The empire strikes back; Sony unveils NW-E100, NW-E400 and NW-500 series petite portable audio players with up to 1 GB of memory and 70 hours of playback.
Striking back at the hype that has surrounded Apple's Flash-based iPod shuffle portable audio player since its launch, Sony today unveiled three new series in its line-up of Network Walkman players. The circular and colourful NW-E100 series will cater to the low-end, whilst the supremely stylish EW-400 and EW-500 respectively cater to the mid-range and high-end.
The NW-E100 series includes three models, the NW-E103, NW-E105 and NW-E107, which respectively feature 256 MB, 512 MB and 1 GB of storage capacity. Using the ATRAC3 format, the latter model can store up to approximately 45 CDs worth of music, however the player also supports the vastly preferred MP3 format. Available in a range of six original colours, the NW-E00 series sports a LCD window enabling users to refer to song, artist, or album titles, delivering up to 70 hours of playback on one AAA alkaline battery.
 | | Sony Network Walkman NW-E100 |
Designed using materials such as acrylic and metallic zinc, the NW-E400 series includes the 256MB NW-E403, the 512MB NW-E405 and the 1GB NW-E407. Available in metallic black, blue, red, and green colour versions, all models feature an Organic EL display that shows three lines of text, including time and date in a new vertical graphical layout. A built-in Lithium Ion rechargeable battery allows 50 hours of playback, and this series also offers a quick charge function which Sony claims will generate 3 hours of playtime with just 3 minutes of recharging.
 | | Sony Network Walkman NW-E400 |
A step up from the NW-E400 series and available in the same capacity configurations, the NW-E503, NW-E505 and NW-E507 additionally deliver a built-in FM digital tuner, and are also differentiated by its colour schemes: silver, blue, pink, and gold. Both the NW-E400 and NW-E500 models also feature Sony's Jog Shuttle for control, and similar to the NW-E400 the NW-E500 series also offers up to 50 hours of battery life, a quick charge function and support for USB charging.
 | | Sony Network Walkman NW-E500 |
The entry-level NW-E100 series, mid-range NW-E400 series and high-end NW-E500 series are all slated for availability in April 2005 throughout Europe, and will sell from $150 to $200 USD depending on storage capacity.
Additional high resolution images of the NW-E100, NW-E400 and NW-E500 are available on the following page.
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