CNET Editor's rating: 8.7 out of 10
Reviewed by
Jasmine France
Review date: 04/25/07
Release date: 04/24/07
The good: The next generation iRiver Clix is even sleeker and slimmer than its predecessor, but offers the same unique and intuitive interface and stellar audio quality. This player comes packed with extras such as an FM radio; a voice recorder; an alarm clock; support for subscription content as well as OGG and Audible files; and photo, video, and text viewing. The Clix includes SRS Wow sound effects, it has good battery life, and it's priced competitively.
The bad: There's no cradle or line-in recording options for the new Clix yet, and iRiver doesn't offer an easy way to get video content for the device.
The bottom line: The iRiver Clix offers the perfect blend of hot design, desirable features, and stellar sound quality. If you're looking for an alternative to the iPod Nano, this device should top the list.
Truly, iRiver scored a win when it came up with the D-Click interface, arguably the most innovative DAP design move since the iPod scroll wheel.
In fact, it was the Clix's excellent user interface--combined with a host of complementing features--that pushed it to be the highest-rated MP3 player on CNET. Now, a second-generation Clix is set to overtake the throne. It's not an outstanding improvement over its predecessor, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. Coming in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB capacities at $149.99, $199.99, and $249.99 (respectively), the new Clix is set to give competing flash-memory players a run for the money. It's simply the best flash player on the market in terms of overall quality.
Sleeker and slimmer
It's hard to say whether the design of the 2G Clix is an improvement over the previous iteration, though it's certainly just as good. The new Clix is wider (3.2 inches), shorter (1.8 inches), and thinner (0.5 inch) than the old one, which means it could accommodate a noticeably larger screen. However, for some reason iRiver went with the same 2.2-inch screen--it's a bit disappointing, to be honest. That said, it's a gorgeous AMOLED screen, with lovely color saturation and crisp text in a pleasant font. And you still have the option of setting the background to any photo or going with the daily color schemes, which now have a light hibiscus print. The display is just nice to look at, especially when you're on the playback screen, which shows album art and a plethora of information: album, artist, track, time elapsed and remaining, upcoming track name, star rating, time, and battery level. Also, in keeping with the D-Click interface, which allows you to navigate menus by pressing on the sides of the screen itself, the display offers contextual icons on each screen.
The Clix also features a variety of dedicated keys around its seam. And a seam it is: it looks like you could almost detach the face of the player from the back. This raises some concerns about durability, but it does make the Clix easy to get a grip on. The top edge houses volume buttons, while a power button and programmable hot key sit on the right spine. The requisite hold switch can be found on the bottom. The Clix also features a standard mini USB port and headphone jack. Rather inconveniently, all of the labels for the various buttons and ports are printed on the back of the player, meaning you'll constantly be flipping it over until you commit the functions to memory. Still, there's no denying that the Clix is supremely easy to use and quite easy on the eyes as well.
Loaded with features
You'd be hard pressed to find a feature the iRiver Clix doesn't have. Essentially, all that's missing is wireless connectivity (which is still an alpha function, really) and line-in recording. That's where this player's limitations end, though--the Clix is packed with useful extras. You get a voice recorder and an FM tuner with autoscan and seemingly limitless presets (FM recording is also possible). There's a calendar and an alarm clock, as well as support for Flash games. Our test unit came with several titles already loaded, but keep in mind you can't listen to music while you play these games; they have their own built-in sound. If you need to keep your eyes busy, the iRiver Clix delivers in that area too. You can view text, JPEG photos, or slide shows while listening to music.
Of course, the heart of an MP3 player is its digital music playback, and the iRiver Clix is no slouch in that area. The Clix supports MP3, OGG, and WMA files, including DRM-protected songs purchased from online stores such as Yahoo Music or downloaded as part of an on-the-go subscription service such as Urge and, especially, Rhapsody (more on this below). You can transfer playlists to the device or choose from two on-the-fly options: make your own Quick List or let the player decide based on your song ratings. You can also rate songs on the fly. For music playback, the Clix offers the standard Shuffle and Repeat settings, and you can select from 13 EQ settings (Normal, Classic, Live, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Ubass, Metal, Dance, Party, Club, SRS Wow, and a user-defined mode) and preview them in real time. For those who like audio books, the Clix supports Audible content as well.
