Cowon's D2 marketing

I posted some time ago a video review of Cowon's D2 mp3 player, apart from the fact that I really like the player, I think that the way this player is marketed, plus the interaction with the potential customers is pretty neat ;)
Like any product soon to be launched, you can see some teasers on the official site, and scattered here and there in Internet, what I think though, is novel, is the following:
A well known fan site, Iaudiophile notice the player.
Because it's mainly a forum (you know the ancestor of the commenting system you can see on any Blog nowadays ;) ), people start to voice their opinions, and what they may like or dislike about the product.
The manufacturer which is known to listen to its customers sends a preview video of the player in action (of course, they use YouTube, what else ;) )
An exchange happens between the company and the potential customers, and soon two videos follow to show some features in-depth. Having the automatic effect of conforting users, which now are sure they might (will!) buy the player.

I think all companies who are confident in their product should do the same, of course it removes some sense of magic to a product, when so much about it is known in advance. But at the end of the day, it's the product that matters.

Until those brands, even if they make great products, gain the aura of Apple (the secretive company, which is known for its groundbreaking announcements, but still manages to convince the die hard fanatics to shell out money on anything they offer)they should use this strategy, I would be tempted to see what this could yield, even when the product is still in the design and planning stage (I am of course not talking about some kind of closed audience, but the plain harsh open world)