Cowon Systems, Inc. (simply known as Cowon) is a South Korean
consumer electronics and
software corporation. The company’s initial focus was software development and
microelectronics, specializing in
speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal languag ...
and
speech recognition technology.
In 2000, with the introduction of the
iAUDIO CW100, Cowon expanded into the
portable media player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
industry, which is now the core of their business.
In 2010, Cowon was ranked number one in the PMP category of Japanese Management Association Consultants’ Global Customer Satisfaction Competency Index, and in 2011, it was ranked number one in the same organization’s Global & Great Brand Competency Index.
In the west, Cowon is most well known for its
iAUDIO range of portable media players, which has resulted in many people incorrectly referring to the company as “Cowon iAUDIO” or simply “iAUDIO.” Outside the domestic market, Cowon iAUDIO's sales and market share have always been minuscule - however, it gained a certain niche market and retains a loyal following from fans and enthusiasts.
Products
In its marketing, Cowon distinguishes between "
MP3 players" and "
portable media players," where the latter are larger and have a greater focus on video playback. The categories differ slightly between the Korean and the global homepage.
All Cowon products are produced domestically in South Korea.
MP3 players
*
Cowon M2 (2014)
*
Cowon E3 (2014)
*
iAUDIO 9+ (2013)
*
Cowon D20 (2013)
*
Cowon X9 (2012)
*
iAUDIO 10 (2011)
*
Cowon C2 (2011)
*
Cowon X7 (2010)
*
Cowon J3 (2010)
*
iAUDIO E2 (2009)
*
iAUDIO 9 (2009)
*
Cowon S9 (2008)
LIAAIL products
Cowon’s LIAAIL division, founded in 2011, focuses on personal audio and cell phone accessories. Among its products can be found:
* Earphones
** Cowon BT2
**
Cowon EM1
**Cowon EF1
**
Cowon XE1
**Cowon CE1
**Cowon SE2
**Cowon EM2
* Cell phone cases
** Bird Case
** Tree Case
** Leather Case
** Jelly Case
* Cell phone screen protectors
Other products
* Cowon AD1, car camera released in 2012
* Cowon AC1, car camera released in 2012
*
Cowon W2,
Windows 7-based
ultra-mobile PC released in 2010, available in 60 and 80 GB models
* Cowon W2 SSD, Windows 7-based ultra-mobile PC equipped with a
solid state drive, released in 2010, available in a 32 GB model
*
Cowon L3,
GPS navigation device and
in-car entertainment system released in 2009
* Cowon N3, GPS navigation device and in-car entertainment system released in 2007
Discontinued products
*
Cowon D20
*
Cowon iAUDIO 10
*
Cowon C2
*
Cowon D3 Plenue
*
Cowon X7
*
Cowon J3
*
iAUDIO E2
*
iAUDIO 9
*
Cowon D2+
*
Cowon S9
*
Cowon D2
*
Cowon iAUDIO 7
Portable media players
*
Cowon G7
* Cowon T5
*
Cowon Q7 Plenue
*
Cowon A5 Plenue
*
Cowon R7
*
Cowon V5S
*
Cowon 3D
*
Cowon V5W
*
Cowon V5
*
Cowon O2
*
Cowon iAUDIO X5
* Cowon A3
* Cowon A2
JetEffect
Each Cowon player is equipped with a set of software sound enhancement technologies collectively referred to as JetEffect. The latest version of JetEffect, JetEffect 5, was introduced with the release of the
Cowon Z2 Plenue.
JetEffect competes with products such as
Sony's
DSEE,
Samsung's
DNSe, and the
SRS
SRS or SrS may stand for:
Organizations and companies
* Savez Radio-Amatera Srbije, a Serbian amateur radio organization
* Sea Research Society, for diving and underwater archaeology
* Serbian Radical Party (''Srpska radikalna stranka''), a poli ...
technologies found in products by
iriver and
Samsung and in products by
HTC and
HP, where they are branded as "Beats Audio".
Features
In its latest iteration, JetEffect contains the following sound effects and enhancements:
* Five-band
equalizer
*
BBE+
** BBE+
** BBE Mach3Bass
** BBE 3D Surround
** BBE MP Enhance
* Special Effects
**
Reverb
** Stereo Enhance
In JetAudio
History
* JetEffect 2.0
* JetEffect 3.0
* JetEffect 5
Software
Computer software
* JetAudio,
media player application for
Microsoft Windows first released in 1997
* JetVideo, video player application for Microsoft Windows with features which partially overlap with those of JetAudio. Like JetAudio, it relies on external
codecs (such as those included in the
K-Lite Codec Pack
The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of audio and video codecs for Microsoft Windows DirectShow that enables an operating system and its software to play various audio and video formats generally not supported by the operating system itsel ...
) for some of its data
decoding
Decoding or decode may refer to: is the process of converting code into plain text or any format that is useful for subsequent processes.
Science and technology
* Decoding, the reverse of encoding
* Parsing, in computer science
* Digital-to-analog ...
.
Android apps
* JetAudio for Android
* JetVD
''JetVD'' is an Android
application
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...
for downloading videos from
YouTube in a wide selection of formats. It was first introduced to users of the
Cowon D3 Plenue with the upgrade to
firmware
In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide h ...
version x.55. An online version of JetVD, calle
JetToy exists in
beta stage.
Other software
Other software developed by Cowon includes the ''iAUDIO LDB Manager'', a small application for tagging music files with
timecoded lyrics displayable on Cowon media players as well as in
JetAudio.
Cowon also offers a number of freeware utilities, including ''JetCast'', ''JetMailMonitor'' and ''
JetToolBar''. All of the above are available for free download from the JetAudio website.
Cowon’s
ultra-mobile PCs W2 and W2 SSD come with JetToolbar pre-installed.
Cowon W2 product page
See also
* iAUDIO
*JetEffect
Cowon Systems, Inc. (simply known as Cowon) is a South Korean consumer electronics and software corporation. The company’s initial focus was software development and microelectronics, specializing in speech synthesis and speech recognition tec ...
* JetAudio
* List of Cowon products
* Cowon Z2 Plenue
* Cowon J3
* Cowon S9
* Cowon D2
References
External links
COWONGLOBAL.com
JetAudio (American homepage)
LIAAIL idea & art
JetToy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowon
Companies based in Seoul
Companies established in 1995
Consumer electronics brands
Audio equipment manufacturers of South Korea
Navigation system companies
Portable audio player manufacturers
Video surveillance companies
South Korean brands