Well I've owned both for a considerable amount of time now, and I can honestly say the iPod get's used a hell of alot more than the iRiver. At first when I was looking for a HDD based MP3 player I had a couple in my mind, the iRiver iHP-120, the iPod G3 10GB, and the Nomad Zen Xtra. After comparing the spec's I decided that the iRiver is the outright winner, it has the most features and a long battery life. I used it for about a month and then one day I strolled into my local PC World and saw an iPod on display. I was curious and I had never seen one in real life before so I walked over and took a peek. I was VERY impressed on the first look at it, it's a was a little thinner than my iRiver and I really liked the overall sleekness and minimalistic look of it. It's like a peice of art, it has style and elegance. The iRiver just looks like any old MP3 player, their's nothing unique or different really, it doesn't stand out. On closer inspection I noticed how cool the back is too (although it's abit of fingerprint magnet) it's very unique and there's no other MP3 player like it. So asthetic's wise, I was VERY impressed. Of course, looks aren't everything so I then turned the iPod on, and started to mess around with the menu's. Now this is where the iPod really is in a place of it's own, there is NO other MP3 player that could ever match the interface of the iPod. This thing is SO easy to use, not only is it easy to use it's a joy to use! It's not tedious like my iRiver. The touchpad is quite unbelivable, I had no idea it would be so sensative. You just literally just glide your fingers around the touchpad or over the buttons and they react instantly, there's also minimal delay in the menus. Only occasionally when the disc spins up is there ever a slight pause. In terms of ease of use the iPod is just miles ahead of the competiton. Anyway, I just had to have it so I went up to the counter and gave my wallet a beating, getting the 10GB and a Firewire card. Installing it all was simple, the firewire card was installed in about 5 minutes, no software neccesary, just plugged it in and turned on my PC and that was that! iTunes is an absolute joy to use, I had about 50 CD's ripped in a couple of minutes and then when I plugged in my iPod they were all transferred in a matter of seconds. While they were transferring the iPod was being charged by the firewire so I don't have to worry about the battery running out in the middle of transferring songs. Soundwise I couldn't be more pleased, I was a little disapointed with the EQ at first, but after a friend recommended me MP3Gain, and I had used MP3Gain on my MP3's, I found that there was no distortion whatsoever at high volumes with the EQ on. I was also very impressed at how the iPod sounded without the EQ on at all. Now the battery, I really have no problem with the battery at all. I never listen to my iPod for more than 6 hours a day, and when I get home I just plug it in to charge and I can listen to it while it's charging if I wish, then the next day it's ready to go again. I usually charge the battery about once every 2 days. I really don't find the battery life a problem, and to be honest the iRiver's battery life isn't THAT much better, plus I'd rather sacrifice a few hours of battery life for the more powerful amp and slimmer size.
Sure the iRiver may have a few more features, but you need to ask yourself "are you going to use them?" if you are then iRiver is the obvious choice, but if you just want something simple, something that takes no effort to do what you want it to do, something's that's a pleasure to use, then the iPod is the way to go. I'm not a robot I don't like navigating through a mass of options and menu's and I don't want or need half the features of the iRiver. The layout and feel of the buttons on the iRiver don't make it any easier either. The only reason I'm keeping it is because I have backed up my entire minidisc collection onto it via the digital in and it's also handy for getting minidisc's onto my PC in MP3 format. It was also a gift so I'm not losing anything by keeping it either. If I had paid out for it, I would probably sell it.
