Cowon's D2 PMP hits North America

If you've been digging Cowon's tiny D2 portable media player but weren't quite willing to go to Korea to get one, you can now yourself some airfare (or importing fees), as Cowon America's finally seen fit to release the player over here. While some of the more colorful options have unfortunately been left behind, the player itself is otherwise identical (minus the DMB, of course), with a 2.5-inch touchscreen display, an SD card slot for expansion, TV out, FM radio, and the usual array of PMP functions, including support for less-than-common formats like FLAC, OGG, and APE. Those content with the basic black or white color options can now snag the player in your choice of 2GB or 4GB versions for $190 or $220, respectively.

[rod @ Mar 19th 2007 4:49PM]

wow. TV out from a very small DAP like this!
Very nice.
I have the Cowon A2 and while it's a great player with a lot of useful features, it's a bit big to be used just for listening to music... carrying it in pants pockets tends to create awkward bulges.

[zargon @ Mar 19th 2007 5:28PM]

I wish it had wireless. I bought a mp3 player from Cowon for my wife, has been a great players. I have kind of been wanting a PMP and this kind of fits the bill, I just think I also want wifi.

[Nobuyuki Idei @ Mar 19th 2007 5:30PM]

FLAC. Schweet.

[tracy @ Mar 19th 2007 5:33PM]

....this has been on newegg for months

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16855228005

maybe its diffrent ???????????????????

[Jeremy K. @ Mar 19th 2007 6:34PM]

No, it isn't different. It's been out for months. Still cool, though.

[SteveMB @ Mar 19th 2007 7:19PM]

It should be "you can now save yourself some airfare" instead of "you can now yourself some airfare."

[flo @ Mar 19th 2007 7:56PM]

This is old news but the real bad news is that this product is not available in North America but only in USA. There is no Canadian resellers and American resellers do not ship to Canada.
Shame to Cowon America!

[Helge @ Mar 21st 2007 2:11AM]

How come US resellers do not sell to Canada? What about neighbour buddy country, fellow NAFTA member, etc.?

I wonder when the real interesting stuff (i.e. A3) arrives here in Europe...

[ini5o @ Mar 19th 2007 8:01PM]

jetaudio has been selling this on eBay since it came out, I think. Sorry flo, but they only ship to US addresses. Personally, I'm going to wait for the clix2.

[GCK @ Mar 19th 2007 8:18PM]

a little late. better late than never I suppose. It's the best flash based DAP on the market if you ask me.

[phecez @ Mar 19th 2007 9:44PM]

mandatory video transcoding into a proprietary format? if true that's a dealbreaker.

[Dustin @ Mar 20th 2007 3:10AM]

Isn't that a bit pricey for a chinese pmp considering the Zen Vision:m 30gb can be had for less than the price of this 2gb? (and the vision:w 30 (widescreen) is not much more than the 4gb)

[David K @ Mar 20th 2007 5:26PM]

Dustin:

Cowon is NOT a Chinese company!! They're Korean and they make quality goods as opposed to iPod knock offs and the like that we're all used to.

The price is definitely a tad high for a Flash player but the EXCELLENT Battery life (52 hours music (Not a typo, 52!!), 10 hours VIDEO), Touchscreen controls (Which is a mixed bag), and expansion capabilities make it worth it imho. MSRP's are always a tad higher than they're actually sold for anyways.

[anonymouspimp @ Mar 20th 2007 11:35AM]

You can buy this in the states?? Where?? I don't think I have ever seen a Cowon player on a shelf (Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc...)

Or is it only available online?

It looks like a sweet little player... but i'd like to get my hands on it and try it out before buying it...

[anonymouspimp @ Mar 20th 2007 11:48AM]

Nevermind, I just looked at their "Where to Buy" section on cowonamerica.com

They are in 4 stores (2 in California, 1 in New York, and 1 in NJ). Mostly online sales. I wonder why these companies have such a hard time getting on the shelves at large retailers. That's the only way you are going to break into this market in the US. Noone is going to buy your product unless they can look at it and/or touch it first.

The sad thing is, Apple is so far behind so many of these players, but people buy it because they know what they are going to get. They have used one... they have held one... It doesn't matter that everyone knows the iPod is lacking tons of features that everyone else has. The simple fact is, the consumer knows what they are going to get with an iPod, and that makes the consumer comfortable.

[Angel H. @ Oct 20th 2007 12:38AM]

I totally think anonymouspimp is right. The way he phrased it reminded me of why people eat at places like McDonalds, BK, Wendy's, among others: because they know what they get. People don't want to try out things that they don't know for sure will satisfy their music/video needs, but they know what iPod offers, so they feel comfortable like anonymouspimp said.

[carl @ Mar 20th 2007 1:17PM]

These things support SDHC cards. Get the 4GB player and a 16GB SDHC card, and you're good to go as far as I'm concerned. It may not be the most ecological option, but it's definitely cool. Has anyone mentioned the 50-hour battery life?

[carl @ Mar 20th 2007 1:18PM]

make that "economical" option

[PenaltyKillah @ Mar 21st 2007 10:50AM]

Hmm... won't be a huge hit. It should be in 8gb, and I remember that Veronica girl in CNET comparing it to the iriver clix, and she said that the touchscreen interface and the distracting corporate logo gives the D2 a beating.

[ogodefacto @ Apr 10th 2007 6:57AM]

These awesome devices are difficult to get because Apple has locked down the market.
In a formal way, Apple has built alliances with vendors for prime real estate within outlets and to keep competition out.
AND, because iPods are guaranteed to sell, vendors are not at all concerned with informing the puplic and bringing in units that wont sell themselves, even if they are better.

[Sevenice @ May 11th 2007 3:16AM]

Cowon D2's Available at NCIX.com in CANADA. They Have stock of 2Gig and 4 Gig, Black or white.For$249 Canadian dollars.Check there stock online then phone them. Best unit ever, I absolutely love mine. A hint, leave the screen protector on ,just cut off the pull tab