Saturday, March 3rd 2007

Sony Going Head-to-Head with iPod Video

by
Jimmy 2004
 Discuss (12 Comments)
The first series of Walkman MP3 players from Sony were rather disappointing after the company had originally hoped to draw the market share away from Apple, but Sony is having another bash releasing its first video Walkman. The NW-A800 series as it is known, will feature a 2" display with a resolution of 240 x 320, and will have 2GB, 4GB and 8GB flash-based models. The NW-A800 natively plays music compressed using Sony's ATRAC format and comes with software which allows users to convert WMA, MP3 and WAV files into ATRAC - it is capable of playing MP3 files directly but Sony warns that this will reduce battery life. The 53 gram Walkman will only be released in Europe to begin with, at a price of €300 for the 8GB model (the 30GB iPod Video can be found for €289 in Germany). The video Walkman is going to have its work cut out to make a noticeable impression on the iPod Video, which already has an 18 month head start and is arguably better value.
Source: InfoWorld

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12 Comments on Sony Going Head-to-Head with iPod Video

#1
mcloughj
you really have to wonder... is everyone in sony on drugs? Messy european PS3's and a video walkman that you have to convert most of your files for. Sony have one good thing going for them and thats their batteries... but FFS give up on the ATRAC already... it was fine for minidiscs but that was the 90's! End rant!
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#2
Wile E
Power User
mcloughjyou really have to wonder... is everyone in sony on drugs? Messy european PS3's and a video walkman that you have to convert most of your files for. Sony have one good thing going for them and thats their batteries... but FFS give up on the ATRAC already... it was fine for minidiscs but that was the 90's! End rant!
I agree. I think Sony needs to give up on proprietary formats when it comes to these things, period. I don't see this making any appreciable dent in iPod sales.
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#3
Chewy
I dont see this doing much for video users.. it was good when there were only smaller mb mp3 players, but when you got into the 1 gig sony mp3 player they needed a better interface to scan trough the so many songs, which they prob have done with the bigger screen.. the sound quality of sony atrac issent the most lively but its ok.

I the only good I see of this mp3/4 player is the amount of songs it holds for its size, not having a hard drive and batt life. I dont mind converting my files especially with the speed theses newer processors convert files at, I only see this hitting the running type market but not very hard. :P
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#4
XooM
Sony's issue: Awesome hardware, horrendous software/firmware. If only they'd fire everybody in software/firmware, get a new board/CEO/other execs... then they'd maybe not suck.
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#5
tkpenalty
They keep going "I was going easy" and say "omg hard mode" like countless times...
They will not be sucessful in competing with apple since they aren't targeting the mammoth storage MP4/MP3s...
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#6
mullered07
tkpenaltyThey keep going "I was going easy" and say "omg hard mode" like countless times...
They will not be sucessful in competing with apple since they aren't targeting the mammoth storage MP4/MP3s...
yup 8gb vs apples 60gb+ (sure apple have a bigger one than 60gb now dont they ? ) whats 8gb in terms of videoplay ? 20hours w/good compression maybe at the most i dunno but couple that with all your fav mp3/4's and jpegs etc and 8gb for 300E seems a tad bit measly :shadedshu , btw your paying for that oh so wanted SONY brand name, nothing else. look at the vaio desktops and notebooks, i must admit i have wanted one simply because of the name Vaio but for the price the specs are absolutly crap :wtf:
Posted on Reply
#7
Wile E
Power User
mullered07yup 8gb vs apples 60gb+ (sure apple have a bigger one than 60gb now dont they ? ) whats 8gb in terms of videoplay ? 20hours w/good compression maybe at the most i dunno but couple that with all your fav mp3/4's and jpegs etc and 8gb for 300E seems a tad bit measly :shadedshu , btw your paying for that oh so wanted SONY brand name, nothing else. look at the vaio desktops and notebooks, i must admit i have wanted one simply because of the name Vaio but for the price the specs are absolutly crap :wtf:
Yeah, the new "big" iPods are 80GB. I agree with you on the storage front 100%, hell, with nothing but music on my 80GB iPod, I'm using 42GB. (It's all in lossless, thus the space consumed, if your wondering) People alway bash Apple for overpricing their products, but Sony can be just as bad at times.
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#8
Scavar
Ugh I hate Apple, but I have to side with iPod here. Hell my cell phone is a better deal, and its a sony. I can put a 4GB stick in, I don't have to convert most formats for audio or video, and hell I don't even need to install software or firmware, jsut put things on the mem stick and go. And its 300$(I payed a 100$ thanks to buying it online and rebates)

Damn it Sony, stop being retarded. Your own products are beating you.
Posted on Reply
#9
tkpenalty
ScavarUgh I hate Apple, but I have to side with iPod here. Hell my cell phone is a better deal, and its a sony. I can put a 4GB stick in, I don't have to convert most formats for audio or video, and hell I don't even need to install software or firmware, jsut put things on the mem stick and go. And its 300$(I payed a 100$ thanks to buying it online and rebates)

Damn it Sony, stop being retarded. Your own products are beating you.
lol. yeah... I still would be reluctant though... I saw a sony MP3 player and it looked quite tacky. If they made a 160GB MP3 Player they would dominate but so far Ipod Video still holds the trophy in MP3 Storage. One reason why sony can't get 80GB small HDDs is because Apple is already using the majority pumped out from toshiba. Thus if they were to make one, it would be the size of the Creative Zen Video (which my friend dropped, it broke after dropping it). Apple's workers work overtime even if they know they won't get paid more-its loyalty.
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#10
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
If Sony offers a better price, and Im sure their video quality is better since they know video, then they will have a winner.
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#11
Alcpone
I love my NW-A3000.. Works flawlessly, not to bothered about converting wma to atrac as it doesnt take long at all and does that as it transfers, battery life is excellent and its sexy as hell, and only cost me £150 10 months ago £7.50 per Gb is hellishly expensive for HDD's but not for a Walkman, stop bashing sony people, yeah there video idea is behind apple and wont compete, but when it comes to mp3 players they rock ;) Give them time and they will bring something to the table that will compete with the mammoth apple :)
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#12
Grings
you'd think sony would be the best though, what with the dominance of the walkman for decades, prior to mp3 players, and they do make some real nice ones, however its the whole restrictive rights and proprietary formats (atrac) that made it all go tits up for them (not sure if its the case now, but a few years ago you had to use sonys software to put music on them (which was crap), this is also the reason i wont get an ipod, as i really dont like itunes (yes i have used it)
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