Sony Walkman E-series flash players

Sure, Sony may have taken a page out of the old screenless audio player book on their new E-series players, but hey, from the sound of it these things may have some decent features and storage to 'em. Though to the best of our knowledge they haven't been announced yet (which means, of course, they may not necessarily be real or materialize), it looks like these new E-series flash players may have an FM tuner option and come in 512MB (NW-E002), 1GB (E003), and 2GB capacities (E005) for up to 1,400 Kronor (about $180 US). Very doable, if you ask us.

[Thanks, Tom]

Update: Guess not on the screenless audio bit! ATRACLife has the skinny on the new E-series, which does in fact rock a one line display (but forgoes the FM, apparently). Looks like it could give the you-know-what a run for its money after all.

[mike @ Mar 26th 2006 7:11PM]

BRILLIANT!!! No screen! See.. Sony IS Innovative..

[anon @ Mar 26th 2006 7:14PM]

$180 for 2G model. For same price you can get an iPod Nano which also comes with a 2G HDD, plus a color screen.

[stomicron @ Mar 26th 2006 7:25PM]

FM tuner but no display to tell you what station you've tuned to? Sounds like a major headache.

[sean glickman @ Mar 26th 2006 7:31PM]

wow battery time is like a week long HUGE

[weatherman @ Mar 26th 2006 7:35PM]

I'm going to wager that there is a sub-dermal OLED in these. It'd be almost pointless if there weren't. Plus the article that is linked clearly states "nabb laddning d? minuters n?nslutning r?er f? timmars lyssning. Total batteritid ?28 timmar och sk?en ?en 1-rads OLED" which I don't really understand, but I can recognize the letters OLED.

[Pete @ Mar 26th 2006 7:44PM]

#2 I never knew ipod nanos had HDDs

[Echo_ @ Mar 26th 2006 7:47PM]

so number 2 does the ipod nano have a built in usb connector?

[Mary @ Mar 26th 2006 8:02PM]

If you actually clicked on the link you'd see that there IS a screen.

[Gary @ Mar 26th 2006 8:12PM]

And the hard drive based Network Walkman remains vaporous in the United States.

[andy @ Mar 26th 2006 8:28PM]

wow an ipod shuffle with a tacky shiny colour, inovation

[TZK @ Mar 26th 2006 9:18PM]

Talk about putting some time in your research.

[Eric @ Mar 26th 2006 9:28PM]

Does know if these will work with MP3 or will you have to convert to ATRAC?

[Great Googly Moogly @ Mar 26th 2006 9:39PM]

The article definitely states it has a 1-line OLED display.
A stated runtime of 28 hours, with that "charge for 3 minutes, get 3 hours of battery charge" thing they've used in previous models.

[nojok3 @ Mar 26th 2006 9:51PM]

I don't own any Apple products but I'd have to say I would rather have a Nano than this stuff. A color screen, 2gb, $200 and a small design really changed my mind on the iPod branch. To think I purchased my iRiver 512mb mp3 player for $300 at a steal really shows a push by all these companies to compete.

[boss sauce @ Mar 26th 2006 10:03PM]

How does an FM tuner work without a display?!

[Robert @ Mar 26th 2006 10:20PM]

I had an Ipod then sold it. Now I have the Creative MuVo TX FM. Its doubles as a USB stick and mp3 player. Its perfect because at work, i just plug it into my pc and listen to my music via winamp. i prefer winamp to any other software mp3 player.

when i hit the gym during lunch break or after work, i use it as a portible mp3 player. only during this time do i even need to use the battery. at work, i dont have to waste battery because im using the USB feature.

[Joe @ Mar 26th 2006 10:25PM]

If Sony is wise, this device will be targeted against the shuffle and not the nano...hence the built in connector.

Yes, all the current Sony models do play mp3s natively

[Joe @ Mar 26th 2006 10:27PM]

Would you people READ the information. THERE IS A SINGLE LINE OLED SCREEN ON THE DEVICE.

[Anonymous @ Mar 26th 2006 10:27PM]

The IQ/EQ (or lack of) of the average netizen never ceases to amaze (disgust) me.

Please, for the sake of the human race, read the info first from the source and confirm the facts before opening your mouth/typing in your 'opinions'.

