The Ritz Camera folks had no ability to let me now which month, year, or century the iRiver I ordered might arrive, so at least they were nice enough to cancel the order (I was a bit over barking as they would not charge my credit card until the item shipped).
I opted for Miguel’s advice and ordered an iAudio U3 which looks promising on the user reviews for good quality in audio recording, and as a bigger feature, works with OS X, Windows, Linux, as it mounts as a drive, rather than calling on special software to move files.
Even better, I ordered it from Amazon. Still better, it is shipping today and will arrive in 3-5 days.
Thanks again, Miguel, for the tip I (and sorry if my early iRiver ravings led you astray).
I am so jealous! I hope you’ll take lots of pictures and share your experience!
Glad that I have saved one fellow from iRiver DRM,
Miguel Guhlin
http://www.mguhlin.net/blog