New Sony Nano-ish DAP to Arrive Soon?
According to previously credible sources, Sony is readying a 2, 4, and 8gb video Walkman which is smaller than the Apple iPod Nano. It will have the appearance of the NW-A3000/1000 units of old but in a more flat and rectangular form like its Apple counterpart. The big ticket with this device is that it will feature supposedly 8 to 10 hours of video playback, although we all know that those figures can be manipulated by low brightness, low volume, video/audio codec quality, etc. However, we must admit that Sony has been able to pull impressive battery life figures in the past with a variety of interesting technologies. The hardware interface should feature similar buttons to the A3000 series, but don’t expect to see an Artist Link button. A superslim profile ( 6.5mm thick ) and a gorgeous screen of a larger size than the Nano for optimal rotated viewing is expected.
The GUI is still the 3×3 menu layout similiar to the A3000, but with updated icons and better overall menu functionality. Four colors will be introduced: violet, black, blue, pink (various regions may only get certain colors). Pricing should be equivalent or slightly higher than the Nano. An early March announcement is expected.
This could be a huge release for Sony, or possibly just a shadow in the upcoming presence of the next generation iPod.
Sounds good, but what’s the memory size?
And is it HD or flash? (My guess is HD, since he 7xx series are rather new.)
I have ‘heard’ up to 4 hours video playback and 25 hours audion playback, 2″ LCD screen. May release.
I think it’s flash. All big brands are swapping to flash. And since it’s said to be a competitor to ipod nano, it must have flash.
I just hope that there will be a bigger capacity walkman with perhaps a bigger screen coming out. I mean, you can’t put a big screen in the size of an ipod nano. I’m curious about codec support to. Will it support various formats as MPG, AVI, DIVX, WMV etc? or just like PSP MP4. Do you drag-n-drop these files, or will sonicstage be upgraded for video support (and would that be the upcoming SS4.3?)
Would it have clearbass and clearstereo? How about VPT. Or dit they raise VPT from the grave exclusively for the NW-S7xx series?
So many questions, but time will tell.
All in all I think this is going to be a very good player, especially if video playback is decent enough and really lasts for up to 8 Hrs.!!
greetz
So, no XMB eh? And only up to 8gb… hmm… I think I might be a little disappointed.
But I guess that’s because I was looking forward to a new hdd based unit (or really any DAP that’s 30gb and up).
I’m curious though - how can something that small be practical for video playback? Even if the entire facade was a screen, wouldn’t that still be too tiny to watch video on?
Hmmm… I’m on the fence about this one.
Any idea when these will be released?
Sorry … early March announcement! just properly read your post.
Definitely sounds cool. At only 6.5mm thin, it has to be flash-based. I am also impressed by the playback time with a battery that will be so small as well.
Drag & drop like the PSP would rule, esp. for video since SonicStage doesn’t do video right now. I’ve been using my NW-E507 for quite a while hoping for quite a jump in Sony’s DAP line-up (huge HDD players just haven’t been for me.) This could be what I’m waiting for.
Was there any discussion of pricing? Let’s also hope a March announcement means a March or early April release. I tire of hearing about a product I can’t get my hands on for 4-6 months. Also, if you have ANY spy pics, the rest of us want to see them!
Man this is dissappointing….Max so far is 8 Gig….Sony really do want me to buy a 40 or 80gig iPod…..Also it´s a player smaller that the iPod Nano that plays video…Huh….Who´s gonna watch anything on that….Well done again Sony
I was hoping for at least 30 GB of storage, and “smaller than the iPod Nano” doesn’t make it sound like it would provide a decent video viewing experience.
I have to say that I’m disappointed. :-/
Everyone complaining about the 8gb maximum capacity, have you actually engaged your brain and thought it might be the biggest of the flash units, with bigger HDD based units coming in the second Walkman announcement for the year (hinted by Ishiyoshi in the forums). Seriously, that means Sony are obviously begging you to buy an iPod right?
Well for everyone complaining about watching movies on something smaller than the Nano… Despite a smaller OVERALL size, it’s supposed to have a screen LARGER than the nano so it might not be too bad.
@ Tausif: Sure, might mean bigger HDD based units later on, or it might not. I sure hope that it does. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m disappointed about this particular announcement. I can’t get very enthused about only 8 GB, whether it’s flash or HDD.
