Sony's Walkman Bean
By Ryan Block 
posted August 18th 2005 8:18AM
posted August 18th 2005 8:18AM
Someone alert Mr. Atkinson, Sony's answer to the shuffle—wait, didn't they kind of already have a number of
answers to the shuffle?—is
here, and we kid you not, it's called the
Walkman Bean. The device features a 1 line
OLED display, fast-charging li-ion battery (which they claim will pull 3 hours of playtime from a 3 minute
charge—probably for ATRAC), multiple colors, a 512MB (NW-E205), 512 +FM (NW-E305), and 1GB (NW-E207) versions, and the
usual ATRAC/SonicStage crapolla we're uneasily used to.
[Thanks, Colin]
Does SONY finally bother to play MP3 without convering it to ATRAC?
In what way is a rip off of an iPod?
"FIRST TO POST!
I can't believe they ripped off the iPod design.
fishes,
narco"
In no way at all does it look like an ipod, oh just realised, ure being sarcastic.
sardines,
hitkaiser
There's no way they can compete with the iPod [or Shuffle] when shackling the product with a crummy program like SonicStage.
I'm a longtime Minidisc user and have been fiddling with SonicStage for a few years. I've grown to accept how it looks/works, but it's no iTunes.
Fist thing that came to mind: digital bean counter. I think there's a definite market for it.
I'd buy it in a snap if only it came with a voice recorder built in.
Ooh, pink! Shiny! Oh, hang on a minute....
.... SonicStage? ...
I think I can manage my music *myself*, thank you very much. [sound of someone running away, very very fast]
Don't leave it sitting around a hospital, it might get installed in someone. It's by far the ugliest player I've ever seen and sure doesn't look like it would allow for a very easy mounting mechanism for in the car where space is at a minimum sometimes.
Here's the link to the sony website for the 1GB version.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=NWE307BLACK&Dept=audio&CategoryName=pa_flashMemory
Notice it says-
"Plays Back MP3/ATRAC3®/ATRAC3plus™ Audio Formats"
-- and if you click the tiny little link next to the blurb about WMA, it says-
"Supports unsecure files with conversion to ATRAC3™ format." --
So, in other words . . . mp3=yes, wma=no
When will sony get a clue? In order to compete with Apple, they're going to have to embrace the one format that iPod won't play . . . WMA!
5#, most likely tho they still wrap said mp3s so that you cant just pull them of the player and onto any machine you plug the player into...
First thing I thought when I saw it was that it looked like the Jelly Belly bean dispenser my kids got a while back:
http://url123.com/ewegd
The Sony Gonad!
The Bean? Well, to me it looks more like a piece of crap ...literally, it looks like something that could float in a toilet quite comfortably. Maybe they made it waterproof?
They should make another one called the fetus.
wow! A DAP shaped like a human kidney! I want one.
Rayovac has a technology called "IC-3" (In-Cell Charge Control) that allows their batteries to charge in 15 minutes. Sony may be using a similar technology in the battery of this device.
http://www.rayovac.com/recharge/batt_15min.htm
Don't beans give you gas? What a way to connect to the consumer.
Bruce M.,
no, no, no, it does not look like crap, it looks like poop. big difference, really.
is is squishy too?
Sorry but that looks absolutely disgusting :-( Reminds me of a kidney - Yuck
Definitely a kidney. How do you control it after the implant? Do you need surgery to recharge the battery?
Is it just me or does it look like that iPod flea fake?
Beans are the "musical fruit".
These are the NW-E200/300 series... meaning they are NEWER than the E100s (those poker chip-sized ones) but OLDER than the E400/500 series. I imagine they delayed the release of this series as it would've been laughed out of the arena had they used it as an immediate "answer to the iPod Shuffle."
Its battery life is the same as that of my NW-E407, it's got a 1-line OLED display (what a joke!), it logically STILL uses SonicStage (since its newer cousins do as well), and... well what's good about it?
Oh yeah. It's cute cool and oh-so-stylish. You'll be the envy of your mates! The Walkman Bean is perfect in every way.
... What? That's what the Sony UK site says...
hey, just browsed this thread and i don't really understand why Sony have released this similar 'shuffle killer' range so soon after E400/500 series.. just came online to check out reviews of the E507 now that it's had time to settle, (probs getting one) and low and behold it's already old! is there summat wrong with them?!
tadconfused, I'd say the E507 is obviously superior to the Bean... even though it was released BEFORE this. A matter of model numbers. In this case it seems older is better... who knows, it might even bring the "older" (but better) models' prices down? (Better not get one's hopes up...)
I don't know really why Sony bothered to launch THIS model. Except maybe in a bid for more attention or something (but the 400s/500s are way more stylish and powerful than the Bean, IMHO). As I see it, they're just trying to broaden their selection on the market - give more choices within the Sony range. Well that's one way of looking at it. Another take would be, "They're flooding us with more of their stuff." Electronics spamming!
'S a bad idea of theirs, though, doing things all backwards. I mean who in their right mind would follow up a 3-line display with a 1-line display? And this is all chunky-looking.
One step forward, two steps back.
I was lamenting the fact that I purchased a Psyc for DD with my SonyPoints when I saw this little number. I figured a teenager would think it was cute and immediately want a pink on. Of course, I wish I had known you all BEFORE I bought my Walkman and had to become familiar with SonicStage [rolling eyes]. I'm stuck now but I'm one of those who will run around in circles looking for a way out. I will however stick with the Psyc for now.
[Also hoping someday that WMAs will be compatible]
More proof that the design team at Sony is completely out of their minds! The Walkman "Bean" looks just like the hearing aid that my grandmother wore when I was a kid! Somehow I doubt that the youth of today will be craving that same look! Who knew that Grandma was so ahead of her time?
I thought it was cute...but that doesn't matter as much as how well it plays. How does it play?
uh...does this thing use usb 2.0?...
its alrite.they must market the design first!!!what do you think??
I think it's cute and very girly!
The Sony Bean is just annoying. I ordered it on the internet and almost immediately after i paid for it, I found our that the Bean is only compatible with SonicStage. So that means I cant download from windows media or any other musicstore. Sony is just rude and inconsiderate to its customers. If they want to have any chance of competing they need to give the consumers what they want. And being limited and restricted on where you can get your music from is not what anyone wants. I'm very dissapointed and as soon as i recieve useless device it will be taken right back to wherever it came from. *sigh*