Cowon has changed its mind again on the release of its S9 Curve media player, backtracking from earlier statements that the device wouldn't be available until 2009 and going ahead with a UK release this month. The S9 comes in both 8GB and 16GB sizes and features a 3.3-inch touchscreen AMOLED display. The display can adjust to orientation changes thanks to an accelerometer built in to the unit. If you've got a pair of stereo Bluetooth headphones, the player can wirelessly link to them over an A2DP Bluetooth 2.0 connection.

The S9 looks plenty powerful and should be up to handling smooth playback of even CPU-intensive MPEG-4 files, thanks to a dual-core 500MHz processor. File format compatibility is pretty impressive, including even some more obscure high-quality formats like Monkey's Audio. You should get about 40 hours of music playback, or 8 hours of video, out of a full battery charge. The 8GB and 16GB models will be available next week, for $251 and $296, respectively. Considering the base price and the difference between the two, the 16GB model seems like a no-brainer.

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