Chris Gohlke
12-15-2006, 06:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/12/irivers-s7-previewed-long-live-the-choat/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/12/irivers-s7-previewed-long-live-the-choat/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The iriver S7 is alive, and it's brown, and small... iPod shuffle small as you can see from that pic. The display-less S7 measures in at 40 x 32 x 9.6-mm / 15-g compared to the shuffle's 41 x 27 x 10.5-mm / 15.5-g. However, unlike the shuffle's integrated clip, the S7 dangles from a lanyard in choice of five colors. What's more, the chicken-goat (choat... gicken?) and leg-raising-dog come standard issue on every player -- that's no skin, son. Yeah, c|net was surprised too. For whatever reason, the animals represent volume controls whereas the humans muster up the sense to fast forward or reverse your ASF, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA audio. Don't worry, as we mentioned yesterday, there are plenty of skins you can apply to the faceplate. Oddly (as if it could get any stranger), c|net says there isn't a way to pause playback or preset FM radio stations."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/irivers7_shuffle_sc018.jpg" /><br /><br />IRiver makes great players but have never been able to get a leg up on Apple. Maybe this is a sign of desparation. If you try all the things that make sense and don't get anywhere, it becomes time to throw some really out there ideas against the wall and hope some of them stick.