Perfume bottle mp3? E507 / A608 WOW!

[lamewing]

Okay, I will go on the record as one who really has had a beef against Sony the last year or so. The only mp3 player of theirs I really liked was the Pocket Vaio. Sony has flipped-flopped on designs of their walkman HDD players since the HD1, and I am still not convinced about the new A-series HDD players.

Having said that, I decided to "rent" a E507 from the local Beast Buy, since the A608 aren't officially available in the States yet. I figure if I liked it, I would upgrade to the A608 later on. The import idea has me worried, since the radio freqs aren't the same in Japan and the U.S. Importing an A608 is faster, but the radio loss might be a deal-breaker since I like to listen to talk radio now and again (showing my age).

Well, after playing with the E507 I find that I really like the player. The USB 1.1 is slow as heck, but the A608 alleviates that issue with true USB 2.0. The only other problem I see is the screen is useless outside, but this player is more for exercise, walking my dog, or listening in the university library. I do wish Sony had thought to allow the option of putting the unit in "hold" mode and allowing the user to hit the display button to show the time/date versus the "HOLD" status. If that were the case, this would make a nice little pocket watch as well. I guess they didn't think of that option.

What won me over on this player (the nano and the Cowon iAudio 5 or U3 were competition) was the extra long battery life and the fact that it can display japanese, korean and chinese fonts!!! All I have to do is open SonicStage with Applocale and transfer to the player. No registry hacks...just straight transfers.

I still use iTunes to rip since it is the only program that rips and supports those languages with ease. If I use sonicstage to rip korean and then add the file to iTunes, the title is garbage. iTunes works across the board.

I did load the connect software and it seems to be unicode, but I couldn't transfer to the player (of course). What bothered me is that I couldn't playback the mp3s or ATRAC that I ripped with Connect - using connect. Anyone have the problem?

In the end, I think I found a nice flash player. It would be nice if it had recording capabilities, but hey, Sony has yet to realize that idea. Overall, I will upgrade to the A608 when (if) it hits the States as the 2 GB and USB 2.0 will be nice. We will have to see about the Connect software and see where it goes.

As an update, I just sold my Cowon X5L to a gentleman in New Zealand to help pay for the E507 and my new Cowon A2 PMP. Both serve their purpose well. The X5L while a fantastic player really didn't fill a specific need. Oh well, I hope that Kiwi enjoys it!!!

[Rumz]

So the battery life is what won you over vs. the Nano-- (because the Nano should be able to display those characters fine).

One comment on the radio-- do you get talk radio on FM frequencies where you are? The radio doesn't mean much to me as FM where I live is 99% music and pop-- stuff I don't care much for. It's just an FM radio on the 507 / 608, is it not? Talk radio is on AM stations for the most part where I live... too bad Sony doesn't add an AM radio.

My main hesitation on importing is primarily price... it'd be close to $300 to import from Japan and I bet when this comes out in the U.S. it's much closer to $200 (to compete with the 2gb nano).

[lamewing]

So the battery life is what won you over vs. the Nano-- (because the Nano should be able to display those characters fine). 

One comment on the radio-- do you get talk radio on FM frequencies where you are?  The radio doesn't mean much to me as FM where I live is 99% music and pop-- stuff I don't care much for.  It's just an FM radio on the 507 / 608, is it not?  Talk radio is on AM stations for the most part where I live...  too bad Sony doesn't add an AM radio.

My main hesitation on importing is primarily price...  it'd be close to $300 to import from Japan and I bet when this comes out in the U.S. it's much closer to $200 (to compete with the 2gb nano).

←

Oh, yes. I knew about the iPods displaying east asian font. That was the reason I avoided all the other players. No others I looked at could do both japanese and korean besides the iPod and the Cowon units. I have yet to find another program that does unicode. I don't understand why Sony has waited so long...

NPR is 90.1Mhz and it seems japanese radio is 76Mhz to 90Mhz, otherwise the import would be fine. I cannot believe I am out of luck by .1 Mhz!!! Ha Ha!!!

[finalcoolman]

You know the 608 is available in Canada now in silver and purple? Canada has the same frequencies as the United States. So if you can find a Canadian website here selling it or from a Canadian eBay member, you'll be set.

P.S. As crazy as it sounds I heard a rumor that Sony US will not be carrying the new A series players (600, 1000, 3000). While here in Canada we have all the series now available.

[Ascariss]

I don't think any e-retailers are selling the new units online and do international shipping, ie to the US.

