A great multimedia player (Cowon iAudio A2 20 GB)

Member Name: afraser

Product:	Cowon iAudio A2 20 GB
Date:	01/02/08 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks nice, will play anything you throw at it, excellent video quality

Disadvantages: Small hard drive

I bought the Cowon A2 about a year ago and I must say that I am very impressed with the product. It is quite expensive compared to other portable video players out there and the hard drive is rather small also (20 & 30GB) but these things aside, the Cowon A2 is a great player.

The Cowon A2 is comfortable in the hand with the buttons just at the right place if you are right-handed. Although some might say the Cowon A2 is quite heavy, I personally didn't find this. The player is attractive, a mix of white and silver, but is not as simplistic as say the iPod. The words 'Portable Multimedia Player' are written on the front which make the Cowon A2 look more technical.

Navigating the player is a breeze although the joystick is not the most sturdy I have every used. There are also four other buttons, labelled 'Back', 'A', 'B' and 'C'. The 'A', 'B' and 'C' are what you use for selecting extra options etc.

The built in MP3 player is quite easy to use but nowhere as easy as an iPod. Also you can't sort by genre or album, only by artist.

Video quality is excellent even with using compressed video. Music sounds great with a large selection of equalizer setting to tweak. Photos look good, although normal digital camera photos won't fill up the entire screen as the screen is widescreen. You can look at photos while listening to music, which is a nice touch.

The Cowon A2 promises to be able to record video with the included cable. However I was unable to do so as the video produced was blocky. On the other hand my experience with outputting to my television was excellent. Even highly compressed video appeared OK on my TV.

Overall, the Cowon A2 is a brilliant player for all your digital multimedia. Although the small hard drive is a major annoyance, the Cowon A2 more that makes up for this with a great feature set.

Summary: Definately worth a look

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