Check out this bad boy

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
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Western, PA
The COWON S9:

I haven't ever owned anything buy COWON but those that have usually won't even buy anything else. They are know for their superior sound and functionality.

This bad boy puts the IPOD Touch to shame in terms of file and codex support.

Check it out here.

Cowon ships S9 PMP to US soil - Engadget

Anyone here have any COWON product? I am seriously considering either this or the new P3 from Samsung when that comes out after the first of the year.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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The article is very nice, but to be fair, the iPod touch doesn't have much to worry about at all. It boils down to Apple's kick ass marketing machine versus Cowon's non-existent marketing machine. No wifi, no gapless playback. I am out!

The real deal is how many average users use all those various codecs for audio and video? I know people hate iTunes, but the simplicity of the iTunes/iPod marriage is what makes it a winner. The iPod Touch now has grown oh so much beyond just video and music that it leaves Cowon, iRiver, Creative, Sony, Samsung, SanDisk and even Microsoft lost in the shuffle.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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Here is a preview of the Cowon on YouTube! It really does look nice, but I think I'll be keeping my 32gb iPod Touch. :p


[ame]http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIUVkS1j_0Y[/ame]
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
The article is very nice, but to be fair, the iPod touch doesn't have much to worry about at all. It boils down to Apple's kick ass marketing machine versus Cowon's non-existent marketing machine. No wifi, no gapless playback. I am out!

The real deal is how many average users use all those various codecs for audio and video? I know people hate iTunes, but the simplicity of the iTunes/iPod marriage is what makes it a winner. The iPod Touch now has grown oh so much beyond just video and music that it leaves Cowon, iRiver, Creative, Sony, Samsung, SanDisk and even Microsoft lost in the shuffle.

True to all of that. Apple certainly does have a marketing machine.

However, for somebody like me that couldn't care less about getting the internet on my MP3 player and just wants a nice screen with a cool interface that will do what I need and want it to do, I'd get the Cowon or the Samsung any day of the week.

On a cool feature note, the Samsung P2 comes loaded with subway maps of all major cities in the world. I'm sure you could download something to your Ipod Touch but nonetheless, I think this is a kickass feature if you are a frequent traveler.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
9,434
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Louisiana
However, for somebody like me that couldn't care less about getting the internet on my MP3 player and just wants a nice screen with a cool interface that will do what I need and want it to do, I'd get the Cowon or the Samsung any day of the week.

Yes, I remember when I felt that way too. I mean when I got my iPod Touch I really got it because of the cool interface, not so much the internet. But boy once I got it and started playing around with it. I was able to go to meetings and take notes, read and reply to email and even review file attachments for contracts etc. I could look up phone numbers for businesses or check out a list of resturants for lunch and then map them in google maps so I could see where they were. While sitting around I could check my stock portfoilio and see what the weather is going to be doing on my days off. Not to mention it allowing me to keep up with my schedule of appointments and to do list. Then when nothing is going on, I can listen to some tunes rather I want to listen to my own library or fire up Pandora, AOL Radio to name a couple.

Yep, I remember when I thought I just wanted a decent pretty interfaced MP3 player and for a few bucks more.. Look what else I got to boot! :)
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
Yes, I remember when I felt that way too. I mean when I got my iPod Touch I really got it because of the cool interface, not so much the internet. But boy once I got it and started playing around with it. I was able to go to meetings and take notes, read and reply to email and even review file attachments for contracts etc. I could look up phone numbers for businesses or check out a list of resturants for lunch and then map them in google maps so I could see where they were. While sitting around I could check my stock portfoilio and see what the weather is going to be doing on my days off. Not to mention it allowing me to keep up with my schedule of appointments and to do list. Then when nothing is going on, I can listen to some tunes rather I want to listen to my own library or fire up Pandora, AOL Radio to name a couple.

Yep, I remember when I thought I just wanted a decent pretty interfaced MP3 player and for a few bucks more.. Look what else I got to boot! :)

You've got a point there. Nobody needs any of this stuff but one they have, they can't live without it.

GPS is a perfect case in point. I bought one years ago just to not get lost in all of my work travels and now, I don't know what I would do without it.

For some reason though, I am just NOT an IPOD guy. They're marketing is done so well that they've got a band of "apple people" and I just don't want one. They have some how reverse branded themselves to me. I can't explain why but then again, I can't explain why I hate the Philadelphia Eagles so much either, I just do.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
9,434
149
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Louisiana
For some reason though, I am just NOT an IPOD guy. They're marketing is done so well that they've got a band of "apple people" and I just don't want one. They have some how reverse branded themselves to me. I can't explain why but then again, I can't explain why I hate the Philadelphia Eagles so much either, I just do.

