bob123_

Does the A800 series have the Audio-in recording function for recording directly from CD/MD etc like the 700 series has? I thought that it didn't (can't remember why) but at sonystyle uk at the following link it looks like it does: http://shop.sonystyle-europe.com/SonyStyle...rue&drc=def Anyone know for sure? Sorry I don't think my link is working or more likely I don't know what I am doing! But if you go to sonystyle.co.uk and chose on the left mp3players then accessories then the "Accessory Starter Kit for NW-A800 Series" the description has the part about direct encoding

Two questions I have in relation to this player which I don't think have been answered yet: 1. What type of EQ does it have & does it have custom settings - I assume it will be the same as the 700 series?? 2. Can you change how the album art is displayed? i.e. can you set it so that the album art fills up the whole screen - the pictures I have seen so far just show small album art and other info.

Sound Quality is so subjective and dependant on so many variables that I think the best advice is to try the various bit rates and formats yourself with the set up you will use most often with a set group of songs. Then just see what bit rate and format you think sounds best. I don't think there is much point encoding at a higher bit rate if when you listen to it with your equipment and setting you cannot tell the difference between the high bit rate and low bit rate. But when doing the tests make sure you do use a wide cross section of music. When I have done tests myself I have found that some music styles suit VBR Lame MP3 (for example Coldplay: X & Y sounded considerably better in the high frequencies compared with ATRAC3plus) whereas other suit ATRACC3plus.

Zizone, I too have though that such a function would be useful. I am quite picky with EQ of songs and particularily between albums find myself resetting the EQ to suit. I think that in itunes it lets you set the EQ for each song but just from the set eq settings from itunes (not custom).

I like the design too. I like that its simple & kindof retro & i can imagine it feeling very sturdy even though it is small. i lalso like that it is different to its competitors. can't wait for the further deatails!

Ishiyoshi: Thanks for letting us know. In terms of these "other" announcements: can we expect them in the next few weeks, months or before the end of the year?

Ascariss, Just curious: before the announcement of this player you referred to you being happy with the amount of storage this device had in it assuming all plans were still in order. Was the 8gb what you were expecting?

Thanks for that. I downloaded the manual from a link in that audiostation forum. You would think that an "ATRAC Audio Device" will include the HDD walkmen - guess not clear re MD players that have USB connections. I have a E507 which is flash memory. The cool thing is (and finally!!!) from the manual it looks like this stereo will allow me (because I have an ATRAC device) to access files the same as I do on the player (ie. artist - album - song). It looks like if I don't have an ATRAC device (and instead just a USB mass storage device) then access is only via Groups/Albums. Man I am very tempted to get one of these as I mostly use my e507 in the car. Plus it looks like the player will switch on and off when the stereo is switched on and off - so no need to touch the player which could be in a protected case. Brilliant! All I need now is a player with alot more memory so I will have all my music on the go. Sony should bring out a Car Stereo to foucs on this by also bringing up an Album Art on the car stereo

Yeah i'm picking that they're going to release new software with the latest walkman. I think Sony's lack of marketing is tied to the fact that they know their software is lacking. Maybe if they feel they've got that right it will be game on with Ipod. Also maybe they are being a bit tricky and at the same time they release this nano-ish one they will also release a HDD version???? Nah I can't see that hapenning but it would be cool!!

The recent announcement states that the device will be 6.5mm thick. That is the same as the current nano so on that basis it is probably unlikely that when saying the device was smaller than the nano they were referring to its thickness. But you never know I guess. Will definitely be interesting to see the actual specs and see the device.

See picture below of a Sony CD Head Deck. In New Zealand they are calling this model CDXGT860. My question relates to the USB front input. The info on the Sony site doesn't tell you too much about it. Does anyone know what you are able to see and do on the head deck once the mp3 player is connected via USB? Can you use and see the same things as on the mp3 player - ie. artist-band-song or does can you just cycle through the groups or songs? In other words can I plug the mp3 player in and then on my head deck see the list of artists etc.

I like what sony are going for with these. My only negative is that without more than 8GB flash storage most consumers will see these as trying to rip off the nano. If it was 10+GB falsh they would really get some attention. Guess time will tell though I guess.

Yah. Thanks for the heads up!

Your comments are very intriguing Ascariss. Any idea when we may be made aware of more details? I am assuming it will be before end of March. Can we read anything into your reference to "the walkmans" rather than "this walkman"?

Ishiyoshi, Any hint as to when "soon" is?

yes, like you i unfortunately have to agree about what apple has managed to do with the iphone. unless sony can come out with something astounding, their next walkman release will look outdated. but as you said that's just looks - i'm sure the iphone sound will be crap for music - but the general public don't care about that.

