Digital Trends

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The iRiver Lplayer is now available in the U.S., offering a 2-inch color display, FM tuner, voice recorder, and prices starting at $109.99.

Digital audio fans around the world have been waiting for an inexpensive, flash-based video-capable player to come along that wasn't so painful to use that they'd serious consider seeing how many hops it could make before sinking beneath the surface of the nearest lake. For many, the iRiver Lplayer has been a bit of a beacon of hope—and now the player is available in the U.S. with prices starting at just $109.99 for a 4GB model.

The iRiver Lplayer features a 2-inch 32- by 240 pixel display, 4 to 8 GB of flash capacity, USB 2.0 connectivity, an internal FM tuner, along with a built-in voice recorder. On the media front, the Lplayer can handle MPEG4, WMV 9, and Xvid video, JPG, PNG< BMP, and GIF images, along with MPE, WMA, Ogg, ASF, and Flac audio. The internal lithium polymer battery should be able to handle three and a half hours of video playback on a single charge, or up to 12 hours of music. The players also feature iRiver's d*click touch interface system rather than a plethora of external buttons and controls: as a result, the Lplayers are scarcely larger than their screens, measuring just 6 cm across, 4.3 cm high, and 1.3 cm deep.

Right now, black, white, and pink versions of the Lplayer are available in 4 and 8 GB capacities—the 4GB version carries a retail price of $109.99, while the 8 GB version retails for $159.99. No word on whether the chocolate-colored version will make it to the U.S.…although considering how well the brown Zune was received, we wouldn't hold our breath.