Can’t get that song out of your head but have no idea what it’s called? Use TrackID with text search and you’ll have the answer at a touch of a button. Also available on the W508 is PlayNow arena which provides a full range of mobile entertainment downloadable from your handset - unique themes and wallpapers, traditional and specially developed ringtones and music tones, a wealth of free content and of course DRM-free music tracks and TrackID charts from around the world.

Sony Ericsson W508 Walkman Phone

The new W508 Walkman
Walkman my style

• One extra Style-Up cover in the box – change your mobile phone with your mood
• Walkman player
• HSDPA – download content quickly with a faster web experience
• Touch music keys on top – switch tracks the easy way
• TrackID with text search – find your favourite songs in seconds
• PlayNow arena – customise your mobile phone with unique ringtones and wallpapers
• Shake control– skip through your tracks with a flick of the hand
• Gesture control - Move your hand above the W508 to mute an incoming call or put the alarm clock on snooze without touching it.

• 3.2 megapixel camera
• Up to 3.2x digital zoom
• Photo fix
• Picture blogging
• Video blogging
• Video recording

• Walkman player
• Album art
• Mega Bass
• PlayNow
• TrackID
• Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)
• Music tones (MP3/AAC)
• Shake control
• SensMe

• Access NetFront Web browser
• Web feeds
• Photo feeds

• Speakerphone
• Polyphonic ringtones
• Vibrating alert
• Video calling

• Email
• Text messaging (SMS)
• Chat View
• Picture messaging (MMS)
• Exchange ActiveSync®
• Instant messaging
• Predictive text input
• Sound recorder

• Auto rotate
• Gesture control
• Picture wallpaper
• Wallpaper animation

• Media
• YouTube
• 3D games
• Motion gaming
• Java
• FM radio with RDS
• Video streaming
• Video viewing
• Walk Mate

• Bluetooth technology
• Modem
• Synchronization
• USB mass storage
• USB support

• Alarm clock
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Flight mode
• Notes
• Phone book
• Stopwatch
• Tasks
• Timer

• W508
• Battery
• Battery Charger
• 1GB Memory Stick Micro (M2)
• USB cable
• Stereo PHF
• Sony Ericsson PC Suite
• Media manager
• User guide
• 1 extra Style-Up Cover

Portable Speakers MPS-100
Powerful, versatile and compact speakers

FM Music Transmitter MMR-70
Create your own FM radio station in an instant

Phone Case IPC-40
Protect your phone in style

Size: 93.5 x 50 x 14 mm
Weight: 98 grams

Colours:
Metal Grey with one extra Style-Up cover:
Sunny Orange, Forest Green, Architectural Purple or Mysterious Graffiti

Poetic White with one extra Style-Up cover:
Midnight Summer, Splashed Art, Radial Blue or Street Hip-hop

Main screen: 262,144 colour TFT, scratch-resistant
Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
Size: 2.2 inches

External screen: Monochromatic OLED, scratch-resistant
Resolution: 128 x 36 pixels
Size: 1.1 inches

Phone memory: Up to 100MB
Memory card support: Memory Stick Micro (M2)

Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 10 hrs
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 400 hrs

Talk time UMTS: Up to 4 hrs
Standby time UMTS: Up to 400 hrs

Video call time: Up to 2 hrs
Music listening time: Up to 24 hrs

W508:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS/HSDPA 2100

W508a:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100

Amazon already offers it’s MP3s in 256kbps bitrate, and so the playing field is now quite open as regards better quality files being out there. Having worked in Mobile sound engineering, I always found 192kbps MP3 to be acceptable, and the original Apple format of 128kbps AAC to be OK in most cases.

The availability therefore of a 256kbps-encoded AAC file should be an excellent (and superior) listening experience – maybe even enough to justify some audiophile headphones for your iPod/iPhone. For those that don’t want to use iTunes, then Amazon’s 256kbps quality MP3s should be substantial enough too.

It’s nice to finally see, at any rate, that there is an acknowledgement of bitrate (and to some extent codec) being so important in the quality of music. The same is true for video in fact, but even more so – the choice of the right codec, and sufficient bitrate, can make or break the viewing experience of a movie – particularly in the case of HD.

So I think audio has been sorted – come on online media vendors, lets get the same now applied to video – give us the best quality you can offer up for our devices – actually, give us a couple of choices based around quality vs filesize, and let us decide!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• UK: Sunday papers - HiFi Music on your Mobile?
• Do you fancy some ‘Mobile HD’?
• BlackBerry Media Sync released - BlackBerry and iTunes together at last
• Audio Interview: Nokia’s David Williams Unveils Key Components Of Music Services In The Pipeline
• Nokia Music Store Review Roudup (Verdict: Good, but not great)

Here is the latest version of Sony’s Walkman headset. The Sony NWZ-W202 supports MP3, AAC, WMA (DRM), L-PCM and WMT file formats and fully charges in 30 minutes for over 12 hours of music playback. Available in black or pink, it has 2 GB of storage capacity and will be available in April 2009 for $70. [InfoSync]

The design looks a little too cutesy with the heart shape and all. It’s basically a sleek wrap around earphone that has magnetic connectors on each end to keep it bound together when not in use. That’s what forms the shape. What you see is the entire player. The earphones are 13.5mm EX quality, and currently supported codecs include MP3, AAC, WMA (w/ DRM) and PCM.

