Developer(s) | Sony |
---|---|
Final release | |
Preview release | 5.2 / 2009 (Japan only) |
Operating system | Windows |
Type | Music player |
License | Freeware |
Website | None (product unavailable) |
SonicStage is the name for Sony software that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC OMG/OMA and MP3 recordings on a PC. It was first used in VAIO PCs put on the Japanese market in October 2001, and superseded OpenMG Jukebox. Version 2 was found on 2004 model products, and Version 3 on 2005 model products (Sony introduced native MP3 support on its music players in 2005).
The Sony Connect service was formerly used to purchase recordings online, and could be accessed from within the SonicStage program. However, Sony announced that on the 31 March 2008, its CONNECT download site would be going offline, therefore affecting SonicStage users.
However, in late 2008, Sony launched a new online music store called 'bandit.fm' on a trial basis for a small number of markets. It was expected that Sony would launch bandit.fm globally, however Sony never did this and closed the store in 2016.[1] Japan exclusively uses the mora service.
The Free Edition is real freeware without any obligation to buy. It is intended for temporary and free use cases. For more frequent or professional use, we recommend you to use one of the higher editions, as they offer higher speed, broader hardware support and further options for regular and professional usage. Dec 28, 2005 Alternative Software for Sony HD5 by equazcion July 26, 2005 6:47 AM PDT A user named kmw posted a link at the Winamp.com forum to some software Sony made but.
- 1Features
- 2History
- 4Alternatives
Features[edit]
Copying and usage restriction[edit]
SonicStage is closely tied to a requirement that the program guard against copyright infractions. Sony music players have a write-only design. Somewhat similar to an Apple iPod, it is not generally possible to move tracks from the music player to the PC hard drive, and thereby from one music player to another. Some earlier models (such as some of the Net-MD line) could not even transfer voice recordings made by the user (with the player's microphone input) to their PC.
Copy restriction is provided not by any one feature, but by a group of design features and software limitations. The main features being:
- The software strictly enforces digital rights management through its use of OpenMG. SonicStage ties the DRM license of each track to the hardware of the computer from which it has been transferred. SonicStage will not allow transfer of tracks from the player to another computer. It is possible, however, to backup 'My Library' and import it into another installation of SonicStage on a different computer.
- Music files have to be 'wrapped' by Sony software in order to be played on a Sony music player. Sony has not introduced drag and drop support for music files. Although it is possible to load files directly onto a Sony player without using SonicStage, it is not possible to play music files loaded this way. Neither is it possible in most cases to transfer music files back to a PC. (all versions prior to 3.4)
- The program does not generally convert OMG/OMA files to MP3 or WAV.
- The program only supports OMG format, not MP3. The program converts any audio files imported into it into OMG format, including audio files that are not legally downloaded, or illegally copied music.
- The program lacks a true import album feature for WAV and MP3 files. The program imports tracks as is. MP3 and WAV files can not generally be used. Imported files cannot be grouped into an album with artist, title and tracknumber fields assigned at the time of import. This has to be done before or after import.
- When WAV tracks are imported, they remain linked to their WAV source file and the track can only be edited for as long as the WAV source file remains on the computer. This makes it difficult to use SonicStage to edit CDs that have been ripped with another program.
As of version 3.4, an intermediate update mostly for Hi-MD users, some of the above restrictions have been relaxed. SonicStage 3.4 allows tracks recorded via digital/analogue inputs on Hi-MD devices to be transferred back in WAV format. Also, files in Sony's proprietary ATRAC format can now be converted to WAV.
MP3 support[edit]
Support for MP3 files in both SonicStage and 2005 model devices is problematic. A 2005 model device may not be able to play some tracks. For example, it may not be able to play low bit rate MP3 tracks, (the ones that may be produced by an Internet radio station, or in a podcast).
SonicStage will play ATRAC3 files directly from a digital music device when the latter is connected to the computer and detected by the software. SonicStage 3 does not play DRM-wrapped MP3 files directly from the device.Many bugs, however, are corrected and addressed.
