You really think ?
Or do I miss the irony here ?

-t

Looks fantastic, and going by Sony standards, and my shitty experiences with iPod build quality, should be a cracking wee player. Pity about the closed formats though, kind of a deal breaker.

Yes I do. Many people have made lots of interesting points about the potential significance of this development. Spliffs post was quite a contrast since most think Sony won't get very far with this. I thought his post made sense, too!

What irony?!

Because Sony is not what it used to be. None of its newer products have done exceptionally well (the discman was the last, I believe), and quality control seems to mean less and less while profits mean more and more.

Sony standards meant something 5 to 10 years ago... Can't quite say the same anymore. They're middle-of-the-road quality in most areas with most products.

Oh, and sorry to hear about your iPod experience; mine, on the other hand, has been excellent.

Mine's been shocklng, as well as most of the guys in the studio. Really dissapointed in the quality.

Uhh yah last thing Sony did that was sucessful was the discman... if you count out the play station. Sadly Sony still is a SUPER powerful company. Evil as they may be. Their portable audio stuff sucks, but it's partly because they want it to I think.

you forgot to link to cnet

This is from this: http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentS...d=1087373424672

Now. Somebody tell me how a 20 gigabyte "walkman" can store "more songs" than a 40 gigabyte iPod? That's just wrong and liable.

For those of you wondering.... The footnote next to the number of songs says....

Capacity based on 4 minutes per song and 48-Kbps encoding.

No typo, FOURTY EIGHT!

Now why 48 Kpbs you ask? Why it's the lowest supported bitrate on Sony's player. So why not list the MAXIMUM number of songs you can get on it!? Great Advertising!

I figured that's why they say it can hold more songs. But that's still a lie. A blatant lie and misleading. An ipod can have sh*tty-quality mp3's if it wants and therefore hold more. ********.

Thanks for the laugh Spliffy.

For the record, there's numerous people around here (myself included) who won't buy Sony products 'coz their quality is crap. Sony stuff breaks a lot. Therefore, Sony suck.

Sony won't see my money

Exactly.

And their obsession with building proprietary stuffs made me sick

That makes four of you.

A recent Harris poll suggests that most folks seem to feel quite differently.

Sony Corporation of America

Press Release

FOR FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW, SONY NAMED #1 IN HARRIS INTERACTIVE’S BEST BRANDS SURVEY

New York, New York - July 23, 2003 -- For the fourth year in a row, and the sixth time in the last nine years, Sony has been chosen as the number one brand, according to the annual Harris Interactive® survey of the best brands. Since The Harris Poll® began measuring "best brands" in 1995, Sony has been named number one six times (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003). "This poll underlines very strongly the linkage between corporate reputation and brand image," Harris Interactive stated in a press release issued July 23, 2003.

This year's poll reflects the results of an online survey of 879 adults in the United States conducted between June 16 and June 22, 2003. The survey asked respondents to name the three brands they considered the best. In the nine years since Harris Interactive began asking this question, Sony has never been lower than third. Sony led this year's list followed by Kraft, Dell, General Motors and Microsoft. The results of the survey were released today.

"We are very proud that The Harris Poll respondents continue to recognize Sony's brand value across all of our businesses from electronics to videogames, motion pictures, television, digital entertainment and music, ” said Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO, Sony Corporation of America. “Our ability to continually sustain this strong brand recognition is a reflection of Sony's commitment to quality and innovation, together with the indomitable passion and dedication of our employees around the world." (cont'd)


http://www.sony.com/SCA/press/030723.shtml

Do you know the difference between "brand" and "quality"?

The link you posted have nothing to do with the quality of Sony Products.

They produce quality products too?

Hahaha!!

That survey is almost worthless

Pretty much. It's brand name recognition, not quality recognition.

cant stand having to use attrac. my current md players (3) wont work on my powerbook and that is the reason why i didnt buy their new Hi-MD line which holds 1 gig disks .. having to burn 'em on my pc is not exactly convenient. sony morons.

maybe they expect it to become more like a portable book reader? aren't most audio books of a lower bitrate?