Cowon iAudio

[2.2 Straight six]

i've been looking recently at a cowon iAudio A2 personal media player, since it does music and video. it's 30gb and can manage 10 hours of video playback, so it's fairing up well so far.

i hate mp3 players with a passion, they all seem to have problems.

what i want to know is this, is this one of those players that doesn't play music with DRM licences? my old SanDisk wouldn't let me play DRM'd music (a lot of my music has licences) and i want to know if Cowon's players let you use it or not.

i've looked on their site, in magazines but haven't found anything.

can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks,
Chris.

[Oz]

If they don't mention it anywhere, there's a good chance DRM files won't be supported, but the best way to find out is to try it.

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by Oz

If they don't mention it anywhere, there's a good chance DRM files won't be supported, but the best way to find out is to try it.

it's about $695aus. buying 'n' trying isn't really an option.

do you mean, if they don't mention it, my DRM'd music won't play?

[Oz]

Probably not.

[drunken monkey]

that seems an awful lot for a 30gb music/video player, especially consider the equivilant ipod is only around £160

[2.2 Straight six]

it is. but they seem pretty good.

if i have the money, might buy one.

at the moment i'm looking at a vaio VGN-TX5XN/B Woo! for my 18th coming up soon.

[2.2 Straight six]

this is the spec off the Cowon website:


File FormatMP3, WMA(ASF),OGG, FLAC, WAVAudio CodecMPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3, WMA(ASF),
Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WaveAudio Resolution8Kbps ~ 1.4Mbps
(Up to OGG Q10 & FLAC Level 0~8)ID3 TagID3 V1,ID3 V2.2/V2.3/V2.4LyricsLDBEQ5Band, 7set
(Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classic, Pop, Vocal, User)Sound Effectjeteffect
( BBE, Mach3Bass, MP3 Enhance, 3D Surround)
VisualizationSound Spectrum, Album/ID3 Meta ImageMax. Continuous
Playback timeMax.18 hours
does that shed any light on DRM files?

[Oz]

It doesn't mention DRM does it? As I said initially, if it doesn't say it supports it - it probably doesn't.

Why don't you email their sales department and ask them?

[2.2 Straight six]

thought of that, going to tomorrow.

looked in their FAQ, nothing there.

[drunken monkey]

from the looks of things, they are more of a rival to the archos machines.
have you seen them? they're not exactly pocket sized and the price is probably down to a decent sized screen.
with that in mind, I've heard nothing but praise for the archos players and am looking to buy one of them for myself.

[2.2 Straight six]

Archos have most of the pmp market covered. but i just don't like their designs.

[drunken monkey]

whoa...
I thought I was supposed to be the superficial designery type who would reject purely on looks?
You have to admit, Archos offer a bit of kit to suit most budjets and requirements.
they also have some nice big screen ones too which, on a plane when you've already watched the features, is a godsend AND gets loads of bonus Man Points when the guy watching his ickle Ipod next to you physically shrinks into his seat next to you, upon spying your big one.

[2.2 Straight six]

i'm picky about design.

form follows function. but i don't like it, i won't buy it.

Cowon looks good, good functions. wins points in my book. Archos doesn't look so good, good functions. not many points. it just leaves too much to be desired visually.

[drunken monkey]

well....
the old rules still apply; don't knock 'em til you've tried 'em.
Pop into your local DIXONS (I don't care what they say.... currys sells washing machines...) and ask for a play around on an Archos.

As a bit of kit to take on long flights, the AV700 is mightily tempting.
I've got to check up on some of the file type compatabilities but I'm an Adobe user so file converting and stuff is not really a problem.

But I also have to say, that the iAudio does look better but that doesn't fully justify the cost.
fot the price of the 30GB A2, you can get the 80GB AV700.

Personally, I'd probably end up getting a macbookpro instead.....

[2.2 Straight six]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

well....
the old rules still apply; don't knock 'em til you've tried 'em.
Pop into your local DIXONS (I don't care what they say.... currys sells washing machines...) and ask for a play around on an Archos.

they still both suck. John Lewis at BC is the best for customer servive when the thing inevitably goes wrong and stops working.

But I also have to say, that the iAudio does look better but that doesn't fully justify the cost.
fot the price of the 30GB A2, you can get the 80GB AV700.

birthday (and therefore money) rapidly approaching, if it's not really "my" money, then the Cowon is the one i'd get.

Personally, I'd probably end up getting a macbookpro instead.....

what's wrong with you? it only has one mouse button!