Will Sony survive, or get crushed?

[DSP]

I was wondering how people around here, especially since it's a sony forum, think about the survival chances of sony.

The are many new devices, services and concepts coming out. Apple showed the world their new Ipods, Microsoft presented ZUNE to the people, Iriver presented the 'smallest player with a LCD' and samsung released their new YP-K5 with built in speaker. And still no news, or even rumors from sony.

do you think sony is preparing for something big, or once again waiting for no reason and come up with something when it's allready too late?

Personally I have really no idea! One part of me says (read: hopes) that they are preparing something big. The other part whispers quietly that sony is going to do something stupid once again and that the future of walkman is getting awfully close to a disaster. Life without walkman would be very unpleasant since I really love my music in that sweet divinely soundquality the Walkmans have been offering me in the past few years.

If walkman stopped existing I really wouldn't know which DAP to buy, since I think that the latest nw-a* series are the ONLY 'MP3' players in the market with decent sound quality. I guess I would be going back to good old trusty MiniDisc. So some Sharp auvi from japan or something like that.

anyway, I would like to have your opinion on this. what do you think sony is going to do, since they're late again? Are the walkmans dead or are they alive and kicking?

greetz

[pata2001]

As I've said many times, until Sony cut their music industry arm off, there will be no real competing DAP from Sony anytime soon.

For high capacity players, yeah, I think sony is pretty much out. Other manufactures are moving to flash memory, and Sony still stuck with HDD even for their 8GB player.

Sony does still compete in the small cheap flash players with the E00x. The 2GB E005 is still cheaper than 2GB nano2.

Not only hardware, Sony is way behind in the software department. Sure, SS CP4.0 is much better than previous Sonicstages, but simple things like unicode is not even there.

As for iRiver, IMO they're dead too. Their latest smallest DAP only has a battery life of 8 hour. iRiver will be just like other Asian DAP menufactures, flashy device, but lack real usability.

Zune? Nah, they're just re-branded Toshiba Gigabeat. Late in the market? Yes. Useful features? No. The only way it can sell is if MS sells it really cheap.

See the trend? Most Asian companies now are just making small flash-based players. None of them (including iRiver) seems to design a new high capacity DAP. The least they can do is to pay attention to battery life and gapless, but some of them still missed those. Even worse, more and more are becoming MTP device, which only work with WinXP.

We'll see.

[Dinko]

Short term: Sony will come up with a few more stupidities which:

- are announced 3-4 months before being released

- at the announcement date are already outdated with respect to their main features

- will offer some kind of new imaginative feature (calorie meter, artist link) which has a lot of promise but is poorly implemented or completely useless the the majority of users

In the long run, I'm still betting on Sony to deliver the ultimate DAP. I have yet to encounter a device which sounds anywhere near as good as Sony DAPs. Not to mention that whatever anyone else does, Sony manages to extend battery life better than most manufacturers.

I suspect that they need to get their act together with respect to:

- exploding laptop batteries

- PS3 delays

- the blu-ray vs HDDVD war

without screwing up something else along the way. I'm very pessimistic with respect to the PS3. I'm almost 100% sure that the first batch of PS3s will have some sort of defect that will slap Sony again.

But once they clear out the PS3/battery/blu-ray hurdle, they'll have a little bit more time and resources to concentrate on the Walkman brand.

[DSP]

@ pata2001:

you're right about the music arm of sony.

sony software? I think you can't really make that an argument. sony isn't a software company. The only software SSCP is getting compared to is apple's Itunes. Apple is a computer and software manufacterer from origin. It's logical that they could make better software than sony. On the other hand I have the feeling sony developers are sleeping, because they DO make great software like sony vegas, soundforge etc. I'm not shure who's developing sonicstage, But if it's not the guys who designed vegas etc, I'm going to kick sony's ass!

I think the asain brands are making crap at the moment. Sony's flash Walkmans are simply great! You get quality for not too much money and a nice design too. You also get the best brand name on you're device (sony is the best known brand name in the US) in stead of some crappy cheap name like 'time' or 'victory'.

