Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Thunndarr]

Some of you should have paid extra and gotten the ipod Touch and most of your issues would have been resolved.

Edit: Let me elaborate. Strictly between the D2 and the Touch, the D2 is superior is cheaper, better storage, and has a customizable EQ (gimmick, IMO.)

The Touch is superior in pretty much every other way you could mention. (Screen size, functionality, ergonomics, etc.) Really, unless you are seriously strapped for cash, you probably shouldn't buy a D2 over a Touch.

(I know some people like to tout the supposed "sound quality" of the D2, but some of the knowledgeable folks over at www.head-fi.org have debunked the sound quality issues regarding the "poor" quality of the Touch and the "great" quality of the D2.)

[Bigfeet]

I have a Zune 2 80gb player. I guess nobody here is interested in it.

[Thunndarr]

[eamo]

I just got the Cowon S9 a couple of days ago.

Pros:
Good sound quality and EQ
Slim and sexy
AMOLED screen (looks great, low power usage)
16GB flash memory
natively plays major audio and video formats
55/11 hours battery life for audio/video
Good dictionary
Just drag and drop files with Windows (no software needed!)


Cons:
Fast-charging adaptor sold separately
Strange menu UI (I'm still working out how to navigate the file browser!!)
Turns off when you pull out USB cable (why?!)
Little expensive.....309,000


Overall, I'm very happy. The quality of the screen and sound is superior to other PMP/MP3's I've tried. They're the most important things afterall. I haven't used an iTouch though. Would have liked to have tried one before buying the S9.

But this thing takes a bit of getting used to. The menu UI can get pretty weird and frustrating. Something I've heard Cowon blamed for before. I suppose it could be just that the user has to work it out then everything will seem easy but, damn, they could have made it a lot simpler from the get go.

Anyway, these S9's seem to be flying off the shelves. My wife and I couldn't find a website with them in stock for weeks after the release date.

[Thunndarr]

I'll be interested to hear your feelings about the S9 after you've had it for a while. Contrary to what I've written here, I was actually a huge Cowon fanboy for a number of years. My first three mp3 players were all Cowons, in fact. (CW300, X5, and D2.)

The main reason I am so hard on the D2 is that, while it was great when it came out, that was almost two years ago IIRC, which is an eternity in the gadget industry.

The S9 seems like a slick little gizmo. The ablity to play videos without converting them is pretty badass for a player that size. The form factor is also pretty killer. Maybe a firmware update will take care of the UI issues. And I am curious what kind of other apps it can run besides audio/video and dictionary.

[eamo]

Full rundown on S9 specs here.....
http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/s9/


It would seem that the slim form factor limits the flexibility somewhat. My 4 year old V43 PMP plays higher resolution video files, as well as options for GPS, DMB, Internet browser, PDF/Word/Excel viewer......

.....at this point in portable gadgets, you have to sacrifice when you want slim and small.

[JustJohn]

If you don't need something huge the sansa clip is my #1 choice. Not sure about availability in Korea, but it has great sound quality in a small slick package, AND it has flac and ogg playback, which almost no other players have.

It would be the first one on my short list if I was looking for a player and didn't need video.

[MollyBloom]

Okay, now I have a problem because a friend was suggesting other mp3 players, so I am not sure if I want the Cowon d2! These are the specs I want:

a lot of memory
games
read pdf/e-books
small
light
AM radio option (I know they have FM but I want one with AM)

Any suggestions?!?

[Thunndarr]

[MollyBloom]

[Bigfeet]

You're going to have to pick smaller size or bigger screen. The two are not compatible with each other. Me, I pick it for playing music. I'm going to buy a separate e-book reader later on. Or you can just buy a cellphone with a large screen to read text files on.

[Thunndarr]

[johnriley007]

"It's easy enough to swap out music, after all. It does meet your other requirements, I can personally testify that it works great as an e-book reader (I've read over a hundred novels on mine so far.)"

I'd agree with the ebook functionality and music to a degree. but video and compatibility i would definitely go with cowon - i was a huge ipod fan until i got my cowon and it will definitely be hard to go back to having to convert everything to itunes, even though i generally am a huge fan of apple (new macbook is awesome-best computer i ever owned by far). but, the hassle is just so much less with cowon that i can never, ever go back to ipod no matter how sexy and sleek their design and UI is.

[Thunndarr]

You still have to convert videos for the D2. That's a wash. (Which Cowon do you own? The larger ones don't require you to convert videos, but the D2 definitely does.)

[MollyBloom]

The main reason why I am dropping the ipod is because of itunes. It's taking over my computer and I don't like that. So I definitely don't want to get the ipod touch.

Video isn't as important to me because I really have no need for it.

I really like the Cowon d2 and s9, although the latter is a bit expensive. My concern is that people keep on saying its video is the strong point, and I don't want to waste money if that is it's main feature.

To be honest with you, I feel like I'm being indulgent with the Cowon. I really like the added features even though I might not need them. It just looks like such a neat device and I have been willing to pay more money to have those features in case I want to use them. I know I should settle for an mp3 player that just plays songs and is cheap but I want something fun and different!!