First rational impressions

[Arminius]

Hi all,

I've recently bought a Cowon S9 to replace my old Cowon U3... Since I've made a few experiences with my new toy I'd like to share them with the community. First of all I want to say that the Cowon S9 is a pretty nice MP3 player but it definitely has its downsides:

1) Coverflow. What the heck? I mean - if you're just not up to the task to implement it properly then DON'T DO IT. I can't show anybody what happens when I turn the S9 by 90 degrees. It's just too embarassing to have such an expensive piece of electronics which appears to try to imitate Ipods but fails just badly. So the G-sensor stays off until it works correctly.

2) USB connection. There's several problems about it, the proprietary usb cable is just annoying. Let's hope it's actually really (!!!) becoming a standard connection. Second thing I can't understand: The device has enough capacity to carry around several dozen albums, movies and pics. But why does it take more than 1 hour to fill up the whole 16 gigs? Just 4 megabytes per second? Come on, that's just ridiculous. Any crappy USB stick can do that. I expect a high end (and high priced) MP3 player to perform a lot better. Last thing that annoys me is that as soon as there's a USB connection the player just stops working and the battery is charged. Copying one album renders the player unusable for that time and charges it for a few seconds/minutes. Don't know if the built in battery likes that so much.

3) Problems with ID3-Tags. Any software (i.e. WinAmp, mp3tag) recognizes my mp3s and tags without problems - including artwork. Uploading some of these files to the S9 leads to a new "album": Unknown. Wow, some albums end up there, others don't. Deleting the artwork from the files, deleting the files from the S9, uploading the updated ones again is the only way to get them recognized properly... What a stupid procedure. Updating files directly on the S9? Well - nice try, but it doesn't always work and it is pretty slow because of the uber low rates provided by the crappy usb implementation...

At least 1) and 3) could be changed by firmware updates and I really do hope that it happens... The usb connection problem is just a very disappointing implementation of an interface that's been around for a decade. Nice work. Issue 3) is exceptionally annoying (because of issue 2), too). How do they want me to check if the S9 accepts a file or not? By uploading, testing, deleting, editing and uploading it again? Awesome workflow...

Right now, after having played around I'm disappointed that a device that cost me 250 euros just sucks that much in some aspects. Come on, you can't tell me that nobody is pissed off by a 16 gig device that just takes forever to be filled with mp3s and then bitches about some tags which other programs and players easily recognize without problems?! Nice thing to rip and tag your music and then just re-tag it because of a malfunctioning software-implementation...

Actually the above is just my 2 cents and I'd be happy to hear about your experiences and opinions. If there is any way to respond to those issues I'd be happy to take advice (yes, I'm already using fw 2.20...).


Have a nice day, Arminius

[Caleb369]

Advice:
1.) Take chill pill.

2.) Look at AMOLED screen, battery life, sound quality, and open UI.

3.) Compare downfalls of this player to that of other players.

4.) Make sure ID3 tags are v2.3

5.) Be happy.

[Insta]

Haha in addition to what caleb said, you might also try plugging it in to a usb port in the back of your computer. The ones on the front don't get as much power, which I'm guessing might affect transfer speeds. Hope it helps :)

[Loba]

2) USB connection. you are on usb 1.1, that's why you get 4mb/s. S9 supports usb 2.0. Like the man above said, connect to the port behind to get your desired speedboost. Be happy, cowon a3 ppl live with usb 1.1. We transfer 30-80gb of stuff at 4-8mb/s.

[finalx233]

Advice:
1.) Take chill pill.

2.) Look at AMOLED screen, battery life, sound quality, and open UI.

3.) Compare downfalls of this player to that of other players.

4.) Make sure ID3 tags are v2.3

5.) Be happy.

6.) Take another chill pill. Go to sleep, wake up and realise that the S9 is one of the best mp3 player out there.

