Ascariss

Well another update, sony canada just got off their lazy asses and updated their press site. X series will come in only 32 gb capacities, in May and in black, no price mentioned. W series will come in 2 gb, colours are: pink, black, white, violet and cost is about 100 dollars.

Indeed I am reading the press releaase right now and it does state a spring release for the W and X series for europe, so I am wondering why the US is getting shafted and probably canada as well. It almost feels like the X series is still in prototype stage, no info on screen resolution, battery life or price.

Indeed size is important when it comes to a portable device and even though the ipod has a bigger screen, I still think 3 inches is fine for the walkman. Remember when I mentioned on the head-fi forums about it not appearing on the FCC site? well I think the early summer release explains why, I don't think sony has sent in the device to the FCC yet so that is why no info on the FCC. :/ I am also wondering why Sonyinsider has not been updated with the new X series? or even other sony info? Maybe chris and stan are getting an exclusive? I do hope so, although unlikely I do hope Chris and Stan are able to convince sony that an early summer release of the new X series is too late for this product and most people will forget about it 3 months from now and probably buy a cowon S9 or samsung p3.

Well the volume key was always on the side, as is the case in the 81x and 80x, but the controls were on the front, but they seem to have kept the home key infront which is good. I would have liked to have seen metal on the sides like in the old 800 series, which made the player look a bit more high end and expensive, where as in this case, the plastic looks cheapo, almost like recycled plastic :/ I did some calculating using photoshop, and the size of the player should be 2 in by 3.75 in or 51mm x 96 mm and .4 in thick or 10.1 mm.

Here are the pictures, I saved them from the press site. I wanted to use the new x series when I will be heading off to europe for vacation, but it looks like I will have to use my old 818.

another update additional images here http://news.sel.sony.com/en/image_library/...walkman_players release date: early summer 2009 <-- fail sony, massive fail.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OHF1LQkAwX0 user interface.

yup it is, I believe gizmodo jumped the gun and posted the images and info but then removed them

well any day now, I am hoping for some info or leak, don't count on expandable memory, this is not sony's style. as for themes and backgrounds, it might be possible since it probably will be a flash based interface?

Same problem exists in canada, no amazon mp3 store here.

I used to use windows media player for my transfers and playlists, then I began using walkmanMTP http://walkmanmtp.googlecode.com/ but I have become lazy and I just drag and drop the files now, sure the year info is missing but then that does not matter to me.

thanks for the link richard will update the player/

Will defintely be picking one up, hopefully in the 32gb size, I just hope the pricing is competitive and that both the 16 and 32 gb models will be offered in canada.

Might just be the lighting on the pictures, but the material for the cushions seems thin, but again might just be the lighting.

thanks for the review stuge I am wondering should the metal mesh come off so easily? it appears so in that one photo, unless you took it off yourself on purpose. How is the quality of the ear cushions? in the one photo the material/fabric looks a bit thin and frail and looks like it could easily tear, while in other photos it looks fine, any further comments on how they might hold up?

ok let's see how this attachment goes. hopefully this worked, excuse the image quality, I have no tripod to take photos with so that is why some are a bit blurry. I took photos with and without the rubber cover.

When we purchased our new entertainment system from Sony this month (TV, sound system, blu-ray), I asked the SonyStyle employee to throw in the cradle since the provided cradle from the sound system only works with iPods. Build quality The entire cradle feels quite sturdy with the bottom being made out of metal and polished to a nice chrome finish. The top is shiny black plastic and is quite a fingerprint magnet. Unfortunately the cradle does not come with any adapters for the various walkmans, so unless one came with your walkman the fit might be a bit loose. On the bottom of the unit, much of it is covered with rubber so the cradle has a good firm grip on the surface, always handy when you do not want it from sliding around on a desk. Function On the back of the model there are 4 connections, audio out, audio in, WM-Port, and DC IN 5V. I have yet to test the audio out feature but will this weekend on the 975WF system, which has an audio in port on the front. The audio in will not work on my walkman since it has no recording capabilities. The WM-port is handy when you want to connect it to the computer and not have to fumble around all the time plugging it in. I plan to test the cradle with the USB port on our Bravia set and see what happens. The AC IN uses a normal USB connector commonly found on USB cameras, so if you ever lose the cable it can be replaced with any other standard USB cable. I have charged the device and it works like a charm, much faster than using USB. My NWZ-A818 came with the adapter for the cradle but it is matte black rather than shinny black so a slight difference there but not a big issue. With the adapter on, the walkman will not fit on the cradle with the soft gel cover I have. Removing the plastic adapter allows docking of the walkman without the need to remove the gel cover. Unfortunately without the adapter, the walkman tends to move about more but it is still firmly anchored into the cradle slot. Accessories The cradle ships with a USB cable, an AC adapter (5V) and power cable. The power cable and AC adapter are the exact same models that came with many of the older walkmans (A1000, A3000), the AC-S508U. The AC adapter is a nice addition since I do not think the normal NWZ-A81x models (or current walkmans) ship with an AC adapter. I was fortunate to have had one since it came shipped with my A3000 model. Conclusion Apart from the price (49.99 plus taxes), I do think the cradle is an excellent purchase, it allows for much easier syncing to the pc or for charging, the design looks great and matches the back 818 I have and it feels solidly built. If our sound system (975WF) came with a dock for walkmans, I would have not gotten the cradle, but Sony must have forgotten that Sony users own Sony walkmans, go figure. I do hope Sony does provide an easier method to hook up the Walkman to the sound system in their future products, be it via Bluetooth or some other physical connection. Pros -solid build quality -ease of sync and charging -AC adapter provided -great design Cons -base and top are fingerprint magnets -not worth 49.99 -no WM-port out to sync with Sony sound system (I can post photos if people want me to)

hmm how would I go about updating the S350? i know there is a usb port on the back of it but I think it only fits the small compact usb flash keys? I don't have a lan cable long enough to get to the blu ray unfortunately.

Indeed it is not, I just checked, there is the 82x series though in 16gb. wonder why no 16gb 600 series.

The NWZS639 is already on sale in canada, I would guess it should be on sale in the US as well.

Could sony be waiting for the all important christmas shopping season before debuting this new device? It's too late to cash in on the school season now so wouldn't make sense to debut it in october or september. Although I remember the older A1000/3000 series debuted in mid/late novemeber here and into early decemeber when they came out.

Don't expect sony to go back to HDD, they left that field with their a1000 and a3000 players, since flash is better at battery life, and doesn't skip and smaller in size, but of course capacity is an issue, but at 16-32 gigs and probably soon 64, I just hope when this new sony player arrives, probably an A series since the new S series kind of replaces the older a series in similar design and style, that it won't be priced out of this world.

No clue, I would only hope so, but I can't see it happening.

Good question, what could be described as "ground-breaking" for song? its not gapless, they have done that already. perhaps its lossless? flac and the like? next might be a lot more codec support for video, xvid, and so forth. (this I would like to see) maybe a full out touch screen display, in wide screen, minimal buttons, only perhaps volume, power and hold. perhaps it will be something completely different and not be part of the walkman brand? I don't know, I just hope it goes on sale before october. :/

I don't know, cedia passed and that was where I thought any new device would be shown, so prob will debut at CES 2009, jan 8-11. I hope I am wrong.