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The famous comedian Jimmy Durante had a trademark saying, "Everyone wants to get inta the act". It seems to be that way for the MP3 portable music player market. There is the pending release of the Microsoft Zune, and the new Creative iPod nano-killer, the Zen Neeon 2. Not content to be on the sidelines, Sony has just released a new player that it hopes will let it "get inta the act".

Labeled the  NW-S200F-series Walkman, it comes in 1gb and 2gb sizes. The cost is projected to be $120 for the 1gb and $150 for the 2gb. It looks like a mini-mag light, and has not only a built in FM tuner, but a stopwatch and built-in pedometer. Obviously they are looking at the exercise market with this item. PC Magazine has an excellent review of this device you can read by clicking here.

I have always liked Sony products, ever since I had my first transistor radio. I loved the Clie PDAs. Their music players are quite good. But the main complaint I have, and what will most likely prevent me from purchasing one of these items is the requirement to use the Sony SonicStage software. As long as the require that software, I won’t be using their hardware. Like another famous comedian, Rodney Dangerfield, I feel like I just "don’t get no respect" from that software.

Richard Cunningham (82 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook