Cowon D2 to get capacious upgrades, iAudio X7 / X5 on the horizon?
After patiently wait for what felt like ages to finally have the Cowon D2 on American soil, here's a tidbit sure to make you early adopters a bit disgruntled. According to a blurb at GenerationMP3, Cowon is planning to release an 8GB and 16GB rendition of its diminutive media player, and additionally, it will reportedly sport a built-in SDHC slot for cramming even more media onboard. In other news, the iAudio X7 is slated to land sometime in September, and will be available in both 40GB and 80GB flavors, but the release of the iAudio X5 is a bit shaky considering that production on the device has "been stopped" for the time being. Per usual, we aren't exactly sold on the legitimacy of these reports, but you won't catch us complaining if a roomier D2 finds its way stateside anytime soon.[Via PlayerBites, thanks Gavin]
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brad @ Jul 12th 2007 9:05PM
FYI, the current D2 already has a SDHC slot, so that is nothing new.
Logboy @ Jul 13th 2007 4:12AM
D2 looks good on paper, but just doesn't work. Frankly I'm a little cranky at Cowon for neglecting things of late. too bad...they had such promise.
Nobuyuki Idei @ Jul 13th 2007 1:14PM
I agree. Instead of fixing their half-assed FLAC support, they are rolling things out like a sketch-pad application and Flash support.
Incidentally, the latest firmware 2.50 won't recognize FLAC anymore. WTF??
Ethyriel @ Jul 12th 2007 9:20PM
And the X5 has been around for a LONG time now. I had one for over a year, and it broke a year ago. The only upcoming Cowon product with a '5' in the name that I know of is the Q5, and that's already out in Korea.
Joe @ Jul 12th 2007 9:59PM
Yes, someone is confused over there because the X7 is supposed to be the new model replacing the X5. This was speculated quite some time ago, and some believed that the rumored "X7" was really the iAudio 7, but this supports the belief that the two are separate seeing as how the iAudio 7 has already been released. I read at DAPreview that the D2 is not only supposed to be bumped to 8gb but 16gb as well, still SSD. This is interesting because Cowonamerica's website states on the page for the new iAudio 7 that a 16gb version will be coming soon. Could these be the first 16gb flash players?
SteveMB @ Jul 12th 2007 10:05PM
16GB is the perfect amount for me, but I plan on purchasing the Meizu miniOne.
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LordFarkward @ Jul 12th 2007 10:18PM
pls don't spam us with your nuts site
i hope they can reduce the size of the x7 a bit (compared to the x5), up the playback (won't be as long as the i-audio 7 since it's hard disk instead of flash, but even 30-40 is good enough), and increase the screen size.
i have had my x5l for more than 2 years and have been so loyally waiting for cowon to come out with the successor... knowing cowon, i'm pretty sure i won't be disappointed
kyler @ Jul 12th 2007 10:57PM
production on the x5 has been stopped because it is discontinued in favor of the x7. it is not on the horizon, it is history.
Jesse S @ Jul 13th 2007 12:38AM
I would cream if the X7 had some kind of optical out. Or, if it had a GREAT line out, with the same jack and pinouts as the X5 so I can use my current ($70) X5 LOD.
Sebastien @ Jul 13th 2007 1:57AM
The translation here was bad from the original generationmp3, they were talking about X7 to be presented in September, and release later (to replace the X5, it's not a revival !)
Darwin @ Jul 13th 2007 10:31AM
Whatever the case, I wanted to get a Cowon player until I saw it side-by-side with one of the Archos 4xx series a while back. The specs beat out the Archos from battery life to color range, but the feel of the two units was completely different.
The Archos loaded and seeked movies faster, coupled with the fact that its screen was right up on the glass, as compared to the Cowon's underneath a plastic pane (a la cellphone), where dust frequently got underneath, and the overall image was just nicer.
Dunno how the new breeds stack up, but Archos' design sure looks a lot better than Cowon's.