“It looks as if Sony is attempting to give Apple competition in the area of world’s smallest MP3 player. The company is now offering the Network Walkman Digital Music Player. On the Sony USA website the player is labelled ‘Small as a pack of gum,’ just like Apple’s iPod Shuffle, but these two players part ways when it comes to price. Sony’s NW-E507 retails at $199.95 for 1GB of storage space and Sony boasts that you can load 695 songs on the player,” Keisha Webb-Gibbs writes for The Bermuda Sun.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: January 11, 2005, Apple Computer, Inc. debuts the iPod shuffle line. The Apple press release describes the new players as “smaller and lighter than a pack of gum.” Apple.com’s iPod shuffle web page has described the iPod shuffle as, “smaller than a pack of gum and much more fun,” since January. Sony, obviously bereft of new ideas of their own, follows suit seven months later. The new Sony thing must weigh more than a pack of gum (1.66 oz or 47 g) or they would have cribbed that bit, too. For the record, Apple’s iPod shuffle weighs just .78 ounce.
So, Sony, with their Sony Style™ stuck somewhere in 1985, has debuted an iPod shuffle killer that retails for US$70 more, weighs twice as much as it’s intended victim and doesn’t work with the market-dominating iTunes Music Store. But, hey, it’s “small as a pack of gum.” Good luck.
Fifth-rate Chinese knock-off artists stealing trade dress and marketing slogans are one thing, but have Sony slipped so far, so quickly?
Okay, now, 695 songs in 1GB? How can that be? Let’s check Sony’s specs: “Calculated based on 4 minutes per song @ 48kbps in ATRAC3plus™ format.” ATRAC3plus @ 48-Kbps sounds like AM radio, folks. Plop ATRAC3plus @ 132-Kbps songs in 1GB , which are roughly equivalent to Apple’s iTunes Music Store’s 128-Kbps AAC tracks and you can fit, drumroll please, about 240 songs into the thing or exactly as many as Apple advertises their iPod shuffle 1GB unit’s capacity (holds 240 songs in 128-Kbps AAC format). How about cutting the nonsense, Sony? Use a listenable bit rate for your player capacities and stop lifting other company’s marketing materials while you’re at it.
Sony Phony
I’m friggin embarrassed, to be quite honest.
I mean seriously– what happened to that company? I used to admire them. Now, I wonder if they have the consumer in mind at all, because it seems like they and so many others are just cranking out junk to try and get a few bucks. Bleh…
Hmm, too bad it’s $70 more expensive than the 1GB iPod shuffle and is also totally incompatible with the market dominating iTunes music store. Thanks, but no thanks Sony…
I have to say, that EL display is kind of cool looking.
neither WMA, AAC MP3 or WAV? 48KBPS in ATRAC 3?
it… she… i… we… ahhh… forget it. ain’t worth commenting on.
that thing has ALOT of nice features, and even looks good
but not a shuffle killer =/ cost to much, and no iTunes = dead beat player
personally, I wish that apple would release a 2gb version of the shuffle with a display like the sony.
apparently the 2gb flash memory chips are no being offered for $11 per chip from the manufacturers. also, I read a reviewer who tested the sony, and he got over 60 hours of battery life out of this model. it also has an FM tuner, but I doubt that apple would ever think that was a good idea.
Apple’s 1 GB Shuffle holds over 30 hours of Podcasts.
Do Sony’s products even do podcasts?
I was actually looking at new HD TV’s this weekend trying to decide which one to go with and what size and so forth. Im completely eliminating Sony from the picture (pun) since apparently they cant think of anything good on their own, and also because they are blatantly ripping off a company that I own stock in. They don’t deserve my 3K.
Also for the record, I think that all the people crying because Apple’s solution is proprietary ought to look at the Sony solution, and then get back to us about what proprietary really means.
It’s actually not bad looking (IMHO) but I am very spoiled with having my USB connection always available on my Shuffle. You need a special cable with the Sony to connect to the mini-USB plug. Even if it connected to iTMS, it still would not be worth it.
