Recycled Computing

iPod touch or Cowon A3: What's a Mac User to Choose?

- 2008.08.25

Popularity: LEMLEMLEM

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

A confession: I am willing to admit that I do not own my own iPod.

Shock! Horror!

Behave! There are iPods in the Hatchett habitat. I don't own one personally. The kids do. My wife does, as well . . . if she can just find the tiny little thing.

Now, I suppose it's time that I joined the rest of humanity and owned a portable media player. But which one to buy? My daughter has the older nano, and one of my boys owns the new video (3G) nano. Linda, my wife, owns the mythological shuffle, which is so small that it disappears and reappears from time to time.

This leaves me wondering how to fill my personal entertainment needs. I can't let the rest of the clan have all the fun.

Right away I have to ask myself what am I going to use the PMP (Portable Media Player) for? If I just want to listen to music, it will be simple for me to pick up a simple and cheap device. However, nothing it is ever simple for us übergeeks.

After a great deal of research, I have narrowed it down to two choices.

The iPod touch

In this corner, the iPod touch. My fellow workers have them and swear by them. Since I cannot imagine buying an electronic gadget with only one purpose, the iPod touch (new software release) has all sorts of software to interest someone who thinks that better living can be achieved through electronics.

The iPod touch would provide me with all sorts of electronic functions to keep me too busy to do anything really important. I can synch my iCal and Address book to it. I can scan all those silly membership cards that clutter my wallet and save them to a photo file. The iPod touch has WiFi capability and a Safari browser. And there is all sorts of software available to make my live easier.

But there is not much memory, unless you are willing to shell out five fins for the 32 GB model. And there is (currently) no way to put Skype on it. And it does not have USB On-the-Go (OTG) on it.

What's that? What does it do?

Conveniently, it introduces the other portable media player that I am interested in.

The Cowon A3

Cowon is a Korean firm that manufacturers all sorts of MP3 players and personal media devices. The A3 has a 30 GB or 60 GB hard drive device and supports all sorts of audio and video formats. It also has a larger, higher resolution screen (4" 800 x 480) than the iPod (3.5" 480 x 320), and it can record both audio and video (at up to 1280 x 720 pixels - true HD!).

There you are, visiting your friends, and they have a CD or DVD you have always wanted. Whip out the Cowman A3, and you can rip it with out having to use a computer. You can run some microphones through a preamp and record live material from willing musicians. (Just bring back Jerry Garcia and you could make your own Grateful Dead bootleg recordings.)

USB On-the-Go

And the Cowman has USB OTG. On-the-Go allows one USB device act as a host for another USB device.

What does that mean? It means you can connect two USB devices without using a computer. If your camera's memory card is too full, you can transfer those photos to the A3 (not all digital cameras support this). If your USB thumb drive is too crowded, move some files to the A3. If your wife wants to listen to your songs on her iPod....

See where I'm going with this? The Cowman A3 can be a portable juke box, an ultimate sneakernet device, and a capable digital audio and video player.

There are a couple problems: It has no Internet access, no web browser, and limited software integration for Mac users. The A3 will appear on your desktop as an external drive, and you can drag and drop music and videos files into to it . . . but the iPod has it all over the A3 in terms of software.

What to do? I could be solving the world's problems, mowing the lawn, or defraging the hard drive on my son's Dell, but instead I'm thinking about which one to buy.

If I were Paris Hilton, I could buy both - but then I would be Paris Hilton. LEM

Purchase Links

Recent Recycled Computing Columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.