Just a note - the Archos may be cheaper, but I've had poor experiences with the latest ones. The screens are piss-poor quality - the image is OK, but there are tons of dead pixels (you need 4 before it's a warranty issue) for an 800x480 screen. Given industry standards, that's somewhat below BenQ quality...

Also, I've had the hard drive in mine come back bad and die two days later.

(Yes, I'm bitter. But that's because I ordered a 605WiFi, had it come to be DoA, and the replacement had the bad hard disk. Both had dead pixels on the screen, too. Oh yeah, the replacement 605 came last week. I ordered the damn thing the first week of September! So I spent nearly $500 ($400 for the player, tax, and shipping) over 3 months with nothing to show for it!

Worf

@bgivnin: With that screen size, unless it turns completely off to save power, I'm not surprised at the audio time.

Also, we don't anything about the processor, which may also play a part in sucking up juice.

Sqube

Insane format support is well worth the price, which really isn't much of a premium over others in this category. The iPod touch isn't even a contender as a serious video player as far as I'm concerned, with its extremely limited codec support. Cowon just needs to get some better marketing put together for the US and they'd move a lot more of these.

otaking241

"The Catch: At $350/$400 for 30/60GB, this much PMP doesn't come cheap."

For what it offers, and with a larger screen than the iPod, I'd say that this seems to be a somewhat fair price. If it weren't that I already have an iPhone, I'd probably consider something like this.

MisterX

The design of the A3 is also less, oh, I don't know... fiddly... than the Archos players.

But the great feature it has over the Archoses (?) is that it can display RAW files! The only other portable devices that do that are the more dedicated photo backup devices from Epson, Wolverine, Joby, etc.

I'm going to check this thing out a bit further. If its video recording is good, I'm in.

hobojoe

For starters, it actually has a 60GB model, though in the post-ipod classic world that doesn't seem like much. It also has high-quality TV-out, with a component cable. A little research shows (from anythingbutipod.com) shows that new codecs include: troska, h.264, VOB, Apple Lossless, AAC, APE, GIF and TIF. Screen is now 800x480.

I'd say featurewise the price tag isn't bad at all. It just looks bad next to the Zune 80 and ipod classic in terms of storage / price. Sadly, with all this video features, this player could really use 160gb.

Ypoknons

The problem for me is that it looks identical to the A2 and has similar battery life. What's the major improvement?

napes22

I would definitely get this. The A3 can record from virtually any source ... even straight from your DVD player, with no docking stations required. It also supports more formats than any other PMP out there, has external stereo speakers, a beautiful high-res screen, etc. Well worth the money.

cameraz

Maybe this will spur Creative to finally add Text Reader functionality to its Zen W player.

That is a glaring oversight in an otherwise very competitive, and now slimmer, player.

darex

The battery life on that thing is a touch on the low side. Audio: 10 hours, Video: 7 hours.

While it's fantastic that the thing gets 7 hours of video, that 10 hours of audio just seems... odd.

Here's hoping that's a typo. That's a great price but the battery life is borderline offending.

I'll wait for some reviews before I look further into this as a decent PMP.

bgivnin

@CarbonatedWater:
@Marty_MacFly:
I think it's a fair price too.

I wouldn't buy one either, but this player can natively do a lot of things the iPod Touch/Zune couldn't possibly do, and a lot of things the iPod Touch/Zone *could* do, but choose not to.

Cowon just needs to get their form factor down and they'll have a serious contender, not just an extremely adept PMP that gets mostly ignored by the public and Gizmodo because it's not sexy enough.

Keebler

"At $350/$400 for 30/60GB, this much PMP doesn't come cheap."

Am I missing something? That seems like a fair price to me.

Marty_MacFly

I don't think it's that overpriced. I'd still rather have an iPod Touch though.

CarbonatedWater

Ill take the New-est Archo's Player.. or the Ipod Touch : )
and or course the Zune.. he he he : )

DJJS

Three words. U. M. S. Cowon has it on all their players, Apple doesn't. That's why I have a D2, and while I'll be getting the X7, which is the touch screen version of this.

davekaybsc

I have an A2 for about a year now and it is terrific. The recording capabilities are great for moving DVR content to it. The A3 adds VOB support which is nice. I agree that I wish they would bump up the storage space. The thing that I like most about the A2 (and I assume that it would be true of the A3) is that all the accessories that you need ship with the product, case & AV cable specifically. Not like the iPod and most other players where these would be $20+ add ons.

thevideofan