Home > Consumer Reviews > iAUDIO G3-512PW 512 MB MP3 Player with FM Radio and Voice Recorder (Pearl White)

I was looking for a good voice recorder to take to college lectures with me when I happened across this iAudio 512mb mp3 player. Not only does this work well for recording, it has a really long battery life - 20 hours+ so far. Also, it works well as a functional mp3 player for someone who just wants to listen to their music, not to mention a fairly decent price. My only problem was that the instruction manual is not very clear when it comes to actually loading music on the player - I finally figured out all of my music had to be converted to an mp3 format, which was easy enough to do with the software that came with the player. Overall, it's a good buy if you are looking for an easy-to-use mp3 player and voice recorder.

I got the iAudio G3 as a Christmas gift when i had been looking at SanDisk's 512 MB MP3 Player. I was quite happy to recieve this considering it had all the features of the SanDisk and some more of its own. Ive had this player for 2 days now and the only thing i can complain about is some misunderstanding on use of the programs (JetShell/JetAudio) that come with it. I later found out that its easier to just use JetAudio to rip/convert music to WMA, and then not use JetShell at all. Its simpler to just open my computer and drop it into the icon (G drive for me). I have read other reviews and they talk about playlists but i have not been able to make any yet so I just have a long list of songs on mine. The only other thing i found odd is the difference in length of the headphone earbuds, which i believe is so you could listen to the player with one ear easily. I plan on revising this review if and when i figure that out. One excellent thing about it is the radio reception. It is crystal clear even in my pocket. The sound from the files on the player are also excellent sounding.
P.S. Check out the reviews for the 1GB Model as it is the same thing, there are many more reviews for this player there!

***Revision***
Ive now had it for 3 and a half months. Its still on the first battery it came with and i still love it. I did figure out the playlists, you just hold in the directional button for 3 seconds. I like everything about it and could not ask for a better one.

This unit has a beautiful sound and after playing with it and reviewing the book a little, is easy to operate. The AA battery lasts a very, very long time. One thing I do recommend: If you are not having trouble with it, don't upgrade to the latest firmware. The first one I ordered was ok until I installed all the software on the installation cd and tried to update the firmware. The fm receiver froze up and would not change afterward. It may have been my fault so I'm not saying don't but this replacement I received has older fireware installed and is working fine. The second time I also opted not to install the universal player program provided on the installation cd. I have three players on my computer already, including my main one that I use, Nero. The program I did install was JetShell. It seems to work fine as a down/uploading and converting program and hasn't had any problems. As usual, Amazon was wonderful about my returning the first one for a replacement. I'm very satisfied with this purchase!

One line summary: Great Sound, Extraordinary feature set, Very efficient UI

Highlights:

1. Sound quality. I listen to a lot of classical music on this, which contains extreme dynamic ranges. This player can reproduce loud sforzandi without distortions...great for Mahler!

2. Sound adjustment: the EQ is quite good and flexible; adequate for adjusting for different headphones. There are other fancy sounding settings that can add some punch by increasing the bass, but those color the sound too much.

3. OGG support: no problems with VBR ogg for a variety of quality/bit rate levels. sounds great all through.

4. User Interface: The UI is very powerful, with a lot of the functionality accessible through a few buttons. Thus most buttons are overloaded functions, which depend on current mode, duration of keypress, etc. This obviously means that the interface is not very intuitive anymore, and one might have to (gasp) read the manual to figure out a few things. However this is perhaps unavoidable since so many controls are squeezed into a low button count. Once understood, the interface is very efficient. I am grateful that the designers opted for efficiency over mak ing it
intuitive.

5. Bookmarking : allows per track bookmarking which can be set through 1 keypress. very useful for audiobooks or single-track albums.

6. Recording features: can record from line-in/radio/voice-mic. quick access to recording when needed. recording quality is okay, and the built-in mic is very sensitive.

7. the jetaudio app is light (on disk space and memory) and quite usable. Useful for transferring files/formatting/checking playback. Have not had problems in >1 yr of regular use.

8. Size/Form factor: while it may not be as thin as the shuffle, I like the fact that it is small along all the dimensions. Could have been targeted to fit pockets designed to hold matchboxes !


Problems:

1. The earphones that came with it were really fragile and the cable came off the connector within a couple of weeks.

2. somewhat long startup time...not too big an issue.

3. Mp3 VBR support: While there are no problems with playing back mp3 VBR, for some files I have seen errors with displaying the time played/left. But that might have been a problem with the mp3 encoder used. I have never seen this with files I have encoded myself.

4. would have been nice to have support for gapless playback or Cuesheets.

I've had my little Cowon Iaudio G3 512MB player/recorder for about 3 years now and it's simply, pound for pound, one of the best MP3 gadgets I've had. The thing is the size of a small pager and works like a charm. If you ever run into any issues, you can check on the cowon website for firmware upgrades, downloads and tips in the discussion forums.
I'm not going to get into alot of the technical detail because they're already covered in the other comments. I will say it's packed with lots of cool features that you're not going to find in alot of other players. Line-in/FM/voice playback and recording, equalizers, user friendly interface, etc. Only a handful of mp3 players maintain this status and the little Cowon G3 is definitely one of them. I only wish I had this back in my college days so I could record a week's worth of lectures without developing carpal tunnel syndrome.
On top of that battery life is really cool. If you're worried about running out, simply get a pack of rechargeable batteries (I highly recommend the Sony Ni-MH ones) and swap them/recharge out as you go along.
A few might say the G3 is too plastic-y and feels flimsy to the touch, but the advantages far outweigh all that. Definitely check this out.