Cowon D2 2GB Portable Media Player (Black)
See it at Amazon.com for $189.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)Amazing device!
After about a couple of years looking in the market for a digital audio player (DAP) I finally found everything I wanted in the Cowon D2. Part of what was really important for me was the Ogg Vorbis and FLAC support as a big part of my collection is in those formats (Besides MP3, WMA and many other common formats).
I don't like hard disks in mobile devices, so I was looking for expandability and was really amazed to found that the D2 is one of the first devices to fully support SDHC cards (4GB to 32GB!!).
Including FM radio and video playback at 30fps are other of the characteristics that makes this device even more desirable. And don't forget the touch screen! And the 50+ hours in music... Also the amazing audio processing engine that Cowon is famous for... There are a lot of stuff I could be writing about regarding this amazing device, but let's just say now for a quick review that the wait for the 99% perfect digital audio player is for me over.
Some friends say that if Cowon releases a DAP just like the D2 but with WiFi access (For retrieving your music collection across a wireless network or just quick checking a RSS feed, or controlling the device via a web interface... The possibilities are endless!), there would not be need for any other DAP in the market.
For a tip, I'm also using this device in Linux, and using MPlayer's mencoder for transcoding any playable video to one supported for this device, for those interested in knowing if this device is multi platform compatible, it is just a USB Mass Storage device, no needed applications or middleware is required to transfer data from or to this device.
(5 out of 5)Best Player I've Ever Seen
This player is amazing:
1. Touchscreen is tactile and responsive. Menus are easy to navigate.
2. Battery life is 50+ hours audio and 10 hours video- that's unreal.
3. Video is great on the player. Included software converts video- good software, though conversion takes near real-time (2 hours conversion time for a 2 hour movie).
4. Cowon updates software and firmware frequently.
5. SD slot means that you can add storage space cheaply (new firmware supports SDHC cards- Secure Digital High Capacity cards which are available to 16GB.
The software with the player is not that great. It does the job, but it's not the best. The actual player is so good though that I would have paid double the price for the player and still be happy with the purchase. It's tiny, plays video, and can play music for 3 days (17 hours/day) straight without a charge.
There are other versions of the player (color and capacity if you want to switch it up):
Cowon D2 4GB Portable Media Player (Black)
Cowon D2 4GB Portable Media Player (White)
(5 out of 5)Best personal music player yet
I've had 4 music players, including an iPod and Rio Carbon. This one is the best by far. Unquestionably the most powerful and accurate amplifer I've ever heard on a personal music player. If you are an audiophile this is the one for you. Tons of other features too, but music is the best.
(4 out of 5)excellent for both movies and music
The are really only 2 potential drawbacks to this excellent music and movie player. The player is extremely light and portable but the screen you are looking at is 2.5 inches. That's pretty small, so be sure you dont mind a screen that size fir video. The only other possible drawback is that viewing movies and TV shows means first converting them with the software provided with the player. If your computer doesnt have the proper codecs already installed, the conversion will fail. for techies who know about codecs this isnt a drawback at all, but for others it might prove frustrating to try to get video files to play on this device. If you are like me and download lots of videos that others have made, you need lots of different codecs and versions of each codec. So I can honestly say I have given this player a good test of its ability to convert and then play a variey of different video source files. This is easily the best portable multimedia player currently in the marketplace of this size. Perfect for commuters who might want to watch a movie rather than listen to music. The touch screen interface is simple and straightforward and the display is very bright. You might have trouble viewing in direct sunlight but that is true with any LCD display on the planet. There are plenty of professional internet reviews out there if you google around and it has been getting high marks just about everywhere. If you download and watch a lot of movies and TV, this device is quite impressive. It doesnt hurt that you can insert standard SD memory cards to increase its storage capacity.
(5 out of 5)Enjoying this
I got mine refurbished from JetAudio for $95. At that price, its worth buying. The audio seems to be about as good as it gets for this kind of device, the display is bright and clear (and small). The touch screen interface is prosaic. It is great that it shows up as a usb drive on the desktop and that it supports a wide range of nonstandard codecs. The 50 hour battery life is also great. The form factor is interesting, but not compelling. It's thick, so its the Chunky candy bar of media players. The touch screen, of course, is fragile, and its odd form factor means, no readily available case. At the $150 range, I would probably get something else (with wifi). (If it recorded in stereo, that would justify the current price). Give the thing its due, it may not be as sweetly designed as some Apple stuff, but they have succeeded in creating a reference quality media player.