The next HD player - how should it be like?

[Trondis]

Sony recently announced their next player - another flash-player with 1 or 2 GB memory, 12 hours battery time and just MP3 and WMA support - no Atrac or SonicStage support. Is this what the users want? Maybe Sony needs some ideas what we really would like to buy?

Here are my suggestions for a new HD-based player:

The player should be small and light. The NW-HD1 was supposedly the smallest made, so the size of that would be perfect. But the screen is too small. My suggestion is that the screen is as big as the player itself. The NW-HD1 was made of magnesium, and that looks very solid and elegant. So that is my suggestion ofmaterial for the case. The capasities should be larger than the previous 20 GB models, maybe 40, 60 or 80 GB?

"Steve Jobs hates knobs". Me too. I suggest that the new player comes without knobs. So how should it be operated? Maybe a touch sensitive screen? No, that would leave fingermarks. But I have seen one device that has a touch sensitive back, and that would be a better alternative. Or there could be optical sensors on the sides of the player. Some sensors could be "knobs", and there could be one "slider" that do scrolling or change volume etc.

Battery time should match the 40 hours of the NW-HD5. Or better still - the player could have a solar panel to load the battery. Maybe the screen could also be a solar panel? I think I have seen a device with a solar panel.

The player should support both audio and video, plus photos. Anything else? e-books?

The player should have both wi-fi and bluetooth.

The player should support many codecs for both audio and video, including support for Atrac and Flac. But they should release the Atrac code and make plugins for popular programs like Windows Media Player and iTunes, so people can choose their own program for encoding and downloading files to the player. The player should support all tags available for MP3 files, including composer, album artist, full track and album credits, plus support for onscreen lyrics. It should be possible to search for albums by album art, in addition to genre, artist, album artist, album, playlists etc, and there should be a fast search by alphabet.

For connections I suggest audio and video out, plus an expansion port. The video out could have connections to TV, portable projectors and video glasses. Video glasses are new devices that I suppose will be hitting the market soon.

What about the expansion port? This could be used for a radio. Or should an FM radio be included? If the radio was sold as an optional addon device, they could produce both DAB and FM radios. I imagine a snapon device about 0.5-1 cm thick. The reason is that the future for radio transmission is uncertain. Some countries go for DAB (my country has announced a date for the last FM transmission), others go for a new FM standard. Since the device has wi-fi, also Internet radio would be available.

The expansion port could also be used for Audio in. I imagine that the player could be used for recording as well. They could provide a snapon device that gives the same recording possibilities as on the Hi-MD minidisks. They could also make a professional version with balanced microfone input and phantom power etc. and 24/96 recording.

Should the device have an output for a remote? I suggest that they make bluetooth remotes instead. A remote could have a clip like the ones made for other players. Or it would be even cooler if they made remotes that also is a clock to put on your arm. It Sony made bluetooth versions of all their headphones we could have a player with a remote and headphones all controlled via bluetooth. That would be very cool.

What do you think?

[Estlin]

Your suggestions are great, but what I would like to know is when, oh when, are the mods on this site going to follow through on their teaser about "Sony changes everything"? It's been a couple of months already, in spite of the "very, very soon" announcement. Was it just a red herring, then?

[rocklegend_]

Your suggestions are great, but what I would like to know is when, oh when, are the mods on this site going to follow through on their teaser about "Sony changes everything"? It's been a couple of months already, in spite of the "very, very soon" announcement. Was it just a red herring, then?

I was wondering the same.

I really don´t think Sony will come out with a player that will have more than 20gb.

I hope Sony will announce something new as I feel that they are falling way way behind the competition.I love Sony walkman....always had em but maybe it´s time for a change....

Oh I also hope that Sony will indeed have gapless Mp3 playback as if they do abandon Atrac they´ll a gapless codec because that´s why alot of people really want.

[LG1_]

I would like on based on the HD5, which is still my main mp3, with a 3" colour screen, fm radio, xvid support and drag n drop that would be great.

