# Cowon J3 vs Zune HD vs iPod Touch 3G



## mth91

This is a very tempting and challenging decision I must now make. I'm interested in a new mp3 player, since I had to sell mine a while back for money problems. I have the choice between these 3 players, and i've already owned an S9 by cowon, and while I was quite impressed by it, I didn't have a huge deal of respect for the slow interface and the lack of expandable memory. The Zune HD would be nice since my favorite jazz station is now in HD instead of the regular radio format. The iPod Touch has a ton of apps though, and i'm guessing that with it jailbroken, I could probably install apps to play other video formats. What do you guys think? What would you choose? All input that I feel like reading will be repped.

I do like a large format support.


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## maxhudson

Zune is the best for video formats because most videos easily convert to its file type, but if you want the best all around one you should definietly go with the ipod because it has a way better touch screen, way more apps and a way better layout.


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## Chunky_Chimp

Quote:


Originally Posted by *maxhudson* 
Zune is the best for video formats because most videos easily convert to its file type, but if you want the best all around one you should definietly go with the ipod because it has a way better touch screen, way more apps and a way better layout.

The J3 natively supports Xvid, DivX, WMV, and ASF... the Zune supports Mpeg4, WMV, and h.264. It comes down to which ones he needs.


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## maxhudson

like i said the zune has easier formats to convert to... and more common ones


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## col musstard

i have a zune hd and it is great. that is if you dont want any apps. if you are interested in apps then you should get an ipod touch, but not the 8gb


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## maxhudson

Quote:


Originally Posted by *col musstard* 
i have a zune hd and it is great. That is if you dont want any apps. If you are interested in apps then you should get an ipod touch, but not the 8gb

+1


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## KBcobra

I guess I will defend the Ipod touch. I have the third generation 64GB Ipod touch. I love it to death. Its got the beta OS 4.0 atm so no jailbreak. Apple's app store is quite impressive. But what really makes the ipod touch shine is when its jail broken. The amount of apps it has jail broken is amazing. From playing GBA to books its all there. The third generation ipod touch I believe has the same or similar processor as the 3GS, so it too will have multitasking in OS 4.0. The web browser is amazing and so is the touch screen. I played with the Zune HD. Its a nice device. The OLED screen is sexy, but its web browser and (imo) its touch screen are not as nice as the touch. One downside I have with the ipod touch it's very fragile, battery life isn't great, and no flash support.


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## maxhudson

Quote:

OS 4.0 atm so no jailbreak
Cant post about pirating here. against TOS's


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## mth91

jailbreaking is not piracy


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## Kingdavid216

i would def go for the cowon, i have the s9, the cowon j3 is basically an updated verison. it sounds amazing, i did a lot of music comparissons with ipod touch 1G, 2G and 3G, and the sound wasn't even close. I even EQed them the same or tried too, and the cowon just sounded a lot better, so if you love audio quality or have the files to use, i HIGHLY recommend the cowon J3

PLUS, you get expandable memory, and new interface which is supposed to be great, so you're two worries shouldn't be a concern.


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## Drewgy

I used to have a Cowon S9, which the j3 kinda seems very similar to without the Bluetooth or microSD slot. The former isn't too much of a thing, as there aren't many good headphones in that price range, expandable memory is great though. Especially if you intend to have lossless audio on there. I'm rather miffed as to why they neglected to add WiFi too it though, seems like that would make it a perfect player.

I have a Zune HD now, and I do prefer it to the Cowon S9. The GUI of the player is very nice in comparison, they say the J3 has a new one, but if it's anything like the S9's then it'll have a bit of a learning curve.


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## Chunky_Chimp

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Drewgy* 
I used to have a Cowon S9, which the j3 kinda seems very similar to without the Bluetooth or microSD slot.

Actually the S9 does have Bluetooth. Enabling it vampires the battery like mad, though (at least it does that to me), but I have read you can pair it with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone and use it to answer calls.


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## videoman5

Cowon for audio quality and for the widest range of filetypes
Zune for wireless capabilities and video.
Apple for apps.


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## carl25

zune supports xvid now, avi as well


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## cbrazeau1115

Always a fan of Cowon's sound quality and screen. The J3 gets my vote.


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## Drewgy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cbrazeau1115* 
Always a fan of Cowon's sound quality and screen. The J3 gets my vote.

The screen on the Zune HD is OLED as well, very beautiful. Unless you're going to be using this with very high dollar ear buds, the audio quality difference will be negligible IMO.

Pretty good straight up specs review here. It appears the Cowon does have a nicer screen. I didn't notice a huge drop off when I got my Zune after the Cowon was stolen but I'd been using a Sansa Fuze for about two months in between so I wasn't used to anything as nice.


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## maxhudson

If you are just looking for something to watch movies and listen to music on, this is pretty good

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16855334001

or this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16855139001


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## Higgins

Quote:


Originally Posted by *videoman5* 
Cowon for audio quality and for the widest range of filetypes
Zune for wireless capabilities, *GUI*, and video.
Apple for apps.

Hit the nail on the head.
Although i'd say the smart sync and GUI puts the zune in front for listening to music, just not the best audio quality when compared to the Cowon.



Spoiler: Hidden Text Below!



Smart sync = Auto sync selected podcasts/remove old ones already listened to, auto sync selected music, remove any music rated broken heart (thumbs down), and mirror any changes to music synced with the zune (name changes, album art, deletion). For me, smart sync is one of the biggest pluses for the zune.


