Cowon D2-08BL 8GB Portable Multimedia Player Black | List Price: $189.99
Discount Price: $174.99
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Brand: Cowon
Binding: Electronics
Features: - MP3 Player + WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV Player
- Photo viewer (jpg) and Text viewer
- Movie player
- Video recorder
- FM/Voice/Line-In Recorder
Almost all good [Posted on 2008-08-04]
Unlike the iaudio U3 I have, this guy does not have the annoying bass artifacts (when a bass note hits, it sounds squeaky) when playing ogg/vorbis files. It sounds great, has a good eq, and has a nice interface for music, though it takes about a day or so to get the hang of it.
The bad? Video support. Don't get me wrong, it works great, if you pre convert the video though. My problem with that is, my old Palm LifeDrive using TCPMP can play any XVid video (OK, no quarterpel or GMC), even with the ogg container and vorbis audio, with no down converting resolution or changing audio codecs (it can handle VBR mp3, while the D2 needs CBR). I guess if you want that kind of playback, get the iaudio A3, or easier yet, get a Windows Mobile PDA/Phone since TCPMP is still available for it, and even though they stopped developing it about 2 years ago, it still works perfect for those videos, and can even play very hi res stuff.
But, the screen on the D2, and especially the 800x480 screen on the iaudio A3 blows them all away, save for a few PMPs.
If it wasn't for their software... [Posted on 2008-08-06]
Let me say first, I bought this to watch videos while traveling. So the majority of this review is going to focus on the bundled video conversion software and video playback on the D2.
The Cowon D2 Portable Multimedia Player is absolutely, without a doubt, fantastic. It's nice and compact, the device is about the size of a credit card (width & height.) It is a little fat though. It's depth matches the width of a pair of basic fingernail clippers.
The 2.5 Inch screen displays a clear and colorful picture. The sound is crisp, though the headphones that come with the device are very cheap. I replaced the given headphones with a pair of Delta Headphones that I bought for two dollars during a flight, and the sound quality IMPROVED. The touch screen functions just as it should, responding quickly to every touch (there is a locking feature to keep it from responding while you're watching a movie or listening to music.) The MP3 playback has been entirely perfect for me. I've not yet had an issue to speak of.
OK, onto the true downfall of this product, the bundled software. JetAudio VX is absolute, without a doubt, garbage. For every good thing there is about the Cowon D2, there is an equally bad thing about the JetAudio VX software. Everything about JetAudio disappoints me, and that includes the sixteen plus typos in the Dialog boxes.
Now, I'm no novice when it comes to video conversion. I have six or seven different conversion softwares on my computer. I've used everything from Vegas to Nero to Pinnacle to Virtualdub. None of them have given me as much trouble as JetAudio VX has. The very first time I tried to convert a video with JetAudio, I had an error on EVERY SINGLE conversion option save one, WMV 512KB. Frequently, JetAudio has suffered codec errors that I cannot recreate with any other conversion software. I've seen JetAudio produce error after error only to watch Nero convert the video to the same file type without a single issue. It's utterly maddening. JetAudio usually tells you to go to an independent codec site (it gives the address) to download another codec as a solution. However, doing this has NOT fixed a single JetAudio VX conversion error.
I've read of people using other software to convert videos for D2 playback, but none of the conversion software I have seems to be compatible. 320x240 AVI conversions from Pinnacle, Nero, and Virtualdub have all failed to play on the D2. Currently my only option is to convert MPEG into AVI and then into WMV 512 for playback on the D2. I don't know if the $29.99 version of JetAudio comes with these same headaches, but I'm certainly not going to pay $30.00 just to find out.
Also, converting audio files to the MP3 format with JetAudio VX will cost extra. I've not tested the audio conversion at all, as the MP3s I converted with Nero (MP3Pro) have played on the D2 without issue.
Finally, the playback on the D2 is pretty straight on. I can really only compare it to watching a small flat screen television. There's minor pixelation on rare occasions, but it's extremely slight. There is a syncing issue when fastfowarding or rewinding videos on the D2. This, however, isn't really an exclusive problem. Most media players I've used have desynced at least once or twice while skipping through the video.
I love the Cowon D2 Portable Multimedia Player. On the other hand, I hate the required JetAudio VX software. I hate it so much that I almost returned the D2. That really sums it up I guess, if you're looking to watch videos on the D2, you have to decide if the D2's above average playback and everlasting battery (ten hours of video playback) are worth the headache of converting videos with JetAudio. For me, it was.
