The Sony/MP3 Saga Continues

Renegade Lisp writes "Sony's rolling out their new line of flash-based music players to the market these days. More stylish than ever, they surely look like a serious attempt to regain territory lost to the iPod, and perhaps even to create the Walkman of the 21st century. And it looks like Sony has finally given in to consumer pressure: these new "MP3 players" can finally play MP3 natively, not just Sony's proprietary ATRAC format. But wait -- you cannot just put your MP3s onto the device, you have to run them through Sony's obfuscation software first. The obfuscated files, when installed properly on the device, can be played. But you can't just move them around, share them with your friends, whatever. Well, of course the obfuscation scheme has already been broken by a brave hacker. But is this really the way to create the "Network Walkman" of the 21st century? Sony, please wake up!"

Comments

Style vs. Name

[clinko]

5yrs. from now...

Remember the "Walkman" and how it was first to make a quality product using a new format?
You Bet!

Remember the "DiscMan" and how it was first to make a quality product using a new format?
Again, yes!

Remember the "Mp3 Walkman?"
NO. I do remember the ipod though...

Re:Egh

[peculiarmethod]

yeah, this isn't what I want. I want a disc that is belt buckle size (cowboy, not clubbing) with a screen entirely on one side.. navigation alla wrist watch with small buttons on the horizontal lower edges, placed like a game controller - sd card storage.. it should come with 2 x 1 gig cards, britney spears video in the trash bin on the tiny os which would allow me to surf open wifi channels with a firefox mini browser. It should have a small wireless earpiece with option to have wireless tooth-microphone adapter for local networked chat (like on a bus with all the other owners of said device).

It should also do the dishes and fetch beer.

Re:They're part of the RIAA, are you surprised?

[Spy der Mann]

They're a major member of the RIAA", don't be so shocked.

Sony is part of the RIAA!?

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! *Jumps out the window*

Re:Egh

[DarkHelmet]

Master Shake, is that you?

Dear Sony,

[ethernetmonkey]

Let us get this straight. You:

1. Take a working model and methodology
   
2. Break it to fit you corporate culture
   
3. Then you pretend this is how everything should have been done all along - as your whole concept goes up in flames
   

What a great idea!

Sincerely,

NASA

Re:This MIGHT crush the iPod...

[XxtraLarGe]

Yes, but the Sony model has an FM Radio--which most people won't use, but will complain about being absent on the iPod--so that makes it a better value!

Re:Dear Sony,

[Saeger]

Dear Weasel,

We have a foolproof plan to put the internet genie back in the bottle. "Trusted Computing" DRM and the "Secure Internet" are double-plus good; only thieves, spammers, cyber-terrorists and pedophiles disagree.

Sincerely,

Minions of the New World Order
Dept. of "Intellectual Property Ownership Society" Propaganda

Re:Egh

[sTalking_Goat]

As for the colors and design, I agree that many of them are ugly. However, according to your own statements that doesn't matter one bit as long as it functions well. So find one you like, use it, and quit worrying if my model is pink and fallic-shaped. :)

No, fellow goat you're missing the point. No geek wants to see his new toy hanging off the belts of the likes of Paris Hilton and Bono. Thats why I personally hate all things Apple. Technology should not be cutting edge and also fashionable. I pine for the days of laptops that look and feel like cinder blocks evacuated by albino elephants. We as geeks have had to endure childhoods of bullying and female rejection, the one high point is that we've always had the coolest toys, now people like Apple want to come along and make it all cute and accessible. Blasphemy I say.

Now excuse me while load *.OGG files onto my Rio Karma via SHH from a remote SAMBA server...

Re:Egh

[Laconian]

No, he's Romulox. Master Shake wishes he was him.

Re:Egh

[Moofie]

An audiophile will be too busy twitching because the circuitry inside the MP3 player isn't made from hand rolled silver anointed with the sweat of Honduran virgins. Then they'll be gnawing on the arms of their chair because the interconnects aren't made from gold ingots mined from the deepest darkest mines of Central Kenya by underage workers (because they're small, and they can get to the best gold!)

I am so, so glad I'm not an audiophile.

Just a tip

[morcheeba]

Now excuse me while load *.OGG files onto my Rio Karma via SHH from a remote SAMBA server...

I found that when I used the SHH protocol to transfer files, the sound volume was adversely affected. Now I use SSH and it sound much better :-)

Your Karma still works?

[Rageon]

You might be the last remaining person on Earth with a working Rio Karma!! I gave up after #4 died and bought an iPod. Techie-loyalty be damned.

Re:Egh

[silicon not in the v]

I would like to see them do an iTunes-like movie purchase app, though.

Yeah, it would be really cool if they would do that.