IRiver Spinn

The iRiver Spinn (stylised iriver SPINN) is a portable media player that was developed and sold by iRiver. It was announced at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show^[2] and shipped later that year. It was a successor to the iRiver Clix 2.^[3]

iRiver Spinn (U30)

Also known as	U30
Manufacturer	iRiver
Type	PMP
Release date	August 2008
Media	4–16 GB flash memory
CPU	Telechips TCC7901[1]
Display	480 × 272 px, 3.2 in (81 mm), color AMOLED, touchscreen
Input	SPINN System, Touch
Connectivity	3.5 mm jack, Properietary data/power USB cable
Power	Li-Ion battery
Predecessor	iRiver Clix 2

Features

The hardware and internals of a SPINN

The Spinn is fully made of metal^[4] and features a resistive touchscreen AMOLED display along with an analogue wheel knob. Both the screen and the wheel have haptic feedback.^[4]

The Spinn has sound customisability in the SRS WOW HD 3D, as was seen previously on the iRiver Lplayer.^[4] Some features have been carried over including a voice recorder and Flash Lite games, but the Spinn also has Bluetooth.^[4] iRiver officially rates a 25 hour battery life for audio, or 5 hours for video.^[4]

In some regions such as the UK, it came with a DAB radio tuner.^[3]

Formats

It supports the audio formats MP3, WMA, Ogg, APE, ASF and FLAC, and videos in the formats MPEG 4 Simple Profile and WMV.^[4]

Interface

The iRiver Spinn's distinct feature is its user operability. It has a modern user interface that can be both operated by both the touchscreen or the physical analogue spindle,^[4][5] which is officially called the SPINN System (Analog Toggle Wheel).^[5] The wheel lets the user navigate left and right, and it can be clicked to select.^[6]

Reception

Trusted Reviews thought that the Spinn was "excellent and innovative", but that it could be niche in the market.^[5] The Register commented that it provides good sound quality as with previous iRiver players, but that it lacks in the video department and that the UI is "half-baked".^[4] The CNET review (with a score of 7 out of 10) liked the build quality, interface and support for audio codecs, but criticised the high price and the lack of certain features for the price.^[7] Engadget liked the "beautiful" hardware design, the display and the wheel, but did not like the high price and the software.^[8] In What Hi-Fi?'s review, the Spinn's design was praised but otherwise commented that for listening to music other products were better.^[9]