New Sony NWZ-E380 and NWZ-E580 Walkman MP3 players channel old school iPod mini looks
Not happy with your smartphone’s MP3 playing capabilities, and not impressed with Apple’s iPod models? Sony have put together a new pair of Walkman MP3 players, the NWZ-E380 and NWZ-E580, that may be just what you’re looking for.
Going for a button-based control system rather than a touchscreen, the Walkman E580 MP3 resembles looks a little like an old iPod mini, complete with colour screen and aluminium body.
Offering a staggering 77 hours of playback from one charge, there’s also 16GB worth of storage built in, and the ability to watch videos and see images on its diminutive two inch screen.
You can load tracks onto the player via either Windows Explorer or Apple’s iTunes, though why anyone would chose to use the latter over a simple drag and drop system is anyone’s guess.
Other features include Clear Phase.DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine), which restores those subtle high frequency details that get lost when you’re listening to heavily-compressed digital music files, and VPT (Virtualphones Technology) which adds an extra dimension to your listening with the authentic ambience of a studio, club or arena. There’s also an FM radio thrown in and compatibility with high level FLAC audio files.
The NWZ-E380 has a slightly smaller screen, half the storage at 8GB and 33 hours of battery life.
The Walkman NWZ-E380 video MP3 player from Sony is available in the UK from July in blue, red or black. The Walkman NWZ-E580 will be available in black from August. Now news yet on price.
