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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 41 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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51 out of 54 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"What C|Net got wrong. READ THIS!"
Pros: Great sounding player, great features (you know these already)
Cons: Subpack, needs a new firmware to support id3 tag browsing
Summary: I am pretty surprised by the poor rating for the player. There are many things the reviwer highlights that are bad, or lacking in some way. For example, the reviewer seems to think its bad that there is no software that syncs to your player to upload new music that is found. It is somehow bad, that we are not forced into using THEIR program to do a simple task of sending an mp3 to the player. It doesn't need anything except for windows explorer. Please, state that.
Seems as though they focus on the bad stuff rather than all the good things? Obviously I am bias because I own one, but all the user reviews giving it an 8.6 (on the preview). . surely 100~ people cant be that far off?
They mention that videos need to be re-encoded. Uhh, HELLO? What do you expect! 300 Meg videos at high resolutions to auto resize and waste precious space on the HD? Absolutely absurd take on the video aspects of the player. Converting is IMPERATIVE. It comes with software that will convert it all for the user. They should be praising its video capabilities, not saying vague comments such as "must convert videos to a special format before playing" No no, 'special format' is what we call apples quicktime format or microsofts windows media format. . etc. OPEN SOURCE, is what we call xvid, which is what the x5 uses. Xvid is a free format to encode video to. Big difference and very poor wording. Furthermore, there are programs that people have made such as the 'iRiverter' that will convert several more types of formats very easily and legally. Big plus, please mention that.
Photo Viewing. Is it that big of a deal that considerable amount of text in an already short review is dedicated to the fact you cant view pictures and play music the same time. It is just funny to me that they go out of their way to say that this is one thing iPod Photo has and x5 does not.
What about the other 5 features Photo lacks? What about the incredible bang for buck ratio compared to ipod? Apple makes a fine player, but seriously. . . its as though the reviewer is related by blood. . .Updated
The review says, "recording voice memos or audio from a separate source" under 'What's it For'. The word choice is intentionally used for this feature to be somewhat flawed and confuses the reader. How else would one record their voice?
In order to voice record, the audio MUST be from a seperate source, i.e. your mouth. That is like saying, "You need a seperate device in order to ensure the contents of the pretzel package are fresh". Why not just say, you need a Chip-Clip to keep your preztels fresh? Why word it like that? Unless it is to make it seem as if it is a confusing process that you should avoid. . .Updated
I'd like to keep this review up to date because it has grabbed people's attention. It is amazing how much the c|net review of the x5 has changed since it was first posted back in July. The score went from a 7.3 to an 8.0. A lot of the intentional wordiness I picked on is no longer part of the review. Maybe they actually read what users say? Who knows.
So now Apple has released an impressive video player to compete. I am glad they finally added video playback and at 30fps to boot (x5 can only handle 13-14fps). Apple's video ipod playback requires re-encoding too, obviously. Except, you need to buy a license ($29.95) for quicktime in order to convert to apple formats. Ouch. Gotta keep a healthy business model I suppose.
Is the x5 still the best mp3 player out? Yes. Why? x5 still has more features than ipod for the same amount of money. Hopefully the successor to the x5 improves upon video playback. But for now, Cowon just needs to further tweak and perfect this player via firmware updates.
It seems as though the x5 has created its own little niche of faithful fans. Keep in mind, the x5 has a learning curve. Ex-ipoders will find it a bit odd not using itunes to manage your player. But it really is liberating. I guess you can say, the Apple iPod is for all ages. Whereas, the x5 is for the more technical savy type.
- 10 replies to this review
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Cnet is meant to be a one-stop-shop for tech/gadget info. They cater to the average joe.
Now, does the average joe know about Ogg, Flac? Do they care about "open source?" Do they want to spend time organizing their library or learning about their player? Do they care about 20mW output? BBE? Most probably not.
So, what do they care about? Insignificant learning curve, form factor and the fact that their player simply plays music and videos. This is the Ipod in spades. It's what the average joe wants.
Since that's their core client base, why would Cnet alienate them by favoring a product meant for a whole other segment: The Tech Savvy Audiophile? -
Cnet says they praise the iPod because it has 75% market share. Why not leave the market share to the consumers and start writing real, truthful reviews?! That's what their job is, after all... I feel like being manipulated.
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You are totally right.
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If you just hit the CNet website for the first time you would be completely unaware of the Ipod bias until you start to read all the reviews. For example with mediocre players they'll say something to the effect of "No FM player, no voice recorder, therefore lacks some things to make it a contender". Ehhhh ok. Then you read/watch the Ipod review and none of this is mentioned about the Ipod except that CNet wants to have its baby. Very bizzare and blatant. Sad from a supposedly unbiased site. Probably those free special invites to Apple events have really screwed them up.
Ipod has the best interface and is recognizable...thats it, stop with the sucking up already, its embarrasing. -
Excellent sound quality. Absolutely incredible (especially w/ FLAC files). I totally agree with the file structure comment. If you want auto syncing, use an open source syncing program like Unison, which will keep the player synced with, dare I say it, your iTunes folder. This is what I plan to do.
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I TOTALLY Agree with the user. The review was lacking detail and missed the Cowon finer points. It does sound like ZDNet is bias toward the Ipod series. This is an awsome player!
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I agree with you man, this is the deal. if you look here: reviews.cnet.com/Music/4521-6532_7-5021434-3.html
you will find that the x5 is at the 4th place!! how come? and above it, at second and third are fat players with monochrome lcds! this is not fair, also sounds like cner is loosing its honesty by doing that. any non-blind person can agree that this is the best player, just windows explorer is used with this device, thus it will be compatible with all the users, no programs like itunes to destroy/format all your collection with a single click, i did this onc,e not intentionally of course. so how come ipod is even comparable with that!! it doesnt play video, its not even comparable with this player. -
The CNet reviewer is only 1 person who is obviously hopelessly in love with the iPod. I own an iPod and don't think it's that great. I agree that the ability to use windows Explorer to drag and drop files to the player is a plus. I hate iTunes!!!!
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i'm so disappointed man....ive been waiting for so long for a rating from cnet and then it gets a 7.3?omg man...like seriously....this is bs
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