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Product Review: Page (1) of 1 - 11/21/06

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COWON iAudio T2 MP3 player

Wearable MP3 player in minuscule form factor

By John Virata

Personal MP3 players run the gamut from the fashion conscious iPod, to Microsoft's Zune and Creative's Zen. Other players have become fashionably small, often categorized as wearable. One such unit is the iAudio T2 from COWON, a minuscule, flash memory-based, wearable, necklace-style, 2GB MP3 player that supports audio formats such as WMV10, MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, and WAV. It also supports Microsoft Corp.'s PlaysForSure initiative, enabling you to purchase music from such sites as MSN Music, MusicNow, Napster, and other sites that support PlaysForSure. The iAudio T2 is black in color and is about the size as a keyless entry key FOB for your car. As such, the buttons to control the unit are tiny as well.

iAudio T2
The iAudio T2 is controlled via a series of buttons on the sides of the device with a viewable color screen on one side of the unit. Clicking the Menu button gives you access to the music library by album, title, artist. Press the + or - key to scroll through to the FM tuner, voice recorder, and the device settings controls. You can also listen to FM stations and record them as well at the same time if you wish form playback at a later time.

To access these individual controls, you press the forward or reverse buttons on the other side of the iAudio T2. Adjustable settings include JetEffect, which features controls for the device's equalizer, BBE, Mach3bass, MP Enhance 3D surround, Pan and Play Speed. There is also a built in clock and timer. You can organize your music playlists on the T2 as well as edit the playlists as you play them. The rated battery life, which is recharged via the USB port on the computer, is 12 hours.

JetShell
JetShell is a music playback application that enables you to play the supported file formats on your PC as well as download audio files to the iAudioT2. JetShell includes an equalizer and your standard playback controls. It can play virtually all audio file formats, including MP4, MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, and WAV. JetShell uses Windows Explorer to find your audio files, and enables you to open folders to expose the files, and simply drag and drop them to the iAudio T2 folder that resides at the bottom of the JetShell interface. When you play an audio file using JetShell, it details in the radio window the name and type of the file, the duration, bit rate in which it was encoded, and the EQ and EFT settings. These settings can be easily changed by simply clicking on the EQ type. Click more and it will toggle through the choices. The same goes for the EFT settings.

First Impressions
The iAudio T2 is one of many digital audio playback devices vying for your dollars. While the iPod has the largest share of any player on the market, devices such as the iAudio T2 will get pieces of what is left over. That is not to say that the device is lacking in merit, because in many ways it offers a difference for those who want to be different. It can record audio at 64, 80, 96, 128k, includes a built in FM tuner, and has a custom lanyard with built in earbuds that reduces cable clutter. The device's navigation buttons though take a bit to get used to. Three on each side of the device make for a lot of buttons for navigation. In addition, if you don't like the included earbuds, you can't just go out and buy new ones unless you are willing to forego the lanyard, because once you ditch the lanyard, you are going to have to find another place to hang the iAudio T2, and it won't readily hang around your neck.

Probably the coolest aspect of the iAudioT2 is the built in FM tuner with the capability to store 24 preset radio stations. The earbuds act as the antenna and FM reception is quite good. Two gigabytes of space is plenty for those who would like to have some tunes for a quick jog around the neighborhood or for gardening or some other outdoor activity. The device is not a hindrance in the weight department either, and also supports the most popular digital audio formats, including Microsoft's PlaysForSure initiative. There aren't any accessories except for an optional AC adapter, though most speaker systems that have a standard mini headphone port should plug right into the iAudio T2. The list price is $149.99. The iAudio T2 is  surprisingly robust Flash based music player that outputs very good to excellent quality sound in a minuscule form factor. For those who would rather wear their music players or perhaps hide them than show them off, the iAudio T2 will fit into most any micro space on your person, be it in your pant pocket, jacket hide-a-pocket, anywhere there is a space for a pack of chewing gum. For more information, visit www.cowonglobal.com.