Cowon J3 8 GB MP4 Player

My search for a mp3 player started with a meager budget of 3k INR. And I was not planning on Apple, as the whole process of using ITUNES sucks. So the search led me to Philips, Creative,Sansa and eventually to Cowon.After checking out the various models and the reviews for a few of them, I finally narrowed down on to J3.By now the budget has multiplied 4 times. My biggest reason to own it was simply the no of people who claimed the sound quality being better than Apple, and I really was looking forward to listen to it.The J3 is all that what the reviews say - A super duper PMP player whose biggest strength is it's quality of sound and it really makes a huge impression on that aspect.Of course the default earphones are decent but a pair of your own will make a huge difference.Right now I've paired it with a decent 2XL from Skullcandy, waiting for my JVC HAFX1X
The J3 has a decent 3.3 inch AMOLED with Gorilla glass screen, which has beautiful contrast ratio and great colors.The J3 feels so light and still provides great battery life, in the last few days that I've had it, the battery has never run out, simply because it keeps charging whenever I've transferred any music to it(And it's not been on charge for more than 10 mins each time). Also has Bluetooth,Radio,notepad,flash games,and recording and so on.
One of the other great feats of the player is the EQ options or rather the jet effect options. I'm sure all of us have come across such similar rock,dance,pop and so on, and most of the time it doesn't really cut across by a huge margin. But in this one this is totally a class apart, each EQ setting makes such a dramatic change to the tune.I'm still in a discovering mode of the player, finding new stuff as i keep listening.
And also made a few friends to listen to the Cowon J3, first question which brand is this? And after listening to it,just awestruck with it.
My ratings for it 5/5.Period.

I would not go into any comparisons,simply put this beauty is cut out to do more than what you bargained for.apart from a lot of features that it has , i have tried to put the ones that we all look for in a PMP.

1. Build/Design/resolution- perfectly understated, not flashy, the J3 looks sleek,its AMOLED display gives you amazing picture quality and the album arts never looked better. The Capacitive screen responds pefectly .The tactile buttons are perfectly located and you dont need to go on a search mission to pause it.

2. Audio - The best part in the J3 is the Jet audio engine and the BBE Equaliser which give you full freedom to set your sound accordingly. It would be a shame not to tweak the equaliser and see what a beast of a player it becomes.

3. Video - It can play almost any thing (except MkV and MP4). Maybe its not mentioned in the manual, but it plays DIVx , XVID's and AVI's apart from the regular MPEG-4's.

4.Battery Life - Well I have got to say , its the best you can get.. at an average you get 40 hours of audio playback and 8 hours of Video.

The only drawbacks of the J3 are the stock earphones that come with it .You need to get that Klipsch s4 or a sennheiser to feel pure bliss.

Conclusion: It might look like an iPod Touch or Zune HD on a cursory glance, but it doesn’t try to be a jack of all trades the J3 is simply an excellent audio and video player, and that’s about it. Its focus on those two main features shows –Not cheap, but definitely worth it – highly recommended for people looking for a serious audio/video player.

if you are looking for a mp3 player for litening to music n watching movies on the go...this one is easily the best product out there..period!
compared to this ipod's music quality is of no match...just to show its quality relative to the most popular benchmark(i too was under the notion that ipod had the best sound qualtiy ever..i forgive me for this!)
utility wise..it supports flac and many more formates including ofcourse mp3. it has expandable memory..bluetooth...radio..which ipod doesnt..plus to need of any software to transfer file or sync. songs can be transfered from ny comp ny tym. rating of few features
screen A
sensitivity A
video A
sound A (with proper headfonemore 's)
UI B
cons:
need sum learning curve to understand various UI available.
not for apps and gaming limited to flash.no wifi.. dont buy it if u looking for apps n gaming and internet..
Must buy it u want to experience music at very new level..
Personal note...i dont skip a song on this devise..because every song sounds so good

I ordered COWON J3 8GB BLACK from flipkart. As i stay in Bharatpur so it is impossible to get this PMP in local market.I got late delivery but my player was well packed, i took 15 minutes to unpack it.
No doubt COWON J3 gives unmtched sound quality but u have to use better earphone.Its display is also very good. Its very convenient as u can drag n drop music.
If u compare it i pod touch 4G, apple has advantage.Bcz at the same price u get apple i pod touch 4G 8 GB.Apple provide u more features, gives u support of application center, u can use internet n many more.
So i feel Cowon J3 is very good if u consider audio music as ur sole priority but in comparison with apple i pod touch 4G 8 GB it does not gives u satisfaction of value for money.
4 STARS to COWON J3
BUT
5 STARS to FLIPKART