The Sony Walkman is back!

[c-towns]

 

 

Remember that old Walkman? You know, the one you forgot about once the iPod and digital music files essentially put them out of business? Well, Sony hasn't forgotten.

 

In fact, the major electronics company has been retooling the brand ever since the 90's, and the latest model, the ZX2, will cost an estimated $1,200 at retail. The new device is aimed at high-end audio playback, and Sony is calling it “the fruit of continuous refinement in high audio quality technologies.” The ZX2 will support WAV, DSD, FLAC, AIFF, and Apple Lossless file types, as well as more common digital music file types.

 

The device was unveiled at the latest Consumer Electronics Show, and shows a number of intriguing features, including 128 GB of memory, microUSB, Bluetooth and Google Cast capabilities, a gold headphone jack, touch screen, and side-mounted playback controls that can adapt specifically to your fingers. But really, it's the high-end audio playback that sets the ZX2 apart.

 

Check out this video about the Sony Walkman ZX2, courtesy of The Verge:

 

[Davey Boy 2.0]

[c-towns]

[bouche]

Pono player is coming out shortly at $399.  Of course that device has a very simple (and fugly) design, UI, etc.  So why the hell are these 2 devices so pricey?  It wouldn't take much for current androids or iphones to playback 24 bit audio, as far as I know, a software update.

 

Also, music pricing seems a bit ridiculous.  

 

$21.79 for 10 tracks (likely already paid for in multiple formats) and no processing time was spent compressing.  So they cost more.  Logic doesn't make sense.  

 

http://ponomusic.force.com/ccrz__CCPage?pageKey=product&oId=of%3Adbdfacea3fd045609f03d11e2df63912&type=Album

 

[Guest Low Roller]

Recipe for success:

1- Large storage capacity (i.e. >160GB)

2- Supports all formats

3- No DRM

4- Cheaper than iPods/iPhones

5- Portable 

6- Networkable

7- Sonos supported

 

There ya go.

No need to go all pretentious in a simplified new market.