Playlist Limitations
 

Just wondering if anyone has managed to crack the playlist limitations that virtually all Cowon devices have? I've emailed Cowon probably five times and it's really disappointing that I've never received one answer from them. They have the worst customer service for and mp3 player that I've ever dealt with and I've dealt with a lot. I realize this may be a firmware issue and therefore not breakable but it sure would be nice if we could get around this. My main playlist has well over the limit placed on playlists so I can sync it but only get a sampling of songs. I really am having a tough time with Cowon and feel that the reason they have a small customer base is because they don't want to resolve any of these issues. Oh, and the funny thing I heard from a pal living in China. They don't have playlist limitations on their devices. It's only us! So, what gives? Was my friend pulling my leg or is it that Cowon really couldn't give a darn about the U.S.?

It is disappointing. I do give Cowon credit for improving some stuff for the S9 with the firmware (gapless, improved album art display), but the .m3u support on the S9 still has issues well after Cowon should have resolved them. I'm not sure if I'll go for a J3, since I'm thinking that I'll hopefully still get a lot of life out of my S9 before I buy another Cowon. I did hear that even the J3 has some .m3u issues. Last I heard was that .m3u playlists aren't supported for sound files on the microsdhc, which seems like something pretty basic that they should have had worked out right out of the box. I mean, come on, even my Sansa Clip+ could recognize .m3u playlists with the original firmware right out of the box. Despite the quirks, I'm still pleased with Cowon. I guess when it comes down to it, having custom firmware like Rockbox is the best solution, since the Rockbox team does seem determined to implement features in their firmware, whereas a lot of times the manufactures don't seem to be all that motivated. I guess the quality of firmware updates could affect whether or not a customer will buy another model in the future. So it would seem beneficial for companies to provide quality firmware updates. But if they're just interested in the short term, once they have your money for purchasing the player, that might explain why some manufacturers' firmware updates leave a lot to be desired.

I like the Cowon hardware, they seem to fall flat on their faces on the software side. Too bad too, I hate Zune's but their playlist support especially for the ad-hoc dynamic playlists, ect are pretty nice if Cowon could throw in something like that it would make me very happy.