The zune will sell well. I was very curious about it and didn't know what to expect. But when I heard it gets manufactured by Toshiba I knew it's gonna be crap. Toshiba gigabeat stinks in my opinion. But only guys like us, and people who are going to smash their Zune and get to see the inside, know that it's made by toshiba. The other people (the mass) will think it's a true microsoft product and just buy it. So I think zune can have some succes if they get the marketing right. These people won't give a damn if it's late in the market because if they like it, and see it's from microsoft, they'll buy it anyway. And the majority of people don't understand the most functions on their DAP. Most people just know how to put music on it, and how to play it basically. So lack of functions is no real disadvantage. Only lack of innovation.

in short: Sony needs to wake up, get to work and come up with something that people will actually buy. The zune will find it's audience and for now, people will still go to the shop, thinking that ipod is THE only MP3 player out there.

greetz

PS: why doesn't sony update their PSP. with every FW update there are some minor things added but never really great things. If they ditched the resolution cap, added custom EQ and more video formats PSP would be even more awsome!

(srry for the amount of text)

Edited September 16, 2006 by DSP

[pata2001]

PS: why doesn't sony update their PSP. with every FW update there are some minor things added but never really great things. If they ditched the resolution cap, added custom EQ and more video formats PSP would be even more awsome!

Simple, conflict of interest. If Sony uncap the resolution cap, then there will be less and less incentive for people to buy the already not selling UMD videos (plus the fact flash memory, including memory sticks are getting cheaper and cheaper). Sony Pictures execs would start whinning to the Playstation team, and can potentially ruin the PSP, just like what the music industry execs did to Walkman.

[DSP]

damn..sony really needs to dicth thos two arms. As it seems you can't run a music label and manufacter DAP's, or run a movie division and make a portable video player.

I have to say pata2001 is totally right there.

greetz

[pata2001]

damn..sony really needs to dicth thos two arms. As it seems you can't run a music label and manufacter DAP's, or run a movie division and make a portable video player.

History speaks for itself. Great example: Sony. Apple iPod becomes todas'y walkman. At the same point, I am doubting Apple's ability to create a PMP/Video iPod, based on the same reason, Steve Jobs is the main shareholder of Disney. Examples of excellent PMPs come from manufactures not-related to movie industry, like Archos and Cowon. IMO, Cowon A2 is still THE PMP, released last year, 8 hour battery life for video, support Xvid/Divx.

[DSP]

History speaks for itself. Great example: Sony. Apple iPod becomes todas'y walkman. At the same point, I am doubting Apple's ability to create a PMP/Video iPod, based on the same reason, Steve Jobs is the main shareholder of Disney. Examples of excellent PMPs come from manufactures not-related to movie industry, like Archos and Cowon. IMO, Cowon A2 is still THE PMP, released last year, 8 hour battery life for video, support Xvid/Divx.

yes, that's true, in a way. I'm doubting apple in everything with their Ipod. in my opinion, they just got lucky they were the first with a real good MP3 player. in my opinion, sony would rule the world if they ditched those two arms and just make a great DAP. example: imagina a slightly bigger nw-hd5, with a great color LCD, glossy black surface (or matt metal), Divx, Xvid, MPEG and AVI support for video, and atrac3+, MP3, aac, wma, ogg and a lossles codec for music. I know this is not al possible, but that would be some great DAP! my point is: I believe that sony is the ONLY company that has the ability to make really great DAP's. They just get jammed in a way all the time due to their music division I guess. Sony has the posibilities, the expertise and the creativity to create the ultimate DAP and I think it's about time that they're going to use that. If the next DAP series coming from sony still isn't what you'd expect I think I'm losing faith in sony. But for now, my hopes stay with sony.

for me ipods, zens or zunes don't work. Walkmans have always had outstanding sounquality, great battery life and a neath design. Other manufacturers ar just now coming up with those aspects. And i LOVE atrac of course

but everybodey has his own opinion and I respect them all.

greetz

Edited September 16, 2006 by DSP

[JSP62]

DSP,

As I have all read your comments in several threads, I know your a die hard Sony fan.

I love Sony as much as anyone else in this forum and I think we all can agree Sony at some point was the defining standard. Times have changed. I am sad to see such a great company decline in all repects - movie, music, household hardware, portable hardware, and software.