[matt t @ Mar 26th 2006 10:52PM]

wow people, the guy made one mistake, big deal.


also, i like how some of you get offended when a product (that you didnt design nor own, mind you) is criticized.

RELAX

[russ @ Mar 27th 2006 12:00AM]

be sure to turn off autoplay before putting this into your USB port. don't think sony'll be making that mistake again any time soon. but i still think its a good idea to turn off autoplay!

[Joel R @ Mar 27th 2006 12:15AM]

Personally, I think Sony needs to ditch the outdated 'Walkman' brandname. It's lost it's pizazz. Sure, at one time, Sony was the bees knees with their walkmans... but most people under the age of 35 only think of that as acient tech history (if they are even familar with the history at all!).. And .. most non-tech people over the age of 35 are either not going to be looking for a digital music player OR will go with what looks simple to use.... the iPod.
Sony needs to reinvent itself. They are trying to capture some glory from a long bygone era with an old name. Time for a new product brand-name, new (quality) product software, and... a simple to use product. There are plenty of SIMPLE interface innovations simply waiting to be created... if they'd spend more than a week working on them. It seems Sony craps out a new player about that often.

[Frank @ Mar 27th 2006 2:58AM]

GREAT!

I would certainly buy one.
Under ONE condition: NO CONNECT PLAYER SOFTWARE!

Got that dear Sony?

[Melrino @ Mar 27th 2006 3:31AM]

Oopps, they're going back. You need the wait for the station ID to know what station you're listening up to.

[V8v @ Mar 27th 2006 4:49AM]

You idiots who are so afraid of being called "apple fan boys" actually make yourself look even more pathetic fawning over and buying these monstrosities. If it works flawlessly and it's a superior delivery system like ITMS and ipod, then buy it. If the specs don't turn you on or you're angry because a lot of teenage girls also buy iPods, then get bent.

You waste too much time screeching against Apple and it makes you sound pathetic.

Just shut the fuck up and stop acting like the pantwaists that you are.

[Keija @ Mar 27th 2006 6:39AM]

The player looks pretty sweet but here are the problems i'd have with it:

-Sonicstage (please it's even worse than itunes!)
-Price
-design (i prefered the silverish design of their earlier Walkmans)

I don't think that sony needs to refrain from the Walkman Brand, but they need to build Innovative and Great Players!
This way, they only ride the W. to its death.

Sony, please take at least a look at Sony Erricson, they are doing it right!

[maff @ Mar 27th 2006 7:11AM]

i'd love there to be a 4gb version of this, as my apple 20gb ipod photo is as buggy as hell, once half-filled w songs and itunes proprietry encoding pisses me off! Use mp3 dammit, apple!

[Ipod fanboy @ Mar 27th 2006 7:21AM]

psp is a better mp3 player then this new sony mp3 player. The walkman name is trully screwed forever. Sony failed with the walkman bean to take out the ipod shuffle and the walkman bean failed and network walkman failed against the ipod nanos. Sony chances on wining back the portable music market rests in the hands of the psp and its playstation flagship name. So far the psp interms of an mp3 player is better then the ipod in the eyes of the hardcore hip hop community and culture who are pro sony which is a small tiny fraction of the population.

[Ryan Block @ Mar 27th 2006 8:10AM]

I don't even consider it a mistake! I purposefully did not mention the OLED because I couldn't read the text -- perhaps it said "We wish this had an OLED." The video on the Swedish site did not show the screen powered on. I'm not about to make any more assumptions than necessary when writing the post. Some of you guys really need to calm down about this stuff!

Best, Ryan

[Andy @ Mar 27th 2006 8:17AM]

I bet the people who are complaining about Sonic Stage hasn't tried the latest version which is pretty good IMO.

And there *IS* a drag-and-drop utility you can download that lets you bypass SonicStage. It's been available for some of Sony's mp3 player so I don't see why it wouldn't work with these players.

[Frank @ Mar 27th 2006 8:38AM]

Sonic Stage / Connect is absolute rubbish!

I bought Sony's recent 20 Gb NW-A3000 Walkman and I returned this thing to Amazon because of the software.

In itself I can live with proprietry software, such as iTunes, but Sony Connect was really the worst I've ever seen. Incredibly slow and highly unstable.

I simply wonder why Sony spends (wastes?) so much money on their own software. Let Windows Media Player 10 do the trick or simply treat the device as a mass storage device.

