Will my device (iRiver) connect in the latest version? Had no problems in 1.4, and I see a media device widget, but currently it's just coming up as an empty box and I see nothing under the configure dialogue.
Google isn't giving me anything useful either ...

I have the same problem with my Zen V.  I don't think support was ever added.

Amarok 2 currently supports MTP (a very common protocol these days) and iPod devices.

Well yes, but does it still support manually adding the media devices?  I have yet to see evidence it does.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean with "added", but I know that you have to utilize the "Media Devices" applet in the Context View (middle pane) to access the devices.

The applet is not enabled by default, so you have to add it by clicking on the "+" button.


PS:
1) I'm personally using Amarok 2.1 from SVN, where things have a changed a bit. 2) I'm not an expert with media devices.

By "Adding Manually," I mean the act of manually adding the device to Amarok's list of known devices (if such a list is even still kept in Amarok 2), and manually telling Amarok to connect to it.  I've not seen an option for the media devices applet that would allow me to do that.

I'm also using the svn version, so we should be on the same page

As far as I know the current version of Amarok doesn't support synching to standard UMS devices (MSC mode).  Perhaps you are having trouble with this?  I just have to use some external program to sync files to my Rockbox players now.  I miss this functionality of Amarok 1.4.

When I loaded my Zen Vision:M It appeared on the left pane in collection. The Zen was a different collection. The media devices applet was useless. There was a picture of a media device but that's it.

So try plugging in your device and looking for another collection on the left pane under the collection tab. I hope that makes sense.