I had made a previous comment on the PS3 thread about Sony and where the company is going.

IMHO Sony's future lies on the success in the popularity of the PS3. Wired.com (click for article) has an in-depth article on Sony and the company's past, present and future. It was the talk of the lunch room at work that day I read it in the office. They have had no profits within the last few years, which is very bad. Their high definition sales are low, their movie line isn't cutting it, their music division is also losing, their portable DAPs aren't popular enough, and their up and coming game system is so pricey 'kids' won't be able to afford it . . . and let's not get started on the delays from Sony.

I am also interested in what their R&D dept is working on and curious to know where the Execs will concentrate their business. I think Sony needs to get back to their core foundation and work on a new aspect of business to produce success. What exactly would that be? ? ? HARDWARE. Get out of the movies, get out of the music, and focus on household hardware and portable hardware. Get with the times and listen to what the consumers want. Work it from there and build up the business again.

As far, as the DAP market for Sony. . . It's tough and it doesn't look good. MDs are still great for DJ recording. Their DAP lines wouldn't carry such a bad rep if it were not from the support software we get. True they are not programmers, but in coming out with DAPs you stepped into the software ring. Immediate action should have taken place to resolve the problems, but for some reason or other this never happened. DRM had big a hand in making them unpopular.

On a side note not to divert from this subject, yes to announce:

For physical activity use, I've moved away from my Sony MD player to a flashed based DAP by Sandisk. I would highly recommend for those in the market looking to grab this gem. It has great support and functions great! You get an expansion memory slot so you can add more space. The color GUI is simple. The controls are better than that stupid ipoo dial. It's sleek and the cost is accetable for what you get. And most importantly its DRAG & DROP with no DRM!!

I digress from changing the subject. If any of you have questions about it, PM me.

[DSP]

@ JSP62:

with regret in my heart I have to admit that you're totally right. Sony has been screwing up over the past few years. Although their products were still great. But if sony would do al those things you said, I think sony is the one comapny that can make great hardware. After all, that's what they used to do and THAT'S what's keeping me with sony. But they wanted too much. I really, really hate to say this but it's almost like Microsoft: they wanna have a share in everything. That just doesn't work sony!

@ sony: Just do what you used to be soooo damn good at: making great hardware that people really loved for functions design etc. and keep your filthy hands of the film, software and music industries and other non-hardware related stuff!

I just want to ask people to not judge sony to hard. It stays the company that brought us MiniDisc, CD (okay, cooperation with Philips), Playstation and not to forget the FIRST Walkman! They're just in conflict with themsleves, that's all. They'll solve it

greetz

Edited September 16, 2006 by DSP

[AntiPod]

i have only had 1 year of time after purchasing my NW-E405 last august, but i have great interests in sony's walkman products.

sad to see that sony is struggling hard to fight back apple and other brands in the market, but it is reasonable that sony has lost the battles so far.

so lets dig into some "history": sony insisted CD players and MD players after the first mp3 players were introduced

then the players did not support mp3 files..has to be converted to ATRAC through the infamous software called "sonicstage"

these were only parts of what sony has went wrong in the past

but i have to say that sony makes GREAT products! Fantastic designs, simple to use, and awesome sound quality.

the main drawbacks of sony are:

-bad marketing skills:

they should make universal mp3 players with FM tuners so we arent gonna worry about FMs dont work in certain parts of the world

they should sell products in more places in the world. in some places in the world the people there arent gonna get the good products except going abroad

and sony's products dont come with many functions that doesnt meet A LOT of people's needs

sony's products are great for music and fm, but there are still a lot of people looking for more functions like recording and etc

also big complaints about poor accessories included is a big problem to people like me. they needed to take good care of the player but soon found that you have to pay a lot to buy some essential accessories like even carry cases and lanyards

that's just a RIP OFF...sony doesnt remember that he's not apple and apple's definitly not great by ripping off its customers

better accessories come with the player can also raise the popularity of sony.. im sure

last part is sonicstage

again sony doesnt need to copy apple. i myself dont find it too buggy but still, a lot of people dont buy sony because of the bad software. sony is not a software maker so i dont blame that. but there must be better ways to put in songs like by drag and drop. that would make it a lot easier

finally, i dont think sony will be crushed since it has been successful trying to get the market back from apple in the past few years. sony is improving, but it definitly needs more to beat ipods. i hope to see walkman rising again! remember how the "empire strikes back"? lol

[DSP]

I have to agree. you don't get much accessory with your products today. But still I got an AC adapter with my nw-a1200. A friend of mine has an ipod nano and had to buy it.

