Cowon iAudio U2 (512MB, Ocean Blue)
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"A great buy for a first time mp3 player owner" on by mingus99
Pros: Great sound, intuitive controls, robust,
Cons: poor documentation, ok ear buds,
Summary: Ok folks, I waited a full month to write this review so that I could give an idea of how awesome this little thing is. Hopefully, this will push those people who are sitting on the fence.
So here's what I wanted my mp3 to do:
- light and compact for any physical activity (i.e. gym, cycling, running)
- good sound
- capable of reading many formats
- something that can take a few beatings
- a player that also doubles as a USB storage device.
- something that's looks good
So far this player has met all of my expectations. When I first got it, I was able to load and listen to mp3's within 5 min. Now, I'm a pseudo-techy guy. But I found the controls to very intuitive and easy to use. I really enjoy the fact that you don't have to install proprietary software to load/unload music... this was a major strike for me against the iRiver.
When it comes to sound quality, I compared it to my friends iRiver, and it was on par, if not better than the iRiver. The earphones that come with the iAudio are suprisingly good, but I would definately get another set for working out. They don't stay in to well and kinda hurt after a while....not to mention that they make you look like Frankenstein from behind.
I went with the Sony Fontopia earphones, a bit pricy but well worth the investment.
In terms of features, the iAudio has a lot to offer. I thought that I would never use them, but I found myself listening to the radio at work with pretty decent reception (obviously, it gets better outside). For all you gym rats, this will come in handy when you want to watch TV while running on the treadmill. Also, I recorded the entire concert of my buddy's band and barely made a dent in disk space (over 3hrs). The quality was decent too. Keep in mind that the mic is very sensitive to sounds within 2-3 of it. But you can adjust the sensitivity setting.
The big thing that really impressed me was how robust this player was. I've dropped it from my desk a coupla times and it even dipped it in my G&T while I was showing it off to a friend it a bar. I'm happy to report that it's still goin strong...
A lot of people will complain about the lack of an armband. C'mon people, go to your local bike shop, spend 3-4 bucks on a velcro pant leg strap... et viola, instant arm band that'll fit your bulging bicept (unlike the iRiver). It'll fit the belt loop on the back of the case... which looks really awesome by the way.
The only real complaint that I have is that the manual is pretty basic and doesn't describe all of the features in depth. Also, I'm a bit worried about Cowon support a few other posts have mentioned. I haven't had the need to contact them yet, so it's hard for me to say.
In summary, this is a great buy for first time mp3 users. The best advice I can give is to do your research. I almost conceded to the iPod marketing machine, and came close to getting a Shuffle. Also, try to ignore those user reviews that give really low scores to players that are duds. If there are a lot of them, then yes this should send alarms off in your head. I found the middle-of-the-road reviews to have the best info.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give a full account of my experience so far. Hope it helps. Cheers! -
"Compact, Unbelievable Sound, and Fair Price in it's Class!" on by CTO
Pros: Tiny size, good construction, great sound, easy to operate & set up, comes with lots of accessories, decent earbuds
Cons: No AC Adapter, FM reception is satisfactory
Summary: I bought this for my wife for her train commute and she absolutely loves it. The FM reception could be better. I thought about this player and an iRiver player, but I had to go with this one b/c of all the reviews about the fantastic sound - uses BBE sound (which is also what my Sony TV uses) I have an iPod but I envy the small size of this player. Not sure why other people had problems setting up their iAudio player, I simply plugged it into the USB port and opened up the folder where the music should go and started copying files into it. That's it! So easy!
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"excellent value" on by Jlanglow
Pros: amazing sound
Cons: FM a little tinny
Summary: I bought this one because it is a CNET Editor's Pick. When I first put the supplied earbuds on, I could not believe the depth and clarity of sound that comes out of such a tiny product. It does play protected WMA-DRM files, but only if you use a program like Windows Media Player to load them, not the supplied JetShell program. (This irritating fact is buried in the manual.) I was able to use protected music files from a variety of music download pay sites. The screen is clear and easy to use. I wish an armband was supplied. The FM reception is a little tinny compared to listening to files, but certainly acceptable. Overall, I can't see why you would by an iPod shuffle when for thirty more dollars you can have a screen and an FM tuner.
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"This player has many features, a great sound, looks nice, easy file transfers and is easy to use." on by Anshuk
Pros: Easy to use (also easy to add files by dragging and dropping them into windows explorer), looks nice, sound is perfect, good speed for file transfers into the player, small & lighweight and good radio
Cons: Case doesnt look as good as the player, feels kinda fragile, and I wish there were higher bitrate recording options for the recorder (no big deal though) and the earbuds arent that great.
Summary: This little player is great! It has everything I was looking for and more! I had my eye on about 10 other mp3 players before I finally decided to get this one. And now I'm sure I made the right choice! It has tons of features and other cool things! First of all, the little screen on it can fit a lot of stuff! It can even show lyrics, but I haven't tried that yet. I didn't really think I needed a screen that much but now I'm conviced that I really do. I constantly find myself looking through all the features and trying to find a specific song to listen to. The backlight also looks really nice and you can choose how long you want it to stay on. It is also really easy to scroll through the features. I didnt really need the booklet to use it. The player also looks very nice. But with the case it doesnt look that good. I keep it in my pocket the whole time so it doesnt really matter to me. I dont really use the lanyard that much either. The most important thing is the sound, and it's great! I can hear my songs crystal clear without any disturbance! It also has 40 levels of volume, but I usually keep the volume around 20. The radio is really good too. I can always find my favorite radio station on there no matter where I am. I can also click on the record button when I find a song I like on the radio and it will automatically start recording. It's that easy! The regular voice recorder is also very good. I dont use it that much though. The only thing I wish they had though was more choices for higher bitrate options when recording someone's voice. When you record someone's voice it doesnt sound all the way like them, but it doesnt really matter. The only problem I have with this is that when I wanted to hear my own voice I thought it sounded a little weird and my friends said that too (but everyone thinks their voice sounds a little weird when they hear themselves talk). The radio recording is great though. There is also a line in jack and cable included for line in recording, but I dont think im going to need that. The only other things I dont like about this player are that it looks kinda fragile and the earbuds aren't too comfortable. Other than that this little player is great and I would definitely recommend it to anyone that is looking for a flash mp3 player!!! :^)
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"Best flash player out there (ask CNET!)" on
Pros: I actually posted my review for the 256 model, but I have the 512 model, one so here it is again. Spent a lot of time reasearching before buying this. More reliable then most, well engineered, great sound, supports many formats (MP3, Ogg, WMA - DRM protec
Cons: Earbuds sound great, but are a little uncomfortable.
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