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!

Greg from Journal Du Geek got his hands on an early pre release test sample of the Sony X-1000. I had a conversation with him early this morning and he is very impressed. He said that the sound quality is amazing along with touch screen responsiveness better than the iPod Touch. The web browser is a bit quirky similar to the awkward Mylo browser, but overall he was very impressed with this test model.

If you missed the specs the player will have an OLED (432x240) screen, FM tuner, noise cancellation, web browser, Amazon store connectivity, and support for: MP3, WMA, AAC, WMV, MPEG-4, AVC. It will come in 16GB and 32GB versions. The prices are set for 280 and 380 Euros respectively- a bit steep it seems but we will have to wait and see how that translates to this side of the pond. Release is also very vague as its said to be around spring time.

Check out the Greg's post for more photos. The touch category is heating up, I looking forward to doing an S9 vs P3 vs X-1000 ultimate match up.

No too long ago the "Sony Touch" appeared as very crude mockups. Real photos have now surfaced. The specs appear to be what we SonyInsider got the scoop on in that first article- Wi-Fi, 16GB, 32GB ect. I will keep you posted as soon as i get some more info on the show floor of CES 2009.

[Gizmodo | SlashGear]

Update: Press release and video below.

Sick of all the Zune Touch rumors? Here is another touch based player, though this time it’s not rumor. Sonyinsider reports on this player with some mock up product shots showing a device like the Cowon S9 or the Samsung P2 (or the upcoming P3). This PMP will be unveiled during this CES 2009 with capacities of 16GB and 32GB. It will also have Wi-Fi and a high contrast OLED, likely to be 480x278.

The player will have resemble past Sony UIs and will allow you to click on an artist and watch Youtube videos by them over the Wi-Fi connection. It will also have podcast downloads and access to Crackle (Sony’s video site) video feeds. Additionally, a search function is there so you can download and purchase music from Amazon directly.

The one thing that caught my attention was the “S-Master digital amplifier”, this could only bring good news to us more-expensive-than-the-player headphone toting audio junkies.

We will be front and center to give you the low down on this touch Walkman at CES 2009.

I've lived in my hobby shop for large parts of my life. Some of the readers on here might have seen the giant wooden Zen Stone and I've also done bigger projects like the D2 Jukebox dock and other wood projects. A lot of people ask me how I do these things and while some of them require a certain knowledge of electronics, the wood part of each project is 99% knowing what machine to use and how to use it.

Both Grahm and myself love docks for everything, unfortunately few players and gadgets have docks available. This is where the woodworking really comes handy, as you can make whatever you need quick and cheap. It looks more difficult than it is so in an effort to help people make their own docks and stand, here's a guide on how to make your own docks and stands.

Sony has a very peculiar way of making MP3 players where they have a basic standard they build upon for every release. The players in the later years started with the 1st gen Sonic Stage dependent S600 and A800 series which were updated to use MTP with the S610 and A810. Now we've reached generation 4, but the basic layout of it all is still more or less the same as the S600 and A800.

The design is different, there are themes available, SensMe was added and there's a podcast feature. That's pretty much it and doesn't exactly scream for any Sony user to upgrade. The question is if these new features are any good and if the player generally has the same old Sony quality. Read on for a full review.

Remember Andreas posted a few weeks ago on the $105 Sony cable? Since the cable was being sold in Norway, some people said, “it’s just because of the exchange rate” or “it’s because things are more expensive there”. Well here is more proof from the US that Sony has little regard for fair pricing and your hard earned dollar.

Today at Circuit City I saw this same cable on sale for $69.99 right next to the Sony Walkman E430 containing the same exact cable for $89.99. To me this pricing is predatory, hoping to cash in on unsuspecting customers. I do have a very good opinion of Sony’s latest line up of MP3 players, but I tend to shy away from Sony products because of their tactics to lock you into their own technologies and overpriced ancillary products- Memory Stick, ATRAC, SonicStage, and in this case a Sony Cable™.

