MP3 Players Review

iriver Clix Rhapsody 4 GB Digital Music and Video Player (Black)

Customer Reviews

Great device and tech supports number

I had the ifp300 for a long time and the thing was a workhorse, never a problem. So when I went looking for a new player I gravitated towards the Clix Gen 2. After having used the Clix2 daily for over a month I am not disappointed. This is an amazing device. The sound is incredible and has been impressing my skeptical ipod loving friends. The menus are incredibly simple and the easy to get use. Synchronizing the Clix2 is easy (I have tried it with Widows Media and Rhapsody). Of course the Clix2 continues the iriver tradition of including clever features such as FM radio and a microphone. Of course the Rhapsody features are great. The bad. After the first month of using Rhapsody the Clix start up screen displayed a notification that the Rhapsody license had expired, which it hadn't. I connected it and updated the license, all the songs still play but the warning still comes up so it is more of an annoyance than a problem. The folks at Rhapsody reminded me that I had to manually click the license button a couple of times a month (which I hadn't) but determined that it was a player glitch. The folks at iriver suggested reformatting, which is a pain and not much help. Yes the support for iriver is poor. For all those who can't get in touch with iriver's support here is the direct number 562-968-9100. If iriver upgrades the support side of the house this would be a 5 star product.

Great when it worked, but temperamental

I bought this against my better moral judgment (Rhapsody partnered on at least one major event with Maxim), but I have no one to blame for that but myself. The device was great when it worked, but it took many agonizing, sometimes fruitless calls to Rhapsody Support to resolve what should have been simple, straightforward compatibility issues. There were several times I had to reformat the device, which meant wiping it clean and reloading it -- the kicker came when Rhapsody wouldn't recognize the device at all, and after frogging around with it for too long, to no avail, I gently tossed it across the room, where it died altogether! It felt good to get my frustration out, and I didn't even feel bad when the thing died. I may try my luck with the ibiza Rhapsody. Reviews are much better, and as an appliance co., they probably don't partner with magazines that exploit and objectify half of humanity!

Loved it then returned it

Below is what I wrote when I first got it. I ended up returning it because after spending too many hours downloading all kinds of updates from Rhapsody and going back and forth with Rhapsody's support people: - It prompted me to sign onto Rhapsody to get back my playlists every time I turned it on -- rather than the once-a-month it should have. - It took hours to "update" my playlists once I connected to Rhapsody. It was not workable. I am now trying a Sandisk. I would love to hear other people's experience with Rhapsody-to-Go -- an amazing idea. Has anyone actually gotten it to work? I have been a Rhapsody subscriber for the last few years and love it. I did a lot of research on their recommended MP3 players and finally chose this one due to the sound quality that was touted in all of the reviews. I've never had an MP3 player before and thought I would have to spend some quality time getting it set up -- not necessary. It arrived today and it took a couple hours to figure it out and load my Rhapsody playlists. I got a refurbished model -- it seems reasonably "sturdy" for a tiny plastic thing. The easy and great: - The interface is really easy /intuitive. Everything is in the main menu display -- just click up or down to select menu items, right to make changes and left to go back to main menu. Song playback is equally straightforward. - It is literally a drag and drop thing from Rhapsody to load playlists in (our wireless router/broadband connection has some issues and it averaged 10 seconds per song). - The sound is really good -- even with supplied headphones. Based on prior reviews I googled "clix rhapsody sound settings" and found a message board with recommended settings which took no time to change and produced great sound. The only not great things: - Where I am gets not a single FM radio station. (I haven't really tried to figure this out but our clock radio picks up a bunch of stuff.) - The Rhapsody To Go needed some research -- I consulted the "troubleshooting" on the Rhapsody website and found out that I needed to upgrade my Windows Media Player to get it to "authorize my device". Not a big deal but it was a surprise that unrelated software was the problem. This thing is SMALL, great display, intuitive menu, great sound and with minimal effort I have hundreds of songs loaded in -- for Rhapsody users a great thing. I agree with the prior reviewer -- it makes me happy.

An unfortunate disappointment

I have had my Clix for almost a year now and truthfully I have had nothing but problems. I had high hopes for it because it is a truly gorgeous player and touts some great features but the reliability and support have been so horrible that I couldn't recommend this to anyone. When the player works it has a stunning screen for photo and video playback. While the sound is significantly quieter than other players, the quality is very high. The problems I have had with the player however, significantly outweigh those benefits. The first player I received didn't work at all right out of the box and getting it replaced was a miserable experience because iRiver's customer service is the worst I have every experienced. Since their US presence is so small, there is little hope that you will ever get a satisfactory resolution to your problems. I eventually had to simply send the player back with a note attached to it requesting a full refund and crossed my fingers that it would happen. After that I decided to give it one more shot since I figured the player was probably a dud which I was just unlucky enough to get. I was wrong. While this player works for the most part, I frequently experience issues such as my entire music or video library disappearing despite the player showing reduced memory. It also freezes up on a regular basis and can be quite frustrating to reset. I personally like the clicking controls as opposed to most other players on the market but other buttons on the Clix are troublesome such as the locking button which does not function correctly most of the time. Additionally, some of the things that are annoying on the player is that you have very little control over files after they are on the player. Your music software can transfer or delete files wonderfully but you are unable to do basic functions on the player itself such as deleting files, rating them, or moving them to different playlists. These features seem pretty standard in players like this yet they are lacking on the Clix. The biggest issue with the Clix is that when you do happen to have a problem you are basically just screwed. Since iRiver customer support is all but non-existent, and they aren't likely to have a store which will support you in your area, you can basically say goodbye to any investment you make in the Clix if something goes wrong. Since I love the video quality and the styling on the Clix, I put up with it for quite a while but I think it is time to move on. Only buy this player if you have money that you don't mind gambling with.

A BIG disappointment

I bought the Clix gen 2 8GB because it was advertised as Rhapsody compatible and got a great review on CNET. It has a great display and user interface but I was not able to get it to work with Rhapsody to Go DRM transfers and I also had trouble with tranferring my own MP3 music files to the device using Rhapsody. They transfer OK but will not show up in the music menu unless you "rebuild library" each time. I tried working the problem with both iRiver and Rhapsody tech support without success. I don't think it's a Rhapsody issue as I experienced the problem on two different computers running Rhapsody and I have not had the issue with the Sansa players that my kids use. I was also not satisified with the "fit and finish". The D-click user interface is very innovative and easy to use, but the top part of the device shell feels loose and wiggles around. I'm concerned it might come off. So what could have been a delightful product was instead a big disappointment. I'm shipping the Clix back to Amazon for a refund. I hope this review will help others avoid the frustration and waste of time that I experienced with this product. Brad Freeman

Keyword : iriver