Check out the story on the main page - Is Sony’s NW-HD1 the iPod Killer?

What do you think of Sony’s new device? Can it compete using only the ATRAC format?

Wow, it doesn’t even play MP3’s?

Sony just shot themselves in the foot with that little feature.

I think they had a chance before the ATRAC only part.  They could have had a nice mainstream product, being sony and all, but I think they messed it up.

Sony always comes flying in with some product that uses some other standard. I remember with the memory sticks the so called “new generation of flash cards” they could have used compact flash and have been more universal like many other companies.

Now their… errm ATRAC player is planned. How about support the format that people use? mp3. Like others said I dont think it can compete with the iPod because of that issue. If they would like to have support for another format all the better but atleast have support for the mp3 standard for the people who don’t want to go through the hassle of converting and re-ripping their cd’s to the ATRAC format.

Just my $.2

Ryan

They want to be special :|

All the companies need to team against Apple and create an UBER-MP3 player to destroy the iPod.

Just my $.3

[quote author=“peter”]They want to be special :|

All the companies need to team against Apple and create an UBER-MP3 player to destroy the iPod.

Just my $.3

Try the iRiver iHP series, its the best MP3 player out there.  It might not be as good looking and easy to use as the iPod but the features list FAR surpasses the iPod.  And the iRiver had cheaper prices for the 20GB version up until apple just made the announcement of prices being cut

I started to get excited until it said it play some weird file type.  If it was going to choose something non-mainstream, it could have at least picked ogg files which save space.  Sony must be some kind of masochist.

I would think that Sony would supply software that would convert files to their ATRAC files. If not…

sony will supply software to convert mp3—>atrac….as much as i love sony products (uncle used to work for sony, so our house is filled with sony tvs, video cameras, etc), sometimes they take proprietary stuff too far. this would be a great portable player if they allowed mp3’s…converting a few mp3’s to atrac isn’t that bad, but u try to sit there and wait while 20 gigs of music have to converted. even on a fast computer that would take awhile.

Good for being on the go, but not good in mainstream.

it could’ve been an iPod killer if Sony allowed other formats.

yup could have been in competition.. until the whole non-mp3 part came out 😛

Sony is just irritating sometimes.  They generally make a great product with some fatal flaw.  I still refuse to buy anything with a memory stick slot.

My wife got me a Sony camera, so I had no choice. 

Still, I found a good deal for a 256 stick.  it was like $80.  Plus many accessories take the stick, like my printer.  I basically transfer pics to my pc from the printer, but if I’m at work I transfer it directly through a dedicated USB cord.

did you guys hear about real player trying to “hack” into the ipod so it can play real files? makes real seem desperate.

I wouldn’t call it “desperate”.  They’re just trying to find a home for their music since very few players can play the native format 😛

Eh, I gotta say with crappy audio format support it won’t last. Even if you can change the audio format using software, who wants to change 20 GB or so of music into their special format?

^^ Exactly. No one is.

None of you seem to be well acquainted with this magical software that converts various audio formats into Sony’s ATRAC format.

Let me give you a brief understanding of why this product will fail.

It isn’t because you have to convert the files (if you think about it, you would only convert maybe >50 songs at a time, and that wouldn’t take long…consider how many the player can hold…it’s like iPod mini (4gb) vs iPod (20gb), some choose the 20gb purely because it can hold more and isn’t much larger), it is because to convert the files, you have to use Sony’s OpenMG software. The single worst program I have ever encountered on computers.

I have a Sony MZ-S1 MiniDisc player, and fortunately for me, I was able to bypass the software via a bundled program called Simple Burner. But, to do so I had to either burn to CD before I burned to MD, or I had to create a virtual disc, load that disc, and then burn it that way; however, that took a toll on my HD considering I basically had 3 copies of the CD on my system 〈1 physical reference for the virtual drive to load, 1 for the virtually loaded drive, and 1 for the Simple Burner as it converted the files〉.

The software, has hopefully been fixed :( Search google for this, “OpenMG”+bugs. You’ll gain an understanding of what users of this new digital audio player are up against 😛

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal on a comparison between this new Sony Network Walkman and Apple’s iPod…and which one turned out to be better…?  Well, the iPod of course.

IMO, Sony should just dump the ATRAC format and be more like the ipod, supporting mp3 and such.  In the WSJ article, they compared transferring songs over to the ipod and the walkman, and the walkman took forever because it had to convert each song into ATRAC.  Not to mention the software that minijigga talked about is pretty much crap. 

Anyway, if any of you guys have access to wsj.com, then I suggest you check it out and read the article.

On the Sony site, they say “The NW-HD1 can store up to 13,000 tracks, at 48kbps”. In reality, who the hell rips their music at 48kbps? I always as a rule use variable bitrate with minimum of 128. Otherwise the sound suffers. Do other people out there keep audio at 48? Am I alone in wanting to keep the music hi quality? Or does the atrac sony proprietary audio format sound good at 48?

-dan

I always code at 128k or higher.  The norm is 192k.  I sure as hell could never get used to listening mp3’s at 48k.  96k is barely tolerable by me, just imagine 48k…lol

I was reading somewhere that someone reccomended Sony Music and Sony Electronics should split. Being part of the same company is hurting Sony Electronics in the long run. the Music label forces all this DMCA stuff on the products, so their hands are tied as far as putting MP3s on their portables.

This is the same thing that killed the minidisc… no support because it wasn’t consumer friendly. Also, having to re-rip ALL your mp3s to atrac? Rediculous. iPod puts those mp3s straight onto the device.

I agree.. whenever I rip cd’s I always rip 192k.  And when downloading files I look for the same… i’ll go with 128k if that’s the best I can find.

Reading that article I was really impressed, the 30 hour battery life, same size as ipod mini with much bigger hd space.. then this stupid format thing.  I definately agree with the rest it ruins it.

Not that I support it or anything - but it has been said that ATRAC3 can be encoded at a much lower bitrate, and sound similar to a higher bitrate MP3.

it can, but mp3 is the what the mass started with, and having to switch over is a bother.