The Cowon D2 is cool
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007So, I’ve been wanting a new personal media toy for a while to replace my “Truly Pic’N'Roll”, which only holds 2GB, makes an annoying crackling sound between tracks, and is supposed to play video but really sucks at it (and has terrible battery life anyway). I’ve been coveting an iPod for months, but fortunately, I came to my senses. (I’m a Linux user and the bulk of my music collection is in Ogg Vorbis format, and that alone makes iPod a fantastically bad choice for me.)
So, what did I get? I got the amazing Cowon D2, the anti-Pic’N'Roll!
I ordered my D2 a couple of weeks before my birthday and opted for Amazon’s “SuperSaver” shipping option, which takes the longest, but has the low, low price of free. Amazon told me that the D2 would arrive the week of my birthday, which was A-OK with me, but surprise! I actually got it a full week before I was told to expect it. So, I’ve had it for a couple of weeks now and have been able to get acquainted with it.
I mentioned that since I’m a Linux user, iPod would be a bad choice for my needs. Some Linux users do use iPods with minimal problems, because, while there’s no version of iTunes for Linux, some Linux music applications do work with iPods. However, my major problem was that a lot of my music is Ogg Vorbis, and iPod can’t play Ogg Vorbis. The Cowon D2, obviously, does.
The big selling point that made me ultimately choose it over its main competitor, the iRiver Clix, though, is the fact that the D2 is completely software agnostic. When you connect it to your computer, it shows up as an external drive, and you just drag and drop your files onto it. That’s not all that unusual among non-iPod media players, of course, but — are you ready for this?! — the D2 does video, right? Practically all of the other media players I’ve looked at require you to use their special software to convert video into a proprietary format before the device will play it. The D2, on the other hand, uses generic 320×240 MPEG-4 video with MP3 audio — which you can produce with any video editor!
So, I’ve been using my D2 for two weeks and I haven’t even bothered to take the included software CD out of its sleeve. It’s not needed at all! And that seems to be no accident, either — if you scroll down to the bottom of the product page, you’ll see that Cowon actually includes “Linux compatible” as a selling point. That is much appreciated!
I’m not much of an audiophile, but Cowon’s music players have a reputation for superior audio quality, and you’ll get absolutely no argument from me. It’s as good as I could possibly want, and there are tons of ways to tweak the audio exactly the way you like it.
And, of course, there’s the video quality. No complaints here, either — for one thing, video actually plays! 
But not only that, the D2 is capable of 30fps and ridiculously high bitrates for both audio and video. Frankly, the only thing limiting the video quality as far as I’m concerned is my desire to keep the file size down when I’m converting my movies. There is one minor issue with video playback, though — if you skip around while you’re playing, the audio and video get de-synched. Just a little, but noticeably. Apparently there are ways to work around this by fiddling around with the settings you use to convert the video, but it doesn’t really bother me quite enough to justify going to the trouble to screw around with it. And if you play the video straight through, there’s no de-synching at all.
Other features of note: The D2 has 4GB of flash memory plus an SD/SDHC expansion slot for potentially unlimited memory. Right now I’m using a class 6 8GB card, and it works perfectly. It has veritable bucketloads of battery life — it’s rated for up to 52 hours of audio or 10 hours of video on one charge (under ideal conditions, of course). The D2 also includes a picture viewer, a text reader, an FM radio, audio recorder, and a recent firmware upgrade adds flash lite support (which I haven’t tested out yet) and a notepad application (for doodling).
And, of course, it has a touchscreen. At this point, you should be wondering about fingerprints and scratches. I haven’t had a problem with either — the screen does get smudged, but it’s mostly only visible when the screen is off, and you can easily wipe off the screen. The screen doesn’t seem particularly scratch-prone, in that it’s survived two weeks of use without getting messed up, but I’m planning to get a screen protector for it because I don’t want to take any chances. I already have a silicone casing for it that offers some protection (since the screen is more recessed) and provides a convenient place to store the stylus (which normally just hangs from the side of the player from a lanyard).
This gushing YouTube review provides a lot more information on the touchscreen and how it works. The fact that it works is good enough for me, although it does allow the D2 to devote more real estate to the screen.
So, to sum up, the D2 is a really cool toy, and I’m very happy with it. And if you’ve got an iPod, I’m quite sure that my media player kicks your media player’s ass. 
