ATRAC
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So long ATRAC, thanks for nothing
In case you missed it, Sony's CONNECT music services based on the ATRAC audio format are finally -- at long last -- coming to an end. In North America and Europe, anyway. The off again, on again music service with a penchant for the ol' ATRAC lock-in will be phased out. Buried in that US-bound video Walkman press release, Sony states that, "Specific timing will vary by region depending on market demand, but will not be before March 2008." The CONNECT e-book service for the Reader will not be affected." We expect the swift demise of ATRAC to follow.Update: Connect customers are already being notified of Sony's move away from their "proprietary music format." They'll even provide future "guidance" for converting your library over to WMA or MP3 formats. Good times, eh?Update 2: Those conversions are just for music you added to your library -- not for music you paid for. Sorry, you're gonna be out that cash unless you strip the DRM.[Thanks, Robert H]
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-6575%
Sony's PMX-U50 and PMX-M70 China-only media players
While the rest of the world makes do with the 2-inch, QVGA display on their NW-A800 Walkman, China just nabbed a pair of biggie Sony Walkman branded flash video players under the PMX-M70 (pictured) and PMX-U50 monikers. The M70 series brings a 4.3-inch, 480 x 272 pixel display for viewing MPEG-4 video stored in up to 8GB of flash memory or Memory Stick expansion. It also records audio or video when jacked-in appropriately or plays back MP3, WMA, and AAC audio over the unit's integrated stereo speakers. The PMX-U50 then, is a throw-back to the ol' GigaPocket PCVA-HVP20 design with a refreshed spec sheet touting a 2.4-inch TFT LCD, FM tuner, drag-n-drop support (no SonicStage!), voice recorder and more in capacities up to 4GB. Notable by its absence from the press release is ATRAC, again. While three ATRAC-less, SonicStage-less products released in the last 4 weeks certainly does not constitute a trend, it's tantalizing nonetheless. See the U50 pictured after the break.[Via I4U]
Clarion MAX9700DT all-in-one does in-car NAV, 1Seg, and MiniDisc
Oh how we wish it were all just a horrific dream, but somehow, the engineers behind Clarion's flashy new MAX9700DT in-car navigation unit still felt it necessary to include support for a format that just refuses to die. Granted, the system is loaded to the hilt with features and supported formats, but we have a hard time believing that even the Japanese really still find MiniDisc and ATRAC all that attractive. Nevertheless, the unit also boasts a seven-inch touchscreen display, built-in 1Seg TV tuner, DVD player, a 40GB hard drive, iPod compatibility, 50-watt x 4 amplifier, AM / FM radio, and support for a whole host of audio formats including WMA and MP3. Getting around shouldn't be too difficult given the expansive screen and "3D maps," and just in case that 40GB of internal storage isn't quite enough, you can cram an SD card or Memory Stick into it for a bit more space. As nice as all this sounds, few from crowds other than the elite will be pondering a purchase, as ¥341,250 ($2,868) isn't exactly bargain basement (or even "good deal") territory.[Via NaviGadget]
Hello Sony Walkman B100 -- bye bye ATRAC and SonicStage
An interesting bit of news from the kids over at ATRACLife this morning. According to "trustworthy insiders," Sony is set to introduce another Walkman stick -- the B100 series -- which supports drag 'n drop music transfer... no SonicStage required. Perhaps oxymoronic considering the source, the player will not support Sony's MiniDisc era codec, ATRAC; a milestone in and of itself. Instead, the player touts MP3, non-DRM'd WMA, and presumably AAC like we've seen in the recent lineup of dedicated Walkman players and phones. The latter necessary to get your DRM-free EMI on (at least initially). The B100 series will ship sometime before May has sprung in 1, 2, and 4GB capacities with or without FM radios. Nice, now where's that nano killer?
PS3 to download album art when ripping CDs
At yesterday's Sony event, we reviewed a few details about how the PS3 will handle music playback. The system will rip your own audio CDs to MP3 or ATRAC, logging ID details through Gracenote. Sony also says that the device will download and add album art if it can be located.Like the Xbox 360, the PS3 will also support iPods and USB mass-storage devices; it can copy MP3 or ATRAC files to the internal hard drive.With these media options, Sony keeps pushing the PS3 as a device capable of more than gaming. We're not sure how many of these features we'll use, but maybe gamers' families will. We just hope that these non-gaming decisions didn't contribute much to the cost of the system.
PS3 supporting m4a, mp3, ATRAC
In the latest PSM podcast, a little tidbit slips out about the PS3's ability to support audio files. A lot of people have been rolling their eyes, saying Sony limits themselves to the proprietary ATRAC format (if anyone else has a Vaio that came equipped with Sonic Stage, you know exactly how annoying that format can be... especially if you want to move the files anywhere else), but this podcast (timestamped around 8 minutes in) tells us that "it does read iTunes music format, so if you have all that music you can actually load it on the hard drive. It will recognize that, as well as MP3 and ATRAC." This is fantastic news and a great move on Sony's part -- now people like me, with their retardedly spacious 60GB iPod (music is the third most important thing next to writing and video gaming for this guy), can load their PS3 with music and (hopefully) play it in the background while surfing the web, downloading other stuff, playing Blast Factor, or heck, playing a full-fledged game (yeah right... but that'd be pretty sweet). Hmm, it's hard to distinguish between downloadable games like Blast Factor and games like Resistance. Is there a term for that? I tend to say "downloaded game" and "real game"... but it's not like downloaded games are "fake games". Anyone want to coin a term for use on PS3Fanboy?[thanks, Jeremy!]
Sony ready to take on the iPod ... again
Sony senior vice president Takao Yuhara met with reporters yesterday to announce that the company is working on -- drum roll, please -- a new digital audio player, software and download service to take on Apple's iPod. Yuhara didn't provide a whole lot of details, though he did say the player would be "typically Sony," by which we assume he meant it would be hobbled by intrusive DRM, poor support for formats other than ATRAC and prices that will make it completely uncompetitive in a market where you can get a decent 512MB flash player for well under $100. Still, we wish Sony luck. We really would like to see the company come up with an audio player that could return this pioneer to its early Walkman-era glory (we have an idea: hand the division over to the team that designs the Walkman phones). But we fear that what we'll be seeing will instead be this year's answer to the Bean.
Sony's new E-series flash Walkmans get real
Not that we really had any doubt at this point, but those new Sony E-series flash players from last week? Yeah, they're real. No new info on Sony's official site though, not so far as we can tell: same 512MB / 1 / 2GB capacities as before with optional FM tuner, MP3 and WMA playback, and a 28 hour battery (using ATRAC, of course) with a 3 minute quick charge for 3 hours playback (again, probably using ATRAC), and black, violet, pink, blue, silver, and the "very exclusive lime green." Yeah, whatever. So where are our CE-Ps, Sony?[Thanks, Colin]
