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Sony unveils 20GB iPod riival with high-res color LCD

updated 10:35 am EDT, Mon May 10, 2004

Sony 20GB iPod rival?

Digit Magazine reports on based on AIWA technology and currently only expected to be sold in Japan starting in June: "The Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1 has a 20GB hard disk drive and a 2.2-inch colour LCD screen with 320-x-256 pixel resolution. In addition to acting as the main user interface, the screen displays track information when songs are being played and displays, if available, album art. On the right-hand side of the display is a touch-sensitive panel dubbed "G-sense" that is used to control the player. Users can navigate a series of on-screen menus by running their fingers over the panel in the appropriate direction."

by MacNN Staff

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dwishbone
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: May 2002

0

05/10, 10:45am | report spam | close Reply |
ugly

ok...i never thought id see an MP3 player uglier than that latest Dell one. sony...you usually have good designs. what kinda crack are you guys on over there?

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

0

05/10, 11:14am | report spam | close Reply |
Color screen...

... it's obviously a gimmick, but I wonder if its inclusion on competitors will drive Apple to implement one. I tend to think not in the immediate future, and it will become a rallying point for anti iPod consumers and critics. Then, in about 3 years, we'll finally get one.

This isn't to say it's needed to any practical reason, but for reasons of public perception, it might be helpful.

zachs
Mac Elite

Joined: May 2002

0

05/10, 11:38am | report spam | close Reply |
no thanks

it's uglier, heavier, and bigger than my 30GB iPod. About the only thing that's arguably better is that it can display album art. But, then again, I'm not going to be staring at the screen while I'm walking.

vickys-box
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2004

0

05/10, 11:39am | report spam | close Reply |
Still ATRAC..

..of course. Most bizarre user interface too:

http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/pocket/

gunnar
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Feb 1999

0

05/10, 12:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
useless for pocketability

that interface is probably going to go haywire when it's in your pocket if all you do is run your finger over it. i guess you'll have to manually lock it each time you put it in your pocket. how novel.

absmiths
Mac Elite

Joined: Sep 2000

0

05/10, 12:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
Tiny buttons . . .

How are you supposed to use the buttons on the grid on the right? Looks way too small for fingers - you will have to carry a stylus or pencil to push the buttons with.

JeffHarris
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 1999

0

05/10, 12:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
FUGLY

Yep, it's ugly.

This seems like one of those "technology on display" things they sell from time to time... digital camera with built-in CD burner or digital camcorder with built-in DVD burner. Yes, it can be done, but who wants it or cares?

What's with Sony these days?

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

05/10, 01:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ooh, cover art

How exciting. And they'll probably add the option to do those funky screen effects on it to. And its a small screen, too (lots of squinting, I guess).

But you people missed the biggest, hippest feature of this thing. Its name! Its not some dinky pVaio or iPod, its got a name that rolls off the tongue. The "Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1".

I can hear it on the subways now. "Hey man, check out my Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1." "Oh, so cool, but I'm waiting for the VP VGF-AP2 myself". "Dude, you rock!".

JEB
Junior Member

Joined: May 2001

0

05/10, 01:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
GAME.

Leave it up to Sony -- always GAME to bring forth a couple dozen wacky innovatons in Japan, never to be seen elsewhere.

robo from AI
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2000

0

05/10, 01:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
It doesn't play MP3s.

Brilliant. it doesn't play MP3s.. you have to transcode to ATRAC, resulting in asstastic quality (lossy to lossy transcoding = bad).

Sony is nuts... well on its way to 'beleagured' status, i think.

Bogartte
Forum Regular

Joined: Jun 2000

0

05/10, 01:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
external mic??

Yes, but can you add an external mic, and record high quality sound on it it??

koolkid1976
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2003

0

05/10, 01:41pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Fugly

"This seems like one of those "technology on display" things they sell from time to time..."

Yes, it is. Concept stuff that they are not sure will take off, always start exclusively in Japan.

Deal
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Apr 2001

0

05/10, 02:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
Maybe it's just me....

.... But if I were to come up with an acronym for a Music device, I sure as h*** would not want it to be pronounced anything like 8-Track.

g3_brandon
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2001

0

05/10, 02:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
8-Track

But the time of the 8-Tracks was when ATRAC was created...wasn't it??? ;)

Mapache
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2003

0

05/10, 02:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
MP3?

>ok...i never thought id see an MP3 player uglier than that latest Dell one.

You haven't. This thing doesn't play MP3s, only Sony's proprietary format.

Ratm
Mac Elite

Joined: Dec 2001

0

05/10, 02:44pm | report spam | close Reply |
Hello... Goodbye...

hahhahaha... That thing is ugly as h*** and the high-res screen will drain the battery within the hour.

adamschneider
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 1999

0

05/10, 02:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
no MP3s??

