Sony MP3 Ipod Rival announced.....

[Fanum]

oooo.....sexy!!!!!

'Sony is set to clash with Apple for the “King of the MP3 Player” title.

Sony today confirmed that it is launching its own MP3 player. Sony expects to launch its 20 GB MP3 player this summer in the UK. Sony says its Network Walkman HD1 can store up to 13,000 songs and can give a user 30 hours of battery life more then triple what an iPod can give. The NW HD1 will only weigh 3.8 ounces .2 ounces heavier then Apples iPod.

The NW HD1 will only play Atrac 3 Format songs but will have a built into tool to automatically convert other file formats. The NW HD1 is expected to cost $400 USD.

This past week has been a rough week for iPod. It has met a few new rivals from creative and Archos, and today even Dell announced an iPod trade-in program.'

'Twas talked about on Radio 2 yesterday....Sony will pitch it at about 20% cheaper than the Ipod and the battery life and capacity should leave the ipod for dead.

(until the next generation anyway )

Now if they make it sploshproof and provide a power input, this might well be the daddy!!!

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

nice, but unfortunately one MAJOR disadvantage....


















...... doesn't play MP3's.

 

[snodog]

The NW HD1 will only play Atrac 3 Format songs but will have a built into tool to automatically convert other file formats.

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

Sure - but that already counts it out for me. I choose what format my music is in thank you very much Sony!

Actually - its all about marketing. Sony would like us all to use their own music download site rather than iTunes (amongst others). Hence forcing you to convert all your MP3's into Sony's own proprietry ATRAC decoding system before you can listen to them. It's the same with Sony MD walkmans - and a total pain in the arse.

Creative currently manufacture easily the best MP3 Walkman at the moment IMH....

pr0ne

 

[snodog]

Zen

prOne

which Creative model do you have?

I've got the Nomad Jukebox Zen 20gb - which I think is excellent.

Rode from Edinburgh to London last year with it on random - never heard the same song twice.

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

I don't at the moment actually! but funnily enough I borrowed a mates Nomad Zen for a week recently - I was very very impressed and thats definately the one I'm going to get.....

pr0ne

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Actually - its all about marketing. Sony would like us all to use their own music download site rather than iTunes (amongst others). Hence forcing you to convert all your MP3's into Sony's own proprietry ATRAC decoding system before you can listen to them. It's the same with Sony MD walkmans - and a total pain in the arse.

eh ? - i've got a net MD 505 and i can d/l and play mp3's on it.

in fact for £90 inc. £50 worth of portable speakers, i think it was a bit of a bargain.
Ok -its a bit 90's but you can get a few hundred mp3 on a re-recordable dic - which are less than £1 each.

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

Really???!!!!!

I've got the MN01 or whatever it's called. I can only connect it to my PC using Sony software, and then can only get my MP3's onto it by letting that software convert them to ATRAC first.....

pr0ne

 

[Darryl]

I have always been a fan of sony but the sonicstage software for their minidisc is a pain to use. I am on my 2nd minidisc with sonicstage and the latest version is the worst. I have just started using i tunes which seems much more friendly but can't get anything onto the minidisc without using analog audio equipment.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

MP3 to NetMD is possible - and becoming easier.

There are a few ways to do it.

Her'e the easiest from the minidisc.org forum :




<br /><iframe frameborder="1"height="700"scrolling="auto"src="http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4825"width="700"></iframe><br /><br />

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

Far too fr*ggin complicated!! And you are still not getting the MD to play MP3's - it's converting them to ATRAC first.

I want to be able to simply drag and drop my mp3's to my player, and then play 'em!! Preferably with no 3rd party dodgy leech software required either. Just like a sort of portable hardrive type thing. Just like the Creative Jukeboxes

pr0ne

//edit

I really annoys me actually, all the above complications and caveats are totally unneccessary - it's just because Sony, bless em, would prefer it if we bought our music from them, and no-one else.....

//

 

[Speggo]

Far too fr*ggin complicated!! And you are still not getting the MD to play MP3's - it's converting them to ATRAC first.

I want to be able to simply drag and drop my mp3's to my player, and then play 'em!! Preferably with no 3rd party dodgy leech software required either. Just like a sort of portable hardrive type thing. Just like the Creative Jukeboxes

//

The Realplayer NetMD add-in makes it a bit easier to manage your MP3 collection and export to MD, but it still relies on using the OPenMG sony software to do the ATRAC conversion.

I have got the Zen Nomad 30GB that I picked up for a bargain £130 (damaged box) and can't fault it, except maybe the physical size.

 

[theclowncrusty]

I have a Sony MD Walkman. I know that Open mg is a bit of a pain in the arse. But it doesnt take long to convert the files. I can put 5-6 hours of music onto a Minidisk in abot 10 minutes.
A lot better than recording them one album at a time in real time.
Also with the extra battery thingy it will last all week at work at 6-7 hours a day use.
the Clown :0)

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Its not THAT complicated, but agreed - its not drag n drop.

Have you used the 'simpleburner' program yet ?

Thats real easy to use, but doesn't come with a UK Net MD.

 

[snodog]

Creative Bargains

was just browsing Circuit City website ( yank version of dixons, it loks like.) but they're selling Creative Zen Nomad Xtra 30gb for $190 - that's just over £100 at today's rate.

Guess I'll be shopping next month.