Cowon A2
The Cowon A2 is a portable media player (think juiced-up iPod). I can strongly recommend it. Key features:
- Mounts as a USB volume, so it’s Linux-compatible (as well as Windows and Mac)
- Has a 4-inch 16 x 9 (widescreen) high-contrast LCD display (much larger than the iPod’s)
- Plays a ton of formats, many more than iPod, including XviD and FLAC, as well as your normal MP3, AVI, etc.
- Can output RCA A/V, or record from any RCA A/V source (such as your DVD player, TiVO, VCR, camcorder, etc.)
- Ten-hour playback time on one charge
- Case folds back into a viewing stand. Case is also really cleverly designed, to allow open access to ports, switches, buttons, and speakers.
- Ability to work as a USB host, so you can plug flash drives, digital cameras, and so forth into it
- Lots of features I haven’t explored yet: use it to read documentation, see lyrics to your songs as they play, graphic equalizer, tune/record FM radio, schedule A/V recordings
Wishlist:
- Wi-Fi connectivity plus web browser (via USB WiFi adapter)
- “Shuffle” toggle from within playlist browser rather than through Music Options
Automatic recognition of letterboxed NTSC, to expand into full-screen 16 x 9
All these should be possible through firmware hacks. I don’t know if anyone is working on it yet.
In Windows, the easiest way to convert DVD video to video viewable on the A2 seems to be DVD Decrypter followed by AutoGK.
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October 24th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
That sounds like a really great device. The Linux and FLAC/OGG support would be the major selling point for me. How much did you pay for yours? (I’m not in the market for a portable digital media player right now, but I’m just wondering.)
October 24th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I bought through Amazon (with 3% off from my cc). I’m very pleased with it, as I mentioned.
October 26th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Um, OK, they just went up by about twenty bucks.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Mine stopped charging a couple weeks after I got it. I don’t know if it was a power supply or battery issue. I switched out chargers, so I’m fairly sure that wasn’t the issue.
Fortunately, Amazon offers one of the least-hassle return policies I’ve ever dealt with. I reported it as defective, and they sent me a new one for free, with me to return the defective unit within the next 30 days. I sent with Signature Confirmation, but that looks like it was unnecessary. They credited me immediately for the return.
In my experience, when items are refurbished by a factory, all the cables, headphones, etc. are discarded and replaced. So I held onto them, assuming Amazon would tell me if I didn’t return enough stuff. No trouble there. So I now have a set for my desk and a set for my briefcase of USB cables and so forth.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
It does detect NTSC letterboxing automatically. You just have to set “Aspect Ratio” to “Auto” which, bizarrely, is not the default. It also is not really loud enough through headphones for listening to on the train, if you wish to get every bit of dialogue.
November 12th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Really, all it needs is a touchscreen, a cellular modem, a softphone, a web browser, and 10 times the storage capacity to be an earth-shattering product. Should be possible next year or so.