iRiver B30 Hands-On

[Dreamnine]

Crave UK http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalmusic...9303170,00.htm

Although why they're selling this in the UK beats me. We don't get DMB digital TV or DAB+ digital radio.

[pwy]

Don't know why they are selling it in the UK but here in Australia it works great

We have DAB+ here and in the Sydney area the B30 pulls in 38 stations. The signal is so strong I usually don't need to extend the antenna.

I mainly bought the B30 for the digital radio part and it works better than expected. I keep it in my pocket when riding to work on my motorbike and listen to DAB+ all the way....

[Dreamnine]

Originally Posted by pwy

Don't know why they are selling it in the UK but here in Australia it works great

We have DAB+ here and in the Sydney area the B30 pulls in 38 stations. The signal is so strong I usually don't need to extend the antenna.

I mainly bought the B30 for the digital radio part and it works better than expected. I keep it in my pocket when riding to work on my motorbike and listen to DAB+ all the way....

Do you find just having a touchpad a real hassle? ie no tactile buttons at all.

[dfkt]

That's a rather silly looking player, even more ridiculous than the Samsung Q2. Instead of using a touch field and a vibrating motor feedback there's this tried-and-proven thing called: normal tactile buttons. It's all style over substance on the B30, in my opinion. Interface wankery just for interface wankery's sake is a questionable approach to hardware/UI design.

[pwy]

The touchpad is not a problem for me as I'm used to the iPhone. It's reasonably usable also not as good as the UI on iPods but as I mostly use the DAB+ part it's good enough for me. The only minor issue is that it is easy to accidentally touch the buttons and you need to remember to use the lock switch.

[samkirk]

Originally Posted by Dreamnine

Do you find just having a touchpad a real hassle? ie no tactile buttons at all.

No more so than a touch screen. The buttons are suprisingly good and have haptic feedback so the player vibrates when you tap one. They feel a bit like the touch panel on the front of a PS3. Overall I'm really pleased with the B30 thus far and can vouch for the DAB reception where I live in the UK as being good.

[Thomasj]

Hey ! New member, long time visitor love the forum !

Apologies in advance for a stupid question. In doing the research i was unable to find information on this.

I am looking at buying an mp3 player and am heading in the direction of the iriver b30. Either this or the cowon s9.

One little thing i am wondering about the b30 is, is it possible to navigate to a part of a track, or recording using the controls like you can do with the touch screen mp3 players