Mp3 Players and Ipod Reviews

Cowon’s latest flash-based portable media player, the iAudio 7, certainly looks promising on the surface. There’s its sleek black design, interesting button array, and touted

powerful output for high-end, power-hungry headphones. Add to this to the long battery life that Cowon players are known for and you have the possibility of a nice portable music device. Once the tiny, low-resolution screen lights up, however, much of the player’s mystique vanishes. Photos and videos look lousy, and videos have to be resized before

If you own an iAudio 6, you might probably not consider the new iAudio 7. It looks almost same as its predecessor, except the storage media and color display. The iAudio 7 is available in 4GB and 8GB of flash memory, and it features a 1.3? TFT LCD display.

The Cowon iAudio 7 is a compact, Flash-based player that measures just 3 inches long by 1.4 inches wide (but a chunky 0.7 inches thick), and it weighs only 2.1 ounces. Its tiny 1.3-inch TFT LCD screen responds more quickly than the OLED display of its predecessor, the iAudio 6, so video motion appears smoother, but it’s hard to imagine why you’d want to watch any sort of action on a screen the size of a postage stamp.

On the flip side, there’s a lot of praise for its FLAC and OGG support, long battery life, and sound quality, which is regarded as excellent — or as CNET bluntly puts it, “better than the iPod.” So, minor potshots notwithstanding, almost all of the critics give it high marks — but don’t take our word for it, hit the links.

The Play/Pause button also acts as a Select button, while the Record button doubles up as a Back key. You can use the arrow keys to browse through the tracks or the menu. You can do that by either tapping the arrow keys or sliding your finger along the groove. The Power On/Off/Hold slider is located along the top edge of the player along with the Menu button and volume control. Thankfully, these keys aren’t touch sensitive like the rest.

Cowon has updated their i6 by replacing the 0.85” micro hard drive with flash memory and upgraded the battery for long lasting 60 hours of playtime. Adding the flash memory to this device is a big improvement since one of the biggest complaints about the iAudio 6 was is slow interface due to the data bottle neck of the hard drive. The iAudio 7 has the same great sound,

 Summary-:

The good: The Cowon iAudio 7 is one of the most versatile MP3 players available. It plays music, video, and photos; has unbeatable sound quality; records line-in, voice, and FM; supports OGG and FLAC file formats, plus DRM-protected WMA; works in MTP and MSC connection modes for use on both Mac and PC; and has an unmatched rechargeable battery life.

The bad: As tiny as the iAudio 7 is, it’s still about three times the width of an iPod Nano. The reflective, glossy plastic found on the front and back of the player is prone to smudges and glare. There’s a learning curve to the Swing Touch interface, and we would like to have seen support for Audible audiobooks, as well as a memory expansion slot.

The bottom line: The Cowon iAudio 7 beats the industry heavyweight iPod Nano in price, features, battery life, and sound quality. The user interface could use some refinement, but all-in-all this is a very impressive MP3 player.

Cnet Rating - 8.3/10