I don’t want an iPod, but the longer Sony takes coming out with something that I see as worthwhile, the more I start contemplating alternatives.
There’s no need to make flippant remarks about engaging one’s brain.
Must be flash given it’s thinkness…
I hope it supports lyrics though
For me, even 2gb is too much….
I can’t wait to see it
I hope it doesn’t use that Connect or SS crap. I switch to and iPod because the sony SW was too much work to use. It would be nice if I could use windows media player to load songs. Sony should get out of the software business.
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Source: ATRACTLife [...]
Jippi!! finally! A happy girl up in Norway sings whole February through:)
Can’t wait to see what it look like:)
To all of you who think this was disappointing news, well… just buy the ipod! I think you will regret when you discover the short batterylife!
Well done Sony! (not ironi)
I feel I should add that I didn’t want to sound ungrateful to Kurisu and Ishiyoshi about posting the news… just giving my opinion about the new players
But here are some general thoughts. The king of the MP3 hill is obviously the iPod. And as much as things like capacity and format support are important, the reason the iPod is so successful is simple: zeitgeist. The iPod is part of mainstream culture - everything else is just ’sort of like an iPod’ or ‘a competitor to the iPod’. Part of that was good timing. But part of it was providing a seamless, unified and aesthetically pleasing experience that mushroomed to include much more than just a portable music device. The iPod, beyond being a great DAP, makes people feel as if they’re part of larger cultural trends, and it is this that is key.
While I love Sony players, they definitely aren’t the easiest to use in the world, which is a serious knock against them. But further - and perhaps more importantly - they aren’t part of ‘the culture’ in any real way. The software is only famous for being janky, rather than intuitive and universal (like iTunes or WMP11); Connect has no user reviews or ratings and thus feels just like Amazon or HMV - a faceless corporate entity; you can’t use the software with services like last.fm and their ilk; and the burgeoning form of podcasts and vodcasts has been generally ignored by Sony (except in the PSP).
My point is that Sony is still focused on hardware - how small can we make it, how long can the battery life get, how good does ATRAC3+ sound compared to a 128kbs AAC file? While a ’sexy’ device is important for marketing, the thing is, for you to hit that mainstream audience, you need more simple reasons than that - it’s easy to use, you can connect with your friends this way, you can buy music at this place that other people have recommended… things that non-techies can understand, and actually care about. Focusing on hardware misses the point that most people simply care about their user experience as people first, and tech-heads later.
Sony’s (somewhat understandable) focus on technology has entirely sidestepped the fact that tech’s primary function these days is to make people feel connected. Everything that Sony has done has made the Walkman as separated as possible: no matter how great ATRAC is, it’s incompatible with everything; Sonicstage is like its own little bubble, disconnected entirely from Web 2.0; and hundreds of thousands of people have bought Sony DAPs only to have it disappear from the market months later with no support and almost no accessories.
The werid this is that the PSP, a device the ostensible purpose of which is *not* media, is by far Sony’s best DAP in this regard - it’s simple to use, surpasses every other DAP out there in RSS/podcast support, has a great interface, supports many major formats and doesn’t feel like a niche product. If anyone at Sony is reading this, please keep the PSP and these two ideas in mind: openness and connectedness. Create a great device that is easy-to-use and allows people to connect. The PSP already has wifi… hint, hint, nudge nudge. C’mon - take out the UMD drive and gaming features, throw a hard drive in, transfer Connect over to the Playstation Store and either ditch ATRAC or release the SDK for free. I know I’m totally nerding out over this, but I still want a device that has that amazing sound and battery life *and* doesn’t just fade away like all Sony DAPs in the past - it should stick around and evolve, just like Sony have all these years.
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
They’re not exactly in the software business anyway. And anyway, most modern hardware needs some element of software for it to work anyway. I suppose they could pay another company to make software for them, if that’s what you mean.
Hopefully Sony will release players like these with larger capacity in the future, you couldn’t fit a lot of videos on these devices.
[...] think twice because the Sansas of the world aren’t even on their radar. – Mark Wilson New Sony Nano-ish DAP [...]
