cauldron

I just think it's important to make the distinction that the A910 was NEVER meant to support "Chinese" characters. It just happens that the historical developments you mentioned resulted in the overlap between the characters different people chose to use. I wouldn't ***expect*** the A910 to have full Chinese-language support just because it fully supports the Japanese Kanji set. The Japanese also, by nature of historical development, misuse the term "Chinese" sometimes. The Ramen is usually translated as "Chinese noodles" by the Japanese, but it's something they have evolved. It's not Chinese food anymore. I can read Chinese (which is my native language) and I can read Japanese, but I certainly wouldn't want to confuse the two.

Japanese Walkmans have ALWAYS been able to work with non-Japanese SonicStage. This is not a "myth". Large Japanese stores will put up a sign and say "this walkman will not work outside Japan" because Japanese Walkmans only come with Japanese SonicStage, and they don't want to deal with foreign customers asking for return and support. I've seen these signs multiple times at Bic and Yodobashi. But if you install your own SonicStage, that's not an issue. However, I've got something else I'd like to mention. so-mo.net (Japanese) has a photo of the settings menu of the A829. It no longer has the "languages" setting available on the Japanese A800: http://so-mo.net/archives/2008/04/bluetootha8202.html I think it's safe to say Sony removed the "multiple language" capability from the Japanese A910 and A820 players. Technically we shouldn't say the A910 "only displays some chinese characters", because it doesn't do Chinese at all. It only has the Japanese Kanji characters. The Chinese and Japanese share a lot of characters, BUT there are also a lot of differences - say the Chinese "you" is missing from Kanji.

Yujin Morisawa was the designer for the A1000/3000, S700 and the A800. He was present for the Japanese SonyStyle interview for these three players. But he wasn't there for the A910 and A820. I think it's fairly safe to speculate that Morisawa did not design these newer models, and therefore the design direction flipped back to traditional "Sony style" again - the typical Sony gadget taste before Morisawa was assigned to the Walkman projects. God, that's so tongue-in-cheek of me! The A1000/3000's exterior was designed first, and then the engineers tried to cram everything into the casing. I love his work, but I think this has had some repercussions, such as the button placement (designers in their minds would often like to do away with buttons, so they were perhaps an afterthought), and the overall weight balance (some feel these players are not properly balanced in your hand).

Knowing the A1000's real-life battery life, I'd like to personally buy you a new A829, so you don't have to ask for this anymore.

All MP3 players have been getting cheaper look and feel over the years, it's not just Sony. I was very disappointed by the difference in material between the 3G and 4G iPods! As for how to stop that, I think that's beyond the scope of this thread, but I say people need to stop demanding cheaper products. You get what you pay for. A very important detail on the A800 - you probably have noticed - is a shutter that covers up the WM PORT at the bottom. That's also disappeared from the A820, and I imagine it's because 90% of people who bought it don't really mind not having it. If we care about the finer details enough, I think it would definitely help to ask for them and complain about their absence. That's how we got out of the SonicStage situation. I think the NWZ players default to MTP in Windows XP and Vista. The only way I know for getting UMS is using the players on a Mac or Linux machine.

1. As you can see, juli doesn't agree with me. 2. As long as you don't use the EQ, the iPod is a very safe choice in my opinion. But one caveat here - I don't listen to anything very demanding. I don't really have any "rock" records in my collection, nevermind dance, classical or metal. off-topic: 3. I'm a B&O fan, but I would avoid the BeoSound 6, because it's very obviously a Samsung clone (god knows whose amp they put in there?), and B&O did not spend much of an effort properly creating a design. I think it's a bit of an insult for people like myself who have fended off superficial criticism and appreciate their products.

I had an iPod touch for a while, and I think the wi-fi scenario you suggested is overrated. In most locations on Earth right now, you will more likely than not have that kind of Wi-Fi coverage, and it becomes nothing more than a fantasy used to make people spend money. It would make a lot more sense with cellular network signals. The devices are also not fast enough yet. I believed people who claimed how close the iPod touch is to the browser/e-mail on a PC, and I didn't find that to be true. It's great by PDA standards, but I think people who go wow have probably NEVER used a Palm or PocketPC PDA. And the Mylo 2 has been reviewed multiple times as having very sluggish software.

