Not too long ago we reported that Cowon may be readying a 16gb D2, today that becomes a reality.
US Cowon online store, jetmall, has the 16gb model fresh in stock at the rather competitive price of $239.99


This news, coupled with recent firmware updates and the current state of the rockbox build keeps the ageing D2's flame burning bright, those hoping for a D3 may be waiting a little bit longer than certain rumours suggested.

Link to Jetmall via DAPreview

I'll be the first to admit the iAudio U5 hasn't been treated kindly by this site. After seeing what it had to offer, I felt it was a step backwards in many ways for Cowon. After all, the US version was a bit crippled, lacking both Ogg, and FLAC (not to mention the cool red striped color variants). Over in Korea, it's a different story. Since January, approximately 100,000 players have been sold over there.



I'm sure Apple sells about 100K iPods every ten seconds, but that's still a very respectable figure for Cowon. With the ability to reflash your player with the Korean firmware, the iAudio U5 certainly becomes a viable low-range choice.

Via DAPreview

Here at DAPreview the announcement by Cowon to release the U5 came as a bit of a shock. Why? well mostly because it doesn't really offer anything more than it's competitors and Cowon already have two similar players on the market in the form of the D2 and i7. We've really been scratching our heads over this, just what is the point of it?



Finally an answer has been found... the U5 is CHEAP and damn cheap at that! Just a quick glance around and you will find the 8gb U5 for $130 on newegg or better yet $120 on Amazon. That's cheaper than comparable Sandisk models such as the View or E200 who generally have the cheapest models available.

The price of a new U5 offers amazing value for money, considering it has only just been released, throw in the acclaimed Cowon SQ and a myriad of customisable audio effects and I think we have a winner here, at least for a basic DAP.

Most of you who visit here on a regular basis know what the Cowon A3 is straight off the bat. For those casual onlookers lets just say the A3 is an all singing all dancing portable video playing machine.

While we wait with bated breath for the official DAPreview/iAudiophile.net review here's something to wet your appetite courtesy of Cnet.



So what's the good and bad of it? well Cnet's Donald Bell has this to say:



Personally I'm not completely blown away by the Cowon A3 based on what I've read in our forums, however the unit would still be top of my list if ever I was going to get a portable video device... Cowon just has to work hard at improving that battery life and adding some decent ID3 tag sorting.

[linky]

Perhaps just as disappointing as Creative's pitiful showing at CES, was Cowon's no show. Sure they had a booth, but nothing in it that we haven't seen before. Sometimes I just wish DAP companies pulled an iriver, and released a bunch of prototypes. At least it shows us they're working on something. Just do me a favor and make sure they're better than that lackluster iAudio U5. It just recently went on sale in the US, and Cowon America has provided this walkthrough video of it:



Coming from Cowon, we can be confident that sound quality will be well above average. But everything else just seems so 2006 to me. From the small screen, to the low capacities, and worst of all, the codec support. You won't find FLAC here, not even Ogg. The U5 supports just MP3, and WMA files. The design looks pretty plain, but I've seen much worse. The 4GB retails for $119, and the 8GB for $159.

LINK (via Crave) via DAPreview.net

This new (Korea-Only?) toy from Cowon is ever so reminiscent of their Q5 PMP. Not only in looks and styling but also features and ability. The N3 uses the same Alchemy AU 1250 600MHz and runs Windows CE 5.0 and also seems to support the exact same video and audio codecs as the Q5.



So then, what separates the units? Well the 7" 800x480 touchscreen is one thing, another is it's GPS and DMB abilities. Unlike the Q5 the N3 has no internal memory but rather uses two built in SDHC slots. If you remember the N2 you'll notice that this is just an upgraded version, with a refined GUI and more powerful hardware.

Though the Cowon D2 remains peerless in features and functionality, I can't help but think it's looking a little dated. While we patiently wait for news of its successor (perhaps CES '08?), we can all sit back and enjoy the boatload of new GUI skins that have become available for this powerhouse flash DAP. With the latest firmware, Cowon allowed users to use flash based skins for the players' interface. Some of the latest skins have certainly caught my eye, particularly the Cover Flow/iTouch and iriver clix ones.




I should be ashamed of myself for not picking up the D2 already, but with this new addition I just might get one.

our D2 Skins Threas via ssjmichael

This really is just a bit of a filler, you know a little announcement that our head honcho Austin Vaughan has uploaded a plethora of images of his A3 for us all to view. Just hit this link to check out all 85 images and savour in all the A3's glory. Remember the DAPreview/iAudiophile review is coming soon, just hold tight all

Yes all you happy people, Cowon keep on improving their wonder device, the Cowon D2. This time in their latest (beta) firmware they have enabled full flash based theme skinning, something which has been available to iRiver Clix users for some time now.



None the less I really think that Cowon are reiterating their reputation for upgrading their DAP's, despite their seemingly slow release rate. D2 users everywhere should be fairly happy that their D2's really aren't getting any older, all it needs now is a nice capacity bump, 32gb's maybe .

D2 owners be sure to check out the flash skins thread for all the most up to date user skins

After nearly a year since it was announced, the Cowon Q5 has finally showed up at Cowon America. The Q5 is a monster of a PMP, having a high resolution 5.0" touchscreen, support for virtually every codec under the sun, WiFi, and Bluetooth support, and much more. It's certainly a premium player, and it has a price to match it. The 40GB model is selling for $549US, and the 60GB for $599.

Features:

• Display: 5.0" Touchscreen (800 x 480, 16.7 million colors)
• Capacity: 40 or 60GB
• Audio: MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG, WAV, FLAC, APE, MPC
• Video: DivX, XviD, MPEG4, WMV (max res: 720 x 480 at 30fps) with TV-Out
• Integrated WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0
• USB-Host
• FM Tuner, Voice Recorder, Text Viewer
• Flash Player 7 built-in (for games, browsing the web)
• Battery Life: 13 hours for Audio, 7 for Video
• Dimensions: 5.46" x 3.48" x 0.79"

The Q5 (or Q5W as it's called here) will be running on Windows CE 5.0 Professional, which should make it a good platform for add-ons, and customizations. My only concern is the high entry fee. It's nearly a UMPC, and you're nearly paying as much for one. Make sure to keep an eye on our forums for threads such as this: [linky] and sit tight for a review.

LINK

via ssjmichael