If it doesn't play MP3s, it's dead in the water.

shawnb
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

05/10, 03:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Hello... Goodbye...

Actually, the batteries are one of the more postive aspects of this player:

"In the area of battery life the Vaio Pocket easily beats the iPod, offering around 20 hours of playback compared to the iPod's 8 hours."

groundwork
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

05/10, 03:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
one plus

The one thing it has going for it is the remote. Looks like it has an LCD, similar to their MiniDisc players. Considering that most people seem to keep their iPods in some sort of case, it would be nice to have a remote that at least displayed track information (if not full control).

SomeToast
Senior User

Joined: Jan 1999

0

05/10, 03:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: GAME

Leave it up to Sony -- always GAME to bring forth a couple dozen wacky innovatons in Japan, never to be seen elsewhere.

Yes, you too can attempt to come up with the latest hackneyed interweb catch phrase! It's easy! It's fun! And all it takes is four letters and a shift key!

Hey, here's one for ya: DORK.

kw99
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2001

0

05/10, 04:16pm | report spam | close Reply |
Vaio?

I'm no branding expert, but shouldn't Sony call this thing a Clie Something instead of a Vaio Something. I thought Vaio's were computers.

And if this thing really doesn't play MP3's, Sony is back in BetaMax mode.

010111
Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2002

0

05/10, 05:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
betamax.

"And if this thing really doesn't play MP3's, Sony is back in BetaMax mode."

not really... cause BetaMax was actually a technically superior product than VHS. maybe ATRAC3 is different... but MiniDisc ATRAC was sub-MP3 and sub-AAC quality.

anyone have any info on the DRM restrictions on this? ie. when you rip your own CDs... is there DRM on them?

you would've thought they learned by now that ATRAC is a dead format. sure MiniDisc beat out DCC... but what kind of victory is that?

Me�vv
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2001

0

05/10, 10:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
Color!

OK, this one happened to be too ugly to compete. But soon we'll have color MP3 players that are not losers. And they might threaten the old iPods.
Come on, Apple! Give us hi-res color displays with music artwork, personal slide shows, music videos, and digi-cam Compact Flash playback (at least through 3rd party utilities). The average user will not need 40+ GB hard drive unless you give them a reason to fill up more things than just music.
If you give people more reasons to fill up the hard drives, you can keep upping the hard drives and stay ahead of the competitors.

Nathan Adams
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Jul 2002

0

05/11, 03:24am | report spam | close Reply |
not true

ATRAC was NOT sub-MP3 quality. Sure original versions of ATRAC don't stack up as well today, but ATRAC was designed to be an improvable codec. The codec has been improved numerous times (whilst staying completely backwards compatible), and was definately better than MP3 in SP mode. ATRAC3 is the lesser format - originally designed for use as MDLP (offering 2x and 4x recording time, with a compromise in the sound quality), and that is what's being used here (and anything that goes through SonicStage).

I have no doubt that the Vaio Pocket itself is a fantastic machine. It certainly looks the part, and the 20hr battery life is great - esp with the colour screen. But the software is terrible. I've never liked SonicStage and it's DRM management. Which is a shame, as that will prevent me from ever buying one. Unlike my collection of MD Walkmans, which aren't dependent on a computer and SS - since I've always been an SP purist there (recording direct from cd players via a toslink)

http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGF-AP1/index.html
for MUCH better images than the tiny thumbnail everyone is judging off.

the Rebel
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2000

0

05/11, 05:35am | report spam | close Reply |
price

wow.

a 20GB music player for $470 (US dollars)

does not play MP3 files

Macs not supported - Windows only

I am so impressed.

z10n
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2003

0

05/11, 10:15am | report spam | close Reply |
Sometoast

GAME will always be second place behind RIPE ;-)

For mp3 players, I don't think color is a logical pregression, unless they can do it while keeping the battery life the same. Here's why: on a PDA, you have apps that NEED color because color provides required functionality. Color allows you to make visually distinct certain interface elements, so you can better interact with programs. Plus, our desktop apps are in color, and part of the idea is to replicate desktop functionality on a small screen. So color was pretty much an obvious step on a PDA.

Not so with an iPod. Work with me here. The iPod's primary function is playing music. Here's the key: working with NON-EDITABLE CONTENT. There's a huge difference here. With non-editable content, people are more interested in doing long-standing tasks like listening to a large number of albums, or reading a large book. Tasks which typically burn out the battery on most PDAs. I mean, how often can you read 30 pages of an eBook on a PDA and still have juice left to do your actual work? Not very often.

