Go Play AV: Portable Audio, Video, Media and Game Players

MobileWhack note the news from Japan of the upcoming release of the Cowon iAudio U2 (nothing to do with the band) MP3 player:

Cowon Japan announced today their newest iAudio U2 2GB which comes in new color, pearl white. It boasts a 4-line LCD display with resolutions of 128 x 64, FM tuner, and built-in microphone for voice recording. The supported audio file formats are MP3, WMA, OGG and WAV which is the same with the old version. It has a built-in rechargeable battery which will last for 20 hours of playback time via USB connection.

Read complete article: Cowon iAudio U2 2GB Pearl White Edition : MobileWhack.com

Technorati Tags: digital audio player, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment, cowon

PC Magazine have reviewed the Cowon iAudio F1 but found it somewhat disappointing, giving it only 2.5 out of 5:

Bottom Line: With its cool matchbox-car design, the Cowan iAudio F1 should appeal to younger music fans, but its subpar battery life, weak bass, and lack of WM DRM 10 support hold it back.

Pros: Broad feature set. Cool design. Compact and lightweight. Lots of sound enhancement options.

Cons: No WM DRM 10 support. Bass is a bit weak. No AC adapter. Battery life isn’t what’s claimed.

No longer a dark horse in the digital audio player space, Cowon continues to pump out solid, if not great, MP3 players, and the Cowon iAudio F1 ($159.99 list) is no exception, despite being gimmicky. Considering the interesting design and ample feature set, the price tag isn’t too unreasonable for a 1GB flash-based player. Still, it needs some improvements before it tops our list.

Read complete article: Cowon iAudio F1 review by PC Magazine

Technorati Tags: cowon, cowon iaudio, digital audio player, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment

cNet review the Cowon iAudio MP3 player, which makes claim to be a portable media player, giving it a 7.7:

We like:
Tiny and lightweight; video playback; line-in and scheduled FM recordings; excellent video-conversion software; solid sound quality and performance
We don’t like:
Pricey; does not yet support DRM-protected tracks; video playback limited to 15 frames per second; interface is difficult to navigate; cheap plastic shell; mediocre FM reception; no auto-preset option for FM stations; requires two different desktop utilities; screen is too tiny for photos and video; for £20 more, you could buy a 30GB video iPod
CNET.co.uk judgement:
The feature-packed and great-sounding Cowon iAudio U3 may ooze cool as one of the smallest video players available, but its lack of DRM support, its tricky controls and its high price tag spoil the party

Read complete article: Cowon iAudio U3 (2GB) Overview, Reviews & Prices at CNET.co.uk

Lookup on Amazon: “iAudio U3 2 GB MP3 Player” (Cowon)

Technorati Tags: cowon iaudio, digital audio player, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment, portable media player

One of the hottest products at CES 2006 has been Cowon’s iAudio 6. DAPReview have a few videos online of it and it in action.

Read complete article: dapreview.net: News / Comments / CES 2006: Demo of the iAudio 6

Engadget have also had a bit of a look and said:

What can we say: we like a little meat on our MP3 players? We wouldn’t watch videos on the pretty screen for any length of time, but for the few minutes that we did, the OLED really shined while the audio rocked the house.

Read complete article: Engadget: Hands on with the Cowon iAudio6

Technorati Tags: CES, cowon iaudio, portable entertainment, portable media player

It’s hard too see these MP3 players masquerading as tiny PMPs as nothing more than a passing fad. AnythingButiPod have reviewed Cowon’s effort, the iAudio U3:

The U3 has a nice set of features to cover almost everyone’s needs. Cowon has even managed to squeeze line-in recording onto this small wonder. Overall I am impressed with this MP3 player as far as functionality, ease of use, and build quality. However, with these qualities and features, comes a heavier price tag and limited storage.

Pros
UMS (No Drivers Needed)
Works with Windows XP, Mac OSX, and Linux 2.2+
Crisp LCD Screen
Well built
Easy navigation

Cons
Price
Storage Space
No Music Service Support

Read complete article: Cowon iAudio U3 Review

Technorati Tags: cowon iaudio, digital audio player, mp3 player, portable entertainment, portable media player

Another review of the Cowon A2 portable video player, this time by PC Magazine and not so favorable, although they have emphasized different features:

Bottom line: Though you get a lot out of this portable media player/recorder, video recording was somewhat disappointing.

Pros: Clean design. Good audio quality. Built-in widescreen LCD is clear and sharp. Photos look very good. Excellent battery life.

Cons: Recorded VGA video is jumpy. Maximum video recording bit rate isn’t high enough. Non-removable battery. No remote.

The Cowon A2 is a portable media player/recorder with a 30GB hard drive, a widescreen 4-inch LCD, and an integrated FM tuner. Its video and audio playback capabilities are good, the design is attractive, and the interface is fairly easy to use, but we’re a bit disappointed in what we feel is the device’s main feature: video recording. There are also some file-compatibility issues that need to be worked out before we can get really excited about this product.