[Uphaillife]

1. who really cares if cover flow works. its not even useful. just shut it off.
2. you got your nice over 1 hour to 16 gb. i got my nice 10 min to 8 gb. don't know quite what you're doing. perhaps you are using usb 1.1

you should note that there isn't any mp3 player with an AMOLED screen as good as the S9's. plus the sound quality is superior and that notepad is fun to use i have to say.

[Arminius]

Thanks for your advice, guys. I slept, chilled and used my S9...

Yeah, I'd really love to see things your way. Just be happy with the S9 I spent 250 Euros for BECAUSE I spent so much money for it. I've never been a fanboy and I won't be. I'm definitely not on USB 1.1 and tried several USB ports on my laptop (Samsung Q35, old but gets 8-9 mb/s on a usb stick without problems)... Anyway, it seems to work for you guys, so ok.

ID3 tags? No comments?! Playlist functions...

Saying it is so awesome just because of its AMOLED screen is like saying a Ferrari is just so great because it looks nice. If it's too slow, hard to handle or anything you still wouldn't like it. But you like your S9s because you spent a hell lot of money for it! [thumbsup] It MUST be the best MP3 player there's ever been, because it looks nice and it's expensive... Yeah, sure.

Sound quality... Mmmh, there's a Sansa player out there that offers at least that much of sound quality and is only a third of the S9s price.

Since there seems to be no other way I'm going to try to be happy because I've spent 250 Euros for a good looking piece of Korean hardware that has its issues but still is so awesome because it was expensive and looks good... [cry][rolleyes]

[Don't Panic]

Thanks for your advice, guys. I slept, chilled and used my S9...

Yeah, I'd really love to see things your way. Just be happy with the S9 I spent 250 Euros for BECAUSE I spent so much money for it. I've never been a fanboy and I won't be. I'm definitely not on USB 1.1 and tried several USB ports on my laptop (Samsung Q35, old but gets 8-9 mb/s on a usb stick without problems)... Anyway, it seems to work for you guys, so ok.

ID3 tags? No comments?! Playlist functions...

Saying it is so awesome just because of its AMOLED screen is like saying a Ferrari is just so great because it looks nice. If it's too slow, hard to handle or anything you still wouldn't like it. But you like your S9s because you spent a hell lot of money for it! [thumbsup] It MUST be the best MP3 player there's ever been, because it looks nice and it's expensive... Yeah, sure.

Sound quality... Mmmh, there's a Sansa player out there that offers at least that much of sound quality and is only a third of the S9s price.

Since there seems to be no other way I'm going to try to be happy because I've spent 250 Euros for a good looking piece of Korean hardware that has its issues but still is so awesome because it was expensive and looks good... [cry][rolleyes]

^There have been issue's with id tag and playlist function but they get worked out by the people on this Forum so there not really problems anymore.

See claw's wallpaper UI for multi playlists and mediamonkey for id tags.

Also seems that you expected that the S9 would be easy to work with and that can be little deceiving.
It has it's quirks when you look past them you see a great mediaplayer.

When you can't get past them an ipod touch has an easy to use interface...

[Arminius]

The thing is: every single MP3 file works with Squeezebox, a cheap discounter MP3 player, WinAmp and so on. But the S9 doesn't recognize some of them. No matter what I do, it just does not work. So I have to retag them using MediaMonkey for example to make it work. That's a lot of work if you've already tagged your whole music library and have to do it again for 20 percent of it.

What bugs me most isn't that there is a hard way to make the S9 accept is, it is that the S9 has problems accepting the files. I don't care if I can fix it because I'm not willing to do so if the files obviously work for other devices and programs.

Proposing an Ipod Touch isn't any help either. No FLAC support, stupid Itunes and the usual Apple restrictions along with the minor sound quality didn't even let it get on my decision list...

[Don't Panic]

^it's always a compromise... It's called making a decision between products, buy the one that's best suited to your needs.

