S9 Firmware v. 2.31b

[alanio]

Hey folks,

Cowon have yet again improved the functionality of their flagship player, the S9.

Here's what 2.31b will improve:

•Added the typist feature that is a notepad with a keyboard.
•Improved receiving quality, compatibility, and performance of Bluetooth.
•Support gapless playback in lossless music files (WAV, FLAC, APE, and LOSSLESS WMA) and OGG files.
•Support M3U.
•Support AVI files that are damaged.
•Fixed the error that frame color wasn’t changed in document mode.
•Fixed some minus operation error in calculator.
•Support Thai language.

Find it here:

http://www.cowonglobal.com/download/Fir ... _2.31b.zip

[alanio]

Hi macbeth,

No worries, I think I know how to solve your problem. Here's a guide to getting .m3u playlists onto your player.

Firstly, for those who don't know how to create a .m3u playlist file, here's how:

0. You'll need Windows Media Player 11 (WMP11), so if you don't have that, download, install and open it
1. In WMP11, click on the Library tab
2. Drag and drop any songs that you want to put on your playlist from your Library window into the right-hand pane
3. Once you've finished selecting your playlist files, click on where it says 'Untitled Playlist' to get a drop-down menu
4. From the drop-down menu, select Save Playlist As...
5. In the next window, type a name for the playlist you want to save (the save location isn't overly important) but be sure to change the Save as Type option (under the title) to M3U Playlist (*.m3u)
6. Save it, and you've now created your .m3u playlist. It will now show up in your WMP11 playlist list.

Ok, now, to transfer your playlist onto your S9:

0. Make sure your S9 USB mode is set to MTP (do this in the Settings->System menu)
1. In WMP11, Click on the Sync tab
2. Instead of dragging and dropping music files into the right-hand pane to create your sync list, drag your .m3u playlist from the Playlist section on the left-hand pane into your sync list (Note: The individual files will now show up at this point, just the name of the playlist)
3. Hit the Sync button and you'll then see the progress window with all the tracks from your playlist being synchronised across

So there you have it - the secret is to transfer the .m3u playlist at the same time as the tracks using WMP11 rather than dragging-and-dropping just the playlist file.

[macbeth]

Thanks alanio. I now have playlists. Two supplementary questions if I may (please move to a new topic if you think that better)

1. Playlists will only work in MTP mode - is that correct? So I have to re-import them if I subsequently change mode back to MSC.

2. Cannot get the S9 to TV to work. I have the correct cable but both of my TVs don't see the connection. TVs are a JVC (model LT32D50BJ) and a Samsung (model LE46A750).

Thanks

[alanio]

Hi macbeth,

1. Yes, I think the .m3u playlists will only work in MTP mode

2. On the S9, go to Settings -> Display. At the bottom of that menu, where it says 'TV standard', what is it set to? If it's NTSC, change it to PAL and that might help. If it's already set to PAL, then let me know and I'll go back to the drawing board...

[Guest]

On the S9, go to Settings -> Display. At the bottom of that menu, where it says 'TV standard', what is it set to? If it's NTSC, change it to PAL and that might help. If it's already set to PAL, then let me know and I'll go back to the drawing board...

Sorry, alanio, looks like it is back to the drawing board..... :(

[macbeth]

Don't know what happened there. The guest posting is in fact from me.

[alanio]

Hmmm... Ok, bummer. I know Samsung TV's have excellent connectivity (I have one myself). What input are you going through? Is it AV, or through Scart with an adapter?

Also, forgive me for 'stalking', but I found your account on our website and couldn't help but notice the shipping address is in Italy. Were the TV's also purchased in Italy? I could be totally wrong, but there may be differences in video standards between the UK and mainland Europe? Long-shot, I know.

[macbeth]

What input are you going through? Is it AV, or through Scart with an adapter?

I have tried several inputs including the SCART approach at your suggestion. Firstly I tried the straight component input (Y,R,W) on both TVs. No success.

Then I tried the SCART approach (I have two different SCART adaptors so tried them both just in case).

On the JVC TV there are two scart sockets. I tried them both in turn. No success.
On the Samsung there are also two SCART sockets. Again, no success.

Were the TV's also purchased in Italy?

The JVC was bought in the UK. The Samsung was bought here in Italy.

Any further suggestions welcomed. (It couldn't be the Cowon cable, could it?)

[rwg7]

I want to get a Cowon S9, but only if the gapless playback works for FLAC and possibly OGG. Looking at various forums, some users say that even with this new software update there are still gaps on playback. Even Advanced MP3 Players own sales line tells me that they are still getting gaps. Yet others say that this new update is working working flawlessly as far as gapless playback is concerned.

Can anybody shed any light on this? What is your experience with this update?