Sony announce the NW-HD5

slimline MP3 player from Sony

6 April 2005 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Sony today has upped the ante on the battle of MP3 players with the announcement of a new network walkman. Building on the NW-HD1 and NW-HD3 the new player called the NW-HD5 is smaller than the previous versions, but still offers 20Gb of storage.

Sony suggests this is the smallest 20Gb player on the market and with a weight of just 125grams and measurements of 5.6cm x 8.9cm we have to say we believe them. Sony are also promising an easily removable and replaceable battery that will last 40hrs and cost around £30 in the UK to replace.

As with previous models the new player will also be available in three colours; silver, red and black. The player will also featuring Sony's new Follow Turn Display function, where the display window can change from landscape to portrait depending on the orientation it is being held in.

Following in line with other players - the unit will ship with SonicStage3 software allowing both MP3 and the highly compressed ATRAC3 Plus files to be transferred and played back.

The player will have a street price of £199 in the UK and be available in May.

Read our review here