I’ve been looking for a new MP3 player for awhile now, I love my Cowon D2 for the simple fact of different codec support, the amazing battery life and of course the sheer quality of sound. But it is getting a bit old now.
Enter the Cowon S9. I looked around at other alternatives from different manufacturers such as Apple, Sony and Samsung. But none of them really grab me in terms of features. The problem is (if you can call it problem) is that once you have had a taste of the delightful sound produced from a Cowon, you want more. It’s no surprise then, that I went back to Cowon for their latest offering.
No doubt a lot of people out there are wondering “who is Cowon?”. Granted they need more exposure outside of Korea and the Far East, but they do provide a very nice alternative. Considering the needs I require, Apple still have limitations which stop me from buying one of their devices. And the other players can’t quite do it for me (although iRiver was something I seriously considered).
Anyway, you can see for yourself… enjoy!
Girly geek rocks. This is the best guide to S9 interface anywhere. I’m pretty savvy, but found the interface intimidating. Cowon was foolish not to include a quick interface user guide, or offer something similar online.
Also lacking is a good internet guide on buying mp3 players. I think my best solution is Cowon S9, mediamonkey (for pc interface), klipsch custom 2 or 3 monitors or se530pth (expensive) but must get shure olive foamies. Rip your music in mediamonkey using wma lossless. Set mediamonkey to automatically convert to flac (lossless) when syncing to your cowon. This is actually easy to do.
IMHO, this combination gives the best audio (and video) quality, battery life, absence of digital rights management (DRM) problems, absence of proprietary software problems, for the money. Plus, you don’t have to buy everything from apple (itunes). The zune is a good buy, but the zune software is horrible (why they didn’t integrate this with windows media player boggles the mind).
Perhaps someone can post an even more thorough buying guide, as I think even http://www.anythingbutipod.com is a good start, but misses the mark.
Thanks
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