If you find the perfect mp3player that:
plays all stuff(Flac/no conversion of video etc.),
*has the best screen,
*sd slot,
*best sound,
*has a dead easy interface,
*fully costumizable,
*scratch resistant screen,
*small size/ light---> big screen,
*well fitted for on the go
*long(est) battery life,
*standard usb,
*with high speeds transfer,
*Fm radio,
*Flash games,
*widgets,
*super equillizer BBE jetaudio
*something else as coverflow, watch cassini's UI in da Future!
LET US KNOW...

(named a couple things that the S9 doesn't have and i really wanted but heck can't have everything)

[Headcased]

manuskate80 i have it called a cowon s9 ok maybe not the usb

[tirim4]

Copying one album renders the player unusable for that time and charges it for a few seconds/minutes. Don't know if the built in battery likes that so much.

The S9 uses a kind of battery that just feels better if its charged more. It has been discussed a few times if it's nessecary with a function to turn USB charging off, but thats totally unessecary.

[Headcased]

1.cover flow

Ok kind of agree but will properly be fixed with firmware updates reason its slow ? properly because its done in flash.

2.USB

First off the s9 dose not use a cheep NAND Flash. It Proberly takes some time to write because of its wear levelling as well as it have more more write cycles. Second of the nucleus operating system support what they call

- low (1.5 Mbs)
- full (12 Mbs)
- high (480 Mbs)

3.yes cowon dose have some problems with id tags.

[sacramento]

I do not experience trouble with ID3 tags, all my music is tagged with mp3tag v2.43.

The USB cable is a proprietary because there is only so much you can do with the universal one, this one is capable of more function via add on accessories, like Tv-out and so on. I also believe it will be the new standard cable with iriver and samsung and others from that area also.

There have been a few developers that have already done something with the coverflow screen. FDX got rid of it for a really nice "now playing" horizontal screen and el maco made a very impressive coverflow of his own.

You do not have to put a file on in order to see if it will play, simply consult the codecs in it's user guide that it can play. Works for me.

The built in battery does enjoy being charged as often as possible. They even recommend to do this in the user guide. Charge time doesn't matter. It is lithium polymer, no battery memory.

I get faster speeds than 4mbps transfer rate. I'm using USB 2.0 on my laptop, maybe your using 1.1? A movie file of 700mb took around 2 minutes to transfer for me. An album is around 20 or 30 seconds depending on size.

I use fw 2.20.

[lundstrom.emil]

1.cover flow

2.USB

First off the s9 dose not use a cheep NAND Flash. It Proberly takes some time to write because of its wear levelling as well as it have more more write cycles. Second of the nucleus operating system support what they call

- low (1.5 Mbs)
- full (12 Mbs)
- high (480 Mbs)



Doesn't S9 have dynamic addressing of the memory, same as the D2, this prevents that the same block is constantly used if you remove and transfer a file or files.

[Headcased]

yes charging the battery often is the way to use lithium batteries. The only thing lithium batteries hate is being deep cycled i.e. taking the battery to limit by full discharging it. This is very bad and will severely ruin the battery.

@emil That’s what ware levelling is.

[Arminius]

As I've already said I'm using USB 2, too. Other devices work perfectly fine with a transfer speed of 8-10 mb/s. Double the S9's speed.

Even if the battery doesn't bother being charged every now and then a little (I've read the advice in the manual, too), there's still no way to continue using the S9 while being connected to the usb port. Well, I can live with that.

By referring to problems with files I didn't mean problems with videos. It can't play neither mp4 nor h264 but that doesn't mean any problem because I know it. What I meant is the problem with several mp3 files of mine:

Some just work perfectly easily without any problems - including artwork. All my files are tagged ID3v2.4.0 and work with other devices as well as software. Others are playable but no tags are shown by the S9 even though they're shown by other devices and programs. That bugs me a lot. I've spent days ripping and tagging my files and now I have to do it over again with a few albums. Which albums? Well, I don't know until I've copied them to my player [blink]

I don't say that the player is total crap. It is just a really expensive device which does still have bugs and a few design issues that obviously can't and won't be changed... I really do hope that ID3tag support is improved in the future without the user having to retag his files...

