Cowon iAudio M3 > Reviews > This MP3 player should outsell the ipod

Author's product rating:   

Sound Quality	Excellent
Ease of Use	Simple
Look & Design	Excellent
Range of Features	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Outstanding value for money and extremely slick design
Disadvantages:	FM radio is not very clear

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When i decided to buy an mp3 player I immediately looked at the ipod and read many reviews about it complaining of things such as a short battery life and the cost. I searched the internet looking for a cheaper, better alternative to the ipod. I respect apple for capturing the market so completely but found with a little time looking that there are far better, cheaper options out there, and the Cowon iaudio M3 is one of them.

The initial thing that drew me to this mp3 player is the sleek style and the fact that it has a remote with screen which the ipod does not have, so to change tracks you don't need to take the player out of your pocket. The battery life was also quoted as almost double that of the ipod and although I'm not sure it lasts the 13-14hours quoted it certainly has never let me down.

The stylish dock makes it very easy to connect to the PC and transferring music is very easy as the iaudio shows up as another hard drive in my computer and it also has a program - Jetshell - which splits the screen in half with your PC in the top half of the screen and the iaudio in the bottom half so its as simple as a drag&drop and you're ready to go.

Extra features such as the FM radio, line in recording and an integrated microphone make this my favourite mp3 player of all time. I cannot praise Cowon enough for their excellent design and features although the radio can be a little fuzzy in certain areas.

This iaudio is the 20gb version although there is lso a 40gb version. It cost me £160 about a year ago, so I'm sure it will have dropped in price slightly. I have seen several second hand iaudio on ebay for under £100, and as the iaudio is metal, unless they have been dropped from a great height or hit with a hammer i would expect them to be in perfect condition as mine is.