COWON J3 32 GB Portable Media Player (Black) | 
| Brand: Cowon
Category: CE
List Price: $299.99
Buy New: $294.99
as of 9/11/2010 07:03 GMT-5 details
You Save: $5.00 (2%)
New (6) Refurbished (1) from $249.99
Seller: JetAudio, Inc
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 3205
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Fragile: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 3.7 x 3.7 x 5.9
MPN: J3-32BL
Model: J3-32BL
UPC: 826487529434
EAN: 0826487529434
ASIN: B003Q6CUD0
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | 3.3-inch, 16:9 wide AMOLED; 16 million colors; 480 x 272 resolution; ultra-portable | | • | Play all your digital entertainment: movies, TV shows, photos, and music | | • | Touch-sensitive interface | | • | Bluetooth; voice recorder with internal microphone; FM radio; TV-out supporting composite connections; built-in speaker; and standard microSD card slot | | • | Maximum 11 hours of video playback and maximum 64 hours of audio playback |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Cowon J3 MP3 Player (32GB, Black) is one sleek music player. Along with playing your audio files the J3 also plays videos, photos, documents, and the FM radio. It also lets you record voice, the FM radio, and from external sources using the line-in. In addition to the 32GB of built-in memory the J3 also features a microSD card slot for playing and enjoying additional files. And when you want to share your video or pictures with an audience the TV-out connection lets you do just that.Other features of the J3 MP3 player include Bluetooth capabilities, G sensor technology for intuitive navigation of the 3.3" touch screen display, and a built-in dictionary, among others. And no matter if you're a PC or a Mac person you'll be able to enjoy Cowon's J3 thanks to its wide range of compatibility.
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| Customer Reviews:
 WHAT?! August 13, 2010
F. Soto
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
My Creative Zen:M was getting old, and I had already replaced the battery once so doing it twice was too much for me so I decided to upgrade. That's where the Cowon J3 came in, after doing my research I decided to take a chance on a brand I'd never heard of before.
PROS:
- Touchscreen is fast and accurate to the touch
- Beautiful AMOLED screen even when the brightness is toned down
- Plays AAC,MP3,FLAC,WAV,etc etc etc
- Video looks great and is smooth
- Plenty of options for video
- Plenty of options for music
- Recording, speaker, and mic are surprisingly decent
- Jet Effects 3.0 has tons of EQ presets and 4 customizable user options
- Alarm and Radio work great, you get tons of stations
- 3 ways to view everything on your screen, you can switch between them instantly
- Lock option on the side makes it easy to not accidentally turn on the player while it's in your pocket
- Play and volume buttons on other side of also make it practical when you don't want to turn on the player to change tracks
- Sound is amazing, especially with the BBE+ options as mentioned before
- Battery life is great so far, I get tons of hours before a quarter of the battery is even used
- Switches from horizontal to vertical back and forth with ease
- MicroSD slot
- Screen is very durable, it's gorilla glass just like the Cowon S9.
- Did i mentions there's tons of options for the user on this? well there's a ton, it does not disappoint in this reagard
CONS:
- Album art does not show up when you change to horizontal view*
- screen is very prone to finger prints as well as back of player, essentially the whole thing
- when you're listening to the radio and want to change the dial up(numbers ascending) you have to press the back button instead of the forward*
*can be corrected with a nice firmware update.
One thing I do recommend is that you don't purchase this directly from jetmall. Well, that's unless you like multiple charges on your credit/debit card. Amazon is the best way to go, as usually is the case. Overall this product deserves the praise it's been recently getting, just for the sound alone. It's so easy to use the design is simply great. If you want the white version of this though, you're not going to find it on Amazon yet, but it looks just as great from what I can tell and I expect Amazon to make it available soon. About the only thing I could find wrong was how easy it is to smudge the screen, but that's expected with any touchscreen, I'd recommend an anti-glare screen for this problem. Any other problems can be corrected with a firmware update. I have the 2.21 version right now, but I'm sure more are in the works as is per usual with these things. I recommend this product to any music fan, good luck on your search though, it never hurts to keep looking although I'm personally sticking with this one.
EDIT:
JUST DOWNLOADED FIRMWARE UPDATE 2.2 AND THE ALBUM COVERS ARE NOW VIEWABLE THROUGH LANDSCAPE MODE(HORIZONTAL).
Excellent Product August 28, 2010
ITDaemon (Bountiful, Utah USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I graduated from an 8GB Sansa Fuze to the 32 GB Cowon J3. I'm quite impressed with the J3. The screen is amazing. Sound quality is superb. Adding files to the J3 is as simple as dragging and dropping. It's expensive but worth every penny!
