Sony launches next generation WALKMAN digital media players

[Copy of Official Press Release] Sony today announced the availability of two new Series of digital media players in Europe – the WALKMAN® A Series and S Series.

These new WALKMAN® digital media players (NWZ-A810 & NWZ-S610/S510 Series) will support an open platform and include support for Windows Media technology, providing greater choice for downloading and managing music, video and photo collections. Whatever their needs consumers will now be able to quickly and easily transfer their content from their PCs to their WALKMAN® digital media players.

The players support security-enhanced Microsoft Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC and MP3 music formats, plus JPEG files for photos, in addition to the AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs.

Users can download movie trailers, music videos, podcasts and clips from a variety of website destinations. As long as the videos are compressed in the appropriate codec, resolution and size they will work with the new WALKMAN® players.

"This announcement to support Windows Media technology is great news for consumers,” said Jeffry van Ede, Vice President Sony Audio Marketing Europe.

“By introducing an open standard Sony is increasing the consumer’s choice of content and enhancing the versatility of its products. Ultimately, consumers can now decide how they want to purchase and manage content and benefit from the superior sound and video technology on offer in their new WALKMAN® devices.”

“With this initiative, Sony is debuting an important option for digital media players as it opens new doors for a rich digital experience,” said Dave Wascha, director of Windows Client Product Management at Microsoft Corp. “I believe consumers will be pleased that the new Walkman products carry the Certified for Windows Vista logo and that they will take advantage of the new technologies available in this Windows platform. Those who purchase this Walkman player can rest easy knowing that the product has met explicit standards of reliability and quality.”

With these new WALKMAN® players, Sony has widened its digital music environment to support Windows Media technology. The company will be moving towards a more open system that gives customers flexibility in their music software approach. As a result, Sony will be phasing out the CONNECTTM Music Service based on Sony’s ATRAC audio format in Europe. Specific timing will vary by region depending on market demand, but will not be before March 2008.

 All of the new players are compatible with security-enhanced Windows Media Audio and support most subscription music services. The new players are also among the first to be certified for Windows Vista, meaning they have passed a series of compatibility tests including "PlaysForSure" verification.

To help manage digital music libraries, the new WALKMAN® players come with Microsoft Windows Media Player 11. This familiar interface makes transferring music truly intuitive.

The devices have a standard user interface that makes it easy to enjoy music, videos or pictures. For crystal-clear image quality, the video players have a large Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) LCD screen (320x240 pixels) that displays video at 30 frames per second.

Compatible with other Sony products, the new devices offer instant connectivity with a range of Sony products including PLAYSTATION®3 and the Sony GIGA JUKE®. Sony also offers a range of accessories including a Bluetooth audio transmitter and a host of accessories that allow consumers to wirelessly release their music on the move.

The battery life of the products allows up to eight hours of video playback for the WALKMAN® A810 series* and nine-and-a-half hours for the WALKMAN® S610 series*. The battery also provides up to 33 hours** of music playback for both series.

 As with all WALKMAN® products, sound quality is unrivalled. The WALKMAN brand has long been associated with the highest quality in audio playback and these new players continue to uphold this standard with the inclusion of Sony’s Clear Audio technologies.

The WALKMAN® players are available in three memory sizes; 2GB, 4GB and 8GB and there are a variety colour options; including red, silver, violet, black, white and pink. (Please see product table below for detailed specifications.)

The WALKMAN® A Series & S Series will be available throughout Europe from October 2007 onwards and are available to pre-order from 31st August at www.sonystyle-europe.com.

WALKMAN® is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

* At MPEG-4 384kbps/** At MP3 128kbps