View Full Version : Request : Fix the Flac support!
First , I, like many others bought the D2 based on a few things. Flac support was one of them.
Cowon supports FLAC til 1.1.3. Atm, 1.1.4 (which has been released quite some time ago) isn' t supported. And that's quite annoying.
In fact, what's really annoying is seeing Cowon add features that are slightly useless from a DAP point of view , like a notepad and flash support when they should maybe improve the product before adding stupid gadgets like that.
We've been asking for it since a few firmware releases and Cowon is not listening to us.
I mean, I even sent them this :
My D2 won't play flac files encoded in 1.1.4 (only up to 1.1.3). Is the support of this version coming for the D2?
and received this reply :
Dear ........,
Thank you for using COWON D2.
If your file is not playing on COWON D2, please convert it by using jetAudio. Click below to download the latest version of jetAudio.
....
If you have further questions, feel free to ask us again.
Thanks again for using the customer support at cowonglobal.com.
Regards,
COWON
Lets say I ve been slightly pissed off by this attitude. I m starting to wonder if I m the only one here in this case.
if not, maybe we should write some sort of a mass feature request?
I expect to get flamed for saying that flash is a stupid gadget for a DAP, but don't really care. I mean it and I'm pretty sure others do.
1.1.4 is supported up to level 3, which sucks I know, but it seems flac and vorbis are not top of cowons priority list, then again I imagine a notebook, and flash games are the kind of things that will get them more attention than adding full flac 1.1.4 support.
a notebook, and flash games are the kind of things that will get them more attention than adding full flac 1.1.4 support.
Agreed.
To me flash and notepad are completely useless as well, I'll probably play with it for a minute or two then never use it again, but it's true that COWON are probably trying to add as many features as possible in order to boost some PR...
I agree with the original poster though that the existing features NEED work! tagged browsing is spotty (only MP3 files in track number order), play mode (by album, by artist, etc, by selection in tagged browsing) can be better and FLAC support can be improved.
Fixing existing features should always be priority because what's the use in adding more flawed features, we'll end up with a huge mess of 98% done toys.
if not, maybe we should write some sort of a mass feature request?
I completely agree with you! FLAC 1.1.4 support should be implemented as soon as possible! There are a lot of FLAC 1.1.4 files on web nowadays, and every time I have to reconvert them. :(
Soon there will be no FLAC 1.1.3 on the web, only the 1.1.4. It's really a trouble!
henrycow
06-06-2007, 11:06
Yeah - I used to moan about the shuffle, but since they added the yellow pen on the notepad I stopped worrying about it. Once you've played the winnie the pooh and the blustery day flash game you'll forget all about flac.
fly piglet, fly !!
1.1.4 is supported up to level 3, which sucks I know, but it seems flac and vorbis are not top of cowons priority list, then again I imagine a notebook, and flash games are the kind of things that will get them more attention than adding full flac 1.1.4 support.
Huh, I just tried converting a flac 1.1.4 level 5 to level 3 and put it on the D2.
Guess what.
It crashed.
So no, it doesnt seem to be supported at all, not even at level 3.
Level 2 seems to be working.
So, we'll have to ask them to bring FLAC support to normal, default values (level5...)
is flac 1.1.3 not enough?
Aesculapius
06-11-2007, 14:53
I too vote for more FLAC support; lossless is the way to go...
all my flac is in 1.1.3 so I have no complaints.
Here's a quote from FLAC's homepage:
"Several new devices with FLAC support were announced at 2007 CES, including the EVA 8000 from Netgear; the awesome-looking Sooloos; Cowon's iAudio D2, A3, and Q5; the i-Station Mini DX; and the MediaREADY MC. Roxio also recently released Record Now 9 Music Lab Premier with FLAC support."
Then here's what they say about the 1.14 update:
"FLAC 1.1.4 released Increased compression and dramatic speedups for both encoding and decoding are the big improvements in FLAC 1.1.4. There are also several new options and bugfixes. See the changelog entry for complete details."
FLAC developers are aware of how popular their format is becoming, so it looks like they're tackling bugfixes and such with gusto. I would expect Cowon to address the 1.14 incompatibility in the near future, but it could be that we'll see a FLAC 1.15 within the year, and it'll most likely be another one to crash the D2. FLAC is picking up steam, so now the updates are becoming more significant, and Cowon will have to address this each time.
