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Sony's new A, E, and S series Walkmans to get Music Unlimited freebie
For those that haven't yet gone down the iFaithful portable media player route, there's always the Walkman. Sony officially unveiled updates to its A, S and E series line of players just last month, and now plans to dole out a free trial of Music Unlimited to owners of the NWZ-A860, S760BT and E460 when they go on sale this September. The streaming service, formerly known as Qriocity, brings with it a catalog of over 10 million songs and will be available gratis for 180 days, after which it'll run you $3.99/mo for basic service and $9.99/mo for the premium offering. It might be too late in the game for the company to wrestle back the portable audio crown but, hey, you can't fault it for trying to sweeten the MP3-playing pot. Official PR awaits you after the break.
Sony officially outs new A, E, and S series Walkmans
When a company sends a boatload of media players through the FCC, specs and all, it kinds of takes the punch out any official announcement, ya know? Still, it's nice to finally see Sony's spate of new Walkman players that we've been reading so much about. The company just announced updates to its A, S, and E series of players, all of which have a karaoke mode, language learning function, voice recording, and Sony's station-creating SensMe feature. At the high-end, you've got the stereo Bluetooth-enabled A860, whose 2.8-inch touchscreen has already been splashed across the internets. The more diminutive S760BT has a 2-inch display and also gets Bluetooth, though it claims longer battery life -- up to 50 hours of audio playback and up to ten for videos. Rounding out the low end, there's the E460, which has the same 2-inch screen, but lacks Bluetooth and instead comes in five colors. All three models will go on sale in September, with the A series fetching $179 or $219 for the 8GB and 16GB models, the 8GB S series costing $149, and the E series ranging in price from $79 to $109 for 8GB to 16GB. Full PR after the break. %Gallery-129325%
Sony outs water-resistant Walkman NWZ-W260, is about to launch new high-end models
As far as unusual designs go, Sony's been having one productive week. First the tablet team showed off the funky S1 (and funkier S2) and today Walkman's managed to grab our attention. The outfit just announced the NWZ-W260 series, a music player baked directly into a pair of lightweight headphones -- all told, a bolder setup than this. In case it wasn't already obvious, Sony has its eyes set on the sweaty, gym-going type, and to sweeten the deal it's coated the player in a water-resistant finish. It's rated for up to eight hours of battery life, and also packs a quick charging technology that would allow you to rebound to an hour's capacity after just three minutes. The included software, meanwhile, allows you to drag and drop tracks from Windows Media Player and iTunes for Windows -- so long as they're not DRM-protected, 'o course. It'll go on sale next month, with a 2GB version (the NWZ-W262) fetching $59.99 and a 4GB number (NWZ-W263) going for $79.99. Meanwhile, it's clear Sony's got some more players coming at the higher end of its lineup. The company just pushed four A860 series Walkmans through the FCC, with capacities ranging from 8GB to 64GB -- a new high for Sony. CNET has also been chatting up sources who say the player will have a large OLED screen, noise-canceling technology, and Bluetooth 2.0. Meanwhile, FCC documents also show Sony is prepping a pair of S760 series players with either 8GB or 16GB of storage, an LCD screen for video playback, and Bluetooth. As CNET notes, Amazon jumped the gun and listed them in Europe with converted prices of $225 to $494 for the A series and $182 to $211 for the S series. How much will they actually cost once they arrive stateside? Looks like we'll find out soon.
