[papabear]

I,ve Heard that SONY, Believe it or not as a Replacement for the HD 5 already Has anyone else heard this, if so where can I see it ?

Could just be rumour? Not sure, information was from a reliable source though!

[gerbilly]

Originally Posted by papabear

I,ve Heard that SONY, Believe it or not as a Replacement for the HD 5 already Has anyone else heard this, if so where can I see it ?

Could just be rumour? Not sure, information was from a reliable source though!

You mean it is out of date already. No wonder sony sales are so slow compared to the i-pod.

[GTSkater]

What?

Try writing back in understandable English and perhaps someone will take you seriously. You indicate that Sony are working on a replacement to the HD5........well.....apparently there's going to be a PS3 too!

[KeanosMagicHat]

Originally Posted by GTSkater

What?

Try writing back in understandable English and perhaps someone will take you seriously. You indicate that Sony are working on a replacement to the HD5........well.....apparently there's going to be a PS3 too!

The way I see it Sony have two options here depending upon the extent of the button cracking issue on the NW-HD5.

They can either invest time and money to sort the problem - which I think they may do given the rumours that there is a whole raft of accessories about to be launched for the player.

Alternatively, if it is deemed to be too widespread they could bring forward the next model - which judging by the release schedules seen on the NW-HD range so far of 3-6 months between models would not be so far fetched.

I'm sure they are well into the design of the NW-HD6 / NW-HD7 or whatever the next model will be called.

Sony are committed to selling X number of HD5 units, they have to cover the costs of setting up a production line, so it'll be around for a while.

The button issue is a simple fix, just tweak the material used for the buttons.

This can be achieved with little or no impact on costs etc.

[KeanosMagicHat]

Originally Posted by DrillSgt

Sony are committed to selling X number of HD5 units, they have to cover the costs of setting up a production line, so it'll be around for a while.

The button issue is a simple fix, just tweak the material used for the buttons.

This can be achieved with little or no impact on costs etc.

I happen to agree that they will probably attempt to fix the problem but playing devils advocate here they may choose not to "cover the costs" and do a write off if the problem is severe enough.

Even if the button problem turns out to be a "simple fix" there are all the costs associated with re-tooling, wastage of defective button materials, lost production time and therefore potential revenue to replacement unit production, retailer stock rotation and affected owner returns / recalls.

This will all add up to a pretty penny or two.

[johann1979]

Originally Posted by KeanosMagicHat

I happen to agree that they will probably attempt to fix the problem but playing devils advocate here they may choose not to "cover the costs" and do a write off if the problem is severe enough.

Even if the button problem turns out to be a "simple fix" there are all the costs associated with re-tooling, wastage of defective button materials, lost production time and therefore potential revenue to replacement unit production, retailer stock rotation and affected owner returns / recalls.

This will all add up to a pretty penny or two.

Yeah, I agree Keanos - there is no way it will be cheap - add to that the engineers' 'investigations of the highest order' to quote Sony themselves being conducted right now, more engineers when the buttons need replacing - every single unit that is called back or sent in would require a person to fit the new buttons.

The problem could be even more extensive than that. Another member called vikingboy opened his HD5 casing with an eye on upgrading the hard drive, we asked him way back what the button situation looks like inside. It might very well be that they need to replace the whole casing in order to fix cracked buttons, which might double, treble or multiply the cost further. It would be impossible to put an estimate on the cost, but it could be high - very high... either way it will never be cheap to fix a problem like that.

Roll on the bean counters.

You're right, recalling/repairing goods is an expensive process.

My company has insurance to cover the costs of product recall, it's possible that Sony has the same, but I doubt a formal recall will happen.

It's not normal policy to re-tool for a subtle material change, and the wastage costs are probably negligable in the scheme of things, IMHO.

The most likely scenario I can see is an immediate material change on the production line/s. Continue to ship the faulty units in stock, replacing returned units with the new products as they come in. At some point they'll have a reasonable stock of faulty units, at which point they can decide to repair, strip for parts, sell off, etc.

But I'm no expert.

They may have a Contract Manufacturer who bear the finincial responsibility, depends on the contract and spec they gave them.

[dts]

hi i work for sony,and there will be a replacement for the nwhd-5 in about 4 months,the turn around time is about 5 months for each sony network walkman product,but only becuse thats what the public want!!!!!!!!!

[Steven]

this is the biggest load of...........I've read....yes, a new one will come...in time for Santa

Originally Posted by dts

hi i work for sony,and there will be a replacement for the nwhd-5 in about 4 months,the turn around time is about 5 months for each sony network walkman product,but only becuse thats what the public want!!!!!!!!!

OK. And can you give us any indication as to whether this player will be much the same as the HD5 or not?
hh

If he does work for Sony (unlikely) he may not for much longer.

