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Installation
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If
you are running a WinXP system, the U10 requires no drivers and installs
itself as a mass storage device for easy access via Windows Explorer.
You can drag n' drop files to any of the system folders using Explorer.
The U10 is divided into two main directories, one for media and one for
data.
Bundled Software
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This happens to be the only area that I seriously was not impressed with.
First off, the U10 depends on Window Media Player and if you
install from the CD, it will attempt to install WMP 10 without the option of
allowing the user to just choose the apps from iRiver. Bad
implementation. With that said, I just went over to the iRiver Website
and downloaded just their "Picture Plus" software.
Picture Plus Software
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The
only app provided by iRiver is their Picture Plus Application. This is
a very basic and very poorly designed piece of software. It shouldn't
be called "Picture Plus" because all you'll be able to do with it really is
transfer picture files. The fact that they do not provide a separate
application for video conversion our of the box is a serious concern, considering a
majority may not be too familiar with how to properly convert their video
files for proper playback. Back to the picture software though, I did
not like the fact that you cannot add multiple folders for file transfers.
If you attempt to do so, it will just list all files without displaying the
directory, making it difficult to know which files to transfer to folders you
create. Overall, this application is quite useless and you'll be much
better off transferring your files via Windows Explorer.
iriverter Software
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While the company oddly does not include any
type of video conversion software, they do list one third-party app on their
website called "iriverter". Again, this app is very basic and not one
I would use personally. For those who would like to know how to
convert their videos files for proper playback on the U10, post a message in
the review thread and I can certainly recommend other excellent alternatives
that work extremely well.
WMP 10
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The
iRiver U10 relies heavily on WMP 10 for syncing and file transfers.
Unlike the Philips GoGear I reviewed here some time ago, the U10 does work
flawlessly with the WMP 10. While transfer speeds are nowhere near
those of the Vision:M or Gigabeat F40, they are acceptable.
Transferring 712MB of MP3's encoded at 192Kbps took exactly 7 minutes.
The rest of its capacity was left for testing video files and recording
capabilities.
WMP 11
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To
satisfy my curiosity, I did load the U10 on one of my other test systems
which is running the latest beta build of WMP 11. While I can confirm
the U10 was able to communicate with it, things were not
exactly as pleasant. For one, WMP 11 identifies all folders as
"Unknown Album" and will only list each individual track rather than sort
them by individual artists. Note that iRiver has just released their "Clix"
player, which happens to sport the same design but has a capacity of 2GB and
a slightly redesigned GUI supporting WMP 11 out of the box. I'm sure
though that Microsoft will eventually support the U10 and many other older
players on a later build of the product. Yes, you can manage with this
version of WMP, but you'll honestly be better off with WMP 10.
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