Sony's "ipod killer" - the Mp3 player that does NOT play Mp3's!



It is amazing how people/journalists have just taken the news/press release of Sony's "mp3 player" and have simply declared it an "ipod killer" without investigating further and questioning if everything is correct.

Apparently, it's up to us to write to each of these news agencies/writers and point out a huge flaw in their thinking and in Sony's design.

Sony's "Mp3 players" DO NOT play Mp3's.

That's right.

You have to convert ALL of your Mp3's to Sony's ATRAC 3 Plus format.

And you CANNOT convert them back!

Mp3's are the consumer's overwhelming choice as a portable music format. Not WMA. Not MP4's. Not OGG et al ... Mp3's are everyone's choice.

Journalists also seem to be confused on this point. The ipod plays 8 formats - only one of which is 'locked' - Mp4's from the itunes music store you purchase (aka: AAC Mp4's) - I have only Mp3's on my ipod and it works perfectly fine.

Some journalists seems to think that since the itunes music store only sells AAC Mp4's - that's the only format ipod can handle - WRONG. The ipod lets YOU choose what format you prefer and does NOT convert anything you do NOT want to.

However, the Sony line can ONLY play ATRAC 3 Plus file format.

Who here really wants to convert their open, unencumbered Mp3's that are playable on virtually every computer in the world along with watches, PDA's, gaming consoles, all recent home audio and many car decks ... to a format that is ONLY playable on Sony machines?

So, while we are loading thousands of songs into our ipod in minutes, Sony users will be spending (hours?) converting transportable and open Mp3 files into a locked file format that is then only playable on Sony's machines ...

Even companies receiving payment from Microsoft to offer their WMA format are not arrogant enough to sell an Mp3 player that does not play Mp3's ... but Sony is willing to see if no one notices.

While the Betamax analogy is bandied about - this is one instance where it's a perfect fit.

Of course, early adopter consumers are already savvy enough to figure that out - see Metafilter's comments ...

Posted: Thu - July 1, 2004 at 11:48 AM        

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