While you can always find cases for players such as the iPods or the Zune HD, some of the smaller brands are often a bit hard to get any accessories for- at least third party ones. I-Nique luckily makes cases for most players out there, including the Sony NWZ-S540.

A lot of people have been drooling over the Asian Sony S and A series players which are a bit more appealing than the S540 and E340 players we have on this side of the planet. Sony have always kept their schedules for releasing same-generation players at the same time; S610/A810, A820/A720, S630/S730/E430 and S540/E340 (with the middle number indicating generation) have all been released at the same time. I therefore predicted that the first we'd see of the Asia style players would be around CES in form of a A850 device, continuing the tradition. Instead, a Canadian forum member spotted a quiet release of the S740 in Canada.

Only the 16GB model is listed on the Canadian Sonystyle ATM, but there's likely to be at least a 8GB model out there as well and also perhaps a 32GB model. The player is identical or at least close to identical with the Asian S740, which is available in 8, 16 and 32GB. The A840 in Asia goes to 64GB, so 32GB is sure to sound like a disappointment for a lot of Sony fans.

Ignoring the whole "where, what, who" for a moment, the S740 has a lot to show for under the hood. Podcast support is back from being removed from the S540, and the same seems to be true for themes. As with previous S7XX devices it has noise canceling, so there might be a S640 without that feature coming too. TV out is a new feature that is sure to help since the screen is only 2", but with the same old useless 320x240 resolution video support I doubt anyone would bother with that feature. An FM radio is also in place. Battery life is rated at 43 hours for audio, 10 for video.

Honestly I don't know what Sony is doing anymore- they once made sense with their releases, but have lately gone a bit Philips. Currently you can get the X series, W series, S540 and E340 series in the US, but not the B140 series. You can also get generation 3 devices which doesn't seemed to be phased out. In Europe, you can get all of the above as well as the B140. Asia has completely different models, but those seem to be coming here. The Korean version of the S740 is designated a NWZ player (Asian players are normally designated NW), so that might be that player we're seeing. Either way, there's now a S740 in the mix, which makes the lineup something like this, from bottom to top: W-series, B140, E340, E430, S540, S630/S730, S640/S740, X-series. I have a hard time seeing why a company needs to have 10 models in the market at once, but maybe that's just me. The S740 is nice, for sure, and I can't wait for a possible future NWZ-A840/A850), but Sony needs to decide what they're trying to do instead of spewing out more players than the rest of the manufacturers combined.

With the S540 review out of the way, it's time to shift focus to its baby brother, the E340. How does it compare to the S540?

It's that time of year again; the time when Sony takes a look at their MP3 player line up, decide it's time for an update, and run a computer application that randomly adds and removes some features and then releases the result as a new player.

The S540 is a Sony player, which means the same menus, format support, video support, screen resolution etc etc as the previous models. New in this model is integrated stereo speakers, FM and voice recording and a couple of more tweaks. Read on to see how it hods up.

One of the features I use the most on my music player is the auto-pause feature that automatically pause your music when you pull the 3.5mm jack out of the device. With it being a touch screen device, it's so much faster than fishing the player up from the pocket and pausing it. Still, it could be a lot fast - Sony Ericsson MH907 shows exactly how.

The MH907 has a built in motion sensor that noticed when you take out the earbuds. To start playing music, you plug both earbuds into your ears. To pause the music, or to answer a call, you simply take one of the earbuds out. To hang up and go back to music playing you plug it back in. Sony Ericsson says it requires "body contact" to work (aka a small electrical charge, same concept as capacitive touch screens) so it won't activate randomly in your pocket. Unfortunately this will only work with Sony Ericsson phones and it probably isn't the best sounding IEMs out there, but I have to say the concept is both simple and genius. I pop out one earbud to talk to people all the time, and have it automatically pause when doing so would be simply awesome. We can only hope this will come to MP3 players as well, though it's unlikely since it's most likely a patented technology and it would require the player to support it. Maybe we'll see it in Sony WalkMan players if we're lucky.

[Press Release (PDF) | Animated promo video]

Turns out, the photo Sony Insider snapped last week of that mystery Sony DAP they thought was the S740 Series, was indeed the S740 Series.

Sony Japan just announced the 7.9mm thick Walkman S740 Series, which will feature a 2.0" TFT LCD, built in noise cancellation, FM radio, your typical codec support (with the addition of Sony's ATRAC), 480i TV output, and an impressive 42 hour battery life audio and 10 for video. The S740 will be available in 8, 16 and 32GB capacities.

Also announced was the S640 Series, which seems to be very similar to the S740 sans noise cancellation and will only be available in 8 and 16GB flavors.

Both models will come bundled with Sony's MDR-EX300SL IEMs, which is a nice step up from those 10 cent earbuds typically bundled with DAPs. The S740 and S640 begin shipping in Japan mid to late October, no word yet on US availability.

[via Sony Insider]

While most companies use the same players worldwide, Sony unfortunately runs with two lines of players; the NWZ players in Europe/US/etc, and the NW players in Asia. The NW series tend to get the better deal when new players are announced, and the new Sony NW-A840 is a perfect example of just that.

The 7.2mm(!) thick device sports a 2.8" OLED screen, 29 hours of battery life for audio and 9 hours of battery life for video along with "premium" headphones like other higher end Sony players comes with. A new feature is TV out, supporting up to 480p (720x480). It will arrive October 31st with capacities of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB making it the second player to the market and first non-iPod player with 64GB of integrated flash memory. When or if this will ever make it to the US and Europe is unknown, and frankly unlikely, but these specs deserved a plug anyways.

[Sony Insider]

Omar from Sony Europe walks us through the Sony S540 in this minute long piece of over-produced HD delight. Unfortunately, it really doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

According to Omar, the S540 plays music and video, has a 42 hour battery life for audio, 6.5 for video. It also has built-in stereo speakers, and has an FM radio, which it can also record from.