So sony is still ahead on apple with that.

But I miss those old times, when unpacking a new walkman was soo exciting. Guessing what the big S had put in the box this time. When I got my mz-nh900 2 years ago, I got a cradle, adapter, headphones, remote, carrying bag, a HI-MD disc and a ton of little manuals etc. and off course the SS CD.

that were good times. You needed like a half hour to unpack the box .

They are even too lazy to put a normal User manual in the box these days. You get it in PDF on the CD. I really hate that! I don't pay 250 € to get up and turn my PC on everytime I wanna look something up!

greetz.

[pata2001]

I have to agree. you don't get much accessory with your products today. But still I got an AC adapter with my nw-a1200. A friend of mine has an ipod nano and had to buy it.

So sony is still ahead on apple with that.

How many cases available on the market for your NW-A1200? How many cases available for the nano? You get the idea. Sony does have good accessories, but they are all only in Japan (SL corded earbuds, remotes, Eggos, etc).

[navsimpson]

Yeah, I've been thinking about this too. Sony seems to financially be slowly getting back on the right track, but with DELL execs publicly blaming Sony for the laptop battery fiasco and the huge anti-climax of a stunted PS3 release, things aren't exactly looking rosy.

I think Sony's biggest problem is the lack of cohesion and unison between the different divisions. I've said it before: it seems almost incomprehensible that, with the success of the Sony Ericsson walkman phones, there wouldn't be a push to make them compatible with Connect or, at the very least, ATRAC3+. I've read that it requires an extra processor and would thus make the phones a little bigger, but it just seems to be so worth it from the viewpoint of integration. I just can't believe that a large corporate would release a product from one division that snubs a potential revenue-stream from a different division of the very same company.

I'm not entirely sure that they *have* to sell off their content arms - there is the very slight possibility that they could turn around and become industry leaders and open up their media to play across a variety of different software/hardware. This is, however, very very unlikely, particularly with Microsoft now a competitor in both software/content and hardware (there goes getting WMP to play atrac). I agree with what others here have said that they need to pick a few core product lines and focus on them. While they used to get billions from CD licensing (they co-invented CDs and get a slice of all CD sales), that little nest-egg is about to expire. Personally, I totally agree with the idea that Sony would be a great co. to make a small PMP with an amazing screen and sound quality. If they actually focus and integrate to make sure that it has a stable, simple-to-use software and a reasonably priced, redesigned Connect that sells music, music videos, tv shows and movies, they might actually take enough of a market share to make the Walkman brand profitable again.

Nav

[DSP]

How many cases available on the market for your NW-A1200? How many cases available for the nano? You get the idea. Sony does have good accessories, but they are all only in Japan (SL corded earbuds, remotes, Eggos, etc).

yes, there are far more accessories available for ipod nano, but that's logical because nano is sold more. But what I really meant is the accessories you get with the device. So in the box itself.

since I got an AC adapter with my walkman I think sony is ahead of apple on that.

@ navsimpson: I can play atrac files with WMP 10! I figured this out with some DLL plugin file I downloaded once. I just putted a copy of it in every folder of the WMP folder and guess what: it just played atrac files! It does give an error but just clicked 'yes' there.

greetz

Edited September 18, 2006 by DSP

[navsimpson]

DSP - I actually have a little folder of atrac playlists for WMP, for when I don't feel like waiting *forever* for Sonicstage to load! I guess I meant it in the sense of getting atrac as a recognised format that could become part of someone's library - basically so the file stays the same, but it remains transparent to the average user.

cheers,

nav

[Ginger T]

Sony Pictures execs would start whinning to the Playstation team, and can potentially ruin the PSP

Personally i think the Playstation team are doing a perfect job of ruining the PSP. Actually UMD is the thing that's ruining the PSP, its too slow compared to flash based media. Tbh whoever decided to stick an optical drive in a portable needs their head examining. Portables require speed and low power. Flash media does that.

