Sony Unleashes New Walkman PMP’s
Sony has unveiled three new Walkman series S, E and B players, just in time for the Back-To-School shopping season. Sony is first out of the gate with their new offerings with Microsoft and Apple slated for early September PMP launches. The S-Series Walkman’s contains built-in Noise-Canceling technology and a new recommendation feature, dubbed SensMe.
S-Series Walkman Players
Sony’s top-of-the-line 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. Battery life is a claimed 40 hours for audio playback, 10 hours for video.
SensMe
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.
In-Flight Noise Cancellation
Whether commuting, flying high or just listening to music at home, Sony claims the new S-series Walkman players will diminish background noise while improving your overall listening experience. The top-end S-series Walkman players feature integrated active noise cancellation with supplied 13.5mm EX noise canceling headphones and an accessory cable that extends the noise canceling functionality of the device.
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 a 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.
E-Series Walkman Players
The E-series combines high-quality video and audio performance. 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. E-series Walkman players support Windows Media Video (WMV) with DRM, allowing rights-protected movies and video clips from other media collections. Battery life is a claimed 45 hours for audio playback, 8 hours for video.
B-Series Walkman Players
The budget Walkman B-series player offers quality playback and not much else. The portable devices can connect to your PC’s USB port for easy drag and dro” 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 B Series has a dopey illuminator that pulses in time with the music when the bass button is pressed. The device also sports an FM radio and a voice recorder. Battery life is a claimed 16 hours of audio playback.
Continuing their shift from proprietary formats, 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 – 4GB: $149. The NWZ-S738F – 8GB – $179.
The E-series of Walkman video MP3 players will be available in the following configurations: The NWZ-E436F comes in black, red, pink, blue – 4GB – $99. The NWZ-E438F comes in black, red, pink – 8GB – $139.
The B-series of Walkman MP3 players come in two different capacities and four colors: The NWZ-B133F – 1GB – black, red and blue – $45. The NWZ-B135F – 2GB – black, red and pink – $59. More information on the new Sony Walkman PMP’s.
