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New WALKMAN Flash MP3 Players available from Sony Style UK

The Sony Style UK online shop is pre-selling the new E-Series Flash MP3 walkman models.

Sony Style doesn't currently show the 512Mb models but the pricing for other models is as follows:

1GB = £79.00

1GB+FM = £88.99

2GB = £99.01   - Why the extra penny?

They  lime green versions are tagged as 'exclusive' which usually means they are only available online  from Sony Style and from Sony Centre on the high street.

New Sony WALKMAN MP3 Players - EXCLUSIVE PICTURES

Here are 2 exclusive images of the new Sony WALKMAN MP3 players announced less than an hour ago by Sony UK.

Details of the new models are available on this story at Sony UK.

Click the images for a larger version.

The photos are of pre-production samples and were taken this morning on a table in my back garden. 

Sony bouncing balls tv ad parody - this time they're armed

Remember the Sony Bravia "bouncing balls" TV ad that got heavy TV exposure before Xmas?

Well, a member of Snoken, a Swedish gamer/machinima forum took has produced a superb parody that choreographs bouncing soldiers from the Battlefield 2 game to the same Jose Gonzalez track, 'heartbeats'.

Sony Ericsson K790 and K800 blogging Cyber-shot phones (I'm confused too)

Sony Ericsson has announced 2 new mobile phones that include 1.3 megapixel digital cameras, sport the Cyber-shot subbrand and integrate with Google's blogging application, Blogger.

Is this convergence or nonvergence? The Walkman phone has been well received so perhaps a Cyber-shot phone would also be popular.

But hang on. The phones also include a music player - so why aren't they Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot Walkman Google Blogger phones.

And why have they missed out on the most obvious development - bolt on spare parts from the soon to be discontinued Sony Aibo Robot and you'd have a phone that can walk, talk and take pictures.. ..before dropping spent batteries all over the carpet.

Sony USA bundles UMD discs with DVD films

Sony Pictures in the USA has will begin bundling together UMD and DVD releases of the same movie.

The first DVD-UMD bundles will be available in North America in late March. The first releases are  The Grudge, Resident Evil, Underworld, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Terminator to be followed by Ghostbusters, Mad Max, The Fifth Element and Snatch in late April.

Lets hope the same policy is adopted in the UK. Personally, I'm reluctant to buy movies on UMD - I'd rather have the DVD original and rip it to MemoryStick. But if the UMD is shipped with the DVD I'd have the best of both worlds.

Sony Connect Player Helpline Update

Sony UK has extended the operating hours of the Connect Player Software Helpline:

Monday - Friday  8am to 8pm
Saturday - Sunday  10am to 4pm

The telephone Number is 0800 169 5263

Latest update for Sony Connect Player released

Sony has released the latest interim fix (version 1.0.03.13130) to Sony Connect Player on the Sony Digital Link website for European users.

The update doesn't address the speed problems with the software but it does resolve a number of stability issues.

Interestingly, a major version update to SonicStage (version 3.4) has been released. Features of this new version of SonicStage will be covered in a separate post.

Breaking News - Sony Connect Player Support Hotline

Sony UK has set up a dedicated support line for Connect Player related problems. The number is 0800 169 5263 and is currently manned from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

All Sony dealers are being informed of this helpline by letter (in the post tonight) and the Sony UK website will be updated to include the hotline number. 

A further update on the timeline for software updates and a clarification of the development tracks for both SonicStage and Sony Connect Player will be available soon.

VAIO XL1 autochanger can rip 200 CDs at a time

The news that the autochanger on the VAIO XL1 Media Centre PC can be loaded with 200 CDs and then told to rip them all to MP3 without having to swap discs really grabbed my attention.

Equally as exciting is that the autochanger is also a burner that you can use to burn up to 200 CDs or DVDs in one go. Not that I'm a pirate, you understand. Shiver me timbers, Jim lad. 

Sony 'Drag & Drive' GIGA-Panel car stereo offers easy MP3 on the move

Does your car stereo have a removable front panel to deter thieves? Do you stick the panel in your glove box or under the driver's seat thus rendering the whole feature pointless?

Well Sony has come up with a reason to take your removable panel indoors - you can attach it to your PC and load it up with 1Gb of tunes via an onboard Flash drive.

The new Sony MEX-1GP GIGA Panel car stereo is fully drag and drop - no software required - which means the Flash drive supports MP3 and WMA but not Sony's own ATRAC format.

The MEX-1GP also has a full featured CD tuner that supports playback of CD-DA, MP3, WMA and ATRAC/ATRAC3Plus.

The CD tuner (not the Flash drive) features BBE-MP - a technology that restores and enhances lost harmonics on compressed audio files, making their dynamic range the same as CD. It also expands the dynamic range of CD up to Super Audio CD or DVD Audio range.

Key features:

• 1GB Flash memory
• Front + Rear/sub
• Supplied IR Card Remote Commander
• Mini USB Port (front panel)
• Supplied USB Cable
• USB Connecting LED
• 4 x 52W Power output
• 24 Bit DAC converter
• BBE MP high definition sound enhancer, MP3 sound enhancement (CD playback)
• EQ3 Stage2 sound equalizer
• Supports Windows 2000 XP OS