The problem i’ve heard is they havent announced if it will be a firmware upgrade for current models and people don’t know if they should buy the models in stores now because no one knows when sony will start this and what devices will be supported.

Story on the front page. 

basically they betta. they are seein that the ATRAC format will not help them even “compete” against the iPod. MP3 is used more then anything.

If they want to compete with the best I believe it’s what they have to do.

I was planning on getting the new sony walkmen dealy until they said it only played Atrac. If they change it I may reconsider. Until then I’m set on getting an iRiver 120

bless my little iriver ihp-120

if i could buy a new mp3 player now it would be one of the new iriver h320 only because it can do video also but nothing beats an iriver in my opinion.  the ipod has the looks, and thats all, and the ihp-120 is still gorgeous AND has all the amazing functionality…

...but please, back to the sony story

It’s a great move by Sony. That Sony Walkman is tight, and the ATRAC-only thing is what is holding it back. They are going to release a firmware upgrade for it, and it will then play MP3’s natively. Hopefully its not too late for the device.