iriver has not updated its P series of large-screen portable media players in quite some time, so you are likely as surprised as we are that this five-incher has shown up on the company’s Russian site. With a battery life of up to nine hours of video and 40 hours of audio to boot.

The P8 comes in 8GB and 16GB sizes, sports a microSD slot, and an HDMI port for pushing HD content to a TV. We have no idea if it will ever land on American shores or how much it will cost when it does, but we like what we see.

iRiver’s next generation portable media players has been unveiled. Made for the Korean market, the U100 features a 3.1-inch, 320×480 touch screen, and built-in memory from 4GB, 8GB and 16GB sizes. The device comes in a several colors, including black, green, pink, black with pink accents and black with green accents.

Other features include Wi-Fi, a microSDHC slot, an FM Tuner and broad file format support for audio, photos and video. It also supports playing 720p video, though as you might expect, the display limits the output. It is sure to be trendy in Korea.

It’s been awhile since we have heard anything from iRiver, but now they’re getting ready to release the iRiver Story HD in the second quarter. They are calling it “the World’s highest resolution 6-inch e-reader,” and the Story HD now has improved page turns and an e-paper display from LG. The display delivers a resolution of 768×1024 pixels and can support PDF/ePub formats using DRM.

Other features include built in WiFi, up to three weeks of battery life, and a QWERTY keypad. We don’t have many other details at the moment, but we should know more in a few days once it makes an appearance at CES.

Iriver has some new colorful PMPs on the way. We don’t have many details yet, but we do know the model names: U100, P100, and D2000. All look very capable if a bit boring design-wise.

These will be arriving next year and hopefully by then we will have some more info. Until then you’ll just have to make do with your old not so colorful PMP.

The e-reader market just keeps getting flooded with new gear. Looks like several Chinese online magazines like Sohu.com and 21.cn.com have started selling the iRiver Cover Story. This eReader features a 3.5-inch touchscreen, e-paper and supports ePub, PDF, FM2, TXT, HWP, DOB, PPT, XLS, MP3 and WMA file formats.

The device measures just 126mm x 162.8mm × 9.5mm. Some other features include a mini USB port, 2GB of internal memory and an SD/SDHC card reader for storage expansion.

It’s been a while since we had some new news on the iRiver Story. The device has undergone some changes since then. The most interesting change is the inclusion of WiFi.

WiFi was definitely something the device needed. The other big change? The name. It will now be known as the iRiver WiFi Story EB03.

iRiver has just announced two new lines of cheap and colorful PMPs. First there’s the T8 Candy Bar which boasts a classic USB stick design, and is available in eight colors. They feature 4GB of storage and a battery life of up to 17 hours.

Then there’s the more interesting S100, which comes in 4GB and 8GB capacities, with a 2.83-inch, 240 x 320 resolution color display, FM Radio, microSD slot, and 720p video playback. Both the T8 and the S100 are available in Korea only right now.

iRiver is back with two new MP3 players, the M31 Shining and M41 Revolve. The entry-level iRiver M31 also functions as a USB storage device, which is handy. It features a tiny OLED screen (128 x 32) and supports MP3, WAV, and WMA file formats.

The iRiver M41 has a larger 1.8-inch display and supports both audio and video playback. The M41 supports MP3/WMA audio files and AVI video files. The battery will deliver up to 15-hours of continuous audio playback or 4-hour of continuous video playback.

One day eBook readers may look different, but for now they all tend to look the same, with white bodies and a keyboard. Looks aside, they aren’t all created equal. Take the iRiver Story, now available on Amazon for £230 ($380).

Sure that’s a bit pricey, but competition will continue to sort things out. IRiver is hoping that you prefer this one over the Kindle or a Barnes & Noble Nook. Do you? Let us know your deepest darkest ebook thoughts.

iRiver is rolling out the N20 Mariah Carey edition which will come preloaded with 17 tracks from her latest album called Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. We have no idea how the N20 will be controlled and if it uses the usual 3.5mm headphone jack.

Some say it’s controlled by a touch interface, some say there are buttons on the back. Maybe the controls are on a touchscreen that looks like a scantily clad Mariah, so geeks can feel her up and play tunes. We just don’t know.

The news was already leaked, but if you are one of those folks who needs to hear it straight from the source, you’ll be happy to know that iRiver has announced that their E200 is in fact real.

We don’t have a price or release date, but we can tell you that it features a 2.8-inch screen and will come in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB versions. The device also supports FM radio, FLAC, RMVB and Xvid and sports an SD slot for more memory.

The iRiver M7 aka the NV Classic will feature updates to the original NV. This 181 x 120 x 21.5 device features SiRF GRF3i+ GPS, an SDHC slot for maps, a pair of 1.5-watt speakers for turn-by-turn audio, and a big 7-inch 800×480 touchscreen TFT LCD to show you the way.

Some other features include DMB digital television, support for MPEG1, MPEG4, WMV9, and XVID video, MP3, WMA, OGG, and WAV audio, JPEG and BMP images, and a bundled 4GB SDHC card for storage.

Interestingly, a P35 teaser has shown up on iRiver’s website. Until now many were thinking that because the player had an integrated digital TV tuner that is not supported by any U.S broadcaster, that the device would not make it to US shores.

But as we pointed out months ago, there are several versions of the P35. There’s one with digital TV, there’s a WIFI version and a “basic” version with no WIFI. We’re looking forward to learning more about this one. Color us interested.

iRiver Japan has announced the T5, a pen drive sized MP3 player that takes quite a pretty picture. The DAP comes with a monochrome display, FM tuner and a microphone.

You can get it in 2GB and 4GB flavors and it supports MP3 and WMA playback. The device measures just 78×25×14mm and weighs only 26.3 grams. The 4GB model sells in Japan for $65.

It’s that time of year again. iRiver has teamed up with Speedo to introduce the LZR Racer Aquabeat, an underwater MP3 player. The DAP can handle 3 meter depths and up to 30 minutes of underwater swimming.

The Aquabeat features 2 GB of internal memory and supports playback of MP3 and WMA files. There’s no display, but it has the basic controls like play,stop, change track and volume control. The Aquabeat is available in Japan only for about $145.