FOR CHRISTMAS 2008, I may be lucky enough to get a personal media player that costs less than €300. I've learned that if I blog about something (or add it to my wishlist), I often get rewarded with my lustworthy items. The Cowon O2 32 GB Video MP3 Player (in white, of course) is a touchscreen Personal Media Player that effectively crushes my desire for an iPod video. Nothing against the iPod video player but it's a matter of value for money and since I know that I need something with drag-and-drop AVI storage (480p or less) linked to a screen that looks really good, I'm test driving the Cowon O2 32GB player every time I walk past Peat's in Dublin, Ireland. This well-constructed PMP enables our creative multimedia students to watch their scratch video work quickly and on the go. It weighs less than a Creative Zen. Files encoded with Adobe Premier Elements drag and drop directly onto the unit or play back easily from the SDHC card. This little PMP isn't as lightweight as many of Apple's iPod options (and certainly it feels like a brick when compared to a Nano) but the things it can do!
Good on my ears. The audio quality, when pushed through either my Bose or Sony earbuds, is really good. It also plays FLAC files.
Easy, Recent Playlist. I've become addicted to my music players remembering what I've just heard. If I choose a file from my recent played list, the Cowon O2 jumps back to where I left it. This is a big deal when listening to podcasts.
Sweet Stand and Stylus. You don't have to use your fingers while eating your cinnamon buns because you can pop out little feet and use the Cowon stylus instead.
Document Viewer. It reads text files so you need to convert to text and when you do that, you get clear and readable course notes. This makes the Cowon O2 an essential piece of revision technology.
Photo Viewer is Weak. Maybe it's because I gave the Cowon O2 a card full of 72 dpi images because it gave me back blurry zooms. I'm going to do try the device with 8 Mp images from our SonyEricsson C905 Cybershot phone for a real test.
AV Out. Works well but you need to get a separate cable for around €20.
Video Playback. My 480p AVI files play without a bother but higher resolution files lag.
Previously -- "Frugal MP3 Player"