iRiver S10 (2GB)

Manufacturer: iRiver America Part number: S102GB

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CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 9 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: The undeniably cute iRiver S10 sounds great and is packed with features, but its lofty price tag and paltry battery life might be a deterrent for some users.

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Store profile \| Buy now PREMIER SOURCE of cutting edge electronics since 1973.	Rate this store See store profile	In stock SHIPS IN 24 HR. Auth iRiver dealer w/ warranty	Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price	$129.90 Your best price Shop now as of 09/07/2008
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CNET editors' review

iRiver S10 (2GB)

price range: $124.95 - $129.99

The undeniably cute iRiver S10 sounds great and is packed with features, but its lofty price tag and paltry battery life might be a deterrent for some users.

The good: The iRiver S10 features a cute, wearable design with an innovative, clickable screen; the bright OLED screen makes for easy navigation. The player includes nice extras such as an FM tuner, voice recorder, and alarm clock. It also plays OGG files and offers good sound quality.

The bad: The iRiver S10 is expensive, suffers from an unimpressive battery life, and doesn't support DRM-protected music. Oddly, it doesn't support JPEG photos--only BMP. It may be too tiny for some users.

The bottom line: The undeniably cute iRiver S10 sounds great and is packed with features, but its lofty price tag and paltry battery life might be a deterrent for some users.

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iRiver S10

The competitively small iRiver S10 came hot on the heels of the Apple iPod Shuffle--in Asia, anyway. Now, iRiver is selling the stylish 2GB Flash player stateside and it's much of what we expected: feature-packed with a cool interface and great sound quality. However, some may find the $170 price tag daunting (Creative's 2GB Zen V Plus goes for about $110 by comparison) and others may scoff at the paltry eight-hour battery life. Still, if you lust after tiny tech, you'll definitely want to give the S10 a look.

No denying the iRiver S10 is cute, though some might find that it borders on ridiculousness in its minuteness. At 1.7x1.2x0.4 inches, it's just a hair larger than the iPod Shuffle but just as easy to misplace. In fact, I daresay the S10's a bit easier to lose track of due to its black coloring, which causes it to blend into dark surfaces and areas. Still, if you're looking for a tiny MP3 player that can be easily passed off as a pendant, this one fits the bill. Plus, unlike the Shuffle, the S10 offers a crisp color OLED screen--one that's rather larger than that of the MobiBlu Cube2 at 1.2-inches. Oddly, iRiver chose to orient the screen in portrait mode, which requires constant scrolling of longer text on the display. Unfortunately, there's no option to switch to landscape.

iRiver was able to squeeze a relatively ample screen onto the itty-bitty player by utilizing the innovative D-Click interface, which is the same as that found on the Clix. In order to navigate among the S10's menus, you click on the four edges of the screen. Little contextual graphics appear within the various screens and menus to indicate which side accomplishes what. On the playback screen, for example, pressing up on the display goes back one track, clicking down shuttles forward, and pressing right pauses playback. Dedicated buttons for power and volume sit on the right and left spine, a standard headphone jack and lanyard loop are embedded into the top, and a pinhole mic can be found on the bottom edge. There's no obvious hold switch; instead, you press both volume keys at the same time to lock the controls. Unlike the Clix, the S10 does not use the Creative-patented interface that allows you to step down through genres, artists, and albums. Instead, you get old-school folder tree navigation.

Considering the size of the device, iRiver managed to pack a fair amount of features into the S10. There's an FM tuner with autoscan and presets, and a built-in clock means you even schedule recordings for radio shows. (You can also use it as an alarm if you have it hooked up to speakers.) The player also supports photos, but only in BMP format; photos look surprisingly decent on the little screen with good clarity and color saturation (but, really, don't expect to notice much detail on such a small display). Of course, you get the requisite audio playback: the S10 supports MP3, WMA, ASF, and OGG. The player offers a plethora of sound settings for tweaking audio to your liking. There are 10 preset EQs (Normal, Classic, Live, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Ubass, Metal, Dance, Party), a five-band custom EQ, and SRS Wow sound effects. Plus, the S10 supports playlists and you can create a quick list on the fly.

