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Sony Raises the Curtain on New Walkman Players

Yesterday, Sony unveiled three new Walkman players (series S, E and B) that have something to offer to nearly every customer segment.

The top-end, format-friendly Walkman S-series broadens options for enjoying tunes from multiple sources, including many download stores and personal music collections. The supplied Content Transfer software even simplifies "drag and drop" transfer of non-DRM music, videos, podcasts and playlists from online music services to Walkman players. If you're migrating your personal collection of ripped tracks from another MP3 player, there's no need to re-rip all your tunes from your CDs.



Support for popular audio and video codecs is enhanced because the S-series Walkman devices play Windows Media Video (WMV) files with DRM, allowing you to enjoy rights-protected movies and video clips from other media collections.

Additionally, the S-series Walkman players are the first MP3 players with Sony's SensMe Channels function, which automatically creates channels that can align with a user's preferences. Based on Sony's SensMe Channels function, the S-series players analyze a user's music collection and suggest channels based on each song's speed, mood and rhythm. They create a choice of 11 themed channels from upbeat pop to emotional ballads.

The S-series Walkman players feature integrated active noise cancellation with supplied 13.5mm EX noise canceling headphones and an accessory cable. On airplanes, travellers can connect the S-series player directly to a plane's audio video system with the included accessory cable and enjoy regular in-flight entertainment with the bonus of high-quality noise cancellation.

Just 7.5mm thin, the super-light S-series is the slimmest Walkman player in any of the new series. It has a bright, high-contrast 2-inch QVGA LCD screen that has an ultra-quick response time, with smooth playback at up to 30 frames per second and selectable horizontal/vertical viewing. The interface can be personalized with the user's choice of 10 pre-installed wallpaper images or their favorite digital photo.

The E-series combines video and audio performance to create a device for enjoying favorite photos and video clips. Like the S-series, all E-series models are format friendly, easily playing back ripped tracks from your personal music collection, music store downloads and rights-managed video clips. Non-DRM files can be transferred by "drag and drop" from online music services to Walkman players.

Support for popular audio and video codecs is enhanced because the E-series Walkman players can also support Windows Media Video (WMV) with DRM, allowing rights-protected movies and video clips from other media collections.

The affordable entry-level Walkman B-series player can also connect to your PC's USB port for easy "drag and drop" file transfers. Like all other Walkman models, open support for Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MP3 codecs enables users to buy, copy and manage music to fit their needs.

The stylish design is enhanced by an illuminator that pulses in time with the music when the bass button is pressed. The device has an FM radio and a voice recorder.

The battery life is up to 40 hours of music playback for S-series, up to 45 hours for the E-series and up to 16 hours for the B-series. The battery life is up to 10 hours of video playback for S-series, up to 8 hours for the E-series. The battery life is also up to 30 hours of audio playback for the S-series when the noise-cancellation feature is activated.

The E- and S-series Walkman players support an open platform, providing more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online. The devices can support security-enhanced Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC, linear PCM and MP3 music formats plus JPEG files for photos, in addition to the WMV with DRM, AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs.

The S-series of Walkman noise canceling video MP3 players come in two different storage capacities in black:

  • The NWZ-S736F has approximately 4GB of internal storage and will cost about $150.
  • The NWZ-S738F has approximately 8GB of internal storage and will cost about $180.

The E-series of Walkman video MP3 players will be available in the following configurations:

  • The NWZ-E436F comes in black, red, pink, blue, has approximately 4GB of internal storage and costs about $100.
  • The NWZ-E438F comes in black, red, pink, has approximately 8GB of internal storage, and costs about $140.

The B-series of Walkman MP3 players come in two different capacities and four colors:

  • The NWZ-B133F player has approximately 1GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and blue and will cost about $45.
  • The NWZ-B135F player has approximately 2GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and pink and will cost about $60.

Presales have begun for the new Walkman models online and at Sony Style stores. The players will be available in September.

Source: Sony


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