First take: Cowon A3
CNET Senior Editor Donald Bell, shares pictures and his opinion of Cowon's new A3 portable video player.
After spending the last 24 hours abusing Cowon's latest
It's not all gumdrops and unicorns, however. I was a bit disappointed to see that aside from a dramatic jump in format support and screen resolution, the A3 is almost indistinguishable from the
That said, if I'm being completely candid here, most of the digital video geeks I know rip their content from DVDs or pull it off their computer-based DVR systems. The kind of serious file hoarder who's putting down $399 for a 60GB portable video player isn't buying DRM-wrapped movies from CinemaNow at $15 a pop. Still, it would be nice if Cowon offered the option.
Despite all the wizardry packed into the A3, my gut tells me it's going to be a hard sell for Cowon. Archos is selling their 160GB Wi-Fi-enabled PVP, the 605 WiFi, for the same $399 price as Cowon's 60GB, non-Wi-Fi, A3. Granted, the A3 is technically superior to the Archos in many ways, but the allure of the 605's increased storage, touch-screen interface, and Wi-Fi capabilities, is hard to resist. Could there be a prizefight brewing?
I'll be working on a full review of the A3 soon, but in the meantime, take a closer look at our Cowon A3 photo gallery.