Cowon iAudio7

The bad thing is the darn wire was just too short for my liking. Nevertheless, besides being clear it was loud enough to drown out ambient sounds when still a few bars shy of peak volume.

On the whole I could find nothing wrong with the kind of sound quality. The FM radio pickup was good and even the mic pickup was better than average. The battery life was simply great. I took it with me on a trip and didn’t need to charge it for seven days!

Now it’s not as if I was listening to music all the time, but after a whole audio book, over seven hours of flying time, a few hours in some airports, a few more hours here and there – and it still had some residual juice to last a little longer. Simply superb.

Transferring data to and from the device is quick and easy using mini USB 2.0.

The Bottomline
Here’s the problem: the iAudio7 is priced at Rs 12,500 for the 8 GB and Rs 9,500 for the 4 GB model. This may seem frightfully high, but considering the device gives so much storage space, loud and clear sound, and many features, all in a small, lightweight, user-friendly package, I'd say it’s a steal. And let’s not forget the great battery life.

Now, if only they could find a way to support Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP compatibility (for the same price of course), I'd have given it a 5-star rating. But nothing's perfect... though this does come close.