Customer Reviews

Cowon D2+ 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the best audiobook player. I also have an Ipod 80GB Classic and had a Zen Vision M. It leaves both for dead.
- superb sound quality.
- excellent bookmark function- 256 bookmarks. It returns to the bookmark and continues to the follwing tracks (unlike Zen which just stops, as do many other players, and windows mobile players).
- the touch screen is very nifty and the smart menus pop up nicely. Navigation quickly became intuitive.
- the standard folder structure makes loading books and tracks very simple. I am over Itunes and do not miss it.
- 16GB or 8GB or 4GB of internal memory, then an SD slot which means you can have as many SD cards as you want. bookmarks work on the current SD card no worries.
- excellent for music albums.
- the video function works well when I test it, although I am not interested in using it routinely.

If you're looking for the best portable audiobook player, you've found it. But if you just want to listen to audiobooks on your computer get ViddyMP3 for free. Or if you want to tinker get Rockbox free software for various portable players. I think the D2 is great for music too as its sound is clearly superior to Ipod and Zen to even my untrained ear.

It does not do playlists, but really who needs them? I mainly used to use them to work around Itunes bugs.(maybe I like compilation albums, but I can just compile a folder of MP3's any way I like).

Wishlist- on the fly erase & click for more details on the bookmarks (but still the best for bookmarks), playlists (OK already).

Tips- use the stylus supplied for navigating the touch screen.
- when you first ever turn it on, be careful as the first thing you do is set language and I accidentally clicked Korean!! It took a while to return it to English, ha ha.
- If you're not sure just buy the 4GB Black version [...], and later expand it with an SD card.

Note that Cowon also make the S9 which I have not seen. It is more expensive and uses a different screen technology.

I have many Cowon products. To name a few. The D2+ and a D2 16gb. I have
an A7 16gb and a A7 8gb. Lastly, I have 3 8 gb U5's. I will cut right to the chase! For sound and other on-board excessories (radio reception, battery life, expansion capability and picture capability) you can do all the searching and exploring you want, Cowon blows all other MP3 players totally away. Lastly, it is so easy to drag and drop files and folders!

Ok! Here comes what is completley horrible concerning Cowon's Marketing!

1. The Manual has just got to go and be rewritten in order a person can
see the directions and understand them.

2. Customer Service might as well be on Mars, they are unreachable by e-mail or by phone.

...And it won't bloody well play my Audible files 0- out of the box...

I would like to love this player. I could totally deal with the almost entirely useless manual, the lousy support site and the somewhat complicated navigation, if only I could play my audible books. The sound on this thing is absolutely incredible. I am not an audiophile, but this player could totally turn me into one.

Unfortunately, the primary use I make of an mp3 player, is listening to audiobooks. And while the bulk of my collection consists of mp3 audiobooks, I also have several from Audible. I am not terribly keen on the idea of converting Audible books to DRM free mp3, because the only conversion software that will convert has to convert in real time - which means that a 27 hour audiobook takes 27 hours to convert. Besides which, I really like the sync to my audible manager, which allows me to listen to the books on both my computer and player, while keeping my place in the book.

After wandering through several google hits, I finally found a forum that was able to explain how to fix the problem. Apparently what you need to do is format the drive with windows and then install the latest firmware update ([...]). I am glad that I don't have to send this player back - at the same time this player is not terribly user friendly right off the bat. There are no indications on Cowon's website that you need to format the drive before installing the firmware update, nor are there any indications of the problems with Audible. And the instruction manual is a joke - I was only able to figure the player out through trial and error.

Finally, a hint for those who will be using this player for audiobooks in mp3 format - create a whole new folder to throw onto the root directory. You have to open the player as a drive, instead of syncing, but this way you can separate your audiobooks from the music files. Personally, I am really not keen on mixing music and books, because it prevents you from being able to just shuffle all your music - not to mention it bogs down the list of music.

When I have used this player more, I may be back with some more tips - but I doubt I will add anymore stars. I bought this player under the assumption that I would just plug it in, load it with books and be on my way. I am way too damned busy to be wasting the time I have on this - had I known this would happen, I would have bought something else.

This little gadget has all the right things in it.
If you're into music and really like your music
the way you want to hear it. The EQ's are real EQ's.
Audio is the key here as much as portability as with storage.
It's like a home entertainment center in your ears!
This gadget is scary, it's real.
Gadget freaks want buttons, knobs, what-have-yous... this
little wonder has touchscreen that you can flick, touch and
yes just a touch can take you to the menu screens and tree views.
Videos are great to watch, the software will
convert what video (dimensions) works best with this player. Browse photos
that are quite clear. Audible for audiobooks, a flash (adobe) player, lots
of things I still haven't tried.
Too nice. Happy to have gotten this one I thank God, better choice.

In Jesus.

The Cowon D2+ has been a pleasant surprise. The options for sound control and enhancement alone place it far above Ipods, Zunes and other devices I've tried. BBE enhancement, reverb, and several others color your sound just the way you like it. The interface is very good, touch screen controls are responsive. The main reason for buying this device is SOUND QUALITY. It is absolutely FANTASTIC. I'm a guitar player, so I'm super anal about sound quality. I need to hear every bend, trill, etc. Let's face it- converting mp3 to aac is going from one lossy format to another, which degrades quality. The ability to play FLAC, OGG LOSSLESS formats is a great feature. Being able to expand memory with an SD card is a HUGE plus. (Take that Ipod.) I own an Itouch, but I do *not* use it for music. The small size of the unit belies the features packed into it. Granted I don't use all of them, like the text viewer, but being able to play flash games when you're bored is yet another cool feature. Forget about all of that, though. Buy it for the SOUND QUALITY! Get a good set of earbuds and you'll love this device. I've used the Jetaudio media player program for years, so I was no stranger to the Cowon company. If you are a serious audiophile, Cowon hit a home run with this device. I only hope they maintain their high standards in future devices, as I would not hesitate to buy their devices again.

