Customer Reviews:
 So Many Pros, But a Few Cons Color This Rating February 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a tough item to rate. It's my third iRiver, and by far the smallest. It's amazing what they've packed into the T604, but that's also one of the problems.
Give it a five on audio quality and the equalizer. Give it a three on the controls. And give it a two on hype. Screen color, hah. It's less than an inch long screen. It's good enough to see the name of the song, but I wouldn't want to watch "Lawrence of Arabia" -- not that you could or would actually want to.
Pros: Great audio
Holds 1,012 of my music: it all depends on the length of the selection.
Battery Life: Once you get it loaded (or once you get loaded), the AAA battery lasts about 15 hours!
FM: A decent receiver.
Recorder: I suppose if you really has a thought and needed to record it because you didn't have paper or pen, this would be very handy, but keep the notes short.
Cost: You can't beat it.
Can be directly loaded from your Music file folder. Just drag and drop.
Cons: The controls are unwieldy at best. Same problem with the larger iRiver cousins that I've reported on, but even more so. This is so small that it's somewhat difficult switching from Music, to Record, to Settings, etc. It's also tougher to get to the equalizer.
I suppose that I could list the earbuds as a con as well, but I have yet to get an MP3 player - including my iPod - where the standard earbuds were any good.
The last con is the "instruction" manual on paper or disc. They're both terrible.
I do recommend this, but before you get frustrated, do read the instructions. And, yes, you have to load the mini-disc to get to the good parts like the equalizer and settings. It's a good thing that it is identical to the other iRivers I have.
P.S. Three days later: One of the primary reviews and mfg specs said that it had a clip. It does not. Another said that there was a lanyard. It doesn't. The only way to "carry" it is to just dump it in your pocket or, lacking a pocket, I found a small carrying case from a camera lens with a squeeze paper clip worked nicely. But mostly, I just put it in my pocket when I use the longer Sony earbuds.
By the way, the more I listen, the more pleased I am with the range. Songs that are blurred on my iPod and even my oldest iRiver are automatically equalized on this one. I still rate it at 4 stars and can't wait to try it with my noise canceling earbuds when I travel.
Still, the quality and number of songs is well worth the money. Give it a chance. It's only slightly larger than the battery so you have to expect a little inconvenience in set up.
 Great features, finicky navigation February 18, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this player for my husband at Christmas to replace his old 1GB iRiver iFP-799 (which he really liked but the capacity had become too small). The features, sound quality, size, and capacity are great, but it is frustrating to use, especially for anyone with large hands. As others have pointed out, navigating with the "joystick" is decidedly tricky. In particular, selecting which item you want out of a list has to be done with a straight press-down motion, and it is really difficult to get it precisely straight - even for me, and I have very small hands. More than half the time you get a slight angle on it and it does something entirely different; so the tolerances here definitely need improvement. In addition, the highlighting to show you which item you are about to select is virtually impossible to see face-on, making it easy to select the wrong one. I also agree with the comments about the delicate USB cover and how it seems to need a nearly-full-strength battery to do file transfer. The older model did all of this *much* better, and got better battery life to boot (albeit with a AA instead of AAA).
So, while overall it's a very good player in most respects, using it is just too frustrating to earn 4 stars from us.
 Excellent sound quality February 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought a Sony walkman (616f) recently to replace an iriver t10 that died suddenly (no sound) - I was a little rough with it. Anyway, the sony sounds amazing but even still, this iriver with a basic flat setting has convinced me that iriver makes the best sounding mp3 players in the world. While the sony sounds awesome, the sound of this iriver sounds even more warm - the music sounds alive and connected as opposed to just hearing a lot of detailed parts on top of each other. The joystick is clunky but you do get used to it - especially if you have used iriver players before. For me, its all about the sound and iriver is simply the best.
an inexpensive mp3 player with a large flash memory February 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First, let me say that I like this sort of mp3 player; small, rugged, basic, lots of flash memory, with a radio and recorder, and uses standard rechargeable batteries. The iRiver T60 is all of these things, and with a 4GB memory, I have plenty to listen to.
The user interface is the same sort that I've used on earlier players of this type. Easy enough to use, and provides full control of the player. The display is color, which must appeal to someone. The backlight does use power, so the player blanks the display after a short while. I'd be happy with a simple LCD, which can stay powered constantly and is very visible in sunlight.
The sound quality is as good or better than any headphones you'll be using. No complaints here. The headphones that come with the player are typical; decent sound quality but nothing fancy.
The player uses a AAA battery for power. This keeps the cost down, and you can use readily available NiMH rechargeable batteries. No worries about finding weird replacement lithium batteries after a year or so. I carry a couple of spare NiMH AAA's with me, but you can also find alkaline AAA's in the most remote area you'll ever be. Would I prefer a AA battery? Sure. That's what my old iRiver 1GB player uses, and it lasts forever.
I've been using the T60 daily for two months now, and I haven't cursed at it yet! It works fine, sounds great, and keeps me entertained wherever I go. It's not perfect, but it's as good as anything I've seen.
Awesome MP3 player with FM and AAA battery. January 29, 2008
Why, oh why, is it so difficult to find a MP3 player that has a built in FM radio and that takes a AAA battery? My very excellent Creative Lab MuVo TX FM died a fiery death (the jack got jacked, very frustrating). I decided to upgrade to more room than 1 GB, but had a really hard time finding a MP3 player that a) can handle drag and drop file transfer b) has folder grouped playback (I mostly listen to podcasts) and c) has a built in FM radio and d) uses a battery (I hate having to drag around recharging equipment but don't mind an extra AAA battery).
I tried a Sansa (couldn't get the folder-grouped playback to work), a MuVo V100 (no FM!), and flirted with an iPod 4 GB (again, no FM AND no AAA).
The toggle controller sucks, the USB door is very flimsy, and why why why doesn't the USB power the T60 when transferring data from a PC?
But overall I am very happy and love having 4 GB.
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