To say that my blood is boiling would be an understatement!
I just came across this story today;
http://www.trustedreviews.com/multi...y-Dumps-ATRAC-Connect-Intros-Free-Walkmans/p1
So I headed over to the Sony site (
http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowArticle.action?article=1187079490398&site=odw_en_GB) to check it out, sure enough, two new series of players with the NWZ-A815, A816 & A818 looking identical to my recently purchased NW-A808 (2 of them!).
The only difference? Yup, open format, sonicstage no longer required, just drag and drop. PS3 compatibilty for the future to. Now this is the right way to go, sonicstage is appaling, I love my two players and can just about tolerate that software.
Now my players are 3 weeks old, bought from the local sony centre where there was no mention of a new open format varient in the future so were does that leave me and the many others that bought this player. As far as I can tell the units (new and old) look identical. I am praying that a firmware upgrade is all that will be required to bring my NW-A808's in line with the newer guys but aint holding out much hope.
I've sent a letter to sony uk asking for an explanation, i.e you expect equipment to be superseded but not after only 4 months in circulation. If you are a UK owner then I would suggest you do the same. Address is:
Customer Information Centre
Sony United Kingdom Limited
Jays Close
Viables
Basingstoke
RG22 4SB
Come on Sony, do the right thing!