Sony Readies iPod Rival

[Dinko]

Thread title and description from PC World:

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125585,00.asp

Article:

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

Friday, April 28, 2006

Sony is preparing to take another swing at Apple Computer's iPod digital music player, a top Sony executive said today.

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The company is developing a new music player that will go on sale in the U.S. and other markets over the next year, alongside a companion download service and software, said Takao Yuhara, senior vice president of Sony, at a briefing with reporters in Tokyo.

The player will be "typically Sony," he said, drawing on the company's strength in areas like design and long battery life.

Apple has a commanding lead in the music player market and is particularly strong in the U.S., where it's estimated to command more than 80 percent share. Sony has tried to unseat Apple in that market before with little success, and its recently launched A-series Walkman digital music players are on sale only in Japan and Europe.

Few Details Available

The new player will be launched within the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2007, Yuhara said. He wouldn't be more specific, but acknowledged that the holiday sales period between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays is an important time for consumer electronics products.

Sony sold 4.5 million digital music players in the year to March, and expects this to rise to 5.5 million in the current year, the company said Thursday when it announced its financial results. In contrast, Apple shipped 8.5 million iPods in the first three months of this year alone, it said earlier this month.

Sales of all audio products at Sony fell 6.2 percent in the last year.

[Ascariss]

Good and bad news sadly, I just hope they launch it soon and make it not only competitive with the apple, but blows it out of the water.

[Guest Stuge]

Yup ..I it will better if they launch new walkman before Apple launches it`s new I-pod b`coz otherwise they will be left behind again ..as their are rumors that new I-Pod will support touch screen & will have bigger LCd screen as well

[pata2001]

Meh, what's the use of announcing product that is not even going to be out by next year? When is it going to be released? 2007? Rumor is Apple is planning to cut price and release 6-10GB nano by this fall, and the touch sensitive real video iPod this year. Again, big talk by Sony but no result. Sony should just shut up about competing with Apple, and promote the RH1 instead.

[Beethovenian]

Yes, Sony should stop announcing something that's so far in the future. Still, one can only hope Sony finally gives Apple some competition. This microsoftization of Apple in the digital audio market is not a good thing. But I fear Sony will be only catching up. What they need to do is be ahead of the market. To me, what they should do is include wi-fi in a small player with a good, high resolution screen and partner with Starbucks, offering free access to hotspots where people would be able to download songs and maybe videos (sort of a Starbucks Connect). They should offer Atrac 64kbps files in these downloads and let you download later a higher bitrate copy to your PC. Also, they should add some kind of streaming feature, maybe for use with LocationFreeTV, and for sharing music with others, so that when you meet somebody in the streets and want tho show that person some music, you could just stream it. Connectivity with the PSP would be good as well. Making a portable audio player sort of a social networking device, instead of an isolating one, could be a good marketing tool, I think.

[Guest Stuge]

for sharing music with others, so that when you meet somebody in the streets and want tho show that person some music, you could just stream it.

this will be never possible b`coz Sony is crazy about DRM & they don`t like music to be shared ...Remember Sony also has another company called Sony Music .

[Ascariss]

Ok here is the thing, sony already has access to the latest tech via the mobile phone side of things. So it's only a matter of adding that tech to the hdd player.

basically the new player has to have this, otherwise sony can forget any chances of fighting it out with apple

-touch screem

-easy and quick navigation

-battery life of at least 20-30 hours at a good bitrate, mp3 128-192 not ATRAC

-small size

-colour screen (either lcd or oled, more likely the latter)

-ease of transfer to the device

-superior sound quality

-competitive price

-software that IS NOT buggy

-availability in the US and the rest of the world at the same time

feel free to add more if you guys see the need.

[Beethovenian]

this will be never possible b`coz Sony is crazy about DRM & they don`t like music to be shared ...Remember Sony also has another company called Sony Music .

I know, that's why I said streaming. Files would not be transferred, just the listening or viewing shared. But they should allow you to transfer pictures.

I particularly don't like touch screens, but if they manage to have one that looks nice and doesn't get smudged all over, OK. I think one alternative to the patented click-wheel is a scrolling ball. The challenge is to make it small without being difficult to use.

For small capacity players, without video capability, I think Sony should go for the e-ink screens. Having them in color would probably be prohibitive now, but they look cool nonetheless.

[Guest Stuge]

Just eloborating superior sound point : V-Sur & Digital Sound Preset should be back & option like Mega Bass.

[Dinko]

Still, one can only hope Sony finally gives Apple some competition. This microsoftization of Apple in the digital audio market is not a good thing. But I fear Sony will be only catching up. What they need to do is be ahead of the market.

