Home > Consumer Reviews > iriver iMP50 MP3 / CD Player with Car Adapter

Pros:
Supports packet written CDs - Use your CDRW disk like a hard disk

Supports multiple .m3u playlists - control what songs are played and in what order through .m3u text files.

Will resume EXACTLY where you stopped - a must if you listen to radio programs and audio books.

Has bookmarking feature - great for returning to an audio book or radio program point after listening to music.

Firmware upgradable - Unit ships with version 1.0 - I highly recommend upgrading to version 1.3 which is available on the IRIVER international site at the time of this writing.

Supports track queuing - select the next song to be played while listening to the current song.

Easy to program - shows filename while selecting songs to program

Many more features

Cons:
No backlight.

In summary, the IRIVER IMP-50 gives you more features than many MP3 flash and hard drive players at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of media cost - 700 MB CDRWs are way under a $1 a disk. It's features blow all other manufacturers' CD MP3 players away. I highly recommend this or any other IRIVER CD player product.

Linux and other non-windows OS notes.
Supports Linux packet written CDRWs.

You MUST use Joliet extensions when creating your file system for the firmware upgrade disk.

.m3u playlist text files MUST be terminated with CR/LFs (DOS) not just LFs as is the standard in Linux.

.m3u playlist files take the following format:

\directory\im_no_angel.mp3

\directory\my_life.mp3

Note that the DOS \ character MUST be used as the file separator.

For best results, use only 1X-4X speed CDRWs.

RTFM and online documentation.

I have had one of these for a few weeks now and I am impressed. I took it on my last trip back east, I can't tell you how cool it was to press play and forget about changing CD's. Everyone around me was always digging through their entire collection looking for one song. I just sat there and listened.
What I like:
- Easy Navigation
- Plays all my MP3 and regualr CD's (Had problems with my last one only reading some MP3 discs).
- Plenty of battery life (AA, so I don't have to worry about bringing a charger with me)

I have one and would recommend it to anyone, especially for the price!

I am very pleased with the performance and quality of the iMP-50 --it's a great MP3/CD player for the money. I did a lot of research and found that the iRiver products have a good reputation across their product range. Don't be fooled by the iMP-50's low price because there's little evidence that iRiver cut corners on this player. It is well-designed and loaded with the great features of iRiver's more costly players. The construction has a high-quality appearance and is quite durable. It may not have a flashy metallic finish but it still looks and feels good in the hand.

SOLID FEATURES:
The sound quality of the iMP-50 is excellent and can be tweaked with the equalizer settings and various low/high frequency boost features in the player's menu. I've only used this player with Sony MDR-EX51LP Fontopia earbuds ($30 but worth every nickel) and so the sound is clear and powerful. The earbuds that come with the iMP-50 are average quality. Better to invest in quality headphones/earbuds if you really want to enjoy the sound quality of any MP3/CD player. The earbuds/headphones are the critical link so don't skimp on them if you truly want to enjoy the sound quality.

The player's firmware is also user-upgradeable (I've installed the latest version 1.10 that has additional custom equalizer settings and some other tweaks) and the menu system is easy to master after a few minutes. To take advantage of all the iMP-50 features, spend the time to read the owner's manual. The graphic LCD display has a wealth of information (MP3 tags, file type, sound level meter, battery condition, and others), however, it isn't backlit. The lack of backlighting on the display is the only cost-cutting measure in my view and is not worth thinking about unless you normally operate the player in darkness.

ANY PROBLEM AREAS?
None worth mentioning. It appears that some reviewers on Amazon have given the iMP-50 low ratings because the CDs are loaded from the bottom of the player (to me it's no more difficult than any other player I've seen) and the fact that they couldn't get all of their CDs to play properly. I've tried a wide range of my own MP3 discs and normal CDs and the iMP-50 has had no problems with any of them. Anyone having problems are likely using discs that are worn and scratched and ANY player will have trouble with those. The disc mechanism is identical to those on laptops (that's how they get a thin profile) and should prove as durable as any good portable.

Overall, the iMP-50 appears to have all the features of iRiver's higher line products but at a remarkably affordable price. It was a great purchase.

The battery life is awesome(as long as you playback MP3 CDs). The headphones are okay, I only wish that the headphones cable/cord was longer. The setup menu is a bit clumsy and counter-intuitive, but you won't need to use it too often, so that's no biggie. The body is made of hard plastic, and isn't too sleek, but the player is suprisingly small and not too thick(as I expected from a cheapo gadget like this one).
Also, some parts of the manual are written poorly. For some reason, when I copied the playlist files to a separate directory on the CD, the player couldn't find and playback those files.I'd like to clarify that in order to burn the MP3 CD with M3U playlists(the ones generated by WinAmp player), you have to copy both the MP3 music files and the M3U playlist files to the same directory on the CD. Enjoy your purchase everyone.

I have it for 2 months. It works great and play all kind
of cd and mp3. The battery life is good enough. The
headphone has good sound quality. My only complain is
that the left earbud can't fit my ear well. I can't complain
my ear to God neither my parents, hence I give it a 4-stars.