iRiver Spinn 4GB review

The iRiver Spinn has both a touch screen and a dial control.

The case is reminiscent of a door hinge, with the dial forming half of the bulge on the right-hand side. This is used to scroll through menus, and you can click it to select items. It also allows you to rewind or fast-forward quickly to a specific place in a song or video. The touch screen provides more advanced controls such as the equaliser, although many of the onscreen buttons are small and hard to press accurately. The screen doesn't feel very responsive either, and often requires a firm press.

The Spinn can be used either horizontally or vertically, but as it lacks an orientation sensor like that of the iPod Touch, you have to set this preference manually. Scrolling through long lists in horizontal mode is tedious as the large menu text doesn't make efficient use of the available screen space. Whether you use the Spinn horizontally or vertically, adjusting the volume is awkward because the volume buttons are located on the left-hand edge, directly opposite the dial.

When playing audio, the Spinn's battery lasted for 22 hours and 43 minutes. This is a very respectable score, but we've seen players last almost twice as long. More impressive were its seven hours and 46 minutes of video playback.

We were very taken with the Spinn's audio quality. Music sounded rich, clear and detailed using a quality set of headphones. The included earphones aren't bad but they suffered from pronounced echoes, so you'll want a better set. Bluetooth is built in, so you could use wireless headphones instead.

The Spinn had no trouble playing DivX and WMV videos, which looked sharp and clear on the widescreen display. If your viewing is interrupted, you can resume watching videos from where you left off, which is useful. Despite the large 3.3in screen, watching long movies can be difficult, as the headphone port on the bottom makes it hard to prop the Spinn at a comfortable viewing angle.

Extras include a built-in FM radio, although moving the Spinn even slightly can affect reception dramatically. You can record radio programmes, but you'll need to stay very still.

The Spinn's battery life and audio quality are good, but its poor controls let it down and it's expensive for a 4GB player. Philips' 8GB GoGear SA5285/02 is much better value. It costs half as much, has twice the storage and better battery life.