We already saw the E430 series a few days ago and the rest of the new Sony players have now been announced at IFA. The new player lines feature a higher capacity version of the E430 which will take over for the S610 and S710 series and a new USB stick type player.

The S630 and S730 series' are almost identical in design to the E430 series, in fact the only difference I can see is that the S630 and S730 looks to be a bit longer. The specs are almost identical as well, with the same format support for both video and audio and an FM tuner. Compared to the players they are replacing the battery life is slightly improved with 40 hours of music and 10 hours of video and the new players also seem to be UMS and not MTP like their predecessors. Judging from the pictures the menu seem to be either skinable or at least support wallpapers now, something I know some people have been missing in Sony players. The S730 will be the noise cancellation version of the two new players, a feature I tested on the S710 and found to be rather useless with the earbuds that came with the player (and no other NC earphones are available for it). The S630 and S730 will come in 4, 8 and 16GB sometime in September. Update: Gizmodo reports that the S series will feature a mood sensing technology where you select the mood you're in from a list of 11 moods and the player will choose music that fits the mood. Sounds weird but also interesting.

The other new player announced was the B130. Originally there was supposed to be a new USb stick player released months ago but we haven't seen anything of it, so hopefully this one will actually be released in our part of the world. The B130 does however not hav a color LCD or the fancy interchangeable face plates the other player had. the battery life is equally unimpressive with 16 hours, but at least it has a fast charge technology that gives you 90 minutes of listening time from 3 minutes of charging.

[GenerationMP3 | Gizmodo]

I’m not going to try to understand the reasoning behind Sony’s product line. Much of the last two generations of Sony Walkmans have been a lot of the same some with slight changes, a feature here, a feature there. And the E430 looks like the same. This is not really a bad thing since these have all be really nice players, but it does get a bit confusing as to which one to buy.

There is a bit of saving grace to this news Sony Insider states that they have seen the new specs for other upcoming players and they are much more exciting than this (I can verify this as well). So for the Sony fans, hang on, there is more coming.

In the mean time if you would like to know what this player is about, you can check out one of these reviews to get a general idea: A810, A820, S710, S610.

[Sony NZ via Engadget | thanks nywytboy68]

Not too long ago I was chatting with a product manager from one of the MP3 player manufacturers about sound quality. He asked me, “Do you know what the biggest factor in improving a player’s sound quality is?” My ears perked up. This is the kind of stuff I love to learn straight from the source, the nitty gritty tech behind the products. Was he going to discuss the audio chip or some kind of amplification technique? No, his answer, “The headphones.” Ugh… everyone knows that, what disappointing answer.

Many users do know that the included headphones are the first thing to get upgraded, but many also stick with the stock earbuds manufactured in China for literally pennies. Perhaps manufactures are realizing that the stock buds are becoming less acceptable and are an easy way to add value to the overall out of the box user experience. Manufacturers like Microsoft, Sony, and Creative have recently ponnied up a few pennies to include “premium” earbuds.

Granted, they are no substitute for headphones north of a Benjamin, but they do perform very well and add great value to the purchase price. Hopefully this trend will continue, but for now I offer my three picks for the best sounding out of the box MP3 players.

When Sony released the A820 in Europe and America, they dropped the noise cancellation feature and instead shoved it into the S610 and dubbed the new model S710. This left the users with a choice between noise cancellation or the bigger screen and Bluetooth support of the A820 series as the S710 is identical to it's predecessor except for the noise cancellation. The question is if this was a smart move by Sony or if splitting the new features like this wasn't such a good idea. Read on for a full review of the S710 noise canceling player.

The A820 series is Sony’s latest and flagship in the Walkman line up. As the head honcho of the family, the A820 is the first to sport Bluetooth audio. Unlike recent Samsung players which support extended Bluetooth features, this Sony only supports Bluetooth audio transfer and control. If you have used any of the more recent Sony Walkmans you will get a near identical experience since the interface and the features are the same. The only new thing here is the addition of Bluetooth, larger screen, and different form factor.

With that said, this review will be slightly abridged since have pretty much covered the majority of the A820 in the A810 and S610 reviews. This review will focus mainly on what makes this player stand out from the other Sony Walkmans.

