Sony's new NW-E Walkman series loosed in Japan

We first peeped Sony's latest NW-E series of Walkman audio players in the UK of all places. Now they've made their rightful debut in Japan where the 4GB (NW-E016), 2GB (NW-E015), and 1GB (NW-E013) flash players will hit on April 21st for ¥20,000 ($168), ¥14,000 ($117), and ¥11,000 ($92), respectively. However, at least in Japan they'll also be hitting in a flourish of springtime colors supporting uncompressed Linear PCM audio and AAC support to get your DRM-free EMI on. Otherwise, these appear to be the euro-equivalent of what we've already seen: three-line OLED display with album art, a slight 29-grams, and up to 30-hours of audio playback... you know, when listening to all those ATRAC3 files you don't have.

[Via Impress]

[Demaar @ Apr 11th 2007 7:45AM]

Wow, these actually look very nice. Probably the first Sony music product I'd actually buy since the original Walkman. Dunno about those prices though.

[Drew @ Apr 11th 2007 7:54AM]

Given the earphones that come with these players, I think the price is fine.

[Demaar @ Apr 11th 2007 9:52AM]

Holy crap. You mean the MDR-EX90SL earphones come with it? Jeez. I'm sold.

[Mike @ Apr 11th 2007 8:26AM]

This is what a media player should be, small, functional, stylish, easy to use, able to plug into any PC and have audio files copied to it like USB storage, long battery life...

Bravo Sony...

[tekdroid @ Apr 11th 2007 9:07AM]

...able to plug into any PC and have audio files copied to it like USB storage...
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you mean without SonicStage? I don't think Sony have reached that level of common sense yet, but I am bursting to be surprised.

[Vinn @ Apr 11th 2007 8:32AM]

Yeah, bravo Sony. Now work on Sonic Stage a little more. Or, save yourself a load of work and just make your players mass storage compliant.

These do look great though, very stylish.

[Castle @ Apr 11th 2007 8:35AM]

Those mini-OLED screens are very nice and colorful, seem to be priced reasonable since there is one model at $91 and the 2GB at $117.

[KilgoreTrout XL @ Apr 11th 2007 9:30AM]

Those look sharp.

[PistolPeet @ Apr 11th 2007 9:49AM]

Don't judge Sony products based on their rendered PR images. I almost bought an NW-A3000 until I actually saw one in the flesh and realised how poor the OLED display looked in comparison to the rendered images.

[Rick Lyon @ Apr 11th 2007 10:07AM]

They have the Verizon Wireless ad campaign people giving them more bars too?

[Irfan @ Apr 11th 2007 5:15PM]

cingular/att not verizon

[Dan Hall @ Apr 13th 2007 6:15AM]

I love sony walkman hardware. Despite atrac being hideously uncompatible, its also a great audio codex.... the best sound quality by far! My latest walkman is the NW-A8000 and its stunning... but i've pretty much given up putting new songs on it... SONICSTAGE IS PATHETIC- it's actually a joke... without the funny part. This thing doesn't work without it btw... so still, if you ask me. Get an ipod. The day Steve Jobs ups audio quality... its a sealed deal. The ipod would be unbeatable and wouldnt deserve to be. Sony should bring back connect player (looks gr8 jus make sure it works), and advertise their battery and soundquality like mad while they still have some kind of decrepid leg to stand on.... but sony doesnt really believe in advertising does it?

[BatteryAcid @ Apr 14th 2007 10:37PM]

Beautiful player!! Love the seamless stream.

[NineT9 @ Nov 26th 2007 11:55AM]

When I bought my first MP3 player (3 months ago), I looked at every single MP3 player out there, price wasn't an issue nor did I care too much about size...after seeing all the mp3 players, only 2 stood out to me a lot. 1 was by Cowon, the other by Sony... I chose the Sony one (Sony Sports Athletic Walkman, shaped like the sample cologne bottles)

I gotta say, Sony did an AMAZING job with this walkman...wow, I am shocked at how cool it is...The features, style, movement, etc

I will say this though, using SonicStage absolutly sucks and I hate it...but if its the price I have to pay to use this Sony Walkman I have, then so be it...I just wish it would just recognize as a mass storage

these new NW-E Walkmans look okay, if its anything liek the one I have, the features/menu kick butt, wonder how it works