Cowon D2

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blairh

24 posts

Geek

#12166 2-Mar-2007 15:00

http://www.cowon.co.nz/D2_features.php

What do you guys think?

- 52 hour battery life
- 2GB or 4GB internal memory
- SD expandable (SDHC support coming in a firmware upgrade)
- Touch Screen navigation
- Music, Photo, Video Playback
- FM radio with recording, line-in recording, tv-out...

I'd be interested to hear what you all think of it.

NokiaRocks

364 posts

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#62584 2-Mar-2007 15:14

Why dont you ask your customers?

blairh

24 posts

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#62586 2-Mar-2007 15:22

Err, that's exactly what I'm doing, isn't it? We've just received this model and I'm interested to see what you think of it.

Cowon has asked me to find out people's opinions of it.. they're working on new firmware which will introduce new features - I think this is a perfect avenue to find out what people would like to see added to this player in future upgrades. Actually I think it's great that Cowon are actually prepared to go out and ask the public directly what they want.

So, any ideas?

nairda

140 posts

Master Geek

#62588 2-Mar-2007 15:23

I'm sure you would. And I'm sure your customers will go to this page too:

http://www.cowon.co.nz/contact.php

But seriously why does it not come with SDHC if it is a new model? And what is the RRP?

bradstewart

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#62589 2-Mar-2007 15:25

Actually I think it's a great idea companies going to perspective customers and saying "what do you want to see in your media player?"

bradstewart

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#62591 2-Mar-2007 15:26

Blair how about you send me one of those and I'll tell what it's really like

blairh

24 posts

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#62592 2-Mar-2007 15:29

Well we'd prefer them to go to http://www.cowon.co.nz/reseller_list.php really ;) but ok.

It's a good question about the SDHC support. From what I gather, Cowon couldn't guarantee that it was working properly with all brands of cards when they released it so they decided to hold the feature back. To be honest, it's not a huge deal for most people. Most cameras etc. that are coming out now still don't support SDHC either, and are unlikely to in the future. For Cowon to bring it out in a firmware upgrade is a pretty easy way to do it I think.

RRP is $349 incl for the 2gb, $449 for the 4gb.

NokiaRocks

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#62594 2-Mar-2007 15:41

Free units to all GZ members :p

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blairh

24 posts

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#62595 2-Mar-2007 15:47

haha that would be nice ;)

FatTofu

90 posts

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#63003 6-Mar-2007 18:05

Haven't followed Cowon/iAudio products in a while, when did they start using ID3 tags? That's what I found frustration about earlier products.

Looks fancy and appears to be loaded with features BUT it's a bit bigger and heavier than Samsung's YP-T9B which would be one of the closest things to it feature wise. Also it's price tag is a bit hefty, yeah it's got more features and everything but most people will be put off by that. (From my experience customers are more willing to pay an extra $40 i.e. ipod nano - samsung t9 but maybe not an extra $100 for an mp3 player even if it might be better).

bradstewart

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#63008 6-Mar-2007 19:25

I have one of these. It is not at all heavy. In fact it is by far the best media player I have seen (until MSFT send me a Zune).

blairh

24 posts

Geek

#63009 6-Mar-2007 19:34

FatTofu: Haven't followed Cowon/iAudio products in a while, when did they start using ID3 tags? That's what I found frustration about earlier products.

I agree! They started with the U3.. basically all of the new Cowon products allow you to sort by wither ID3 or file name.

but maybe not an extra $100 for an mp3 player even if it might be better).

I guess that's the thing. It's definitely a top-end product, and aimed at the people who are willing to pay more for a top-end product with the features that this has. The battery life (52hrs) and touch screen definitely keep the price up. People who are more price conscious and don't want all of the features might be more interested in the F2 I guess.

blairh

24 posts

Geek

#63010 6-Mar-2007 19:35

bradstewart: I have one of these. It is not at all heavy. In fact it is by far the best media player I have seen (until MSFT send me a Zune).

Glad to hear you like it =) Looking forward to reading the review!

FatTofu

90 posts

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#63031 6-Mar-2007 23:03

Yeah if you want it to do well I would probably target young professionals, or people with a lot of desposable income. Could advertise in gyms, cafes, maybe even universitys near the start of the term because most students would be getting their $1000 "course related" costs and lecturers also have a lot of disposable income. Incentives for sales people could also get the ball rolling

If definately sounds like one of the better mp3 players out at the moment, just got to market it right for it to be successful and attract customers away from getting an ipod.

FatTofu

90 posts

Master Geek

#63174 8-Mar-2007 14:33

nairda: But seriously why does it not come with SDHC if it is a new model?

Was just checking out dapreview.net and apparently Cowon have released a firmware upgrade that supports this

"Firmware V3.40b

- Added electronic dictionary feature for Koreans
- Supoort ID3 music library
- Support SDHC cards
- Added virtual motion UI
- Support MTP / MS DRM 10
- Added DAB SLS(slide show) feature
- Improved FM radio reception
- Excluded movie shuffle mode

As you can see the virtual motion is a minor entry for D2 owners compared to the addition of an ID3 tag library, and SDHC card support. According to the forum at iAudiophile.net, there still are a few kinks that need to be worked out. Download at your own risk."

blairh

24 posts

Geek

#63175 8-Mar-2007 14:36

yep that's right. the final firmware (that one is just beta) should be released in the next couple of weeks.