capable Walkman portable music players specifically for launch into the
US market. As we heard some months ago, the S540 series will sport its
own integrated stereo speakers allowing users to play music or video
without headphones. The LCD display of the unit has also been enlarged,
now up to 2.4 inches, and an additional feature lets users record both
through a microphone as well as the built-in FM radio.
As should be expected, the larger screen and the integrated speakers
have come at the cost of battery life. Although music playback lasts
even longer on headphones at 42 hours, video playback has dropped from
10 hours to 6.5. The addition of the power-sucking speakers drops
battery life to 17 hours of pure audio and 5 hours of video.
A more cost-conscious line, the E440 series, has some of the same design
elements found on the S540 with the exception of the integrated speakers
and recording functions. It also has a smaller 2-inch LCD much like
earlier Walkman players. Because of the reduced screen size and lack of
powered speakers, the E440 player lasts for 30 hours of music and 4
hours of video.
Both Walkman units continue to support AAC, MP3 and WMA for audio as
well as H.264, MPEG-4 and WMV for video. Music reaches the players
through drag-and-drop loading on both Macs and Windows PCs, though the
latter continue to get a companion Content Transfer app for an
intermediary sync with iTunes.
The S540 extends the capacity of Sony's flash players and will come in
8GB and 16GB versions for $110 and $130 respectively. The E440 will have
the exact same capacities but, due to its simplicity, will cost
significantly less at $80 and $130 for corresponding models. Sony ships
both models in September.
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