Time for Sony to Lower Prices.

[Ascariss]

Originally Posted by h1a8

The point is that pricing it against the touch is stupid since with the touch you get a lot of apps, useful wi-fi, and gapless playback.
Yes many would buy it if it didn't have gapless. But since other players have gapless then paying more for non gapless and less and worst features is stupid.

I am not sure if the touch has gapless but I have listened to the touch and iphone and the quality is not even close to my old A818. I believe the cowon s9 is the player that has gapless now, from what I saw on a few sites such as dapreview, but gapless was added with a firmware update.

Originally Posted by h1a8

What you must understand that it is understandible to not include a feature if research supports it. But the price must reflect the absence of that feature to compete with other players that have the feature.

I do not think bluetooth is that expensive of a feature and if you want your sound to be re-encoded hey that is fine with me, but I'd rather use normal headphones and not bluetooth.

Originally Posted by h1a8

The noise canceling feature on the Sony is worth far less than you are saying by the simply fact you can't use the noise canceling headphones on other players. Or if you lose or damage the headphones then the feature is void unless you fork out more money for more headphones. And that it drains the battery off something terrible (slang). Also, the same argument you have with gapless and the research the same argument can be applied to people not so much caring about noise cancelling.

lol research was done and apparently people wanted noise cancelling so it was added, a lot of people commute and especially in japan where the is a lot of environmental noise and thus people want that noise cancelled out. of course the battery is used up when you use it, but you have the option of not using it and save battery but can turn it on any time you want. and yes my arguement for the price of NC headphones is valid since if you buy a cowon s9 or zunehd or touch and ant noise cancelling then yes you will probably have to hand over at least 130 here in canada.

Originally Posted by h1a8

Lastly, Sony has other players with the same noise cancelling feature (s739) that are more than $100 cheaper and sound the same or better for the same storage size.

well last time I checked this player was not on sale at sonystyle. I checked futureshop and the 4 gb version is on sale for 119 bucks and not 16gb. best buy here doesn't even have it on their website. I checked jr.com and it is there, but at 4GB again and it costs 143 US! which is more than in canada. In fact checking the sony press release for canada, there was no 8 nor 16 gb S73x in canada at all.

http://www.sony.ca/view/press_579.htm

btw only 4Gb model of the s73x on the US sonystyle website as well.
checking amazon.com yields no 16gb or 8gb of the 73x series with noise cancellation. guess it was not on sale in north america. sure its 120 bucks in canada, but I get 4 gigs of memory which is half of what I have in my 818 now and that's fille up. just checked http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk and I see no old 700 series no more, guess it is not on sale anymore. I for one would order a nice 16gb player with noise cancelling but I would like it to have warranty so ordering from europe or some obscure site is probably not going to happen and most sites will not ship overseas.

Originally Posted by h1a8

ZuneHD does have oled screen with other features which Sony does not have that does more to offset the value of Sony's extra custom EQ feature and noise cancelling feature. Plus Dave hinted that features can and will be added with future firmware updates. Sony never adds anything to its firmware updates if it even has any.

of course they will add stuff to the zunehd it has tegra in it form nvidia, not adding any additional functions would be foolish. I am not saying the zunehd is a bad device, it has a lot of great features and a much better deal than sony's X. I was even tempted and wanted to pre-order it but saw it is not availabele to pre order in canada so I am out of luck there and the zunehd is not an option for me. besides the zunehd is not drag and drop like any sony right now so that is a deal breaker for me. Sony could have only added a few things to their players via firmware updates, gapless, lossless, on the go playlists and deleting stuff off the player (this is for the older players, such as the old E4xx series, the S6xx series, A8xx series etc) since these players are rather limited in their cpu power and strengths.
But then why not add stuff to the X? well sure but as everyone knows, the cpu in the X is no tegra and is quite dated, circa early 2008? maybe even earlier, so it will not be able to run too many high end apps. This does not mean sony can add stuff to the X which they might or might not. But some companies upgrade firmware not to add features, some have firmware updates to get rid of bugs which should have been found during testing, and most sony walkmans have little or no bugs at all. The player is coming up to its first christmas and sony will no doubt drop its price a bit and possibly add new features via firmware but the cpu is limited.
second, sony tends not to add new features because they would rather you buy a new walkman than just keep upgrading the current one. sony is a business after all.

