Call it national MP3 player week (or fortnight, maybe--there are some rumors floating about that some plucky little Cupertino company is planning to enter the space, late next week)--following the rising tide of news from Creative, Samsung, Sandisk, and Toshiba (well, in Japan, at least), Sony is giving the portable music space that they pioneered nearly 30 years ago another big push with a slew of players, which mark the Walkman's first foray into the portable video space.
Most of the phe players sport LCDs with Quarter Video Graphics Arrays (QVGA), giving users 320 x 240 video at 30 frames per second, and are compatible with MPEG-4 video, WMA (including PlaysForSure files), (non-secure) AAC, MP3, and JPEG files. AThe players also feature FM tuners and support FM recording.
The new Walkmen are arriving in three major series, The NWZ-A810, The NWZ-S610, and the NWZ-B100.
The A810 series is available in five colors and three sizes, ranging from 2- to 8GB, with price tags running from $140 to $230. The players sport a 2-inch LCD and are bundled with the highest quality earbuds of the three.
The S610 series, aimed at younger users, comes in four colors and three capacities, which, like the A810s, range from 2- to 8GB. The players' LCDs are 1.8 inches, and the FM tuner features 30 preset stations.
The low-end B100 players come in two colors (black and white) and two capacities: 1- 2GB, priced at $60 and $80, respectively. The B100 swaps the video display for a three-line color LCD.
The players will all be available in September. Our audio analyst, Tim Gideon, has a full and mostly positive review of the $120 S610 [pictured], over at PC Mag.
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