“Sony showed off the latest addition to its line of Walkman digital music players Wednesday, the NW-HD5. While it is the fifth hard drive player to be released by the company, it will be the first to see worldwide distribution,” Ed Oswald reports for BetaNews. “One major difference, however, is in the design. Unlike Sony’s previous units, the NW-HD5 is designed to stand upright, similar to Apple’s iPod. Users will have the option to use the player on its side if they wish.”
“It is unclear whether Sony intends to market the NW-HD5 as an ‘iPod killer,’ but if so, it may be a hard sell to consumers. A recent survey of teens found that while Sony is second to iPod in terms of the players teens plan to buy, it’s by a wide margin. 70 percent of teens plan to buy an iPod, while only 15 percent plan to buy a Sony player,” Oswald reports. “The NW-HD5 player will first be released in Japan later this month at a street price of $327 USD. Sony said that it will announce plans for a worldwide release in the coming weeks.”
Full article with image of the button-laden device here.
MacDailyNews Take: Whatever, Killer.
mmmm hmmmm just like vanilla ice…the killa.
That was a funny MDN take.
By the way, that Sony player looks like a small Gameboy.
That thing looks good except the buttons destroy the look. The idea of a game type controller is neat. The battery life is excellent. I could see people buying this product, ONLY if it was MUCH cheaper than the iPod
Good luck Sony
You’re going to need it.
If the icon needs a label what is the purpose of the icon?
Are they kidding or what?
Ooooooohhhh – I can play it on its side! That does it, I’m getting rid of my iPod and buying one of these today.
<sarcasm>
mmmmm, nice
</sarcasm>
I think the Sony “player” that the 15% of teens intend to purchase in not the NW-HD5 (Just rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it?) but the PSP (Much better name!).
The PSP seems to be OK for playing a few tunes, but is really a games machine.
Compare and contrast with the iPod which is OK for playing a few games, but is really a music machine.
I don’t see iPods and PSPs affecting each others sales — many folks will have both.
I don’t see Sony selling many music players.
It doesnt look bery cool at all, Ipods are still awsome!!!
i almost puked
boy does that look ugly. What kinda buttons are those?
It looks very ‘cheap’…
“Unlike Sony’s previous units, the NW-HD5 is designed to stand upright, similar to Apple’s iPod. Users will have the option to use the player on its side if they wish.”
WHAT IS THIS? Does this mean it won’t work on its back or upside down, or face down? or however it lands in my jacket pocket?
Yikes! even my old Walkman can be played in any orientation!
What an innovation!
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Eww ugly. Sony some times has nice looking music players this isn’t one of them.
As long as iPod = Cool, all these efforts by others are fruitless…
Just keep making TV’s Sony… Apple’s won this one.
WHAT IS THIS? Does this mean it won’t work on its back or upside down, or face down? or however it lands in my jacket pocket?
Yikes! even my old Walkman can be played in any orientation!
What an innovation!
It means you can choose to have the text display properly (that is up to down) depending on whether you want to use it in a horizontal or verticle orientation.
I mean, c’mon, it’s sexy right? If i were a girl and i had one of these, you’d still want me right? What if I was listening to, I don’t know, Cher? Would that help?
The comments here are just like I said in another thread about HP selling iPods. Everyone was attacking HP for lack of innovation etc. Like I said then, if HP developed their own mP3 failure, I mean player you guys would say how stupid they are blah, blah, blah no one can beat the iPod. If they admit the iPod is the best and try to sell them for Apple they are stupid blah, blah, blah. Does anything make you people happy?
MW- “both” as in- you can’t have it both ways.
Hey Sony
Just License Fairplay and Itunes,
Put a hard drive in the PSP and sell the damn thing already.
Everything else is just a waste. I would seriously consider my next ipod to be a PSP if it ran my music collection.
And as for the button layout. Craptastic checkerboard.
Use that joystick from your Sony Erricson T616 phones. You could pretty much make it one button. Stop with the thousand buttons already.
Geez! Can’t Sony even create its own fonts for the playlist?
Calm down Jerry T. There are lots of Mac fans who don’t think HP’s move to sell iPods was a bad idea. Obviously it wasn’t one of the top 10 business moves of all time, but I give them credit for recognizing that the iPod/iTunes format is so well done that there was no way to compete, so they joined on board.
On the other hand, Sony is trying to sell something called the NW-HD5 to teenagers. That’s just plain stupid.
Solid says:
On the other hand, Sony is trying to sell something called the NW-HD5 to teenagers. That’s just plain stupid.
As much as I hate to agree with people I don’t know, you hit the nail on the head. Like, don’t the Sony engineers get out?
