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18 Aug 2005
Sony is attacking Apple's iPod Shuffle market with two new MP3 players in a similar price bracket, but with better battery life and a screen.
The Walkman Bean is a palm-sized MP3 player that comes with 1Gb or 512Mb of storage and 50 hours of battery life. The models will be priced at £99 and £79 respectively.
“Walkman Bean is sure to be the most instantly appealing digital music player on the market,” said Gregory Kukolj, general manager for Sony Personal Audio Europe.
“Walkman Bean combines striking design with optimum functionality and is fun, engaging and simple to use. All that, combined with an attractive price point, will make Walkman Bean irresistible to the consumer.”
The Bean comes in four colours: Tropical Ice (blue), Cotton Candy (pink), Licorice (black) and Coconut (white), reflecting the jelly beans it is designed to resemble. Music is downloaded via a pop-out USB port.
The Bean's battery life is a significant improvement on the iPod Shuffle's 12-15 hours and the new device also has a quick charge facility that can give three hours playing time on a three-minute charge.
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Do you agree?
Sony DRM
Just be careful of what you buy from Sony, who knows what they will load on to your PC while installing the software for the MP3 player. More spyware maybe ??
Posted by: John 14 Dec 2005
Awesome
I'll buy it, I hate the IPod, as much as the Apple. This sounds like a cool product to buy. I love Sony.
Posted by: Ana 08 Sep 2005
Sony Battery Claims ....
For their last player, Sony claimed battery life of 50 hours (until later did we find out the asterisk) - if you ysed 48 kpbs as your recording rate and in their proprietary ATRAC-3 format, you cna bet 50 hours. When compared to other players at 128 bpbs MP3's - their battery was slightly better so their claims here need to be taken with several large grains of salt ...
Posted by: jbelkin 19 Aug 2005
That is not a bean
It's a kidney! Who would wan to walk around with a kidney in their hand?
Posted by: Swissfondue 19 Aug 2005
Are prices correct?
How can both the 1GB and 512MB versions cost £99?
Posted by: Omar Marrero 18 Aug 2005
"I think, I'll call him Minnie Me - no... iBall!"
This confirms something I have always suspected about engineers...
Posted by: Cyan 18 Aug 2005