Sony makes video bid to challenge iPod

"We are developing a product that handles images, but I cannot make any comment on specific plans," Sony Senior Vice President Hiroshi Yoshioka said during a news conference unveiling upcoming Walkman models.

Apple launched the video iPod last year, Microsoft intends to release the video-playing Zune shortly, and many, many other manufacturers have already released pocket-sized music/video combination players, so it's interesting to observe Sony's rather late entry into an already over-subscribed market.

Sony seem to have been playing catch-up with pretty much every manufacturer, since digital music in MP3 form was made popular by the Internet and file sharing networks.

Oddly, this news comes amongst the launch of the Walkman line from Sony.

The NW-S700 (pictured below) comes in a variety of metallic colours (black, violet, gold, and pink), is flash-memory based with capacities of between 1GB to 4GB, and contains an FM tuner. You'll be able to see tiny artwork and track listings via a 3-line OLED display.

Sony claims that the NW-S700 series delivers the highest sound quality in Walkman history due to the integrated noise cancellation technology and bundled 13.5mm headphones, which uses the integrated in-line microphone to detect and respond to environmental sound. Sony claims this will reduce ambient noise by around 25%.

Models in the cheaper NW-S600 series will not feature the radio or the noise-cancelling technology and will come in black, blue or pink. Sony said that consumers should expect around 50 hours of playback from both devices.

A 4GB S700 model is expected to sell for around ¥29,000 (approx. £130) in Japan, whereas a 1GB S600 model should be as little as ¥15,000 (about £68), which is at a slight premium compared to similarly spec'd iPod shuffles.

A Sony representative stated that the new NW-S700 Walkman models are to be launched on the 21st October, whereas the NW-S600 products will appear on October 21st, in Japan. µ

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