MP3 support and USB charging for new Sony 20GB HDD Walkman Portable AV / Sony Posted by sar7501 on Nov 29, 2004 - 11:13 PM |
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Well, it looks like hell has finally frozen over - Sony has released a new 20GB HDD Network Walkman with support for MP3 playback, the NW-HD3. The new model will be available in four colours (silver, black, blue, red) and also adds support for USB charging. Existing owners of Sony's NW-HD1 and NW-HD2 will be able to upgrade their players to support MP3 for 2000 yen.  Sony will begin sales of the "NW-HD3" 20GB Network Walkman with support for MP3 playback from 10 December. It will have no set retail price but the expected street price is approximately 42,000 yen. The new model is a successor to the NW-HD1 (July) and the NW-HD2 (October) and has improved functionality with the addition of support for MP3 file playback and USB charging. Four body colours will be available - silver, black, blue and red. Silver models come with a white LCD screen with the remaining body colours matched with blue LCDs. The main feature of the new Walkman is the addition of MP3 file transfer and playback functionality. The NW-HD1 and -HD2 models only supported the ATRAC3/ATRAC3plus formats and MP3 files had to be converted to these formats using the included SonicStage software before being transferred to the player. In the case of the NW-HD3, MP3 files do not need to be converted with SonicStage and can be transferred directly to the Walkman for playback. The MP3 files will be transferred to the player as "OpenMG Audio" format MP3 files and, therefore, playback on other devices will not be possible. Supported bitrates are 48/64/256kbps for ATRAC3plus, 66/105/132kbps for ATRAC3 and 32-320kbps for MP3. The player is equipped with a 6-band equaliser and high-quality sound circuitry such as Sony's VPT Acoustic Engine but these functions cannot be used during MP3 playback. However, bass and treble adjustments can be made using the "Digital Sound Preset" function (8 levels). In conjuction with the addition of MP3 support, the included SonicStage software has been updated to version 2.3. New features include unlimited transfers for music ripped from CDs and, in addition to ATRAC3 CD, the ability to produce CDDA-format music CDs. Inspired by: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20041130/sony1.htm [1] News release: http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200411/11-1130/ [2] Product information: http://www.walkman.sony.co.jp/hdd_nwwm/ [3] |
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This article is from TechJapan http://www.techjapan.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.techjapan.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=710 Links in this article [1] http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20041130/sony1.htm [2] http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200411/11-1130/ [3] http://www.walkman.sony.co.jp/hdd_nwwm/ |