iriver Intros Next-Gen Clix Audio Player

On Wednesday, iriver followed up its interestingly designed clix MP3 player with a new device. Termed the "second generation iriver clix," this latest portable digital audio product is also a small flash-memory based personal music player, just like its predecessor, and sports the same 4-way rocking screen for use as a main interface.

Available in storage flavors of 2 Gbytes, 4 GB, and 8 GB – priced at $149.99, 199.99, and $249.99 respectively – the new clix boasts a sizeable 2.2-inch QVGA AMOLED (Active Matrix Organically Light Emitting Diode) screen. This display is designed to be more energy efficient than the ubiquitous LCDs found on competing players. As a result, iriver claims the clix to have a rated battery life of a lengthy 24 hours for music playback and 5 hours screening video.

The lightweight 1.9-ounce clix also supports a wide variety of file formats including MP3, WMA and OGG Q10 for music along with the Microsoft PlaysForSure DRM protocol, ensuring its compatibility with major music subscription providers such as Rhapsody, Napster, EMusic and URGE. In addition it'll play audible audiobooks plus MPEG4 videos and JPEG pictures. There's even a game feature for playing the included flash titles.

According to iriver, you can also switch the clix between a MTP mode for easy synching with Windows Vista and XP (Service pack 1 or later) PCs and a UMS mode to drag and drop files over from older windows machines. Expect to find the device on sale now at iriver's online store.

Copyright 2007 by Ziff Davis Media, Distributed by United Press International