Originally Posted by h1a8

Noise canceling is worth $20 extra on average to the value of the player. And that is being generous. And cowon s9 has amoled screen, custom EQ, voice/radio recording, gapless playback, better codec support, better battery life, on the fly playlists, etc. so why spend $130 extra for the X? If one needs the Sony SQ then cheaper Sony's are available (with noise canceling).

20 bucks in your opinion, for some it is worth more. as for your second statement, the 16gb was never on sale in canada and 4gb is a step back in storage for me. I don't need voice or radio recording, the music on the radio sucks, this is why I have the mp3 player. if I want voice recording I have that on my cell phone which is more handy.

Originally Posted by h1a8

No! If you want superior sound, easy drag and drop, noise cancelling worth $20 on average then a Sony s739, s738 are better. They will save you over $100 (get you some much better iems with passive noise cancellation that doesn't drain the battery) plus they sound better and have better volume.

Remember one must not assume that if one player is on sale say in europe, it will be on sale in north america. and in this case only a 4gb model was on sale in canada but I need at least 8 gigs, 16 probably would be better.

Originally Posted by h1a8

Also, the Zune is not the only player out there. I say the cowon s9 or the ipod touch is the better buy than the X. The cowon sounds nearly as good with far more features and far cheaper.

Of course there are other players on sale, no zunehd and only the 16gb S9 but this is via newegg.ca and it is priced at 299.99 and on sale at 249.99 and it has no wifi and noise cancelling and yes it is cheaper than the X because it is missing features. hmm thought it had wifi oh well.
h1a8 it is obvious you dislike the X series which is understandable but bashing the device all the time is not going to make it any better. By not buying it, you have already sent a message to sony.

I have not purchased the X because of its high price here in canada 599 canadaian not including taxes, and we have no 16gb model. I am also waiting on the new A series which I hope will be announced at IFA in early september, but if it is not I may have to buy the X since I need a new mp3 player anyways, but it will not be here in Canada.

[CrowdAds]

[h1a8]

Originally Posted by Ascariss

lol research was done and apparently people wanted noise cancelling so it was added, a lot of people commute and especially in japan where the is a lot of environmental noise and thus people want that noise cancelled out. of course the battery is used up when you use it, but you have the option of not using it and save battery but can turn it on any time you want. and yes my arguement for the price of NC headphones is valid since if you buy a cowon s9 or zunehd or touch and ant noise canceling then yes you will probably have to hand over at least 130 here in canada.

Yes everyone wants noise cancellation but how badly? It is certainly not a deal breaker for most. If Sony X didn't have noise cancellation then most (if not all) would have still bought it. I know I would have (because I did).

well last time I checked this player was not on sale at sonystyle. I checked futureshop and the 4 gb version is on sale for 119 bucks and not 16gb. best buy here doesn't even have it on their website. I checked jr.com and it is there, but at 4GB again and it costs 143 US! which is more than in canada. In fact checking the sony press release for canada, there was no 8 nor 16 gb S73x in canada at all.

http://www.sony.ca/view/press_579.htm

btw only 4Gb model of the s73x on the US sonystyle website as well.
checking amazon.com yields no 16gb or 8gb of the 73x series with noise cancellation. guess it was not on sale in north america. sure its 120 bucks in canada, but I get 4 gigs of memory which is half of what I have in my 818 now and that's fille up. just checked http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk and I see no old 700 series no more, guess it is not on sale anymore. I for one would order a nice 16gb player with noise cancelling but I would like it to have warranty so ordering from europe or some obscure site is probably not going to happen and most sites will not ship overseas.

