An open letter to Sony - Page 7

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman 

Time was for example when every higher-end model in their VAIO range would interest me. Now I only have one, and I have zero interest in anything else they make... and it's been that way for almost three years now.

 

My experience exactly.  But what a sweet VAIO it is (we must own the same computer).  Which goes to show- Sony has the ability to make some of the very best computers, headphones and portable music players in the world.  Yet the vast majority of hardware they sell is commodity level junk.  You'd think that some other electronics company in the world would learn from Apple: make high quality, desirable, no-compromise products and people will be eager desperate to buy them.  We're waiting Sony..

Here's a bit of humor,

Since "whipping up MiniDISC out of nowhere" was funny, it got me thinking... of how easily damaged CD's are, and why we rip them to FLAC & friends, aside from portablility needs. We have flash memory products like SDHC (and it's miniatures) at the moment, and SDXC is dawdling along expensively (unfortunately).

But I'm also reminded about the form factor of the Memory Stick, and Star Trek Next Generation episodes, and the humorous possibility of "isolinear optical rods" that they used with their computers on that show. Plug in CD's, anyone?? Sony, get busy!

It's nice to see they're making some effort with their BA series of IEM, but a new REAL flagship can would be nice. So would revivals of the good stuff... Especially updated/enhanced/upgraded versions. Sony COULD get back in the game if they wanted to...

The Qualia line has been dead for 7 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia_%28Sony%29

How many corporations, outside of Apple, would have the kind of money to indulge in a 'cost no object' exercise like that ? Even if they had the money, how many have management prepared to go down that road in the current climate ?

Asia might still be steaming along (on the back of factory workers receiving a dollar for a 12 hour day), but the rest of us seem to be sitting at the bottom of a hill looking forward to the day when we get to see what's on the other side.

Sony has a new boss. Direction of the company hopefully will change. Sony has changed too much since their successful PlayStation.

Apple? It doesn't take much to make a better sounding ipod; they tried otherwise -- output measurement comes first, actual sounding comes second.

Quote:

Originally Posted by david1978jp 

Sony has a new boss. Direction of the company hopefully will change. Sony has changed too much since their successful PlayStation.

Apple? It doesn't take much to make a better sounding ipod; they tried otherwise -- output measurement comes first, actual sounding comes second.

I'm the first to agree re Apple - the irony is that they would be one of the few companies with the engineering and financial muscle to do really big things in consumer audio, but I guess its easier to just send truckloads of gear from Monster and Sennheiser to the Apple Stores and profit.

Sony ? Who knows, but history has shown how hard it is for a single CEO to change the culture at any corporation unless they are an icon like Jobs. Probably helps if the rest of the Indians realise that their butts are on the line if things dont change  ;)

The long battery life on the E465 intrigued me, however the lack of a card slot, the proprietary connector, incomplete mp3 file support(it won't play mp3 files under 32kbps, and I don't want to have to convert my 16kbps and 24kbps podcasts to 32kbps), and lack of a resume feature for podcasts and audiobooks equal to Sandisk's turned me off. Paying $110 for 16GB player without a card slot doesn't make sense  when a 2GB Clip+ and a 32GB microSDHC card would give me a nice $60 34GB player. Of course the Clip+ doesn't have the battery life of the E465, however I remedy that with an external usb battery pack.

When will Sony start making mp3 players with a card slot? In 2011 Sony released some digital recorders under $100 with a micro SDHC card slot. These have no tag browsing though, and have a 192 kbps bitrate limit.