That said the PSP is still the desirable gadget, sadly too many of them end up sold on 2nd hand or left to be covered in dust.

[pata2001]

Personally i think the Playstation team are doing a perfect job of ruining the PSP. Actually UMD is the thing that's ruining the PSP, its too slow compared to flash based media. Tbh whoever decided to stick an optical drive in a portable needs their head examining. Portables require speed and low power. Flash media does that.

That said the PSP is still the desirable gadget, sadly too many of them end up sold on 2nd hand or left to be covered in dust.

At the time of PSP being born, 1GB flash memory is more expensive than it is today. UMD provides more storage space on a cheaper media. Same basic idea when the PS1 using CD-ROM vs N64 using cardtridges. As far as speed, it would be up to the developers to optimize their games. I mean, devlopers can simply use the memory stick as a "cache" memory. As for low power, battery life of the PSP is actually pretty good. The only time you have so-so battery life is when you're watching UMD movies, since the unit has to read & spin the disc constantly.

the PSP has many potential. however, who put a limit on the video resolution? who put region codes for UMd movies and music? I doubt the playstation team would even think about those. It would have to come from Sony music/pictures.

[DSP]

I agree with pata2001.

I think PSP has many potential. The battery life is indeed very acceptable. I don't really mind the region codes.

but that's mho.

The UMD is a very good medium. I've used Minidisc for a very long time and I really loved it. I think UMD is somehow related to MD (HI-MD). That said, I don't really understand why they left the back of de UMD casing opne at the part where it gets read. With HI-MD and MD this part was covered by a sliding part, so that the disc itself couldn't be damage outside the device.

All in all, I think PSP is a very good product. Shure, if those flashcards would be as cheap as UMD it would be a good thing if PSP 2 used this medium instead of UMD. But like pata2001 said, at the time the PSP was realeased UMD was the best medium to have.

imho psp is the ultimate portable entertainment device. very good screen, very good audio quality, very good gaming experience, very neath graphics and looks pretty too. The only thing I miss is anti-aliasing. But that's for PSP 2 I hope.

greetz

[giki]

Hi everyone, been really busy lately therefore unable to contribute much but promise to do so in the future.Regarding sony all it needs to do is get its hand out of the sand and start building stuff that just works.9 out of 10 people out there cant be bothered about ATRAC lossless or atrac 352.nutters like me do so but my dad wont be able to spell atrac properly i reckon.to ensure its survival, sony should fix its software to something simple which just transfers music at a decent bitrate automatically,(atracplus 132 sound ok for most people) and for the maniacs who subscribe to this website,it should hide the complexity in the Preferences or Options column.it should be import playlist and export to player without any dramas of sonicstage.

[doomlordis]

I have quite a lot of Sony products and i have had at one point owned almost all of their daps, my favourite was the ms70d, beautiful design , simple to use and had massive "i want it factor". In my opinion that is what is missing from the current range.

The glass (read plastic) fronted players , e series, a series etc are in my opinion badly designed. The OLED is practically unreadable in normal daylight , they look like makeup , e series = lipstick , a series = compact.

I wish they would make all metal audio players again, look at the MZ-NH1 Hi-MD player, beautiful design. I own a few Hi-MD players and Sonys design team does much better with these.

Sonicstage has a bad rep, game over. Doesnt matter that it is actually easy to use now in its CP form, horse bolted , people are scared of it.

PS3 could spell the end for Sony , massive investment in a product that has massive potential but is crippled by the RRP, Nintendos wii may be the final nail in the PS3s coffin. I know at least 4 people who have decided to get a wii at xmas rather than wait 4 months and pay £250 more.

Sony will never drop music and movie business , it is far too lucrative, one big movie hit can earn them more than a new dap could.

I wish them well , i would love to see Walkman over Ipod but that will not happen until Ipod becomes uncool.

