The first generation clix was a great player with a smooth and easy-to-use interface. The clix2 is different only in that it’s even better than its predecessor. The player is very customizable and offers many settings and features – enough to keep even the setting-tweakers happy. Among the plethora of features, the clix2 is very flexible and will lend itself well to any set up, whether Mac, Linux, or Windows.

Without a doubt, should check out the clix2 if you’re in the market for a flash player. Because iRiver doesn’t do much advertising, the clix2 is very underrated and under exposed, but read on for a closer look at the clix2.

• Quick Look
• Capacities: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB
• Screen: 2.2” QVGA 262k Color AMOLED
• Dimensions: 80mm x 4.6mm x 12.8mm
• Weight: 55g
• Battery: 24 hours Audio; 5 hours Video
• Supported File Types: MP3, OGG, WMA, SWF, TXT, JPG, MPEG 4 SP,WMV9 SP

Accessories

Packed in the box you will find the clix2 player, earbuds, USB cable, software, and a user guide—your standard set up accessories. There are a few optional items available for purchase such as cases and skins, but there is also an official iRiver speaker dock.

Design

The exterior casing is made of plastic, with the front face being a hard glossy finish and the back a matte finish. The front screen is protected with a pre installed plastic film meant to keep scratches at bay. This is one aspect of the design I’m not crazy about; it cheapens the player. My protective screen had bubbles in and was pulled up slightly around the edges, pre installed.

Of course you can easily solve this problem by taking the protector off, but you run the risk of marring the screen since the player is tapered with the bulge directly in the center of the screen. If you are careful not to set it face down, the majority of marks can be avoided, and, in fact, the front face is actually very scratch resistant. I took my protector off and it has held up very well, suffering only minor and nearly invisible scuffs. Really, you would only see these when the monitor is off anyway, since the bright AMOLED screen will shine right though.

Screen

The clix2 screen is absolutely stunning; it literally looks as if they’ve taken a plasma TV and shrunken it. The colors are bright and the response times are very fast. Also on the plus side, the screen does not suffer from flicker that’s found on other OLED screens. That’s because clix2 uses a new display technology called AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode), which is basically the next progression in OLED. If you are interested in finding more about this technology, the screen is made by Samsung SDI.

User Interface

The clix2’s user interface is nearly identical to the first generation clix, with what iRiver calls the “D-Click” system. Once you learn it, it’s rather simple; almost all of the work navigating is done by clicking the top, bottom, right, and left sides of the screen. Buttons are located underneath the screen and have an audible and tactile response.

There are also buttons located on the sides of the player: volume up, volume down, power, and a smart key. The volume buttons are “backwards” when held in landscape mode (with the + on the left and the – on the right), but come corrected when it what I think is a more comfortable one handed portrait mode. Buttons are now + on the top and – on the bottom. The smart key is used in some games and can be programmed for a few different tasks a
s a short cut key.

I don’t think I would call the interface intuitive; however, that’s not to say it’s not smart and easy. It will take a bit of time to get used to, but after you’ve it figured out, it’s effortless and makes sense. Overall it’s a well thought-out interface.

Media Transfer

There are two different options with regard to getting media on and off of the player with pros and cons to each, depending on the OS you are using and what software you wish to utilize.

Transfer Mode MSC vs MTP

The two different modes, or transfer methods, are MSC and MTP. MSC or Mass Storage Class is compatible with any modern OS including Linux, Mac, and Windows. Files can be loaded on all of these OSes with a simple drag and drop; it works just like any flash drive. MTP or Media Transfer Protocol is mainly a Windows procedure. Even though some hacks exist for other OSes to get MTP to work, MTP should only be used on Windows machines until solid MTP drivers are built for other OSes. Regardless, the point here is you have some choice and the ability to use the clix with any OS.

One thing to keep in mind is that you should choose one and go with it since switching transfer modes requires you to reformat the player. In addition, music subscriptions (and other DRM purchases) and Audible content (audio books) with bookmarking are features only available in MTP mode. On the flip side, Podcasting support is only available in MSC mode.

Software

iRiver provides software (iRiver Plus3) to manage playlists, photos, music, ebooks (txt files), and video while in MSC mode. It is very basic software and it works well. It’s a little different form Windows media player, so there might be a bit a learning curve.

If you are using MTP mode you can use many MTP based media player like Windows Media Player, Napster, Yahoo! Music, MonkeyMedia, and many others. Playlist support in this mode with these programs is easier than using the above mentioned iRiver Plus3.

Keep in mind that iRiver Plus3 will only work in MSC mode. Windows Media Player and others will work with both. It would have been nice if Plus3 supported MTP.

Battery

The player takes about two and a half hours to charge and will provide (according to iRiver) 24 hours of audio or 5 hours of video. From my tests I got between 20-23 hours of audio at variable volume levels and right around 5 hours for a few video tests. These larger than typical times can be attributed partially to the efficient AMOLED screen.

iRiver allows you to select two different modes while it is plugged into the computer. You can select “Power & Data”, allowing you to charge and transfer, or you can select “Power & Play” allowing you to listen to the player while charging. Its details like these that make this a solid player.

Radio

The radio fits the clix2’s easy-to-use theme. The visual layout of the radio is well done, showing dots on the FM spectrum line as your preset station. You are able to toggle between flipping though presets or fine tuning one step at a time. The auto tune works very well, only picking up the strongest station and leaving out any poorly received station.