I haven't seen any of the new A600s on ebay canada, nor any of the larger HDD based ones. Mind you I was planning on buying an A600 and selling it on ebay, but don't have the time or cash for that now.

Unless there are people in the US that really want the 2 gig version, I can always purchase it for you if you are willing to send the money over.

The winter edition is for sale on ebay.com. 2 units for 600 US but they are shipped from japan so again, not sure how the fm would work.

That comes out to 300 US for one unit, not including shipping. with taxes the A600 here with fm and 2 gigs comes out to 246 US. In addition the A1000 and A3000 are on ebay as well, but all shipping from japan, and some from the UK, but I think the UK plugs are not going to work for the US customers.

If you do buy from canada, same voltage, and fm will work as well, warrenty wise, I guess you could send it back to the person in canada for a refund or fix up.

With the 1 gig sony player on bestbuy.com at 149.99 plus state taxes, I don't think it would be that great to order the 2 gig from canada, unless you seriously want to.

at 246US with taxes, or 216 US with no taxes, it is rather expensive.

[lamewing]

You know the 608 is available in Canada now in silver and purple?  Canada has the same frequencies as the United States.  So if you can find a Canadian website here selling it or from a Canadian eBay member, you'll be set.

P.S.  As crazy as it sounds I heard a rumor that Sony US will not be carrying the new A series players (600, 1000, 3000).  While here in Canada we have all the series now available.

←

Where did you hear that rumor? So is Sony just going to stop selling mp3 players here in the States? I guess they have decided to give up to Apple?

Does Sony sell the other A-series models in Canada, such as the A-1000? Thanks.

[finalcoolman]

Yes, 1000 and 3000 are available here. As for that rumor, reasoning from what I understood is Sony USA is afraid of the Connect player. They are afraid it is so buggy and unstable it will further damage Sony's reputation for MP3 players and software in the US, most notably the software part which affects the reputation of the actual MP3 player. Remember although the Sony hardware is great, according to Americans, crappy software=crappy MP3 player. However why they do not just bundle Sonicstage 3.3 instead of Connect is beyond me.

P.S. Lamewing, check your PM inbox.

Edited December 7, 2005 by finalcoolman

[Ascariss]

I don't think he meant that sony would discontinue selling mp3s players in the US, that would be suicide.

As of today, Sony US has made no announcements whether they will carry the new models offered up here and worldwide, the A600, A1000 and A3000.

Lamewing, all 3 models are sold in canada, with the A1000 at other retailers such as best buy, futurehop and london drugs. I have not seen the new 2 gig A600 at any other store other than the sony store.

In addition the larger 20 gig model is only available from SonyStyle and the Sony store. That is where I purchased mine, and when I mentioned this to the rep at best buy, he wasn't even aware they have a 20 gig model available.

SS can't be bundled with the new players since then some of the features of the new A series will not work, such as play history and intelligent shuffle. Oddly enough, there are plenty of players on the market that have also below average software when compared to itunes, but people still buy the product.

CP isn't really that buggy anymore for me, it's the speed of it, it isn't as fast as I want it to be. itunes runs a bit faster on my pc, but it's not far ahead of the CP.

My view on this is that Sony US will announce the new players or something at CES 2006 in January regarding the US markets for new hardware.

[finalcoolman]

Yup, I live in Port Coquitlam. I've seen the 1000 at Future Shop, Best Buy and London Drugs in Coquitlam. Have only seen the 3000 and 600 at the Sony Store like you have. I still don't understand why the 600 is not listed yet on sonystyle.ca after almost 2 weeks of being available in the Sony Stores.

[Ascariss]

I asked at the store in Coq centre, there is this one rep there that really seems to know jack about sony products and etc, but he said it's on the site in a different area, or section.

I said no it's not, check the site, he then left to deal with another customer. lol Not sure why it isn't listed on the site, perhaps a screw up on sony's end, oddly enough silver A3000 was delayed until next week, dec 15th, and it just came in today, more than a week earlier thankfully.

On a side note, saw the walkman bean today as well, never really knew it was that small. Also sony is now offereing for download both manuals for the A1000 and A3000 on their sonystyle site, after you sign in of course.

[Beethovenian]

Weird that Sony would not sell the players in the US because the software is buggy, but do it in other areas. Do they have less consideration for other consumers and think they can push bad software to them? But I've seen the A608 available for pre-order at J&R in the US, and the Sony US support site actually lists the A608 among its Network Walkmans. Does the A608 have any feature that would be crippled with SonicStage?