[DSP]

design is a matter of taste, I too have (had) a lot of sony stuff.

also a few MD/HIMD units. design was indeed very good, but I also like my nw-a1200b very ,uch, it's beautifull.

greetz

[flamingsamurai]

Sony's never going down. People seem to forget that Sony has many more areas than just Walkmans and Playstations.

They have electronics, movies(Sony Pictures Entertainment), music (Sony BMG Music Entertainment), communications(Sony Ericsson), and finance solutions. Sony is worth tens of billions.

Its one of the largest corporations in the world.

Their not going down just because some people are not buying some mp3 players.

Edited December 1, 2006 by flamingsamurai

[Ascariss]

sony falls behind again

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/18/samsung...of-tasty-flash/

8 gigs, sony 4, whats next a 10 or 12 gig nano.

[pata2001]

Even better, Sony USA decided not to release the 4GB version of the new S70x in the US. What a smart marketing move by Sony! Wait till the 16GB flash based iPod coming next year.

[JSP62]

I have not been in here for so long. I remember back in the day . . . . LOL

Shouts to Ish, Stuge, mil, pata, and anyone else I forgot.

Just thought I would comment on the reply from flamingsam

They have electronics, movies(Sony Pictures Entertainment), music (Sony BMG Music Entertainment), communications(Sony Ericsson), and finance solutions. Sony is worth tens of billions.

Its one of the largest corporations in the world.

Their not going down just because some people are not buying some mp3 players.

Electronics

- PS3 probs up the ying yang. heard a report they are losing ~300 per unit sold with cost of materials vs sell cost. ungodly expensive. short term very bad ; long term possible hold out but unlikely.

Sony Pics

- average. big loss on M.o.a.Geisha. was MI3 by them too?? that was a flop too.

Sony BMG

- huge suit. you may off heard of the rootkit lawsuit??

Sony Ericsson

- average. haven't seen anyone with their phones in awhile

thats my 2 cents

[DSP]

well,

sony have revealed their new NW-A800 series DaP.

If we add this to the latest NW-S700/600 realeases and look at this discussion, what do you guys think now?

Is sony gonna make it this year or will they make the same mistakes as they always do?

Honsetly, I´m loosing faith when I look at the spy pics of the NW-A800.

I even caught myself buying a creative Zen vision:M, after trying out a samsung YP-K5. I notice I´m slowly looking at other brands and DAPs rather than Walkmans. There was a time when I, if I needed a new DAP, only and directly was going for Sony Walkmans. And I was never disappointed by the walkmans. But the NW-A1200 somehow made me open up my eyes and let me see that there is more out there. NW-A1200 is a great device. good SQ, great design, neath little features. But it just made me think, why no video? why no big colour screen? So I guess these good old times are fading away. I´ll stay with sony for soundquality for a long time, since NW-S703 is absolutely stunning! But even I want some newer and moderner features in my DAP now such as video and photo etc.

We´ll see about the NW-A800. Maybe it looks very neath in real life and black. And maybe the feature pack is stunning. But as for now, I´d watch out setting my hopes for sony on NW-A800.

what do you guys think?

greetz, and good luck sony

Edited February 17, 2007 by DSP

[hk_loves_u]

Hi,

sony will not get crushed... not at all. Sony Ericsson has been releasing great phones the past 2years, the w800i and k800i are both very popular and powerful phones.

the new sony walkman s706 is also a great product, which i think other mp3 companies cant beat in sound quality. I think only reason why ipod is sooo popular even though they keep remaking models is that it is cheap to buy and the software is more user friendly. Sony's goal is different, they release expensive products but when you compare products with apple ipod, there is no chance ipod can beat sony quality wise.

hoping to see more quality products from sony in near future

[giki]

SE has been making real inroads,check out its marketshare now and the popularity of the walkman series.In melbourne 3

sold the w950 as soon as they got it.i know this cause i got one.The Nokia N91 is still hanging around and has a camera but

the w950 beat it hands down despite lacking a camera.

PS2 and PS3 still going strong.sony is using ps2 as a cash cow to help the ps3.even the ps2 was losing money when it was

introed.just wait till this years end and the ps3 will be alrite.sources say a HUGE price drop in 2008 to improve overall market

plus 15-20 titles in the next few months.In aus there are already 5 titles and the ps3 is still 22 days away.there was only 1

or 2 when it was initially introduced worldwide.ebgames melbourne says about 5 more to come on the next 2 months.

