iAUDIO M3 40 GB Metal Brown MP3 Jukebox w/FM & Voice Recorder w/cradle

Rating:
Summary: A good player but not the ultimate DAP....
Review: Basic Information

The iAudio M3 I tested has 40GB storage space. There are 3 models, called M3 and M3L. There are two M3 player, one holding 40GB and the other 20GB. The M3L has 20GB of space and has an estimate battery time of 35 hours while the M3s' estimate is 14 hours.

The player supports the formats; OGG, WMA, WAV, and MP3. The player also has a FM tuner. The M3 can record; voice, and anything played on the radio. There are also Line-Out/In output/input if you would need those functions.
The player is a bare bone player, to connect it to a power source or to the PC you have to use the small adapter that plugs in at the bottom. This goes also if you want to use the Line In / Line out functions. However the microphone is built in the player. For basic things such as playing files you will not need the add on.

The LCD holds 6 lines with a blue back light. There are several nice functions such as adjustable 5 bands EQ, BBE, Mach3Bass, 3D surround. It can work as a transportable HDD. Win XP will detect is an extra HDD with no additional software needed. The player out of the box supports Korean, Chinese Japanese and English characters. You are also able to change the start up screen with different ones from JetAudio.

Cradle
The cradle is very stylish and the player just fits in. This ensures that there is no risk of the player moving. The design of the cradle fits perfectly with iAudio M3 in regard of the design. The 20GB M3 is smaller and I am not sure how stable it is with the cradle. However, reading from the thetechlounge.com it states that it wiggles around and might bother some users. But do not see that as discouragement to get the 20 GB one as you can use the small black add on which will not cause any problems at all.

Carrying case
The carrying case fits snugly around the M3 player. The inside of it is soft and ensures there are no scratches to your player. It also has on the back a loop so you can put the case on your belt.

The Looks
There are 3 LEDs on top of the player covered with a plastic transparent window. These LEDs indicate different functions being carried out (Charging, Playback, ect). The port for the add-on/cradle sits on the bottom covered with a small plastic plop to protect the port when not in use.
The M3 is in metallic brown with a black stripe running around the side of the player and with black surround the buttons. There are also metallic silver players. The are three buttons at the front; Play/Pause, Fast Forward/Next and Reverse/Previous. On the right side there is one button, a switch and a Jog Dial. The Jog Dial is used for navigational purposes and for volume control. The button is for recording and the switch is to put the player in hold mode. On the left you will find the remote/headphone jack. You can plug in straight the headphones into it but then you will not be able to plug in the remote.

The Player in Action
The player plays very well the files and has great Line Out quality. However, if you skip a couple of songs or you decide play a song from another album which is not in your play-list, you will have to wait couple of seconds before the file is played (2-4 seconds). The HDD makes a bit of noise when it loads the files into its buffer. However it is not loud enough to hear if you are playing some music. You can hear it a bit if you there is absolute silence and the player is around 30 centimeters from you.
There are several nice settings you can choose for you playback in the "Jet Effect" area. These are; 5 band EQ, 3D surround, Pan Effect, MP Enhance, BBE, and Mach3Bass. The earplugs given with the player will not show the players best sides.

The Remote

The remote has only 6 lines and is rather small. Meaning you have to know fairly well what files you have in your play list or in your folder to be able to find it fairly quickly. Some users might feel claustrophobic with the size; however I found it to be to on the minimum adequate. You can set the horizontal scroll to a faster speed so you can quicker read the full name of your file. You can also set to see the ID3 tags which makes it a lot easier for those with long file names but with short ID3 tags. You can hold the move button to move quicker through folders. I have many albums with the similar name with the difference being just at the end (EG,Alternative Times Vol 45,Alternative Times Vol 56) so I have to stop at the different folder names to see which album I am at. (Have to wait out the scroll to read the whole folder name). The remote has one alligator clips that holds well enough.


Line in and the line out is out of great quality and the mic is "ok", you have to be fairly close to get good quality recording.

Interface
Takes maybe 10 minutes to learn by the one who is not used to it. The interface is very easy to use.

Software
The software is very basic and I prefer to use WinAmp for my pc and I dont use the JetShell as you can transfer music to the player with out.

FM Mode
You can have 24 pre sets, the navigation with the remote is very easy as there are not too many functions you can do. I found that it needs strong coverage to have good playback. Most stations however had a sufficient good quality to be enjoyable.
Battery Life
I get around 8-11 hours of playback time. I have my backlight set to 8 seconds and I have mostly mp3 files set at 192 KBPS.





Conclusion

The Good
The iAudio M3 is an excellent player, it is small, low weight, supports several format, has a good build quality with good features. You also get decent ear buds with the player, normally companies include low quality earphones. However, I did not use them as I have better earphones. JetAudio is supporting the player well via updating the Firmware giving new features and improving old ones. You get a remote, which makes your player more mobile then those with out one as it allows you easily and quickly change any setting you want with out having to take out the whole player out.

The Bad
It lacks however support for DRM files, and you are toast if you loose or break the remote. It does not have an ID3 database as the Karma does which makes going through your songs a lot easier. The remote lacks a scroll wheel making navigation from one album to another one to take up some time. And if you skip a couple of songs or play a song from another album which is not in your play-list, you will have to wait couple of seconds before the file is played (2-4 seconds)