As icing on the cake, the iRiver Clix supports MPEG-4 and WMV9 video, though there's no easy way to get this content à la iTunes. That is, you'll have to convert your files before playing them on the device. While iRiver's user guide clearly documents the parameters for compatible video and describes how to transfer footage to the Clix, it doesn't explain the conversion process. The easiest way to do this is to simply transfer the videos through Windows Media Player, which can automatically convert them to WMV9. However, if you would like to encode to MPEG-4, iRiver's Web site has all the info, along with the necessary software, called iRiviter, created not by iRiver engineers but by die-hard iRiver fans. In our tests, the software made easy--though not exactly quick--work of several video files, but other files proved impossible to convert. Another option is to purchase an MPEG-4 encoder plug-in for WMP 11 so that the app will do the work for you (we haven't had a chance to test this out yet).
Rhapsody DNA integration
As it did with SanDisk last year, Rhapsody has now partnered with iRiver to offer its DNA Platform on the new Clix. Players distributed after July 11, 2007, will come in Rhapsody-branded packaging and will offer enhanced support for Rhapsody Channels and Rhapsody's Internet radio programming. Upon start-up, the Clix displays the Rhapsody logo; once you dive into the menus, there's a new "Rhapsody Channels" selection (click for screen shots) for organizing the dynamically updating stations from the service. (You hand-select the Channels you want on your device.) Additionally, you can view editorial information about artists whose songs you've transferred from the service. Overall, it's a nicely immersive experience for Rhapsody users, though it's hard to improve on the Clix's already wonderful interface.
If you purchased a Clix prior to July 11, don't fret: unlike with the Sansa e200, you won't need to buy a whole new player with an "R" attached to the name. Rhapsody and iRiver will offer the DNA integration via a voluntary firmware update.
What a sound!
Plain and simple: the iRiver Clix sounds fantastic. The catch, however, is that you'll need some earbuds that are up to the task. The ones included in the package offer fine playback quality, but if you really want to experience the full aural spectrum that the Clix is capable of offering, try it with some Shure SE310s. Tunes sound rich, warm, and encompassing across genres, and the high-end detail and low-end response are both impressive. The Clix also gets very loud--in fact, you'll want to watch that when switching between headphones.
The Clix also offers snappy processor performance and relatively speedy transfers over USB 2.0. The player's lovely color screen handles video playback, but there was noticeable pixilation in the sample clips. Still, color saturation and detail are good, though I still wouldn't suggest watching full-length films on such a small screen. The rated battery life of 5 hours for video and 24 hours for audio is more than adequate. Unfortunately, CNET Labs was only able to eke out 16 hours of audio playback, which is not all that great. Finally, the Flash games are surprisingly engaging and colorful, FM reception is excellent, and the related autoscan feature works well.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Incredible
I have had the good fortune to compare the iPod Nano, Cowon D2, and 2nd Gen Clix side by side, ...
I have had the good fortune to compare the iPod Nano, Cowon D2, and 2nd Gen Clix side by side, and I have to say, the Clix blew the other two out of the water. I've always found CNET's reviews to be very accurate (most of this is in response to another rating), and would have say that they hit this one dead on. The interface is incredible, the sound is incredible, everything about this player is incredible. I would advise anyone who's looking for a high-capacity flash player to heavily consider this, and to ignore the troll that rated it a 5. The only bad thing I can say about it is that it doesn't support line-in recording, but it's better to do that with your computer any way. Great Job iRiver!
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by Mathemusician (see profile) -
April 27, 2007
10 out of 10 - Perfect Definately one of the BEST
You can definately tell the difference between the cowon d2 and the iriver clix 2. The clix has a much ...
