HiFi Blog: digital audio goodness

The sleeping, bleeding giant who can’t sleep at night because of a four letter word, unveiled a new line-up of MP3 players under the name “WALKMAN” (yep, all capital letters). It’s 2 HDD-based (NW-A1000, NW-A3000) and 3 flash-based (NW-A608/7/5) MP3 players. And there’s a software-related surprise at the end of this post.

HDD-based MP3 players (Sony press release)

• NW-A1000: 6GB hard drive, 1.5-inch display, comes in violet/silver/pink/blue colors—$272


• NW-A3000: 20GB hard drive, 2-inch display, weighs 182g, measures 65.2×104.2×21.4mm, comes in violet/silver colors—$318

Common specs/features for both devices:

• MP3/ATRAC3 support, WMA support coming in December through firmware updated planned by Sony


• organic EL display, blends seamlessly with the device’s body


• emphasis has been given on the UI; some powerful search options help the user find the music’s looking for; also: “At the press of a button, the ‘Artist Link’ function will search every artist, album and song stored on the device and offer suggestions of artists and bands closely linked to the genre of music being played at the time.”


• two new shuffle functions, a.k.a. “Intelligent shuffle”: “My Favorite Shuffle” randomly plays your 100 most listened to tunes, “Time Machine Shuffle” randomly picks a year and plays tunes from that period


• the devices can be charged either using the AC adapter or via USB, though the latter method takes almost twice the time

Accessories: remote control, carrying cases, docking station to link with the PC, docking speaker system (giving the option to both connect to a PC as well as playing music through the speakers). To be introduced simultaneously with the devices.

Flash-based MP3 players

• NW-A605: 512MB—$199


• NW-A607: 1GB – $245


• NW-A608: 2GB—$290

Common specs/features for these: OLED display, built-in battery, codec support & “Intelligent shuffle” like in the HDD-based models, built-in FM tuner, available in violet/silver/pink/blue colors.

The new WALKMAN line-up will be up for sale in Japan on November 19—expect it overseas by the end of the year (according to Reuters).

New Sony Walkman is born [atraclife.com]
Sony NW-A3000 (20GB) [asia.cnet.com]

Pictures:
AV Watch #1 (via)
AV Watch #2 (via)
ITmedia (via)

Bye-bye SonicStage

And good riddance. Sony presented their version of an iTunes clone named “CONNECT Player” (boy, they do like those capital letters, don’t they). You get advanced music library management, a new and improved user interface, increased codec support, simple ‘drag & drop’ function for easy transfer from library to player, and seamless access to Sony’s CONNECT music service (ring a bell here?). According to Macworld UK, Sony will begin selling pre-paid music cards to promote the service.

Read [forums.minidisc.org]