iRiver has introduced the H10 portable audio player, which features a color display, swappable battery and touch strip control. The 5GB players come in four colors (Lounge Gray, Remix Blue, Trance Red and Triple Platinum) and offer vivid, color screens for viewing photos.

“The smaller drive MP3 player has become widely popular in today’s market, because it offers a balance between size and functionality,” notes industry analyst Cindy McCurley. “The smaller drive segment is also very attractive for manufacturers, as products in this segment are expected to outship products in the 1.8-inch segment in 2006. Some of the key features of this iriver product include its ability to utilize a variety of music services, its stylish design and color display.”

The H10 is designed to be PlaysForSure-verified out of the box and works seamlessly with Windows Media Player 10, including support for Auto Sync to sync your music, photos and playlists. With the H10, consumers can choose from a growing number of PlaysForSure download and subscription stores, such as F.Y.E (For Your Entertainment), MSN Music, Musicmatch, MusicNow, Napster and Wal-Mart Music Downloads.

“The iriver H10 is an exciting new device pushing the boundaries of what is possible today with mini-hard drive players,” said Microsoft’s Jonathan Usher. By including support out of the box for Windows Media Player 10 and subscription services, iriver has created a very easy-to-use, yet fully featured device providing consumers with tremendous choice in the music they purchase.”

The H10 also supports innovative online portable subscription services, such as Napster’s Napster To Go offering, to provide customers an array of music, news, business and entertainment audio content.

“The H10 sets the bar high with an elegant player that gives our customers the freedom to choose which online services best match their lifestyles,” said Jonathan Sasse, president of iriver America.

The iriver H10 plays up to 150 hours of digital music and includes a rechargeable and replaceable battery, integrated voice recorder and a digital FM tuner with FM recording capabilities. The players come bundled with iriver earphones, quality carrying case, installation software CD, AC adapter, USB 2.0 cable, interface cable and printed user manual.

Features:

• Plays up to 150 hours of digital music*
• 5GB of internal storage**
• Vivid color display
• Ultra-intuitive interface with convenient touch strip
• Displays digital photos
• Slim, lightweight design
• PlaysForSure enabled
• Supports portable subscription service Napster To Go
• Rechargeable, removable battery lasts up to 12 hours
• Built-in FM tuner and FM recorder
• Integrated voice recorder
• Ultra-fast USB 2.0 transfers
• Supports MP3, WMA, JPEG and TXT files
• Enhanced 3D audio (supports SRS WOW)
• Dimensions: 3.8″x 2.2″x 0.6″
• Weight: 3.4 ounces
• Pricing and Availability

The H10 will be available at the iriver eStore http://www.iriveramerica.com/estore, Best Buy and selected retail outlets in January 2005. Suggested retail price for the H10 is USD $279.99.