I believe there's a market for a device with a large amount of battery life whose sole purpose is to interact with non-editable content. Read newspapers off the internet, read books, listen to music. Like Avantgo on steroids, with an extremely simple interface. Possibly a slot for an expansion card, and as you read content, you can flag it for outputting to a card to work with on your PDA. This is what I thought the iPod would eventually evolve into. Maybe it still will, as soon as apple can work out the technical details.

I don't agree with the whole trend of making one device do everything. Microsoft would like things to go that way, because microsoft wants to tie everything back to the PC. But it makes more sense to have a few devices that do their particular groups of tasks well. The iPod is popular because it handles it's one task so well.

One more thing. Viewing pictures isn't all that great. What good is viewing pictures if can't add any more or delete the ones you don't want? Pictures require editing capablity, and you're not going to get it on an iPod, unless you turn it into a PDA. And videos? Unless you have MASSIVE storage, you're not going to be putting DVDs on your iPod. And if you can't, then what's the point? Viewing silly iMovies you've recorded? Again, you can't edit the iMovies, you can only view them. How often are you going to review a 5 minute movie you shot? Unless the iPod becomes the instrument for showing movies off to friends, I don't think you would use a feature like that all that often.

Nathan Adams
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Jul 2002

0

05/11, 01:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
colour

z10n - normally I'd agree with you. However, the Vaio Pocket has more than double the iPod's battery life, even with the colour screen - which kind of nulls that argument.

z10n
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2003

0

05/11, 02:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ouch

Well, that kills my argument. Bring on the color baby! (I still don't see the point of adding picture or movie viewing capablities. View pictures on your digital camera. View movies on your digital camcorder. Or save 'em for your PDA and it's editing programs.)

z10n
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2003

0

05/11, 02:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
Can I ask one question?

What is the point of converting a non-DRMed format (MP3) to a DRMed format? Just so you can't copy songs off the player on to another machine?

Nathan Adams
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Jul 2002

0

05/13, 11:49am | report spam | close Reply |
sure

Now that's a good argument!
That's why people hate SonicStage - DRMcrazy! It's why people hated NetMD. The hardware is fantastic, SS and it's DRM ruin everything. But of course, that side doesn't get marketed - just the fantastic hardware ;)

Cheekygirl
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

04/25, 12:36pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ugly Ipod

I have seen all the Ipods and they suck. They are plain to look at and boring to use. Never mind I am off to buy a better MP3 player, I heard that sony got new ones coming out soon.

who ever owns a ipod must be on crack!!

Cheekygirl
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

04/25, 12:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
Sony NW-HD5

The NW-HD5 is quite simply one of the smallest 20GB HDD players around. With its incredibly light aluminium body and tiny credit-card-size dimensions, this ultra-compact model gives new meaning to the word �portable�.

Don�t let its diminutive dimensions fool you: this sleek little player is capable of storing up to 900 CDs worth of music. That�s a staggering 13,000 of your favourite tracks on tap wherever and whenever you want them. You�ll always be able to find the right tune for the right moment.

It goes on and on and on 40 hours of battery life With so many tracks at your disposal, you�ll need a really powerful battery to be able to listen to them all. Luckily Sony has thought of that: the NW-HD5 offers 40 hours of battery life. It leaves the competition standing and you listening to your favourite tunes as long as you want.

What�s more, the battery is removable meaning you can carry a spare or pick up a new one while you�re out.

Easy to use, easy to love A superior user experience The NW-HD5 is extremely user-friendly. Sporting an exceptionally large and easy-to-navigate 7-line LED screen, the attention to detail in the design of the player is obvious. From its bright backlight display through to its elegant front and its adjustable screen colour, the NW-HD5 provides a superior user experience.

What�s more, its technologically-advanced �follow turn� feature means the display is synchronised to your hand movements, flipping from horizontal to vertical depending on your every move. Now there�s no such thing as the wrong way up.

Just in case of accidents, this player carries extra insurance in the form of a sophisticated G-sensor. The NW-HD5�s specially designed sensor kicks in when dropped, providing immediate and effective shock protection.

The NW-HD5 comes supplied with SonicStage3.1 software, making all your downloads and track transfers simple.

Humm... I think sony beat ipod this time!!

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Sony unveils 20GB iPod riival with high-res color LCD

updated 10:35 am EDT, Mon May 10, 2004

Sony 20GB iPod rival?

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ugly

Color screen...

no thanks

Still ATRAC..

useless for pocketability

Tiny buttons . . .

FUGLY

Ooh, cover art

GAME.

It doesn't play MP3s.

external mic??

Re: Fugly

Maybe it's just me....

8-Track

MP3?

Hello... Goodbye...

no MP3s??

Re: Hello... Goodbye...

one plus

re: GAME

Vaio?

betamax.

Color!

not true

price

Sometoast

colour

Ouch

Can I ask one question?

sure

Ugly Ipod

Sony NW-HD5

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