[AntiLamer]

Are you using Vista?
Did you compared a working file with one thats buggy?

[Arminius]

Yeah, I'm using Vista.

A file which is not recognized by the S9 but by Winamp and so on can only be made working by complete deleting all tag information so that no tags are left. Then retagging it again and hoping it works. That is a pain in the arm actually... I don't know what you mean by comparing it. Encoded with the latest lame codec, tagged by EAC or mp3tag. All of them. Doesn't matter, some work. Others don't and need retagging. Often it's the artwork I guess because all of the files which didn't work include artwork...

[elduderado]

Fortunately I don't share this problem.

I just wanted this player so badly because it supports folder structure, which imho is the best way to sort mp3's and it totally supports my philosophy on how I organize my music on the computer.
Therefore I dont have a problem with ID3 tags. You should give it a try!

You not only have all your playlists right there, by using the folders, the best part is, that if your music collection is a little bigger, you dont have to waste much time tagging all the mp3s - thats at least what I wanted to avoid.

greetz

[Pete_S]

Arminius: The USB implementation does seem a little slow when transferring lots of small files such as music. There's a significant delay between each file, like it stops for a while between files. Maybe this is due to the wear levelling scheme?

If you transfer a big file, like video, it's a lot quicker, much like any other pmp.

I agree completely about the "coverflow". It's embarrassing. I switch off rotation too, till they sort it out.

[TackyTiger]

I agree completely about the "coverflow". It's embarrassing. I switch off rotation too, till they sort it out.

It's a shame that instead of fixing what 's already there, they're wasting there time adding new embarrassing features (notepad, I'm looking at you) which will also need sorting out.

[Loba]

As I've already said I'm using USB 2, too. Other devices work perfectly fine with a transfer speed of 8-10 mb/s. Double the S9's speed.

Even if the battery doesn't bother being charged every now and then a little (I've read the advice in the manual, too), there's still no way to continue using the S9 while being connected to the usb port. Well, I can live with that.

By referring to problems with files I didn't mean problems with videos. It can't play neither mp4 nor h264 but that doesn't mean any problem because I know it. What I meant is the problem with several mp3 files of mine:

Some just work perfectly easily without any problems - including artwork. All my files are tagged ID3v2.4.0 and work with other devices as well as software. Others are playable but no tags are shown by the S9 even though they're shown by other devices and programs. That bugs me a lot. I've spent days ripping and tagging my files and now I have to do it over again with a few albums. Which albums? Well, I don't know until I've copied them to my player [blink]

I don't say that the player is total crap. It is just a really expensive device which does still have bugs and a few design issues that obviously can't and won't be changed... I really do hope that ID3tag support is improved in the future without the user having to retag his files...
uh, you on laptop right? 8-10mb/s is still like. usb 1.1

The same goes for cowon a3 =/ I used ipod touch before and yea, i can be used while being charged but as someone said... a compromise is a compromise.

I think you are presuming expensive = quality with no problems. Yea, you got quality but nothing is perfect, except maybe, apple? in the eyes of many that is. if you want a prime example of expensive = quality with lots of problems, go over to archos 5 forums. they have guys with 2000 mp3s copied into the player and half of it DOESNT TURN UP AT ALL according to the player. Then you will come to appreciate that you, can at least play the song :D

P.S. I'm seriously considering buying a cowon s9 16gb...poisoned.....=X

[Arminius]

Thank you all for your replies. The thing is that I hoped for more but all I got was a product which still lacks a few fixes and features. That is a bit sad since I've paid a lot of money for it.

But one thing I can't understand is the hype. It is an MP3 player with a touch-screen, 16 gigs of flash and pretty good sound. Wow. Nothing too special when wanting to be the best of the best.

