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Cowon A2 firmware updated, plus price drops

Cowon A2 firmware updated, plus price drops

James Kim
Account in memoriam for the editor.
James Kim
Cowon's A2, the do-it-all portable video player with nice specs but not-so-nice navigation, has updated its firmware to version 1.61E. This update allows the user to multitask--that is, view photo or text files while listening to music. While you can do this sort of thing on an iPod and the Creative Zen Vision, Cowon (and Archos) has concentrated its efforts on video playback--until now. The firmware also fixes some bugs and offers enhanced zooming on JPEGs.

That's what I like about Cowon--the company is constantly updating its firmware and generally responds to consumers' requests. The next step is to make the A2 compatible with protected WMA and WMV files. Cowon has also dropped the price of the A2: from $399.99 to $379.99 for the 20GB model and from $449.99 to $419.99 for the 30GB model. Archos's 30GB AV500, which we like a tad better, lists for $500.