On the 10th anniversary of the first Sony Mini Disc Walkman yesterday, Sony unveiled the world's smallest and lightest player.
The MD Walkman MZ-E10 comes in a size of 81.9mm x 79.1mm x 9.9mm and weighs only 55 grams. It will be on the market in November priced at 30,000 yen (about HK$1,980).
The Japanese electronics giant became the leading Walkman maker as digital music formats rapidly replaced analogue cassette tapes. Sony's portable line-up now includes the MD Walkman, which can convert MP3 audio files from a computer, as well as the MS Walkman, which uses Sony's removable storage medium Memory Stick.
According to Susumu Kitadai, division managing director of Sony Hong Kong, the MD Walkman has been one of the best-selling items for the Hong Kong market.
Mr Kitadai was speaking at the launch of the company's latest digital home-theatre systems yesterday. The two new mid-range models - DAV-S880 and DAV-S550 - are able to play super audio compact discs (SACD).
SACD is a high-resolution CD audio format introduced by Sony and Phillips. It uses direct stream digital (DSD) recording, a proprietary Sony technology that has a sampling rate of 2.8MHz and a dynamic range of 120dB, compared to 96dB on standard CDs.