There are a few things missing from the S10. There's no support for DRM-protected files purchased or rented from online music stores, and there's no simple way to shuffle all songs. (Check out our Tips & Tricks for steps on how to shuffle playback on the S10.) Plus, there's no standard USB port. Instead, you must use the included adapter to sync through the headphone jack--don't lose that! Also missing is support for Mac operating systems.

My only other major complaint is about battery life; the S10 is rated for a paltry eight hours. CNET Labs managed to beat this time by an hour, which is nice, but nine hours still isn't all that great. Of course, with a player this small, you've got to expect a tiny battery to match. Other performance is much more impressive. Processor speed and transfer times are snappy, and sound quality is topnotch, as has been the habit of iRiver players. I suggest swapping in a pair of quality earbuds, such as Shure's E4cs, to replace the stock set that comes with the unit. If you do, you'll be rewarded with rich, warm audio that offers satisfying bass response and plenty of high-end detail.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 9 reviews

Showing opinion 1 to 9 out of 9

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9 stars

Excellent full-featured mp3 player

by saxdavew on November 23, 2006

Pros: Tiny size; FM radio; great screen

Cons: Poor FM autoscan

Summary: The S10 connects to a PC as a mass storage device, so you can just drag and drop music (or other files) onto it right away without having to install ...

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Summary: The S10 connects to a PC as a mass storage device, so you can just drag and drop music (or other files) onto it right away without having to install anything. You use the supplied 'iriver plus 3' software if you want though.

The OLED screen is really nice. It's bright, readible and has cool graphics, as you can see in my video of the S10 in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgh6XRcYasc

A drawback of having such a small screen, is that when it displays song titles etc, it has to scroll the ones which are too long. However, it scrolls them vertically which is a bit odd, but not a problem really.

I have reasonably big hands, and it's easily possible to navigate the D-click system with one hand, but it's more comfortable using two thumbs in my experience.

The audio quality is good, as is the FM reception. The FM radio autoscan, however, is
poor and only picks up the most powerful stations. If you tune the radio yourself though, the quality is fine. You can choose between stereo and mono mode for listening to the radio, and save up to 20 preset stations. Navigating the presets is easy, but if you want to name the stations, you need to use the 'iriver plus 3' software.

The S10 can record FM radio in three quality levels:
Low - 64 kbps MP3
Medium - 128 kbps MP3
High - 256 kbps MP3

The built-in microphone can also record in three quality levels:
Low - 32 kbps MP3
Medium - 64 kbps MP3
High - 128 kbps MP3

The S10 also has a clock mode with an alarm that can be used to automatically record the FM radio for you.

I personally havn't found the S10's 8 hour battery life to be a problem. Granted, if you are going to be away from a USB port (the only way of charging up) for more than 8 hours and plan to use the S10 continuously, then the battery life would become an issue. In practice though, if you are low on power and have a USB port available, a short charge will give you a few more hours of play time. The manual says that 1 hour of charging gives you 80% battery life, and 100% takes 1.5 hours. In my experience, the S10 charges up nice and quickly.

I have found the S10 to be an excellent player, and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who doesn't need a huge amount of memory in an mp3 player.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Good choice for the people that won't want to buy the latest iPod

by kelvinlaw on October 27, 2006

Pros: Featuring a D-Click interface and small/stylish look!

Cons: 8 hours Battery Life

Summary: Those who know me, know I love my gadgets. I got myself a iRiver S10 recently and it quickly became my favor toy. It provides me almost all the functions ...

