Most people ignored Sony's line of "Net Juke" network audio players, because of their inability to play MP3.

Well, stop ignoring them please. Announced by Sony today was the "NAS-A10," which has a bunch of interesting features...but the most important of which is support for the MP3 format. So how do you get MP3s to it? Memory Stick, Ethernet, or CD. It also has a 40GB hard drive, so you can easily rip songs to it from your library. It's even got a composite output for viewing stuff o­n your TV. MP3 support o­n the device could use some work -- there appears to be no MP3 support to/from the hard drive, and nothing with the USB 2.0 interface the unit is equipped with.

In the Sony Electronics pricing tradition, however, it's over $600 USD.

Sony will release the "NET JUKE NAS-A10," an audio system with a 40GB hard drive compatible with "E Music," o­n March 15th. Open Price, but market price should be around 63,000 yen.

The NAS-A10 is the successor to the NAS-A1 release in May of 2004. It consists of a main unit with a CD player, hard drive, AM/FM tuner, and stereo speakers -- it can also download music to the 40GB hard drive from the "E Music" service.

Newly included o­n this model is support for Hi-Speed USB, so it can transfer files to portable audio players that feature hard drives such as the Network Walkman series. Moreover, it can now use "Memory Stick Duo" cards in the Memory Stick slot without the use of an adapter. This is so to enhance compatibility with devices using Memory Stick Duo, such as the PSP and cellular phones. However, the NAS-A10 does not support 2GB or above Memory Sticks.

Also included is a composite video output, so that when the unit is connected to a TV, it can be operated using o­n-screen controls -- this "makes for the the quickest operation," according to Sony.

From the CD to the hard drive, the maximum dubbing speed is about 8x (audio monitor OFF), or 6x (audio monitor o­n). By pressing a single button o­n the remote control, all files o­n a CD will be copied to the hard drive, thanks to a feature called "One Button HD Record." Recording formats can be chosen from ATRAC3 and PCM, where ATRAC3 has available bitrates of 132, 105, and 66kbps.

While the unit does contain Gracenote's "CDDB" song data o­n the hard drive, the newest data can be downloaded from the internet. Tagging songs with album names, artist names, song names, and so forth is done automatically.

Supported audio formats for CDs include Audio CD, and MP3. Memory Stick formats are ATRAC3 and MP3. Also available is "Network Media," which when songs are stocked o­n a PC o­n the LAN, allows these songs to be streamed to the Net Juke. Doing so, however, requires installation of DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) software o­n the PC.

The amplifier has a rated maximum output of 10W x 2ch (4 ohms). The speakers are 2-way bass reflex type, and have 10cm x 1 subwoofers and 4cm x 1 tweeters. The external dimensions of the speakers are 135 x 180 x 315mm (W x D x H), and they weigh about 2.3kg each.

On the body of the system is a single 100BASE-TX port, USB port (Hi-Speed USB), analog audio input port, analog audio output port, headphone port, and composite output port. The maximum dimensions of the base unit are 90 x 314 x 315mm (W x D x H), and it weighs about 4.9kg. It has a power consumption of 40W.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20050217/sony.htm

Press Release:
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200502/05-0217/