Player worthy of note
Product: Sony Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1 audio player Price: $3,228 Pros: Good design, top-notch audio playback and fine colour screen Cons: Pricier than many portable audio players. Has smaller capacity than iPod Photo.
Months before Apple Computer made a big splash with its iPod Photo, Sony had already unveiled a hard disk-based audio player with a colour-screen viewer for digital pictures - the Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1.
Despite that lead to market, Sony has plenty of catching up to do as the iPod continues to enjoy prominent sales and marketing success worldwide.
That does not mean the Vaio Pocket, which is among a handful of audio players prematurely dubbed by the trade press as an 'iPod killer', is without merit. Like every Sony product, the Vaio Pocket is a well-designed system that is attractive.
Released in Hong Kong this month, the Vaio Pocket portable player can store and play back up to 20 gigabytes of music, jpeg images and other data. Its storage capacity can manage up to 13,000 songs filed on Sony's ATRAC3plus format.
The proprietary format, known formally as Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding, was developed by Sony more than a decade ago for its MiniDisc system. To be competitive with other audio players in the market, the Vaio Pocket also supports more popular audio formats such as MP3, WAV and WMA.
Its 2.2-inch, liquid crystal display (LCD) screen vividly presents full-colour photos, albums and a music-enhanced slide show of personal photos even in bright sunlight.
The Sony player comes with a cradle that connects the device directly to any personal computer or digital camera via a Universal Serial Bus 2.0 cable. The cradle can also be connected to speakers for enjoying music at home.
Wrapped in a cool black nickel and aluminium casing, the Vaio Pocket is guaranteed to be durable enough to resist scratches.
The player is designed for singled-handed operation, as it features a unique user interface called G-Sense. This easy-to-use, intuitive interface is made up of a grid of raised dots working together like a PC touch pad, which allows for smooth and precise song navigation and selection using one hand.
Sony has also supplied a three-line backlit LCD remote control when the player is in a bag or outfit pocket.
The Vaio Pocket offers up to 20 hours of non-stop music playback with a single charge. Its built-in SonicStage music management software helps import, transfer and organise music files and play lists.