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## Chunky_Chimp

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Higgins* 
Hit the nail on the head.
Although i'd say the smart sync and GUI puts the zune in front for listening to music, just not the best audio quality when compared to the Cowon.

Trouble is, the Zune doesn't support OGG Vorbis or FLAC, so it's still not as good for music.


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## nathris

Quote:


Originally Posted by *videoman5* 
Cowon for audio quality and for the widest range of filetypes
Zune for wireless capabilities and video.
Apple for apps.

This. Also battery life for the J3. Its better than my D2+. Sometimes I'll forget to turn off my D2+ when I get home, and it will stay on all night, and when I grab it in the morning its still there playing music with barely a dent in the battery meter. I'm a lazy SOB so I'll do this 3 or 4 times a week before the battery dies and I have to charge it again.


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## yellowtoblerone

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Chunky_Chimp* 
Trouble is, the Zune doesn't support OGG Vorbis or FLAC, so it's still not as good for music.

Indeed. I don't know what can beat the T51 or Sflow2 in sound qual (at the current price range). According to Headfonia the ipod and zune are both limited by it's dac, while the Cowon has better chips. The sflow2 is running on the same dual dacs as a the Ibasso D4 dac/amp. I've got to say out of the ipod/hdzune/sflow2 in sound qual, ipod and zune has nothing on the sflow. I've never tested out any cowan products but only going by reputation.

In terms of video quality sflow2 is not far off from the zune hd. However the S9 looks amazing, thus I don't think it'd be far off from the J3, and I believe that is your best choice out of your current picks.


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## Chunky_Chimp

Yeah. I would have actually gotten the T51 if it had tactile buttons. I REALLY would love it but I need blind navigation.


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## Zero4549

Drewgy said:


> I'm rather miffed as to why they neglected to add WiFi too it though, seems like that would make it a perfect player.
> 
> 
> 
> I would imagine it's because the S9 was designed to be exactly what it is - a Music and Video player.
> 
> Unlike the ipod touch or zune, it doesnt try to be a game system or a cellphone or a word processor. It plays music and videos and it does that damn well. They use the space, weight, and budget for features that actually matter - never mind the electronic interfearance that is saved by excluding such a feature.
> 
> People who really care about their audio (and video) are the ones buying these devices, they would much rather not have it compermised or made more expensive by introducing features that are outside the relm of a music/video player.
> 
> Just my two cents.
> 
> On that note - If you dont have a need for ipod apps, get the cowon or zune.
> If you actually care about your audio quality get the cowon.
Click to expand...


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## Stocklone

I am going with the J3. I've already placed an order on Amazon. Here is my reasoning: I already own a Android smartphone. So I have no needs for apps. If you don't have a smartphone then the Touch can be a good choice. Second, I value expandable storage. It is so nice to be able to drop in an SD later after prices go down and double your memory capacity for $30. You cannot do that with Apple or Microsoft. I have a D2 and Cowon has the best sounding audio. Period. The battery life is amazing with Cowon as well. I was really leaning towards the ZuneHD 64GB because their interface is just so slick then I found out you have to use their software. I love MediaMonkey. I will not use anything else. In addition, iTunes is a bloated and slow so their is another strike against the Touch. If you really are looking for a straight music/movie player, I think the J3 wins. The screen is bigger, higher resolution, with more colors and is capacitive so it will be a big step up from my D2. I am selling my D2 to my brother for cheap. He is still using a CD player. Poor guy.


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## noob.deagle

i was thinking of replaceing my S9 for a J3 in the hope that the interface would be nicer/ smoother.

However the x.53 firmware just arrived and well its like they upgraded the CPU or overclocked the S9 because the UI is smooth now and everything runs so fast!, so really if they J3 is like the S9 after the update i think you made a good choice









also keep in mind the UI on the cowons is completely replaceable and there are heaps of custom UIs out there, so the default cowon UI is kinda bad/ ugly but the custom stuff is much much better.

i own a pair of Jays Q-jays IEM's and i can tell you the differnce between my brothers ipod and my S9 is huge. but if you dont own good headphones just get anything because you probably wont notice a difference


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## noob.deagle

also just keep in mind how damn sexy the Cowon players are


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## 161029

I had the same question in my head, Zune HD or Cowon J3. Looks like I'm getting the J3. I just asked one of the mods to post a thread on music players.


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## jjsoviet

Been a supporter of Cowon since I got my S9. Go for the J3 is you prefer sound quality and support for a large array of audio/video formats. The ability to theme it with .swf files is another nice plus.


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## darthspartan

I would go J3 better audio quality and cowon is amazing at what they do Love my d2+


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## Dirtyworks

Can I add that the iPod Touch has the ability to play lossless files? I have my FLAC library duplicated into ALAC for my iPod.
I don't know whether there are any differences between ALAC and FLAC's quality, but for home use I'd prefer to use something I trust


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## TUDJ

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Dirtyworks;11960628*
> Can I add that the iPod Touch has the ability to play lossless files? I have my FLAC library duplicated into ALAC for my iPod.


The J3 plays FLAC natively, although I wouldn't use or recommend lossless for portable use anyway.

I highly recommend the J3 over the iPod, I had an iPod Touch 1st Gen before my J3 and I don't regret changing to the J3 at all. Drag and drop is masses better than syncing with iTunes too.


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## Dirtyworks

Yeah, I hate that you need iTunes for the iphone/ipod touch. But idk what I'd do without a touch - it makes travelling without a laptop so much easier. I purposely don't have a cell phone and like that I have the option to hop online wherever I find wifi.


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