I dont really need wifi but bluetooth would be great or built-in fm tuner

Edited July 29, 2007 by LG1

[Ascariss]

lol trondis, a bit too much no? no way all of that will fit into a small portable player, maybe 10 years from now.

solar panel, unlikely, don't think you can have a solar panel and lcd at the same time.

wifi? unlikely, bluetooth yes, with adapter like A and S series have.

The player should be small and light only possible with flash, not large capacity hdd.

as for large capacities, there have been surveys done, most people rarely fill these players up woth 40 or 60 gigs, the majority have 100-200 songs on there, and using the extreme case, a 320mp3 ave length of 5-6 min per song 12-14 megs, thats only around 2.8-3 gigs, depending on average length of the songs. so the majority of users don't need the capacity.

audio, video and pictures, yes, A series has done it. ebooks unlikely, since the player would have to be a bit larger than average so you could read the ebooks, which goes against your idea of small and light.

codec support depends not on sony, but the chip inside the unit, I've already posted the info regarding the older A series and what codecs it could play and it is a lot more than what sony alloted to it. therefore for more codecs to be supported, drag and drop would be the only feasible option, not drag and drop via a program either.

The player should support all tags available for MP3 files, including composer, album artist, full track and album credits, plus support for onscreen lyrics. It should be possible to search for albums by album art, in addition to genre, artist, album artist, album, playlists etc, and there should be a fast search by alphabet.

composer? hmm not many people listen to classical music using mp3 players, lyrics are on feasible for cds that have the lyrics provided for songs, most other genres outside of common music, like rock, hip hop, pop, etc, do not have lyrics provided. fast search by alphabet is available in the new a series isn't it?

as for radio, depends on the market, so i think sony would play it save and just leave a normal fm radio to cover as much as the market as possible.

remote, perhaps, I would have said yes if this was a minidisc, but a pmp with a large screen? maybe if by using the remove the main screen on the device didn't turn on, then perhaps yes. otherwise, hmm not sure.

like LG1 said, xvid support is needed otherwise encoding into another format would suck. your ideas are great and I would agree with some, but in the end only so much is cost productive and feasible with current technologies available to comsumers.

my guess flash is the choice for sony, but with apple snapping up so much flash now, and flash prices expected to rise, perhaps sony will switch to hdd for some future units.

finally i for one would want the player to pause whenever the headphone jack is removed from the player, so when plugged back in, the music restarts and another important factor for sony would be design. unlike apple, sony should focus on designing a good looking pmp that makes people stare at its beauty all day.

[RobA]

Sony does need an update to stay in the market, but not too many changes are needed just a few.

1. Keep the HD1 design, it's perfect

2. Add all new features of recent walkman (like clear base, clear stereo, noise cancelation, new searches, etc.)

3. OLED display (not definitely necessary though, and only color if it's OLED, not color LCDs they are a waste and just suck battery life, I don't need a color screen)

4. Keep the battery life high at 30-40 hrs like we expect

5. Charging cradle

6. Removable battery

All that plus what all the NW-HDx units already had, and we have a winner!

[Guest Stuge]

I hope they don't copy the earlier design like they did with A8xx series .

[Trondis]

I don´t think that any of my suggestions are "too much", really. Just look at the competition. The next generation iPods and Zunes will have wi-fi. Pocket PC´s have wi-fi and bluetooth as standard, plus a big screen and support for all the software features I mentioned (plus a lot more). The only technological feature I am not sure if is possible is the combined LCD screen/solar panel. But the use of solar power to charge cellular phones is available already, so it must be possible to integrate it one way or another.

Of course a new HD player should have higher capasities than 20 GB. I had no problems filling up my HD1 with 64 kb encoded files. I would have liked higher capasity just to be able to have the same amount of music with better quality. And if the device should support video as well, then the GB´s run fast.

