bob123

Yes you are probably right! It's a shame really. Of course they could come out soon and announce an Android Walkman but its always going to be catchup and they are a long way behind.

You can add my name to the "very disappointed with Sony Walkmans" list. I have been a loyal walkman fan for a while now - but got so fed up I took the plunge and bought a Cowon J3. I still want sony to succeed but rehashing/reissuing the latest A series is a joke. Sony seems to have gone from an innovator to a follower.

That has also been the case here in New Zealand for the last 3 weeks or so. Any one have any inside info on a new X-series walkman?

Has anyone with Windows 7 & WMP12 used WMP12 to transfer mp4/m4a songs to their walkman? I have seen various reports that WMP12 may convert mp4/m4a to wma files before transferring.

Thanks LG1. The translation makes for some interesting reading. I am most interested in the difference in sound quality between the X walkman and the a845. In the review the reviewer says: "Another point - we need to understand who in the Walkman line of the most important.. Theoretically, a series of X as a featured. In my opinion, this model is closer to the PMP, than the traditional players, and is a separate branch. It is possible that stillborn, let's see whether the company is to develop multifunctional players in the 2010th year. If we talk about thoroughbred portable audio, the Sony Walkman A845 can safely be called a flagship. I had the opportunity to compare the hero of today's review of Walkman X, listening to the same composition. Initially I thought that X is better because more detail, not as obtrusive bass, plus a variety of equalizer settings do not spoil the music. We A845 is just such a situation, as it seemed to me, the best result is achieved, if not use "uluchshayzery" in general. To put it figuratively, "Mister X" seems to handle the music more thoroughly.. But the A845 is another advantage - it is more cheerful. How to explain it to listen to the electronics, then the clarity and accuracy of Walkman X legs not being asked to dance, while the 845th is really "lights". Moreover, his equalizer just have to get used to, or use the manual installation. As a result, I can safely say that X and A845 are very similar to music and do it much better than most regular players for consumers. Huge stock volume, clear bass, great handling the full range of frequencies and a warm, tube sound. In all that relates to sound, Sony Walkman A845 better-known models from Apple, Samsung - this is my subjective impression. Is a real "Summoner chills", since the A-808 is a wonderful quality not gone anywhere." I'm not sure what device they are saying is better. Sounds like they are saying the sound of the X walkman is more thorough whereas the a845 is brighter or something. Anyone know what this guy/girl is saying????

You're right. I saw the noise cancelling headphones and assumed the player must be the a-series one. But they are just connecting the NC headphones to the e-series - a bit misleading i think.

Have a look at sony.co.nz . They have just redone their web site and have updated promotion pictures in the mp3 walkman area. You will see that there are pictures of the new OLED A-series in a couple of places in the "Walkman Advantage" tab. They aren't listed in the actual devices for sale but they must be coming soon - surely!

Is anyone using WMP12 to sync to a Sony Walkman. If so does it sync m4a(aac) files without any issues? I am thinking of upgrading to windows 7 and one of many reasons is so that I can use WMP12 as my only software to create playlists and sync to my walkman etc. Thanks.

I totally agree with all your comments. I have the 16GB version. While I can forgive sony for having a crap internet browser etc I can't understand why such a premium player has trouble loading album art and doesn't support playlists on the go, gapless playback and deleting on the player etc. Having said all that the sound quality and general interface is excellent.

Yeah. I haven't tried it out as i'm still with itunes 8.1 but the description on the download page says compatible with itunes up to 8.1. No mention of 8.2. But you never know I guess? I will try it at work as my pc there has itunes 8.2

Thanks hadn't noticed that. Looks like no update to make it work with itunes 8.2 - which is a shame.

No - I suggest you contact sony. I have also had an issue that I thought was resolved but now realise it wasn't. On certain songs my x series walkman will cut out all sound even though the player appears to be working. Sony told me to format the device (which removes all songs, pics and videos) and then reload. This hasn't worked so I am taking it back to be sorted.

I would be shocked if Sony added extra features or improvements via a firmware upgrade. Far as I know they have never done that. It's a shame because it is a nice way to reward owners. They should really look at changing their approach some time soon. I always feel very jeolous of cowan device owners etc when they receive nice improvements from firmware upgrades.

I'm surprised at the lack of interest. My recollection is that when sony ditched atrac and gapless playback with it, there were a lot of people on the atraclife forum that expressed their dissatisfaction. Perhaps ascariss is right - there are not that many members of this forum. Were their more on the atraclife one? It sure felt like it?