Less=More!

[oscar @ Mar 27th 2006 11:17AM]

The $180 price tag is including swedish tax (25%) Which means $135 in the US

[Tom @ Mar 27th 2006 12:01PM]

Lets clear a few facts up:

512MB �60 (NO FM)
1GB �80 (NO FM)
1GB �90 (FM)
2GB �100(NO FM)

This means that only the 1GB model will come with FM

[SoreThumb @ Mar 27th 2006 12:18PM]

I am SO tired of expensive MP3 players that look like the above, but are not worth the money at all for the function.

Example: the X-Micro Easy Mp3 Player is just like this.. no-screen. The 512 version was $35 at NewEgg.. Same functionality as this.
What does this do too? function as a computer-lock? I don't think $180 matches the functionality and need.

[joseki @ Mar 27th 2006 12:27PM]

28. What are you talking about? Both the iPod and iTunes can use mp3s. Do you really have one or are you just making this up?

[Motorola @ Mar 27th 2006 12:28PM]

Ryan, can you change the title of these note, some people dont read the update and think it has no screen, please boys read!

[woot. @ Mar 27th 2006 1:44PM]

34. Does that 35 dollar mp3 player let you recharge 3 hours in 3 minutes? Is the sound quality better? Sony's mp3 players, though lacking in 'extra features', tend to have excellent sound quality.

[Frank Z @ Mar 27th 2006 1:52PM]

Wow! Sony has finally released something that is actually sexy for a change. I am an iPod fanboy but I would consider buying on of these. As long as I can use WinAmp to transfer the files....

[Kristjan @ Mar 27th 2006 3:25PM]

But Ryan, you Do realize that this is the same company that makes MiniDiscs.. you know, like ..... MiniDiscs...... :O

[Nate @ Mar 27th 2006 3:46PM]

No way am I ever going to buy a Sony product ever since the rootkit fiasco. The tactics used on customers make me wary and causes me to boycott their products for a very long time, even if it is a Walkman product.

[Alvaro @ Mar 27th 2006 4:03PM]

http://www.atraclife.com/

^proof of the walkman have 1 line oled
I personally prefer the NW-E507 which I have :)

[Ixalon @ Mar 27th 2006 5:18PM]

Stop it with the rootkit flaming already. Ok, Sony made a mistake and they admitted it. Their mistake was trusting an external company that licensed them a shoddy DRM soltuion which could be hijacked by hackers. Sony didn't install a root kit intentionally and they didn't develop the software.

It's a bit like people never buying a Dell again because they package an OEM version of XP which contains bugs that could be used by hackers.

[Anonymous @ Mar 27th 2006 10:44PM]

The thing is, some people want to bash Sony these days just because it's the popular thing to do since the rootkit incident.

#39:
You wanna boycott Sony? Sure, go ahead. You're free to do so. But posting a comment announcing your 'boycott' on a piece of Sony news NOT related to the fiasco?

The world does not need to know about your Sony boycott every single time. Heck, you probably do not even know about the difference between Sony and Sony BMG.

The thing is, the rootkit fiasco is done. Sure, we're feeling the effects of it, but please, people are tired of hearing another 'I'm boycotting Sony!' declaration. If you're just gonna do that and say nothing constructive related to the news, please, just do not post at all.

[SonyHardMan @ Mar 29th 2006 12:03AM]

I live in Japan. I was just in the electronics store yesterday, and I saw a series of flash-based MP3 players that looked a lot like these, also in 512MB, 1GB and 2GB versions, and at about the same prices quoted here. Don't remember the model numbers, but they were definitely Sony Walkmans. No port, but a USB cable outlet on one end and the earphone jack on the other, with a small text screen. It looked just like these, but less clean lines--one end was tapered, making it look like a little bottle. Is that just an older model, maybe?

P.S. re. comment# 38: What's the problem with MD's? They've done very nicely in Japan, even if they didn't catch on elsewhere. They were way better to have in your car than CDs. Well, before MP3s anyway.

[SonyHardMan @ Mar 29th 2006 12:04AM]

I live in Japan. I was just in the electronics store yesterday, and I saw a series of flash-based MP3 players that looked a lot like these, also in 512MB, 1GB and 2GB versions, and at about the same prices quoted here. Don't remember the model numbers, but they were definitely Sony Walkmans. No port, but a USB cable outlet on one end and the earphone jack on the other, with a small text screen. It looked just like these, but less clean lines--one end was tapered, making it look like a little bottle. Is that just an older model, maybe?