Good Product With A Couple Of Annoying Quirks [Posted on 2008-08-15]
I wanted a touch screen mp3 player so I thought the Cowon D2 was my best bet. The one thing that sold me on it was the expandable memory. Overall I like it but there are a couple things about that annoy me. One would be creating playlists. I have yet to figure it out. Every mp3 player I've ever owned were easy to make playlists for. The Cowon D2 has left me clueless even though I've researched how to do it online through the Cowon website. The second annoying thing about it is that it won't play some of my wma files. My previous player,the Creative Zen (4G),had no problems. It even played unprotected acc files.
If I can get over these two flaws,I think I'll hold on to it for a while. If not,I'm gonna go back to my Creative Zen.
Great for me...you need to decide if its right for you. [Posted on 2008-08-17]
This is a generally awesome player but not perfect or for everyone. Despite its flaws, I gave it 4 stars because its as closest thing to what I wanted out on the market. However, like cell phones, people look for different things and finding the best player depends on individual needs and preferences. So rather than tell you that its the best player out there, I'll just try to stick with what I've learned and let you decide if its for you.
As a point of reference, I was a former Creative Micro owner who had also considered upgrading to the Zen for its video capabilities. I chose the Cowon D2 instead because it played FLAC files and the long battery life (two things I found lacking/disappointing on my old Creative player). I don't download music or audiobooks from any service so if that's what you're looking for, this won't help there.
AUDIO - I'm not an audiophile but this units sounds great to me. As I mentioned, I love that it plays FLAC files. As I listen to a lot of shows from taper-friendly artists, this is a big convenience to me (no converting into a lossy format required). The biggest (and only real) gripe I have with the D2 is that there is NO GAPLESS PLAYBACK capability. When listening to live shows, I find the gaps between tracks truly annoying. How they missed the boat on this given it niche audiophile market is beyond me (I noticed on several forums that gapless playback is one of the more frequent new feature requests from D2 owners). This may not bother some but for others it may be a showstopper. If it weren't for all the other pros not found on other players, it would've been for me.
VIDEO - Exceeded my expectations. I bought this so I could finally get around to watching some of my DVDS while commuting on the train to/from work. I think the unit is a perfect compromise of picture quality/viewability and size. Some mentioned synching/conversion issues. You need to find a converter that tweaks the conversion to the nuances of the player. I found one (google "ilove converter") that is easy to use..and the video/audio comes out perfect. Everyone I show it too is impressed. Its not the fastest converter (be sure to use it in Turbo mode) as its written for quality not speed. But I just kick it off and go do something else. (I have a fairly new PC with lots of memory, so I can multi-task even with the software running).
BATTERY LIFE - For me, this is worth the premium price alone. Look at the specs compared to other players, they speak for themselves. Playing non-mp3 files or from the SD card take additional juice but even under those conditions, the battery life far surpasses what you would get on most other players with normal mp3 play. I also know others who don't play videos on their players because the battery won't last a road trip or plane ride..not a problem here.
PLAYLISTS - The D2 is lacking in this area (I think it only allows you to create one but not sure). I used playlists heavily on my old Creative to keep the songs together/in order. Now I just do it in folders and make sure my tracks are numbered before copying them over. I never kept multiple playlists with the same tracks so as long as I can arrange my tracks in folders, its a suitable alternative for me. But I can see how others would want this capability which is common to other players.
TOUCHSCREEN MENU - I found the tactile controls on the Creative too sensitive for me so like the touch screen fine. The first thing I had to do was increase the display time settings to 30 seconds as it kept going dark on me as I tried to figure the menu system out. I do wish it allowed me to create shortcuts to jump to frequently used options..in my case, the ability to select by Folder which is several menus deep. So it takes a minute for me to switch what I am playing. An inconvenience but not a showstopper for me.
MANUAL - If you need step-by-step directions, you will be disappointed. Mine came with only a getting started guide so I downloaded the full user guide from the Cowon site. It wasn't any more useful. It just gave a description of each button..no directions on how to get anything done nor did it cover the software. That being said, I figured out everything I needed under an hour of playing with the unit.
JET AUDIO SOFTWARE - I opened it (was careful not to make it the default player for any file types as I wanted to keep the software I already use on the PC as the defaults)...spent a few minutes trying to figure it out and closed it. I didn't have the time or ambition to learn a new piece of software. However, I already had software to convert my CDs to MP3s (there are other free tools out there) and am comfortable using Windows Explorer to organize my files into folder and copy to the D2 (when plugged into my Windows XP machine, it just shows up as another drive). As mentioned, I also found a free utility to convert my dvds to mpeg 4 specifically compressed for the D2. Personally, I was pleased that the D2 worked better with the software I already had/knew than the Creative did.
SD CARD CAPABILITY - A must for any flash player if you have a decent collection (which I assume one does if they are investing in this level of player). Seems to work great. It integrates tagged MP3 files well when searching by artists/album/song. (I think this was a complaint I read about in the Zen). However, for untagged files, you need to use the folder option.
