CES 2009: iRiver Shows Off Personizable P7 Media Player

There's never a lack of new personal media players at CES. This year, iRiver introduces one with a pretty slick personizable user interface. The iRiver P7 sports a 4.3" transmissive touchscreen that has a 480 x 272 widescreen resolution. The player's control scheme is highly intuitive due to a graphical interface that each user can customize. On the main menu, you'll find controls for the video player, music player, FM radio, voice recorder, and text viewer. The P7 lets users select their favorite album, video, and text documents to be immediately accessible from the main menu, which is a plus. While it does have a touch interface, there are also physical menu and volume buttons on the top edge of the player—making the P7 easier to control without having to actually look at it. The player will come in 4, 8, and 16 gigabyte models, and has an SD card slot for further expansion. iRiver plans on updating the firmware to keep up with advances in SD-based technology, so newer card formats will be supported as long as they fit the card's physical form factor. As with most iRiver products, file transfers are quick and painless with a drag and drop Windows interface. The iRiver P7 will be out in February and will run between $100 and $200.

--Jon D.