I looked quite awhile for a multi-format player that can be used from any computer and does not cater to the Windows media player or the anti piracy formats. Finally bought a white D2 4gig unit on sale.

The highlights (my pluses)on what you get with a D2:
Fabulous battery life(charges from suppled USB cable or multi-country wall charger).
Excellent sound with enough volume to make your ears ring.
Formats MP3, oog, flac, and more.
Limitless expansion with SD cards.
No Software or proprietary program needed. Shows up like an external drive on any computer!
Included optional Software (Jet Audio) rips cd's into many different formats (not mp3 though).
Large bright touch screen that can be used with your fingers.
FM receiver, built in mic for recording.....
Drag and drop files to and from D2 and any computer with no restrictions.
Its not an ipod!

Issues, info, etc
Buy with the largest internal memory your budget allows. The sd memory card adds more storage but it shows up as a separate file. You won't see the contents unless you access that file. I keep my favorite music on the internal memory and books / news / podcasts on the sd card.

The optional Jet Audio software does not rip to mp3 and will take over as primary audio player on your windows computer if you are not careful when installing it.(read the prompts)

Fair warning to non computer / non technical / short patience types...
This unit takes a little getting used to. The touch screen menus are not intuitive to someone used to western computers / cell phones. Kind of like to use a MAC computer after years of PC use. I personally enjoyed learning to use the D2. It is a truly international flavor unit and sometimes you have to Google for information like how to make a picture of the alblum cover appear on the screen from a cd that you have ripped at home.

The people who have left poor rating on this due to their frustrations in using the D2 have a point, I just feel they probably would have been happier with a player that has less features.

Overall this is one of my best electronic purchases.

Hope this was useful.

If you're willing to be a geeky tech kid, allowing yourself time to familiarize yourself with the gadget, as well as enjoy the online community that goes with it, this is one of the best sounding mp3 players on the market. Two warnings: one the best sound is when you tweak it, so if you're an audiophile if wouldn't dream of adjusting an equalizer, this isn't for you. I recommend Sony S or X series for flat line terrific sound. Two, if you're into video check out the other Cowon. This one is about loving music. I also must warn you that this device makes higher bit rate mp3's sound outstanding, but it also makes the flaws of lower bit rate recordings more apparent. If you love your lossless audio, welcome to your dream. I'd say from 200 vbr and higher, this devices makes it sound stellar.

I got the free delivery, which hasn't been a problem in the past, but it was around a month before this order arrived to my house.

I read reviews here and all over the Internet so I have no one to blame but myself. In the large part, this is a great unit, great sound, great video, but I knew people were having to do a lot of workarounds with various things. But, hey, I'm a web developer, an expert computer person and love tinkering with tech stuff so figured I could handle it.

The sound is great. It fits great in the hand, It looks good. The touchscreen is OK, I never did figure out how to set the clock, the documentation is almost non-existent, and it's almost non-intuitive. If this is your entry point into MP3 players, put on your puzzle face. If not, you'll figure it out.

My problem is, I "do" this stuff all day at work and when I want to listen to an Audible book or a podcast I just want to do it; I don't want to drag and drop files or poke around looking for stuff or stand on my head doing workarounds. At some time or age you just want to get to the point and do it. Do searches on things such as "where are my Audible books" or podcasts and this player and see what you find before making up your mind. I, like others, was told to drag my Audible software-loaded books from the Audible files from the Audible folder to the Music folder and they still never did appear in my browser. When professional reviewers repeat the corporate mantra that a player is Audible ready, they should try it out first.

Don't listen to those who say it's Audible's software that's at fault. All Audible does is look for the Audible folder on your player and place the book there.

This player has almost a counter-culture of followers who tell you to use such-and-such a version of firmware to use Audible books or to use it in MTP for this function and MSC for another. If that's what floats your boat, it's great value.

Oh, and if you want to write to technical support, you can't use AOL, Comcast and a host of other commercial hosts. Maybe because of the Korean maker, but you have to use gmail, yahoo or hotmail. And chat tech. service is perfunctory and assumes you know your way around a computer and their product.

To me, all these additional complications make this a more expensive player than are worth my time and it's going back through Amazon.

Cowon has consistently made the best sounding MP3 player over the past seven years that money can buy. They are on the expensive side but this is a case of "you really do get what you pay for". I have purchased 8 different players from Cowon over the years and three D2+ units. Have given some as presents and have scored big brownie points. Treat yourself to one of these top of the line units and you will be glad you did. They ROCK...

Rick

Excellent product. I bought it for listening to music mainly, was soooo taken back by how it sounded and the functions I gave this one to the wife and turned around and ordered a COWON J3. They are same in functions other then screen and card slot.

I would tell anyone looking for the best sounding quality player you have to buy a COWON. You can tune the music anyway you like it with almost any headphones / Earbuds. Battery life is great as I play FLAC files and they can drain a battery fast, but this little player can go for hours and hours. I would say all FLAC files and I still got 25-30 hours before a recharge.

The only issue are the manuals, they are pretty basic and you have to know what your functions your using. I still would tell everyone to purchase one if your wanting the best sound you can get.