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Interface & Features
As
I like to do with all MP3/PMP players, I do my best to provide all with some
screenshots of the interface. After all, that is what most would want
to know more about prior to purchasing such a product. With
the iAUDIO 6, screenshots were very difficult to take because of its very
small screen. However, it is quite vivid and of the highest quality, resulting
in some rather nice pics. Pics shown here were taken with a
quality camera on macro mode mounted on a tripod.
The interface and main menu is just as
high-tech as the device itself. The main menu is nicely laid out to
match the direction of the swing touch controls. This method works
quite well. The main menu consists of eight submenus which include
Music, Video, FM Radio, Record, Picture, Text, USB Host and of course, your
Settings menu. Let's take a closer look at each of these.
Music
Unfortunately, it was when I loaded 3.2GB
worth of music and first powered up the player that I was quite
disappointed. You see, while Cowon does state it supports ID3 Tags, I
find this a bit misleading, especially when coming from devices like those
from Creative. While you do have a Display option in the settings menu
that will allow you to display using tags, it only utilizes them on the now
playing screen shown to your very right above. You're stuck navigating
music in a file type structure using directories to make it easier.
This was a problem at first because I loaded the player with properly tagged
MP3s without file folders for artists. This is how I store my
collection because I've always used players that use only tags for display.
So, for those who use ID3 Tags, you'll be forced to move all your music into
folders by Artist name for easier navigation. That's exactly what I
had to resort to in order to navigate quicker. I wish the interface
fully supported tags and would list files by Artist, Genre, Album, etc.
Video
Nothing really to brag about on the video
menu. Basically, you browse uploaded videos by file name. On
such a little screen, it can be difficult at times to find what you're
looking for and you'll have to wait till it auto scrolls the selected file/s
to identify each.
FM Radio
Cowon packed plenty of functionality in the iAUDIO 6. This includes
not only an FM Radio, but the capability of recording directly from it as
well. Also, unlike some players, its output format is WMA rather than
just a large WAV file. MP3 would have been nice, but this is certainly
much better than large WAV files. More on the radio and recording
quality on the performance section of this review article.
Recording
The
Recording Menu will allow you to easily record both voice via the internal
mic, or record from a line-in source as well. This is chosen in the
settings menu. I did spend some time
testing its recording capabilities from both sources. We'll see how
well it did later and you'll have some sample files for you to listen to and
judge for yourself.
Picture
Picture viewing on such a tiny screen is something I find quite pointless.
However, considering its size, the quality of the screen is excellent and
pics actually look vivid and life-like. These shots are nothing
compared to seeing it in person. They lack its true color depth.
Believe it or not, there is even a thumbnail view, which is almost
impossible to make out any detail on the images for selecting the right one.
Regardless, it's one extra feature and it works well, thanks to its quality
screen.
Text
The
iAUDIO 6 does have a built-in text viewer but I found it didn't work all
too well. While it read every text file I uploaded, it seems to have a
mind of its own when it comes to displaying them. Some were not shown
exactly the way they were uploaded and in most cases, there was a l lot
of indentation and spacing. Regardless, text was crisp and very easy
to read.
USB Host
The
iAUDIO also has a very handy USB host function that will allow you to
connect a number of USB devices to it, such as digital cameras. I'll
cover this in the performance section.
Settings
The
Settings menu is loaded with options. I can't possibly show you all,
but will do my best to cover some of the most important options it does
offer.
The
JetEffect menu has many nice options for audio playback and performance.
You also have a full equalizer that you can set individually for music or
voice recordings. Overall, this little player packs in quite a bit of
options.
Speaking of playback features, it is important to note that the iAUDIO 6
does support on-the-fly or "on-the-go" playlists. You can browse your
audio files and simply press an hold down the play button to reveal a small
menu that will allow you to add files to its dynamic playlist. While
it doesn't work quite as well as I would have liked, it is much better
implemented than a majority of other players I've looked at, including the
Toshiba Gigabeat and Ipod Nano.
The
Display menu offers many options, including scroll speed, wallpaper
settings, play time, display brightness and interface features. Again,
note that while you can enable ID3 Tag support from here, it will only make
use of full tags on the now playing menu.
The
Timer menu actually does offer some unique and useful features. You
don't only have a sleep timer, but the ability to set a wake time that can
be based out of not only your music files, but also FM Radio and even
Recordings.
The
General menu offers many user-defined settings such as skip length, scan
speed and USB charging settings. You also have the ability to assign
one of the buttons for a specific function.
The
Recording options menu is probably one you'll be accessing the most.
It will allow you to set the bit rate of all recorded media, including voice
or line-in recordings. You can not only set the MIC volume from here,
but also adjust the volume for line-in recordings. This is also where
you will be able to choose the recording mode. (Voice or Line-In).
The FM Radio options features the usual auto scan and region settings.
Overall, Cowon did pack this tiny player with features and the interface,
although a bit flakey at times, is quite decent.
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