walkman

Sony Walkman promos are awesome, confusing

Over the past few months, Sony Japan has been marketing its Walkman brand of MP3 players with short, online videos showcasing experimental Japanese musicians. Personally, as someone who loves weird music, I think these video shorts are amazing. I'm not sure if they do anything to make me want to buy a Walkman, but I'm certainly convinced that the Japanese experimental music scene is alive and well.

The video above shows off Atsuhiro Ito, a musician who plays a mic'd up fluorescent tube called the Optron, which he runs through a series of guitar effects. The video … Read more

Sony X-Series Walkman priced for U.K.

Amazon U.K. now includes pricing and a vague shipping date for the British release of the Sony X-Series Walkman announced at CES 2009.

Amazon offers a window of two to five weeks for the expected shipping date. As far as pricing goes, you might need to cash a few checks with Gary Coleman before stepping up to the X-Series. Amazon U.K. lists these as 214 pounds ($308) for the 16GB version and 283 pounds ($408) for 32GB. Granted, the cost is right in line with Apple's iPod Touch, but the features on the X-Series aren't quite … Read more

Amazon.com has the Sony Walkman NWZ-A726 4 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player for $108.03, after $31.92 savings.

Save $31.92 on the Sony Walkman NWZ-A726 4 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player from Amazon.com >> Regular price is $139.95 >> Sale price is $108.03 >> Savings $31.92 (22.81%) >> Click here for deal

Sony X-Series Walkman hands-on photos

Remember that X-Series Walkman that Sony kept behind protective glass at this year's CES like it was the Mona Lisa? The one I swore would never actually hit the states? The one that U.K.'s Stuff Magazine had to fly to Sony headquarters in Japan just so they could fondle the prototype (see below)? Well, the lucky bastards at France's Le Journal du Geek actually got their hands on a legitimate version of the X-Series Walkman and then proceeded to photograph the living bejeezus out of it. [Correction: Sony has confirmed with us that the X-Series unit … Read more

A closer look at the Sony Ericsson W508 and C510

Sony Ericsson's new C510 Cyber-shot and W508 Walkman phone don't break a lot of new ground, but they're certainly worthy of attention. In many ways they resemble other Sony Ericssons that came before them--the W508 looks a bit like the W980 and the C510 reminds us vaguely of the C902.

The W508, of course, is a flip phone with circular music controls on the front flap. It's also thin and light, and you can change between gray and white removable covers. Just above are the external display and the camera lens. The display is small and … Read more

Sony Ericsson's new W508 Walkman phone

Sony Ericsson expanded its Walkman phone line at CES with the announcement of its new W508 music phone. Sporting a flip phone design that reminds us of the Sony Ericsson W980, the W508 offers the full slate of Walkman features.

Inside there is a music player with TrackID and Sony's Mega Bass, a 3.2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, shake and gesture control, a speakerphone, video calling, an FM radio, YouTube integration, PC syncing, USB mass storage, modem support, messaging and e-mail, external music controls, a memory card slot, an audio recorder, instant messaging, 3D games, and a personal organizer. … Read more

Sony W-Series Walkman: Wearable and wireless

There's more than one way to do a wireless MP3 player, and building it directly into a set of headphones may seem like the easy way out, but it gets the job done. Plus, there are none of those audio-fidelity issues you might run into with technologies such as RF and Bluetooth, which is probably why Sony elected to take this route with it's new W-Series Walkman. This 2GB MP3 player is built into a set of impressively small earbud-style headphones and sports a palatable price tag of just $69.

As you might expect, the W-Series Walkman has … Read more

Sony confirms touch-screen X-Series Walkman

Looks like my fellow MP3 editor Donald Bell is gonna have to eat some words, although he was right about one thing: we won't be seeing a touch-screen MP3 player from Sony all that soon in the States. You're going to have to wait until May to get your hands on the X-Series Walkman, which was officially announced at CES 2009. I can wait longer than that, personally, because while this player has some sweet features, there's something about the look of it that comes off as just a touch generic to me. Still, Sony tends to … Read more

Music tech predictions for 2009

As I said in my 2008 sum-up, people tend to overestimate the amount of change that will happen in one year--which means my best bet for 2009 would be to simply reiterate my almost-there predictions from 2008, like the death of DRM and the decline of the concert industry.

But that would be boring. Thus, behold my all-new-and-improved predictions for music and technology in 2009:

Zune phone--sort of. 2009 will finally be the year that Microsoft takes the wraps off its mobile-entertainment strategy, and the Zune brand will be prominently featured. Perhaps as early as next week at CES, Microsoft … Read more