It seems loads of you leave comments without reading the story properly…
and it seems loads of you are also a bit dim…
[...] think twice because the Sansas of the world aren’t even on their radar. – Mark Wilson New Sony Nano-ish DAP [...]
Hey Guys,
Yes I think a lot of us are a bit dissapointed, because there was nearly nothing that we wished there would be…( see the thread my walkman video predictions…), but hey let`s have a look what Ishi posted just a few days ago:
“If you guys don’t like what you read this Saturday, please do take note that our upcoming announcement will not be the only one for 2007.”
So I think a real competitor for the I-Pod Video will still be announced. This is a Competition for the I-Pod Nano…., and for that I think it will be quiet nice…. And I think there are a lot of questions to be still answered… Content? Look? etc…
So let`s wait for the official announcement…
So probably Ishi has some more Infos for now….?
[...] Source via Engadget Related Articles Walkman Has Come a Long Way The Walkman really come a long way, and the contrast in neat to see with this new Sony W950i Walkm…Sony NW-S205 WalkmanThis new MP3 player from Sony definiteley has the athlete in mind when they designed it. When you lo…Apple Adds 8GB iPod nano RED to LineupApple has released a new 8GB model of the popular iPod nano RED Special Edition in response to the o… Permalink [...]
For all of you whining:
Let’s say you have a 60 gig Ipod. Out of all of that music that you are able to store on that thing, how many songs do you ACTUALLY listen to? So you can store thousands of songs, but how many of those stored songs will you LISTEN TO? Stop complaining, and start thinking logically on this! Besides, portable devices are not meant to have huge screens, hence the word portable. You don’t need a 30 inch high-definition screen in your pocket.
I think the article sums it up well at the end:
“This could be a huge release for Sony, or possibly just a shadow in the upcoming presence of the next generation iPod.”
Depending on the final specs it appears to have it over the ipod nano, but the question is for how long. However, the problem for all non-Ipod manufacturers is Ipod consumers brand loyalty. Even if there is a “better” product out their they will still wait a while to see what Apple comes back with. Sony will only make some headway if Apple’s next update falls short - which is hard to imagine. I think that is why the 8GB storage is dissappointing. It is extremely likely that Apple’s updated nano will go higher than 8GB and make Sony’s effort look dated. If Sony had come out with a 16GB nano-ish device it could have really made an impact. Until flash storage hits 30gb or more, the amount of flash storage will always be important.
[...] think twice because the Sansas of the world aren’t even on their radar. – Mark Wilson New Sony Nano-ish DAP [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Source: ATRACLife [...]
Nav’s comment go right to the point. Sony is doing the wrong thing by focusing on beating Apple on what they offer now. Adding video and better battery life to a Nano-type of player doesn’t really do much. A small screen as the one that such a player can have is not really useful for video. It’s just a gimmick which will go largely unused. What is needed is something new, that advances the game. So far, only Microsoft did that, though unsuccessfully, with the Zune’s wireless sharing feature.
I really think Sony should abandon the Walkman brand, which is too much associated with old technology. And it should spread the many different features it offers in various products and make them interoperable. For instance, why not transforming the PS3 into a LocationFree base and let a new player be able to receive streaming content from it via wi-fi? Don’t insist on trying to make people buy separate products for each thing. Why not adding a bluetooth headset feature to a player, so that it can stop playing music and channel a cellphone call when it comes? Why not completely dropping DRM for Atrac files? After all, so few people buy them, and they’re not supported anywhere else, so piracy is hardly a big issue. And since DRM is the main thing that made SonicStage so bad, that can solve another issue. Just let people use the player without any software, as they already do with the PSP. Why is that possible on the PSP and not on a music player? There’s simply no logic in the way things are today.
[...] http://www.atraclife.com/2007/02/10/new-sony-nano-ish-dap-to-arrive-soon/ [...]
I am diappointed. we were expecting something innovative….what is the fun in bringing 2 year old nano design to walkman.
8 to 10 hours of video playback means the screen will be oled…..which means ppl are going to complain unable to see in sunlight(if it is going to have same shiny surface as a3000). pls expect a bad press on this too.
It wont be a shadow in the next gen ipod, it will be a shadow on 2 year old ipod nano…..
I think sony is becoming more of a research company, just research and dont bother abt products.
