iRiver PMP-140

Verdict: The iRiver PMP-140 has lots to recommend it

Sod it, Microsoft's designers must have said when Bill Gates ordered them to come up with an iPod killer. So instead of trying to beat the iPod, they changed the rules of the fight. Microsoft's Portable Media Center plays back more than just music - it adds photos and video to the mix too.

The Creative Zen Portable Media Center was the first gadget to market running Microsoft Windows Portable Media Center Edition. The hardware was reasonable, but we found it restrictive. There was no line-in for direct recording or encoding of audio and video, and it didn't handle the non-Microsoft video codecs reliably.

IRiver has experimented with multimedia functions for its MP3 players, such as the H320 (see p80), so it's not surprising to see it develop a full-blown portable media player. The company is actually introducing two: a Microsoft PMC, and a PMP. The latter's subtly different name, Portable Media Player, reveals that it runs a Linux-based operating system.

In terms of hardware specification, the PMP-140 compares very favourably with Creative's contender. The 3.5in screen is marginally smaller than the Zen's, but it has the same 320 x 240 resolution and is crisper and brighter. Viewing angles are still poor, although you could perhaps forgive this, given the individual, personal nature of a PMP.

The PMP-140 packs a massive 40GB hard drive. You can view still images, play back digital audio and video, and it has an FM radio tuner. Like the Zen, the PMP-140 has a video-out port but no means of recording and encoding video. However, iRiver has given it a line-in port and integrated microphone for audio recording and encoding. The PMP-140 can also act as a USB host. Plug a memory stick or digital camera into the supplied dongle, and you can copy files without needing a PC.

Frustratingly, the PMP-140 takes about 20 seconds to start up, which is annoying when you're out and about. This aside, the PMP-140 beats the Zen at its own game. The navigation system lacks the smoothness of Microsoft's PMC. But considering the range of tasks a portable media device has to undertake, its more intricate and complex nature turns out to be a saving grace rather than an own goal.

The PMP-140 makes for a better music jukebox than the Zen. Although sound quality is excellent on both units, the PMP-140's navigation system makes it easier to compile a playlist on the move. Still, if you're primarily interested in mobile music, you'd be better off looking at the MP3 Labs test on p80, as the PMP-140 weighs nearly 300g.

The PMP-140 can also store and display digital images. It isn't a brilliant function, as the screen is so small, and it somehow feels wrong to commend a company for facilitating, rather than impeding, the ability to inflict family slide shows on other people.

As a video player, the PMP-140 excels because of the respectable screen quality and the ease with which it uploads video files. There's still no quick way of ripping DVDs (check out www.doom9.org for more information), but the PMP-140's Linux OS means that it can cope with more video codecs than the slightly paranoid Zen. It has native support for video files encoded with DivX and Xvid, as well as MPEGs. However, fixed hardware support is never going to be able to cope with the various evolutionary paths of each codec. There's a small Media Converter application, which will take AVIs, MPGs and WMVs, and convert them to a PMP-140-friendly AVI. It's DirectShow-compatible, so as long as your original video is encoded using a DirectShow codec, Media Converter can call that codec and successfully adapt the video for the PMP-140. While Media Player 10 struggled to parse all our test files, nothing we tried, from even the furthest reaches of BitTorrent, phased the PMP-140.

The PMP-140's sleek two-tone design is more evolved than the Zen's blocky, first-generation shell. The back undulates so that at either end of the PMP-140 there's a section that works as a grip. One of these is the removable battery, and the other contains a pop-out stand. The PMP-140 is more comfortable than the Zen to hold. Battery life is poor, though; it managed slightly less than four hours when constantly playing a DivX AVI file, whereas the Zen lasted more than six hours.

CONCLUSION

Microsoft PMCs benefit from a smooth operating system, but lack reliable support for common codecs and only work with a Media Center 2005 PC. The iRiver PMP-140 has lots to recommend it: it's easier to transfer a wider range of content too, and boasts a better screen than the Zen. It's expensive, but this is to be expected with a first-generation product. The PMP-140 is a better effort at a portable entertainment centre than the Zen, but the rules of the game, let alone the outcome, seem far from decided. For early adopters and tech-heads, the PMP-140 is a joy, but it's still a long way from a polished product.