History[edit]
Version 1[edit]
Version 1.5 adds the native support for ATRAC3plus[2] and Windows Media Audio (WMA). And addition, MP3 encoding plug-in was sold on Sony's on-line stores (SonyStyle Japan: ¥1,590[3]), for their Palm device: CLIÉ. But those encoding function for WMA/MP3 was removed in SonicStage Version 2.0 (SS2.0 supports only the decoding function).
Version 2[edit]
This is the last version of SonicStage before native MP3 devices were introduced by Sony.MP3 is supported by converting the mp3 file to ATRAC format and downloading that file to the device.
The v2 library manager is 'benign' in that it sits on top of what is already on the hard drive, and doesn't change what is already there (It will change a file name if the user has configured it as such.) Users can tell it an album exists in a directory, and import that group of files as an album without having the program change the header information in the tracks.
Version 3[edit]
Version 3 uses the header information in the tracks to get album, artist and track name information.The tracks are placed in the database according to what is in the tracks. When the header fields in a track are blank, the program imports the track into the unnamed album (No name, no artist, no album). As a consequence, when importing tracks, many albums are placed into the album called 'Unnamed'.
Tracks under digital rights management cannot be changed, and neither can tracks with a missing source link.
As noted above, Version 3 lacks an 'Import Album' feature. SonicStage v3 classifies tracks according to the album-related information present in their headers.
2 GB memory sticks are not supported.
Sony have added the option to drop DRM on ripped files in SonicStage v3.3.
SonicStage 3.4 includes an option to de-DRM an entire library (the larger it is, the longer it takes) allowing unlimited transfer and playback on PCs. Users can share non-DRM files with other people.
The option to de-DRM files does not work on unplayable OMA files.
SonicStage 3.4 does operate on Windows Vista after some manual driver installations.
Version 4 (SonicStage CP)[edit]
Adds the ability to import AACLC, as well as HE-AAC.
The main downside is that a number of features, such as the ability to recover from corrupt track lists, are still missing. Restrictions on what non administrator users could do were due to restrictions imposed by Windows XP and earlier. These restrictions are not present with Windows Vista and later.
Version 4.3 (SonicStage CP) adds Windows Vista compatibility (Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 64-bit are not officially supported but Sonicstage will run, though there are no drivers for the hardware). As of October 2008, this is the latest version of the English (and other non-Japanese language) SonicStage. From March 29, 2013 onwards this version is no longer available for download from Sony website.[4]
Version 4.4, released on January 10, 2008[5] (only in Japan), added HE-AAC transfer function for new walkmans.
Version 5 (SonicStage V)[edit]
SonicStage V is the latest version of the Japanese SonicStage, and features a new user interface like SonicStage for LISMO. Version 5.0 released on October 9, 2008 in Japan.[6][7] On 9 Feb 2009, version 5.1 was released.
SonicStage V does not work with the Hi-MD/Net MD Walkmans, MP3-CD/ATRAC-CD players (such as CD Walkmans) and other old devices.[8]
SonicStage for LISMO[edit]
SonicStage for LISMO is a stripped-down version of Japanese SonicStage CP, and is a part of the 'LISMO Port' suite. Version 1.0 was released on February 1, 2008. SonicStage for LISMO developed for a new ATRAC service (LISMOオーディオ機器連携) of LISMO, the online music store provided by a Japanese mobile phone operator KDDI (au). There are some useful functions to using LISMO, but little value for non-LISMO users. The playable codecs are same as SonicStage Version 4.x, but encoding functions are only available for the ATRAC codecs.
As of October 2008, 16 au phones (manufactured by Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications, Kyocera, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba) support LISMO's ATRAC service.[9]
Alternatives[edit]
MP3 File Manager[edit]
Sony offers the MP3 File Manager for Network Walkmans as a very limited alternative to SonicStage. It only provides a simple drag-and-drop interface and is lacking many of the newer, more advanced features of SonicStage (such as the ability to transfer files back to the computer).
The application is intended to be installed on the Network Walkman itself.Although it can be run directly on the device, it is not truly a portable application because it requires that the driver[10] be installed on the computer.
