features
The iriver E100’s interface utilizes a simple monochrome sliding icon system that lets you access different areas of the player using the directional pad located below the LCD. The pad can be unresponsive; you need to make very precise presses for your inputs to be recognized. Nailing the confirmation button located in the middle of the D-pad is equally troublesome.
Syncing with the E100
You can operate the E100 in two modes: The default MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) mode lets you use Windows Media Player 11 or the iriverplus3 software (both are included on a bundled disc) to manage and sync files. If you’re more keen on dragging and dropping, you can switch the E100 to MSC (Mass Storage Class) mode, which also opens up compatibility with Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. iRiver includes a microSD Card slot on the top of the player for loading additional content.
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