Image Courtesy: Cowon

Cowon is yet another manufacturer that has been working on MP3 players for quite sometime. Similar to Samsung and others, Cowon’s goal is to introduce a product that comes in direct competition against Apple’s iPod. As if the market isn’t saturated enough with iPod competitors, here’s another company with a prospective player to sooth your senses. Welcome the iAudio X5…

Before we even begin, it would be difficult to criticize iAudio X5 in terms of features. Let’s just put it this way – if everything works, as it should, then the iPod doesn’t stand a chance. The only thing that iPod has it going for is Apple’s marketing, and the fact that it’s perceived as a cultural accessory than an electronics gadget.

Exterior wise, Cowon must’ve been really impressed with the Samsung joystick and therefore, decided to integrate it in iAudio X5. The layout of the iAudio X5 is well polished and refined with only a four-way joystick controlling the faceplate along with a bright screen. When we say bright, we do mean bright. According to Cowon, the screen is worth 260,000 colors as opposed to 65,000-color screen on the Samsung, which had us impressed quite a bit. All of a sudden, this translates into a dull screen on the much impressive T7X MP3 player. To further add to the appeal, the black exterior of the MP3 player is unique and aesthetically notable. The top of the iAudio X5 has the standard the headphones jack while the left side is integrated with functional buttons.

The iAudio X5 not only plays MP3 files, but also OGG, WMA, ASF, FLAC, WAV and MPEG4. You read it; this particular player can play quality video files and support numerous audio file formats. Along with the aforementioned format list, you also have the option to listen to radio and do voice and line-in recording. Continuing on, you can also view JPEG images and text on the iAudio X5. Furthermore, the iAudio X5 has multi-language support, either 20GB or 30GB storage alternative, USB 2.0 connectivity, 14 hours of battery life, enhanced integrated navigator, various equalizer levels, clock, alarm, timer recording, sleep function, power saving shut down setting, LCD on/off feature, ID3 tag information and other detailed functions that would keep you busy and fiddling with the device for some time to come.

As you can tell, Cowon’s iAudio X5 is a truly multifunctional consumer electronics device that is feature rich with a competitive price tag at $299 for the 20GB version. The price is certainly competitive and the features surpass Apple’s iPod by a long shot. If Cowon can pull off solid audio quality, it would probably outshine the iPod in terms of features, performance and value.