Feature-hungry music fans will find their appetites whetted by this supercharged, high-capacity portable music machine.

The good: Analog and digital optical inputs/outputs; 20GB hard drive; line-in and voice recording; in-line remote with LCD; long battery life; FM tuner; high-resolution display.

The bad: Display text is small; slow scrolling; slight learning curve; limited Mac compatibility.

By Eliot Van Buskirk, October 14, 2003

The versatile iRiver iHP-120 (20GB) is the first hard drive-based MP3 player we've seen that brings advanced features into a casing only a hair larger than the iPod's. It has just about every input and output that the power user could ask for, excellent battery life, a fully functioning in-line remote with an LCD, and excellent playback/recording quality. This combination doesn't come cheap, but if you're in need of all these features, the iRiver's $400 retail price is money well spent. (Currently, the device offers only limited Mac support; iRiver is pledging to expand the device's Mac capabilities "soon.")