Unofficial Cowon S9 Q and A

[Mf1232]

Hey guys, this thread is specifically for any questions about anything about the S9. So ask away! Anyone can ask questions, and anyone can answer questions. Everyone is a help in this Q&A. Ask about album art, flash, battery, display, codec, etc, anything!

I owned a 16GB Titanium Cowon S9 for over a year. However, while using it in my truck to listen to music through the truck's stereo, I was in an accident. Not the glass screen itself broke, but underneath that is cracked, so my S9 was K.I.A.

[Sacramento]

I can help you with the album Art. You can add album art to any album on your computer using the program Mp3tag v2.42.
-If you have an album on your Cowon that you want album art on, remove it from the device.
-Edit it on your PC using MP3tag.
-Highlight all files you want to add an album art picture to (one album at a time).
-Right click the bottom left of the window and where there appears to be a grey CD and select "add cover".
-Select your Album art picture from wherever you have it on your PC preferably using a JPG image.
-Once your done editing, click; file>save tag (if you do not do this, your changes will not be saved).
-Transfer it back onto your Cowon S9.

That did the trick for me. Hope it does for you.

-Sacramento.

[Mf1232]

well see, i'm wondering if i should pu it into a different mode before i transfer stuff...cuz im using WMP...so should i change the msc thing?

[Sacramento]

I'm using MSC mode. So I'd say for emulating my results (all my album art shows up) then you should use that mode too.
Mp3tag will also let you know if there is album art already attached to the files in such a way that the S9 would recognize and show it. For transferring, I normally copy and paste in folders, though once you've edited your files and updated your WMP library it should be fine to use it to transfer them to the S9. Good luck. Ask me more questions if you need to.

-Sacramento

[Mf1232]

shanks

[Mf1232]

c'mon guys ask anything!

[Sacramento]

No bother

-Sacramento

[littlebuddha]

Mf1232 can u show us what it looks like with the invisible shield? does it cover the titanium sides as well?

[Mf1232]

Originally Posted by littlebuddha

Mf1232 can u show us what it looks like with the invisible shield? does it cover the titanium sides as well?

Yes, it does cover the titanium sides, very nicely. I have taken the pictures, but my sister took her camera and when to a b-ball game, so i will upload them tonight when she gets back, or tomorrow when she's home.

[El_Duderino]

Could you by any chance provide a more complete game compatibility list than the one already on the forum? So far people have only posted a few very small lists. When I get my S9 I can start testing games, is it possible to turn the s9 into a brick by testing Flash Apps?

[insta]

Not at all! The worst that can happen is that it freezes up, so you have to do a hard reset

[Mf1232]

well, i personally haven't tried many of the games, but i have tried

bowman 1 and 2: the arrow goes through your opponent instead of hitting them most of the time, and once there's a lot of arrows on the field it plays slow
johnny rocketfingers: pretty fun story game, runs fast, can be hard to click some options
fishtales: fun, hasn't crashed on me. only downfall is you can't save game
cureball: i find very fun, runs nicely
cubox: runs fast, puzzle game
defend your castle: not recommended, plays slow and laggy, hard to pick up the stick characters
nuclear eagle: pretty fun, sometimes a touch is unresponsive, and it runs slow when a lot of people get on the screen
darts: eh, it's ok, get's laggy once there's a lot of darts on the screen
mar's cookie drop: not the funest of games, kind of stupid...but it works good
nervous brakedown(spinn): challenging, runs fast, doesn't lag
puzzle(spinn): runs fast, responsive...once again, challenging
virtual drums and guitar: not recommended....end of story

bottom line, all game's get laggy once there's a lot to display, the s9 only has so much processing power. and the only way to exit most games is to press the tactile play/pause button.

i recommend small file size games that don't display much and don't require click-and-holding.

hope that helps...

[Olley]

Q: When can we expect the next firmware update from Cowon?
Q: When can we expect the Chrome S9 in the U.S.?
Q: What is the screen made of? Glass or what kind of plastic?
Q: CoverFlow in the Music app needs work. Is anyone working on improving it?

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by Olley

Q: When can we expect the next firmware update from Cowon?
Q: When can we expect the Chrome S9 in the U.S.?
Q: What is the screen made of? Glass or what kind of plastic?
Q: CoverFlow in the Music app needs work. Is anyone working on improving it?

