JetAudio iAUDIO 5 1GB MP3 Player - Black

If you are looking for a flash based mp3 player th ...

Strengths: Light. Plays ogg format. LED backlight have up to a 1000 different colors! USB 2.0 link, and can act as a flash drive without additional drivers.

Weaknesses: Difficult to navigate menu.

Summary: If you are looking for a flash based mp3 player that can play ogg format, look no further. The iAudio5 is much lighter than the iriver players (mainly because it uses AAA instead of AA). It uses a USB2.0 link instead of mobiblu's USB1.1. It is the only player that has multi-colored backlight. Pretty cool to see it flashing different colors to the beat of the music. The player is truly plug and play. No drivers are needed to transfer music onto the player. As a bonus, aside from the USB cable, there is a small USB adapter that allows you to connect the player to your computer's USB port. With the adapter, your player becomes a compact (compared to player+usb cable) flash drive! The only weakness of the iAudio5 is its navigation, which is less intuitive than iriver's. Then again, it could be because I have been using iRiver for a while. It took me a while to figure out how to get to each function and option on the iAudio5 (without reading the manual!). In summary, if you are looking for a small, light, and good looking mp3 player that plays OGG, this is IT.

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Good audio player with lot of added functions

Strengths: 1. Super sound with lot of sound enhancement options. 2. Supports ASF, MP3, WAV, WMA, Ogg audio formats. 3. FM radio and external flash drive function. 4. Support radio, voice and line-in recording

Weaknesses: 1. The 3-way rocker switch is confusing and easily switched. 2. Average looks.

Summary: The sound quality of this player is really super. Sound is crisp with good bass. Better than iPod I would say. Plays a lot of audio formats including ogg. So you can have better quality than mp3s at low bitrates. Features like preset-equilizer, BBE, 3D Surround also enhances the sound. The player shows up as an external drive when connected to the PC. So music transfer is plain drag-n-drop. You can use it as an flash drive even if there is no battery inserted. The controls take some time to get used to. There are 2 rocker switches, which can be easily pressed. So better use the hold button to prevent this. Cowon included a USB plug in the package. So there is no need not carry the USB cable all the time. Just keep the USB plug in your keychain. FM radio reception is good, and it can be recorded. This player supports voice and line in recording. The screen is big enough to display a lot of information. The backlight color can be changed, which is really cool. Battery performance is average, around 13-14 hours. Overall a good player with nice features. Good buy for $130 bucks.

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awesome mpe flash player

Strengths: sound, features galore, use AAA, multi-colored LCD, lightweight, Dynamic playlist

Weaknesses: limited songs in playlist, expensive

Summary: The only other mp3 flash player I own is the Sandisk 1gb player. I think the iAudio 5 beats all other flash players on the market. The iAudio 5 is packed with any feature I could ever use.

The sound quality is excellent with adjustible bass boost and myriad EQ settings. The player is also stable compared to my Sandisk, which hangs occasionally on startup.

The formats I use include mp3, wma, ogg -- this player supports it all. With 1GB, I can store around 15 hours worth of music, which I rarely need to swap music. Few flash players let you maintain a playlist. Howeverr this player can -- you can also delete files with the player. The construction is plastic but sturdy enough.

Features I rarerly used: The multi-colored LCD is cool but consumes more power. I rarely use the FM tuner and havn't used the audio recording feature yet.

The few weakness I found was the dynamic playlist is limited to around 50 songs. Probably can not grow to more than several kilobytes. For the cost, it should have included an arm band/wrist strap.

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The iAudio 5 (firmware v1.10e) The iAudio 5 is ...

Strengths: • sound quality • features and versatility • USB 2.0 • large and comprehensive LCD • appears as removeable drive under Windows • runs on AAA battery

Weaknesses: • plastic (not metallic) case • FM sensitivity • no FM mute

Summary: 2005-04-12 04:18:07 The iAudio 5 (firmware v1.10e)

The iAudio 5 is a very capable and full-featured flash-based portable audio player that includes an MP3 player (plus OGG, WMA, and WAV formats), an FM radio with presets, and both voice and line-in recorders, all in a 3" x 1-3/8" x 3/4" package that weighs less than two ounces including battery and protective case.

It has a well laid-out and comprehensive LCD that is larger than most: a 128x64 graphic LCD on the left that displays ID3 tag info and sound settings (MP3 mode), or radio station dial (FM radio mode) that blends seamlessly into an adjacent 4-line LCD on the right that shows the player's overall status (mode, volume, battery level, track time, and VU meter) at a glance. The entire display is illuminated by a customizable 1000-color backlight that allows you to specify the LCD colors for MP3, FM radio, record, menu, navigation, and song change modes. For example, you can set blue for MP3 mode, green for FM mode, red for record, etc. Very nice.