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Summary: Those who know me, know I love my gadgets. I got myself a iRiver S10 recently and it quickly became my favor toy. It provides me almost all the functions I needed. With the LCD display, the size is amazing. Thanks for warehouse123.com bringing the new S10 to the State.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Very cute, slick and amazing MP3

by Samsung Fan on July 31, 2007

Pros: Very easy to navigate with the D-click system. Awesome sound

Cons: Low battery life. This was bit disappointing.

Summary: I was extremely exited when I got this from a package my uncle sent for Korea. Firstly, don't let looks fool you about this tiny MP3. It is only ...

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Summary: I was extremely exited when I got this from a package my uncle sent for Korea. Firstly, don't let looks fool you about this tiny MP3. It is only a notch bigger than the iPod shuffle, yet it does MUCH more than that. It has spectacular sound, easy navigation with the D-click system, colorful screen, and also has FM radio and very neat recording quality. I thought I got a really good pirce for what I paid ($117... weird, the reviewer says its $170 bucks.... haha).
Although its weak battery life was disapointing, I loved its design, portability, and overall the simple plausible feel. I'd recomend this to anyone who wants to get the best deal off an MP3 with $120 bucks.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

cute and amazing ^^

by iruka* on August 13, 2008

Pros: size, interface, sound, voice recorder, radio

Cons: battery life

Summary: I didn't buy it,....YES, someone just threw it to me again. The friend who's an iPod lover....the friend I want to kill XDD

But after she ...

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Summary: I didn't buy it,....YES, someone just threw it to me again. The friend who's an iPod lover....the friend I want to kill XDD

But after she got her new iPod touch, she thought this was garbage and just said "here, you love mp3s, keep it". And I was really happy with playing around with it because of the way you can use the sides to navigate. I also really loved how colorful it was especially when the screen was so small.

Sound quality really was excellent, but for someone like me who has to listen to music 24/7, battery life wasn't so great. One charge was like.....a little less than a day. I was left music-less for about 3 hours and that really saddened me.

Other than that, it was perfect. Nice cute size with great audio quality and it also has voice recording and radio. If possible, it'd be better if they could increase battery life, but it's small, so, guess they can't do much about it.

If you don't really mind that and you just like to listen to music while riding the bus, then I say it's perfect for you. You really are getting what you paid for and the price dropped a great deal now. ^^

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9 stars

great lil' player

by hshadow914 on October 23, 2007

Pros: small, lightweight, D click system, looks and sounds great

Cons: screen harder to view in sunlight, no clip or acessories to clip to body.

Summary: i was going to buy the archos 605, then i cancelled the order because i realized i wouldn't be able to run with it. so; i ordered this, and ...

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Summary: i was going to buy the archos 605, then i cancelled the order because i realized i wouldn't be able to run with it. so; i ordered this, and i'm happy with my desicision. best sound quality i've heard in a player, and it's tiny. as stated before it dosn't have a clip, but that's not big problem seeing as i run shirtless, and it is hardly noticable in one's hand. i love the D click system even though I thought it would get annoying. all in all great player especially for running. oh, and the included headphones aren't good, but they never are.

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10 stars

Awsome! This thing is the best mp3 player in the word for its size so far as 2007!!!

by Cuttersack on June 18, 2007

Pros: They say it's better than the i-pod shuffle but man, this thing is like a nano! For its size, that's awsome!

Cons: I-pods are so overaded!

Summary: Incredible size! I would rather get this then the second (and of coure first) generation clix because it holds more music for its size, plus it is cuter and more ...

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Summary: Incredible size! I would rather get this then the second (and of coure first) generation clix because it holds more music for its size, plus it is cuter and more stylish then the clix! I-pods must bow down to the mighty size and power of the iRiver S10 (2GB)!!!

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9 stars

Sounds great, works great, looks great

by rob128 on March 20, 2007

Pros: Tiny, easy UI, beautiful screen

Cons: 8 hour battery life, no DRM, earphones are mediocre

Summary: I bought mine on ebay last week and it is truly AWESOME (compared to my old Rio, Samsung, and iPod video). The UI is very intuitive.