(1) I think they're the only ones at this point who can give Apple some competition.

(2) To some extent, they're ahead of the market.

See, for the past few months, I've been playing around with non-Sony gadgets. Now, let me ask this: how hard is it to create a playlist?

SonicStage; easy. You set up a playlist in three clicks, drag tracks to the list, open the list, and edit. Inside a playlist, you can sort by any ID3 tag element. You then transfer the playlist to the device, to problems at all. You can even create playlists ("Groups") on the device. Or edit a playlist already transferred to the device. You can do this with the iPod (except sometimes iTunes won't copy the playlist in the order you want it unless you specifically tell it).

The reason I'm asking is because I've recently played with some Microsoft-based DAPs. What's a breeze with SonicStage is a massive pain in the a** with the software required for these other DAPs.

Windows Media Player: creating and editing playlists is easy, but... playlists are saved in a proprietary format which other jukeboxes won't recognize. You can only transfer playlists if the device is set to automatically synchronize. The playlist must be saved manually, otherwise you'll need to start over.

RealPlayer: talk about bugs in the software. It's often as slow and dimwitted as SonicStage. It's great because you can create playlists directly on the device... playlists which are not always saved. But... RealPlayer has some serious ID3 tag issues. Every jukebox I tried has no problems with ID tags except RealPlayer. Creating and editing a playlist in which tracks from several albums should be in their album order is another pain in the ***.

Yahoo! Music Engine & Samsung Media Player. Easy to use, easy to transfer. Now if only they could edit playlists. Tracks added to a playlist are either very hard to properly move around, or simply impossible.

What takes 35 seconds to do in SonicStage (assuming it doesn't freeze), I've been at it for two hours in a row with four other Jukeboxes and I've just given up at this point.

Sony and Apple got this right: 1 player, 1 software. Once this is fully integrated, the rest can follow. I was one of those really annoyed with the speed of SonicStage, but at this point, I'm more convinced than ever that SonicStage is simply the best jukebox out there. The only problem I have with SonicStage is the speed it operates at and the frequent temporary freeze ups.

If Sony made their devices MSC/UMS for simple drag and drop functionality, it would be excellent. If they made other software compatible with Sony devices, it would be very nice.

Whatever features they add to the device, there's one thing they've always excelled at: making it simple, intuitive and user-friendly... on paper. Sometimes their actual product was nowhere near as user friendly as it should be because there were bugs, various nuisances or other Sonyisms.

[/end of rant]

[Viper]

basically the new player has to have this, otherwise sony can forget any chances of fighting it out with apple

-touch screem

-easy and quick navigation

-battery life of at least 20-30 hours at a good bitrate, mp3 128-192 not ATRAC

-small size

-colour screen (either lcd or oled, more likely the latter)

-ease of transfer to the device

-superior sound quality

-competitive price

-software that IS NOT buggy

-availability in the US and the rest of the world at the same time

feel free to add more if you guys see the need.

Also, as much as it hurts to say and hurts to realise the truth, but there really needs to be more than one DAP on the market that is compatible with a Mac. I know, I know... most DAP's CAN be tweaked or have bodgey drivers available for Mac (If you look hard enough).

But let's face it, a lot of people who buy an MP3 player these days can't even imagine how to "make my music get into my Samsung iPod!?!?" (quoting the most brainless customer I ever had, and served today).

[mgillespie]

Sony arn't in any position to challenge Apple, ther software division is in such a mess.

[Ascariss]

Most people are not having the problems you are mgillespie, maybe there is something a miss on your end not the software.

[Guest Stuge]

Sony arn't in any position to challenge Apple, ther software division is in such a mess.

Mark ,Enough is enough ..Stop insulting Sony now (Just kidding Dude )

Hey Man ,atleast give them some chance .

[Ryzir]

Sony ready to take on the iPod ... again

Posted Apr 28th 2006 11:58AM by Marc Perton

Filed under: Portable Audio

Sony senior vice president Takao Yuhara met with reporters yesterday to announce that the company is working on -- drum roll, please -- a new digital audio player, software and download service to take on Apple's iPod. Yuhara didn't provide a whole lot of details, though he did say the player would be "typically Sony," by which we assume he meant it would be hobbled by intrusive DRM, poor support for formats other than ATRAC and prices that will make it completely uncompetitive in a market where you can get a decent 512MB flash player for well under $100. Still, we wish Sony luck. We really would like to see the company come up with an audio player that could return this pioneer to its early Walkman-era glory (we have an idea: hand the division over to the team that designs the Walkman phones). But we fear that what we'll be seeing will instead be this year's answer to the Bean.

