After a very long time of wondering if I should get a Sony NetMD system or a full-blown MP3 player, yesterday I finally bought one. Decided to go for the iriver ihp-140 (now H140). Seems to be upwards of €500+ in any shops here; in fact the 20 gig model is around €400. It was hinted on boards.ie recently to call into Harvey Norman, who were supposedly selling them for €430. No such luck. So I ordered one from Advanced MP3 Players, a UK based company that are offering the player for in & around €390.

I’ve already been asked the obvious question, “Why not buy an iPod?”. My only answer to that is that there is clearly no comparison between the iriver and an ipod in terms of function; the H140 leaves any ipod whimpering in the corner. Hopefully I’ll be taking delivery of my new toy late next week. Finally I’ll have a means of listening to my collection of totally legal MP3′s, WMA’s and now OGG’s whilst out & about.