I wish Sony came up with a higher capacity player when it finally decided to market the new Walkmans in the US. It's about time to have a 40GB model.

[Ascariss]

NW-A600 Series | Features & Specifications

- new "Intelligent shuffle" feature:

1) Most frequently listened tunes shuffle mode

2) Time/Date based shuffle mode

3) Artist link shuffle mode and

4) Sports shuffle mode

I don't think these will work on the player if SS is used.

Can you post the link to the J&R site?

[Guest Stuge]

Can you post the link to the J&R site?

SONY NW-A608 Walkman® 2GB - Color - VIOLET

Pre Order Price: $249

SONY OLED NW-A605 MP3 Player NWA605

Pre Order Price: $149.99

SONY NW A607 1GB OLED MP3 Player

Pre Order Price:&199.99

NOte All prices in US($)

[Ascariss]

Wow that is rather expensive. Much more than the 2 gig nano in the US. granted you have a much better battery life, but no colour screen.

It costs even more in the US than it does in canada, ouch.

[Guest Stuge]

Wow that is rather expensive. Much more than the 2 gig nano in the US. granted you have a much better battery life, but no colour screen.

It costs even more in the US than it does in canada, ouch.

Yeah! I`m`also wondring why they are selling these models at higher price in US..

[dukedo]

I got same problem in china PR .so have buy E507.

[Rumz]

I wouldn't pre-order from J&R. And I'd be very surprised if the A608 went for $250 when Sony does roll it out in the U.S.-- I'd expect it closer to $200 - $215 (competing with the Nano, this would also just be consistent with prices in Canada / Japan).

As for using Sonic Stage vs. Connect: Can you put playlists on the A608 with Sonic Stage? My main interest in Connect is for playlist functionality, though I'm not up to date with what the most recent players and Sonic Stage can do.

My 2 cents on availabilty-- perhaps Sony is wanting to hype the new mp3 players at CES before rolling them out in the U.S... also, limited availability in Canada suggests to me that perhaps production isn't mature enough to supply the U.S. with these yet. Also getting Connect a bit more mature is probably on that list of reasons it's not in the U.S. as well, as others have mentioned.

I secretly wish they'd bag the A3000 and instead announce at CES an A3200 with a 30 or 40 gig hard drive =P One can dream, eh? (Like that A1200 8GB version).

So... anyone in Canada want to get me a violet A608? =P I could just order a cool color from Japan but I'm interested in having an English version of the Connect CD (updatable)-- unless the disc image for the english version became available.

[Guest Stuge]

I secretly wish they'd bag the A3000 and instead announce at CES an A3200 with a 30 or 40 gig hard drive =P One can dream, eh? (Like that A1200 8GB version).

They might release successor of HD5 to NW-HD7 OR ....

NW-A4000 no one knows .One can only speculate things here

[Ascariss]

I don't think there will be anything along the lines of the HD-5 or HD-7, the new players are here to stay and the replacements for the HD-5. They are the walkman brand after all.

Rumz, I can always get you a violet A608, will only charge the price with taxes and shipping, no profit taking here lol.

There is oddly only one problem, when you go to install CP, there is no region for the US market, only Canada, Japan, Europe and Oceania.

If a larger capacity player was going to be annonouced it might be at CES, or sony may not even venture above 20 gigs.

[finalcoolman]

Hey, the NW-A608 is FINALLY on the Sonystyle.ca site. However like the A3000 it is exclusive meaning it will ONLY be sold online or at the Sony Store, no places like A&B Sound or London Drugs or Best Buy/Future Shop.

[Ascariss]

Interesting development on Sony's part here in canada. Why limit it to the sony store only? This will hurt sales in the long run, as not many people have a sony store near their house, seeing as futureshop is a lot more prevalent in Canada.

[finalcoolman]

Very interesting indeed. It might add to the rumor that because of the shortage of 2GB flash, they are unble to make alot of tese to fill all the stores, which would be a task in Canada let alone the US. It still doesn't explain the very limited availability of of all the new A series players. Why would they not be in the States? Do they have something new coming in at CES 2006? Anyways here is a direct link to the Sony Canada MP3 selection:

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/C...ategoryId=46881

[Yoni45]

quick question, about that Unicode capability, is the E50x series unicode capable? specificly, will it show hebrew? sonic stage cant import hebrew tracks, but would that be somehow possible? ^^