Sony just sold a million more units than previous year and the A80x shall surely help that improve.sony matching up with apple in software and pricing.the extra 50 quid are for the earphones guys/gals.

New range of bravia and a cheaper blu ray player launched.R

[giki]

Sorry guys about my previous post,s formatting.

Well a company which is finally introing so much good stuff,cant see it getting crushed.Theres a thing known as experience and expertise.Sony has both compared to other companies.It can actually build stuff from scratch and not rely on others.Thats one big plus for any company.Lots of DAPs are actually conceived and built by third parties but sold under a different name.Ipod being one of them.Trust me i would trust Sony on my next lcd/plasma then dell for example.

[Zizone_]

Sony LCD TV sale ranked #1, SonyEricsson profit tripled, sold 1 more million units (5.5 million units) of Walkmans compared to 2005 in 2006, Blu-ray tripled sales of HD-DVD, and their share is on the rise for this week. They are infact doing pretty well. Also, PS3's first release sales are stronger than PS1 and PS2.

MI3 is by Paramount.

Edited March 3, 2007 by Zizone

[himd_anxiety]

Hi everyone, been really busy lately therefore unable to contribute much but promise to do so in the future.Regarding sony all it needs to do is get its hand out of the sand and start building stuff that just works.9 out of 10 people out there cant be bothered about ATRAC lossless or atrac 352.nutters like me do so but my dad wont be able to spell atrac properly i reckon.to ensure its survival, sony should fix its software to something simple which just transfers music at a decent bitrate automatically,(atracplus 132 sound ok for most people) and for the maniacs who subscribe to this website,it should hide the complexity in the Preferences or Options column.it should be import playlist and export to player without any dramas of sonicstage.

I honestly don't think ATRAC is what's keeping the masses away from Sony. Most of the people who know ATRAC exists or have heard of Sonic Stage's pitfalls are tech geeks. At least, that is the case for the U.S. market, and based on iPod's market share, I am guessing it may be truer to a lesser extent for many territories. I think Sony's problem is much simpler. There is an established behemoth in the DAP market already, it is associated with fashionability, and Sony continues to follow it generation after generation with players that generally begin to look more like it and have never done a single thing it doesn't do. What's really the incentive to buy a Video Walkman, putting aside knowledge of the software quirks we all mourn? It's funny and almost embarrassing that we are excited about a years-late introduction of such a feature as video and picture support. I can't imagine the general population, less inclined toward Sony zealotry, is salivating over the idea of replacing what they already own, know, and like for something with the same features (MINUS a few) and the added elements of the unknown. Truly, Sony is betraying its own mantra, "like no other," as ironically as possible and giving great cause to the famous maxim "Why reinvent the wheel?" That's all Sony is doing, reinventing the wheel. Apple, Creative, Microsoft, Toshiba, and a host of other companies have carried video for at least 1.5 years now. Sonic Stage surely will not compete with the video selection of Apple. All of this is really to say that before functionality becomes the main issue hampering Sony, it has to build products people would otherwise want in the first place. This is the first player in two generations that won't be outmoded upon arrival, though it's quite dated itself compared to the Zune and the upcoming Iphone. Arguably, it's behind the gigabeat too. There is no built-in FM radio here. This is another failure waiting to happen commercially. I am sure I will be excoriated, but I'm comfortable with that assessment. I'll probably buy the first 20-gigabyte one myself, but I don't expect Sony to be competitive until it gets actual vision. Forget mere drag-and-drop and software bugs as contributors to solving anything.

[sdfzz_]

hmm I think u guys are a bit too negative...

A lot of ppl around me do not need 8bg players....that's just too much..

I listen around 200 songs, and w/ atrac 64, I can fit them all into my 512mb e400

My cousin is using 256, and that's enough for her...

I don't think ppl care about battery life or other functions much either...

It seems to me that design is the key, and Sony is doin good on that..

I agree that Sony need to puch forward a bit(put a widescreen before Apple does!), but overall, i think they know what they are doin

They are strong in TVs and digital cameras as well as playstaion....