Plus, the display isn’t worth it to me unless I can see a large list of choices. The current song is not a mystery when I’m listening to it.
Lastly, I like my iPod because the radio stations are annoying so the addition of radio doesn’t help.
reality check
amazon.com $190
fm tuner included
display included
shuffle – $130
no fm tuner
no display
if you don’t use itunes (i don’t with my 30G 3G ipod) and simply want to play mp3’s – is there much difference in how you fill the 1G memory?
I don’t know about that – but if i was in the market for a 1G shuffle this would be on the shortlist and i’d check it out.
Well as R says I too used to like Sony, in fact I left Sony in favor of Pioneer in the home stereo/theater arena.
As for personal digital devices I too left Sony in my case their MD Walkman not for anything by Pioneer, who I don’t think have or are going to enter this market, for the iPod 20GB 9 months ago.
Enlarge the picture on Sony’s site. Sure, the EL is cool, but you’d need a microscope to view the small text. Not exactly convenient when making a quick glance to see what’s playing.
I used to use a NikePSA (total PITA, BTW) when working out before getting a shuffle. Only time I ever used the screen was to check battery life.
MW: next. Bring on the next “iPod Killer”.
this just in…Sony confirms that a pound of feathers is INDEED lighter then a pound of bricks!
199$?? F**, grab a iPod mini instead! Large display and 4 GB (or 6, sooner or later)! +iTunesMS, +Podcasts, +DesignAwards
From the article: “Music enthusiasts who already have extensive music libraries can use the player’s included software and hardware to store and play back their collection of MP3s”
Right, a music enthusiast is going to use 48kbps? Or have only 240 songs? Hardly. The tiny display and FM tuner will be the only reason anyone buys these things and that will be in small numbers. Sony don’t worry about ramping up production too much.
The point of any music recorder is to take your own music with you. Partly or mainly because radio sucks. Too much replay of songs. So, so much for the FM radio. What no AM?
Apple’s iPod Shuffle costs $70.00 less then Sony and is also a thumb drive.
The sony player is ugly and overpriced. That said, Apple should reduce the price of the shuffle 512 mb to $89 to increase sales. The 1gb was reduced from $149 to $129 and now the 512 is over-priced at $99
Nand chips probably cost apple $19 or less for the shuffle 512 and are probably a lot cheaper than when it came out. I dont understand why they didnt drop the shuffle to $89. Its a no brainer. Ive noticed shuffle sales slowing for months, and the only fair thing for apple to do is drop the price on the cheap shuffle NOW.
ps, I own a shuffle and use it for podcasts and my favorite playlists. Its a great player but I would like a screen at 2gb. Even the 1gb could use a cheap screen and playlist feature.
C’mon apple, get real!
Sony knows how to design products to compete with the likes of Samsung, Dell, RCA, Creative, and iRiver, not with Apple. It’s a shame that an “iPod Killer” won’t even end up competing with it’s intended “target” but with a bunch of other no-name no-game players.
I have to admit though, the “EL” screen looks quite nice. Can you picture one of those in a shuffle? It would look pretty nice with black text on the white.
–mAc
I would like an iPod with a radio tuner, but:
a) Not if it would cost $70 more, and
b) not if it has the crappy quality of all the other cheap micro-tuners I’ve purchased and thrown away as useless over the years.
nice looking little player – I have a Shuffle, and love it, but am constantly wishing it had a display of some kind. if Sony would forget about ATRAC (and its awful software) in the US and develop aac playback, they’d be able to give Apple some competition here.
well at least sony isn’t lying to their cust.. er.. oh man.. here we go again.. will they ever learn?
Please.. only Paul Thurrott listens to 48kbs
I realize that most of you can only recognize good design when it has an Apple logo on it, but this is not ugly; in fact, it’s quite nicely designed–especially the way the display is integrated. (Not that i would buy one.)