It's just that the fanboys are keeping up the hype. "Oh, nice, there's a notepad. It sucks ass because it's useless, even the examples shown on the website are crappy. But yay, we have a notepad. Great, awesome..." And after that, very quietly: "A keyboard would be nice...". Yeah, it would - so you could at least use this feature.

Stop hyping stuff because it was expensive. Be realistic and think about the real quality of implementation and then rate the product again...

Hopefully most of the problems will be fixed by future firmware upgrades...

[zantoz24]

I think you are the one with very high expectations; I never get disappointed by the S9 because I know his limitations and possibilities, and I think the price I paid was right. (Also I never have problems with the tags or the transfer speed.)
I don’t believe that we hype the device, as you said in this forum we express our disconformities with the features that aren’t good enough (what you said about this I think is a problem of perception, there are a lot of threads specifically focuses in the problems and thing we think can be improved), and more than that, we try to fix the problems and improve the device (have you seen the Claw’s work?)

[Caleb369]

You are a whiner.

[Mr. Black]

Please don't get personal folks, if you have nothing nice to say then keep your dirty mouth shut.....unless someone really really really has it coming :P

[Don't Panic]

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs16/f/2007/218/e/5/Pretty_eyes__dirty_mouth_by_Dark_Odyssey.jpg

[xenarchi]

working on it.

[AntiLamer]

I heard that some people have problems with vista and usb speed but global and not device specific.

You shouldn't over hype your problems [rolleyes]

@Manuskate80 hey nice pic I'll use it as wallpaper [laugh]

[auxiliary]

Since there seems to be no other way I'm going to try to be happy because I've spent 250 Euros for a good looking piece of Korean hardware that has its issues but still is so awesome because it was expensive and looks good... [cry][rolleyes]

I think Arminius is simply voicing some irritations with the S9, and that's a healthy thing. 250 Euros is a lot of money and Arminius has every right to feel that the price tag should afford the type of experience desired.

Having said this, objections to new devices can often be ephemeral, and I think it's good advice to live with the thing and see it for its positives, something I myself have been unable to do! (see sig) :P

As I'm one for ruthless criticism , I've found myself chopping and changing devices, looking for "perfection" but the trouble is, perfection does not exist! :D

Right now, I'm very pleased with my set up of Clip (for music), VX545HD (for videos), and AD700 headphones.

Trouble is...that sexy little 16gb S9 is looking appealing...[thumbsup]

[Pete_S]

I think Arminius is simply voicing some irritations with the S9, and that's a healthy thing. 250 Euros is a lot of money and Arminius has every right to feel that the price tag should afford the type of experience desired.

I agree, there's room here for healthy criticism without folk getting angry.

The S9 has so much going for it, sound is A+, video is A+, looks are A+. The high price is justified, it doesn't really have a rival in these areas.

But, Cowon has still to learn (or care) about the complete user experience. They do seem to tinker with gimmicks like notepad and widgets (probably because it keeps sales up in their home market) whilst neglecting to polish their interface to a world standard, like Apple do. They come so near, then they can't seem to take that last step.

[Caleb369]

I agree, there's room here for healthy criticism without folk getting angry.

The S9 has so much going for it, sound is A+, video is A+, looks are A+. The high price is justified, it doesn't really have a rival in these areas.

But, Cowon has still to learn (or care) about the complete user experience. They do seem to tinker with gimmicks like notepad and widgets (probably because it keeps sales up in their home market) whilst neglecting to polish their interface to a world standard, like Apple do. They come so near, then they can't seem to take that last step.