Recording radio is easy with the choice to record integrated right into the radio’s options. Recording qualities can be selected from high, medium, and low or 64kbps, 128kbps, and 192kbps MP3.

Extra Features

Recording

Voice recording is a snap with the clix2, and it even has a nice feature that keeps you from wasting recording time on empty sound: it will only record when resonance is detected. The great thing is that it records in MP3 format in 64, 128, and 192kbps. As far as the quality of the recording, it performed just fine without any problems. Beware, though: you may introduce some mechanical noises from the buttons if you are messing around with the player while recording.

Alarm Clock

The alarm has a solid set of features. Settings will allow you to decide the duration and sound (included alarm sounds, your own music, or FM radio). You can also choose “Quick Alarm” which operates like any standard timer that can be set to go off in X number of minutes. The clix2 will wake from sleep state to go off, so the player does not need to be on to operate these features.

Games and Flash Support

As you might know, there are many little time-wasting diversions out there, some of which are fairly entertaining. A few are included with the clix2, but there is support for other games written in Adobe Flash Lite 2.1 (@ Less than 15 FPS – Audio: ADPCM or MP3 128kbps or less). Don’t expect anything extravagant since the clix2 doesn’t have a lot of power, but do expect some fun puzzles and other mini games which can be downloaded from iRiver’s site or in our forums. Users have also reported that games designed for other flash players like the iAudio D2 and Samsung T9 will work for the clix2. Give them a try; there’s no harm in loading a game that is not designed for the clix2.

Text

Text files are very readable on the clix2’s screen. The player will accept standard files with support for many different languages. You are able to adjust the font size as well as scroll length, and there is a feature that will roll your text for you if you are too lazy to push the down key.

Browse Device

The clix2 will let you see every file residing on the player with the file browser. It works just like any standard file folder browser and will let you activate the media—for instance: player a song, movie, text, or game.

Themes

Different themes can be applied to the GUI. They can drastically change the look of the clix2 with font, background, and even menu animations, since the player uses Flash Lite for themes. Many of these themes can be found online at iRivers site as well as in our iRiver forum. Additionally, if you know how to use Adobe Flash CS3 you can develop your own.

Pictures

The great looking screen plays to the photo browser’s advantage. Full screen photos and even thumbnails look great. Photos are selected file/folder style and can be skipped though with the skip button or played in a slide show where you can set different transitions and display duration. There is not much to complain about here, photos look great and you have all the features you need.

Video

Video looks fantastic on the clix2; this is due to the AMOLED screen and the 30 frames per second playback. Compatible video formats are MPEG4 Simple Profile, 320×240 resolution, 30 FPS or Less, 2MB/sec or Less Audio: MP3 Up to 320kbps CBR; and WMV9 Simple Profile, 320×240 resolution, 30 FPS or Less, 768 Kbps or Less, Audio: WMA up to 320 kbps.

Video Conversion

Video transcodes easily with the included iriver converter. I had a few problems with some codecs not converting correctly; which ones work is hard to say. Many times an XviD or DivX file would convert okay and another would give an error and not convert. Windows Media Player 11 will also convert for the player, but I had less of a success with that and codec support was much more limited. Iriverter is a
lso another great program you can use to convert videos directly from DVD and other file types. It is free and worth checking out. There are many different ways to convert video, even Windows Movie Maker will work if setting are within the standard, just stay away from the programs that you have to pay for. There are plenty of free and easy solutions.

Audio

Audible & Podcasts

Unfortunately you can only choose one or the other. Audible is only available in MTP mode and Podcast support is only available in MSC mode. Each will have their respective names showing under the music section “Audio Book” and “Podcast”. One thing noteworthy is that the audio books have the ability to use bookmarks. Oddly, nothing else can be bookmarked, just audio book content.

Sound Quality

The sound quality of the clix2 is above average. With a decent set of phones like the V-Moda Vibes or the Mylar XBs, it was difficult to tell the difference between the clix2 and the iAudio 7. However, once I brought in some more audiophile-grade phones such the Atrio M5’s and the Sennhieser HD650’s, I found the highs falling apart and being a bit exaggerated. It could be fixed, though, with reasonable results with a tweak of the EQ.

The player does provide a 5 band EQ along with many presets. It also includes a sound enhancing technology called SRS WOW. I am not really a fan of SRS; it sounds unnatural and will only benefit lower end headphones. A touch of it here and there may be beneficial, but anything beyond a dab will leave your music sounding synthetic.

Conclusion

iRiver pulled in all the options to please everyone, and they wrapped it up unobtrusively in a well organized user interface. The bright screen and eye candy also make it a delight to use. There are a few downsides to the clix2, like the screen protector and single on-the-go playlist – along with a few other minor annoyances. But overall, I’m really happy with the clix2. and it remains one of my top recommended flash-based players.

iRiver’s line up of players are very underrated; people are missing out on some great portable devices. If you are in the market for a flash player, definitely consider the clix2.

Pros

• Bright Screen
• Better than average battery life
• Good Sound Quality
• MSC and MTP transfer modes
• Smooth and easy to use interface
• Many options and features
• File tree or database music browsing
• Mp3 recording

Cons

• Podcasts or Audible
• Bookmarking only available for Audible content
• Only a single on-the-go playlist
• Volume button orientation

Purchase

You can pick up the clix2 for a good price at Amazon. If you are in the UK, EU or the rest of the world you can find it AdvancedMP3Players.