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"CNET's FLAWED REVIEW" on by cxfornier
Pros: An EXCELLENT player that does not deserve CNET's low rating.
Cons: The boring white color(1 G)..but that's just my opinion.
Summary: Everything about this player is perfect...from the audio(FM, notwithstanding, so are aother players of this size/class). It is outrageous that CNET gave it a lower score. It deserves at least an 8.3; at most, a 9!!!
CNET's gripe about the supposed flimsy design is unfounded having dropped the player a couple of times..if you want to protect your investment, get a rubberized skin..or a case according to your needs.
As for the controls, what is this thing about them being confusing? It's either you're an idiot or too lazy to learn about them.. It seems that CNET wants to foster those traits on us young people...bad CNET!!LOL!
Listen, everything about this player is perfect...audio, battery life(a whopping 30+ hrs on rechargable AA batts..or more on regular ones)...and you can buy those batts anywhere u go...especially on long trips/VACATIONS which made me consider this model rather than its sibling, the IAudio U2.
My only gripe about this player is its white color..lame, but that's my opinion, however petty/irrelevant it is to the G3's performance.
Have G3, will rock and travel!Updated
As I've reiterated months ago, this player rocks and if I only knew that CNET would give it such a measly 7.7 score, I would have given it a 10.00 RELATIVE to CNET's FLAWED standards!
Then again, that would be intellectually dishonest.
Since then, my G3 has performed admirably and yes, I've dropped them numerous times and it has proven its resilience and durabilty despite CNET's DUBIOUS claims about its structure (BAH! HUMBUG!)
And to see if I could rely on CNET's reviews, I bought a SAMSUNG YEPP-YP6Z featured among this class of players and rated as an 8.0
It was a big mistake(Refer to my review of the product above)which I corrected by returning the YEPP and buying 2 additional G3's (One for my brother who owns a 60 G Ipod and was impressed by the G3's 95 SNR sounds and one for me...in case anything happens to my flash player..ok, the prices went down! LOL..There's another incentive..
To summarize, the G3 is the best FLASH-based MP3 player to lug on long weekends/short vacations without worrying about weight, recharging the battery or losing your huge music collection using your hard drive players. If you intend to use a flash MP3 player SOLELY for running and other exercises that don't last more than 14 hrs, the best one would be the COWON U2 which has the same sound qualities of the COWON G3 except it looks more sexier. But as I've said, sexy is useless unless you can flaunt it for a long time. This is where the G3 shines: 42 hrs of continuous battery power (AA).
And hey, it's not that UGLY.
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"So much better than the FM-less Voice-less Screen-less Shuffle." on by mepp
Pros: Lyrics display, LONG battery life, multi-format compatibility.
Cons: Arcane voice file naming scheme.
Summary: I run this thing for hours a day at work, and only have to replace the battery every other week. My colleagues have to tap me no the shoulder to get my attention because the volume is so loud. And that's not maxed - when flying on an airplane there is room left to crank up the volume even more and drown out the engines. It displays lyrics, something that is useful to me as a musician. Its voice recorder is as clear as my 2-year old Sony voice recorder. Too bad the voice file naming scheme wasn't just the timestamp of the recording and also allow saving voice files into a few folders or it could replace my Sony voice recorder altogether. It will play WMV, OGG, MP3, VBR. FM reception is better than much larger units. For gym use, you gotta have FM as well as MP3 - anything that doesn't is not suitable for gym rat use where they beam TV audio signals via FM.
What's not to like!
I found the CNET statements regarding "ruggedness" totally subjective. The said flaps are only fragile if left open. Who does that. I've dropped mine, no problem. It comes with a plastic shell if you wish to use that extra protection, I don't. CNET should avoid speculation and actually test the ruggedness with objective criteria. -
"Easy to use, great sound" on by digfidd
Pros: Easy to load/navigate, good recording quality, great sound
Cons: Software has some problems
Summary: I bought this from buygdig.com and got it in three days. Easy to setup, including the software. Problems with the jetaudio software though -- when trying to read where my mp3's are stored, it gets to a certain point and then crashes (no biggie -- I use MusicMatch anyway). The JetShell works fine, but is VERY slow to start up. You don't need to use either of the programs -- just use Windows Explorer to load files.
The player itself is great. It came with the latest firmware (1.20a). Navigation and changing modes is a breeze. Display is clear and easy to read.
I played with the recorder -- wav recording at 8k has a lot of background noise, but ok if only doing voice. The 32k wav recording has almost no hiss at all, and is very acceptable. I haven't tried any MP3 recording or line-in yet. At 32k Wav, about 1mb/minute (just over 1 hour recording took 58Mb), so plenty of room for long recordings.
The JetEffects are nice, and seem to work as advertised. The earbuds have really good sound for earbuds, but earbuds don't work for me, so I use Sony MDR-A43 headphones. Plenty of output -- can push it to distort the earbuds.
The FM radio is pretty good. Doesn't seem to have the greatest stereo definition, but reception is ok (not great, but better than previous MP3 players I've had).
Overall, a very nice product, great sound, easy to use, and well worth the $. -
"Pricey, but its the best flash player around" on
Pros: I just received the 1 GB version this morning, so this review is mostly about my first impressions. The sound quality is outstanding, the bundled earbuds are comfortable and deliver an outstanding range incl. bass (they fit my ears just fine, although th
Cons: I paid $249 for the 1 GB version, which ain't cheap. For a little more, I could have gotten an iPod. Of course, iPods are huge and clunky in comparison (even the mini), and they are far less useful for the gym (they tend to skip when you bounce them aro
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"great sound, lots of features." on
Pros: great engineering: sounds great and has lots of nice features. Functions as a UMS so you can put any kind of file on it and upload and download easily through the USB. Has ogg support, lots of equalizer settings, tuner and voice recorder (suprisingly go
Cons: Mediocre manual, only half of which is printed; the rest is available online but it took me a while to find it (Amazon has it). An emailed query to the company got no response at all. The plastic case is ok, but the parts that move (battery cover, USB
Cowon iAudio G3 user reviews (1GB, Sky White)
Where to Buy
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