Review Just Posted By Cnet

[maclen]

I just read the review of the A3 by Cnet, which gave the device a 7.7. (You may recall that Cnet gave the A2 an 8.0.) The logic of the lower grade escapes me because the review states that the A3 "is a subtle evolution of a great product." Moreover, it goes on to say: "While the complaints we had about last year's model still persist (frustrating joystick navigation and lack of DRM support), the improvements that Cowon has made internally to the A3 make its shortcomings forgivable." So, while recognizing that the A3 is an improvement over the A2, Cnet gives the A3 a lower grade. The review stresses (too much, imo) the quirky joystick, the inability to support DRM material and the music sorting system, while acknowledging but apparently downplaying the comprehensive codecs, the audiophile sound and the stellar video clarity.

[bootlegapparel]

Alot of reviewers, and also most people expect a big change when you go from A2 to A3.

The A3 is more a A2.5.


It is brilliant, i own it and absolutely love it, and would recommend it over the Archos and iphone.

But some people would get annoyed and i understand that.


The A2 probably got an 8 because AT THE TIME, people would've been like "holy crap this is amazing" nowadays people have seen the A2, now they see the A3 and think "oh, yeah that's nice, bit of an improvement"

it's not mind blowing you know?



That said, i think the reviewer was a bit thick, using DRM stuff is for gits and you don't buy a cowon player to go and buy your music from itunes now do you.

And yeah, something should've been said about how say for instance everything is included in the pack and you don't have to fork out $150 of extras like the archos, or it's not proprietry like the iphone. and yes the video is freaking amazing.



meh

[Mr. Black]

The A2 probably got an 8 because AT THE TIME, people would've been like "holy crap this is amazing" nowadays people have seen the A2, now they see the A3 and think "oh, yeah that's nice, bit of an improvement"

it's not mind blowing you know?



It's funny you said that, I used words quite similar to that when I wrote up this news on Saturday: http://www.iaudiophile.net/comment.php?comment.news.308

great minds [thumbsup]

I agree dude, the A3 seems awesome, but like you said it's more like a 2.5 right now... then again, compared to the A2's earlier FW the A3 is far far more appealing... my point here is that I'm hoping Cowon work on the A3 as much as they did with the A2.

[jayillmatic]

I have yet to recieve my A3, but i hear lots of complaint about ID3 support and managing of the audio files on Cowon player. I have the X5 for 3 years or more now. I love it the way it is, and i take care and manage all of my audio files upon download, so people need to get themselves together, if you not organized, then you basically fresh out of luck, i mean for godness sakes, whats so hard with renaming a file properly or putting them in appropriate folders. I dont know, but what do your think?

[usul]

True, and I keep everyhting organized too, BUT...tag supporting enable you play files in ways you can't do, however oragnized you are. I mean if you make a tree genre/artist/album you can't shuffle through several artists in different genre for instance (as the playlist in the A3 is limited to 300 files) and tag sorting can be helpful there...(just an example)

And the search of a specific song or album is easier/quicker with tag sorting ! Because browsing in a long list on the A3 is not that great sometimes (you can't even pass from on page to another)

So tag sorting isn't a major issue but would be nice anyway IMO

[otterpopjunkie]

Bootlegapparel:That said, i think the reviewer was a bit thick, using DRM stuff is for gits and you don't buy a cowon player to go and buy your music from itunes now do you.


Haha yeah, who gives a crap. I make sure to remove any DRM music on the occasion I do get some, because it's worthless. PlaysForSure my butt.

The only good thing about DRM is Ruckus gives me free music because it makes the records companies feel safe having DRM. Then I strip them of their blankets and listen to it on any device I want![devil]