The most recent version (2.0) can be downloaded from here[11] or here.[12] There is also an older version (1.2) for older Network Walkmans available here.[13]
VAIO Music Transfer[edit]
As mentioned in this forum,[14] the VAIO Music Transfer software allows files to be dragged and dropped onto the player. It may still require SonicStage to be installed. It works with the NW-A700-series, NW-E00XF-series players as well as the NW-HD1 and NW-HD3.
MP3 Conversion Tool[edit]
Sony released an MP3 Conversion Tool in 2007. The MP3 Conversion Tool can be used to convert non-DRM protected ATRAC® format audio files stored in your computer to MP3 format audio files. To run the MP3 Conversion Tool, the OpenMG Secure Module is required (included with SonicStage). The tool can be downloaded from Sony's eSupport page, here.[15]
Third-party alternatives[edit]
- voidMP3FM file manager is free, and supports some features that the official MP3FM does not (e.g. ability to transfer files back to the computer). voidMP3FM currently works with NW-E002, NW-E003, NW-E005, NW-A608, and (unofficially) NW-E015F, allows transfer of tracks back to HD, and the compatibility is improved in each version (last release was 6 October 2006). It also works under WINE in Linux.[16]
- JSymphonic is a piece of open-sourceJava software that works on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X and can transfer MP3s to and from the Sony NW-E00x series and HDD NW-A series players. It is also a continuation of the NW-E00x Mp3 File Manager project.
- Grab Your Music (GYM) software allows to transfer (upload) audio files back to the computer from the Walkman.
- ML Sony is a plugin for the popular multimedia player Winamp. It integrates with Winamp's Library and allows the user to transfer MP3s between the PC and the Sony Walkman. It does not require SonicStage to be installed. The official discussion thread about it seems to be offline.[17]
MiniDisc[edit]
For MiniDisc Walkman, the linux-minidisc project is working continuously to develop a free transfer software for all HiMD- and NetMD-Walkman. The software features a library libhimd for accessing HiMD-devices and a Qt-based GUI (QHiMDTransfer) which both can be ported to many platforms, current versions are available for Linux, Windows and Macintosh computers. Currently, upload (i.e. transfer from the Walkman to the PC) of MP3s and PCM/ATRAC3/ATRAC3+-recordings (all HiMD Walkman) is possible, more functionality (downloads to the device, deleting, renaming tracks etc.) is being worked on. NetMD is supported as well (through a collection of Python scripts) in the form of downloads (all NetMD) and uploads (MZ-RH1 only). Especially the sophisticated debugging and reverse-engineering protection of OpenMG/AVLib made development tedious but linux-minidisc is the only software to provide this functionality to date. The project homepage can be found here.[18]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^web.archive.orghttps://web.archive.org/web/20161220022819/http://www.bandit.fm/. Retrieved 2019-03-24.Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ^Ken Fujimoto (2002-12-16). 'Digital Audio Laboratory' (in Japanese). Impress AV Watch. Archived from the original on 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ^'ソニースタイル、SonicStage用のMP3プラグインを販売開始' (in Japanese). Impress AV Watch. 2002-12-05. Archived from the original on 2005-04-12. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ^http://www.sony-asia.com/support/announcement/524893
- ^'「SonicStage CP (SonicStage Ver.4.4) ダウンロードサービス」のご案内' (in Japanese). Sony Marketing (Japan). 2008-01-10. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ^'ソニー、ウォークマン用転送ソフト「SonicStage V」' (in Japanese). Impress AV Watch. 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
- ^Christopher MacManus (2008-10-10). 'Sony Japan Releases SonicStage V (aka SonicStage 5)'. Sony Insider. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
- ^'SonicStage V 対応機器情報' (in Japanese). Sony Marketing (Japan). 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
- ^'「LISMO「オーディオ機器連携」」対応機種' (in Japanese). KDDI. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
- ^Sony Electronics, Inc. 'Sony eSupport - NW-E405 - Drivers & Software'. Esupport.sony.com. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ^'Welcome : Support for Sony'. Sonydigital-link.com. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ^Sony Electronics, Inc. 'Sony eSupport - NW-E405 - Drivers & Software'. Esupport.sony.com. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ^'Welcome : Support for Sony'. Sonydigital-link.com. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ^'post'. Ipastudio.com. Archived from the original on April 24, 2008. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ^'Sony eSupport - Electronics - Drivers & Software'. esupport.sony.com. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
- ^http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showforum=25
- ^http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1528
- ^'start [linux-minidisc]'. Wiki.physik.fu-berlin.de. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SonicStage&oldid=918233417'
The following is a partial list of Sony Walkman products (but does not include cassette tape devices).
