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Cowon scraps the 60gb-version of the iAudio X5
comment: 3 | Thursday, July 21 (2005) 03:31AM | Posted by Austin Vaughan
One of the guys at iAudiophile.NET recently had a chance to ask Cowon about the 60gb version of the X5, which has been available in Korea for awhile now, but only Korea. Unfortunately, it seems that they no longer have plans to distribute it elsewhere, for lack of interest.

"We decided to drop the 60GB verion of X5 from our line-ups.

We found there is very little demand for the 60GB version. So, X5 is currently available with 20G and 30G only. And, we don't have plan to add any additional capacity model for this line-ups"


This was from Kevin Kang, our main contact at iAudio, so we have to believe it's true...

If you were really looking forward to this 60-gig player, we'd suggest voiceing your opinion in this thread: LINK. Perhaps if enough people speak up then the decision could be reversed... but don't hold your breathe, business is business.

UPDATE: Kevin wrote in to say they never made the 60 version of the X5, not even in Korea. I could swear we've seen pics of it... ah well.

Thanks, En_croute
Comments

Pooh
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 05:06AM  

In that case, I'm going with apple of Mr. Jobs' eye.




kalmo

Comments: 9
Jul 21 (2005) 06:39AM  

Hi Austin,

"which has been available in Korea for awhile now, but only Korea." this is not true..We never produced 60GB version X5.

Famous,
Kev..




scottder

Comments: 185
Jul 21 (2005) 06:49AM  

I guess I can understand, but as a FLAC-a-holic I am a bit disappointed. Too bad a "special edition" couldn't be made...




Pooh
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 07:04AM  

My guess is that this decision had more to do with profits and price points than demand. It's perfectly possible that iAudio had good grounds for believing that they simply could not make a profit at the prices at which they could be sold.




pickle
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 07:20AM  

Is there a site that sells mp3 players via korean export?




storm
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 08:31AM  

Freakin hell. The 60gb X5 was the IDEAL player for anyone who had loads and loads of albums and also uses the external storage frequently. I was soooo looking forward to it to upgrade my M3.

Now they pull the rug from under me and say its not high in demand??




Anonymous in Iraq
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 08:38AM  

Well, I have been waiting for one of these since they were anounced. I have been waiting for anything not an Ipod to come out with something over 40gigs for months. I guess I am just going to have to take the plunge and get an Ipod, as soon as they anounce V5, as it does not appear anyone else is going to come out with one big enough for all my files. Such is life, and thanks for the heads up DapReview!!!!




Anonymous
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 08:39AM  

that link is messed up. " [Linky] " - gg




Anonymous
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 08:47AM  

Hey Kevin, is there a possibility of Cowon offering a device like the iAudio G3, but with an SD-card compartment? I have a G3 and it's been great, but I become tired of having to choose what music to load on it. I would like to bring a large amount of music with me, and removable memory is the only way I can do it. This is for active fitness workouts, so a HD-based player won't work for this purpose. Thanks for listening.


608zz (sorry for the "anonymous", but my post doesn't show up if I put anything in the Name field).




rpmeyers

Comments: 8
Jul 21 (2005) 10:04AM  

I was going to sell my ipod photo 60gb on ebay and buy the x5 when it came out. Looks like I will be sticking with my ipod.




Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2408
Jul 21 (2005) 11:48AM  

in fairness it is a niche market (like gapless), that the majority of users wouldn't need, although IMO gapless should be standard, anyhoo i like i audio and would prefer for them to survive for the DAP revolution that is fast approaching rather than go belly up due to producing a niche product such as a 60 gig X5




Pooh
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 12:23PM  

"in fairness it is a niche market (like gapless), that the majority of users wouldn't need"

If it is a niche market, how come the iPod, which is by far and away the most successful DAP on the planet, only comes in two sizes one of which is 60GB?

"and would prefer for them to survive for the DAP revolution that is fast approaching rather than go belly up due to producing a niche product such as a 60 gig X5"

To go belly-up like Apple?






Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2802
Jul 21 (2005) 12:33PM  

Apple can afford to take losses if their narrow selection is unsuccessful.




scottder

Comments: 185
Jul 21 (2005) 05:31PM  

Pooh,

Look at the ipod mini, the 4gb still sells MANY more than the 6gb model, I'm sure the 20gb ipod sells much better than the 20gb. Price comes into this and demand, and as ssjmichael pointed out, Apple has more capacity than Cowon does when it comes to taking losses. Does it suck yes, but I believe it would suck more for Cowon to put themselves in a bad postion too.




Pooh
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 06:04PM  

"Apple can afford to take losses if their narrow selection is unsuccessful."

An absurd argument for three reasons:

1) Apple is making huge profits and not losses.

2) Apple has been selling the 60Gb for more than enough time to ascertain whether or not there is sufficient demand for that model.

3) Apple has chosen to knock the 30GB out of its range and keep the 60GB precisely because the latter model is so successful.

Cowon have made a number of quite silly and possibly fatal decisions recently, including: its very latest flash model; a failure to implement ID3 tag browsing; a very high price point in Europe for the X5 as compared with the iPod (which is, rightly or wrongly, the benchmark in excellence and desirability for most potential buyers). This is just one more silly decision in a whole string.

If companies like Rio and Cowon continue in this fashion they might as well call in the financial undertakers now.






PeterDLai
Location: San Diego/Los Angeles, California
Comments: 149
Jul 21 (2005) 06:23PM  

I'm relatively satisfied with my 40 GB Sony VAIO Pocket anyway. 30 GB is too small, 60 GB is a bit big, but I would've considered it if it came out.

Oh well.




Jorrell

Comments: 20
Jul 21 (2005) 06:35PM  

whatever the reasons are I'll have to scratch that player off my short list of possibilities




mygigabeat

Comments: 73
Jul 21 (2005) 08:01PM  

If you looking for storage, and plenty of it, Toshiba are saying that they will build a 80GB Gigabeat.

Hopefully along with the new F41 and the F80? they will release a new firmware and software to address some of the current players short comings. On the hardware side the Gigabeat is as good or better as any other player.

The new generation of players from Toshiba will use the new perpendicular technology enabling the 40GB player to be a thin as the existing 20GB.

read more




storm
Location: China
Guest
Jul 21 (2005) 11:31PM  

mygigabeat:
" If you looking for storage, and plenty of it, Toshiba are saying that they will build a 80GB Gigabeat"

I myself would have upgraded to the Gigabeat line long time ago. But I want the full works on my player like FM, voice recording and a wired remote. The X5 60gb was a dream come true because it was a player that had everything I wanted AND had massive storage.

The Gigabeat only plays music and has massive storage. Not even a display remote, just a non-display version.




jansch
Location: China
Guest
Jul 22 (2005) 12:41AM  

looks like you can get it in germany:

[Linky]

... well actually i'm not sure, it sais preorder on the page ...




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