I wonder if anybody working with sony(particularly for walkman) has atleast 0.1% of passion we have here at this forum.
bastib,
this announcement makes me think “walkman will fall again”
re-posting the comments from “my walkman video predictions”(pls refer Forums->Miscallaneous->the Lounge on this site or use this link if it works http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2637)
Sony, I recommend you reading the above thread to know expectations from different quarters
[...] [Source: Atraclife] [...]
The problem with Nav’s comment is that it, too, is very much part of the iPod zeitgeist he mentioned. And the problem I have with this blog-feedback-everybody-have-your-say culture is, I think people always need someone to rebel against, and they also simultaneously need something to embrace as the new saviour, no matter how ridiculous it may be. When we see the news, a lot of our thoughts are reactionary, they’re not even our own.
I don’t think the iPod-iTunes system fundamentally differs from the Walkman-SonicStage system that much. You can make a last attempt at the “good software” argument, but please, if it really matters that much, you’d be doing folder-based management. If just one percent of all the people who rant will stop and read over what they’re saying, I think they will see some of these fundamental similarities.
And how many of you are aware that SonicStage is connected to a web 2.0 service in Japan, that A-series owners are already able to reflect their playback history onto a website? How about the fact that Netjuke and the latest Vaios, the stuff sold in Japan both have very interesting cataloguing technologies in Japan.
And no, I don’t want to sound ungrateful to Nav, just putting in an opinion… :P~~~~
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] 소니에서 아이팟 나노의 라이벌로 PMP를 준비하고 있다는 루머가있네요. 모양은 NW-A3000/1000를 닮았고, 나노에 비해 비디오 재생이 8~10시간까지 가능하다는데.. (via AtracLife) [...]
Have been thinking and reflecting about this announcement alot over the last few days and have two different feelings about it. On the one hand I am disappointed because I can’t see this device making any serious inroads into the Ipod monopoly, but on the other hand apart from not having quite enough memory (10+GB would have been nice) it is exactly what I am looking for and will very likely purchase one. I’m sure it will sound great and look even better.
i remember hearing sony hired somebody apple to help with the walkman effort…is he sleeping? They really need some ads (in USA)!!!! when i show people my nw-hd3 they dont even know sony makes mp3 players. the nw-s705f could have been a great product to make well known, so many firsts. while the ipod continues to have a giant ad budget….
You can find a countdown for the new walkman here: http://www.sony.de/view/View.action?site=odw_de_DE (when posted: 15 days, 9 hours, 16 minutes)
[...] AtracLife.com wird er in 2, 4 und 8 GB daherkommen, wie dem Bild zu entnehmen ist der NW-A1000/3000 Serie [...]
Just in case somebody is interested!
At the German Sony homepage there is a countdown, that shows in my opinion the new player. The countdown ends on the 1st of March!
http://www.sony.de
[...] think twice because the Sansas of the world aren’t even on their radar. – Mark Wilson New Sony Nano-ish DAP [...]
Thank God! Let it be a 8gig flash color-screen tiny player at a fair price. It’s gonna be mine. been waiting for it for ages.
Regarding the comment about storage size and how much music can you really listen to:
It’s not about how much you can listen to, how you listen to it.
For instance, I may wish to shuffle play the entire Jazz genre on my DAP. If I have a large amount of music on the device, this could be like listening to a jazz radio station that only plays jazz you like! Yeah, you won’t listen to it all, but that’s not the point.
This is something I do regularly with my 80GB iPod that I really couldn’t do with my 20GB HD-3, and certainly wouldn’t be able to do with an 8GB device.
[...] to the world, sony.de (screenshot) has revealed the shape of the upcoming Nano-sized video Walkman we exclusively announced last week and alongside it is a timer counting down to March 1st (which is the supposed announcement date of [...]
All separate DAPs are going to disappear in the coming decade I suspect; as the convergence is about to go full tilt.
For example, I bought a Sony Ericsson W810i in November. Now, I have no need to carry around a separate digital camera, dap, pda and phone, as I have them all in one nice little package. Granted, the W810i might not as high spec’ed or functional as dedicated devices, but it’s good enough - more than actually - for my needs. I suspect the majority of people will feel this way too when upcoming converged devices appear on the market.
This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”