iAUDIO X5 1.8" Black 60GB MP3 / MP4 Player X5-60BL

Pros: I purchased the 60 gig model after my 30GB X5 was stolen. Outside of the thicker size (which I actually prefer) and doubled capacity, it is very much the same model. This is, to my mind, the best music player for the price out there. Easily better than the ipod or zune - it handles any audio format you throw at it, doesn't reorganize your music by id3 tags, its just packed with features (5 band eq, radio, line in recording, etc..). Best of all, it requires absolutely no software which lets it function great as a portable hard drive.

Cons: Video playback requires a reformatting of the video file 9 times out of 10, there is no search by song title function, and of course the docking pack is plainly an engineering flaw.

Other Thoughts: Feels nice and solid, great battery life. I've dropped it several times and even had part of it submerge in coffee (the headphone port too!)...dried it out and no problems. Get this thing.

Pros: Nice price, flexable file support, Linux compatable, nice display.

My earlier review can tell you all the great things about it, this is a followup.

Cons: Ummm quality and warrenty repair work. I have had mine in and out of the shop 3 time since I bought it 6 months ago. Once it arrived to me broken and had to go right back into the box. Everytime they wipe the disk clean and I have to reload my stuff.

Other Thoughts: Look at your other options. I loved mine at first, but 3 warrenty returns have sort of changed my outlook. I've spent an extra $xx on shipping mine back to them and I've been without for weeks. I wish I would have bought an Arcos or even a Creative; I'm not an Apple fan but they are better than this.

Pros: Slim design
Rugged feel
Doesn't use track database

Cons: Very buggy firmware.
Defective headphone jack engineering.

Can take 5 minutes to fastforward through a two hour long mp3. Touchy toystick which will probably do a track advance instead of fastforwarding.

Other Thoughts: Headphone jack will fail after less than a year of use.

Firmware can be replaced w/ rockbox software.

Cowan should have recalled the entire batch and apologized.

Pros: Everything that everyone else has said. It's an all-around great player

Cons: only one Major Flaw that i found... plugging it into the usb port not only powers it, but also charges it... this destroyed my battery life, because i used it all day, at work on my computer, in the car, plugged into the radio, ... and all the up/down charges killed my battery life in pretty short order. The fact that it charged the battery was not clear, as the little "charging" light didnt come on(like when plugged into an outlet). So i now only have 2 hours of battery life. :( . There REALLY should've been a setting in the thing to use USB for power, but not charge. Theres only an option though for power+charge or for nopower+nocharge; Very sad now. :(

Pros: Excellent features, included software for video conversion is a breeze, great battery life. DRAG AND DROP NO ITUNES

Cons: accessories are hard to find, 30 day warranty with newegg

Other Thoughts: This player has all the benefits of an ipod without the hassle of itunes.

Pros: Nice size
long battery life
Good sound quality

Cons: File number limit means you pay for space you can't use.

Other Thoughts: I'm not sure how the 'per folder' limit rumor got started, but let me clear it up - this thing is limited to 9999 songs total, way fewer than it can actually hold. My record collection stops at 'S' without using rockbox. Keep in mind that when using alternate firmware certain features (video) aren't available.

Pros: It supports OGG, which is currently how most of my music collection is ripped as. Nice available feature, like FM Radio (if that's something you'd want to use), sound recording, video playback, text viewing, and picture viewing. It also has ID3 support, but you can't browse by ID3 (which to me makes sense); essentially you get ID3 support with the song file when the song is playing. Overall I'm pleased with my purchase.

Cons: I'm not sure how I feel about this whole "subpack" thing. It seems like something I could lose very easily. The same goes for the proprietary USB cable that came with it. The screen is a little small for it's physical size, however I won't be using this for video playback, so I'm not too worried about that.

Other Thoughts: The 9999 song limit is for each folder. I'm not a big fan of "play lists", so the playlist issues isn't going to bother me any. Also, this thing looks a little big and feels bulky - not something I'm concerned with.

Pros: - Crisp screen and the player comes with plastic covers for it so the whole scratch issue is in fact a non-issue
- Superior battery life and charging times compared to the competition
- Massive storage capacity IS an additional portable HD
- excellent FM radio reception, recording, and voice recording
- Support for MPEG-4/MP3 videos, TXT files (that are entirely readable on the screen), and OGM/FLAC audio formats

Cons: Only when compared to a flash memory player: makes little noises when accessing HD, heavier and larger than any other type of player, battery life is reduced somewhat by HD storage format.
Other: Navigation takes some time to get the knack of but only if you are the type of person who wants to use every feature as much as possible.

Other Thoughts: The classic choice:
If you are a tech noob and/or general moron and/or don't want choices about what and where to get media get a Video iPod. If you know what you're doing and like to customize and personalize and create and excel then get this great player from Cowon!

Pros: been shopping for months for the perfect player. this one is most definately it!! drag and drop your files simple and fast. plenty of space for all of my music.durable too. got the arm band and the case for it...worth every penny. super happy i waited and shopped around. this product smokes the competition.

Cons: not many...wish it came with the case and i didn't have to buy it myself. just a little more battery life would be perfect.

Pros: Everything... This doesn't support ID3 tags (bonus*). I cannot stand how I*od uses these tags to create a library of what my music is! I know what it is... I labeled it! I put it in folders and I want to browse those folders! I didn't spend days organizing my music on my server just to let an MP3 player re-organize it for me.

Cons: Absolutely none!

Other Thoughts: Anyone complaining about ID3 tags need to buy an I*od!