Summary: I bought mine on ebay last week and it is truly AWESOME (compared to my old Rio, Samsung, and iPod video). The UI is very intuitive.
8 stars

Sounds great. Can't keep time corrrectly.

by dfichtner on January 13, 2007

Pros: Sound. Size.

Cons: Headphones, Menus. Buggy clock. Tiny plug easily lost. Battery life

Summary: I purchased an I-River S10 while here in Korea. I have had it for about three weeks. Here are my observations:

The sound is excellent. The headphones are nothing special (

...

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Summary: I purchased an I-River S10 while here in Korea. I have had it for about three weeks. Here are my observations:

The sound is excellent. The headphones are nothing special (I bought some Sony EX-51's, which don't clip hold, but sound great for around $30). I will mention to make sure your new headphones will all you to hang the player around your neck. The stock headphones are great for portability, and make a nice package that looks great. They just sound lackluster, as is the norm for provided headphones. If you change to another model, you lose the advantages of portability and asthetic beauty of the device. Hopefully, some headphone models will be provided later that are more compatible with how this device is designed.

You have a lot of control over the bass, field width, there is an EQ, etc. You have a fair amount of functionality here. I also demo'ed the I-River S7, which is about the same size, but doesn't have a screen. Sound seemed identical (through stock headphones), although the S7 has an external button to change between some preset audio settings (less functionality, but great sound). I sometimes wish there were a preset button on my S10, as clicking and hunting through menus on the S10 can get annoying.

There is a problem with the clock. It keeps time UNTIL you start going into settings menus and adjusting things. Then, for some reason, the clock falls a few minutes behind. The problem compounds itself over time, and a few days later, you'll find your clock is off by 10 or 20 minutes. This is probably a firmware issue they haven't figured out yet. The clock is fine if you make no settings adjustments to the unit, but you'll find yourself changing settings all of the time. Chances are, you probably aren't buying this for the clock, anyway.

The S10 (and S7) both play loud and clear at various volume levels. No problems here, and there is plenty of good sound.

My biggest beef with the S10 is that it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to set the screen so that I could watch the "dancing lights" without the screen going black. And I still fiddle with it for 3 to 5 minutes every time I attempt to change this. The menus are very confusing in this regard, and there are different settings in different locations controlling what happens to the screen saver and the LCD backlight (Backlight is under Settings/Timer, and Screen Saver is under Settings/Display/ScreenSaver). They are two different entities in two different places. Sometimes, you are required to push and hold the right side of the screen to save a setting, but you're not necessarily prompted to do so. The same can be said for finding some menu items, which you wouldn't know were there otherwise.

And yeah, the reviews about the software are correct. Use it to update the firmware from time-to-time, but otherwise forget about it. It's easier to simply drag and drop the files via Windows.
Updated
I purchased an I-River S10 while here in Korea. I have had it since Christmas of 2006. Here are my observations:

The sound is excellent. The headphones are nothing special (I bought some Sony EX-51's, which don't clip hold, but sound great for around $30. You have a lot of control over the bass, field width, there is an EQ, etc. You have a fair amount of functionality here. I also demo'ed the I-River S7, which is about the same size, but doesn't have a screen. Sound seemed identical (through stock headphones), although the S7 has an external button to change between some preset audio settings (less functionality, but great sound). I sometimes wish there were a preset button on my S10, as clicking and hunting through menus on the S10 can get annoying.

There is a problem with the clock (not sure if this has been updated recently with any new firmware.... anyone else seen this get fixed?). It keeps time UNTIL you start going into settings menus and adjusting things. Then, for some reason, the clock falls a few minutes behind. The problem compounds itself over time, and a few days later, you'll find your clock is off by 10 or 20 minutes. This is probably a firmware issue they haven't figured out yet. The clock is fine if you make no settings adjustments to the unit, but you'll find yourself changing settings all of the time.

