Cowon J3 ships to America, we go hands-on
By Darren Murph 
posted May 11th 2010 4:25PM
posted May 11th 2010 4:25PM
As with every other Cowon player we've ever laid ears on, the audio quality out of this one was second to none; if you're a self-proclaimed audiophile, yet can't exactly accommodate your Marantz KI Pearl on the subway, this is about as good as it gets. The video player was similarly impressive, loading up clips with minimal fuss, and showing no lag whatsoever during playback. Unfortunately, for all the things this gorgeous unit does right, the only spec that matters to some is wrong: pricing. We hate to point out the obvious, but an 8GB iPod touch is also just $199, and unlike the J3, Apple's alternative can surf the web over WiFi and bring you face to face with 100,000 (or so) apps. From a value proposition standpoint, there's simply no comparison. 'Course, the J3 may still stand out if you're all about audio quality (and nothing else), but we've yet to actually meet someone who didn't care at least a smidgen about the extras. Vote with your wallet, as they say.
Zuneish
Not that that's a bad thing by any means.
I like this PMP. It plays tons of video and audo format the iPod toch don't. Who cares about the apps...
@Jibaro009
Uh, pretty much everyone who buys a phone or a pmp cares about the apps.
But this will play your torrents, and you can spend the money you save in KFC.
So much Bezel!!!!!!!!
@hated one
I don't agree with your reasoning for calling it a "fail" at all. Not every device is meant to do everything in the world. Sometime you want a sweet little music player - sometimes you want a little game machine - sometimes you want a phone....and sometimes you don't want them all mixed as one.
No WIFI = FAIL.
2001 wants it's media player back.
I've been waiting for this device to come out for a little while now. I'm getting it for FLAC support, as the Ipod in my car is really starting to show how inferior quality sounds through my sound system. Anyone know what its expandable to?
@ellocomotive It will support a 32Gb micro sd. so when they release the 32 Gb version you get 32Gb + 32Gb microSD = 64Gb.
I am going to get the 16Gb and add a cheap 16Gb mSD for 32Gb and buy a 32Gb mSD when the prices come down.
I would prefer this over a Zune HD purely because I prefer the drag & drop file management.
I would love a non-Apple/MS flash based PMP/MP3 player with 64+ GB of storage. Having wifi transfer capabilities would be nice, but not 100% needed. Come on, make a bigger version!
@Moo
May i ask why you would prefer a non apple/MS PMP?
Personally I love my Zune HD 32. It may not be able to beat J3's sound quality but i still think it is really nice. I love the UI especially. Apple Seriously annoys me though so i can see you moving away from them...
@Aerodynamite22 Because I use Ubuntu as my OS. Zune HD are nice units, but lack linux support. Apple, works okay with linux, I'm just sick of that company.
@Aerodynamite22 If people are happy with their ipod or Zune great, but people are buying this because:
better sound quality;
better screen;
lots of file types supported;
FLAC support;
64 hours battery life;
Not tied to itunes or Microsoft - it acts as a flash drive and you can just drag and drop files;
expansion by micro SD support; etc.
People who buy these want a high quality PMP - I personally have a smartphone with wifi and 3G for browsing and APPs, I don't want to run down the battery consuming media for extended periods on it.
Can anyone see this on their website? I like to look at their tech specs, but have only found it on their korean website and i don't read korean :(
@quatrechords use chrome and hit translate button...
Finally someone who built a phone for me! J3 all the way. I guess I'll be ditching the iPhone for this!
@J3 L U N T
That's not a phone dude. Just a pmp.
I have a Cowon D2+ which I adore, and Engadget, I only cared about the battery life and sound quality! :)
Love it
I usually like your articles but this is very disappointing. I have owned a Cowon u2 and D2, both were awesome for what they were meant for. Most notably stellar sound quality and amazing battery life. I have bought my girlfriend a couple of ipods over the years, I would never buy one for myself. I have a smartphone for browsing and apps.
This has a lot to offer over an ipod - from better sound quality to better file support to 64 hour battery life to expandable storage by microSD and much, much more. I was really hoping for more from your "hands on" review than "just buy an ipod unless you are some audio snob poser."
Again, very disappointing!
Or you can but an 18 gig Zune HD for only $150 bucks from Dell.
One things that I haven't seen discussed or even mentioned by those who had a cowon (I did, by the way) yes the sound and battery is great, and I don't care much about games or wi-fi on a music player, my problem with Cowon is a simple one firmware stability and customer support, when I had the D2 , I was re-flashing the player at least 3 to 4 times a month, it was crashing most of the time, even though it was the last official version of the firmware, and did I mention something about customer service? I think they gave those emails to the cleaning lady, since they never even bother to answer... It's true that the players they are great, but...if I'm buying one of this, I want to be sure that I really enjoy the music player, not that half through the day, i will be rebooting the whole thing and copying the content all over again.
I love my D2. I love how it's ugly, but in a utilitarian way. Function over form. The S9 wasn't tempting because it lacked external expansion. This has microSD slots and really reminds me of the Zune HD (not a bad thing). I might just have to give this one a harder look.