Cowon A3 Review
02/08/2009
Brick like both in size and shape, the Cowon A3 portable media player is far from sleek when compared to its rivals. This does however carry through to its actual sturdiness when in transit, though if you are anything like me I would highly recommend a case and screen protector as these aren’t supplied by Cowon. The supplied headphones have also survived surprisingly well from the last three months of abuse they have endured in my handbag.
The A3 uses an icon based menu system controlled by the thumb-stick on the right hand side of the screen. The lack of a touch screen makes this device seem a little retro though touch screens often aren’t worth the hype that surrounds them. The interface on the Cowon A3 is also very poorly designed making me all the more glad that they didn’t attempt to create a touch screen device.
My reason for disliking the interface so much is mostly due to the inconsistency between what each button does. When trying to browse folders I often find myself accidentally entering different modes due to the frequent switching of functionality between the back and A buttons. The graphics used in the interface too, whilst being clear and easy to read, have an element of Robocop or the Terminator in their style.
Another negative point is the rather confusing selection of ports on the side of the player for USB, and AV output. I can never remember which one plugs in to my TV and which one into my PC
Despite my critical review the player does have some good points. It has played every video and audio file I have so far thrown at it with the only exception so far being the BBC’s IPlayer content (and this is due only to the BBC’s insistence on DRM). Also plugging the device in to your TV is relatively straightforward if you can remember the correct sockets and movies play at the same quality as the originals copied from your computer with no conversion necassary.
OS compatibility is also good. I have so far successfully used the player with 64bit Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mandriva 2008, Sabayon Linux and Mac OSX all without the need for any software installation.
While the player has a number of negative issues, I get much more use out of it than I expected and am glad I bought one.
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