Product Description

Ultra Portable MP3 Player

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5586 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: RED
• Brand: iAudio
• Model: I7-16RD
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.25" h x .75" w x 2.75" l, 1.10 pounds
• Battery type: Lithium Polymer
• Display size: 1.3

Features

• MP3 Player
• Color LCD Display
• Picture viewer
• Movie player
• FM/Voice/Line-In Recorder

Customer Reviews

Pretty much the best sound available, BUT....
Anybody who reads my reviews or visits my websites knows that I am partial to the Cowon iAudio products. I've owned at least a dozen, including the 4 GB and 8 GB versions of this unit. The sound quality of the iAudio 7 may not be "true audiophile" quality, but it's about as close as you're going to get for under $700. For most earbuds (I normally use Ultimate Ears super.fi 5s) and open-air headphones, the power output is more than adequate. The EQ functions also offer an amazing range of flexibility in compensating for headphone deficiencies. But if you're going to use a better headphone (like my Sony MDR-SA3000s), then you really do need a quality headphone amplifier. This is not a deficiency in the iAudio 7; I'm not aware of any portable media player that will drive the Sonys even as well as the Cowon products. But you simply have to be realistic. I use a C&C XO headphone amp and get excellent results.

Three other very positive features need to be noted. First, the iAudio 7 will play several file formats that many others will not, including OGG and FLAC. Second, the DRM restrictions on the player are very generous and you normally don't have any problems loading any files that you have created yourself. Third, the battery life is absolutely phenomenal...doubtless the best I've seen.

However, there ARE downsides to the unit. The controls and user interface are not only too sensitive, but they're also not very intuitive. If this is your first Cowon unit, allow some extra time to get used to them. Also, the USB transfers on the 16 GB unit are noticeably slower than on the 8 GB unit (which probably remains your best value.)

One comment on the lack of "true playlists"...I don't care. Frankly, I grew up listening to vinyl albums and it would never even occur to me to make a playlist. I don't use them and never have. This is a big difference between those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s and those who now download a single track at a time. Call it the "AOR Syndrome" or whatever. I simply think in terms of album sides. When I convert music to put on my player, I rip the entire album and catalog it that way.

Overall, I'd rank this as perhaps the "second best buy" in a portable media player. The 8 GB unit is still tops in my book, primarily due to the faster USB transfer speeds. And do yourself a favor...either use a higher efficiency set of headphones/earphones or invest in a decent headphone amp. This unit is very, very good, but it's no miracle-worker.

UPDATE: A recent firmware upgrade and a FAQ on the Cowon website have addressed the issue of slow USB connection and file transfer. I'd now rank this unit at least half a star higher.

In response to the review on Jan. 4, 2008
This definitely isn't true audiophile quality, it probably is thought to be for various reasons. I think most people refer to the sound as being audiophile-like, because everything out there for a portable flash/hd based player sounds like a$$ "for the most part" (this being much better than competing Creative, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Sandisk products available). But mostly, people do not understand (how high the ceiling goes) or live in that audiophile realm ($1500-$100,000+ receivers, speakers and such). I have owned 2 prior iRiver models and 2 other iAudio's (I have also used other peoples Ipods, Nanos, Creative, Samsung and Sandisk products for trial over the last 5 years). This model is definitely an improvement in sound quality over the previous Cowon U3 4gb I owned. And closer to, if not surpassing the quality of my 895 iRiver and the 512mb model before that. I own some HD580 and HD600 Sennheiser's and they sound listenable, but there is definitely a lack of punch, depth to the soundstage, but thats ok, because thats about as good as it gets for now with portables and I personally need something for the gym. It's a great player once you get used to the sensitivity controls and menus, which is expected. I definitely wish Cowon would add true playlist support, so people can create multiple playlists at home on their pc and store them in a player folder for playback later on the portable. The iAudio 7 8gb is probably the best model currently as it doesn't seem to suffer from the transfer speed problems of the 16gb model, and surpassing 4,000 files would be quite hard with 8gb. As long you are willing to swap files around occasionally (if opting away from the 16gb model), it's a better value until Cowon irons out some kinks and players get even bigger. (Amazon wouldn't let me post my response comment due to some guideline I couldn't figure out, so I am just posting my comment as a review, enjoy)

Fantastic player - one quirk
I ALMOST found the perfect mp3 player for me. I listen to audiobooks and sometimes music, I have pictures, a few movies, and some txt files, too. I have my books and music organized into folders and this is just like a jump drive. I can plug it into ANY computer without any software preloaded and just drop and drag. My audiobooks play in perfect order and they sound great. It has a delete right on the unit, so I can delete as I go. Its 16 gbs so I can carry a lot of music and books and listen to what I want when I want. I have approximately 700 songs and 200 books, along with a handful of pictures loaded at the present moment. I love running and since this is a flash player, I don't have to worry about messing up a hard drive based player. The unit is tiny - smaller than my cell phone. It will record, play movies, FM radio, view text files and all that if that is what interest you. My only problem is the slide selector. Even at the least sensitive setting, it is HORRIBLE. I am hoping I will get used to it with time, because I would even read some txt ebooks on here if I could get used to the control. Instead, I keep going back and forth trying to pinpoint the exact spot I want to be. I have almost 6000 files on my player, but they are all in folders and the player recognizes them all. I was concerned when I read an earlier review, but it must mean if they are all lumped onto the player. If it wasn't for the selector, this unit would be the perfect player. Update: 2 Oct. I found that when I was using the player for running or anything, I would have to put it on hold and not touch it. This got to be a pain if I wanted to rewind a bit and listen to something I missed on my audiobook or skip a song or whatever. I couldn't do it without being able to SEE the screen. I love Cowon and have the XL5, but don't want to run with that. I ended up buying the 8 gb U5 for running with. I just reach down and skip, pause, or rewind. I don't use this player much anymore. The sound, battery life and everything else are still awesome on this player, though.