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IAudio U2
The U2 mp3 player from IAudio (Cowon) presents a smart design, long battery life, intuitive menu, and great sound. If you are looking for a small unit (hence the above pic!) that can be used while exercising, you have come to the right place. The U2 mp3 player comes in three distinct colors and memory sizes: ruby red (256mg - $119*), ocean blue (512mg - $169*), and platinum black (1gb - $211*).
Platinum black with earbuds
Design
The U2 mp3 player is a small, smart, and sleek design. It features headphone & line-in jacks. The bottom flap conceals a tiny usb 2.0 jack. This jack provides communications and power charging capability. A tiny mic is stashed on the top backside. A nice backlit, four line lcd display is housed on the front. The side sports record, play/pause, and hold buttons. And the front features the small joystick that drives all the menus. The colors are pleasing & the sport case is a nice touch to a feature loaded device.
Ruby Red button view
Features & Functionality
You would think that such a small mp3 player would lack functionality. The only real thing this mp3 player sacrifices is storage space. This player is great to use when exercising. …It’s what i use it for. You will, however, need to purchase the extra armband. But it’s only $6 and is really durable.
This player has the following built-in functionality:
-Full featured voice recorder
-FM radio tuner
-Line-in mp3 ripping
-Mp3 player
-Storage
The voice recorder is easy to operate and offers surprising clarity. The FM tuner performed well. When tuned in a basement, the FM tuner picked up most stations. Line-in ripping is also intuitive, but best done from a pc. But if you are in a pinch, and need ripping now, this is a good option. The mp3 player itself is great – more on that later. And this device can also second as a storage device. Have a document you need to take to the office? Just throw it onto this player and you’re off.
This player utilizes USB 2.0. This is a huge advantage of other players. The fast speed is really nice for uploading songs. The battery life is exemplary. You can enjoy listening for 20 hours on one charge! And charging occurs through the USB port. Oh, and did i mention that it is rechargeable?
Platinum Black with USB keyring accessory
Mp3 Playback
The sound of this player, with included headphones, is impressive. The basses boom and the treble doesn’t whine. Most of this is due to the performance of the improved processor and the headphones. It doesn’t hurt, however, to have the many built in sound enhancements.
MachBass, by BBE, provides a rich bass sound to the earbud headphones. This is bass that you would usually expect from high end headphones or speakers. MP3, WMA, ASF and WAV formats are all supported. DRM support for WMA has been recently added. And this highlights another great aspect of this player: firmware upgrades that enrich functionality to the player. Playlists (M3U support forthcoming in firmware upgrade) offer the ability to customize your music preferences.
The menu system is driven by the joystick on the front of the device. Push up and down for volume increase and decrease. Push right and left to scroll backwards and forwards through a playlist. Push the joystick in briefly to go to the music enhancement screens. Here you can select options for BBE, mp3 enhancement, etc. Push the joystick in longer and you are brought to the music folder listing. Here you can scroll through song folders. Putting songs in the folders is a simple drag and drop. If you can use windows or Mac OS, you can use this.
Summary
This is a smart & sexy mp3 player. If you want a unit for exercise, this may be the one for you. It has impressive sound bursting from the Cresyn earbuds. The mp3 enhancements allow for endless tweaking to fit your exact taste. The menus are intuitive and the lcd is pleasing to the eye. The rechargeable USB 2.0 port is a great addition. But the player lacks big storage for the ardent enthusiast. And its lack of online music store support will hinder some users. But if you want a rock-solid mp3 player with big sound – by all means, buy this device. You won’t be disappointed.
*All prices are from newegg.
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