You can definately tell the difference between the cowon d2 and the iriver clix 2. The clix has a much nicer looking screen, the cowon screen looks all washed out, i can imagine what that looks like when your out in sun light. The cowon does have expandable memory, but up to 6 gigs total from one card and the unit..... those cards arent very cheap and its not like we want to carry them everywhere with us,multiple cards arent very fun. another thing, its big and heavy... not to mention pretty ugly. I had never tried either mp3 players before, but i have looked and read a lot about both, I ended up buying the first clix, that thing has worked out very very good for me. plus, the Dclick system is great!!! Check out the prize fight, the D2 lost to the original clix
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by xj220gt (see profile) -
April 27, 2007
7 out of 10 - Very good Beauty comes with a few flaws
The iRiver Clix 2 contains almost every desirable feature including an FM tuner (high quality), video, picture, and games, but ...
The iRiver Clix 2 contains almost every desirable feature including an FM tuner (high quality), video, picture, and games, but some of features are difficult to use.
While sound and pictures are great, I haven't a clue how top put video and more games on the player. I seem to get incompatability problems with these features, nevermind the fact that the iRiver software doesn't even recognize my device. It didn't help that the battery seemed to drain very quickly (faster than advertised).
I also didn't like how small the screen was, especially given the enormous space on either side of the AMOLED screen. 2.2 inches is small (think RAZR LCD). It's gorgeous of course, but video seems silly with something this small. Video is so so so much better on 3 inch screen or greater.
Nevertheless, I found the interface to be better than the iPod because you can potentially do four things with one page, whereas with the iPod, navigation is strictly linear.
Bottom Line: If you want an uber customizable and featured mp3 player than get the iRiver Clix 2, but if you aren't so good at technology, don't care about features, or want a screen big enough to watch video without going cross-eyed, then get another player.
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by David2011 (see profile) -
December 26, 2007
By far ...
Had a lot of players. Tried the iRiver iP700, Clix 1, Creative Zen, Nano, Cowon D2, iPod Nano.
By far the Best Non-iPod player made. Not much functional change from the first generation. But then again they nailed the features on the Gen 1 player.
This is the only player that rivals the iPod in the user interface department. Screen themes and fonts are totally customizable. Amazing and Beautiful. Check it out on Youtube.
It blows the iPod away in terms of features. FM Radio and recording, SRS WOW, Voice recording.
The sound quality blows iPods away. In fact in terms of sonic quality iPods a decidedly worse than practically every player out there.
Shame on you Steve Jobs!!! Why can't you made a decent sounding player.
Let me stop my rant...
This player would rate a 10 if it had Line-In Recording. The Gen 1 Clix had this feature. What gives?
Updated Had a 4GB Clix and Upgraded to the 8GB model. They've Improved it.
The new Theme GUI is a thing of beauty and improves the "Now Playing" manu and other displays.
Now the orientation can be rotated 4 ways instead of just 2. An important feature if you want to use the player on a neck lanyard.
Pay the 50.00 extra and get the 8GB you won't be sorry. I'm elated.
I'd now give this player a 10, but Cnet does not allow that to be changed...
9 out of 10 - Spectacular even better than i'd hoped
It's thinner than I had expected, and when you turn it on, all you can say is "wow" at ...
It's thinner than I had expected, and when you turn it on, all you can say is "wow" at the beautiful screen. The flush "D click" interface is not only sleek, but very intuitive. You can also use the player in any 90 degree angle (portrait & landscape), which I assigned to the "smart button".
Frequent firmeware updates add/enhance new features (1.15 enables music to play while playing flash games). Free, customizable/expandable themes, TTF fonts, wallpapers, equalizers, and games are great.
My only wish is there was a 16GB+ version and that you could customize the white font color and size (I want black for use with light wallpapers, and some larger fonts like Tahoma are clipped vertically in play mode). Perhaps the font size/color will be customizable in a future firmware update. Text display mode does allow for font size adjustment, however.
Btw, videos are 30fps, not 15fps (was in 1st gen) as mentioned in some reviews.
Best of all, I'm not limited a single software, proprietary music format, nor player manufacturer (iStuck). Clix syncs fine with iRiver Plus3, Windows Media Player 11, and even Music Match 10 (the best player until they sold out to Yahoo, imho).
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by palmcrash (see profile) -
October 19, 2007
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 out of 10 - Excellent Pretty damn neat, iRiver.
One thing to note about this model is that it does 30fps of video, compared to the original Clix, where ...