Originally Posted by dts

hi i work for sony,and there will be a replacement for the nwhd-5 in about 4 months,the turn around time is about 5 months for each sony network walkman product,but only becuse thats what the public want!!!!!!!!!

Hmmmmm - has the scent of a Troll.....

[kevH]

Hi DTS

What the public want is :-

1 Approx 80 gb hd or more and stable
2 Great sound (try listening to a Rio Karma) and docking system with dedicated line out
3 Gapless playback
4 All format compatability eg mp3 wma wav ogg attrac et al
5 Robust build quality ( buttons that dont crack) OUCH
6 Picture ability ie album art and ability to view on tv screen whilst listening to music
7 Good software ( easy to use, just check out all the different types out there an nick the best)
8 Decent headphones in box
9 Decent battery life and replaceable
10 Decent in line remote or even IR remote
11 Accessories in abundance look at the ipod and at the time of launch not 6 months after

You may find people willing to pay a premium for all the above in a sexy little player who knows ?????

In essence surf the reviews of all different players, check out the users websites and see whats important to people youll find all the sites whether its the sony vaio, rio users, ipod lounge or mystic river they all want the same !!!!!

Ah we can dream

Kev

Sony is working on a 5gb player at the moment, just ordered a large number of seagate 1inch drives , may be a phone though? (my mate works for seagate ).
He also heard that they had patented a trackball design like the bottom of a mouse for use on new mp3 player.

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by kevH

Ah we can dream

Kev - if we had a player that could do all that you list I'd buy 2!

[kevH]

TEJSTAR

I know what you mean Tej but thinking about it its not that hard really is it ?
If you took all the best bits from each manufacturer (admittedly the hard drive at 80 gb is a bit of a way off yet) you wouldnt be so far away.

Sound half decent should be a pre requisite , Toshiba are now making 60gb hard drives with supposedly a 80gb drive available in september, screens are now quite good as per the new toshiba gigabeat and with the correct software should be able to view saved pictures/album art and with a direct link out to viewing media ie Tv screens.

Headphones a lot better than are supplied should be very easy, in line remotes ? come on thats not hard. Accessories available from day one that must surely just be good planning ( cant these people talk to thrid party manufacturers whilst the thing is in the design stage?)

is it just me whos thinking do these people live in the real world ? do they listen/ read websites of their clients? do they actually understand what we the paying customer want? or do they just muddle on regardless not testing the actual players prior to release ( i cant believe Sony have it so wrong with the buttons on the HD5 thats incredible)
Toshiba seem to have the software issues all wrong on the new gigabeats, the new owners rave about the screen the sound the design but already are crying out for firmware up grades to sort out what seems to me like schoolboy errors (see mygigabeat.com) which is the one of the things stopping me buying one. The other being the fact you can view slideshows of your photos on the gigabeat but theres no direct out to a tv a la Ipod Colour.

Imho only each player seems to have various plus points that we are all aware of ie Rio the great gapless sound, Iriver the great screen and decent sound ,Ipod the good all round performer and stylish with abundant accessories, Sony great design decent sound , Toshiba great screen alledged as good sound as the Rio and style to match the Ipod but they all have major flaws which they just dont seem to want to hurridly attend to ....

Rio karma toggle falls off and hard drive you have to poke with a pin or slap hard 4 or 5 times Rio technicals official stance (i ask you *** !!!!)
Sony we all know about the buttons (still cant believe that one) and sonicstage !!!!!
Toshiba with the horrendous software problems and now reported half sound issues !!!
Ipod with the replaceable battery issue whats that all about ???

Am i ranting or am i just voicing what we all think ?? LOL

kev

Originally Posted by kevH

TEJSTAR

Imho only each player seems to have various plus points that we are all aware of ....... but they all have major flaws which they just dont seem to want to hurridly attend to ....


Am i ranting or am i just voicing what we all think ?? LOL

kev

Both
This is the problem. The dap market seems to offer a fair few decent alternatives but each with its own share of well documented drawbacks. Your job is to figure out which ones are least bothersome to you.
Oh well, it beats having real problems.
hh

[kevH]

Harold

I aint got any real problems just what player to choose next lol

[Steven]

Originally Posted by kevH

Hi DTS

What the public want is :-

1 Approx 80 gb hd or more and stable

I'm happy with 20gb. I suppose an 80gb drive may mean I can go lossless, but then the portable Hd would be larger than my PC HD!

