Sony intros three new HDD-based NetJuke stereos

Sony's announced a trio of new NetJuke stereo systems that'll let you transfer music from CDs or the ever-popular MiniDiscs to the built-in hard drive, as well as download tunes directly from Japan's AnyMusic service. Coming in at the top-end is the basic-black NAS-M90HD (seen above), boasting a beefy 250GB hard drive to back up the CD and MD options, and retailing for an even 100,000 Yen (about $836). That's followed by the NAS-M70HD ($670) and NAS-M50HD ($544), each of which pack 80GB hard drives, though the latter drops the MiniDisc support. All three systems also sport a 4.3-inch color display, support an optional USB WiFi adapter, and come pre-loaded with album information for some 350,000 titles courtesy of Gracenote's CDDB. Look for the NAS-M70HD and NAS-M50HD to hit Japan October 21st, with the NAS-M90HD to follow on November 18th.

[Via Impress]

[Thinker @ Oct 13th 2006 12:23AM]

Looks nice!

[Deluxe @ Oct 13th 2006 1:12AM]

The Sony NetJuke systems sound great, and MiniDiscs are incredibly popular here in Japan, and similarly in other Asian countries I've seen.

[summer boy @ Oct 13th 2006 2:29AM]

A great music player. But too expensive. If it could play internet radio, it will be great.

[Eh @ Oct 13th 2006 4:06AM]

I assume it uses MP3's. If so then who the hell listens to 250gbs of mp3s? Thats like 110 days of music. If you listened to every song only once for 3 hours a day, every day, it will last you over 2 years.

[Oddmanout @ Oct 13th 2006 5:57AM]

"I assume it uses MP3's"

And you know what they say about assumption...

Keep in mind this is Sony. S-O-N-Y. They are not exactly known to be very MP3 friendly. When they say their players 'play MP3s' or are "MP3 compatible' they usually mean they will gladly bundle said player with some horrific software that will convert your MP3s into a format of Sony's choosing and THEN load them on your device.

So if you're going to assume, ATRAC might be a safer assumption...

But, recently some of their devices have supported MP3's natively, so putting the above aside...


"If so then who the hell listens to 250gbs of mp3s?"


Well what would be the ideal amount of space ? You can't cut too close to the mean/median/average without the risk of making it prohibitively small for some people. So the only way to "guaranty" that that won't happen is gross overkill.

But, then again, to say that a certain amount of GB indefatigably equates to a specific amount of music time presupposes a fixed bit rate. With a hard drive THAT large you could easily take all the songs in the average sized music collection (say...

[Oddmanout @ Oct 13th 2006 6:10AM]

...20GB @ 192kb). With 250GB you could easily encode all those songs at 320kb if you so wished. I know, most people can't tell the difference above 192kb. But that's probably why the smaller and cheaper 80GB version is also available for everyone(in Japan anyway)'s consummption.

And with such a large HDD, REAL audiophiles can still hold out the likely futile hope of future FLAC and WAV support.

Oh yeah, and with WIFI it could have NAS potential, or maybe even video uses...

All just a response, not an attack.

(Sorry about the split post Engadget, I guess the new format has a size limit. I'll try to be more terse in the future...)

[zargon @ Oct 13th 2006 8:39AM]

Real audiophiles? It still uses Sony speakers, something a audiophile would not touch. Sony has never been known for quality speakers.

[Oddmanout @ Oct 13th 2006 9:22AM]

After I activated the post that very thought crossed my mind, but it was too late. I was of course mainly refering to the FLAC and WAV part.

But, it's a good point none the less... particularly since the FLAC and WAV part will almost certainly never happen :P

[zargon @ Oct 13th 2006 9:52AM]

For $800+ for their system, I think you would be better off with a Roku SoundBridge (M1001 $200 or M500 for $150), a 2 channel amp ($100-$200 for a descent one), Athena/Paradigm/PSB/Energy speakers ($100 or so) and a network attached HDD ($200) and you will fall under the price of their system for higher quality and more features!

[willyjsimmons @ Oct 13th 2006 10:27AM]

I OWN a Sony MP3 stereo, and it plays standard mp3s from burned, folder based CDRs. Right out of the box.

'It's like MAGIC!!!'

[Jamar @ Oct 13th 2006 12:09PM]

What is AnyMusic? Does that mean that when you buy music it gets downloaded straight into the stereo? The stereo sounds nice, though- I want one.

[Rusty @ Oct 13th 2006 6:01PM]

Can you say "Hack me"? I wonder what OS it's using and if you could get it to transfer or play files from a local network share?