iRiver Lplayer

The number of options available to people looking for a portable media player is enormous. Presuming you’re brave enough to step away from the ubiquitous iPod or the multi-tasking mobile phone, iriver has developed a new device – the Lplayer – ready to tackle Apple’s smallest video-capable player – the Nano. So how do they compare?

Features
You’d expect an MP3 music player and perhaps an FM radio and voice recorder in a device that’s not much bigger than a box of matches, but the Lplayer also squeezes in photos and video. Iriver’s best trick is that it’s turned the entire device into a four-way button, so to scroll through items on its list-based interface you simply press the top or bottom of the screen. To make your selections or go back, squeeze the right and left of the screen respectively. Hiding the control mechanism under a screen that’s the same size as the one on the iPod Nano leaves it looking more compact than its rival from the front, but it’s twice as thick – take your pick where you want your space saved. The resolution and size of the screen is identical to the Nano. As with most devices these days you can also choose your colour – there are black, white, chocolate or pink versions.

Performance
For the device’s size, the quality of both the sound and the screen is surprisingly good. Realistically you’re probably not going to want to sit down and watch a movie on the device – it’s far too small. But if you want a way of keeping up with video podcasts or carrying your home movies around with you, it’s more than capable. The supplied earphones aren’t going to win any awards for providing earth-shattering sounds and, while the quality is fair, audiophiles will undoubtedly want to bring their favoured headphones into play, though this is easy enough thanks to the player’s standard headphone socket.

Ease of use
Popular music file formats such as MP3 and WMA are well supported (along with a few handy extras like OGG and FLAC – take that, iPod), but the video compatibility is more limited. Because of the screen’s size, you’ll have to convert your video files before sending them to the device, which is a bit of a pain but not the end of the world because at least the formats are generic. MPEG-4 SP, for example, is also used on Sony’s PSP console, so is well supported on the web. Having said that, the iPod’s ubiquity means its own video formats are equally easy to work with. The previously mentioned screen-as-button mechanism for controlling the unit is also simple to use.

Value for money
Apple’s nano comes in two sizes but offers more colour options. The 4GB model costs £99, while the 8GB version is £129. The Lplayer undercuts this a bit, falling in at £70 for a 2GB version, £85 for 4GB and £105 for an 8GB model. We haven’t yet taken Apple’s excellent if slightly obtrusive iTunes into account though – iriver’s software is nice enough but not really in this league, though you can sync with Windows Media Player if you prefer.