Credit: Cowon America

(First Look) - Since the market is crowded with MP3 players of all sorts, companies are now starting to take an innovative approach in hopes of distinguishing themselves from their competitors. First we had the absolute basic portable audio players, and then little by little, companies packed the maximum number of features they could at the lowest price possible. But what’s more? Welcome to the world of video playback in MP3 players. Instead of touting its MP3 player as being a standalone video player, Cowon has released its iAudio U3 that’s still a MP3 player, but with video playback capability.

In addition to having the standard Cowon features, the iAudio U3 has a 160x128 color screen that supports 260K colors. Cowon has made the device somewhat interesting in that you can now change the GUI color theme to make your U3 attractive and matching with your style. Furthermore, you can also view text and images on either the white or the black iAudio U3 MP3 player. According to Cowon, you can expect as much as 20 hours of battery lifespan after a 3-hour charge, which is actually pretty decent. In addition to having five standard equalizer options, you will now get BBE technology to enhance the audio, Mach3Bass to boost the low-end bass, MP Enhance to cover for lost parts in music just to give it that extra smooth fading effect, 3D surround for three dimension sound, and Pan to balance the left and right adjustments.

The remaining features, as suggested above, are fairly standard to what Cowon incorporates in its MP3 players. The suggested retail price for the white and black (1GB and 2GB) iAudio U3 is $189.99 and $269.99, respectively.

Initial Thoughts: This is indeed an innovative approach to spice up a considerably dull market due to the same features being offered by nearly all manufacturers. Now that features are packed in, the retail prices are comparatively affordable than what they used to be, and the quality is more or less at its peak (assuming you get one from a brand name manufacturer), adding video to the slew of features was a great idea. The price tags are somewhat inflated, but considering how Cowon is one of the first few companies to incorporate this feature into a MP3 player, this was to be expected. Assuming Cowon delivers exceptional video quality, this could very well be the gadget of choice for many, though we doubt you’ll ever watch a full movie on such a minute screen. Considering that, it’s a pure novelty item for those who don’t mind spending on the latest CE gadgets.