[sdfzz_]

great news...i was tired of waiting...

hope they can do better this time...

I have no problems using SS or CP, but more updates are always welcome

[Zizone_]

Ok here is the thing, sony already has access to the latest tech via the mobile phone side of things. So it's only a matter of adding that tech to the hdd player.

basically the new player has to have this, otherwise sony can forget any chances of fighting it out with apple

-touch screem

-easy and quick navigation

-battery life of at least 20-30 hours at a good bitrate, mp3 128-192 not ATRAC

-small size

-colour screen (either lcd or oled, more likely the latter)

-ease of transfer to the device

-superior sound quality

-competitive price

-software that IS NOT buggy

-availability in the US and the rest of the world at the same time

feel free to add more if you guys see the need.

So umm... a dream music player!

I agree with above lists.

Someone mentioned about the bigger screen from apple... but I would like my players to be small (the reason that I didn't get video ipod).

[Guest Stuge]

Someone mentioned about the bigger screen from apple... but I would like my players to be small (the reason that I didn't get video ipod).

I would like to have bigger screen ..agree that it will eat battery but atleast in some whay it will challenge I-pod ..hehe

[EZero]

I kind of got sick of waiting for Sony, bought an iPod, love it. I wish it was a Walkman, but Sony refuses to match Apple's pace. By the time that a Walkman with equivalent features to the latest iPod, that iPod would be so far ahead of it. Samsung is exploding DAPs, that is what Sony should be doing. Instead of announcing that they'll have an iPod rival out. Guess what, Sony said the same thing last year. The A3000 is not even on the iPod's level.

[Ascariss]

I kind of got sick of waiting for Sony, bought an iPod, love it. I wish it was a Walkman, but Sony refuses to match Apple's pace. By the time that a Walkman with equivalent features to the latest iPod, that iPod would be so far ahead of it. Samsung is exploding DAPs, that is what Sony should be doing. Instead of announcing that they'll have an iPod rival out. Guess what, Sony said the same thing last year. The A3000 is not even on the iPod's level.

not feature wise, but sound quality and battery life, it easily beats the ipod, besides i looks better than the bland square ipod lol. like kamil has in his signature, I am no itrend.

[Guest Stuge]

not feature wise, but sound quality and battery life, it easily beats the ipod, besides i looks better than the bland square ipod lol. like kamil has in his signature, I am no itrend.

add on>>

Even size of A3000 beats I-Pod ..

[JSP62]

Oh boy do we have alot ot say on this topic

Can I put in my 2 cents too ? I like alot of the comments I see - pata, ascariss, stuge, beethovernian +++

I do agree with the nonsense PR Sony is making with annoucements. I think attempts to speak of a "new better more functions do-das" gadget coming out for release are poor atempts to try to catch consumers, where all it may do is help make things worse by hyping things up. When it does come out, I am sure there will be gripes.

Don't take me wrong I would love to see Sony back on top of the innovation chain, but I think they would have to take some radical changes to accomplish this. Competition strats from others seem to push out (whore out) any type of memory storage unit and slap MP3 player on it....the catch with these is that they are made so universal it gives them good reason for consumers to buy.

Is this unit Sony is pushing the one with the BEAN design? I think this would feel pretty good, but curious to see it up close. Again support side must be closely scrutinized.

As far as ipoo, while I like some aspect of it and others I do not, I am gonna have to stay on the fense for this. I was never one for the masses and follow the common road, but I always have the thought of purchasing one in the back of my mind.

PS - what does one think of when speaking a music player, mp3 player? iPod has become so synomous to this that it is a household name....it's branded (i.e. remember xeroxs ? "make me a xerox of that" aka "make me a photo copy"). So much so I don't see how anyone can undo this.

Edited May 3, 2006 by JSP62

[CULTFICTION2005]

JSP62 Does DYSON ring any bells think HOOVER may remember them. Sony only need to make the product usable, stylish and at a price point. Sony can acheive most just need to work on the usable...

[JSP62]

JSP62 Does DYSON ring any bells think HOOVER may remember them. Sony only need to make the product usable, stylish and at a price point. Sony can acheive most just need to work on the usable...

I agree, I remember when Sony was the defining standard. With my tape player, with the MEGA BASS option.....oh man I loved that thing. I think I still have it stored somewheres.

[Guest Stuge]

with the MEGA BASS option.....oh man I loved that thing.

Just b`coz of Mega Bass option i still use my old D-E225 for listening to audio cd`s.

[madleet3]

sony need to buck up faster to gain more mkt share from ipoo

and creative is having $$$ losse from frighting with ipooo already

but i kudo's to creative to have the means to frignt with ipoo even its on the lossing side