Well that is the reason there are other players in the market, not everyone supports Apple. I remember when I said exactly what you did, but look at me now and honestly it isn't so much that I am pro Apple as it is that no one makes a product that can touch their iPod Touch! Simple as that! Even that Cowon in the YouTube clip I posted above just looks 2nd class by comparison in my view, plus price wise they aren't that much cheaper and in the end you end up with a lot less. But anyway... I understand your point and I'd be interested to see what you end up going with and why at some point. :)
 

hexagram

Medicinal & Recreational.
Oct 11, 2008
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Seattle, WA
Video resolution:

Cowon S9 PMP - 480x272
iPod Touch - 480x320

Screen size:

Cowon S9 PMP - 3.3"
iPod Touch - 3.5"

I would NEVER own either device, but I figure I would point out some comparisons.

I'll take a Hard Drive based player any day. :)
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
Well that is the reason there are other players in the market, not everyone supports Apple. I remember when I said exactly what you did, but look at me now and honestly it isn't so much that I am pro Apple as it is that no one makes a product that can touch their iPod Touch! Simple as that! Even that Cowon in the YouTube clip I posted above just looks 2nd class by comparison in my view, plus price wise they aren't that much cheaper and in the end you end up with a lot less. But anyway... I understand your point and I'd be interested to see what you end up going with and why at some point. :)

If I buy anything (which I don't need at all, by the way) I will buy the new Samsung P3. I'm a real mark for Samsung and have been eyeing the P2 for a long time but now that the P3 is coming out, I might pull the trigger. I really want a Bluetooth device and this seems to incorporate it the best.

Does the Ipod Touch have bluetooth?

Honestly, I'm in a holding pattern until SiriusXM reveals it's SL3 or whatever it will be named. I have no use for 16, 32 or 60GB. I put a 2GB card in my SL2 and I've never put more than 50 songs on it. Granted I change them often, I just never put that many on. And it isn't that I'll only buy a Sirius device, I just like having an all in one---less things to carry when I travel.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
9,434
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Louisiana
Does the Ipod Touch have bluetooth?

Honestly, I'm in a holding pattern until SiriusXM reveals it's SL3 or whatever it will be named.

No bluetooth on the iPod YET, but you can bet it is coming. You know Apple has never put all its eggs in one basket. This is how they keep getting folks to constantly upgrade. This is the one thing that I always hate about Apple. But again that marketing machine will convince folks that the latest and greatest is the one to have. I still have the original iPod Touch so they didn't get me with the speaker, external volume buttons and faster processor. :)

It will be interesting to see what Sirius comes up with next. I'd like to see some real innovation, but I am not holding my breath and what is even more of a concern is the continued lack of support for their products once they are released. Hopefully once some of these other manufacturs start making sat radios that are no longer under Sirius's control we'll get better products.

With the few songs you have on a device you really don't need a separate device so I'd do just what you are doing hold for the next portable sat radio with mp3/wma storage.
 

KTMCDO

Member
Oct 15, 2008
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with the itouch cant apple do firmware upgrades
to add new features i know bluetooth is a hardware issue
but couldnt apple let you do an exchange for the lastest model at your
local apple store
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
9,434
149
63
Louisiana
with the itouch cant apple do firmware upgrades
to add new features i know bluetooth is a hardware issue
but couldnt apple let you do an exchange for the lastest model at your
local apple store

An iTouch is a Logitech Keyboard? I think you mean the iPod Touch?

Firmware can't give you hardware that doesn't exist. But why would Apple want to exchange it when you know the one you bought didn't have bluetooth to begin with? If having bluetooth is so important, then you would have looked elsewhere to begin with. Still with that said, I do think they will eventually add it, but being the marketing money machine they are, that will just be another reason to upgrade to the latest and greatest, making Apple even more money. Currently they do have a small plugin that will give you bluetooth, but it cost extra.
 

KTMCDO

Member
Oct 15, 2008
582
16
18
ALBUQUERQUE NM
An iTouch is a Logitech Keyboard? I think you mean the iPod Touch?

Firmware can't give you hardware that doesn't exist. But why would Apple want to exchange it when you know the one you bought didn't have bluetooth to begin with? If having bluetooth is so important, then you would have looked elsewhere to begin with. Still with that said, I do think they will eventually add it, but being the marketing money machine they are, that will just be another reason to upgrade to the latest and greatest, making Apple even more money. Currently they do have a small plugin that will give you bluetooth, but it cost extra.

ops ipod touch