- 1MiniDisc Walkman
- 2Network Walkman
- 3ATRAC HDD
- 4Walkman MP3
- 5Walkman Video MP3
- 6High-Resolution Walkman
MiniDisc Walkman[edit]
NetMD[edit]
Sony expanded MiniDisc's possibilities with the introduction of NetMD (NetworkMD). These allowed the use of a PC to convert music from CDs or MP3s into ATRAC3 format, and use a USB cable to transfer the music to the MiniDisc at a much faster rate than was possible when using a line-in cable.
The MZ-N10 was released in 2002. It was Sony's '10th Anniversary' product, released 10 years after the introduction of the MiniDisc format in 1992. The case was made from a magnesium alloy, and the unit featured a built-in lithium-ion battery which provided 24 hours of battery life. The MZ-N10 allowed music to be transferred from a PC at up to 64 times actual playback speed, not including the time required for audio re-encoding. It was also the first MD Walkman to incorporate the ATRAC DSP TYPE S codec, and is today (2006) the lightest recording MD Walkman ever produced. The accompanying 10th anniversary playback-only MiniDisc Walkman, the MZ-E10, was also released. It is the lightest MD Walkman ever produced, weighing 55 g (including built-in rechargeable battery) with a thickness of 9.9 mm.
Hi-MD[edit]
In 2004, Sony introduced the Hi-MD format. Hi-MD Walkmans use 1 GB Hi-MD discs in the same form-factor as regular MiniDiscs, and allow 1 GB of files and/or audio to be stored per disc. They also accept regular MiniDiscs, which can be initialized in Hi-MD mode for 305 MB capacity per disc (with the added ability to store audio and data, like Hi-MD discs).
Unlike NetMD, Hi-MD Walkmans allow two-way digital transfers to and from PCs virtually unrestricted. Hi-MD also allows the option to record and transfer audio in lossless linear PCM on standard MiniDiscs and Hi-MD discs. This offers sound quality equal to CD (as opposed to lossy ATRAC codecs used on standard MiniDisc/ NetMD).
Hi-MD Walkmans introduced from 2005 onwards allowed direct playback of MP3s without the need to transcode the MP3s to ATRAC format. However, SonicStage is required for transfer onto the disc itself. Playable audio cannot be transferred to the devices without SonicStage.
Network Walkman[edit]
NW-MS7[edit]
The NW-MS7 was released mid-1999 as Sony's first foray into the portable solid state music player industry. This first model shipped with a white 64MB MagicGate Memory Stick and built-in battery, selling it alongside the NW-E3 (64 MB built-in and using two AAA battery for 4-5 hours playtime). The player could only play ATRAC formatted files. The user needed to transfer songs with bundled software OpenMG Jukebox (only works with Win98SE and later known as SonicStage). Any files not in the ATRAC format (i.e. MP3s) needed to be converted before they could be transferred and played.
NW-MS9/MS11[edit]
The Network Walkman line was later updated with the NW-MS9/MS11. These came bundled with either 64MB/128MB MagicGate Memory Sticks and used a gumstick type battery. Software continued to use OpenMG.
