Cowon 16 GB Portable Multimedia Player (Black)
$174.99
- Video and audio player with FM tuner, voice recorder, and text and photo viewer
- 2.5-inch, 24-bit QVGA (320 x 240) touchscreen LCD with 16 million colors
- Up to 52 hours of music playback (10 hours of video) on one charge
- 16 GB built-in memory, SD/SDHC card memory expansion
- DRM-protected content support (PlaysForSure, etc.)
Cowon rules if features are your thing - The Cowon D2 is a fine PMP. It plays far more file types than the majority of players. It has a radio--you can record radio programs and even schedule ahead of time to record. That s quite handy when you have it. I think the navigation is very easy once you know the player, but can seem complicated next to an iPod. But the iPod is so simple to navigate because it is a simple player, it doesn t come close to the features or ability to customize like Cowon players. There are small issues with this device (radio reception is not as good as my Cowon X5L, and the file system needs some refinement) but it excels in so many areas that it s a great player over all. I love Cowon s steadfast support for OGG and will always look to them first when I am in the market for a new player. I am happy with this purchase [but do wish Cowon would make a hard drive-based player that s not focused on video play back].
Oh So Satisfying...Especially After An iPod! - Before this little technological angel, I d owned a Video iPod ever since it first came out on market. I thought the iPod was genius with its video capabilities. Well, after 3 long years of strenuous use, I upgraded to this Cowon D2 16 GB PMP, and it was really REALLy an upgrade. First, I never thought my iPod sucked when it came to audio, but now I do after hearing my music through Cowon. The equalizer is fairly limited to Pop, Rock, Classical, Jazz, etc. but its jewel is really the bass enhancers, 3D surround option, stereo enhance and MP enhance. The sound is just amazing compared to my iPod, and I m completely ready to use my iPod as a backup s backup external hard drive now. Second, the physical aspects are quite enjoyable. The touchscreen is a huge plus for me, but that s just for me. I hear it is annoying to some people, but I love the thought of having more physical interaction with dealing with my files. Maneuverability is great, and the color is brilliant. The speed of the Cowon is a whole lot faster than the video iPod when both have the same amount of space taken. I haven t tried movie files yet, but I don t think I will able to, concerning I have a Mac. I can also put up my own wallpapers for the player. I have a very brilliant purple sunset wallpaper for my Cowon, and I love staring at it, the picture quality is so great. There is a great case called JAVOSkin that sells for $9.99, or that plus a screenprotector for $16.97 in total. I ve just ordered them, and I haven t received them yet, but all the reviews are fantastic. Usually, cases for mp3/PMP players go for more that 10 bucks, so that was a huge plus for my scarce pocketchange. This PMP was a little tinier than I expected, but for a small chick like me, it ended up being the perfect size. It s lighter than a video iPod, a lot smaller, a little thicker, but entirely more masterful.Also, I bought an extra 16GB SDHC card to go with it. In total, I spent $250 for the Cowon D2 16GB PMP, the 16GB SDHC card, the JAVOSKin case and the JAVOSkin screen protector. I say that was a WHOLE lot better than spending the same on an Apple product, although I do have to add that I happen to be an Apple fan.
Very good media player - The good:-All materials are very scratch resistant. No case or screen protector and after several months, not a mark. The whole thing looks like new.-Nice overall size. With a touch screen you don t need any extra room for controls.The screen is big enough for TV shows, I just wouldn t watch Lawrence of Arabia on it.-Battery life is just phenomenal. Even with video. This is something I always look for in a portable device.-Video quality is very good, although probably not hard to accomplish with a screen this small. You do have to process video through their Jet Audio/video application but it is easy and goes pretty fast.-Plays lossless (flac) music format.-16 gigs is a good size for me, no hard drive, so very durable.-Used standard connecter for charging and data transfer. I hate portable devices like this (and phones) with proprietary connectors.The bad (or at least not good)-Takes a while to get used to the touch screen and to hit what you want to hit. Part of having a small size though.-Text on screen is tiny. Very difficult to read unless you put it up to your face. There is a lot of information on the screen, when all I really want is the song name, artist, album, and duration. People have developed custom skins to correct this and I will try to figure out how to use one of them.-Bookmarks hard to access/use. Also, you can t update an existing bookmark and are forced to make a new one each time. They accumulate and you have to clean them up quite often if you are listening to an audiobook or a large music library.
OH SO Disappointed! - I purchased the 16 D2 along with a 16 gig SDHC card. I thought that would give me 32 gigs. It didn t. The player didn t recognize the card, and I tried everything! The player is advertised Podcast Ready, but my player sure wasn t! Another oddity about the player was that when I connected it to my computer, it had a folder titled, Audible but when I turned the player on, that folder along with whatever files I placed in there were nowhere to be found.Even worse, the videos that I saved on the D2, after converting with the provided Jet Media software, were very poor quality. The voices never matched the lips. That just drove me bonkers! This player is in a class all by itself for sure. It was a perfect size player with a nice screen, a touch screen interface, and little extras that really made me want it to work. For example, you can draw on the screen like a palm pilot and save the drawings or notes. But if it doesn t work for the main reason of purchase, (audio & video) then it s not worth the money.I have three other Cowon iAudio mp3 players that I adore, which lead me to purchase this one. Unfortunately, this one turned out to be a huge disappointment :(
Cowon D2 is the King of PMP and MP3 Players - Buy it. I know you can t see it or touch it in a store before you purchase, but THAT WON T MATTER ! The screen is great, pushing buttons to get through menus is a pain in the arse on other players, but on the D2 it s fast, intuitive, and similar to using a touchscreen PDA, yet better. The sound is by far the BEST I have listened to, and I like it loud. Previous players were Apple shuffles, 2 Nanos, and a Sansa E280, all of which were lower volume players with lousy eq s, and crappy firmware that locked up. The Cowon is amped for the audiophile AND the guy who wants it loud and I do for when I am riding the motorcycle. The D2 drives the volume in the headphones well enough for me to hear just fine at 45 mph on the bike. The others were drowned out at that speed. 16 GB ? Killer... over 2500 songs on mine and I plugged in a $20 4GB card for storing photos and stuff. It s rugged and the firmware has not been at all quirky and I ve had it over a month. Just buy it...if I m wrong send it back, so what if you can t touch it first, trust Amazon ! scotmacpro@aol.com