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Originally Posted by Quicksilver
Heres a few comments from another source:
http://tinyurl.com/abk4t
Why I'm not satisfied: Far from having "solid controls" and "a 5-way joystick, which is as good as Ipod", the iaudio's physical controls are one of its biggest problems. The joystick is tiny and hard to manoeuvre, and even from my short use of the player I can tell that using it for long periods of time would be cause for annoyance and even border on causing mild physical pain. Although I have not heard of anyone else having this next problem, mine also shipped with a broken joystick, which would stick while moving it to the left. The play, record and power buttons are also on the side, which is slightly less convenient than the ipod (although I didn't find this to be much of a problem). Compared to the ipod and its click wheel (which also gives faster scrolling speed), the X5's controls are inadequate.
The iaudio's other largest problem (the killer for me) is its interface. It is hard to navigate and cannot be searched by artist or album (this is a problem that cowon said they would change early August but hasn't) so you have to organize everything into folders on your computer by hand. Ideally, it would be good to do this anyway if you really respect your music collection, but if you have a lot of music on your computer this can be EXTREMELY time consuming. I have also heard it can be done with third party software but haven't looked into this yet. It also displays the file name (eg. 02harvest.mp3) instead of the song name (Harvest) which can be a real inconvenience if your songs have messed up or inconsistent filenames (as many of mine do).
As a mac user, I cannot use mini discs for quality portable audio recording. the iAudio is one of the FEW mp3 recorders which will work with a mac. Thus, I purchased one hoping it would perform as a high quality recorder and player. The device is limited because it does not record in WAV format (uncompressed). Altho iPod plays WAV it won't do live recordings except in mono with very low bit rate.
The line in requires a mic amp as well as the adaptor. Too many connections for a delicate device. The controls are too difficult and the device is too complex for easy use. Would depend on hard drive mechanisms only thru warranty period. Non removable battery, thus, a throw away. I would say the same for many such devices. |
Yup, i've read a lot of the reviews, the positive reviews FAR outweigh the negatives.That review seems like it was written about one of the early models with older firmware.
My philosophy on electronics is pretty simple, it's not worth getting religious about it, there will always be something better, something worse, something different, and everyone will either love or hate something about what they do or don't have. It's a lot like cars
I want a device that has the following:
Good sound
ability to organize data/music/pics by folders like on a hard disk
FM Tuner
FM Broadcast
60GB (i have over 800 CD's AND i'ld like to be able to dump pictures from my digital camera on it if I run out of CF card space unexpectedly, and or dump whatever other data files on it that i want to move from point a to pointb )
Color screen
replaceable battery
not cost a fortune
The X5L meets almost all of those criteria and the ipod falls short in a lot of them, so for me, the X5L 60GB if they start making it again is the way to go. Considering that i'm an IT guy with almost 20 years in the business, technical hiccups like figuring out an interface or menuing system don't really factor into my decision unless it makes something unuseable (also i've had the x5 in my hands and the interface is a breeze to navigate, so it's not an issue).
ipod, gigabeat, creative zen, iriver, iaudio, you name an mp3 player, there are a lot of people that love each and a lot that hate each, gotta love having a choice