Sony X-Series Walkman..

[Levanel]

Just spotted a review of the new X-series walkman..

Was there someone who wanted this monstrosity over an RH1/M200? Kudos if you get one.. I don't think I'd ever "invest" in this one..

http://gizmodo.com/5325036/sony-x+series-w...ew-why-sony-why

[Auvi_Joe]

Just spotted a review of the new X-series walkman..

Was there someone who wanted this monstrosity over an RH1/M200? Kudos if you get one.. I don't think I'd ever "invest" in this one..

http://gizmodo.com/5325036/sony-x+series-w...ew-why-sony-why

It reminds me of my older Vaio Pocket player. It sounds great, looks great but slow and quirky. I would not have bought one at the full price Sony originally charged but not too bad at steep discount prices. At least it played Atrac3 and MP3 with later firmware upgrades.

If and big "IF" SONY got wiser and enable the option for Atrac3 playback with gapless like this unit is able to in Japanese units, and price it much lower than what they are asking... perhaps. I already have Sonicstage installed for my MD and Sony HD players, another device is not going to be a big deal and I would try it.

Video and net capability look to be a joke tough. What a waste of such a beautiful screen. Shame. Noise cancellation is nice but not such a big deal though.

[Sony_Fan]

It plays MP3s, it "sounds great," and it's not an iPod. That's 3 good enough reasons for me to buy it for the iPod Touch. Walk around with any iPod in a crowded place, and everyone knows what it is. Walk around with a Hi-MD or Sony X-series Mp3 player, and they stare and wonder. That is priceless.

[bobt]

It plays MP3s, it "sounds great," and it's not an iPod. That's 3 good enough reasons for me to buy it for the iPod Touch. Walk around with any iPod in a crowded place, and everyone knows what it is. Walk around with a Hi-MD or Sony X-series Mp3 player, and they stare and wonder. That is priceless.

Absolutely the truth, and when they hear it they wonder why they bought a pod. Never had anyone switch though!

Bob

[tekdroid]

The demise of the bundled wired remote for easy access to basic controls while listening to music is sad. Replacing this by obligatory lookee-lookee and touch-touch on the main unit can be OK some of the time, and those buttons on the top of the unit are still better than nothing, but they still require touching the main unit. I don't like this. It is better than what Apple does, but Sony need to think beyond merely Apple.

* Removable storage and battery are missing in this age of cheap(er) flash media and green lip-service.

* Shipping a half-arsed browser in the unit is unacceptable in a unit priced like it is doing what it does.

* Rudimentary codec support is disappointing in a device priced like this, IMO. Others are doing FLAC and/or Ogg Vorbis. Apple may not be doing it but forget about Apple and go beyond, especially when it's royalty-free.

People seem to want to simply use something that's different to the main competitor. That's fine, and there are one or two nice features here, but Sony can do more, and merely relying on the "it's not an iPod" crowd is not going to do them any favours. The OLED touchscreen may be nice, but as far as usability goes, there seems to be too much do it like Apple going on here.

* Would it kill them to:

* license a quality web browser? If you want to clone Apple, look here. Maybe license Adobe Flash, too.

* Offer QWERTY input?

* Implement royalty-free FLAC and Ogg Vorbis?

* Include a wired remote, a la MiniDisc (even as an option)?

* Come with zero storage and offer removable microSD of your choosing, much like PSP comes with no removable storage outta-the-box?

* Come with removable battery, like PSP and Sony Ericsson phones? Or is everything disposable and surgerytime now?

There are parts of Sony I don't like simply 'cause I think they are sitting on their butts and being also-rans and incomplete-ists. This product would be one of those, I think. Go beyond what Apple is doing. Focus on software a bit more (how about your own store, too?). Make a portable media device that offers a completely good experience (that means a decent browser in 2009 as a bare minimum...). It doesn't necessarily mean increasing your bill of materials and slicing your profit margins, either. If you want to clone your main competitor, do it better in the (remaining) areas that matter.

Otherwise, good job, but I ain't buying