Zune HD or Cowon S9

jozi

I ordered an S9 last week and this week I get an email to say they are out of stock and expected to be in stock by the 16th of this month.

So, I'm thinking do I cancel, they gave me that option, and get a Zune HD?

Either players are a nice piece of kit. I think the zune is slightly smaller? Maybe the S9 has better sound quality?

I've not really looked to much into the ZuneHD. Only thing I know about it that I wouldn't be to happy about is no drag n drop, no idea how the software works.

Patiently wait and never know what the Zune is like or Get a zune and never know what the S9 is like :P

pleasant Co.

What do you need from the player? both of these have pro's and con's that might be absolute deal breakers for you.

jozi

Sound quality mainly and I've always had drag n drop because I don't believe in using software to transfer music.

I'm replacing my Iriver h140 with what was going to be an S9 (I think someone stole mine, went missing while out for a drive I loved that player.)

Rockbox would be great but I'm not expecting it for either player.

I think maybe the S9 has won me over now that I think of it Much better battery as well as far as I know.

pleasant Co.

Have you tried the Zune software? It's not so bad but it's what you'd have to use.

If I was in your shoes I wouldn't know which to pick either, they're both similar enough in function/size. The S9 is a little bit more rough around the edges but it is also more versatile and open, whereas for the Zune i'd need to boot windows and only windows and then use the zune software and only the zune software (I don't like the idea of being that locked down one bit), on the plus side the Zune has wireless syncing which is a real nice feature and something i'm surprised that hasn't been more widely adopted.

SQ-wise I believe they're much of a muchness, but then if you don't have the phones to match it shouldn't matter anyway (although given your a former H140 owner i'd say you've a nice set of phones).

I love the Zune GUI, have done from day 1 of the very first toshiba-Zune, but the S9 is very customisable with loads of lovely GUI themes created by the S9 fanbase.

The S9 wins out on format support, but the Zune is not so bad, but again you're locked down and limited to the few bigger formats.

The web browser might sway some to the Zune, which is understandable...still it's a bit kitsch really and nothing more than a gimmick on such a small screen.

jozi

I haven't tried the software, not needed it yet so never went looking for it

The software does look to be a bit of a restriction, for the right product I could prob live with it.

As for phones, I a set of Sennheiser HD 485's and recently got a set of their in earphone, no bank braking headphones but not the cheapest end of the scale.

The Zune GUI does look great! I do however like the idea of the customization the S9 offers There's a good user base for them as well.

I think you can prob see which way I'm leaning :rolleyes:

The wireless wouldbe lost on me unless it could work through a router back to a wired pc? I've a web browser on the phone and that sees no use, that's what pc are for

dixiefly

Jozi, where are you ordering the S9 / Zune from? How much is it costing? I was thinking of investing myself.

jozi

The S9 from advancedmp3players.co.uk I have only looked around for the zune very briefly today and found a zune site in the uk as well as some ebay sellers that had the HD version.

EDIT: Cowon iAudio S9 32GB MP3 Player (S9-32GB) = €295.24 Not sure if it's the cheapest, went with AMP for their reputation. Never actually had as much hasle ordering online than with them. Using credit card so they wanted a copy of the bill showing some digits and an address, they wont to ship to me in Dublin cause the card isn't billed to here (parents card) and now thats sorted the thing is out of stock which left me wondering do I cancel and go for a zune, look else where or just wait?

Amalgam

The S9 has great sound and the power to push it to a pair of good full size heaphones.

The S9 also supports formats natively that the Zune will probably never support, for various non hardware reasons.

..on the other hand, the Zune apps store and the potential that has will dwarf the S9 over time.

For quality and 'pure' audio and video use, I would go for the S9.

For multimedia with a heavy dose of fiddling with apps, now and into the future, with the Elephantine shadow of Microsoft support that goes along with it, I would go for the Zune.

jozi

The S9 arrived today, sitting at home waiting for me

Pity I won't be home till the weekend thou :mad:

Not to impressed with AMP3, took way to long , some correspondence went unnoticed and they wouldn't ship to my address in Dublin (using parents credit card). On the flip side thou, used their forums a little and pretty quick replies, which lead to the unnoticed correspondence being noticed.

The player had gone out of stock by the time they received/seen my email with the top of a creditcard bill in it, then it was instock again but headphones were out of stock then, emailed to change it to a different pair and got refunded and order was on the post the same day.

Can't wait to get messing with it Will have to make an excuse to go home this week end for it