And of course, it is only 10.2mm slim. He doesn't have mammoth hands, it really is that slim! Video after the jump.

[via Engadget]

When the new Sony S series made it's first appearance in a leak a couple of weeks ago no specs were known, but now a French online store has gone the whole way and leaked the full specs of the new device.

Sony has gone the usual route of putting in a couple of new features but leaving the rest the same and this time it's a speaker, voice recording and a flip-out stand that are the new additions. The rest is the same old Sony setup with a 320x240 screen, h.264 video, MP3/WMA/AAC audio and a battery life of 42 hours for audio and 6.5 hours for video. it will come in 8GB and 16GB capacities.

Sony's way of updating their players sure doesn't give that much reason for celebration with each upgrade changing only the design and one or two features. This is the fourth generation MTP-capable Sony players and you won't notice many differences from the first generation, which is a good thing for people who don't want to upgrade but it can't be that good for Sony since well, people won't upgrade. So, if you're a soon-to-be Sony user or just really want an upgrade, there's a speaker and voice recorder in it for you and not much else.

[Sony Insider]

I really do enjoy Sony’s mp3 players and even more so now that they are lightened up on their proprietary ways. However I’m not entirely sure of their strategy to blanket the store shelves with a new player every few months. I guess it keeps their product line fresh, but it is much of the same stuff rehashed into a different case.

This E series player isn’t too different from the last E series from what I can tell, but it does mention that this is the first E series with “Clear Audio” which improves the sound stage. This is found on the Sony X series and while I did find it to improve sound stage a bit I’m not sure it’s a feature worth upgrading for. But I likely will pick one of these up to see if it has a similar sound to the X series. I have been really enjoying the X-1000 lately and using it almost exclusively while I’m out and about. This E440 could be a nice alternative to the astronomically priced X series. If you are into something a bit more portable the B140 follows their familiar “stick player” formula like the B130 but with a nicer design and a "zap" feature allowing you to listen to random parts of a track.

The EU press release states that these will be widely available at the end of July. Nothing is said about the US but I'm sure we will likely see them shortly after.

[Press Release via Engadget]

The Sony X Series is recently the most expensive MP3 player reaching $400 for the 32GB version. After dropping that much money for a player you may be interested in a bit of protection. I-nique makes a few different versions of leather cases and a nice silicon case kit with a screen protector and lanyard. All of these are reasonably prices between $19 and $28.

The important thing to pay attention to in these various cases is the accessibility of the hold switch. I love that Sony made this very accessible large hold switch on the back of the player since I found it to be a much used feature while using this player on the go.

In a battle for touch screen MP3 players Sony swung for the fences with a premium product with a price to match well above the competition. To those who have the extra cash to spend the premium price may well be justified. These unique to the competition features include YouTube browsing, Slacker Radio (US Only), direct podcast downloads, premium noise canceling headphones, and a semi-useful web browser.

Some of the highlights of this player include an amazing looking OLED screen with a capacitive touch screen with a lightning fast response. You can also expect great sound quality like most of Sony’s other players. Read on for the full in depth look at the Sony X-1000 player.

Sony updates their stick player series every so often, and this time it's the Asian market that's getting a refresh. In Asia, Sony uses the NW model numbering for the players, while in Europe and the US we have the NWZ series. While it doesn't seem like there is any difference, players don't often mix between the two markets and this is most likely another player we'll never see outside Asia.

For some reason the Asian Sony stick players have a much more impressive feature set than we've ever seen over here. Amon the more unusual features for a player that size is a 30 hour battery which can be charged in only 1 hour, a color LCD screen and capacities up to 8GB. The player will also feature interchangeable face plates like the last Asia-only E-020 series did. If only Sony would release these players over here instead of the less impressive B130 series we have, then there might finally be a real competitor to the Sansa clip.

[Sony Japan (translated) via GenerationMP3]

Sony today announced (translated) the release of the X-1000 for the Japanese market on April 25th. One of the less touted and more interesting aspects in this announcement is the use of Microsoft’s Live search as the main search for the built in NetFront browser (same browser found on the PSP). MS may have landed the search contract but Google can be found on the player in the form of YouTube.

Microsoft is working hard to improve search and the hardest part is just getting people to use it as default or at all for that matter. They have already struck deals with laptop makers such as Lenovo for Live as default, so it makes a lot of sense to make some inroads on portable devices.

The release dates pricing for the US is still to be announced. In Japan however, the 16GB NWZ-X1050 and the 32GB NWZ-X1060 are selling for 40,000 and 50,000 Yen respectively. Converting this puts the player at $400 and $500! Ouch! Though I highly doubt that this will be the US MSRP since the Japanese version includes a 1-seg digital TV tuner, a TV standard we don’t have in the US and will be stripped when it makes it stateside.

Embedded below is the Sony's own promotional video showing the X-1000 in action. PC World also got a chance to take a look at at this new player if you are looking for some initial opinions.

The Windows 7 Beta has been out for a while now and people are mostly impressed. On top of being a more efficient OS than Vista it also has some new features that look interesting - including Device Stage. Device Stage is a system where manufacturers can make their own little mini-interface for their devices and include features like links to accessories, user manuals, access customer support and so on - directly in Windows 7 and without any additional installs.

Sony already has this working for the Windows 7 beta and it's all very automatic and nice looking. The Device Stage works sort of like a browser and can view both web pages (like for accessories) and PDF manuals directly in the interface. You can set up syncs, view remaining capacity and battery life and a bunch of other things directly from the Device Stage page. Hit the jump for more pics showing off Device Stage for the Sony A820.

Thanks go to Atald on the diskusjon.no forum for the pictures and info!