Cowon price drops abound
By Darren Murph 
posted Jan 26th 2008 11:03AM
posted Jan 26th 2008 11:03AM
[Via CNET]
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I've owned 2 cowon mp3 players... excellent high quality little devices.
Isn't it curious how 'COWON Q5W 60GB Dark Navy with Free GPS Cradle' is $549 while 'COWON Q5W 60GB Dark Navy with Free GPS Cradle & Free iAUDIO 7 4GB Silver' is $649?
The $599 one is a 40GB version not 60GB.
@bachviet....if you look at it, they have 2 packages, one with just the Q5w 60GB and a GPS cradle for $549, and another with a Q5W 60GB, cradle and a "free" iAUDIO 7 4GB Silver that costs $649....the only difference is the inclusion of the iAUDIO 7 that's supposedly free, but costs $100
I have an Cowon A3, and it's a wonderful device. The sound quality is so much better than my iPod, and it's a little better than my bother's Archos 605. Picking up a flash based iAudio 7 sounds tempting. I could use a nice flash based player with all the Cowon bells and whistles. I've grown rather used to listening to things that sound better than 128kbps mp3s, and Cowon makes the best products for inane format support.
Sound quality that's better than an iPod?
That's not hard to do.
I have an Cowon A3, and it's a great player. High quality, beautiful 800x480 screen, wonderful sound quality, awesome codec support. BBE and the 10 band EQ are awesome, too. So is the TV out and the recording, specially line in audio to FLAC.
An iAudio 7 sounds awfully tempting. I have a 4th gen iPod that has a 16GB compact flash card in it, but I never even bother listening to it. I bought some Ultimate Ears Super Fi 5 Pros, and the difference in sound quality between the A3 and the iPod is so great, I don't even bother listening to the iPod anymore. The iAudio 7 doesn't seem as nice as the A3, though. I guess that's why I pay so much with audio battery life with the A3
Could anybody tell me if an iPod is better that these and why? I mean, iPods lack son many features and Cowon players seem much better in comparison.... and they are mac compatible!!!
An iPod is one of the worst players.
To be honest, the iPod has ease-of-use and looks, and both are a subjective thing.
I own a Zune, and to be honest, there isnt a player that has nearly the sound quality of a Cowon. The Zune has ease-of-use and better sound quality than the iPod, but it doesnt come near what the Cowon offers. Ive tested quite a few players with my Shures, where you can actually tell the difference between a garbage sounding player and a good one.
Cowons and Archoses (archi? archosi?) are mac compatible. I know the archos 605 is because i have one, and I think the cowon is. They are better than the ipod because of screen size/resolution, format support, storage space, and other features.
I bought the 60GB Cowon Q5W the first night it came out for it's original price of
$599.99. After this time I can easily say this is the greatest PMP I have ever owned. To me it is a 10/10 for my desire/needs. Now, less than two months later, the price dropped $50 and you get a $200 GPS cradle for free. Kinda sounds alot like the original offering of the iPhone and it's $200 price drop a few months later. I have written emails to customer service of both Cowon America and Jetmall. Probably won't have any success with getting a free or discounted GPS cradle. Thank god these companies take care of their loyal customers....NOT!
Years ago, I bought & imported an iRiver product at launch (they told me I was the 2nd or 3rd in the country to own it) and about 2-3 months later it was reduced in price. iRiver sent me a coupon for free accessories totaling the price drop without me even asking. It's possible that Cowon will compensate you in some way, and it doesn't hurt to ask.
As a Cowon D2 owner I have to say that the Q5W looks nice, but I think I'm gonna hold out for the N3 which looks like hot sex. Either one of these devices seems to be a nice alternative to the Archos.
I had a Cowon X5 for the longest time until it stopped transferring files (I still use it occasionally). I switched over to the Archos 605 160gb after my Zen Vision M died. I may take a harder look at the Cowons, if for nothing else than good music playback. The 605's amazing, but its battery life stinks.
Free dock for the win!
cowon better start improving their software before i'll consider buying another.
i'd bet you haven't used any cowon players