iriver Clix Rhapsody 4 GB Digital Music and Video Player (Black)

I was looking for an iPod alternative, and based on cnet reviews I chose the Clix Rhapsody. At first it was great. I used it on the train while commuting and listened to audible books while running. I also liked Rhapsody to Go, since it helped me discover artists with similar styles to ones I already knew I liked.
Unfortunately, it was the Rhapsody feature that stopped working. I'd get warning messages saying I needed to connect to Rhapsody to renew the tracks on my device. Problem was, the Rhapsody channels didn't appear when I connected. After 2+ hours with Rhapsody support, we concluded the device needed to be reformatted. I did that and it worked again ... for a week. Then the channels disappeared again. Since this seemed to clearly be a device issue, I contacted iRiver support. They kept replying back with the same set of standard responses, leading me to believe they are either an artificial intelligence engine (with a low IQ) or that they don't understand English. After about 8 iterations of email followed by useless answer, I gave up. The Clix went into the trash.
Guess I'll try a Zune next. At least they now have audible support.

Great item, plays what you want, good quality. To the reviewer below, are you are aware that the official site offers a firmware package alternative? You can get that, depending on the one you download, either turn the non-Rhapsody version into the Rhapsody, OR, the Rhapsody into the Non-Rhapsody version.

http://iriverinc.com/support/ultra/Clix2change.aspx

Easy instructions so that you can buy this version and just turn it back into a non-Rhapsody one.

I bought a second one of these after seeing how well the first worked. It's a fine little device that works well and changes its screen color each day of the week for variety. I highly recommend the Clix player as long as you get the non-Rhapsody version. I've paid for the Rhapsody-to-Go service for over a year now and have tried all sorts of things to get the Rhapsody software to work better. The incredibly extensive music selection is what has always impressed me about Rhapsody and has been the motivation for me to keep trying for so long to get it to work at a useable speed. I've tried different computers, minimizing the size of my library, downloading all the subscription tracks to my hard drive, and all sorts of different settings on the options menu. The end result is always the same: the Rhapsody software functions at such a snails pace that it eliminates any pleasure in using the service. I have to plan to leave the computer and do something else for a while whenever I want just to click on Rhapsody and use the player. It doesn't matter whether I just want to sync one of my Clix players or simply listen to owned tracks on my hard drive; the program still takes forever to load and a very long time to execute each command after it is finally loaded. Even when I've selected no new tracks from the service, it insists on "downloading" or "updating your library" for an amazing amount of time. I've checked the FAQ and online help to no avail. I've pointed out the problem to customer service and received no meaningful response. The attitude seems to be: that's just the way it is, get used to it (which is actually typical of my experience with RealNetworks over the years).

My choice will be to use software that works and get used to the fact that iTunes offers only 28 Glenn Gould albums instead of Rhapsody's 140+. I've yet to determine whether the Clix-Rhapsody players can be loaded with MP3's without using the Rhapsody software; if not, I'll be selling them on eBay.

Este reproductor tiene sus pros y contras como todos pero en general deja satisfecho. Si te harta tanto Ipod el iRiver es la mejor opción.
El sonido definitivamente es mejor que el del Ipod. Y como en todos los reproductores, es mejor usar otros audifonos en vez de los que trae.
No me interesa usarlo para ver videos pero para las fotos esta muy bien.

El gran problema, al menos en el mio que no se si tendrá algún problema de fabrica, es la bendita duración de la batería. No lo he probado de manera continua durante horas pero calculando entre las veces que lo usaba, diría que unas 4 horas, claro que presionando los botones a cada momento, usando los juegos, viendo los videos que trae etc.
Así que despues solo lo usé para mp3 (todos a 128kbb) y con la opción de apagado de pantalla en 10 segundos y calculo que me duró unas 6 horas.

Este es lo único que me molesta, pero por lo demàs es un excelente reproductor.

I wrestled with this product for hours. I could get it to work, but then it would stop. I would get it to work, then it would stop. The Rhapsody DRM is just not ready for prime time. Google "clix sync with your pc" to read all the complaints.