Cowon A2 30 GB Portable Multimedia Player | List Price: $369.99
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Brand: Cowon
Binding: Electronics
Features: - 30 GB multimedia jukebox plays and records music and video; 4-inch widescreen LCD
- Compatibility with wide range of audio, video, still image, and text file formats
- Record video from camcorder, TV sources; programmable PVR function for television programming
- FM tuner with record capability and voice recorder; line-in recording to MP3
- Internal rechargeable battery; compatible with Windows operating systems
Such highs. Such lows. [Posted on 2008-02-20]
I'll try to be frugal with my words, since I'm sure that most just want the pros and cons.
Pros:
-Best codec support for portable device.
-Excellent sound quality for portable.
-Excellent display quality.
-Larger HD than most.
-Bundled JetAudio software is robust and great, when it works...
Cons:
-Unit began locking up after only a few weeks, and upon reformatting and sending to Cowon, I was informed that they could not replicate the problem (which was odd, because it would happen several times daily when I listened to FLACs). **I reformatted again, and have had it lock up only twice in the months since.
-Somewhat bulky, but what can one expect, given HD and display size?
-HD is larger than most, but not nearly large enough. Unless I want to upload files 2-5 times per week, I'd prefer a minimum of 250 GB.
-No WiFi.
-Navigation is no picnic. I don't mind the controls too much, but menu navigation is poorly designed, and menus display file names rather than tags, causing files with long names to be truncated in the menu.
-Recent files list is not best method. The player stores a list of your 10 most recent files played, bookmarked at the stop point. What would be better is bookmarking the stop point of every file played.
-Screen is impossible to view in daylight (but I've yet to see one that isn't)
-JetAudio software crashes my PC 25% of the time that I use it (to the point that it requires reboot).
-Line-out A/V quality leaves much to be desired. Using headphone stereo output as line-out to receiver sounds better than the provided A/V output.
Great player [Posted on 2008-07-22]
I've had this unit almost 3 weeks - it's a great player. It's very easy and quick to move music from my home computer to the player. I hook the unit up to my office stereo, and my car stereo via the auxiliary input. The FLAC file playing capability was a must, and works flawlessly. I didn't even realize when I bought the player that I could record high quality AVIs from an external DVD player, or a digital video camera. And the ability to make MP3 recordings directly thru the built-in mike is very handy.
However, there are a few things that could be better. Although battery life is advertised at 16-18 hours - in use it's more like 10-12hrs. Also, there's no way to save playlists on the Cowon that I can find. If you change the playlist, the old playlist is gone. And I'm already wishing the Cowon had more than 30 GB of storage space.
excellent [Posted on 2008-08-15]
i had a creative zen nomad before and that was an excellent player too,but ever since i saw this player 2 years back,ive been wanting it and finally i got one on sale on amazon and i absolutely luv it.all the features are fantastic way better than the ipod or creative vision and ive used both of them,slightly heavier compared to the too but who cares.
pro's:lots f features like tv recording ,av out, larger screen,good battery life etc
con's:slightly bulky,can't create playlists like other players,navigation needs getting used to.
Don't by Cowon products... [Posted on 2008-09-06]
I have been thoroughly disappointed with their products and lack of customer service. They average about 2-3 weeks to return an email for customer service issues. I finally got through to a representative and was advised to send the product back to them, at my own expense and they emailed back about 1 month later stating that there is no problem with the item. When I emailed back with a detailed description of the specific situation I encountered (item stopped powering on or charging through the USB port) they ceased communication. I still haven't heard back from them, but will never buy their products ever again. They are terrible both at manufacturing and caring for their customers.
Cowon A2 [Posted on 2008-10-06]
I waited awhile before posting this review. As my tagline states.. I am very fickle about my tech devices.
[Pro's]
I got the device, configuration was a snap. I got everything on the product list in the box.
What can I say folks.. it works!
[Con's]
1. Features could be more flexible.
2. You can't change the clock from military time to 24h format.. there is simply no option for it on this device or any device in this series. I checked.. no dice!
3. I STRONGLY! suggest that you load your music to the device before!!! trying to use the lyric software (which you have to download separately). then use the program on the device and not your music folder. If you make this mistake the software will destroy whatever lyrics you have in the music files when it inserts the [cowon a2] tag into the lyric header.
4. If you are "not" a video gaming GURU! with lightning fast reflexes and the ability to change the shape of your thumbs at will let alone contort them to bizarre angles.... I highly suggest that you practice using the control toggle. The one thing I recalled from another review was the user claimed the toggle broke after a short while and wouldn't do certain things. I cant say if that was the case with that user, but with me.. that was not the case. The toggle is very sensitive to movement so you have to develop the "right touch" for it. The pause/select feature is very fickle, you have to press straight down with a solid CLICK to make it work... you cant jiggle it in any other direction or it wont work as it should.
5. the carry case has no type of belt clip.. you get a wrist strap... the weight and size of the device and the angle at which it hands make using it very awkward with headphones. I suggest getting a reinforced neck lanyard instead. This will keep it from flopping all over the place. Otherwise it slips nicely into a "standard" back pocket.. I just run the headphone cable underneath my shirt to keep it out of the way. If you need to sit down just slip the device back out of the pocket as it makes sitting tricky.
overall I did get what I paid for.. the device has good sound and great video.. learning the device took minutes.. nothing complex... PLEASE allow the device to charge for the first 15hrs before loading. the company suggests this and I recommend it.
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