Yes, but I don't think this guy is going so much for healthy criticism as, "Cowon sucks because they aren't perfect." [no]

[Insta]

Maybe you should go for a refund? It seems like you're not very satisfied. And when you spend that much money, you wanna enjoy a product. So even though alot of people here are happy with it, it evidently still doesnt suit your needs/meet your expectations so maybe it would be more advantageous to you to just take it back and wait for something else. The p3 is nice too, and the clip is a nice alternative if you're concentrated only on music. Hope you can find the one that's right for you ;)

[Arminius]

Hi all,

I just refunded my old S9 and got a new one. The sales man didn't want to believe that the device was that slow, tested it and said that there must be a mistake. The new one brings up to 8 mb/s which is better by 100 %. After having retagged a lot of my music I'm not facing too many problems with tags anymore. But one issue remains concerning tags:

One album with 2 CDs, put in two different folders CD1 and CD2. Tagged with tracknumber and CD number. When playing that album the S9 shows CD1 Track1, CD2 Track1, CD1 Track2, CD2 Track2 and so on. A bit annoying. Anybody know why?

Other criticism: Problems with artwork in ID3-tags remains. M3Us are not supported.

Even if few say I'm bitching about little flaws the product has, I paid 250 Euros ;-) 50 Euros for the material, 100 for development, 50 for advertisement and support and 50 euros for the right to complain [thumbsup]

Anyway, I'm sorry if I offended any body and I'm sorry if I destroyed the picture of the close to perfect player which everybody must hail to [devil]

Have a nice day and enjoy your music...

[Kizune]

edit: Forget it^^

[xenarchi]

edit: Forget it^^

.........+1

[AntiLamer]

Check out claws UCI maybe the upcoming msc playlist editor will support m3u ;)

M3Us are not supported.

[Don't Panic]

Hi all,

I just refunded my old S9 and got a new one. The sales man didn't want to believe that the device was that slow, tested it and said that there must be a mistake. The new one brings up to 8 mb/s which is better by 100 %. After having retagged a lot of my music I'm not facing too many problems with tags anymore. But one issue remains concerning tags:

One album with 2 CDs, put in two different folders CD1 and CD2. Tagged with tracknumber and CD number. When playing that album the S9 shows CD1 Track1, CD2 Track1, CD1 Track2, CD2 Track2 and so on. A bit annoying. Anybody know why?

Other criticism: Problems with artwork in ID3-tags remains. M3Us are not supported.

Even if few say I'm bitching about little flaws the product has, I paid 250 Euros ;-) 50 Euros for the material, 100 for development, 50 for advertisement and support and 50 euros for the right to complain [thumbsup]

Anyway, I'm sorry if I offended any body and I'm sorry if I destroyed the picture of the close to perfect player which everybody must hail to [devil]

Have a nice day and enjoy your music...

^dude where not a strange sect/cult! Good critisisme is alway appreciated! Just lets be adults about it..

[Headcased]

Yes We Are Ni Ni !

[kshelton]

Hi all,

I just refunded my old S9 and got a new one. The sales man didn't want to believe that the device was that slow, tested it and said that there must be a mistake. The new one brings up to 8 mb/s which is better by 100 %. After having retagged a lot of my music I'm not facing too many problems with tags anymore. But one issue remains concerning tags:

One album with 2 CDs, put in two different folders CD1 and CD2. Tagged with tracknumber and CD number. When playing that album the S9 shows CD1 Track1, CD2 Track1, CD1 Track2, CD2 Track2 and so on. A bit annoying. Anybody know why?

Other criticism: Problems with artwork in ID3-tags remains. M3Us are not supported.

Even if few say I'm bitching about little flaws the product has, I paid 250 Euros ;-) 50 Euros for the material, 100 for development, 50 for advertisement and support and 50 euros for the right to complain [thumbsup]

Anyway, I'm sorry if I offended any body and I'm sorry if I destroyed the picture of the close to perfect player which everybody must hail to [devil]

Have a nice day and enjoy your music...

Here I have something I think you really need.... **HUG**

[4DThinker]

Hugs could help. We need an icon for that. ;)

I buy and test players for my blog, and will admit that I've yet to find a perfect player out-of-the-box. Many that I enjoy now only got that way after one or more firmware updates. Even my Ipod Touch was limited when I bought it new, and Apple had the balls to charge me $25 at the time to make it like it should have been in the first place.