When the NW-A820 (not to be confused with the NWZ-A820) was first announced in Asia it was said to support video recording through a special video dock. While this hasn't been confirmed for the NWZ-820, there is still hope for those who want to bring their TV shows with them - the new Sony BDZ-A70 Blu-Ray recorder.

The BDZ-A70 should come as a pleasant surprise for those who were let down when the new PS3 firmware turned out to be lacking the long promised Blu-Ray transfer feature. Even if that feature is still missing on the BDZ-A70 it's capable of recording TV and transferring the recorded shows directly to a PSP or Sony Walkman. Transfer times are stated to be about 3 minutes for 60 minutes of recorded TV, which isn't bad at all. It's definitely a step in the right direction in ways of making electronics compatible with each other, even if it only works for Sony devices. It's due in Japan on April 30th with a price tag of about $1670.

[AV Watch via Gizmodo]

Sony’s S610 is their low man on the totem pole in the new line of video flash players sporting 2, 4, and 8GB capacities. This is last year’s model but Sony has decided to keep it around to accompany the newer 2.4” screened Bluetooth players. But don’t let the “last year’s model” deter you from purchasing. The S610 is by no means out of date- features, sound quality, and video playback are comparable to most players currently on the market.

If you read the A810 review, you may experience a bit of déjà vu since these two players share similar features and navigation. The S610 may be a good alternative if you are looking for an FM radio and a slightly more compact form factor.

Sony recently started offering pre-orders for the NWZ-A820 in Europe. This player is now confirmed to hit the US in March along with two new models, the S710 and A720 Walkman players.

The NWZ-A720 is essentially the same player as the NWZ-A820, but lacks bluetooth support. It's also available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB, while the A820 only comes in 8Gb and 16GB. The A720 is priced at $150 (4GB), $200 (8GB) and $300 (16GB) and comes in black or pink, while the A820 will cost you $270 (8GB) and $320 (16GB) and only comes in black.

The NWZ-S710 is good news for those who commented on the lack of noise cancelling in the NWZ-A820. While this feature was removed from the US and European versions of the A820, it is in place in the smaller S710 series, and Sony claims it will help reduce outside noise by up to 75%. It will however not have the same design as the A720 and A820, and will only have a 1.8" screen compared to the 2.4" screen on the A720 and A820. It will be available in a $150 4GB version with 3 different colors, and a $200 8GB version which comes only in black. No 16GB version is announced.

[ Press Release ]

Sony never got too much play on this site since Sony locked all of their MP3 players into their proprietary media player SonicStage. I love their designs, sound quality, and battery life but SonicStage was so unbelievably terrible it kept me from picking up any of their players. Sony finally wised up and joined the rest of the portable music world making their devices MTP, thus being compatible with most media players and music services.

Sony will soon release the A820, an upgraded version with Bluetooth, larger screen, and larger capacities. However, the A810 should not be pushed aside; it is still a very viable MP3 player that will still keep up with anything in its class. It is a great choice for people not needing all the bells and whistles of its newer sibling.

A few days ago, Sony announced it's NW-A820 WalkMan player for release in Asia in March. It's European/US brother, the NWZ-A820, is now available for preorder on Sony Style for a few countries like Germany and Sweden. As expected, it doesn't seem to be listed with noise cancelling features like its Asian brother has, but on the positive side it's bundled with decent quality IEMs - most likely the same MDR-EX082 as the NWZ-A810 comes with.

The bad news is that at the time of this writing, the 16GB seem to only be available bundled with a pair of bluetooth headphones, while the 8GB and 4GB versions are available both with and without the bluetooth headphones. The player ships in April and can be pre-ordered now for 169€ (4GB), 219€ (4GB bundle), 219€ (8GB), 269€ (8GB bundle) or 319€ (16GB bundle) - all prices taken from Sony Style Germany.

