Sony touch Walkman hits US with Slacker Radio
updated 08:35 am EDT, Wed May 13, 2009
Sony Walkman X Hits US
Sony today finally launched its first competition against the iPod touch in the US with the shipment of its Walkman X1000 series and the addition of a new, last-minute feature. In addition to a web browser and YouTube streaming video, the touchscreen Walkman now has a built-in Slacker Radio app; similar to Slacker's own device, the X1000 subscribes to music channels that automatically cache whenever the player is connected to Wi-Fi, supplying it with enough music to continue playing offline. It works with Slacker's free, three-channel service as well as its paid service, which gives more more control and lyrics while removing ads.
As Sony's flagship, the X1000 revolves around a 3-inch OLED screen with a unique interface with optional hardware controls and video skipping accomplished through finger swipes. The handheld is also relatively feature-rich and carries FM tuning along with a 33-hour music runtime and active noise cancellation through matching in-ear headphones. Format support includes AAC, MP3 and WMA and doesn't require that users run specific software; while drag-and-drop loading is possible on most operating systems, a Content Transfer app lets Windows owners sync their iTunes libraries.
Sony has effectively confirmed price leaks and asks as much as Apple, charging $299 for the 16GB X1051 and $399 for the 32GB X1061. Both should be available today.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2004
too much
Nice to see some competition but if you're going to go up against the leader, you need a better device AND have to sell it cheaper even if it cuts your margin.
I didn't see any mention of Mac Itunes syncing although they fact they acknowledge it in the windows version is a step in the right direction. With protected AAC gone, manufacturers need to recognize the iTunes dominance and provide an upgrade path.
With all that said, I'm getting an iPhone as soon as the next is out and going down to one device. If they could provide an iPhone dock with a big screen and keyboard and turn the thing into a basic home computer, I would probably ditch the laptop too and just keep one desktop machine for software development.