One thing to note about this model is that it does 30fps of video, compared to the original Clix, where it only had 15fps.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Finally, something that blows the ipod away
I bought the 4gb for my wife and will probably buy the 8gb for myself. She loves it. The sound ...
I bought the 4gb for my wife and will probably buy the 8gb for myself. She loves it. The sound is great, even with the included headphones. The interface is so easy to use that it takes no getting used to. And the display is fantastic. The photos are bright and beautiful and the video is awesome. I love this thing. Its shorter than an ipod nano but thicker; it appears that the click function is the primary reason. Regardless, its tiny. I am just waiting for the gen 2 accessories, its frustrating that I can't buy an armband or case for it yet. Nevertheless, I'll be picking one up for myself soon.
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by MassillonBuckeye (see profile) -
June 25, 2007
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 out of 10 - Excellent Excellent device
This is my first foray into MP3 players. I did research and was intrigued by this company I hadn't ...
This is my first foray into MP3 players. I did research and was intrigued by this company I hadn't heard of before. I wanted to use this while exercising and in my car as a traveling compilation of the best of my cd collection.
I was concerned about the complaints of customer service. I have to say that I haven't had a single problem with customer service. I called several times to go over some things I didn't understand (like the need to rebuild the library) and an initial difficulty getting the handshake with my computer. iRiver was reachable every time and answered my questions immediately.
The device came as advertised and quickly and was, with help, easily set up. I found a real problem, however, with the iRiver plus 3 software. I had to essentially reload it every time I changed cds which was taking far too much time. I found out it was a problem with the software that couldn't be fixed so I went to Windows Media Player to do all of the downloading and that was simple.
I mostly wanted to rip and burn from my own cds and I loaded a life time of collection onto the iRiver with room to spare (I was just picking the best songs). I even got into something I thought I'd never do, buying songs online. Very easily done.
The controls are easy though there are shortcuts I wish existed like scrolling through songs (not alphabetically). The controls are sometimes accidentally pushed when you don't want it to which is a pain because sometimes you will find your battery drained when you thought it wasn't going.
The sound is nice but the ear buds that come with it are too big and need to be replaced. I have also had difficulty getting it to be used while running. The sports pack I bought doesn't really work well and I really haven't yet found good earphones for running. In the car, the sound was really good and seemed even better than the cds but that is probably my imagination.
I would highly recommend this product to anyone. I have not compared it personally but I did a bunch of research prior and I appreciate those kind souls who take the time to write down their thoughts to help the next in line. I thought it only fair that I did so too.
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by Daryl Zero (see profile) -
April 9, 2008
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Really, really nice MP3 Player!!!
I bought the iRiver Clix 8gb for my son. His two sisters have iPods and I have a Creative Zen ...
I bought the iRiver Clix 8gb for my son. His two sisters have iPods and I have a Creative Zen 30gb. Without question, the iRiver is the easiest to use of all of them. My wife - who is not technical at all - says the Clix is the only player she likes to use because of it's screen and menu commands. They are VERY intuitive.
The album artwork displays beautifully on the amoled screen. I can't say enough good about the screen on this unit. The toggling faceplate makes navigation a snap. Drag and drop sync using Windows Media Player always works (in contrast to the EVER-frustrating ipods which never display album artwork for certain artists - like the Beatles).
I have been very happy with this device. Sadly, iRiver has done a HORRIBLE job of promoting this. For the value; ease of use; and functionality, these devices should be all over the place!
Conclusion: This baby is a winner. But whoever is in charge of marketing at iRiver should be fired.
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by Seattle007 (see profile) -
February 5, 2008
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 out of 10 - Mediocre Poor Repair Response
I found the player sounds great. The controls are easy to use. It works well with Rhapsody. Twice it erased ...
I found the player sounds great. The controls are easy to use. It works well with Rhapsody. Twice it erased itself. After talking to customer service I was told it would take 6 to 8 weeks to repair. I find that unacceptable. I have 2 Sandisk Sansas and found their response time for repairs to be much better. I would not recommend purchasing the iRiver Clix 8GB second generation!
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by tonypariso (see profile) -
January 28, 2008
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