EARBUDS - Like speakers, you need good technology to maximize the sound quality. And like the player, styles are an individual preference. So I am glad player mfgs don't spend their money here and just provide something basic at best. That way individuals buy what one wants. I wasn't ready to invest a lot of money yet on good headphones, so I took the earbuds that came with the player and used them for the trade-in rebate Sennheiser has going until 9/30/08. Got a pair of CX300s for $25 from Amazon and with the $15 rebate, I got good sounding in-ear buds for $10. (btw- I read someone didn't like the asymmetrical cord..if its like the CX300s, the longer cord is designed to go BEHIND the head and into the ear...actually keeping the cord out of the way). Someday, I will splurge on Shures or Etymotics, but for now I am happy with my inexpensive replacements.
ACCESSORIES - Unless you own an iPod, accessories are limited. There are even less choices with Cowon (than Creative). For example, the only way it seems I can get a belt clip holder for the D2 is to buy a full case.
SIZE: Its a little bigger than my old microphoto player and while there is always a desire to go smaller, I think they've packed a lot in terms of screen size, SD card expansion and battery life into a unit that is still small enough to fit in your pocket. Perfect compromise of size and features in my opinion.
PRICE: Admittedly, this was the gating factor me...I wanted what the D2 had but hedged on the premium price. I ended up buying a refurbished unit from JetAudio when I learned that it still came with the full 1 year mfg warranty. (It actually gets shipped from Cowon). The difference in price brought it closer to what the 8GB Zen is selling for and then it was a no-brainer.
FIRMWARE: First of all, if you aren't looking for new features/fixes, this isn't a concern for you. But a big plus is that Cowon seems to continually improve the product with new releases (leaves me hopeful that someday it will have Gapless Playback and then I would seriously consider this a five star unit for my use). I did note that they seem to have a history of sometimes issuing buggy releases, so I would suggest reading the forums before upgrading.
I've only had this for a week so can't comment on long-term reliability except to say that I bought mine after hearing from a friend who's owned one and did extensive research before buying.
Finding the right Mp3 player for you, takes a lot of research..hope this helps.
Awesome sound quality, less than stellar firmware [Posted on 2008-08-17]
The three main reasons to get a Cowon D2:
1. Pristine Sound Quality
2. Will play lossless audio files including FLAC and APE
3. Doesn't rely on propitiatory software or file types
I own both a 8Gb D2 and a 16Gb d2 and I love them both.
Sound Quality:
Cowon makes some of the best sounding MP3 players on the market today. They surpass every other brand, including Apple in that department. The D2 is no exception. It produces accurate, high quality sound that when paired with a good pair of ear phones (like Shure SE110s), will impress even the most picky audiophile.
File Support and software:
Unlike the Ipod or Zune, the Cowon D2 does not use proprietary software upload files. It is recognized by Windows (XP and Vista) as a UPnP or Universal Plug and Play Device. It is listed in My Computer as a hard drive, and you can copy files back and forth using windows explorer. You CAN sync it with WMP if you like, but if you prefer to sort music by files instead of tags as I do, this player is the one to choose. Without this becoming an anti DRM, Apple, and Microsoft rant, I enjoy having the ability to upload any file I like to the player at any time I like, in almost any format I like without having to commit to Itunes or WMP or DRM infested files. Buy your digital music from Amazon (no DRM) and play them on the D2! The D2 does come with software called Jet Audio, but I've never used it, so I've left it out of this review.
Another great feature is the ability to expand the internal memory by adding a SD or SDHC card! You can couple a 16Gb D2 with a 16Gb SDHC card like a Transcend 16GB SDHC CARD and have 32Gb of storage! Apple will never do the same thing for their Ipods because they want you to buy a new one each year.
A few complaints:
I can't give the D2 a 5/5 overall. The GUI or graphic user interface leaves something to be desired. While the more recent firmware allows you to upload custom made GUIs, the touch screen can be finicky for someone with larger fingers, and no amount of tinkering with different GUIs will solve that problem. This is the one area where the Ipod beats out the D2.
Another issue is the long string of less than perfect firmware releases from Cowon. While ironing out some kinks, some new ones were created, and although each new firmware release has improved the performance overall, it wasn't until firmware 2.57 that I was satisfied with my D2s performance. If you buy a D2 (any variety, not just the 16gb model) make sure you download and install firmware 2.57 or newer to avoid any problems.
In sum, the D2's pristine sound quality, and its ability to play lossless audio files including FLAC and APE, as well as the more common WMA and MP3 file types elevate it above all competition. There is no other player that gets a 5/5 for audio quality and a 5/5 for variety of file types playable, unless it's another Cowon product. The D2 only gets a 3/5 for GUI and another 3/5 for firmware. I've rounded my score to a 4/5 to reflect those few blemishes.
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