I am using the iRiver IFP-790T as a backup recording device when recording the Geek News Central Podcast. Of the 18 shows produced we lost 1 due to a PC crash and I vowed that would never happen again. So as I record the show on the PC the iRiver MP3 player which doubles as a voice recorder is my failsafe mechanism.
Today on the Daily Source Code with Adam Curry he mentioned he owns nearly the same device, and drew some of the same conclusions I did. The thing sucks. It’s a great recorder but you have to use iRiver’s proprietary interface that has DRM management to get files on and off it. Windows does not recognize it as a external drive and it records in some proprietary format.
I really wonder who these companies have on staff testing their products, don’t they have a clue on how the real world works. I guess that is why the Apple iPod is as popular. Someone just needs to figure out how to record at a high bit rate on the iPod. [iRiver]