- Joined
- Apr 5, 2004
- Messages
- 2,712
I was in the market for a 20gb H10, but for the very death of me I couldn't find one. A helpful salesperson pointed me towards the clearance rack where I found an H340 instead. I was aprehensive at first, having not researched this particular player, but it turned out better than I could have hoped for. Besides twice the storage of the H10 (40gb!) the thing is actually compatable with my ancient computer. I don't have to buy Windows XP! I just plug it in and copy/paste drag/drop to my heart's content. Basicly functions as a Universal Mass Storage device. I can transfer files of any type. It plays MP3, WMA 
barf: ) ASF, OGG, and WAV files. Displays JPEGs, Bitmaps and text. Supports line-in and voice recording. FM tuning, also. And damn, it sounds great. I'm just so f'ing thrilled it's hard to put it into words.
On top of everything, it turns out I've purchased one of the most heavily mod-able players ever created. I could upgrade to the new Korean firmware and have video support, if I wanted. Toshiba just put out a new 80gb drive with the same dimensions as the one in the player. Expensive as hell right now, but sure to come down in the future. New battery? No problem. Batteries are available that are said to provide juice for up to 23 hours of continuous play. And that's just scratching the surface. . .
Cons? Well, the case isn't as streamlined as the H10s. It's plastic, too ( I think H10s are aluminum.) It's about 4mm thicker than the H10 and outweighs it by almost 40 grams. The firmware is not likely to be upgraded anytime soon, if ever. The database software included with the player gargles balls. Couldn't get it to work with three different computers. This isn't a big deal to me since I prefer a file tree format. If you prefer to browse by genre or other aspects of the file tags, it could be a disappointment. (Third party software has been released which addresses this issue, but I can't personally vouch for it.) I've also heard of long boot times with the database active. Again, I prefer a file tree, so this isn't an issue for me.
If you're in the market for an MP3 player, I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend the H300 series. However, they have been discontinued and availability has already dropped off considerably. I lucked out on this one.
I'd like to thank Ken for pointing me towards iRiver all those months ago.:thumbup:
barf: ) ASF, OGG, and WAV files. Displays JPEGs, Bitmaps and text. Supports line-in and voice recording. FM tuning, also. And damn, it sounds great. I'm just so f'ing thrilled it's hard to put it into words.On top of everything, it turns out I've purchased one of the most heavily mod-able players ever created. I could upgrade to the new Korean firmware and have video support, if I wanted. Toshiba just put out a new 80gb drive with the same dimensions as the one in the player. Expensive as hell right now, but sure to come down in the future. New battery? No problem. Batteries are available that are said to provide juice for up to 23 hours of continuous play. And that's just scratching the surface. . .
Cons? Well, the case isn't as streamlined as the H10s. It's plastic, too ( I think H10s are aluminum.) It's about 4mm thicker than the H10 and outweighs it by almost 40 grams. The firmware is not likely to be upgraded anytime soon, if ever. The database software included with the player gargles balls. Couldn't get it to work with three different computers. This isn't a big deal to me since I prefer a file tree format. If you prefer to browse by genre or other aspects of the file tags, it could be a disappointment. (Third party software has been released which addresses this issue, but I can't personally vouch for it.) I've also heard of long boot times with the database active. Again, I prefer a file tree, so this isn't an issue for me.
If you're in the market for an MP3 player, I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend the H300 series. However, they have been discontinued and availability has already dropped off considerably. I lucked out on this one.
I'd like to thank Ken for pointing me towards iRiver all those months ago.:thumbup:
