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Sony NWZ-S745 on sale in Canada, US given cold shoulder
We don't know about you, but every time we hear of a Walkman, we think of the old school cassette players, and are left strangely disappointed by the slinky modern variants and their tons of storage. The 16GB S745, which has absolutely nothing to do with Mickey Mouse we assure you, has entered North American retail channels, only it seems to have skipped the US for its more peace-loving neighbor up north. Eagle-eyed Canadian shoppers have spotted the more advanced version of the S740 on sale in Sony Style stores (for 200 CAD or 188 in real American currency), replete with a 2-inch screen, noise-canceling earphones, and an unhealthily thin case. Still, suspicions abound that Sony is merely waiting for CES to roll around to make its big US unveiling, but if you really can't wait it's not like driving up to Canadia would be that terrible anyway.
Sony Walkman S Series puts on its game face for video promo
It's not a hard-hitting impressions piece, but if you're seriously jonesing for some good ol' fashioned moving picture technology, here's your first taste of the Sony S Series Walkman in promotional video form, care of Sony Europe's marketing department. We learn it has speakers, it's thin, there's a long battery life, and you can record FM radio... but the things we really want to see, like the stand and its video playback prowess. Bummer, but hey, maybe we'll get our own hands on it later and find out then. Video after the break.[Via Player Bites]
Walkman outsells iPod in Japan for first time in four years... but iPhone sales don't count
As with most accomplishments these days, we can't help but place a rather large asterisk next to Sony's award for managing to outsell the iPod lineup with its Walkman. According to Tokyo-based research firm BCN Inc., for the week ending August 30th, the Walkman series had a 43 percent share of the personal music player market versus 42.1 percent for iPods, marking the first time in four years that Sony's managed to get the upper hand. Got that? Good, now for a major caveat. For whatever reason, iPhones aren't considered part of the iPod line, meaning people who want the luxuries of the iPod touch and a wireless data plan aren't included in the survey. That's quite an omission -- the iPhone 3GS is currently the best-selling phone in Japan, after all -- and we gotta imagine it'd be more than enough to tilt the data in Apple's favor, even if you threw in Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones for good measure. But hey, it's still a feat in its own right, and Sony might as well celebrate while it lasts -- something tells us the gang in Cupertino has something up their sleeve soon.
Logitec introduces cross-eyed XY stereo microphones for your Walkman or iPod recording pleasures
The XY technique of placing two mics together, pointing in contrasting directions, gives excellent field separation while eliminating phase problems -- and it also looks pretty cool. Exactly which of those benefits Logitec had in mind when developing the LIC-WMREC03P (for Sony's Walkman) and LIC-iREC03P (for the iPod/iPhone) microphone attachments is unknown to us, but it certainly looks a fair bit more impressive than last year's LIC-iREC01. The devices have a frequency response of 20Hz to 16kHz, sport a pair of simple toggles for adjusting sound levels, offer 3.5mm and USB inputs, and come with a pair of wind socks if things get breezy -- or if they just don't look pudgy enough for you. Both are expected to hit Japan in January, each at an expected price of ¥7,980 (or about $84). [Via Akihabara News] Read - LIC-WMREC03P for Sony Walkman Read - LIC-iREC03P for Apple iPod/iPhone
Revamped Sony S-Series Walkman pops up in leaked press photos
The well-connected chaps at Sony Insider have it on very good word that the above press shot is showing what'll be a new addition to Sony's Walkman lineup, likely a revision to its popular S Series. Hard to tell scale, but looks like either the screen's gotten bigger or the device smaller. In addition to the four color options -- red, blue, pink, and just peeking in on the right, black -- there's also that perforated grill on the front, which we figure is a good sign of some speaker. Excited? Hold that thought -- according to the mysterious source, this PMP isn't scheduled for arrival anytime soon.
Sony Europe announces E-Series Video Walkman
Sure, dog -- after seeing that OLED Walkman do its thing, anything less from Sony is kind of a let down. But if you're a music lover and not on an OLED budget, this new device might have to do the trick. Just announced for Europe, the Walkman E-Series Video MP3 players come in your choice of either Black or Red, and sport a five band EQ, support for rights-managed WMA and WMV files, and an FM radio tuner (with one-touch recording). This bad boy will be available overseas from the end July. No word yet on price or Stateside availability, but you'll know as soon as we do. In the meantime, peep that gallery below. Tiffany Giardina won't mind.
How would you change Sony's OLED Walkman?