NW-MS70D/MS90D[edit]
The NW-MS70D had 256MB of built-in flash memory. It could also be expanded by its MagicGate Memory Stick Duo port. However, at the time, the Memory Stick PRO Duo had not yet been released. So therefore the NW-MS70D maximum capacity would be 384MB with the additional memory stick. The other downside to it was that it was incredibly expensive, costing as much as a 15 GB iPod. It also used a very buggy software, Sonicstage, and only played Atrac3, Atrac3plus and WAV files. However, it was the smallest digital audio player at that time. It was also solidly built with an aluminium shell. It boasted a 44-hour battery life. Despite a heavy marketing campaign, its sales were limited.
The alternate model, the NW-MS90D, used the same software as NW-MS70D, and had a maximum capacity of 640 MB. It too was also extremely expensive. The most eminent change was the 512 MB inbuilt memory and its new black shell. Due to its price and limited capacity, it was still largely ignored by the general public.
ATRAC HDD[edit]
NW-HD1[edit]
Sony's first attempt at equalling the iPod's success was the NW-HD1, which was smaller and was advertised as having better sound quality than the iPod at the time. However, the unit would only play Sony's proprietary format, ATRAC3, whereas other players on the market would play the much more widely used MP3 format without having to be converted to ATRAC3. Sony did upgrade the HD1 to play MP3s but it still needed SonicStage to transfer the files. The NW-HD1 did not sell as well as Sony had hoped. Its successors, the NW-HD3 and NW-HD5, also failed to make a major dent in the iPod's sales.
NW-HD3[edit]
Sony Walkman NW-HD3
The successor to the hard disk-based NW-HD1, the NW-HD3 was a very similar design; however, despite the fact that the unit would play MP3s natively, the PC software was still buggy, and the unit was therefore equally poorly received.
NW-HD5[edit]
Sony's next model, the NW-HD5, was an updated design from the HD1 / HD3, and boasted a simpler control system, a user-removable lithium-ion battery, better file format compatibility, a unique 'Follow Turn Display' that would automatically align itself based on how the player was held on startup, and updated software. A main feature was its advertised running time of 40 hours, when using low-quality format settings, i.e., 48 kbit/s ATRAC3 files, and no player-based audio enhancements (although the player does include these). Playback of 128 kbit/s MP3s was rated at 30 hours. The player was available in black, silver and red and was not sold in the Canadian market.
Unfortunately, the NW-HD5 was shipped with a cosmetic design flaw which meant that the buttons developed small visible cracks under their plastic coating. Although this did not affect functionality, many customers complained. Sony United Kingdom Limited allowed owners to send the units back to be re-fitted with slightly raised, crack-resistant buttons. Perhaps because of this problem, the NW-HD5 was on the market for a very short time before being pulled in preparation for the next model.
In January 2006, the NW-HD5 became unavailable as a normal purchase from retail electronics stores and was relegated to online auction sites and used-electronics warehouses as a consumer item. Eventually the whole of the Network Walkman line would be discontinued for Sony's new solution.
Walkman MP3[edit]
NW-A Series[edit]
Sony NW-A1000 6GB MP3 Player
The NW-A series Walkman is a digital music player available in 6 (NW-A1000), 8 (NW-A1200) and 20 gigabyte (NW-A3000) versions and features an EL-technology screen. Battery life can reach 20 and 35 hours respectively. The player supports ATRAC3, MP3, WMA and from firmware version 3.00 it also supports AAC.[1]
The primary means of putting music on this device is to use Sony software: SonicStage and Connect Player (now withdrawn due to too many problems). The software only works on Microsoft Windows. Other common platforms such as macOS and Linux are not supported. SonicStage has received much criticism. It is only possible to move tracks from the music player to the PC's hard drive, and thereby from one music player to another, if each device/computer is 'authorized' to the user's account with the Connect Store for their country. Users from countries that do not have the Connect Store service are currently limited to one device/computer.
There are a number of features to select music according to a variety of criteria. The 'Artist link' function prompts the Walkman to search, find and display similar artists in that genre. There are two new shuffle modes. By selecting 'My Favourite Shuffle', the device automatically selects the 100 most listened to songs and plays them at random. The 'Time Machine Shuffle' function randomly selects a year and plays all of the songs from that particular year currently held on the device. A recent firmware update (V3.00) added the 'Artist Link Shuffle' function to the list of Intelligent Shuffle modes, along with a clock and calendar.
