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Cowon teases iAudio 9 overseas

The Korean version of the Cowon Web site is showcasing a teaser for a new portable media player named the iAudio 9.

Donald Bell Senior Editor / How To
Donald Bell has spent more than five years as a CNET senior editor, reviewing everything from MP3 players to the first three generations of the Apple iPad. He currently devotes his time to producing How To content for CNET, as well as weekly episodes of CNET's Top 5 video series.
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Photo of the Cowon iAudio 9 MP3 player.
The Cowon iAudio 9 is an overdue replacement for our favorite do-everything budget MP3 player, the iAudio 7. Cowon Korea

For years, the Korean brand Cowon has steadily churned out some of the best sounding, most format-friendly media players on the planet. And if the latest round of iPod and Zune coverage had you asking "Where's the XviD support for all my torrents of 'Rock of Love'?" then Cowon may have a new player that's perfect for you (actually, it already does).

The Korean version of Cowon's Web site is showing some teaser images and specs for a new media player called the iAudio 9. Presumably a radical makeover of the iAudio 7 (winner of a 2007 Editors' Choice), the iAudio 9 looks to have the same unique diagonal scroll navigation, along with music, videos, voice recording, photos, FM radio, text, Flash, and TV-out capabilities. Specifically, the iAudio 9 boasts MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, FLAC, and APE audio format support, along with a truckload of video formats, such as AVI, WMV, XviD, and ASF. Which is not to say you're going to want to watch a ton of videos on the iAudio 9's 2-inch screen--but that's where the TV output may come in handy.

Now for the bad news. Cowon offers no indication of pricing, capacity, or release date. We can't even be certain it's coming to the U.S., so don't get your FLAC-listening, XviD- watching hopes up just yet.

(ViaAnythingButiPod)