Home > Consumer Reviews > Cowon U3-4096BL iAudio U3 4GB MP3 Player with FM (Black)

Ok, I'm surprised to find that no one else has really reviewed this product. I bought this to compliment my 30GB video iPod; I wanted a player I could easily carry in my pocket -- that wasn't as big and heavy as the iPod.

The thing I like the most about the iAudio U3 is its size. All of the pictures that I've seen of this player were zoomed-in, and they made the U3 look bigger than it really is, but the player is tiny! The other thing I like about the iAudio U3 is that the sound quality is excellent -- better than the iPod. The lows have more punch and the highs are clearer. In addition, it has a high output of 30mW + 30mW. This means that it produces a powerful sound output.

The iAudio U3 is a UMS (USB Mass Storage) device. This means that it shows up as a drive when you connect it to your computer without drivers or any software. All you have to do is to drag and drop your music to the drive. Very easy.

I didn't put much stock into the color video screen, because I just can't imagine watching anything on such a tiny screen! The iAudio U3 has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It doesn't come with a charger, but you can charge it by connecting it to a USB port on a computer. Alternatively, you can buy the charger on Amazon.

Did I mention that it's also a decent FM radio and voice recorder? It also support direct encoding (line-in). You can receive the direct input from other audio devices. It's amazing how much they were able to cram into such a small form factor. Over all, I highly recommend this player.

I've had a succession of digital players from various mfg's (Iriver, Apple, Sandisk, Intel) and thus have the benefit of perspective. So, let me say that this is overall the best player I've come across.

- Sound is excellent.
- Configurability is as good as any unit that I've used.
- User interface is sensible and easy to acclimate to.
- Excellent build quality.
- Surprisingly useful little powerhouse of a display.
- Really good utilities (Jetshell, Jetaudio) that come w/ the package.

I'm still trying to figure out how Cowon does it. Keeping in mind that mp3 and wma are lossy encoding formats, one tends to forgive the fact that the sound of most portable players is "not quite CD" quality. From now on I'll hold them all accountableto a CD quality standard...if Cowon can do it, the rest can as well. The sound is crisp, detailed, accurate and consistent across the wealth of formats (both lossless and lossy) that the device supports.

Of course, "the best yet" doesn't necessarily mean "perfect". Here are my gripes:
- Cowon is pushing it a bit by touting the "movie player" capability. The screen, though crisp and bright, is too small for my 40-something eyes to make much video use of.
- The status display during playback shows a lot of info...perhaps too much for the (again) small screen to comfortably accommodate.
- The player is rated at 30mw per channel, which is twice the output of most other current-gen players. But the sound levels are not commensurately higher. This is especially important if you intend to plug to the auxiliary jack in your car. Most mp3's can't accommodate a healthy volume level when plugged in to normal car stereo. The U3 is the only player I've found adequate for this use, but I am ever so slightly disappointed that I couldn't eke more out of it w/ that 30mw rating. NOTE: If you set the EQ to something other than flat, the sound levels are significantly boosted and are closer to what you'd expect w/ this power rating.
- Battery can't be replaced. Not a problem for me, as I usually do a tech refresh (i.e., buy a new model) before the units die on me. But if you flog your gear until it drops, you will eventually find yourself charging after 2 hours of use, not the 20 that this thing handles when new.

But those are nits. In my mind, it's still a 5-star device...not because it's perfect, but because it's the most complete realization of the mp3 player category. (Hey, my dog drools on my passenger window, but he's still a 5-star doggie...the best pooch ever.)

Worth every penny of the price.

The U3 is not only the best player for the dollar, it is the best player out. iPod fans, you are all oblivious and ignorant. I'm sorry to say it, but you all knew what the iPod was before you knew what a mp3 player was and even afterwards you still didn't realize that the iPod is a mp3 player...just a stript down, simplistic, Any player is better than an iPod other than the cheap mp3 players found in convenient stores like walgreens or cvs.

Pros - There are too many for me to go over, and everyone already mentioned most of the obvious, so I'll just name the greatest reasons and unmentioned/overlooked reasons that set this apart from the others.

-Sound Quality
--the 60Mw of power plus the jetaudio bass, equalizer, bbe, etc...makes the music/audio sound the better than other players. You can really put the volume up high and it will be clear with the right settings. Far louder than some other players.

-Flash Drive/USB/Direct File Transfer/text reader
--no hassles. throw mp3s right on it fast, without any stupid programs like some others require like itunes(tss, i get so angry about the sleazy marketing/business tactics they the other get away with). again, plug it into the computer, and drag and drop. then you can disconnect it and start listening to the muany computer files, like your excel sheets, word documents, txt files, programs, movies, anything from computer to computer. Make sure to get an extra keychain usb adapter!

-Controls
--The little joystick on this thing is great. You can be running, lifting at the gym, laying down...and be able to change the track, volume, and pause, without taking the player out of your pocket.

-The voice recorder
--AWESOME. for all the reasons a voice recorder is. easy to use. you can record and listen to what you recorded right away. record yourself or your buddies freestyling or singing. Have an instrumental playing in the back or karaoke, and record away, make your own just for fun songs. do some private investigating, eavesdrop on people, catch your friends saying stupid things without them knowing, just use your imagination; a tiny recorder disguised as a mp3 player can be very handy/useful. i would buy this alone for just the great voice recorder it has. (keep in mind, in many stupid states, it is illegal to record people without their permission...dumb hypocritical and crooked law, and oh ya, its fine to video tape though.)

-other features
--to make it clear, and again, this thing is so packed with useful and great features. for example, all the formats it plays, .mp3, .wma, flac, .ogg, etc. It has a RADIO, and LINE-IN functions. The recording here works great too. Alarm Clock, Auto shut-off, Sleep, etc...

CONS

-Customer Service
--it's a shame this great product couldn't be better represented by its customer service. They don't believe in phones. And the turnaround wait for getting your player fixed or replaced sucks (same with most things you order but life without a mp3 player when your used to using it all day every day sucks.

Durability
--There is a better chance that you would want, that something will go wrong with your player within the first year. And it might happen more than once, whether, its the audio cuts out if you wiggle the headphone jack the wrong way cause something broke inside. Happened to me twice. Once, was sort of my fault for accidentally snagging the cord out of the unit once too many times or one bad time. This causes the audio to only work out of one side of your headphones. Happens too easily in my opinion. Some part of the design or construction inside the unit is poor. The screen can be broken easily by not even putting too much weight on it, like if its in your jacket pocket and you happen to barely sit on it. Also happened with me. And there is a small chance of getting a faulty or defective one sent to you. *I want to make clear though, that all this things are very possible with other players as well, just perhaps slightly better chance of happening with these players...Maybe because they are so complex inside or the quality of the components or design is not as great since this thing is so capable of doing so many things. The software is also something that may crash or be defective, in which you would have to reinstall it.

Video
--The screen isn't that big but so what. It's clear and does have good picture. However, you do need to convert your movie or video clip with the program that is provided. And the audio and video may not matchup perfectly as there may be a delay. Still serves more than its purpose for showing people homemade videos, or funny video clips, music videos,etc. But then again....this is a primarily a music player. Not a TV.

LYRICS
--It says you can read lyrics to the songs that are playing and that would be great. but i think this might be a lie because i've been able learn how to do everything else this player can do except for the lyrics. it doesn't work. so what.

EARPHONES
--The earphones it comes with are average. If you really love to enjoy music and want to take advantage of what this player can really make the music sound like....get a good pair of headphones.


OVERALL

Between the Iaudio 5, and then the big step up to U3...Cowon has made the best mp3 player products for the past 3 years. Despite the customer service, and durability. They do honor the 1 year warranty. The battery life is good too. The seem to last longer than the batteries in iPods, which also have a 1 year warranty but it's funny how their batteries seem to only last about that long or a maybe a year and a half then you need a new one which costs big $$$. A little less costly when it comes to cowon and again they seems to last longer.

MORE IMPORTANT INFO
--I would like to say, is if you have illegally downloaded music, this player wont give you problems like ipod as it forces you to use itunes which again, is soooo dumb and unnecessary. And, if you would like to be able to get songs from your friends computers or share yours, you can quick and easy. Forget about it if you have iPod, unless they have it too and have itunes installed.


Despite the cons, I'll take a U3 that is 100% over any other player on the market. It is the best player. All this is coming from an EXPERT. Thank you and may the consumer buying force be with you. Don't do what everyone else does as they are dumb cattle herded through the system to something other than they would like in the end.

I've been in search of a perfect MP3 player for audiobooks. I started with Cowon U2, great but lost it, bought Philips GoGear whose bookmark function only worked for music, not audiobooks so I had to start from scratch each time - gave it away, and Creative Zen V+, under the impression that was one of a few in the market whose bookmark function worked for audiobooks. The last product, Zen V+'s bookmark worked only 10% of what I had hoped for. Once you store in bookmark, it will lose tracks, which means if you put a bookmark in the middle of track 11 out of 40 tracks and start listening to where you left off, it will not continue to track 12 after track 11 completes. I thought I could live with this limitation, but as a former Cowon U2 owner with which I had no bookmark problems, I couldn't help but try Cowon U3 and finally, it worked! I can bookmark anywhere anytime without losing tracks. I don't know why other products cannot provide such technology when Cowon could. If you use your MP3 player for music only, aforementioned problems might not get in your way, but if you are an audiobook listener, just go for Cowon U series and your agony will end then.

I'll make this short. If you want a portable audio player that actually has fantastic sound processing ability, you have got to go with Cowon products. I've owned a number of different players from different companies over the years, iRiver, Zen, Sony, etc. This player absolutely tops all of them. It is rugged, small, lightweight, *and* plays a multitude of different audio file types, even OGG and FLAC (though you aren't going to fit too many FLAC files on a 4G flash chip, of course)! This player is very, very reasonably priced now, but if you're interested in spending just a bit more money for more space, check out the iAudio 7 8GB player, which is pretty much the successor it appears to the "U" players. Also, the iAudio 7 16GB version will be out soon. Upgrade here I come. :)