cwilhelmi,
I actually have an iriver....I love it. I have had it for about 4-5 months. It goes to the gym/outside jogging with me 4 times a week and I have never had any problems with the player itself. The software is great. There are only 2 negatives I have found, neither with the player itself. 1) the headphones/earphones that came with it are too big and uncomfortable, and don't have a great sound. Easily fixed. 2) the lanyard that comes with it to wear around your neck sucks, it causes the player to bounce all around. To fix this, you can buy the special arm band, or more easily, put a piece of strong string through the lanyard hole and tie it around the drawstring for your shorts.
This little baby is super durable...I have dropped it a couple of times, and I am not afraid to let my girlfriend take it to the gym (which was the demise of my archos mp3 player. Also, the radio seems to work pretty well.
Hope this helped.