[ Sony Style Europe via Tech Digest]

Following the announcement of the NW-A820 WalkMan player, Sony also announced a stick-shaped player called the NW-E020F. The feature set is pretty amazing for a player this size, and includes 30 hours of audio playback, a three line color display that looks to be able to display album art, a FM tuner and an integrated USB connector. The battery will take 1 hour to fully charge, while a 3 min charge will give you 3 full hours of audio playback. The player also seems to be bundled with Sony's own MDR-EX90SL IEMs, which is quite the upgrade compared to what's normally bundled with such players. On top of this, the player has interchangeable front plates, which means the user can customize the looks of the player itself. The player will be available in Asia on March 8, with capacities of 1, 2 and 4GB. No word yet if this will be available outside Asia, but if it will be then the current champion of the tiny players might get a run for its money. Continue reading for a few more pics.

[ Sony Japan press release ]

Sony just announced its new Walkman model, the NW-A820 (NWZ-820 in Europe/US). The player features a 2,4" 320x240 QVGA screen, noise canceling features, Bluetooth functionality, and sizes up to 16GB. The Asian version of the player will still have ATRAC playback and most likely be SonicStage dependent, while the European and US model will continue Sony's recent trend of MTP based players without ATRAC support, which of course is a good thing.

Sony also announced two accessories for the new player; the SRS-NWT10M external speaker, and the VRC-NW10 cradle. The cradle supports both video out and video in, which means you can record TV directly to the NW-A820 in MPEG-4 format. Whether or not this will work on the NWZ-A820 is not known, but fingers crossed that it will. The player will be available in Asia on March 20, release date for the rest of the world is unknown. Continue reading for picture frenzy.

[ Press Release via Engadget ]

As the sale of the first video Walkmans in the US commences, Sony has revealed the A910 series, intended for Japan, which can not only handle H.264/AVC and MPEG-4 video formats, but receive, play, and record digital TV from Japanese broadcasting service 1seg on its 2.4-inch QVGA LCD.

Let’s not forget that outside Europe and America SonicStage is still alive, well, and compulsory to transfer AAC, MP3, WMA, ATRAC, and ATRAC Lossless files to the 4GB NW-A916, 8GB NW-A918, and 16GB NW-A919. The battery’s performance is generous, offering 10 hours of standard video, 8.5 hours of video recording, 6 hours of TV viewing and 36 hours of audio. Several measures have been taken to enhance sound quality consisting of a built in noise cancelling function, in-ear phones with 13.5mm diameter drivers, DSEE sound enhancement, as well as clear stereo and clear bass technologies.

The A series is expected to appear this November in black, silver, and limited chrome edition. The 4GB will be sold for 30,000 Yen, 8GB for 35,000 Yen, and the 16GB for 45,000 Yen (equivalent to $260, $300, and $390 respectively).

[Product Page]

At last Sony has launched an official site explaining the details of their peculiar egg-shaped music player, named the Rolly, which uses robot technology to move about while it plays music from its speakers on each end.

The sound production is particularly inventive, as the circular ends to the Rolly focus the music directly ahead to give a stereo sound, while the player vibrates bass through the surface it is making contact with. Controlling the device is done by rotating one the wheels. Selecting a specific function depends on whether music is playing or not, or if it is held in a horizontal or vertical position.

Music is played wirelessly either from another paired Bluetooth device, or from its 1GB of internal memory in MP3, ATRAC and AAC (unprotected), as it carries out the moves created by a Motion Editor software.

Japan will receive the Rolly on September 29 for an equivalent of $346, while there has been no mention of an international release yet.

[Product Page]

Sony has announced the introduction of two video walkmans to the US in September, both of which will not support their proprietary ATRAC format or require the use of SonicStage.

The first of these, the NWZ-A810 series, is identical to the NW-A800 available in Europe, but completely new from Sony is the NWZ-S610. It features a 1.8-inch screen (0.2-inches smaller than the A810) with the same 320 x 240 pixel resolution, and FM Radio which is absent in the A810. The two players share the same support for MP3, WMA (DRM), and unprotected AAC audio formats, as well as the H.264/AVC and MPEG-4 video codecs.

Each model will be available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB versions, and cost $120, $160, and $210 for the S610 and $140, $180, and $230 for the A810 respectively.

[Press Release via Engadget]