Transferring music files is a snap - the iAudio 5's FAT32 file system appears as a removeable drive under Windows and the USB 2.0 interface is quick - just a few seconds for a typical 128 kbps 4 MB MP3 song. Entire albums (~50 MB) averaged only 20 seconds to transfer. The 1 GB flash storage is spacious, too. I was able to squeeze 21 complete albums plus a handfull of singles onto it.

Sound quality is absolutely fantastic and, like most features on the iAudio 5, is fully customizable through a quite complete panel of adjustable audio settings that includes:

• User-adjustable 5-Band EQ

• BBE (makes music more vivid)

• Mach3Bass (reinforces super low frequencies)

• MP Enhance (compensates for lost parts of sound)

• 3D Surround (gives the sound a wide sense of space)

I found that the exact placement of the buds within the ear have a direct and noticeable effect on the sound, particularly the bass, so experiment a bit before feeling compelled to trade them in for something better.

Battery life is still under investigation. Cowon claims 20 hours, but the supplied alkaline AAA battery lasted only about eight hours. Of course, that included alot of LCD backlighing (adustable time-on from 0 to 30 seconds, or always on, BTW) as I learned to navigate the extensive but always intuitive menu system. I should point out that while connected to a PC, the iAudio 5 is powered by the USB port itself, so battery life is not an issue if using the iAudio 5 as a flash drive and playing songs on Windows Media Player. Still, I would highly recommend investing in a set of rechargeable NiMH batteries. The Energizer 850 mAH AAA I just purchased has been going for 12 hours and counting...

Some minor complaints:

1) The plastic body gives the iAudio 5 a somewhat less substantial feel compared to its metal-housed predecessor, the iAudio 4. Not that its cheap construction, mind you - just that an aluminum housing would have been more fitting for a player of this calibre.

2) The jogwheels are somewhat picky about being absolutely centered when being depressed. If not centered, they move only stubbornly and with a grinding feel.

3) The FM sensitivity could be stronger. Reception tends to drop in and out of stereo with regularity with only a few local stations locking on with good separation.

4) A more direct way to mute the audio during FM play is needed. FM mute is currently activated only by reducing the volume to zero - not a very quick or elegant solution.

I spent several months comparing feature sets, prices, and quality of current flash-based MP3 players (iRiver, xDrum, IOPS, MuVo - I tried 'em all) and for what it's worth, I found the iAudio 5 to be the best flash-based MP3 player of the bunch. The only other player that made it into the final elimination round was also a Cowon product, the iAudio U2. With a firmware update to add OGG format and a realtime date/time function, the U2 offers the same great feature set as the 5 in a slightly more diminuitive package, but in the end it was that cool 1000-color LCD that sold me on the iAudio 5.

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Cowon iAudio 5

Strengths: Sound quality is good

Weaknesses: Exposure to hot temperatures for a long duration may cause some (small) problems to the player. Unit is non-rechargable and battery life only lasts a few hours.

Summary: 2006-01-10 18:23:51 It's not a perfect player, but the sounds quality is very good. If portability and sound quality is an emphasis for you, I would definitely get this player. One reccomendation is that you should buy your own arm-strap since the lanyard is really annoying when one is running.

The earphones are really good; they provide very good sound quality. It is important, however, to add the black "covers," that comes included in the box, onto the earphones so that they stay on your ears easier.

The unit is very vulnerable to malfunction. I exposed mines to heat quite often during the summer, and that caused it turn off automatically ever few minutes or so. I RMAed it, but the "new" unit I got back sort of has the same problem, but the automatic turn-offs occur far less now. Battery life on this is relatively short, only lastly on average 5 hours.

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iAudio 5 1 GB MP3 Player

Strengths: Compact; easily accessible controls; great sound; plenty of storage

Weaknesses: Battery life; flimsy battery door, earbuds

Summary: I haven't had much experience with mp3 players, so cannot compare, but after reading many reviews, decided to purchase the iAudio 5. Overall, I am completely happy with my purchase. The only negatives I see are #1: since it uses a AAA battery, the usage time is minimal (around 15 hours or so depending on the quality of the battery) #2: the battery door seems flimsy. Be very careful when changing batteries. #3: The earbuds would not stay in my ears, so they were pretty much useless. On the positive side, the sound quality is great and there is plenty of storage capacity. The menu took quite a while to learn, but once I understood it, it is very useful and easy to use. The manual was somewhat helpful, but very basic and much of the menu learning was just by trial and error.

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