Cowon iAUDIO 9 16 GB Mp3 Player (Black)

• Video and audio player with FM tuner, voice recorder, and text and photo viewer
• 2.0-inch TFT LCD 320 x 240, QVGA with 262K colors
• Up to 30 hours of music playback (7 hours of video) on one charge
• AV Out: Composite/Stereo
• BBE+ support

Quick list of why I choose the Cowon iAudio 9 I wanted...

1. Excellent Sound Quality

2. External speaker

3. Good battery life

4. Easy to use.

5. Don't need Wifi cause it eats battery and I would never use it.

I have spent over two weeks of searching reviews and youtube vids with the goal of meeting the above stated requirements. My head would spin as I would weigh the features and choices out there. One things I was not gonna accept was poor sound quality. I started with the Zume HD which was my obsession for a few days. Zune HD! Has the HD Radio which attracted me. So for the next few days I focused on the Zune only to find actual users posts on how poor the audio and ease of use was designed. I mean just to adjust the volume you have to use the touch screen three steep process. Plus you are locked into Zune proprietary software plus no spaker. I then stumbled on the Samsung p3 it had most of my requirement but the same poor users reviews, Plus much too many eye candy things I would never use. Build quality was good but Samsung support is poor. Then comes the Sony X; too expensive. Next I ran across found the Cowon S9 and I was hard press to find any negative reviews about the sound quality anywhere on the internet. But again no speaker caused me pause. Which lead me to the IAudio 9. Now on first glance it's a bit strange but it boast the same specs as the S9 unmatched sound quality. Nice external volume, skip and power buttons. External speaker, Micro USB sync which matches my Android Phone (less cables to carry) and 30 hours battery. All this is a small clean pocketable size that won't explode if I drop it. I mean come on; some people want the heft to justify the money they spend. Nonsense! Who wants to run around with a heavy device causing women to wondering if you have a herniated groin? Now understand this; I believe you should use the right tool for the right job. So if I wanted to watch movies on a plane I will buy a quality blueray player who wants to watch movies over and over again, twice is enought for me. If I wanted to search the net then I would pull out my laptop or maybe my android phone in a pinch. I want a MP3 player to play music an play it well. The I9 does this and does it very well. No toys added but tons of EQ options to tweak the music to your liking.

Expand your views and don't follow Adam's experiance with the apple.

Buy Cowon iAUDIO 9 16 GB Mp3 Player (Black) Now

I am a computer scientist, I get paid to do programming. That being said, I really dislike iPods. So when my creative M broke I said it was time to do some searching for something even better. This time I was looking for sound quality; I found it with the iAudio 9.

After going over a plethora of reviews I decided on Cowon as the manufacturer that I wanted. All of the their models had been praised as amazing sound quality, great batter life, and the best equalizers on the market. One of the biggest selling points was that it played FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and all that was needed to put music on there was drag 'n drop.

The only drawback that reviews had noted was the usability or UI of the player. It was not amazing and it had a learning curve, but after a while everyone said you would get used to it. That was the exact situation that happened when I got it.

At first it was more or less "meh" at the time I would have rated it a 2 star in that category, but after a few weeks using and playing around with it I came to terms with it. The functionality was all included, so even though not exactly my cup of tea it's okay.

That being said I still give this 5 out of 5 stars since everything else (sound quality, ease of use, equalizer, etc) was exactly what I was expecting.

Simple pros and cons:

+ Amazing sound quality and depth

+ The best equalizers on the market

+ Battery life is exactly as marketed

+ Extremely light and easy to hold/carry around

UI is annoying at first but after you get used to it

The instruction manual is very simple

Only by using it will you discover all that the UI has to offer (creating favorites, deleting things on the fly, etc)

Final summery:

If you value quality of sound, simplicity of layout, and plug 'n play then this is for you.

If you value UI and usability, I would be hesitant. Try finding someone who owns one to test it out.

If you value an iPod Touch, check out the J3

P.S.

For those wondering why I didn't get the J3, since it has all the same sound tech. specs of the iAudio 9, I had no desire for a full capacity smartplayer. Similar to the iPod touch, I wanted a music player, plain and simple. Fullscreen touchpad was pointless to me and all the extra features (apps, connection to the web, etc) are just junk in my eyes. I hate being connected so much all the time, I do that enough in my regular job anyway. It was also a few extra hundred dollars for these features I did not want, which was the final point in my decision.

Read Best Reviews of Cowon iAUDIO 9 16 GB Mp3 Player (Black) Here

Love, love, love this player! I have an iaudio6 4GB and iaudio7 8GB, which I thought were very good, but the iaudio9 16GB is the best one yet. The new thin design is really sweet. I use it daily for podcasts and audiobooks mainly and it is excellent for this. I installed podcatcher software MyPodder on it and it automatically d/ls my podcasts that I subscribe to when I sync to my computer. Unlike the 6 and 7 the iaudio9 has the added bonus of being Audible compatible. I have not found a better player for podcasts and audiobooks and believe me I have looked at a lot of players. As far as music goes, another plus is that it plays OGG and FLAC, that many players do not play. Sound is excellent. I am so happy that I bought this player. I would be lost without it.

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This is my 3rd digital music player. I Made the iPod mistake, enjoyed my Creative ZEN and moved on to the i9 which is by far the best sounding of the group. The sound of well recorded music (with no EQ or audio settings applies) is just stunning for a portable player thru quality headphones.

If you want to tweak the audio settings you can go on forever and store custom presets with very fine adjustments of multiple parameters but as I said, straight up well recorded (and encoded) music sounds great. No wimpy iPod bass here and clan,clear high's. The stereo separation is superb.

The UI takes a little getting used to but I figured it out within a few minutes without cracking the manual.

Having actual volume buttons on the side is a blessing too.

It is not the most popular player but just may be the best sounding (Source dependent of course) mp3, FLAC, .WAV player on the market.

March-2013 update:

Still loving this music player. I have learned to be careful to not overcharge it. The battery will get quite hot and the player will not turn on until it cools down. Perhaps it is a flaw or failure with my player but at most it takes 1.5hrs to charge from a computer usb.

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I haven't seen a lot of reviews for Linux users. I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 with Rhythmbox. (I'm sure all this would be true of Banshee as well.) Here's what I loved about Cowon iAudio9:

(1)Plugged it in and it automatically worked. I synced my podcasts with no problems and transferring music was drag-and-drop inside of rhythmbox. Amazing.

(2) Way lighter than I was expecting. Perfect if you're a runner.

(3) I heard the interface was challenging. It takes about 15 mins to get the hang of it. If you don't accidentally chose an Asian language at the start, I'm sure it will take you even less time.

(4) It truly does sound AMAZING.

If you use Linux and want an iPod alternative, this is it.