NW-B series[edit]
Released in July 2007, this was a line of 1 GB (NWD-B103/B103F) and 2 GB (NWD-B105/105F) multifunction MP3 player and voice recording function. It was the firm's first-ever MP3 player to be liberated from the SonicStage software, but it has been shorn of the ability to play back ATRAC and AAC music files.
The Auto-Transfer option allowed this Walkman to search for all the MP3 files on the PC and then copy these files directly to the Walkman. It also could record CDs directly from a Sony compatible Hifi system via USB connection without any PC (the NWD-B105 also supported WMA files).
It also came with a three-line colour display; the voice recorder (MP3) came with bit rates of low (96 kbit/s), mid (128 kbit/s) and high. Models with the built-in FM tuner ('F') had 30 preset stations with a frequency of 87.5–108.0 MHz, with the capability to record and play FM content. The five preset equaliser also had a custom setting option.
NW-E Series[edit]
NWZ-E443F
The E series was a pure MP3 player without a large LCD display to play videos. It had a similar design to a USBflashdrive, and it was offered in many different colors. The E020 series released in Japan featured a changeable case.
In August 2006 Sony released the NW-E00X series, filled with 512MB, 1 GB or 2 GB of flash-memory. Very compact, this Walkman offered a battery life of up to 28 hours. It had a built-in USB key for easy file transfer. The battery charge/recharge was through USB connection. It was also equipped with a bright and clear 1 line OLED display for easy navigation. Dimensions were: width 24.6mm, height 79.0mm, depth 13.6mm and weight 25.0 grams.
Supported multiple codec ATRAC (ATRAC3 66 kbit/s, 105 kbit/s, 132 kbit/s, ATRAC3plus 48 kbit/s, 64 kbit/s, 256 kbit/s) MP3 and WMA (and later AAC), via SonicStage 3.4 software for music management and transfers of tracks for Windows.
This series also worked with Linux and Mac using the free software originally called NW-E00X MP3 File Manager, that eventually become in Symphonic, and now JSymphonic. JSymphonic is an open source, cross-platform program (that runs on any Windows/Linux/Mac machine with java 1.5 installed), that, once copied into the Walkman enables the transfer of several audio files, including MP3, to/from several flash based Walkman Series. It can be downloaded from here and is in continuous development.
In March 2007, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, some countries of Europe and Canada had the Walkman NW-E01X series (NW-E013, NW-E015 and NW-E016) a small USB flash player. Weighing only 23 g, the NW-E01X was available in capacities from 1 to 4 GB and came in five colors: pink, violet, teal, black, and gold. Its features included a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, built-in FM tuner, a three-line color OLED display, calendar and time function, and Clear Stereo and Clear Bass technologies to enhance the audio quality. A release date and pricing for the NW-E01X in the United States was also unknown.
The NW-E02X series, were released in Japan in March 2008. The memory sizes were 1 GB for the NW-E023, 2 GB for the NW-E025, and 4 GB for the NW-E026. Each size was available in a five color assortment: white, pink, green, red, and black. The faces of the players were designed for admit changeable color and design templates. The supplied earbuds were the MDR-EX82 earphones in white for the white, pink, and green player and black for the red and black player.
These could play ATRAC, PCM, WMA, MP3, and AAC, (DRM'ed WMA and AAC couldn't be played). As in older models the connector, was the standard male USB. The screen was LCD and displayed three lines along with an optional album-jacket function. It had a five-band equalizer and Sony's 'clear stereo' which means pre-set EQ function.
They had a built-in Li-Ion cell which had a quick-charge for approximately three hours playback from a 3-minute plug-in and a complete charge takes about one hour. Sony mentioned the capability of FM reception, (Japan band of 76 to 90 MHz), usually devices with an F at the end of the model number. Dimensions were 83.7 × 22.3 × 16.2mm and weigh 30 grams.
Available accessories for all E series included lanyards, armbands, A/C adapters, metallic and silicone cases.
