iRiver B30 8GB review

iRiver’s plain black 8GB B30 looks unassuming, but it’s packed full of features.

The most noticeable is the built-in DAB and FM radio, due to the player’s telescopic antenna. In spite of this, reception was prone to interference, especially when held horizontally, which is necessary since the otherwise logical interface is oriented horizontally. When reception was interference-free though, audio sounded crystal clear whether on DAB or FM.

Music sounded rather flat both with the included earphones and a better-quality set. It’s worth investing in third-party earphones, though, as the included set don’t do bass-heavy tracks justice. The battery lasted over 30 hours when playing audio, which is impressive.

The touch-sensitive buttons can take some getting used to, but they work well, especially when to set to vibrate when touched. This haptic feedback helps by making it more obvious when you’ve pressed a button.

The up and down buttons are used to skip to the previous and next tracks, instead of the left and right buttons as we’d expect. It’s a change that feels odd if you’ve ever used any other MP3 player.

We wish there were a physical set of volume buttons, as it can be inconvenient to fish the B30 out of a pocket and unlock the controls to adjust the volume. The hold switch and power button are also located awkwardly on the B30’s lower left-hand edge.

Video looked bright and sharp with good contrast on the 2.8in display, although it’s also very reflective. Unlike iRiver’s cheaper E200, the B30 can play H.264 files as well as DivX and XviD videos. It can’t resume paused videos from where you left off, but it displayed all our test videos in their correct aspect ratios and has an orientation sensor so videos are automatically displayed horizontally. The battery lasted six hours and 42 minutes while playing video, which is almost long enough for a transatlantic flight.

There’s a lot to like about iRiver’s 8GB B30, but it’s expensive. At this price Philips’ excellent GoGear Muse 16GB is a much better choice.