Using an iRiver iFP-380T in 2026

Want to listen to your old iRiver iFP mp3 player? Me, too. Set up the drivers and programs to manage your music files on iRiver devices. In 2026.

Linux

In 2005, some iRiver enthusiasts wrote an open-source iRiver iFP driver for Linux and packaged it with a minimal CLI for managing the files on the device, along with other useful utilities, like ls (list out files) and df (disk free, gives available memory).

Their documentation states the driver works across the whole iFP-[1-9]XX model range. I only confirmed my model series, the iFP-3XX.

Here is how I installed and set up their software on Debian12 and used it to put new mp3s on my iRiver iFP-380T.

(Why Linux? Why not find the old Windows programs online and run them in compatabilty mode, as suggested on a forum? Because I've never had much luck with Windows compatabilty mode, and fickle Windows sometimes decides that certian things are malware and refuses to run them, as with my old C&C RA2 discs. I want a reliable and future-proof solution, so Linux it is. Worst case, I just keep an exact copy of this image and run that forever.)

Open-source iFP Driver Project webpage & Software download

iRiver iFP open-source driver project

iRiver iFP open-source driver sourceforge download

Download & install iFP driver

1. Download the compressed folder from the Sourceforge download. Extract it wherever makes sense to you. I just put it in my home directory (aka folder).

2. Open a terminal in the newly extracted iFP driver folder and run the configure program. This will tell you if your system has all the necessary programs and packages installed.
   
   $ ./configure

3. Install any missing dependencies, as reported by configure . If you aren't sure how to install a dependency, google it! Almost invariably, the procedure is
   
   $ sudo apt install [dependency-pkg]
   
   Note that for the libusb dependency, I needed to install the package libusb-dev and NOT libusb-1.0-0-dev.

4. Install the iPF drivers. The README specifies that following configure completing sucessfully, you should run
   

   $ make
   $ sudo make install

   The nonroot.sh script did not seem to work or be necessary.

5. Add the ifp executable to PATH if desired, or run from directory / filename.

Run the iFP Line driver interface

1. Plug in your iRiver device (remember to turn it on), and then run
   
   $ sudo ifp ls
   
   to list contents of the device's root directory and thereby confirm your connection. You can also run the ifp ls command with a directory argument at the end. Note: because ifp accesses usb deivces, you need to run it with sudo.

2. To see a list of commands, run
   
   $ ifp -h
   
   or view the README.

3. Load songs to your iRiver device using the upload command:
   
   $ sudo ifp upload path/to/songfile.mp3 iriver/destination/path/song.mp3
   
   You can only upload one song at a time this way.

4. Download recordings and song files from your iRiver device to your computer using the download command. It works exactly like the upload command:
   
   $ sudo ifp download iriver/path/to/songfile.mp3 destination/path/song.mp3
   

5. You can check the available free space on your iRiver devices with df:
   
   $ sudo ifp df
   

6. Manage iRiver device files with:

   • rm : Delete files with rm .
     
     $ sudo ifp rm iRiver/path/to/song.mp3
     
     

   • rmdir : Delete directories with rmdir .
     
     $ sudo ifp rmdir iRiver/path/to/directory
     
     

   • mkdir : Create directories on your iRiver (to keep your music organized!) with mkdir .
     
     $ sudo ifp mkdir iRiver/path/to/newfolder
     
     

7. The project README indicates you can upload or download whole directories, instead of individual songs, but I have not tried this yet.

Non-Command Line Interfaces are available, but I have not tried them. The project README contains information on installing one or two of these interfaces. The project webpage, above, also has more information on using these non-CLI interfaces.