It's good August 12, 2010
raybies (Australia)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I purchased the 32GB black J3 and all I can say is it's good.
Battery lasts ~20hrs continuous playback with FLAC and Shure SE530's.
There's no hissing or sshhhhh; Sound quality is good.
It plays back every video file (xvid/divx) I've thrown at it.
Some of the preset audio enhancements add too much distortion... but that's to be expected.
Using it is a real pleasure.. precise and easy.
The screen is really nice; AMOLED :)
It does what it says in a nice easy to use elegant package.
It loads up ready to use in <3 seconds with 32GB full (FLAC).
Only thing I don't like is the proprietary USB cable.
Unsurpassed Audio September 2, 2010
Richard Madigan (New York NY)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I preface this review by noting that I have used it only in a PC environment. It is my understanding that it is very easy to inadvertantly "brick" this player when using it with anything Apple, even when running windows on a Mac using a VM (virtual machine).
AUDIO - This player definitely cements Cowon's reputation for making the best sounding portable players available. The only real problem with the sound is that the player is cabable of reproducing audio at a level that far outstrips the included headphones. It is almost like putting bicycle tires on a Ferrari. Anyone considering purchasing this player would do well to opt for a really good set of noise isolating or cancelling earphones. This is especially true if you listen to digital files recorded with a lossless format (like FLAC) rather than MP3.
VIDEO - The AMOLED screen is very bright and sharp regardless of viewing angle. The capacative touch screen is responsive and easy to manipulate. Picture quality is of such a really high caliber I do not think that there is much that can be improved upon. The main drawback regarding video on this player is that it is not supported by Amazon Unbox so forget about downloading and watching portable files in the .amzn format.
SOFTWARE - The only real downside to this player is the operating software/menu system. To describe it as counterintuitive and confusing is a bit of an understatement. Reading (and re-reading) the manual helps. I suppose that eventually one can get used to using any type of interface, but this really detracts from what is otherwise a very good portable media player. Cowon frequently updates firmware adding incremental improvements, so it is important to periodically check and make sure that you are running the latest firmware version (the one that ships with the unit is not, so immediate updating should be done as soon as the unit is charged).
CONCLUSION - This PMP is geared towards users who are willing to pay a premium for an improved listening experience compared to other units on the market. It meets those expectations right out of the box, but for really superlative audio, splurge on earphones that can take advantage of the J3's capabilities.
 COWON J3 32GB problematic at best August 28, 2010
metdrie (Brooklyn, NY)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
It's a little hard to review a product that you had to return 3 times and ultimately will receive a refund for but I feel there are a few things I need to point out here in detail about my experience. The take away here is that something may be seriously wrong with this player and you may want to consider reading this in it's entirety and then searching abi or similar forums and see what other experiences people are having with the COWON J3 32GB. At the time of this writing, based on my experience and 3 returns later, I cannot recommend this device to any consumer until the problem is fixed either through firmware or a recall of the device if the problem is hardware related.
(The experiences below are being done under MAC OS X 10.5.8 unless otherwise noted in specific areas where Windows 7 or Windows XP64 was used to try and access the bricked or inoperable device) -
Experience with Amazon -
As per my past experiences with Amazon in all capacities, they have handled this situation with top honors. I in no way believe Amazon is at fault in this situation and they have taken an acceptable course of action as per their policy. Returns were processed quickly, the 3rd COWON J3 32GB shipping the fastest.(I guess for the inconvenience)The refund should not be a problem once they receive the 2nd and 3rd COWON 32GB J3s.
The 1st COWON J3 32GB -
Was received on Aug 17th, 2010 10:56:00 AM - The mail room delivered the J3 to my desk around 11:30am.
1. I plug-in the player and let it charge the entire afternoon.
2. Safely eject and then unplug player as I'm about to leave the office.
3. Get home, connect the player and load up 3 albums.
4. SAFELY eject the J3(COWON players are notorious for "bricking"(becoming inoperable very easily if removed from MACS without dragging the device to the trash, yet they are advertised as having OS X support) - could you imagine if your phone, HD's or other usb devices were advertised as having "MAC support" and simply stopped working the first time you didn't eject the device properly?
4. Turn player on and select language.
5. I tap my region and the player shuts off.
6. The 32GB COWON J3 refuses to turn on, be recognized as a drive or see a USB connection.
7. It's completely dead and reset or anything else works to turn it on.
I call AMAZON and the end result of our conversation was to send a NEW unit out.