One thing is clear though, and it is that consumers must complain about the products for the manufacturer to believe they need to fix them. The second thing is not so clear... and that is the nature of modern electronics. Because they can be updated after sale, the manufacturer is under less pressure to make them perfect before releasing them. We are the beta testers, giving the manufacturer far more useful feedback than a small "test group" could. To that end I think these products should come with a notice inside: "We have released this product for sale knowing it is not quite perfect, but assure you we will continue to update it for you until it is. Check our web site frequently for updates.".

[Arminius]

Thank you for your useful answers... Some posts had a point and actually are helpful, other's well. Just one problem (USB speed) has been solved, the rest is still there.

Anyway, thank you guys who actually tried to help instead of telling me to STFU or take pills [thumbsup]

[Nirvana1000]

Hi all,

I've recently bought a Cowon S9 to replace my old Cowon U3... Since I've made a few experiences with my new toy I'd like to share them with the community. First of all I want to say that the Cowon S9 is a pretty nice MP3 player but it definitely has its downsides:

1) Coverflow. What the heck? I mean - if you're just not up to the task to implement it properly then DON'T DO IT. I can't show anybody what happens when I turn the S9 by 90 degrees. It's just too embarassing to have such an expensive piece of electronics which appears to try to imitate Ipods but fails just badly. So the G-sensor stays off until it works correctly.

2) USB connection. There's several problems about it, the proprietary usb cable is just annoying. Let's hope it's actually really (!!!) becoming a standard connection. Second thing I can't understand: The device has enough capacity to carry around several dozen albums, movies and pics. But why does it take more than 1 hour to fill up the whole 16 gigs? Just 4 megabytes per second? Come on, that's just ridiculous. Any crappy USB stick can do that. I expect a high end (and high priced) MP3 player to perform a lot better. Last thing that annoys me is that as soon as there's a USB connection the player just stops working and the battery is charged. Copying one album renders the player unusable for that time and charges it for a few seconds/minutes. Don't know if the built in battery likes that so much.

3) Problems with ID3-Tags. Any software (i.e. WinAmp, mp3tag) recognizes my mp3s and tags without problems - including artwork. Uploading some of these files to the S9 leads to a new "album": Unknown. Wow, some albums end up there, others don't. Deleting the artwork from the files, deleting the files from the S9, uploading the updated ones again is the only way to get them recognized properly... What a stupid procedure. Updating files directly on the S9? Well - nice try, but it doesn't always work and it is pretty slow because of the uber low rates provided by the crappy usb implementation...

At least 1) and 3) could be changed by firmware updates and I really do hope that it happens... The usb connection problem is just a very disappointing implementation of an interface that's been around for a decade. Nice work. Issue 3) is exceptionally annoying (because of issue 2), too). How do they want me to check if the S9 accepts a file or not? By uploading, testing, deleting, editing and uploading it again? Awesome workflow...

Right now, after having played around I'm disappointed that a device that cost me 250 euros just sucks that much in some aspects. Come on, you can't tell me that nobody is pissed off by a 16 gig device that just takes forever to be filled with mp3s and then bitches about some tags which other programs and players easily recognize without problems?! Nice thing to rip and tag your music and then just re-tag it because of a malfunctioning software-implementation...

Actually the above is just my 2 cents and I'd be happy to hear about your experiences and opinions. If there is any way to respond to those issues I'd be happy to take advice (yes, I'm already using fw 2.20...).


Have a nice day, Arminius
You do have a point(maybe too many).But i agree that Cowon should of had their shit together before the release of the S9!The common ongoing problem with Cowons products is the firmware.With a PMP with great possibilities and we have too rely on each other too improve the firmware.Apple is always ahead of Cowon in firmware and apps.Come on Cowon!Do you want this cloud over your head forever?Yes the S9 sounds and looks great,but get with it![confused]PS.We should be sending our complaints to Cowon!I did!