[Zizone_]

I honestly don't think ATRAC is what's keeping the masses away from Sony. Most of the people who know ATRAC exists or have heard of Sonic Stage's pitfalls are tech geeks. At least, that is the case for the U.S. market, and based on iPod's market share, I am guessing it may be truer to a lesser extent for many territories. I think Sony's problem is much simpler. There is an established behemoth in the DAP market already, it is associated with fashionability, and Sony continues to follow it generation after generation with players that generally begin to look more like it and have never done a single thing it doesn't do. What's really the incentive to buy a Video Walkman, putting aside knowledge of the software quirks we all mourn? It's funny and almost embarrassing that we are excited about a years-late introduction of such a feature as video and picture support. I can't imagine the general population, less inclined toward Sony zealotry, is salivating over the idea of replacing what they already own, know, and like for something with the same features (MINUS a few) and the added elements of the unknown. Truly, Sony is betraying its own mantra, "like no other," as ironically as possible and giving great cause to the famous maxim "Why reinvent the wheel?" That's all Sony is doing, reinventing the wheel. Apple, Creative, Microsoft, Toshiba, and a host of other companies have carried video for at least 1.5 years now. Sonic Stage surely will not compete with the video selection of Apple. All of this is really to say that before functionality becomes the main issue hampering Sony, it has to build products people would otherwise want in the first place. This is the first player in two generations that won't be outmoded upon arrival, though it's quite dated itself compared to the Zune and the upcoming Iphone. Arguably, it's behind the gigabeat too. There is no built-in FM radio here. This is another failure waiting to happen commercially. I am sure I will be excoriated, but I'm comfortable with that assessment. I'll probably buy the first 20-gigabyte one myself, but I don't expect Sony to be competitive until it gets actual vision. Forget mere drag-and-drop and software bugs as contributors to solving anything.

Well, if you are saying Sony is just reinventing what other companies have achieved, then one can also say other companies just reinvented what Sony did in the past; after all Sony invented portable audio player and compressed music DAP (MD players which started in 1992). Also, Sony released DAP with video play back in 1999.

Anyway, I believe your point is Sony needs to provide something unique while keeping all other functions provided by other companies. It seems like Sony is doing just that or starting to: like built in noise canceling function on NW-S700 series.

Also, it is important to note that Sony is providing some nice headphones ($50+) on NW-A800 and NW-S700 series while other companies are providing only what $10 headphones (thing that people seem to miss).

Edited March 3, 2007 by Zizone

[hk_loves_u]

Haha. what is the point of having a widescreen on an mp3? i think it is quite useless.. mp3 should be portable not big. Widescreen will make it big in size. If you want to watch movies or videos portably, having a mobile phone or pda/phone would be a much better alternative since many new mobiles have decent sized screens

[BIGHMW]

What I don't understand is why certain Sony units are not released here in the U.S. but are available elsewhere, as most of these units are better than the ones marketed here in The States. Examples include my current favorite Walkman units, both from 2004, and imported, my MZ-NH700 Hi-MD Walkman (imported from Canada) and my D-NE700 ATRAC CD Walkman (imported from Australia), which ae pretty damn good compared to the lesser-level units they choose to sell here in the U.S.

The 700-series units feature conveniences like LCD-remote compatibility (like the 800 and above units) and run on internal "AA" or "AAA" (either disposible or rechargeable) betteries like the 600 and lesser units do, so I find a pretty damn good blend of both value and features with the 700 series as opposed to the others. Just like car companies have 3 or 4 levels of trim available in their vehicles on a worldwide basis, Sony USA should do that too, or, they will lose their share of the market to either Apple or Microsoft or iRiver (GOD FORBID!!!) or the other Sony Markets like Sony Japan, Sony Canada or Sony Australia Pty., as we will not be afraid to go global on eBay to get the stuff that they market (and buy them as imports) rather than the ones here.

Sony should put on their thinking caps when it comes to their marketing of certain units in certain markets and just market every unit they currently make on a global basis rather then on a regional basis, as there are many good units available in some but not in others, and this is not right, IMHO.