Word is it has incredible battery life and a very minimal charging requirement. Three minutes equals a ninety minute charge, while thirty minutes will let you listen to music for the suggested twelve hour continuous playback. And Sony’s included ZAPPIN technology continues to play a series of short music clips from your own music library until you can find your favorite song to match your mood.

[Sonyinsider]

The design looks a little too cutesy with the heart shape and all. It’s basically a sleek wrap around earphone that has magnetic connectors on each end to keep it bound together when not in use. That’s what forms the shape. What you see is the entire player. The earphones are 13.5mm EX quality, and currently supported codecs include MP3, AAC, WMA (w/ DRM) and PCM.

Word is it has incredible battery life and a very minimal charging requirement. Three minutes equals a ninety minute charge, while thirty minutes will let you listen to music for the suggested twelve hour continuous playback. And Sony’s included ZAPPIN technology continues to play a series of short music clips from your own music library until you can find your favorite song to match your mood.

[Sonyinsider]

The downside is that the record labels will now get to set pricing as opposed to the fixed per track/per album pricing in the past. I’ll take it; it’s a good thing overall.

Bookmark/e-Mail

For all the iPhone 3G users out there however, there was a little bit of info that dropped that might peak your interest. Apple has started to offer DRM-Free music via iTunes. DRM-Free tracks will be available from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI among others. Tracks will come in a new 256Kbps iTunes Plus AAC format…free from DRM.

Also, if you want to take your music with you, iPhone 3G users are now allowed to download music via 3G connections… Instead of being stuck downloading over WiFi or from your personal computer direct. The new capability will allow iPhone 3G users to download music at anytime, anywhere.

[Via: vnunet]

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Omnifone launches mobile music download service - MusicStation
• Sony Ericsson soon to launch music and gaming portal
• Lala unveils 10-cent a song streaming service
• UK: another “DRM-free” mp3 music site pops up
• Sony Ericsson PlayNow Arena launched with the addition of more than 5 million new, mostly DRM-free, tracks

So here's Apple on Tuesday announcing that pretty soon all music sold on iTunes will be DRM-free, meaning it can be copied without technical hurdles -- and promptly we see headlines like this one in the New York Times: "Want to Copy iTunes Music? Go Ahead, Apple Says." Sounds as if you could finally share your music library with your 10,000 best friends on Facebook, MySpace and the rest of the world, doesn't it?

Well, not so fast: The problem is that even DRM-free "iTunes Plus" files contain the buyer's name. In other words, if you download Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" because you were so smitten by his Macworld performance, your name is embedded in the AAC music file that the Apple Store sends to your iTunes library. To see for yourself, simply open an iTunes Plus song, i.e. the AAC file you find in the iTunes library folder of your hard drive, in a text editor or word processor.

Permalink: Don't share your iTunes library just yet from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

The Good: We've been eyeballing the Asian version of the P3 for a minute, and it looks like a solid successor to the P2, whose sound quality was especially lauded. It looks nice, and features a nice capacitative touch screen that features a variety of haptic feedback that buzzes in kind when scrubbing through tracks, changing the volume, etc. Comes in 8/16/32GB sizes, available in the good ol' first half of 2009. No price yet.

The Rub: With no wi-fi, there isn't a lot of things to widgetize. So you're looking at not much more than basic menu choices, along with a sticky notes, etc.

The Specs:

• Haptic feedback technology for new levels of tactile connectivity between the P3 and the user
• 3-inch WQVGA TFT LCD display with Samsung’s EmoTure™ touchscreen user interface, and widgets-type menus / icons
• True 16:9 widescreen video playback at 30fps
• Samsung’s Music Hot Touch Key for direct navigation of key features and options
• Bluetooth™ connectivity for wireless listening with headphones and speakers, mobile phone interactivity with incoming / outgoing calls, wireless file transfers and more
• Built-in microphone for voice recording, and built-in speaker for easy audio sharing without headphones or tangled wires
• DNSe 3.0 true sound enhancement technology upconverts audio to overcome the inefficiencies and limitations of compressed audio, earphones and speakers
• Multimedia playback including MP3, MPEG4, WMV (DRM included), WMA (DRM included), FM radio, FM recorded audio, JPEG and text files
• Available in 8GB, 16GB or 32GB of flash memory
• Durable metallic casing available in matte black or matte silver