Let's all grin and bear it until the update arrives, hopefully in the final 2.50/3.50 firmware? I hope so!
Until then, I'll be transcoding my FLAC files with JetAudio so that they're compatible.
I'm just glad to have 2 players (U3 and D2) that support FLAC of any type! [laugh]
In fact, what's really annoying is seeing Cowon add features that are slightly useless from a DAP point of view , like a notepad and flash support when they should maybe improve the product before adding stupid gadgets like that.
I guess "stupid" is just a question of perception.
goatherder
06-12-2007, 17:04
Best not to grin and bear it... otherwise if you're a previous Cowon owner, you'll know that after the initial flurry of bugfixes, they lose interest.
OK I'll be honest... I don't care about FLAC 1.14 support. I have no problem transcoding stuff... I'm the type of person who transfers files to my player daily, so I have no problem fixing things myself.
I was just trying to cheer people up [toungue]
Mantr0nix
06-13-2007, 06:47
keal, that's a good way of thinking. On the other hand, FLAC 1.1.4 is code optimized, is faster and has better compression ratio (as you stated above).
It's like using Jetaudio for video conversion. It's kinda work and it's really easy to use. On the other hand, you get less quality results (out of A/V sync, huge file size, inferior image quality).
Having bought a highend Player like the D2, i demand the best quality possible. Proper OGG Tag support and FLAC 1.1.4 support is no voodoo, it is possible. So i would like cowon to fix those issues.
exactly.
So, how do we make a mass request to Cowon?
globiboulga
06-13-2007, 08:14
Agreed with all the posts above. I don't care about the notepad, the flash, the painting or any other kinda of stuff that is not related to a PMP. I still believe that the key to success is simplicity (hello apple).
FLAC support, OGG tag support, gapless are features that I demand from a player and from COWON. The D2 is my second COWON player and I am not sure I will still stick with COWON for the next upgrade if they continue on the crap of adding shit that is only appealing to young korean female teenagers.
COWON should take notice of Rockbox and what it brings to the table. To me, the best thing that could happen would be for cowon to have an open source software policy. That would be awsome and certainly would give them a serious competitive advantage.
Well, since the latest firmware is a beta, we might get lucky and get FLAC 1.14 in the 3.50/2.50 finals. Could happen [smile]
Funny, I haven't had any problems playing FLAC 1.1.4. I converted numerous different wav files using dBpoweramp Music Converter at compression level 5 and 8. It says the codec being used is Release 7 (FLAC 1.1.4). My firmware is 3.50b.
dietmar13
06-18-2007, 23:48
but I think this could be false:
I use Poweramp too, and have no problems with FLAC (up to 8).
Codec is labeled as: Release 7 (FLAC 1.1.4), but I could update to Release 9 (FLAC 1.1.4) - perhaps an error in the designation?
In my FLAC frontend the following Tag is given:
"Encoded by FLAC v1.1.3a with FLAC Frontend v1.7.1"
but I think this could be false:
I use Poweramp too, and have no problems with FLAC (up to 8).
Codec is labeled as: Release 7 (FLAC 1.1.4), but I could update to Release 9 (FLAC 1.1.4) - perhaps an error in the designation?
In my FLAC frontend the following Tag is given:
"Encoded by FLAC v1.1.3a with FLAC Frontend v1.7.1"
I think you're right. Release 7 is really FLAC 1.1.3a, I guess I will wait a while before updating to Release 9, as that is probably the true 1.1.4.
torrentseed
06-21-2007, 23:44
How do I convert from Flac 1.14 to 1.13?
Ogg Vorbis support appears to be OK, at least with my q4-6 encoded files. The Music Library function needs a little work to recognize most vorbis comments. I'm happy with file-tree browsing for now.
It looks like Flac support has been fixed!
I've played a flac1.1.4 level 8 album on 3.50 (non beta) ! All hail cowon!
jcgamer60
06-26-2007, 13:24
It looks like Flac support has been fixed!
I've played a flac1.1.4 level 8 album on 3.50 (non beta) ! All hail cowon!
Finally!
alright, what about the 2.XX version series?
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