Ok, here's a quick break down of what I liked about each player. If you have any questions, click the email link at the bottom of this review. Let me start by saying that both the iPod and the iRiver make decent Mp3 players. They both produce good sound quality, and both have similar options for setting the equalizer and what not. Those are all things you expect, so I will pay less attention to those things and concentrate on what I thought set these two apart.
Screen - The iPod has a typical black and white (grey tone) screen that most players have these days. The iRiver has a brilliant color screen which makes it much prettier as far as the menus are concerned. Also, it views digital pics, but more on that later. Winner - iRiver
Headphones - Both players come with a set of ear buds. Not my favorite way to listen to music, but these ones are better than most. The iPod phones get a little better range of sounds I think. I more or less enjoyed the iPod buds without messing with the EQ much, but the iRiver seemed a little heavy on the trebble.Winner - iPod
User Interface - Hands down here, the iPod kicks butt. The iRiver is very confusing, and took me more than an hour just to look through the instruction manual and find out how to do stuff the right way. The iPod is intuitive, and I picked it up with no manual at all. Once I got used to the iRiver interface, it was ok. It was very nice looking due to the color display, and very refined graphically. Unfortunately, the lack of ability to create playlists on the fly, and create a queue of songs made me very unhappy.Winner - iPod
Included Accessories - I think both came with a decent amount of nice stuff. The iPod came with a FireWire and USB 2 cable, as well as an AC charger and a nice set of ear buds. The iRiver came with a USB 2 cable, a line in/out cable, some ear buds, an AC charger, and a carrying case. Overall, I liked the iPod accessories better just based on the sleek white feel, but the iRiver stands its ground here. If I had to choose a winner, it would be the iPod simply because there are a TON of third party accessories available to buy after purchasing the iPod. Not quite as many for the iRiver.Winner - Tie
Size - Well, the size is another tightly contested match-up. The width and height of the units is almost identical. The difference comes in the thickness. The iPod is almost 50% thinner than the iRiver. Several people commented on how big it looked inside the included carrying case. Still, it fits comfortably in a coat pocket, or a loose pair of jeans. But in the end, hands down the iPod is smaller and sleeker.Winner - iPod
Extra Features - Ok, here is where the iRiver shines through. The little iPod doesn't stand a chance outside of playing music. The iRiver has an included FM tuner, which is a nice touch even if it doesn't get the greatest reception. The cool thing? You can record from the radio and store the file right there on the iRiver for playing back later. Also, you can use the internal Mic to record classes, lectures, conversations or whatever or use the line in to record from almost any audio source you can think of. Also, you can view text files and digital pictures on the iRiver. The crappy thing is that the digital pictures can only be 1MB in size for jpgs and 3MB in size for bmps. So this means you'll have to shrink down most files from your digital cameras before viewing them on the iRiver. See, the iPod can't do any of this...but the iPod plays music, and it kicks ass at that, so it just depends on what you're looking for.Winner - iRiver
Adding Music - To add music to the iRiver, just drag and drop to the drive when it appears in My Computer. Simple, easy and wonderful. Unless you're using secure media (ie DRM) and then you have to jump through some hoops with Windows Media Player. But who uses DRM anyway? The iPod has a very slick interface through iTunes. This is well known, so I won't go into details. iTunes is a great program though, I like it a lot. There is also third party software by Red Chair software, called Anapod. It works with both players, and is an excelent replacement for the normal way of doign things.Winner - Tie
Cost - Both are pricey...around $300. Ouch...unless you can get them free like me.Winner - Me, I got them free
Compatability - I give this round to iPod, because I don't think iRiver works on Macs. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember reading this somewhere. I can't locate the manual at the moment or I would check. iPod works wonderfully with Windows and Mac.Winner - iPod
Battery Life - I seem to get about 8 hours of play time with my iPod. I do tend to leave the screen off (no backlight) and I do use shuffle. Shuffle tends to wear the battery out a little more. The iRiver has done very well for me so far. Looks like maybe about 12 hours before it'll run out. That's considering that I did a lot of playing with it this time, and got maybe 11 hours out of it. I think probably due in part to the larger size, it may have a larger battery. I didn't actually check the specs for the mAh rating or anything.Winner - iRiver
Geek Factor - I give his to the iRiver, because no offense to everyone on earth...but owning an iPod is NOT geeky anymore. They are the North Face of Mp3 players...all you rich snobby college frat/sorority people know what I mean. Anyway, iPod is the Ford of Mp3 players...the iRiver is geeky and has cool features on it that most people will never use after learning to play with them. On the other hand, I think that the sleekness of the iPod makes it the sexier of the two to be carrying around, so iPod wins sex appeal.Winner - (geek factor:iRiver) (sex appeal:iPod)
Support - No contest. I emailed iRiver support last night and never got a response. Apple loves their customers and has great tech support from what I know. So iRiver, you lose big time.Winner - iPod
Managing Playlists - Ummm...if there is a way to do it on the iRiver, I want to know. Apple has the awesome 'On the Go' list that you can make, and also create and save playlists for later all on the iPod itself. And itunes has many advanced playlist features as well on the PC/Mac. The only good thing about the iRiver in this regard is that it can play WinAmp m3u files for its playlists. So you can go through on the PC and make a bunch of playlists for on the road. A saving grace that kept me from throwing it out the window last night.Winner - iPod
Portable HD - Both are plug and Play under Windows for use as a portable hard drive. Very handy for getting files to and from work. Neither has an advantage here, other than the iRiver has pretty logos and stuff on the screen while you're connected and the iPod has an ugly no trespassing thing glaring at you.Winner - Tie
Ok so that is the rough and dirty round-up. Overall, I like the iPod just based on ease of use. But then again, I am looking for an Mp3 player, that does it perfectly. The iRiver is not as strong with the interface, but it has a lot of bells and whistles. It does everything well, but nothing perfectly. If you're someone who loves to have multiple gadgets around you at all times, the iRiver might be the way to go. It is all a personal choice.
Ok, so here is what I know about the rumors...according to rumors, the new iPod actually has a color screen, but does not utilize it yet. This could be unlocked in future firmware. I say this is false, the photoiPod seems to prove that. They will never make the cheaper model do color, because it would lower the cost of the high end product.
The iRiver has a firmware update to let it play movies. TRUE. But it is a Korean firmware image. It is still in English, but supposedly only runs on the Asian and European versions of the iRiver. Word is it will lock up the US version due to different hardware. This leads everyone to believe that eventually when they put out a US update, that it will have the same functionality.
Now, a funny story about firmware is this...I actually went and got the European version and installed it accidentally on my US iRiver. Some people claim this is impossible, and it will lock up. Others say it is fine. Mine worked flawlessly, so you be the judge. That said, I cannot revert back to the US version because it is not available for download. So I am stuck for now. There are also numerous success stories of people successfully installing the Korean version on their US iRiver and watching video on it. So that also might work, but I have not confirmed it. Whatever you do, be very careful while messing with the firmware, many people have rendered their iRivers useless trying the wrong firmware, so you've been warned.
Well, that's all I've got. Email me any questions you might have. I can post more pics if I need to. See my Free iPod and my iRiver Pics and see the beauty of FREE DEALS THAT WORK.
Final Conclusion? In my opinion: