Build quality was a bit of a concern, the unit is very light weighing only 32.5 grams but the plastic shell didn't inspire confidence if we dropped it. However the week did prove its not too badly put together but just don't expect iPod build standards. The Cowon iAudio U3 ships in 2 models a 1gb and 2gb player, the memory is solid state and ideal for those who listen to MP3's while on the move.

Interacting with the iAudio U3 is a pleasing affair, the colour screen is small but very useable and the combination of a simple menu structure and a 5 way D pad to the left of the screen make it a joy to navigate even when you can only free one hand to drive it. Finding tracks is intuitive as the folder structure you put onto the device is reflected back through the screen, there is also no need to use any special software to fill up your U3 as it mounts as a USB disk on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.

When it comes to supported file formats the U3 is more sociable than a footballers wife, with it handling MP3, OGG, WMA, WAV, ASF, and FLAC which means you have free reign to use almost any file format you choose. Audio replay quality is good for a small USB player there is minimal background noise and hiss and there is only very slight distortion if you go for something with lots of bass, but this is more down to the packaged headphones than the player itself.

Audio is only half the story as Cowon have blessed the U3 with both video playback and an image viewer, given that the biggest unit only has 2gb which would allow for maybe 8  videos? Plus to get anything onto the device you have to convert it via the Jet audio software bundled with the player. Having said that it does work well and playback is smooth if not just a bit blocky on the small 160 x 128 pixel resolution screen. The image viewer works well and is a far more feasible proposition for those who may want of use a combination of the USB 2.0 storage and the ability to view images on the unit.

The battery is a mixed bag, in MP3 mode we managed 18 hours of playback before needing to hook it up via USB for a top up, this is quite creditable if not leading edge compared to MPIO and others. Sadly use the video capability and you'll be lucky to see 3 hours run time, not that you could get 3 hours of video onto the 2gb anyway!

Then we get to the mixture of useful and pants extras, useful is the FM radio with 24 presets although its reception is not the best, even the voice recorder and line in capture capability is of some use. Quiet why Cowon keep pushing this weird lyric engine is beyond us, with a small screen the idea of squinting at the iAudio U3 and signing along to the tracks by reading minute text is one that does not excite us.

To be fair to Cowon the U3 is a quality little player and we really like it's onboard USB connection dispensing with the need to connect leads, plus the way we can transfer so many file types without having to install iTunes or other music software that Apple and others force you to use. Pricing is rather optimistic at around £130 for the 1gb model and a whopping £180 for the 2gb U3, quite how Cowon expect us to pay more than the price of an iPod Nano for a device with half the storage is beyond us.

This is a real shame as it's a nice player with a good screen and reasonable audio quality and battery life, but the Video playback is at best ok and at its current pricing we can't really recommend it over the class leading MPIO One.

Published - 11/03/2006

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