Way back in the infancy of MP3 players, I happened to win one in a drawing at work. Though it would be considered nothing now, at the time I believe it was a good mid-range MP3 player. What device was it you ask? The iRiver iFP-340 and it had a whole 64 megabytes of memory. So it held about 12 or more songs, depending on file size. The player had a built-in microphone for voice recording. It could play music in the MP3 and WMA format, but you could store any kind of files on it. The best feature was that it ran off a single AA battery. Sure it might run down fast, but if you’re using rechargeable batteries who cares. There would be no need to get your battery serviced. And what kind of power did it need anyways; it just had a little black text lcd screen, with a blue backlight.
The included software was also easy to use. It was just a basic import/export system.
No constant upgrade request boxes, like I get with iTunes. And it used the generic mini-USB plug. No unit specific connectors, which they would try to charge an arm and a leg for later on. No I’m not trying to bash iPod, I like their products too. But those little things do wear on us consumers. An outlet adapter is $30, seriously?
I just wanted to take a trip down memory lane, but it really wasn’t that long ago. I mean it was only 2003. So six years, almost seven. The poor old iRiver just sits in my drawer now, untouched for the last few years. I’ll put it to use again one of these days.