14 DAY TRIAL // It's been a while since Cowon introduced its iAudio U5 media player at IFA 2007. Today, the good news is that the U5 PMP is finally going to be available on the market in a couple of days. However, no one really knows why they're doing it in limited edition.
Anyway, the U5 media player features a simpler and somehow improved design line compared to the former iAudio 7 PMP. It reveals a not-that-generous 1.8-inch TFT LCD screen display with a 128 x 160 pixel resolution and uses a built-in equalizer to customize the music files it decodes.
The PMP's tech spec list mentions an extra FM tuner/recorder and a voice recorder. Too bad the Cowon item can only deal with a few popular file formats, such as MP3, WMA (DRM), PlayForSure and WAV. U5 comes flavored with various capacities of 2GB, 4GB and 8GB and can easily double as a mass storage device through an USB connection. All in all, the device is nothing to die for, therefore they shouldn't have waited that long to sell it, especially with so many features the PMP makers are mixing these days.
For easier file transfer, the PMP uses USB 2.0/MTP. Convenient size is must for gadgets, but I guess 85.2 x 41.1 x 9.6 mm and a mere 38 grams weight should be just fine for a PMP of its kind.
As generationmp3.com reports, the Cowon U5 PMP is expected to be released in France with a starting price of about 130 euros for the 2GB version and 160 euros for the 8GB one. This means we're talking about a relatively affordable DAP from Cowon.
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