Cowon A3 user reviews (60GB)

3.5 stars

"A great PMP that does ALMOST everything... However it does have a few flaws." on January 28, 2008 by jaebisco

Pros: Plays a plethora of audio & video formats, is very sturdy, it has the nicest screen I have ever seen on any PMP, can be a USB host, it can record audio and video & has AWESOME sound quality!

Cons: The joystick sucks & it is hard to select files, is bulky, the battery doesn't last as long as advertised, no gapless audio playback (boo!), won't play copyrighted music & not easy to navigate music,.

Summary: The Cowon A3 is a fantastic portable media player (PMP) for the money. The Cowon A3 can play practically every audio format out there except for .m4p files, copyrighted music and .shn files. The A3 can also play just about any video format. The video quality on this player is excellent and the best I've ever seen in a PMP. The player also records audio and video, but I have yet to try either... (I am hoping I can take some of the shows I have on my DVR and transfer them onto to my A3. I am not sure if this is possible, but I am going to try.)

-The audio player has an amazing amount of customized settings that can be adjusted. There are so many ways to tweak the sound that you can always make any song sound perfect. I LOVE that it can play and record FLAC files. AWESOME SOUND QUALITY!!!

-The player appears to be constructed well and it has not skipped or froze up or anything like that (so far).

-The A3 is also a USB HOST!! You can also use the A3 as a portable hard drive. You can plug in other mp3 players (not i-pods) and flash drives as well. GREAT FEATURE!!!

-The radio, photo and document features are nice extra features to have.

Now onto some of the cons:

-Player is BIG and bulky and looks like it was designed 10 years ago.

-The joystick design is not good. It can be overly sensitive. It can be frustrating just selecting a file. When pushing the button inward it often can be pushed to a direction instead of inward.

-Considering this player has so many sick audio features it is a shame that it lacks some key features. The player DOES NOT HAVE GAPLESS PLAYBACK BETWEEN TRACKS!!! I HATE this and find it very annoying! The player will not play copyrighted music, .m4p, or .shn files.

-It is strenuous to navigate the player to find music or a select track. There is no search or group by feature; the only way to get to a track is to go by each folder one by one... very annoying.

-The battery doesn't last as long as advertised. I get maybe about 5 hours of video and about 8 hours of audio.

-Would be nice if it came available with a larger hard drive. Many players are out that are 80 gig and larger. Considering how big this thing is and how much it does, it would be nice if it had come in a 100+ gig model.

Overall it is a great player for the money. While the player does have some draw backs, those can be overlooked if you looking for a no-nonsense player that is loaded with features and playback abilities with phenominal sound and video quality.