Sony's New Net Juke Will Support MP3

[Filip Norrgard]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.techjapan.com/Article893.html' target='_blank'>http://www.techjapan.com/Article893.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>" Announced by Sony today was the "NAS-A10," which has a bunch of interesting features...but the most important of which is support for the MP3 format. So how do you get MP3s to it? Memory Stick, Ethernet, or CD. It also has a 40GB hard drive, so you can easily rip songs to it from your library. It's even got a composite output for viewing stuff on your TV. MP3 support on the device could use some work -- there appears to be no MP3 support to/from the hard drive, and nothing with the USB 2.0 interface the unit is equipped with."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/sonynetjuke.jpg" /><br /><br />This Sony Net Juke sounds as half-baked as the previous one: partial MP3 support, Memory Stick support for sizes <b>below</b> 2GB and CD ripping only to ATRAC or PCM. Would you buy this newer version of the Net Juke? ;)

[Gary Sheynkman]

that would be a no, but I dont doubt that they will sell millions

[Felix Torres]

That would be a big no.

Not with a dozen do-everything connected-dvd alternatives here or on the way (btw, anybody know of a better term than that? Universal Media player would *almost* fit, if Apple licensed fairplay).
Last I heard some of those come with built-in drives, but I haven't heard of any that does its own ripping. Yet.

So I guess there will be a market for the Sony box among folks who:
1- Don't have/want a PC
2- Don't need video support
3- Don't mind the pricing (you can actually buy PCs with XP MCE for $600)
4- Don't care about Atrac lock-in

Problem I see is that most of the folks that don't care about lock-in are currently buying Apple.
Which is what Sony probably ought to do. 8)