NW-S Series[edit]
The Sony 'NW-S700' series is the first flash-based Network Walkman with built-in Active noise control technology. It blocks surrounding noise with integrating mic in its EX-earphone. This player is one of only a few other DAPs that have a noise cancellation feature at this size. The earphone has a proprietary design specifically made for this player, thus making it impossible to plug into other DAPs, even the ones that come from Sony.This Walkman has a small OLED screen capable displaying album art and some text information about the song and the player features. The S700 comes in 1 GB (NW-S703), 2 GB (NW-S705), and 4 GB (NW-S706) capacities; some countries sell the 2 GB and 1 GB models only. Selected models are also equipped with a Stereo FM Tuner.
NW-Z Series[edit]
The Sony NWZ-A826 is one of many MP3 players belonging to the Walkman Z-series. This edition features 4 GB flash memory, as well as a large 2.4-inch (61 mm) monitor; in addition the MP3 player offers several audio options in a housing with a thickness of 9.3 mm. The EX earplugs come packaged. There are four audio options: Clear Stereo, Clear Bass, VPT Surround and DSEE Sound Enhancer.The ear plugs are a combination of earplugs and a normal earset in one.
W Series[edit]
Sony Walkman W series
The W series is a wireless MP3 player built into a set of water-resistant headphones with 2 GB of internal memory. It can play 11 hours of music and can 'quick-charge' for three minutes to yield up to 90 minutes of playback. It can play back MP3, AAC (unprotected only), and WMA (subscription included) files. It features Zappin, which allows the user to browse through tracks by playing a snippet of the chorus of each song.
Walkman Video MP3[edit]
NW-A800 Series[edit]
The Sony NW-A800 series is a video-enabled Network Walkman player. This series has a metallic build. A chrome-like strip surrounds the edge of the device, and accenting of the same style surrounds the buttons and makes up the logos on the front. It features a QVGA display with ID3 tag and album art support.
It is available in 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB capacities. The interface is similar to that of a mobile phone. The screen is a 2.0-inch (51 mm) QVGA (240×320) colour LCD and can be used either horizontally or vertically. The Lithium-ion rechargeable battery can last up to 30 hours for music and 8 hours for video.
The NW-A800 has been released in the European Union, Asia, New Zealand, and North America. As of 19 May 2007, Sony Canada has released the 8 GB and 4 GB models.[2] The 2 GB model was released on 13 June 2007.
This player is an ATRAC Audio Device which relies on SonicStage to manage music. For photo and video management it uses Sony's Image Converter.
NW-A810 Series[edit]
While hardware wise is the same as NW-A800, this series introduces some substantial changes in its media manager software. First, this player introduce drag and drop feature to transfer media. This update eliminates the need of Sony's proprietary SonicStage program and uses Windows Media Player instead. Also, this player no longer supports the ATRAC format.
NW-S710 and S610 Series[edit]
Soon, Sony launched another series of Walkman video player, type S, standing for 'specialized'. This was considered as a lower end product to Walkman A series.
NW-A820, A910 Series in Japan[edit]
At the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, Sony tried to further extend the product line of Walkman, with the debut of A910 series, A820 series. Among them, A910 and A820 should be the successor to A810, which feature larger LCD display and memory, and built-in wireless function (for A820 only).
The NW-A919, a 16GB video walkman with a digital '1seg' TV tuner. The player has a touch screen, measures 47.2mm×86.0mm×12.3mm and will be available in black or silver. It was released in Japan in November 2007.[3]
NWZ-A820 and A720 Series[edit]
In March 2008, Sony debuted A720 and A820 series in the United States. These two models seemed to have exactly the same external design. The only difference appeared that the A820 series was equipped with a Bluetooth module which can be used to connect wireless headphones. The upgraded A820 and A720 had a 2.4' LCD display and a selection of memory from 4 gigabytes to 16 gigabyte. This also includes the popular 8 GB version. In some regions the package will contain a pair of Sony In-Ear Earbuds with sound-reduction technology. The EX85 series earbuds are included in the US retail package. It will not include an FM radio, additional memory storage, or a voice recorder. After Sony upgraded the Walkman A model, the A810 series was no longer viewable at SonyStyle online store.