Wi-fi is a feature with many uses. Access to the music library over the net is one thing. Another is wi-fi radio, or just to download podcasts without connecting through a PC.

ebooks is not something I need, since it hasn´t hit the market where I live. But there are plenty of titles in English, and in Japan it is apparently a big thing on cellular phones. They make ebooks especially for that market. I have tried ebooks on my pocket PC, and it actually works quite well. ebook support is also available on the very cheap iPod clones from China.

I forgot to mention audiobook support. That would be important. Present players don´t have that kind of bookmarking. And gapless playback on all supported codecs is a must. This is available on Pocket PCs.

[Zizone_]

This applies not only to potential HDD based Walkman in future but also to future flash players. Umm... standard blue-tooth on Walkmans(?)

It will be really nice to have blue-tooth ear-plug phones with Noise Cancel feature.

[navsimpson]

Since even Sony themselves have admitted they're no longer competing with the iPod, why not go high-end? i.e. high-end DACs, lossless support, Bluetooth, metal casing and some other features that I haven't thought of. It seems at least that way Sony might recoup some of the brand recognition they've lost, particularly if they make the software part of the high-end experience.

-Nav

[ceres]

Since even Sony themselves have admitted they're no longer competing with the iPod, why not go high-end? i.e. high-end DACs, lossless support, Bluetooth, metal casing and some other features that I haven't thought of. It seems at least that way Sony might recoup some of the brand recognition they've lost, particularly if they make the software part of the high-end experience.

-Nav

don´t know about high end. look at the bravia series. it worked nicely for a while but turned devestating in a matter of months.

Edited July 30, 2007 by ceres

[RobA]

The new player doesn't need all that extra fancy crap like video playback, bluetooth, wifi, etc. It just has to have all the new features of recent network walkman and the same great sound quality, build quality, and battery life.

[LG1_]

Funny you mention "high end" 8GB for $499 is high end enough for me.

After all the best products are made when there is alot of competition

[Aevum]

we need a HD5 replacement, normal USB connector and since the new player which are coming out are UMS, then good things to come,

[doomlordis]

Its simple, standard usb , magnesium construction ala hd1, monochrome screen , no videos , no photos , high capacity 20gb upwards , true lossless playback , line out , no touch controls - simple joystick or button arrangement is better , high quality DAC - burr brown / crystal etc , high output volume - i can protect my own ears.

Iaudio were on the right track with the X5. Sony were on the right track with the HD1, HD3 was a mistake imo.

[navsimpson]

don´t know about high end. look at the bravia series. it worked nicely for a while but turned devestating in a matter of months.

I thought the Bravia line was doing really well? Aren't Sony back on top in TVs?

Also, I meant Sony should deliberately make at least one of their new DAPs expensive - cram it with features and ultra-high build/sound quality in order to actually make Sony players desirable again.

-Nav

[markey]

I thought the Bravia line was doing really well? Aren't Sony back on top in TVs?

Also, I meant Sony should deliberately make at least one of their new DAPs expensive - cram it with features and ultra-high build/sound quality in order to actually make Sony players desirable again.

-Nav

I thought the A8xx range was expensive and offered all the above? At £200GBP for the 8 gig when it first came out, it's not cheap.

[juli_]

I thought the A8xx range was expensive and offered all the above?

Almost. . . but it lacks the 3-minute charge function and FM radio from the 7xx series. That might sound like nit picking, but I assumed the 808 would have kept the same features as the 7xx - and then simply added more. The quick charge was really useful, and the radio made a nice change from listening to CDs all the time. Small niggles, and it really is just nit picking

[RobA]

Its simple, standard usb , magnesium construction ala hd1, monochrome screen , no videos , no photos , high capacity 20gb upwards , true lossless playback , line out , no touch controls - simple joystick or button arrangement is better , high quality DAC - burr brown / crystal etc , high output volume - i can protect my own ears.

Iaudio were on the right track with the X5. Sony were on the right track with the HD1, HD3 was a mistake imo.

I'd take that, sounds like a re-released HD1. Take the HD1's sound, build quality, and battery life and update with all the recent sony walkman advancements and you've got a winner.