We all know iPods have taken over the world , but the Cowon S9 bet like the double-dyed alternative to the iPod touch modality for those of you who hate Apple , so I ordered one in .
This inspection has been over a calendar month in the devising . Let me explain . While the S9 comes packaged with proprietary PC - only iTunesish software system , I contrive to bestride the S9 like a USB crusade and cart and drop my music and TV . While a microcode update and the real file transfer seemed to go fine , when I started opening leaflet within the S9 itself ( yes , you have to deal with folders ) , I ’d get endless lists of gibberish , often come by a system freeze that only a hard reset would fix .
I dealt with tech supporting ( who of grade had never seen the problem ) , and it was finally determined that I should get a unexampled one . I was transport another unit and the same affair bechance . I have no doubtfulness that somewhere along the line I was doing something ill-timed ( though it ’s punishing to fathom given the dragging and dropping ) , but no one could spot it . That ’s disconcerting .
I was at last ship an update , promised - to - be - put to work S9 , and it really did finally work on . It play XviD and WMV movies , but no generic MPEG-1 , MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 content ( you could bury about h.264 ) . Also , like other players , if the file has too great a solvent , it fails — my high-pitched definition .wmv of The Dark Knight just would n’t bet , nor would a high definition XviD that I test . euphony - impertinent , the S9 play MP3 , WMA , and a bunch of others , but no DRM - free AAC . ( Again , possibly an MPEG-4 codec issue . )
On the plus side , audio reproduction seemed good and the system is very prompt with telecasting sensitive — I could jump around a one - time of day , received def XviD of disturbed Men instantly . And I should add , clips really pop off the S9 ’s 3.3 - column inch OLED cover with quiet framerate facts of life .
Recording audio with the integrated mike work fine — functional but not star — which is to be expect : The mic is but a tiny hole in the case . you’re able to also conveniently one - button disk the tuner , the timber of which is only limited by the generally comely reception . Plus , after bootlegging the tuner , you may drag the created WMA files from the S9 properly onto your information processing system ’s surd movement , no questions asked .
Despite many of these functions being first-class , nothing about the UI is as liquid or visceral as you ’d hope to make the experience fun or fulfilling .
For instance , you want to listen to euphony , so you click the “ Music ” icon . Easy ! But your music is n’t necessarily there . You in reality have to follow a light-green , animated arrow that lead you to a submenu of subfolders . That ’s where you really rule your content . Once you ’re within these pamphlet , you’re able to actually decamp record album to album smoothly ( just hitting the runway forward button ) , as the system remembers where your contentedness is and even prepare up other practical folders for organise by genre or year ( depending on your meta data information ) . But why did we mess with this unripened arrow garbage ? If you sleep together where my music is , just skip the snarl of clicks and take me to it .
It ’s not just that I ’m an Apple fanboy . I loved the Clix — rememberthe Clix ? The Clix was great ! Its port made sense and was pretty to boot . And other devices from Samsung , SanDisk and Creative have had decorous showings in spite of the iPod ’s winner . It ’s just that the S9 ’s interface is alright - looking , but nowhere as quick and commodious to pilot as you ’d hope .
https://gizmodo.com/iriver-clix-rhapsody-review-276079
But here ’s the matter — to me , the disastrous flaw with the S9 was n’t that strange series of germ I was capable to reduplicate on two units , nor was it the confusing directory arrangement . It was that when I held the S9 , a pretty becoming - looking gimmick , it felt tatty .
It ’s too light for its sizing , almost hollow . In the above pellet you could see that the S9 is thicker than an iPhone ( and way thicker than an iPod touch ) . And touching a plastic CRT screen ( OK , apparently it ’s glass but it sure as heck feels like plastic ) that ’s not lightning responsive — there ’s a micro postponement after each button press — is simply a second rate experience to the iPhone / iTouch super - antiphonal glass .
At $ 240 for 16 GB , maybe you thought that the Cowon S9 would be a tempting equipment to play your Bittorrent accumulation of movies without rebirth . But dedicate restriction with resolutions / data formatting , a dissatisfactory UI and the subpar shape , it ’s toilsome to know why the S9 makes a solid alternative to the iPod ghost . [ Cowon ]
CowonCurveiPodreview
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