You're right. I bought mine awhile ago and didn't figure they would stop selling it. Sony must have stop selling it because they know it would take away from X sales tremendously. A good strategy indeed. When I had my X and s739 together the s739 sounded just as good but was louder and had slightly more bass. The X's bass was more level and ever so slightly rolled off in the extreme low end to give the illusion of being more clear and clean. The s739 sounded just as clear to my ears but with a tad more bass. Also the clear bass feature sounded better on the s739 than the X.

I can't wait for the new S and E series to come out. They will have probably even better sound than the X since they will include a new clear audio enhancement. Also with voice and radio recording and speakers.

20 bucks in your opinion, for some it is worth more. as for your second statement, the 16gb was never on sale in canada and 4gb is a step back in storage for me. I don't need voice or radio recording, the music on the radio sucks, this is why I have the mp3 player. if I want voice recording I have that on my cell phone which is more handy.

Actually it is worth 0$ to me since the one positive cancels with the negatives. The positive is it gives me decent noise cancelation. The negatives are that the iems sound horribly muddy and veiled and second it drains the battery super fast. My comment referred to on average. That means it will be worth more to some and less to others. It would be worth a lot more to me if headphones didn't sound so horrible and can be used with other players. Maybe I'm just spoiled because of the se530, hf-780, etc. I'm used to the good stuff. Believe or not but the se530 gave me nearly the same amount of noise canceling as the Sony X. But sounded many times better. I swear I could hardly hear a thing outside the music with a good seal.

Of course there are other players on sale, no zunehd and only the 16gb S9 but this is via newegg.ca and it is priced at 299.99 and on sale at 249.99 and it has no wifi and noise cancelling and yes it is cheaper than the X because it is missing features. hmm thought it had wifi oh well.
h1a8 it is obvious you dislike the X series which is understandable but bashing the device all the time is not going to make it any better. By not buying it, you have already sent a message to sony.

I have not purchased the X because of its high price here in canada 599 canadaian not including taxes, and we have no 16gb model. I am also waiting on the new A series which I hope will be announced at IFA in early september, but if it is not I may have to buy the X since I need a new mp3 player anyways, but it will not be here in Canada.

I agree. And you are right. I was fuming at Sony mainly because I swallowed my pride and broke the bank to actually buy the X and was totally disappointed. I like to connect my mp3 players up to the car (through cassete adapter). The Sony X on max volume was too low. I couldn't really hear the music like I wanted and I don't listen to super loud music either. I had to use my other Sony and ipod players instead. Also the sound on the s739 was just as good and although the video on the X was good it I felt it alone wasn't worth the $300 I payed for it, especially against the ipod touch's video (which is pretty good too).

I extremely hated the noise cancelling iems and that I couldn't do on the go playlists as my library is rather large (13gb of music). The finger scroll was too fast (ipod touch is just right). I keep passing up the songs. The wi-fi was so horrible that I would have paid sony extra to not include it (seriously). And converting videos for it was a pain. The sony X is super picky and wouldn't play most h264 files I threw at it (I didn't want 320x240).

I wrote Sony and told them if they made a cheaper version ($100 less) without both noise cancelation and wi-fi but louder then many many people would buy it. Imagine having a 16gb X with no wi-fi, being louder, and no noise cancelling for about $180. I would jump hard and fast on it. I'll just deal with the no on the go playlist (which I hate).

I've been a fan of Sony for the longest and I still am. I'm justing going to wait for the new S and E series and for now keep both my cowon s9 and ipod touch 2nd gen (they make an unbeatable combination). I only sold my s739 because the sense me feature had a bug in it which would duplicate songs in random folders. Maybe that is why Sony discontinued the feature.

[Ascariss]

Originally Posted by h1a8

I can't wait for the new S and E series to come out. They will have probably even better sound than the X since they will include a new clear audio enhancement. Also with voice and radio recording and speakers.

http://presscentre.sony.eu/Content/D...1&NewsAreaID=2

I am not sure if the S has the new features since materiel.net did not post too much info, but the E does have the Clear Stereo and Clear Bass technologies which are present on the X already. But I am not sure they will make the device sound better than the X series.

h1a8 you mention the volume was too low on your X, where did you buy it? I believe only france has a volume cap on their sony's.