P.S. re. comment# 38: What's the problem with MD's? They've done very nicely in Japan, even if they didn't catch on elsewhere. They were way better to have in your car than CDs. Well, before MP3s anyway.

[SonyHardMan @ Mar 29th 2006 12:04AM]

I live in Japan. I was just in the electronics store yesterday, and I saw a series of flash-based MP3 players that looked a lot like these, also in 512MB, 1GB and 2GB versions, and at about the same prices quoted here. Don't remember the model numbers, but they were definitely Sony Walkmans. No port, but a USB cable outlet on one end and the earphone jack on the other, with a small text screen. It looked just like these, but less clean lines--one end was tapered, making it look like a little bottle. Is that just an older model, maybe?

P.S. re. comment# 38: What's the problem with MD's? They've done very nicely in Japan, even if they didn't catch on elsewhere. They were way better to have in your car than CDs. Well, before MP3s anyway.

[Matt Hadder @ Mar 30th 2006 12:11PM]

More cheap SONY crap. The 80's are long gone, and sony's been cruising on their name and games ever since. If you like freedom sucking proprietary based electronics, (memory stick, SonicStage, UMD) then dive in fanboys.

[Silva Bokis @ Apr 4th 2006 4:36AM]

Sony UK has confirmed details of these players at http://products.sony.co.uk/walkman_flash_2006.asp

[Jonny @ Apr 10th 2006 2:56AM]

Sony's Nw-E507 is an exemplary display of Sony's lack of consumer respect. There was once a time when Sony =Quality, however now in the age of the technological proliferation of a plethora possibilities, the Behemoth of a once trusted company known as Sony has finally spread themselves much too thin.

Let's look at the device NW-E507. At first glance it is a removable device aka flash drive with MP3 playing ability. What they fail to disclose is that, even though the device itself if updateable, still refuses to play certain formats, such as in my case MPEG2 audio layer files.
Their intent with this product is to acclimate the consumer to use their poorly written program "SonicStage". Use it and you immediately recognize how unusable it is
COVERTING file formats. Try it. If you try to tranfer a file which is compatible (codec enabled within the device) to the device, SonicStage will perform the operation, only to display "CANNOT PLAY" on the device when you attempt to play it.
They insist on an unpoular codec ATRAC3 and do not support any other file formats other than MPEG1 audio layer3 files.

So when you decide to use SonicsStage to convert unsupported files, get ready for a long ride. First you have to use the software to convert the file. Wait, the conversion is rather slow. Before tranferring it to the device NW-E507 you must delete the previous files. Be careful. After every file transfer you have to select the Group where you want the file destination on the device. Otherwise it will create a New Folder. In other words, you must continually reselect the destination folder, regardless of whether or not you have been tranferring file after file to the same folde (group). Ok, well if you already converted it (atrac3 is the SonicStage default and only choice), guess what. It has to get converted again before being tranferred to the device. I typically listen to lectures which tend to be large files, and I don't want to have to be a geek to transfer file to a flash drive. Thats why I bought a NO-NAME MP3 flash drive player that plays anything I throw on it, and hold inportant files - all at the click of a copy/paste/create new folder.
Sony has failed to compete with iTunes when the time was right. Now trhey are taking it out on their customers. BUYER BEWARE. SUPPORT, EVEN WHEN AVAILABLE, WILL NOT LISTEN NOR SACRAFICE RIGHTS COMPROMISES TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE CONSUMER. Ileft out many other grievances, for lack of time. Good Luck.

[Sci-fi recluse @ May 10th 2007 10:43AM]

Which one do u think it's better the S-series or the E-series?
and dun give me crap like "they both suck"!
I know that the S-series hav more accessories (wireless headphone/speaker/ and a car adapter) but you'll need to pay more for those stuff ofcourse.
But in the otherhand the E-series looks better more stylish.(http://www.ecat.sony.co.jp/walkman/product.cfm?PD=27665&KM=NW-E015) thz site is in japanese tho. The one above look so crappy compare to the one in thz site.
They both sounds great (So I've heard.), S-series u can use the wireless headphones, and the E-series looks better + cheaper...
Tough decision....