Sony Champions Open Source Media - Sorta
Electronics giant Sony announced a new version of its Walkman today. But instead of Pet Shop Boys and Flock of Seagulls cassette mix tapes, this one plays digital media, including video. And Sony was sure to point out that the devices aren't tied to any particular media format, unlike *cough* Apple *cough* players. And to sort of drive the point home, Sony also announced they were ending their proprietary ATRAC audio format in North America and Europe. Why, it's like open platform heaven over there at Sony these days.
The Japanese company, one of the world's biggest electronics makers, said its NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 series of Walkman digital music players would be available in September.
The devices will support an open platform -- which means they will play a variety of music formats such as MP3 and Microsoft Corp's WMA, providing more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online.
8 or 9 hours of video playback battery life, prices ranging from $120 to $230 depending on the model. HotHardware's fearless prediction: It'll outsell the Zune, and Apple won't notice it exists.