Sony's OLED Walkman is something else. Literally. In many ways, it's Sony's first formidable iPod rival to emerge in quite some time, and with its striking OLED panel, tastefully appointed graphite casing and absolutely amazing audio quality, it's certainly worth a look. For those of you around the world that have picked one up, we're curious to see if you think you made the right decision. For many, anything sans an Apple logo is the right choice, but we're wondering if the UI, design and value here were up to snuff in your mind. Are you digging the overall look and feel? Do you mind not having an App Store? Are you floored with audio / video performance? Have at it in comments below -- don't hold back now, okay?
13-year-old trades iPod for Walkman, reports on mysterious ancient artifact
If you want to get an idea of just how fast technology moves, a brilliant piece from the BBC should help light the way. The setup is simple enough: 13-year-old Scott Campbell is given a Walkman and told by his dad that it was "the iPod of his day" -- and that's when the fun begins. Having never used or even seen the device, the young man proceeds to experience the kind of equilibrium-destroying confusion which we can only imagine the elderly first felt when attempting to set a VCR timer (you do remember what VCRs are, right?). We've collected a few of the choicest bits from the teen's observations, but we highly suggest you read the full article... you won't be sorry. Our favorite picks (direct quotes): When I wore it walking down the street or going into shops, I got strange looks, a mixture of surprise and curiosity, that made me a little embarrassed. It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette. I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured. When playing, it is clearly evident that the music sounds significantly different than when played on an MP3 player, mainly because of the hissy backtrack and odd warbly noises on the Walkman. [Via Richard Lai]
Sony's Walkman B-series zaps your tunes into submission
No, it doesn't have a big, beautiful OLED on the front, isn't running a trendy OS, and lacks any need for Morse code. It's a pretty standard USB-based MP3 player, with a few niceties. For one, it sports 18 hours of battery life, and three minutes of charging will keep you rocking for an hour and a half. For another, it'll do voice recording and tune FM. But, Sony's really talking up its ZAPPIN function, which helps you find music by playing five-second clips from the middle of tracks, a little like the scan mode your car's radio -- you know, the thing with dials and buttons that you plug your MP3 player into. We've seen this mode on Sony's screenless players in the past, where it makes sense, but we're not sure why anyone wouldn't just look down and use the LCD here. It's only three lines, but with 2GB of storage on tap there won't be that many tunes to scroll through. No price or availability have yet been set.[Via Akihabara News]
Sony OLED Walkman impressions
Considering that we're holding a Japanese unit in our hands, our impressions of Sony's OLED Walkman will be somewhat limited. That said, we figured it prudent to pass along our initial judgments until the US model shows up sometime between tomorrow and next century. After giving the flashy PMP a photo shoot yesterday, we spent the rest of the day (and night, we won't even front) toying with Sony's most hyped Walkman in quite some time. Eager to hear just how fantastic / horrible this critter is? Follow us past the break for our two pennies.
Sony's OLED Walkman coming April 25th to Japan, starts at $400 for 16GB
Forget about Amazon UK's variable estimations, Sony's gone ahead and given us official Japanese release details for its OLED-equipped NWZ-X1000 series Walkman -- known there without the "Z" but with an one-seg TV tuner. Street date is April 25 and the open price is 40,000 yen (US $400) for the 16GB NWZ-X1050 and 50,000 yen for the 32GB NWZ-X1060. Both models will be available in black or red. No word yet on US or Europe date, but we can't imagine those will be far behind.[Via Impress Watch]
Sony's OLED Walkman specs revealed, QVGA rears its ugly head
We've been itching to spend some quality time with Sony's NWZ-X1000-series player since its granite-sided shell was first revealed just ahead of CES, and now that it's inching closer to release (in the Old Country, at least) we finally have a full spec sheet to parse. On the audio side it'll play MP3, WMA, and AAC at up to 320kbps, and for video there's MPEG-4, H.264, and WMV support, sadly in most cases crippled at 320 x 240 despite that 3-inch OLED screen's 432 x 240 native resolution. That's nearly a quarter of those pixels gone to waste. Other goodies include FM tuning, 802.11g/b WiFi, internet browsing with YouTube support, and 33 hours of battery life when grooving to tunes, 9 hours when watching video, and surely much less when cruising the web. Still no confirmed domestic release date, but it can't be long now.[Thanks, Steve]
Sony OLED Walkman NWZ-X1000 eyes-on
We've been trying to get a legitimate hands-on with Sony's OLED-infused Walkman since we first caught the device on Wednesday, but security's been super tight in the Sony booth and we couldn't distract anyone long enough to unscrew the casing. So we can't get an actual hands-on with the Walkman, but we don't need to touch it to know that the OLED is seriously gorgeous and the UI looks super crisp. Sony's reluctance to pull this out of its casing seems to show the player's not ready for primetime, but we'll keep trying to get something a bit more gratifying.Update: Engadget Spanish got a video of the device in action, so check after the jump if you wanna see more and learn a little español. %Gallery-41517%