[h1a8]

Originally Posted by Ascariss

http://presscentre.sony.eu/Content/D...1&NewsAreaID=2

I am not sure if the S has the new features since materiel.net did not post too much info, but the E does have the Clear Stereo and Clear Bass technologies which are present on the X already. But I am not sure they will make the device sound better than the X series.

h1a8 you mention the volume was too low on your X, where did you buy it? I believe only france has a volume cap on their sony's.

My mistake I was thinking Clear Audio was a new enhancement.
The E series would probably sound the same as the X series. But cheaper because of smaller lcd screen, no wi-fi, and no noise cancellation.

What was Sony smoking when they introduced the first E series with no clear audio enhancements? And then charge nearly the same price as the older s610 series that had the enhancements. That's arse backwards.

I got my X from Amazon. The volume was fine for the iems (just a tad lower than usual but very ok). But when using full size headphones or connecting it to a car stereo the low volume issue was more pronounced than the other players.

Someone mentioned that it could have been on avs level or something by default, whatever that means. I didn't check that before I returned the player.

[Olley]

My X decided to lock up today after I cancelled a Slacker app refresh. Now I know why there's a reset hole on it. This proves the firmware isn't bug-free. Hopefully they are still polishing it, and will have an update sometime soon. I woudn't have any idea how to find or install and update on my Z though.

I got my X from Dell with a 15% discount code. Even after getting a discount the price seems too high for what I got compared to other devices and their prices. This is the last Sony I'll buy.

[Dreamnine]

Without using the n/c or the wi-fi, not really bothering with video, just playing wma and mp3 files I can say that the X1060 has been the best purchase I ever made.

[blockednose]

yeah, I was too, disappointed in the X series' featuresrice ratio. Although it may be the flagship player of the walkman brand, it has nothing going for it vs. the ipod touch. Everything minus the superior audio quality and noise cancellation is inferior to the ipod touch. What happened to your innovation Sony? The processor loads the song titles slower than I can scroll, the web browser is a laughable mess and its priced way higher than what it offers. And this was the flagship player released in anniversary of the walkman brand. Sony, I find your lack of faith disturbing

[Elandal]

Originally Posted by blockednose

Everything minus the superior audio quality and noise cancellation is inferior to the ipod touch.

You are just talking of what is the most important thing on a portable player, and especially the X... audio quality. Other things for me are just not essential "extra".
Why everything must be compared to the iTouch?!? Are different things. Sony and Walkman brand have been always synonimous of portable audio with quality. Can't say the same for Apple...

[GTR Mclaren]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

Nope....just like the PS3, priced outta sight.

what ?? are you serious ??

the PS3 is the best possible deal in consoles

the PS3 cost 299$

same as the Xbox360

but it have Bluray, Wifi, free Online..all for 299$

the 360 need online (+50) wifi (+90) and plus a stand alone blu ray player (+100 the cheapest)...all for 540$...

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by GTR Mclaren

what ?? are you serious ??

the PS3 is the best possible deal in consoles

the PS3 cost 299$

same as the Xbox360

but it have Bluray, Wifi, free Online..all for 299$

the 360 need online (+50) wifi (+90) and plus a stand alone blu ray player (+100 the cheapest)...all for 540$...

Bluray would do me no good without a HD TV, plus, when I made that original post that you quoted I think the price was higher than it is now.

[Adub]

Originally Posted by GTR Mclaren

what ?? are you serious ??

the PS3 is the best possible deal in consoles

the PS3 cost 299$

same as the Xbox360

but it have Bluray, Wifi, free Online..all for 299$

the 360 need online (+50) wifi (+90) and plus a stand alone blu ray player (+100 the cheapest)...all for 540$...

The only reason the ps3 is cheaper now is because they changed their manufacturing process to use cheaper crappier parts, you can't even play old ps2 games on the current ps3 because of that.

I'd rather have a Wii.

[GTR Mclaren]

uummm good, but I don't think any serious gamer choose a wii over a ps3 or a 360

ontopic, yes the X series is overpriced...the 32 GB one cost the same as the upcoming Zune HD 64