Cowon

Cowon
Hangul	코원시스템
Revised Romanization	Kowon Siseutem
McCune–Reischauer	K’owŏn Sisŭt’em

코원시스템
Cowon Systems, Inc.
Company type	Public
Traded as	KOSDAQ: 056000 (listed since July 11, 2003)
Industry	Consumer electronics; Computer software; Online distribution; Consumer electronics accessories
Founded	April 1995 (incorporated September 11, 1996)
Founder	Park Namkyu; Jung Jaewook
Headquarters	Cowon Tower, 689-3, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Area served	South Korea, USA, Japan
Key people	Park Namkyu (president)
Products	MP3 player list ; Z2 Plenue; ; iAUDIO 10; ; C2; ; D3 Plenue; ; X7; ; J3; ; iAUDIO E2; ; iAUDIO 9; ; D2+; ; S9; PMP list ; A5 Plenue; ; R7; ; V5S; ; 3D; ; V5W; ; V5; ; O2; Software list ; JetAudio; ; JetVideo; ; JetVD; ; Vokhan; Other products ; Q7 Plenue; ; AC1; ; W2; ; L3 TPEG;
Services	Services list ; Cowon Contents; ; Cowon Mobile; ; Cowon Shop; ; MUPUM; ; JetToy;
Revenue	KRW 121.2 billion (2010)
Operating income	KRW 9.1 billion (2010)
Net income	KRW 7.4 billion (2010)
Total assets	KRW 72.4 billion (2010)
Number of employees	193
Subsidiaries	JetAudio, Inc.; LIAAIL idea & art
Website	COWONGLOBAL.com; www.jetaudio.com

Cowon Systems, Inc. (KOSDAQ: 056000) is a South Korean multinational consumer electronics and software corporation. Established in 1995, the corporation’s initial focus was software development and microelectronics, specializing in voice synthesis technology.^[7] In 2000, with the introduction of the iAUDIO CW100, Cowon expanded their business to the portable media player industry,^[8] which is now their main area of business.

Cowon expanded to the American market in 2000 by founding the company JetAudio, Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California. On March 30, 2005 (2005-03-30), this branch changed its name to Cowon America,^{[citation needed]} but has since switched back to JetAudio.^[9]

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 corporation as “Cowon iAUDIO” or simply “iAUDIO”.

Products

In its marketing, Cowon makes distinguishes between “MP3 players” and “portable media players”, where the latter are larger and have a greater focus on video playback.

MP3 players

Cowon Z2 Plenue, Android-based portable media player released in 2012, available in 8, 16 and 32 GB models
Cowon iAUDIO 10, Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2011, available in 8, 16 and 32 GB models
Cowon C2, Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2011, available in 4, 8 and 16 GB models
Cowon D3 Plenue, Android-based portable media player released in 2011, available in 8, 16 and 32 GB models
Cowon X7, high-capacity Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2010, available in 120 and 160 GB models
Cowon J3, Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2010, available in 4, 8, 16 and 32 GB models
iAUDIO E2, ultraportable digital audio player released in 2009, available in 2 and 4 GB models
iAUDIO 9, Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2009, available in 4, 8 and 16 GB models
Cowon D2+, Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2009 (successor to the earlier D2), available in 4, 8 and 16 GB models
Cowon S9, Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2008, available in 4, 8, 16 and 32 GB models

Portable media players

Cowon A5 Plenue, 4.8-inch Android-based portable media player released in 2012, available in 16, 32 and 64 GB models
Cowon R7, 7-inch Windows CE-based portable media player released in 2012, available in 16, 32 and 64 GB models,
Cowon V5S, 4.8-inch Windows CE-based portable media player with study capabilities, released in 2011, available in 16, 32 and 64 GB models
Cowon 3D, 4.8-inch stereoscopic (3D-compatible) Windows CE-based portable media player, released in 2010
Cowon V5W, 4.8-inch Windows CE-based portable media player equipped with Wi-Fi, released in 2010, available in 16, 32 and 64 GB models
Cowon V5, 4.8-inch Windows CE-based portable media player released in 2010, available in 8, 16 and 32 GB models
Cowon O2 PMP, 4.3-inch Flash Lite-based portable media player released in 2008, available in 8, 16 and 32 GB models

Other products

Cowon Q7 Plenue, 7-inch Android tablet (marketed in Korea as a “Smart DIC[tionary]”), available in 16 and 32 GB models (possibly more)
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 TPEG, GPS navigation device and in-car entertainment system released in 2009

Discontinued products

Cowon D2
Cowon iAUDIO U5
Cowon iAUDIO 7
Cowon iAUDIO X5

Software

JetAudio

JetAudio (sometimes stylized as “jetAudio”) is a shareware media player application for Microsoft Windows which offers features such as ripping and burning CDs, transcoding audio and video files and recording from external sources. The commercial “Plus VX” version of the program includes unlocked BBE sound enhancement algorithms and a wider codec and file format support, as well as the ability to transcode more than 30 seconds of video files.

JetAudio incorporates several unique features such as bookmarking the current position in a song, looping a section of a song, a dropdown on-screen display with configurable content, a lyrics viewer window and a “sleep timer” for shutting down the computer after a set period of playback.

A copy of JetAudio is supplied on a mini CD with every MP3 player produced by Cowon.

JetAudio for Android

On May 24, 2012 (2012-05-24), the highly anticipated mobile application JetAudio for Android was released.^[10] Like its desktop counterpart, it is available as a free, “Basic” version and a paid “Plus” version, of which the latter is currently under development. When released, the Plus version will contain the same BBE and BBE ViVA sound enhancements seen in the Plus VX version of JetAudio for Windows.^[11]

JetVideo

JetVideo is a freeware video player programme with features that partially overlap with those of JetAudio. Like JetAudio, it relies on external codecs (such as those included in the K-Lite Codec Pack) for some of its data decoding.

JetVD

JetVD is a free Android application for downloading videos from YouTube in several different formats. It was first introduced to users of the Cowon D3 with the upgrade to firmware version x.55. An online version, called JetToy, exists in beta stage.^[12]

Other applications

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 (possibly discontinued) freeware utilities, including JetCast, JetMailMonitor and JetToolBar. All of the above are available for free download from the JetAudio website.^[13]

Cowon’s ultra-mobile PCs W2 and W2 SSD come with JetToolbar pre-installed.

References

External links

[1] Cowon corporate homepage

[2] Cowon corporate homepage

[3] Cowon corporate homepage

[4] Cowon corporate homepage

[5] Cowon corporate homepage

[6] Cowon corporate homepage

[7] ttp://eng.cowon.net/about/about_1_4.php

[8] Cowon corporate homepage

[9] ttp://www.jetaudio.com/

[10] JetAudio news story

[11] JetAudio for Android on Google Play

[12] ttp://www.jetvd.com/pc

[13] ttp://www.jetaudio.com/download/ JetAudio Download page

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