You can download (but have to pay for) a programme on the net called Sound Taxi. It works and strips the DRM from WMA & AAC DRM files without removing the ID tags. I have tried it and it does work. But if you are only doing one song then probably better to do what is stated above and rip to cd etc

The same thing happened on my E507 a few weeks ago - try pressing the reset button on the device using an unwound paper clip or pen. I did it and it reset the display without resetting the content on the player etc - in other words the screen started working again perfectly and haven't had a problem since.

Surely not! All the previous word on the street was a player by Mar '07 at the latest. Below is I think where the Engadget article was taken from. If so they have paraphrased the article and assumed the player will be end of next year too (when the article seems to refer to the Software/Store starting then). Monday, 4 December 2006 Sony Hints at iPod/Zune-like Strategy Topic: News At Sony's CES preview event today at 30 Rockefeller Center, Sony revealed its holiday plans, its CES gameplan, and talked a lot about about HD video. But there were a few scraps for us digital audio types, including Sony exec Jay Vendenbree calling "MP3 players" (not "digital audio players") one of Sony's strong suits this holiday season, despite the fact that the 2006 holiday product guide they passed around listed only two MP3 players -- the NW-E003 and an American Idol-themed NW-E005. More intriguing was Sony Electronics head Stan Glasgow's hint about what Sony might do in the MP3 player/digital music store space after watching Microsoft launch the Zune. Next holiday season could see a new approach from Sony in the MP3 player space -- one that could resemble Apple's iTunes/iPod combo or Microsoft's similarly-unified Zune approach. Glasgow said that Sony "still han't come back to the [digital audio] market hard," but that "we [CE manufacturers] all want to use this approach," and also "you'll find us doing something in that direction" in the future. Glasgow also had some choice words for DRM that indicate a break from Sony's previous stance. He said, "DRMs are going to become less important" as time goes on, although he also called implementing multiple DRM schemes on the same device "a nightmare." Although he said it was too early for him to reveal details about a Sony device/store play along the lines of the iPod or the Zune, he hinted that Sony is considering releasing something similar. As for Sony Connect music store, Glasgow admitted, "it has not been successful," while pointing to Sony Connect's success in providing content to the company's new briskly-selling eReader device. If Sony releases a new music store/device combo next year, it will likely build on Sony's eReader success, which it says closely unites the content source with the device it plays on -- just like the iTunes/iPod and the Zune ecosystems do for music.

I'm interested in how the Connect2 works & functions. What shows up on the Head Deck & how do you access the songs?

If you go to Sony.com.au and go to the Oct '06 Pulse Mag - Personal Audio page i'm pretty sure it gives December as the release date

No you're not the only one. I can't hear any difference either. Do you have high quality headphones? I don't so have put it down to that fact.

Rightly or wrongly I am expecting big things from Sony with their rumoured Video Walkman. My hope is that the delay since releasing the A1000/3000 Walkman is because they have learnt their lesson and are making sure that what they release will be ahead of the rest. I don't know that much about the PS3 but from what I have heard Sony took extra time to make sure their product was as good as it could be. If they apply the same approach to a Video Walkman then hopefully they can make inroads into the IPoo Monopoly. They will of course need to also deliver software that is better than or at least equal to ITunes. Hopefully they have also learnt their lesson here too. On the software front I am expecting less emphasis on ATRAC and more emphasis on the Hardware - and doing that by making the player compatible with almost all formats. However one problem all non-Ipod manufacturers face is that alot of consumers have downloaded music from the ITunes store that I imagine will never be able to be played on non-IPod players - if Sony could have some arrangement with Apple so that Sony players could play DRM ACC then that could really open things up for Sony. But I can't really see that as being possible? For what it's worth I hope that as well as having high capacity HDD players they will also have high capacity flash players - I think if they could incorporate advanced features with high def. screen into a 16GB flash drive (and assuming good software) then I think they would be on to a winner. In terms of the high capacity flash drive are there any techinical wizards out there that know whether you can join to flash drives together - ie. there is a flash drive manufacturer that does 8GB drives - is it possible to link those together to get 16GB? or do you need just one 16GB drive - I am guessing it is possible because that SanDisk player has 8GB and you can add a 2GB card to it. Anyway I apologise for my rambling overly-worded novel!

Joeseptuk, 4GB is the max capcity flash player sony has to offer. From what I read on this site Sony are expected to release new high capacity players early next year - as to whether they might release a high capacity flash version I don't know - but I am with you, my collection is about 8-10gb & prefer flash so hope they do release a 10gb+ flash player Does anyone else have any inside word on whether Sony has any high capacity flash player plans?

If you do need to add the album art to each track rather than just the album, the quickest way, assuming you have already assigned the art to the album, is to (in album sort view) click on the album then in the view menu at the top select Cover Art/Lyrics info which will bring up a box with the album art in it - then click and drag the picture to the album (in the my library view) and it will ask you whether you want to assign the art to all the tracks within the album - & you then click yes & it is done - much easier than going through each track separately.