In the end, you can easily buy a third party cable on eBay for a few bucks, but not everyone knows that or can wait a few days to have it shipped. So when you are considering a new MP3 player, please keep this in mind.

Sony's last stick player never made it to the US or Europe and it's been a while since we've seen a small player from them that we could actually go out and buy. Along with the new E and S series players announced earlier this fall Sony announced a new such stick player, the B130F.

While lacking the color screen found on other stick players from Sony the B130F is still a nice looking player with MTP replacing the previous Sonic Stage dependability of older players. The player is a nice supplement to the stick player market but also has its flaws. Read on for the full review.

Whenever I'm about to buy some minor piece of electronics I usually google for reviews and often come up empty for less known products. I can't exactly blame sites such as our own for not reviewing everything on the planet, but it would still be nice to find an occasional review on such products even if it's just a thumbs up or down with regards to the value.

It's with that pretense (and the fact nothing is really happening in the MP3 player world at the moment) that I bring you a quick review of the Sony SRS-NWT10M speaker dongle for Sony MP3 players. For $30 it's rather on the pricey side, so is it worth the money? Read on to find out.

Expensive cables in the audio community normally means some ridiculously overpriced cable that's made with all sorts of fancy materials and is supposed to improve audio quality. Sony has redefined this term with a unbelievable story from my home country of Norway.

A forum member on a Norwegian forum I'm a member of asked if there was a way to get a replacement cable for his Sony NWZ-A828 MP3 player. I replied to him that this wasn't available off Sonystyle in Norway, so he'd have to contact Sony to get a replacement cable. The answer he got from them was to buy the cable directly from Sony's part provider in Norway. Price? 605 NOK with taxes and shipping, which at the moment is just about 105 USD. I've discussed proprietary cables before, but this is one downside of proprietary cables you can't really defend. Moral of the story? If you live in a small country, don't ever lose the USB cable.

We already saw the E430 series a few days ago and the rest of the new Sony players have now been announced at IFA. The new player lines feature a higher capacity version of the E430 which will take over for the S610 and S710 series and a new USB stick type player.

The S630 and S730 series' are almost identical in design to the E430 series, in fact the only difference I can see is that the S630 and S730 looks to be a bit longer. The specs are almost identical as well, with the same format support for both video and audio and an FM tuner. Compared to the players they are replacing the battery life is slightly improved with 40 hours of music and 10 hours of video and the new players also seem to be UMS and not MTP like their predecessors. Judging from the pictures the menu seem to be either skinable or at least support wallpapers now, something I know some people have been missing in Sony players. The S730 will be the noise cancellation version of the two new players, a feature I tested on the S710 and found to be rather useless with the earbuds that came with the player (and no other NC earphones are available for it). The S630 and S730 will come in 4, 8 and 16GB sometime in September. Update: Gizmodo reports that the S series will feature a mood sensing technology where you select the mood you're in from a list of 11 moods and the player will choose music that fits the mood. Sounds weird but also interesting.

The other new player announced was the B130. Originally there was supposed to be a new USb stick player released months ago but we haven't seen anything of it, so hopefully this one will actually be released in our part of the world. The B130 does however not hav a color LCD or the fancy interchangeable face plates the other player had. the battery life is equally unimpressive with 16 hours, but at least it has a fast charge technology that gives you 90 minutes of listening time from 3 minutes of charging.

[GenerationMP3 | Gizmodo]

I’m not going to try to understand the reasoning behind Sony’s product line. Much of the last two generations of Sony Walkmans have been a lot of the same some with slight changes, a feature here, a feature there. And the E430 looks like the same. This is not really a bad thing since these have all be really nice players, but it does get a bit confusing as to which one to buy.

There is a bit of saving grace to this news Sony Insider states that they have seen the new specs for other upcoming players and they are much more exciting than this (I can verify this as well). So for the Sony fans, hang on, there is more coming.

In the mean time if you would like to know what this player is about, you can check out one of these reviews to get a general idea: A810, A820, S710, S610.

[Sony NZ via Engadget | thanks nywytboy68]