Read complete article: Cowon A2 Review by PC Magazine

Lookup on Amazon: “Cowon iAudio A2 30GB MP3 Player” (Cowon)

Technorati Tags: cowon A2, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video

Another review of the Cowon A2 portable video player, this time from iAudiophile.

The A2 is an excellent Portable Video Player. I can really recommend it to people who are on the lookout for a quality player with excellent battery life, great design, superior build quality and a massive bundle of features. The A2’s firmware is still suffering a few “teething problems”, but Cowon has a great reputation of releasing firmware updates and I am confident that they will fix nearly all the problems still at hand.

The Good

• Great build quality
• Superb screen
• Excellent battery life

• Good controls
• Quality TV-Out
• FM radio with 25 presets and auto-scan

• FM radio recordings
• Built in decent quality microphone

• Line-in recordings
• TV-Out
• Doesn’t crash (haven’t had to ever use the reset button)

• Video support (supports great amount of codecs. PAL/NTSC compatible)

• Built in loudspeakers (with Auto-off when headphones plug in)
• Great sound quality with high power output
• Equalizer & BBE settings
• Customizable (Boot Screen and Wallpaper)

• Text Viewer
• The included charger works everywhere in the world.

• Good scan-speed
• “Recent Files” Feature

Read complete article to find out what iAudiophile thought: Cowon A2 review

Lookup on Amazon:

“Cowon iAudio A2 30GB MP3 Player” (Cowon)

Technorati Tags: cowon, cowon A2, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video

Austin Vaughan over at DAPreview provides a thorough review of the Cowon A2 Portable Video Player, giving it an excellent 92%

All things considered, I believe the A2 is the best portable video player available at this time. It has some unique features that give it an edge over its two main competitors, the Archos AV500 and Creative’s Zen Vision. The A2 has double the battery life (8+ hours video playback), support for AC3 audio tracks in movies, and a 3D audio enhancement effect which livens up the experience.

Read complete article: dapreview.net: Review / Cowon A2 Review

Lookup on Amazon:

“Cowon iAudio A2 30GB MP3 Player” (Cowon)

Technorati Tags: cowon, personal video player, portable entertainment, portable media player, portable video, cowon A2

The Gadget Blog gave a brief review of the Cowon iAudio U3 MP3 player and got rather excited.

Cowon has released its iAudio U3 MP3 player, that has video playback capability. The iAudio U3 comes with a 160×128 color screen that supports 260K colors. This small MP3 player also has 60 watts of high output sound that keep your ear drums happy. It’s also got some cool GUI Themes on the TFT-LCD display ( not OLED ) in 8 colours but there are no replaceable faceplates. That’s good enough to enjoy your music while reading lyrics in its new Lyric Display Feature provides you with lyrics on 4 line wide LCD.

You can also view text and images on either the white or the black iAudio U3 MP3 player (what ? only 2 colours ?). In addition to having 5 standard equalizer options, you will now get BBE technology to enhance the audio, Mach3Bass to boost the low-end bass, MP Enhance to cover for lost parts in music just to give it that extra smooth fading effect, 3D surround for three dimension sound. There’s enough juice for 20 hours of battery life after a 3-hour charge on it.

Supports MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV (Up to 48KHz Stereo), OGG and FLAC formats with Clock, Alarm, FM radio recording to boot. It’’s sure fine for a Christmas Present.

Is that a hint?

Read source article: » Cowon iAudio U3 Rocks The Gadget Blog: Gadget News, Gadget Reviews, Gadget Tech Specs.

Technorati Tags: cowon, digital audio player, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment, cowon iaudio

You might expect better from Cowon. particularly as they have picked up three Editor’s Choice awards from cNet, but according to cNet’s latest review, Cowon’s iAudio M5 rates only a 6/10

The good: Excellent sound quality; compatible with OGG and FLAC formats; high bit-rate voice recording; text-file reader; sleek form factor.

The bad: No compatibility with online music stores or subscription services–yet; grayscale screen; doesn’t play digital-image or movie files; no FM radio; must purchase adapter to add line-in recording jack; so-so control layout; can’t autosync music with a PC; can’t browse by artist, album, or genre; headphone jack quickly develops a short.

The bottom line: Cowon’s iAudio M5 is essentially a stripped-down and slightly less-expensive version of the iAudio X5, but it lacks a color screen and doesn’t play videos or show photos.

Key Specs:
Display: 160×128 pixels, mono
Capacity: 20GB & 30GB
Dimensions: 2.4 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches, 5.1oz
Audio formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, WAV

Read source article: Cowon iAudio M5 (30GB) Reviews. MP3 players Reviews by CNET.

Lookup on Amazon:

“iAudio M5 20 GB Metal MP3 Player Silver” (Cowon)

Technorati Tags: cowon, digital audio player, mp3 player, portable audio, portable entertainment