Sony to Compete with iPod

On Tuesday, Sony announced that in 2004 they would introduce versions of a music player for as low as $60 aimed at unseating the popular Apple iPod. With no details, it's unclear how competitive this low end player would be.

Of further interest, Sony detailed plans for upcoming Playstation Portable (PSP) devices which Sony claims "will be the Walkman of the future."

The upcoming portable gaming platform due by the end of 2004 will be multifunctional devices featuring games, music, videos, and communication abilities.

One recent Wired opinion column called for Sony to leapfrog the portable music player and embrace portable video players after having let Apple dominate the portable digital music player market. This initiative may partially fulfill that author's wishes.

Sony is felt to have been slow to embrace the digital audio market due to internal conflicts with their Music Division and concerns of losing revenue to digital piracy.

Update: Apple-X.net consolidates reported specs and a concept photo for the PSP device. The device will feature a 16:9 ratio screen, MPEG4 decoder, AAC, ATRAC3 and MP3 support. (No WMA mentioned) The products based on this platform are said to feature a wide range of configurations as well as price points.