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Kazaa, ITunes, Napster, and others have made digital music one of the hottest topics for the holidays. With so many companies out there producing MP3 players, which one is right for you or the person you are shopping for? Consider irock!'s 730i MP3 player that has some very nice features and will play MP3i files as discussed later.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/irock/1irock.jpg"><img src="atruereview/irock/1irockth.jpg" width="275" height="279" alt="irock! 730i Portable MP3 Player" border="0"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> <br> </p> <p align="left"><strong> Packaging:</strong></p> <p align="left">The irock! 730i is securely packaged in blister pack material. Included with the irock! 703i digital audio player were earphones, one AAA battery, one USB cable, one carrying case, and one CD containing user manuals, Transfer Manager software, MUSICMATCH Jukebox software, and MP3i Creator software.</p> <p align="left"><strong>Features:</strong></p> <ul><li> Plays MP3, MP3i, and WMA files</li> <li> 128MB internal memory</li> <li> SmartMedia Card slot for up to 128MB external memory</li> <li> Build in microphone for up to 35 hours of voice recording</li> <li> Repeat and random playback modes</li> <li> Five preset equalizer modes (flat, rock, classical, hip hop, and pop)</li> <li> USB cable for high speed downloading; transfer rate of ~420KB/sec</li> <li>Compatible with iTunes2 and iTunes3 Jukebox software for MAC</li> </ul> <p><strong>Manufacturer Specifications:</strong></p> <p>These specifications can be seen on irock!'s <a href="http://www.myirock.com">web site</a>.</p> <ul> <li>Size: 3.0" x 2.4” x 0.8"</li> <li> WMA bit rates supported: 64Kbps~192Kbps</li> <li> MP3 bit rates supported: 8Kbps~320Kbps</li> <li> Voice-record bit rates supported: 8/16/32Kbps</li> <li> Display: Graphical 128 x 64 LCD</li> <li> Battery life: 8 hours from one AAA battery<br> </li> </ul> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/irock/2irock.jpg"><img src="atruereview/irock/2irockth.jpg" alt="irock! 730i Portable MP3 Player" width="275" height="193" border="0"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p align="left"><strong>Usage:</strong></p> <p align="left">At first glance, the irock! 730i looks like it should be very easy to use. The digital player is quite small and light. There are only a few buttons including VOL, HOLD, MODE, INTERACTIVE (headphones with an “i” in the center), A-B, REC, UP and DOWN scroll buttons, PAUSE/PLAY, and STOP. In addition, the irock! 730i features a USB port, headphone jack, microphone jack, SmartMedia card slot, ejector button, and a removable belt clip.</p> <p>My first challenge came when I tried to turn on the irock!. After trying several of the buttons, I grabbed the quick start guide (the only printed instructions) and found that with the HOLD switch in the off position, I must press and hold the PAUSE/PLAY button to turn the digital player on.</p> <p>While the irock! does come loaded with a few songs, I wanted to try downloading songs more in tune with my personal preferences. To transfer songs to the irock! the transfer manager must be used. The irock! does not act like a removable drive in Windows. </p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/irock/3irock.gif"><img src="atruereview/irock/3irockth.gif" alt="irock! 730i Portable MP3 Player" width="275" height="197" border="0"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>The Transfer Manager software, included on the CD, is very easy to use. Simply find your songs using the left and center explorer windows, highlight the songs to download from the center window, and use the arrow buttons to transfer the songs to the irock!. Songs already loaded on the irock! can also be deleted using the Transfer Manager software. Downloading is fairly fast for a smart media memory, about ten seconds to download a typical song. I was able to download 32 songs to internal memory on the irock! 730i.</p> <p>In addition to several MP3s, I downloaded a couple of MP3i files (provided on the CD) and one WMA file. For some reason, the MP3i files played fine on the computer (images, text, and lyrics included) but the digital player did not recognize them as MP3i files. I found that if I created a MP3i file (see What is an MP3i, later in this article), the irock! recognized them as MP3i. I was able to download the Napster WMA file to the irock!, but could not play the song due to its anti-copy encryption. This was doubly frustrating because instead of skipping the unplayable song, the irock! stopped. I had to manually scroll down and play the next song.</p> <p align="right"><a href="atruereview/irock/irock.php"></a> <a href="irock/irock.php">Next (Usage, MP3i & Conclusion)</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="footer" class="clr"> <div class="rk-1"> <div class="rk-2"> <div id="the-footer"> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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