1. Linear PCM = WAV. The version used on audio CD's is about 1411kbps, and an hour's worth take up about 650MB. 2. Lossless codecs are an attempt to equal the quality of Linear PCM without taking up as much space. In theory WAV files would be a better choice than making the player decode lossless files. 3. WAV files are often a big strain on space and battery life, hence the invention of lossless codecs. However, the WAV files don't require decoding, so you'll see low-end players be capable of playing wav (Sony E010, ipod shuffle), and more expensive players be capable of playing lossless files. 4. A lot of softwares can rip CDs to WAV files. JetAudio, SonicStage, iTunes, and many more.

Dynamic normaliser has been observed as having a few side effects for its ability to even out volume across different tracks, so it wouldn't surprise me that it's got adverse effects on sound quality. Despite being tweaked to sound very attractive, a lot of Sony players are known to have relatively weak output, and they will suffer from this deficit in a variety of ways. And even though all players are rated as 4+4mW@16ohms, the actual output you perceive could vary when tested with demanding headphones or material. That's my best educated guess - despite the A800 being a complete redesign that claimed to wipe out hiss and sound better than previous walkmans, NIN might just happen to be difficult for it to handle, like classical music. I've seen cases where hi-end reviewers dump Sony for iPod because the walkmans were subpar for classical music. In fact I'm baffled over how people who claim to have great ears and use hi-end canal phones reacted to the A610/810's sound quality like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. (yes certain enthusiast website reviewers, I'm talking about youse) It's also great fun to see they never did describe Sony players as such when SonicStage was still a mandatory thing. (NB - not an anti-sony post, I'm very much a fanboi!)

The Mylo is Linux isn't it? And Sony still can't get it quite right. So I don't think it's necessarily something they can solve by going open source. Could be their attitude towards software, or the way they approach software. SonyEricsson's already using Symbian, Sony's had past experience with Palm OS, but they have constantly decided to not use it for the Walkman. Even though SonyEricsson is going to stop developing new phones for NTT DoCoMo (who's apparently using Android for a new platform), they will probably still use Android for some of their international products. Which is why I think Sony's opinion on this is very clear. They have persistently resisted doing a "Clie Walkman" -type device when it was convenient for them to do so. I think I read somewhere that there was a Clie cell phone proposal, but that also never got the green light. So there...

Sorry to kinda go off-topic, but the SonicStage versions of these players apparently still have the old "Bookmark" function. So it's probably something Sony just decided to leave out, or won't have the resources to add until the next generation.

A lot of people think the E series players are less capable of driving demanding headphones, and have less output despite the specification saying it's the same 4+4mW. They also tend to produce more hiss. I have observed this myself, so I agree that the E series don't have the same sound quality as the recent A or S players. As for older players, remember that sound-wise, the A600 = E400/E500, and the S200 = E000, so they will probably sound closer to the E series.

I don't think my preference is redundant, not needed, or a waste of manufacturing cost. No really...

Looking at the button layout and the screen (and their relative position), it would seem that the E020 and B100 are very closely related siblings in terms of engineering. Several theories they just haven't gotten around to it yet, the E020 is coming out about now, which is very much timed for the start of the new school year/fiscal year in Japan, April 1. There's a major-minor-major-minor approach to updating players, so the actual product life cycle is 2 years and not 1, and the E010/E020/B100 are in fact all part of the same larger model life cycle. The actual placement could still be under development. [c] One Sony exec claimed the means of files transfer is dependent on market, and said there will always be demand for drag-n-drop products in <b>developing countries</b>. If so, the B100 is cheapo and can be left to soldier on for a while. [d] Marketing and profit margin reasons. And the low end being replaced by cell phones. Oh, and I think the one person capable of providing sneak peeks has disappeared along with kurisu. I will not think otherwise until I'm proven wrong.

Do you have the owner's manual for the player? I think a lot of Sony manuals explain how you'd open up the unit, in order to remove and dispose of the battery. Wonder if this helps: http://www.fogma.co.uk/electronics/337.html