iRiver 899 MP3 Player Glitch
Last weekend I purchased an iRiver 899 MP3 player. It’s rather cool (see my Bliss Machine blog entry below). So far really enjoy thi slittle jewel of an MP3 palyer with voice recording and an FM radio.
Confession: I bought the iRiver brand because Adam Currey http:www.adamcurrey.com, the Daily Source Code has one, and likes it. If iRiver is good enough for Adam iPodder Currey, recently added to the Sirius satellite radio stable, iRiver should be good enough for me.
But, and this is a real annoyance, the little plastic door that covers the AA battery does not snap on securely. I took my player on a shopping trip to The Home Depot last Sunday, less that 24 hors after my $200 + tax purchase of the iRiver 866.
I was engrossed, listening to interesting discussions downloaded from http:/www.itconversations.com. I was lovin’ it. I was Blissed out!
When I got home, I discovred that the little battery compartment door was missing. After looking in my car and home office and the barn… I realized that my less than one-day old iRiver 899 was missing a key component.
I flew to Chicago the next day, and tried to ignore the ugliness of no cover door to protect my (lithium ion) AA battery. Major Bliss ensued.
When I had some spare time on the road, I called the iRiver 800 number support line. After at least 30 minutes on hold I decided the hell with it.
(Aside: every 45 seconds or so the customer support recording would tell me how important my call was to thjem, and “Please hold.” This extended wait might have been more tolerable if the system had reported estimated remaining time in queue. It’s possible when I finally gave up that I would have been served in another two minutes. Grrr.)
Memo to iRiver: your otherwise superb 899 MP3 player either has a design flaw, or you had a run of plastic parts that are out of spec. I hope you read this note and send me at a minimum, a couple of spare replacement battery doors.
July 18th, 2006 at 6:51 am
New research looks at present, future of MP3 players. Ipsos Insight has issued new research which shows that 20 per cent of US residents over 12 now own an MP3 player one in 20 own more than one. And interest in viewing music videos, photos, TV shows and even full-length movies from these devices is especially strong among younger consumers who have experience downloading music.
New findings released from TEMPO, the company’s quarterly study of digital music behaviors, show that the percentage of Americans aged 12 and older who now own a portable MP3 players is up significantly over ownership levels found one year ago (15 percent), and nearly double the proportion of owners found in April 2003 (11 percent). And in a sign that not only new buyers are driving this trend, six percent of Americans own more than one portable MP3 player.
Total headphone-MP3 sales reached US$4.23 billion in 2005, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. These popular devices accounted for 85 percent of all factory-level portable audio sales last year, CEA statistics showed.
The recent TEMPO research also found nearly one-quarter of portable MP3 player owners believe their devices have the ability to play video, and interest in viewing music videos, photos, TV shows and even full-length movies is especially strong among younger consumers who have experience downloading music. Over one-third of music downloaders between the ages of 12 and 24 say they are extremely or very interested in viewing video content on their portable devices (39 percent—music videos; 33 percent – TV shows; 32 percent—full length motion pictures), compared to fewer than one-fifth among downloaders aged 25 – 54 (15 percent, 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively).
Even more than video content, however, radio listening is one of the most desired additional uses for portable MP3 players. Nearly half (46 percent) of teens and college-aged downloaders are interested in portable FM radio and 39 percent express interest being able to access satellite radio on their portable device. Older American downloaders are also interested in using their MP3 players to listen to radio broadcasts, with roughly one-third of 25 to 54 year old downloaders interested in FM and Satellite Radio capabilities (37 percent and 32 percent, respectively).