Cowon A3 US launch details revealed

Cowon's been teasing us with its A3 personal media player for some time now, and it looks like the whole charade is now finally nearing a close, as the company has just announced the long-awaited US launch details for the PMP. According to Crave, the player will start shipping in early December, with it setting you back $349 and $399 for the 30GB and 60GB variations, respectively. If you've got a bit more money to spend, however, you may do well to consider Cowon's just-released Q5W player, which adds some WiFi to the equation, among other things.

[Thanks, Justin]

[Bombaclaat @ Nov 29th 2007 11:15AM]

call of duty 4 rules!!

[Jeremy K. @ Nov 29th 2007 12:01PM]

fail

[aoeu00 @ Nov 29th 2007 11:30AM]

I really should have waited for this. I bought the Archos 605 (4MB Solid State Mem version) but it just has issues of the file system getting corrupted all the time. I have to keep reformatting the darn thing. At least it was only $199.

But still, I wish Cowon at least broke the $300 barrier and offered it for at least $299 or less.

[JohnTitor @ Nov 29th 2007 12:28PM]

"4MB Solid State"
well there's your problem

[aoeu00 @ Nov 29th 2007 12:32PM]

*blush* 4GB :P

[Nick @ Nov 29th 2007 10:52PM]

You should've just bought the Q5W... It's superior to both the A3 and the Archos WiFi (though I do like both):

http://comparati.com/1190

[Justin @ Nov 30th 2007 8:01AM]

And costs another $200 for the same size. No thanks.

[jin @ Nov 29th 2007 12:53PM]

According to the representative at Cowon America that I correspond with, the specs of the US version of the A3 should be up on http://cowonamerica.com in a couple of weeks. They're getting the units in before the end of the month but cannot commit to a firm release date due to factors like shipping delays and custom times.

Once the A3 is available, look for its review on http://gadgetaholic.com . As for the Q5W review, look for it either this Monday or this weekend.

[gshb @ Nov 29th 2007 1:53PM]

what the ef, it looks just like the A2. regardless, the A2 is an awesome device so im sure the A3 is just as good.

[Big Sam @ Nov 29th 2007 3:00PM]

From what I've read I see no reason to upgrade from my A2

[PenaltyKillah @ Dec 1st 2007 9:56PM]

Well, it's just like the 704 to 705.

[Gary @ Nov 29th 2007 3:19PM]

why oh why is it only 60gb?!

[David @ Nov 29th 2007 3:30PM]

60GB is enough. You can plug an external on this device. It has USB host.

On to the real question... Does the Q5W have H.264? How bout MKV or OGM support?

[Justin @ Nov 29th 2007 3:48PM]

OGM yes, but apparently not the others you mention unless I'm misunderstanding something technical, like the way AVI works with XviD/DivX.

If the A3's USB host lets you plug in an external drive, isn't the 30 GB model plenty, then, if you don't mind carting around an external drive with you everywhere?

[David @ Nov 29th 2007 3:51PM]

Oh I didn't see that apparently it does support OGM. Well.. AVI, OGM, MKV are containers; XviD/DivX, H.264, are video codecs.

And yeah I was thinking if you have a 500GB external, you could just load up whatever you need to watch. Even 30GB is a couple days worth of video.

[Hotwings @ Nov 29th 2007 4:07PM]

Those icons remind me of Apple iLife ones.

[thethirdmoose @ Nov 29th 2007 5:25PM]

Meh... smaller screen, no wifi...
Ill stick with my archos

[allochthon @ Nov 29th 2007 5:31PM]

Are the two new Cowons OSX compatible?

[Justin @ Nov 30th 2007 8:05AM]

I don't know about these two players specifically, but most if not all of Cowon's other offerings will do both MTP and MSC, so I assume you should be able to use it on any relatively modern OS.

[Luis @ Nov 29th 2007 10:18PM]

If it can run a version of Linux it can then run windows right? Or even better can it run the OsX86 kernel? I love wowing my friends with the Osx86 project.

[David @ Dec 1st 2007 8:28PM]

No it runs embedded Linux made specifically by Ti for their processor.

Windows and OSX are both too bloated. (even embedded versions) And the iPhone version of OSX does not have enough features, and is not open.

[Kylearan @ Dec 11th 2007 12:06AM]

FYI: The A3 just went live for sale, both the 30 and 60GB models. Silver only. No accessories listed yet, though it seems the A2 was the same size. Purchase accessories at your own risk at this point.