Sony's finally brought out a new answer to the Ipod, the Walkman NW-HD1. Unlike the VAIO version (why Sony made both is beyond me), it's sleek, small, has great user controls, and apparently outstanding battery life. And it doesn't look like a baby-toy Mac.
Downside? It uses Sony's proprietary format, ATRAC. Supposedly sounds better, and it sure did to me in a side-by-side comparison. But you have to convert your entire media library to ATRAC, which then lives on your hard drive, and according to the techies I know over here doubles the hard drive space you use for music. Oh, and downloading copyrighted music from Sony's miserable music store will only play using their player.
I'm sure someone at Sony will get a swift kick and the NW-HD2 will play MP3s, but this first version--if you're tempted, don't.
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timeasmymeasure
Oooh, wow, you guys won't like the new Ipod Killer, then
Date: 2004-07-14 05:02 am (UTC)Downside? It uses Sony's proprietary format, ATRAC. Supposedly sounds better, and it sure did to me in a side-by-side comparison. But you have to convert your entire media library to ATRAC, which then lives on your hard drive, and according to the techies I know over here doubles the hard drive space you use for music. Oh, and downloading copyrighted music from Sony's miserable music store will only play using their player.
I'm sure someone at Sony will get a swift kick and the NW-HD2 will play MP3s, but this first version--if you're tempted, don't.