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Cowon S9 wants you back, updates wardrobe

Long before the Sony X-Series stole the OLED portable media player spotlight, 2008's Cowon S9 blew us away with its gorgeous 3.3-inch touch-screen display, Bluetooth audio, and extensive audio and video codec support. But the gadget's fanatic attention span can only last so long before a perfectly good MP3 player just feels like yesterday's news.

In an effort to rekindle our collective fascination with the S9, Cowon has announced a new "ceramic white" color option, currently available only in Korea. To be fair, Cowon has also released a steady stream of firmware updates for … Read more

Cowon S9 gets a firmware and capacity bump

Cowon is throwing some extra heat behind the S9 touch-screen portable media player it launched in January. The company recently rolled out a 32GB version of the S9, complementing the existing 8GB and 16GB models. The new 32GB model will set you back $299 ($100 less than the 32GB iPod Touch), and is available directly from Cowon or from Amazon.

Existing Cowon S9 owners also get a treat in the form of new firmware. Version 2.30 of the Cowon S9 firmware brings many little tweaks to the user interface, a new notepad utility, improved video playback for high-resolution videos, … Read more

Review: Cowon S9, the good news and bad

The Cowon S9 is a gorgeous-looking touch-screen MP3 player that had the unfortunate fate of appearing on my desk right before the end of 2008--a time when all I could think about was egg nog, Macworld, and CES. It took some time to recover from it all (especially the nog), but the tide of touch-screen MP3 players waits for no man, and my review of the S9 was overdue.

So here's the good news: the Cowon S9 sounds fantastic, and its 3.3-inch OLED display is so pretty I thought my eyes would melt. The bad news? Well, yeah, … Read more

Hands on with the Cowon S9

(Update: CNET's full review of the Cowon S9 is now available.)

Cowon's S9 touch-screen MP3 player has arrived, bringing the expected music, video, and photo playback, and extras such as FM radio, Bluetooth, voice/radio/line recording, a Flash player, and a text reader. So far, I'd say the S9's design is spot-on, with a slight curved back and a bright 16:9-formatted OLED screen set at a 480x272-pixel resolution. The user interface is also quite impressive, combined with Cowon's choice of a capacitive touch screen, the onscreen control is about as attractive and responsive as you can get without investing in an iPod Touch.

The Cowon S9 comes in 8GB and 16GB capacities priced at $199 and $239, respectively. The cost could be worth it if you're a real stickler for sound quality, as the S9 is Cowon's first player to include the suite of BBE+ sound enhancements. The BBE+ suite improves on the already impressive BBE effects included in CNET faves like the D2 and iAudio 7, adding more than 30 presets in addition to a five-band EQ with independent bandwidth control.

Now for the bad news. The first drawback I've noticed on the Cowon S9 is that it just feels kind of cheap--which is a complaint I rarely have with Cowon. Unlike the glass and steel design of the iPod Touch, the S9 uses an all-plastic design that--though lightweight--has a hollow and flimsy feel. Even the all-plastic Samsung P2 feels a little more durable and substantial. … Read more

Cowon S9 priced, packed for U.S.

Despite rumors of shipping delays, Cowon America has announced that its S9 touch-screen media player will arrive in the U.S. before the year is out. If all goes as planned, The S9 will be available to order by December 19 from Jetmall for $199 (8GB) or $239 (16GB).

Designed to compete against Apple's iPod Touch and Samsung's YP-P2, the Cowon S9 includes a 3.3-inch touch-screen display, Bluetooth audio streaming, BBE+ sound-enhancement effects, FM radio, Flash player, and an above-average assortment of audio and video format support (MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, WAV, APE, AVI, WMV, and XVID). … Read more

Cowon S9 caught on video

I wasn't blown away by the photos that surfaced earlier this week of the upcoming Cowon S9 media player's touch-screen interface. Today, we've got a video of the S9 interface in action, showing off an encouraging amount of system responsiveness and graphic user-interface sophistication.

Despite the S9's advantages of Bluetooth, advanced EQ, and all-around impressive codec support, I still feel that the S9's similarity to the iPod Touch comes off more like a flattering imitation than an exciting alternative.

That said, people have fallen in love with products like the Samsung P2, which has a … Read more

Sneak peek at Cowon's S9 touch screen GUI

CNET Asia's DigiHunter recently published some user interface shots of the Cowon S9 touch screen media player. Considering that Cowon has been teasing the S9 since August, my expectations were running pretty high ...maybe too high.

I don't want to spoil it, but I'd be lying if I said the S9's GUI doesn't come across as a poor imitation of the Apple iPod Touch. I know that iPhone and iPod Touch comparisons get thrown around a lot these days, but really, this thing makes the Meizu M8 look original.

Like any Cowon device, the S9'… Read more