Yes I agree - the SE X3 looks pretty nice and hopefully will run more quickly and smoothly than x1. Only problem is SQ. I doubt any SE phone (even walkman branded ones) will ever match the SQ of straight walkmans. I have the W715 which is a reasonaby recent SE Walkman and while the SQ is pretty good it is no match for the A818 or X series. My hope is that the next X series walkman will be "the one" - Android based, quicker (ie. faster processsor etc), thinner and open/customizable.

I am going to ask Sony to sort this out but am wondering whether anyone else is having the same issue with their x series walkman... about 4 or 5 times over the last couple of weeks when playing a track the sound has completely cut out. The player says the song is still playing but no matter what I do (turning it off and on etc) I can't get any sound out of the player. Only way I can fix it is by pressing the reset buttom. When it first happened I didn't think it was a big issue, but now that it has happened a few times, I'm pretty frustrated with the issue. Also, yesterday I was on a long car trip and it happened and unfortunately I didn't have something small enough to reset it! Anyway, has anyone else encountered this problem?

If the album art is tagged to each song then putting songs on the player by drag n drop will work. Using WMP11 is no differnt. If the songs didn't have album art in their meta data (or whatever its called) then art won't show up on player even if wmp is used. there is software out there that allows you to do that - one is audio shell - think that is free - but does take a while to load all art on - other members may know of a quicker way ???

On page 45 of the manual I have under the heading "Using the Music Option Menu" it states regarding the wishlist function: "Adds the song to the wish list to purchase it from the service on the corresponding software./Removes the song from the wish list." But I have no idea what corresponding software it is talking about??? Another weird thing I noticed was that on the outside of my box it has a picture depicting a transfer of music directly to the player from a stereo stating that recording is possible directly to the player. But it states nothing of that in the manual and certainly when I plug in the relevant connection from a stereo etc, recording is not available.

Content transfer seems to accept drag n drop of songs and playlists from iTunes if the version of iTunes is 8.0 or 8.1. If you have itunes 8.2 then it doesn't work. I know this because my work computer had itunes 8.0 and my home pc had itunes 8.1. both accepted drag n drop via content transfer from itunes. But when I updated my work pc to itunes 8.2 it wouldn't work. apparently apple is aware of people piggy backing on itunes and so changed some things to prevent it with 8.2.

I'm afraid you're right. The max you can set the x series screen saver off is to 5 mins. For some reason I thought the player did new sony pop up automatically, but I checked and it doesn't. Only other thought is that maybe when plugged into the stand and on charge it may stay always on - but if that doesn't happen with your current player then unlikely. Doesn't bother me but I can see how it would bother you and I have no idea why sony would remove the option of having it always on. Strange.

Glad that you made the purchase & have not stuck with ipod. It can be frustrating when there are issues with loading songs on the player. You will find that after a bit of experimentation you will come up with a method that works everytime. SQ is so subjective. I think just go with what ever suits you. I did find though that after a few days of listening my views about the SQ of the player improved. I would say the SQ is considerably cleaner and accurate than previous walkmans. I found I was able to increase the treble without any SQ deterioration. Some may like that and others may complain that it lacks warmth. Glad your Bose headphones are doing the trick though.

Avenger - just fyi ... out of interest I updated iTunes on my work computer to 8.2 and as others have found Content Transfer doesn't like iTunes 8.2 very much - playlists can't be dragged and dropped etc. Which is good to know so I will leave my home pc on iTunes 8.1!

Fair enough. Certainly if there were an X Series model that had no video, photo or web but was a lot cheaper I would have bought that instead. My X Series 16GB cost $550 NZ dollars (purchased in Singapore) which is about $400 canadian I think. It will be interesting to see where they go with the next A series walkman. My guess is the next A series may be a touch player but without WLAN and NC etc and that they will then grow the X series to be more open like the Ipod Touch with the ability to add other applications etc and leave the A series as the closed player intended mainly be an audio player with video and photo added on. The questions is when (if ever!) will Sony finally bring back gapless playback and playlists on the go etc?

I personally think it depends on what you want the player for. If it is for video etc then yes maybe best to wait. But if it is only or mainly for audio I don't see any point in waiting. I expect any new walkmans to have the same audio quality as the x series - perhaps depending on the model maybe even not as good as the x series. As such if it were me I would not wait. At least you get to enjoy the SQ now!

I totally agree. I also only use for audio and love the sound. Well worth the purchase. No regrets.