So, do you think the guy works for Cowon? Ask realistic questions about performance, if he's tried the flash skins, etc. Don't ask nonsense when someone is trying to help.

I'll as a question: Can the home screen use custom wallpaper?

Also, for the album art transfer prob, try Media Monkey. Should solve your problems right away. Link is in my sig.

[Mf1232]

@little buddha, unfortunately my invisible shield has not arrived yet...but i will post pics when it does (next week) patience, and i will have your pics.

@Olley, the darkside is kind of right, i don't work for cowon...and those questions are hard to answer...but lucky for you i do happen to know some of your Q's
1) the next firmware update may be in march, it might get moved to april or later...
2) the chrome in the U.S., sources are iffy, but possibly late spring to summer.
3) screen is made of tempered glass with a light coating on the top which gives it that "plasticky" feel.
4) FW 2.07 made cover a lot better, in my opinion, so that might not get worked into a FW for a while...
don't absolutley hold me to those...like i said, i don't work for cowon, nor do i have friends that do...

@the darkside, yes you can. but you need to do it with flash editors, which are kind of crappy unless you pay for the full versions...and that's usually over 100 USD.

i will elaborate on ^those^ answers if you guys feel the need.
as for now, it's 9:13pm on a school night for me, and i stayed up to 3am last night...so i'm going to bed lol. Hope i helped.

[ryepie]

Originally Posted by Mf1232

@little buddha, unfortunately my invisible shield has not arrived yet...but i will post pics when it does (next week) patience, and i will have your pics.

@Olley, the darkside is kind of right, i don't work for cowon...and those questions are hard to answer...but lucky for you i do happen to know some of your Q's
1) the next firmware update may be in march, it might get moved to april or later...

So in what capacity are you getting this 'information'? Are you just an interested user? It's always nice to have someone doing what they can to help peeps on here, but it appears your answer above was complete guesswork, as firmware 2.08 is out now. See http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=39473

Or were you misinformed by your source?

Cheers.

[Mf1232]

crap, im really sorry. i thought i was looking for when 2.09 came out. not 2.08. i assumed most people knew that 2.08 was coming out within the month...

and yeah, i am just a really interested user...but i do have sources...and sometimes they are wrong. but this was my mistake, not theirs.

[dfkt]

Ad 1.) and 2.) - LOL.

[ugfrog]

Hi. I'm new here - I'm ugfrog. I have some questions about the S9, and about Personal Media Players in general. I don't own a PMP yet, but want to get one. I'm interested primarily in Cowon's S9 or the D2 - leaning towards the S9. Here goes:

(1a) What happens when a "wide-screen"-display PMP like the S9 (480 x 272) plays a 4:3 aspect ratio movie file?
(1b) Conversely, what does a video look like if it was originally wide-screen format, but it gets played on a 4:3 aspect ratio (320 x 240 resolution) PMP like the D2?

(2a) I know it depends on various settings used during the conversion process, but for decent-quality video and sound, approximately how big (in GB) would the converted file be (to be used on the S9) for a 1-hour movie, assuming AVI format?
(2b) Same question, but assuming WMV format? (I'm trying to determine how many movies I could put onto an S9 (16GB fixed-memory PMP that doesn't accept SDHC cards).

(3a) How good is the video quality on a TV when a PMP uses TV-out to a 36" or smaller TV, assuming the PMP is an S9 with 480 x 272 resolution?
(3b) Same question, but with a D2 at 320 x 240 resolution?

Thanks for any help you can give me on these questions. I've looked all over the web, and haven't been able to get much info.

Also, I've tried to register with Cowon's forum - but after 4 attempts on different days (and no response), I've given up. Does one have to purchase something from Cowon before they let you participate in their forums?

ugfrog

[bxbomber]

1, I've tried mp3tag and media monkey to add album art to my files, so far media monkey seems to work better, what I want to know is what is the preffered method to add the cover to all my mp3's.

2. Has anyone had the experience of the g sensor not working after playing a video? Happened to me yesterday. Was watching a video tried to watch the video in wide screen but it wouldn't flip. After a restart everything worked fine again.

3. Is there a way to make a videos start up in widescreen mode, I prefer that over regular mode. You wanted questions, I need answers