Originally Posted by kevH

2 Great sound (try listening to a Rio Karma) and docking system with dedicated line out

They're getting there. I'm not bothered by a dock though. Straight cables for line out, connecting to PC, hi-fi, speakers will do for me. A docking system would have to be optional, not forced on people too

also "audiophiles" use custom headphone amps and expensive 'phones for better sound anyway

Originally Posted by kevH

3 Gapless playback

of course

Originally Posted by kevH

4 All format compatability eg mp3 wma wav ogg atrac et al

Never will happen unless Sony opens up Atrac licensing, as well as Microsoft for WMA.

Originally Posted by kevH

5 Robust build quality ( buttons that dont crack) OUCH

damn right. And product testers that spend more than 2 seconds with products. Some users said they got cracks after one day of use! did Sony testers not find that? I'd have thought they'd use sledgehammers for thoroughness!

Originally Posted by kevH

6 Picture ability ie album art and ability to view on tv screen whilst listening to music

as above, this feature is becoming standard for photo/colour screen DAPs.

Not bothered about Tv feature, although would be nice

Originally Posted by kevH

7 Good software ( easy to use, just check out all the different types out there an nick the best)

how about public input too? You'd think the big companies would realise of course their people would find it easy to use the software, and needs public testing - after all their designers did make the software! Some think SS is bad? I've experienced worse!

Originally Posted by kevH

8 Decent headphones in box

we can only dream

Originally Posted by kevH

9 Decent battery life and replaceable

cheap as well....Apple *cough cough*

Originally Posted by kevH

10 Decent in line remote or even IR remote

I'd like it to be optional still, but cheap to buy the remote

Originally Posted by kevH

11 Accessories in abundance look at the ipod and at the time of launch not 6 months after

thats manly due to 3rd party manufacturers. If you was them what would you do? Make accessories for a line of players that makes up 75% of sales or alternatively, support another one?

its down to the companies that make iPod rivals to make their own accessories until popularity picks up I'm afraid

Originally Posted by kevH

What the public want is :-

~~~

You may find people willing to pay a premium for all the above in a sexy little player who knows ?????

speak for yourself!......

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by kevH

Am i ranting or am i just voicing what we all think ??

I've put off buying a mp3 player for myself for such a long time now as I'm waiting for somthing as close to that list as possible. Whether we'll see anything like that before the end of this year though is doubtful.

Originally Posted by doomlordis1

Sony is working on a 5gb player at the moment, just ordered a large number of seagate 1inch drives , may be a phone though? (my mate works for seagate ).

Would it really be cheaper for sony to buy drives from seagate. I thought they can make there own microdrives

[dups45]

anymore news on the new player?

[KeanosMagicHat]

Originally Posted by dups45

anymore news on the new player?

Next month ..... barring unforseen delays.

[Steven]

I remember reading about Hitachi and Sony developing 10gb drives

Originally Posted by kevH

Hi DTS

What the public want is :-

1 Approx 80 gb hd or more and stable
2 Great sound (try listening to a Rio Karma) and docking system with dedicated line out
3 Gapless playback
4 All format compatability eg mp3 wma wav ogg attrac et al
5 Robust build quality ( buttons that dont crack) OUCH
6 Picture ability ie album art and ability to view on tv screen whilst listening to music
7 Good software ( easy to use, just check out all the different types out there an nick the best)
8 Decent headphones in box
9 Decent battery life and replaceable
10 Decent in line remote or even IR remote
11 Accessories in abundance look at the ipod and at the time of launch not 6 months after

You may find people willing to pay a premium for all the above in a sexy little player who knows ?????

In essence surf the reviews of all different players, check out the users websites and see whats important to people youll find all the sites whether its the sony vaio, rio users, ipod lounge or mystic river they all want the same !!!!!

Ah we can dream

Kev

Kev, nigh on the perfect list. Why doesn't someone just nick everyone else's best ideas and make the perfect DAP? What the hell is so hard in that?

Originally Posted by KeanosMagicHat

Next month ..... barring unforseen delays.

Keano do you know for sure whether this is the 20 gig or more HD6/7 that is coming out or could it be a "HD5 mini" with 5 to 10 gigs as some have speculated here?
Very interested if it is a new model.
hh

[KeanosMagicHat]

Originally Posted by haroldpark

Keano do you know for sure whether this is the 20 gig or more HD6/7 that is coming out or could it be a "HD5 mini" with 5 to 10 gigs as some have speculated here?
Very interested if it is a new model.
hh

It is the former. Can't give any more details on here as I am sure you understand.

EDIT - To answer the question below the next player is scheduled for UK release next month.

There is only one thing that can hold it up that I am aware of (and Sony are working on that at the moment) but I will not go into any further details about this or about the player specifications.

Could I ask that people please respect this and refrain from PM'ing me for more information.

Thank you.

Keanos - While I understand you can't get into specifics about the new player, can you confirm whether the new player will be available in September or simply an announcement is going to be made and the player will be available at a later date?

Thanks