IFA 2007: Sony ditches ATRAC, launches new Walkman

New MP3 players but no sign of Rolly

30 August 2007 9:39 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Sony has ditched its ATRAC format and announced that it will be closing its Online Music store Connect in March 2008.

The news comes as Nokia announced it will be launching a Online Music Store in November later this year.

Announcing that "Walkman goes Open" Sony has announced that it's latest Walkman MP3 players will be open standard allowing users to play MP3, WMA, AAC and Liner PCM ditching its ATRAC file format the company has used since it entered the market.

The move means that you will be able to play DRM-Free iTunes tracks on the player. The new Walkman will also be Play For Sure for Windows Media Player users.

The news comes on the back of a three new players from the company. The NWZ-S510, NWZ-S610 and NWZ-A810.

The new S-Series S510 will come in 2GB and 4GB models while the S610 will come in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models. Both will offer 8 hours of video playback on their 1.8-inch 320 x 240 pixel screens. Frame rate is 30 frames per second. All five variants will be available in black, silver and red.

Other specs include measurements of 79.5 x 42 x 11.5mm and 50 grams in weight.

The new A810 Series Walkmans, available in 2, 4, 8GB models. It will offer 8 hours of video playback and a staggering 33 hours for music.

The new players will be available in October, with users being able to pre-order the new models today from the SonyStyle website.

However Sony told Pocket-lint that the new players aren't the much hyped and rumoured "Rolly Player". That we are told is still to come.