iRiver Lplayer review

Performance
The most notable feature of the Lplayer is its ease of use. Helped by its simple menus, this is a great player for technophobes and the usually gadget-fearing population. The only criticism is that you have to press the edges of the screen pretty hard to have your click recognised. It might not sound like a big deal, but after a couple of weeks it gets pretty annoying.

Once you get passed the disjointed video conversion and syncing process, the decent screen makes the process worthwhile. There's no way we'd call it a great portable video player, but it's a music player that does video pretty well. It's only a shame most video podcasts will need manually downloading, converting and syncing, as the Lplayer would make a great video podcast player.

It does, of course, make a decent music player. Sound quality is certainly good, though not as good as the Creative Zen or Apple iPod classic. It's a slightly brighter sound with an emphasis on the treble. We're happy to say that most casual listeners will find the Lplayer's audio performance more than satisfactory, particularly if you upgrade to some decent earphones.

FLAC support and an 8GB capacity should also make the Lplayer a possible choice for audiophiles after a portable hi-fi experience. We'd still consider the Zen, though, with a theoretical limit of 64GB of flash memory, or the iPod classic with 160GB, as better choices.

Finally, battery life is underwhelming at 12 hours for audio and about three hours for video. Compared to the Cowon iAudio 7's unbelievable 60 hours, 12 just doesn't cut it.

Conclusion
iRiver's Lplayer is a great MP3 player, particularly if you love the Clix 2, but can't stretch the wallet far enough. It's cute, easy to use and it sounds good. If you like the Lplayer form factor and can afford a few more quids, check out the Clix 2 for that bigger, better screen and longer battery life. If video is your main concern, consider the Creative Zen -- it has the best screen on the market by far and comes at some terrific price points.

The Lplayer is available from Advanced MP3 Players.

Edited by Shannon Doubleday