Digital Home Thoughts: Cowon J3 PMP Impresses

"The J3 certainly looks fetching, understated. While the S9 felt a bit hollow and the side panels – especially on the ‘chrome’ version – were fake plastic/metal, the J3 feels more substantial, yet not heavier. It has the exact same measurements, length- and width-wise, but it’s a bit thinner than its predecessor. It’s very pocketable."

While the iPod market gets updates every few months, other manufacturers have been busy making improvements to their own media players. Cowon may not be as well known in the Western world, but it offers a lot of good features to make considering it worthwhile. Why go with a company like Cowon when iPods are so easy to be had? Maybe you do not like iTunes. Maybe you prefer a different interface. Maybe you want support for a different range of codecs. Maybe you just want to try something different and stand out in a crowd. Whatever your reason, it is good to see that while the iPod does dominate, there is enough of the remaining market that some good competitors are out there.