walkman

After last week's UK announcement, it should hardly comes as a surprise that Sony's got some new MP3 players heading to the ol' U.S. of A. For those of you convinced that the Walkman will rise again, here's the skinny on Sony's American imports.

By the end of March, Sony will be shipping the NWZ-A820 (pictured) in an 8GB ($270) and 16GB ($320) capacity, available only in black. Both versions of the NWZ-A820 include Bluetooth audio, high-quality Sony EX earphones, and a 2.4-inch QVGA LCD, but the 8GB version also comes bundled with a … Read more

Sony has always been all about style (hence the name of its e-tail site). And even though it's been thoroughly trounced by the iPod, it's determined to keep the Walkman off the walker before it's too late, even in its smallest forms.

This is not to say, of course, that it's always successful--quite the opposite, actually. So for those who suffer from occasional lapses in aesthetic judgment, or just change their minds a lot, Sony is offering a version of its E Series MP3 stick players on the Japanese market that can be customized with swappable shells, … Read more

You've probably heard of Sony. It's done a few things here and there over the years, including the building of a damn-near indestructible MiniDisc player. Today it's showing off its new Walkman lineup, which includes new versions of the NWZ-A810 series, not surprisingly called the NWZ-A820 series, and is led by an 8GB Bluetooth-enabled MP3 player called the NWZ-A828. There's also a 4GB version, the NWZ-A826.

It's aesthetically a little different to its predecessor, with a central navigation pad and other buttons in new and exciting positions. It's also got a 61mm (2.4-inch) … Read more

As we creep slowly into 2008, I can't seem to shake the sinking feeling that this year isn't going to have much to offer in the realm of MP3 players. Truly, it's going to be hard to follow 2007. The year ushered in a growing selection of devices with wireless capabilities, touch screens, and high capacity flash memory at increasingly lower prices--not to mention the slow death of hard drive-based portable media players. In fact, many of my top selections from the past year comprise at least one of these features, along with many other desirable traits. … Read more

What with the fact that Sony is finally to producing players that aren't handicapped by a severely lacking software relationship, I suppose it was only a matter of time before this happened...but I never thought I'd actually be around to witness it: a Sony MP3 player has won an Editors' Choice award. That's right, people--the Walkman has finally regained its spot in the sun. OK, so maybe the NWZ-A810 is not even within spitting range of knocking the iPod of its throne, but this Walkman is one capable competitor. Let me break it down for you:… Read more

We just have to say it: The Sony NWZ-A810 is a pretty slick player. Of course, getting rid of SonicStage was a major help--you can now use all the new Walkmans with WMA jukeboxes--but the A810 shines in many areas besides software support, as well. It offers a fantastic display, a sleek design and interface, and a stellar rated battery life--plus, it's one of the few players that sounds great right out of the box, thanks to the inclusion of Sony's rather great MDR-EX082 headphones. Users looking for the whole package (sans radio) will be pleased. For all … Read more

The Sony NWZ-S610 series Walkman doesn't bring anything striking or new to the table, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a quality MP3 player with nice extras and a killer battery life. Plus, Sony got rid of SonicStage--the best news ever. You can view the newest Walkman from every unabashed angle in our slide show.

Last week we told you that Sony Ericsson had just sent us three new shiny Walkman phones in a shiny box. Now that we've had the chance the review all three of the phones, we can report that on the whole we were pleased with what we saw, at least in the performance department. The W880i, W580i and W200a delivered satisfying call and music quality, albeit with a couple of quibbles here and there. Design, on the other hand, was a mixed bag. While the W580i and W200a succeeded, the W880i did not.

Our favorite phone of the bunch … Read more

Care to take a stab at guessing this one? I'll give you a hint: it's fabulous news. As you may have gathered from Sony's abandonment of SonicStage, the company is giving its Connect music store the ax as well. Considering the new Walkmans are now PlaysForSure devices capable of playing both purchased and subscription WMAs--and they support unprotected AACs purchased from iTunes--it only makes sense to get rid of the faltering (and horrifically designed) store. For my part, I'm pleased as punch by the death of SonicStage and Connect. Yes, I'm a little bit sadistic...… Read more