Sony's NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 now really, really official and ATRAC free

So long ATRAC, hello NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 Sony Walkmans. The A810 we've seen before, twice in fact, but this is the first time the S610 (pictured) has wiggled free from the rumor mill all dolled-up in full specs and pricing. The S610 series packs the same QVGA resolution in a slightly smaller 1.8-inch display and still one-ups the A810 with an FM tuner bunged inside. Both support USB Mass Storage file transfer, AVC (H.264/AVC) and MPEG-4 encoded video, and AAC, MP3 and DRM'd WMA audio formats without bothering us with any of that icky ATRAC stuff or their much maligned SonicStage software. Sony's also making nice by bringing their B100 series of Walkman DAPs to town in 1GB ($60) and 2GB ($80) models. The S610 series starts at $120 for 2GB on up to $210 for the 8GB compared to a $140 to $230 range for the same capacity A810 models. All available in September, pre-sales now.

Gallery: Sony's NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 no really, really official and ATRAC free

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[David Horn @ Aug 30th 2007 6:33AM]

What's the chance of Sony releasing a firmware update to let us 700-series users do the same thing? The devices look physically identical.

[Generic @ Aug 30th 2007 6:54AM]

God rest ye Sony, engineers, let nothing you dismay,
Remember NWZ-A810 and NZW-S610 were born on IFA Day;
To sway us all to the Walkman when we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy.

[[e-mail] @ Aug 30th 2007 7:35AM]

Well, it's not very pretty is it? I'm sure it's adequately functional, but I wouldn't want to be seen in public with it.

[Deluxe @ Aug 30th 2007 8:51AM]

It's not white. Must be ugly.

[hellboy @ Aug 30th 2007 9:31AM]

Looks more like one of those Sony Cell Phones.
The best handheld from sony... PSP "only".

[Grant @ Aug 30th 2007 11:19AM]

finally put atrac to rest?
i guess that puts sony players in the "acceptable" category now.
anyone who's had to sit there while their players music had to be converted to atrac first will agree, it was a serious hurdle.

[tekdroid @ Sep 2nd 2007 7:54AM]

they've actually been making devices with no need to convert to ATRAC for some time. ie. devices that play AAC and MP3 natively.

I fail to see how WMA (and protected WMA) and Windows Media Player are any better than ATRAC, but one thing's for sure: Sony weren't making any converts with SonicStage.

If they wanted to support open formats and near-universal OS support and ease of use, they'd be supporting Ogg Vorbis and FLAC Mass-Storage style, IMO.
http://flac.sourceforge.net
http://www.vorbis.com

[Cash @ Aug 30th 2007 5:34PM]

Hate to admit my own ignorance here, but what does 'bunged' mean? Is it anything like crammed? I know I'm kinda isolated from the mainstream as I'm too busy off doing my own thing, but I'm not a hermit either, and I have never seen that word before.

[Simon Bacon @ Aug 30th 2007 6:15PM]

What about us poor saps that converted to ATRAC. Will sony supply software to get back to a usable format, I think not!

[tekdroid @ Aug 31st 2007 10:51PM]

the joys of investing in proprietary formats, much less lossy formats.
http://flac.sourceforge.net

[Rob @ Sep 2nd 2007 4:57PM]

Re: tekdroid

While I've used FLAC before and am a supporter of the format, one must laugh at the list of the who's who of the MP3 player market that natively support FLAC, such as Cowon, i-Station, Iwod, KNC, Meizu, Onda, Teclast, TrekStor and Bluedot. I guess it's a start.

[daniel @ Aug 30th 2007 8:25PM]

Looks nice and sleek... Interface looks very much like the iAudio F2's.

[Mike @ Mar 25th 2008 7:04AM]

I did actually laugh out loud when I read Rob's comment on FLAC supported hardware. I happen to like ATRAC. I'm glad Sony supports AAC as I prefer that over MP3 or WMA but was it necessary to drop ATRAC just because they've finally dropped SonicStage? I have a MP3 Walkman S2 which plays both AAC & ATRAC and ATRAC sounds better to my ears plus it is truly gapless. I guess it's necessarily tied in with the hideous software or at least they don't mind people thinking it is much like they didn't mind almost everyone's objection to SS for so many years. Go figure. Gotta love their acronyms--SS, OMG! Someone at Sony has a sense of humor.