Sony MP3 Players
Attention Apple: Sony just called, they want their market-space back.
As expected, Sony looks to gain back some of its lost ground in the portable music market. Once upon a time an invention of Sony's, the legendary Walkman, ruled the portable music box market. Back in the 80s school kids everywhere could be seen with the familiar tape player hanging from their belts and Sony headphones over their heads. Fast forward to a different time with new technologies and Sony hasn't kept up. It's been years since Sony's Discman was even a relevant player in the portable music player market. Now that MP3 players are the dominant carry along musical package, Sony has some catching up to do.
Enter Sony's new line of MP3 players intended to take back from Apple what Sony believes is rightfully theirs in the first place. Their newest entry into this foray is the NW-E507 and NW-E505, flash memory based players that come in 1 Gig or 512 MB capacities. These players look to push the technological boundaries set by previous flash players. Sony's new offerings feature huge battery life of 50 hours per charge, a unique turn dial design with an ultra bright Organic Electroluminescence (EL) display. All this is packed into a portable unit no larger than a pack of gum.
The NW-HD5 is Sony's hard disc player. With 20-GB storage, this one is out to compete with the iPod and iRiver's H20. Sony gets one major detail right with the HD5; they include a high capacity removable battery. Battery replacement is the Achilles heel of the iPod that not even iRiver (the much ballyhooed, would-be iPod killer) did nothing to improve upon in their 20 GB player. Sony has rectified this with a removable/user replicable battery that promises a charge that lasts up to 40 hours. But don't let this model's name deceive you The Network Walkman has no wi-fi or Bluetooth capability, it's still USB connected to the PC. The network Sony cites in the name of this device refers to their own online music store Connect. Hopefully Connect has something to offer that iTunes missed. It's inevitable that Sony would enter the MP3 player market with their own download service. They own some 50% of all music ever recorded after all.
Sony's did their homework before entering the MP3 player fray with their new Walkman. Offering up interesting players with a few unique tricks up their sleeve is one way to win over some fans and take back lost ground. It's been so long since we've been able to say Walkman with anything other than a smirk.
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