I didn’t think it was all that horrible looking. A bit of a forgettable name, though. Too, the article didn’t exactly brim with specs for the “killer” device.
Ho-hum. The latest “iPod Killer” Nobody has even gotten close yet. Especially when you consider the entire widget.
Gosh that thing is ugly … as someone in the linked forum mentioned …” looks like someone beat it with the ugly stick and ran over it with the ugly bus” …
I’ts not so much that it is ugly per se in terms of components, but that there is no great unity and purposelfulness (ala Apples’s best design creations) in the whole design.
I think this creation will look a whole lot better “after” (MW) the bus comes back and runs over it a few more times …
Throw enough chit on the wall and some of it might stick. Sony has tried and failed to make any impact with their past ‘iPod killers’ and these new players will not change anything. Maybe they should focus on their ‘iTunes for movies’ concept and the game consoles.
Removable battery and 30 hours or more playback time. These are features the consumer soon demands. And if Apple can’t give it to them, they will move over to other players, despite not having Apple’s superior ease of use. OK, that 30 hours or more is @ 128 Kbps MP3. Who uses 128 Kbps MP3? Still would be between 20-30 hours at higher bitrates.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000130039140/
Side by side with an iPod 20GB
Wow, NW-HD5. Such an attractive name, it just rolls off your tongue. Mom, Dad, I want a Sony N-W-H-D-5 for my birthday!
Where’s Triumph with his take?! Come onnnnnnnn, Triumph!
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that looks alright if it plays mp3’s
i might get one oh yeah and if the price drops $250
MW = Value
there should be a warning with that link, I almost puked on my keyboard.
Sony industrial design sucks big time. This is proof of that. No originality, no cool factor, no style…if this is the best sony can come up with, as a response to Apple pulling the carpet from underneath them, and taking an industry that was once solely theirs, then Apple has absolutely nothing to worry about from sony.
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LOOK ITS A FONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“changes” as in the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Solid-
I’m not trying to be too harsh. But everyone is always moaning and groaning about M$ and how we’re going to beat them. We won’t though without partners. M$ has used plenty of underhanded and iron fisted approaches to “protect” market share and their monopoly. But they got there by having hardware and software partners. So I applaud when a PC company admits Apple has the best product and wants to sell it, I don’t complain about that. We need more PC companies saying Apple is better not less. That’s how you beat M$. Steve said the top 3 PC makers want OS X in their box. That scares M$ also. That’s why they are so worried about Linux.
Also, I don’t know if it is a top 10 business decision or not, but HP is in second place for mp3 player sales. Sony sure would love to be there.
LOOKS CRAP!
SORRY SONY – NO BUYER HTHIS TIME!
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.
Nice pictures voodoo.
They really show why iPods have become cult objects.
I’ve still got my first generation Sony Walkman and it’s much better designed than this thing.
Sony have lost their touch.
I think the new Sony XYZPDQ-90210 is pretty neat looking. ..how many new players from Sony does that make now? Aren’t they around one a month? I wonder what next months offer is going to…uh…offer? Heh.
Hey, why not just call the damn thing a Walkman and be done with it? “The newly redesigned NEW Sony Walkman…stay tuned for next months newly newly redesigned EXTRA NEW Sony Walkman.”
These things are gonna sell. They have that coolness factor that Apple thought it had a hold on. Sonyvery well may have put the first nails in iPods coffin. I mean, just look at it, it’s looks so… Wait, um, the color and size are… uhhh… Um… The interface is so carefully crafte… Uhhhh….
All right, I have to agree with you. This thing sucks!
“Whatever, killer” Hysterical.
Sony is doing some very creative things with their screens and look. Sure, they have been misses so far, but sooner or later than hit it.
Apple needs to really kick it up a notch with the Gen 5 iPod. The changes so far have been nice, but incremental. It’s time to blow the market away again.
From article: “While it is the fifth hard drive player to be released by the company, it will be the first to see worldwide distribution.”
Oooh, Sony is not only going to fail selling this ugly and cryptical named device to youth, they are going to fail selling it to all the youth of the world. Of all Mp3-devices they have made, why this one? I think we are seeing the last days of the Sony empire.
Mw: Death.
Yeah! Now Apple gotta come up with some creative things to pick up on Sonys new moves.
What about making the display follow every move you make? Like when you turn it 5 degrees to the right, the display will turn five degrees to the right? Would make a nice ocean-like wave-effect when you walk and browse the playlist.
Or maybe the click-wheel should be oval? Or on the back, so you operate it with one of your other fingers? No, wait, isn’t there a way to operate a device with your nose? I mean, if not, it is a quite useless thing sticking out of your face?
Think, apple, think!
An Apple iPod killer that doesn’t run on an Apple. Priceless…