The 2nd COWON J3 32GB -
Was received on Aug 19th, 2010 12:33 AM - The mailroom delivered the J3 to my desk around 1:30pm.
1. I plug-in the player and let it charge same as before.
2. Unplug player as I'm about to leave the office.
3. Get home, connect the player and update the firmware first.
4. There are a few problems and the J3 player does not react well to FW 2.21
5. So then I update to FW 2.22 which is much better and the J3 responds well to the update.
6. I load up many albums and am able to use the device from Aug-19th to Aug-22nd
7. Aug-22nd, late in the evening I decide to load more of my music onto the J3.
8. When I turn the J3 on after loading the music, it does not pass what looks like 23% of the loading bar and is stuck. There are a few forums where this is discussed. The problem apparently is not unique to my experience what I would like to know is if they were 32GB, 16GB or 8GB units.
9. The device because it's "stuck" cannot be read by MAC OS X, Windows 7 or Windows XP64 and does not even go into battery charging/usb connected mode.
10. After digging around Google and trying a few things, none of which worked, I decided to call Amazon and send the unit back and ask for a refund.
After reading a few forums and many google searches later, I think I know what's wrong so I call Amazon and have them send me a 3rd device instead of the refund.
The 3rd COWON J3 32GB -
Was received on Aug 25th, 2010 11:12 AM - The mailroom delivered the J3 to my desk around 12:36pm.
1. I plug-in the player and let it charge same as before.
2. Unplug player as I'm about to leave the office.
3. Get home, connect the player and update the firmware first.
4. Based on the past experience with FW 2.21 I skip right to FW 2.22.
5. I go into every single music folder and delete any file that could be corrupting the J3.
6. I download and install blueharvest and set it to remove any .DS_Store, Thumbs.db, .Spotlight-V100, .Trashes and a host of other hidden files that could harm the J3.
7. I transfer about 4GB's of music and turn the player on. Device works fine.
8. 12GB and the player still loads up and I can play music just fine.
9. 25GB and then...
8. When I turn the J3 on after loading the new music, it does the same thing as the 2nd J3 and does not pass what looks like 23% of the loading/progress bar and is stuck yet again. At this point I simply cannot believe what I'm seeing.
9. The device because it's "stuck" cannot be read by MAC OS X, Windows 7 or Windows XP64 and does not even go into battery charging/usb connected mode.
10. I try a number of solutions from iaudiophile.net, none of which change the status of the J3.
11. This time I send the device back for good as per Amazon policy they cannot send me out a 4th device.
12. Amazon now has the item under review as per their 3x item return policy. Now it has to go through a quality check.
Now here's the strange thing which makes me wonder if this is a capacity issue or a file issue?
1. I load up a 16GB Cowon D2 and put the same files as I had put on the J3. Everything loads(no jammed progress bar) and the music plays just fine without a problem. As my D2 has always done. Then I load the same music files onto an iPod Touch I use for testing purposes. Not a problem. Not a hiccup. Remember what I wrote above:
7. I download and install blueharvest and set it to remove any .DS_Store, Thumbs.db, .Spotlight-V100, .Trashes and a host of other hidden files that could harm the J3.
So what is causing these players to jam up in this manner? I don't believe this is a problem with the 8gb and 16gb models or has anyone else experience the progress bar locking up in this manner in a non 32GB model?
2. I also specifically remember in the past my COWON A2 and D2 having many .DS_store, .Spotlight and .Trashes files in folders that were ripped from iTunes. These never seemed to bother those players in anyway and I only saw these files when looking at the very top level view of a music folder when the device was connected via USB. Correct me if I'm wrong here but shouldn't new technologies and new innovations and devices be more solid and progressive based on advances in the aforementioned?
SQ = Sound Quality -
For the few days that the 2nd player worked I did notice a "clearer" sound vs the D2 and the A2 and I know there are many that might argue the D2 is comparable. I personally find a touch more clarity in the J3's sound and overall it's a more enjoyable listening experience. Hopefully they get the problems worked out. With over 90GB of music a Two things COWON is known for is battery life and sound quality. I'm using a pair of ETYMOTIC ER-6i and the combination of these two together is an audiophiles dream.
Unfortunately this is where my writing will have to end as anything else will be unfair to COWON, Amazon and the experience as a whole. I've already added brief moments of speculation and emotion solely because I believe COWON had a winner here and dropped the ball on this. I also have exclusively purchased COWON players over the last 4 years because their superior sound quality and my overall experience has been strictly enjoyable until now. Thank you.
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