The S10 (and S7) both play loud and clear at various volume levels (until maybe above the 85 to 90% level, where some distortion is present). No problems here, and there is plenty of good sound.

My biggest beef with the S10 is that it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to set the screen so that I could watch the "dancing lights" without the screen going black. And I still fiddle with it for 3 to 5 minutes every time I attempt to change this. The menus are very confusing in this regard, and there are different settings in different locations controlling what happens to the screen saver and the LCD backlight. They are two different entities in two different places. Sometimes, you are required to push and hold the right side of the screen to save a setting, but you're not necessarily prompted to do so. The same can be said for finding some menu items, which you wouldn't know were there otherwise.

And yeah, the reviews about the software are correct. Use it to update the firmware from time-to-time, but otherwise forget about it. It's easier to simply drag and drop the files via Windows.

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3 stars

Great idea - bad implimentation

by eldernorm on April 18, 2007

Pros: 1)Has graphics, nice idea. 2) small size. 3) No thats it.

Cons: 1)Does not use jpg, Really dumb idea. 2) too small for pictures, 3) hard to control, 4) clumsy interface, 5) black is nice but no other options.

Summary: This is the standard case with non-apple companies. They take some great ideas and really screw up the implimentation. NO jpg?? no usb?? How does it connect??? Controls???

If I

...

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Summary: This is the standard case with non-apple companies. They take some great ideas and really screw up the implimentation. NO jpg?? no usb?? How does it connect??? Controls???

If I use something that small, maybe I just want it to play music??? Maybe, what do you think.

Companies, if you want to compete with Apple, use your brains for something else besides cute techno nerd. Make it something we want.

EN

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0 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.

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Specifications

Manufacturer: iRiver America
Part number: S102GB

General
Width 1.2 in
Depth 0.4 in
Product type Digital player / radio
Height 1.7 in
PC interface(s) supported Hi-Speed USB
Weight 0.6 oz
Color Black
Digital player signal-to-noise ratio 90 dB
Flash memory installed 2 GB Integrated
Digital storage None
Dimensions (W x D x H) 1.2 in x 0.4 in x 1.7 in
Voice recording capable Yes
Packaged quantity 1
Software type Drivers & Utilities
Digital storage media type None
Radio
Tuner frequency range 87.5 - 108 MHz
Radio signal-to-noise ratio 60 dB
Tuner type Digital Radio tuner
Tuner bands FM
Antenna form factor Headphone cord FM
Tuning display OLED display
Digital Player / Recorder
Digital player supported digital audio standards WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG 1 Audio, MPEG 2.5 Audio, MPEG 2 Audio, MP3
Digital player response bandwidth 20 - 20000 Hz
Digital player playback modes Playlist
Digital player supported bit rate 8 - 320 Kbps
Digital player ID3 tags support Yes
Digital player additional features BMP photo playback
Video Playback Features
Still image format BMP
Battery
Included Qty 1
Technology Lithium polymer
Battery 1 x Lithium polymer Player battery
Mfr estimated battery life 8 hour(s)
Battery Life Details MP3 playback Lithium polymer 8 hour(s)
Audio System
Sound output mode Stereo
Additional features Upgradeable firmware
System Requirements
Peripheral / Interface devices USB port
Min Operating system Microsoft Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP
Connections
Connector type 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1 x USB 4 pin USB Type A

Built-in Display
Audio system built-in display OLED
Diagonal size 1.15 in
Backlight display Yes
Power
Power Supply / Device None
Audio Features
Built-in clock Alarm, Digital clock
CD System
CD system type None
Digital audio standards supported WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, MP3
Equalizer
Equalizer factory presets Classic, U-bass, Metal, Normal, Rock, Jazz, Dance, Live, Pop, Party
Remote Control
Remote control None
Microphone
Microphone type Built-in
Battery / Power
Power device type None

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iRiver S10 (2GB)

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Digital Player / Recorder

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CD System

Equalizer

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Microphone

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