All of you iRiver iMP-XXX owners should know that brand new firmware has been released for your MP3 / CD players. The files have been posted at iRiver Korea but may not be downloadable to all visitors. In any case, the iRiver International web site will make the new firmware available to all users very soon. The only thing that's temporarily delaying this is the English translation of the changes.

It looks as though the following changes have been implemented (according to iMP-350 SlimX v2.30). My own brief comments are posted in italic.

• Multi-Session CD Enable / Disable Option. This allows for quicker loading of single-session discs when disabled (and also improves compatibility with some copy-protected CDs).
• Hardware Password Lock Option. With this feature enabled, only someone with the password can use the player.
• 3 User-Defined EQ Settings. If one user setting wasn't enough for you...
• Redesigned Loading Screen. Check out the fancy spinning disc!

This latest release obviously does not contain major additions like Ogg Vorbis support, but I don't expect to see that until 2004 anyway. Once the download links are active, go ahead and update your players...

Thx for the info. I was just about to update my RioVolt SP-100, but I guess I'll wait till this update is out, saving a CD-R

Hi,

I notice that the korean site has different firmware for the 350: 350 and 350c. Any idea what that designates?




mobius

Looks like that page only has the Chinese and Korean firmware. Don't update using those unless you have the Korean or Chinese IMP-350. Wait for the International site to be updated with the appropriate firmware.

Thanks alot for the info. I'm not looking for firmware very often anymore.

Any iMP-XXX firmware with the letter C the file name is intended for "Type2" players that are sold in China and Korea. North American / European units of the iMP-250 and iMP-350 fall into the "Type1" classification as they have only 1 MB of Flash ROM. Type2 models, on the other hand, have 2 MB of Flash ROM and support the Chinese language. To check which kind of firmware your player currently has, it's as simple as accessing the main configuration menu. Be careful not to flash the wrong type of firmware on to your player because doing so could render it useless!

By the way, if there are any North American / European users of the iMP-350 SlimX that want the v2.30 firmware right now, feel free to drop me a message...

Hola

Now it's official and available for download at iRiver's International webpage:

http://www.iriver.com/company/news_view.asp?idx=343

Time to upgrade my iMP-250 with version 2.30

http://www.iriver.com/support/download.asp

Best wishes from Valencia (by the Mediterranean Sea in Spain / España)...

Natxo Iceberg

P.D. By the way, I guess Korean and US/EU firmware are the same, except that Korean firmware defaults at Korean in the language option while US/EU firmware defaults at English.

I read somewhere that if you flash a Type2 FW in a Type1 device or visa versa, it will kill your device permanently

That's right. But not all devices sold in Korea are of the Type2 kind, which is why some Korean firmware may still be compatible with North American / European devices (Type1).

ARGH... Still lacking Vorbis support.... I long for the day when it'll be done..

But I'll still be off to flash my player

This still doesn't fix the playlist bug. On certain playlists, the last song is not played. Other people have experienced this same problem on other iRiver mp3-cd players, so it isn't just the imp-100 that I have, another person is experiencing the same issue on his imp-350. I have posted a couple messages on their boards and another guy has as well, but ttytt, I don't even think iRiver knows about it. I use playlists to play entire albums on my imp-100 clone, and this is very annoying.