Walkman X Series[edit]
Sony Walkman X Series (2009)
The Sony Walkman X series was a touchscreen audio and video player from Sony. It has a 3-inch (76 mm) OLED touch screen, internet access through Wi-Fi and digital noise-cancelling as well as applications for Slacker and YouTube. It is available in 16 GB and 32 GB versions.
Media files can be transferred using programs such as Media Manager, Windows Media Player 11 (both programs are on the CD), and Content Transfer (Sony made), but they can also be dragged and dropped from the computer to the device using a file manager such as Windows Explorer (if drag and drop is used, some id tag information is not included, such as the year). If MTP is not installed on the computer, the Walkman switches to UMS/MSC mode.
Like all Sony players sold outside Japan since 2007 (since the NWZ-A810 series), the player is not gapless (there is a gap between tracks, unless WAV/PCM audio files are used), it does not support lossless compression, and there is no on-the-go playlist feature (playlists can only be created on a computer).[original research?]
High-Resolution Walkman[edit]
NW-A Series[edit]
Series | Image | Model | Capacity | Release Date | Display | Rated battery life | New features |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NWZ-A10 | NWZ-A15 | 16 GB | 2014 | 2.2' (5.6 cm) 320 x 240 (QVGA) | 30 hours (Hi-Res Audio), 50 hours (MP3) | NFC, MicroSD Card slot [1] | |
NWZ-A16 | 32 GB | ||||||
NWZ-A17 | 64 GB | ||||||
NW-A20 | NW-A25 | 16 GB | 2015 | Noise cancelling [2] | |||
NW-A26 | 32 GB | ||||||
NW-A27 | 64 GB | ||||||
NW-A30 | NW-A35 | 16 GB | 2016 | 3.1' (7.8 cm) 800 x 480 (WVGA) | 22-45 hours | DSD, touchscreen [3] | |
NW-A36 | 32 GB | ||||||
NW-A37 | 64 GB | ||||||
NW-A40 | NW-A45 | 16 GB | 2017 | aptX, USB DAC [4] | |||
NW-A46 | 32 GB | ||||||
NW-A47 | 64 GB | ||||||
NW-A50 | NW-A55 | 16 GB | 2018 | ||||
NW-A56 | 32 GB | ||||||
NW-A57 | 64 GB |
NW-ZX Series[edit]
Model | Image | Capacity | Release Date | Display | Rated battery life | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NW-ZX1 | 128 GB | 2014 | 4' (10.2 cm) 854 x 480 (FWVGA) | 16 hours (Hi-Res Audio), 32 hours (MP3) | Android | |
NW-ZX2 | 128 GB | 2015 | 4' (10.2 cm) 854 x 480 (FWVGA) | 33 hours (Hi-Res Audio), 60 hours (MP3) | Android | |
NW-ZX100 | 128 GB | 2015 | 3' (7.6 cm) 400x240 (WQVGA) | 45 hours (Hi-Res Audio), 70 hours (MP3) | Custom | |
NW-ZX300 | 64 GB | 2017 | 3.1' (7.8 cm) 800 x 480 (WVGA) | Custom |
NW-WM Series[edit]
Model | Image | Capacity | Release Date | Display | Rated battery life | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NW-WM1A | 128 GB | 2016 | 4' (10.2 cm) 854 x 480 (FWVGA) | 33 Hour (MP3 128 kbps) 30 Hour (FLAC 96 kHz/24 bit) 26 Hour (FLAC 192 kHz/24 bit) 11 Hour (DSD 11.2 MHz) | Custom | |
NW-WM1Z | 256 GB |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'A series (WALKMAN® MP3 & MP4 video)'. Sony. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
- ^'Sony Style Canada'. Sonystyle.ca. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ^'NW-A910シリーズ | ポータブルオーディオプレーヤー WALKMAN 'ウォークマン' | ソニー'. Ecat.sony.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
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