- 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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7 out of 9 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (of the Cowon X5)"
Pros: Sterling sound, FLAC support, X5L has super-long battery life
Cons: Poor, poor music management, photo/video are novelties
Summary: The Good:
SOUND - Superb. I've loaded my X5L with FLACs, swapped in some Grado 125 headphones and get wonderful sound from this little machine.
FLAC - With tons of free FLACs (the non-proprietary lossless audio codec) out there, X5 is the way to go (check out archive.org).
X5L - Long battery life version is fantastic and well worth it (hard to imagine the extra size getting in your way). On a road trip from San Francisco to Seattle, plugged the X5 into my car stereo's auxilary input. Lasted the whole way up. Next time I'll leave the CDs at home.
FM - Great. Use it at the gym to sync with the FM tuners on the TVs. Record option works well.
HARD DRIVE - Since it works as an external hard-drive, easy to get other peoples music on your player, or give your music to other people (something it takes a bit of tweaking with an IPOD). Haven't used it yet, but the USB-Host is a nice feature to back up photos on vacation, especially if you've got 5+ megapix camera (check Cowon for compatability).
The Bad:
PLAYLISTS - 30 gigs of MP3s? And you've gotta re-create all your playlists on the X5 that you already have on your computer? The inability to synchronize your playlists is the singlemost annoying drawback of this player. Not sure if their new firmware "music library" will solve this. If this feature is important to you, buy an Ipod or wait until Cowon gives some details on the upgrade.
PHOTOS/VIDEO - Hard time getting the photos to show up, converting video is too cumbersome (who really wants to watch video on such a small screen anyhow?). Should be some indication when JetAudio lists the video conversion under "JetToys." Buy it considering these features a novelty.
The Ugly:
Someone is flooding the X5 ratings with 9s and 10s with reviews that that read like they were taken from the Cowon press release. If this Cowon, it really is ugly. If it is someone who just loves Cowon, it's pitiful. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. But read some of these reviews with a grain of salt.Updated
My comments on the other people's posts refer mainly to the reviews listed under the 20GB model, which are filled with overly rave, very non-critical reviews. The comments here (so far) seem like actual users.
CNET: your review system gets a 6 for not letting users edit their posts.
- 6 replies to this review
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Contradictory to your claim of non-genuine owners giveing this device high scores, I owned this device before it got stolen and I gave it a 10. I also plan on buying it again. Furthermore, what's the big deal with playlists? I rarely ever use them and I lestion to music all the time. Lastly, I don't care about videos, because if I wanted to watch something I would do it on my TV where I could enjoy videos the most.
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hey zepoloo, i agree with you that the 9's and 10's are gross overstatements of a very average product.
i have a x5l and i rate it a "4".
reason: mine died a month after purchase and it took four phone calls from me and three months of waiting to get a replacement. poor, poor service! -
The music management is the easiest Ive ever seen. You have 2 simple options.
1.Click and Drag your Music onto Player.
2.Use Briefcase to AutoSync your Music.
Seriously is this a joke ? You can decide if you want to listen to one song, one album, one artist, one genre, or all your music. How else you could you ever want to manage your music. Simplest thing Ive ever done. Only a doofus couldn't manage the music on the X5. -
In terms of video i fail to see how u can criticise the X5s video capacity when it is the only MP3 and i stress MP3 player which does, it comes standard, you are not paying extra for it, it's new, don't expect it to be perfect. In terms of playlists, this format allows you to create playlsts that are much more personal, for someone like me with an eclectic sense of taste in music this great cuz in one session i may not want to listen to just one genre or one artist, with a properly arranged collection finding the music u want is a breeze, thanks for the added comment because i am a real user and i gave it a nine because this device fulfills all my needs in terms of a MP3 player.
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you seem to rail about people being subjective, but then you go and call the video conversion as CUMBERSOME.
anyone who calls a simple ONE STEP PROCESS with easy to use software as cumbersome has little clue of objectivity. -
i dont think cowon claims u should watch feature films on the x5. i was very skeptical about the video, but after loading up a bunch of family guy, simpsons and seinfeld its a very usable feature that has helped make time more enjoyable on a bus ride and other places where i have used it.
u can use playlists that u make on ure pc just use any proggie that makes m3u playlists and stick them in the playlist folder of the x5. i use briefcase to sync my music and my playlists with the x5 and it works like a charm.
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