MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Wait - they are going to be more expensive than the iPod shuffles they are competing with? Sony doesn't get it at all, do they?

$130 for 512 MB is kinda pricy, but it comes with FM.
it plays MP3 files so it's a step in the right direction for sony. I don't think Apple has anything to fear though.
As always iTunes + iPod is the key.

.. and a screen.

They really hurt themselves entering this market with ATRAC only players. Now they're playing some serious catch-up and it may be too late. These look like decent players I don't think they'll be able to compete with iPod.

"Walkman Beans" - they're kidding, surely? Is this the best they can do - swap unmemorable alphanumeric product names for .. "Beans?"

I just can't see it:
"Hey I bought you a Sony Walkman Bean for your birthday" - not likely

"Wow - I LOVE my new Bean" - uh-huh.....

"This Bean from Sony is SO cool" - not

Come on... next they'll tell me that Samsung have called their players something stupid like "Yepp" ...

It is pitifull to see a once-great company like Sony fall so low. It is "beleagured" alright - just like Apple was in the mid-90's. I doubt Sir Howard Stringer was the right choice to get them back on the beaten track either. They need a revolution, and that clapped out old record exec certainly isn't it.

Beans indeed... rehashed and reheated.. same crap, different name.

From the pictures, the way you are supposed to hold it means that the display is always vertical, you're gonna have to twist your hand to get it horizontal or change your grip. Plus it still looks too techy with fiddly little buttons. As Douglas Adams once wrote - "We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognise something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual."

sounds like the iPod flea. Incase you didn't get the memo Sony, THAT WAS A JOKE!

You plant them in the ground and it grows a giant beanstalk that has copy-protected CD's as its leaves.

Are they magic beans? I seriously doubt it. Don't look for the Sony beanstalk to grow very high.

beans beans the magical fruit…

The screen is good, but pricy and those FM tuners are usually lousy.
I'll stick with my Apple products, thanks anyway SONY

as they say in the south...

"Not worth a hill of beans."

The reason I got a Shuffle was because radio is such crap these days. I even listen to it while driving. and if I want non-musical programming, I can add a podcast or two.

Normally I like most of Sony's industrial design for their products. This new bean thing is just hideous though! Their previous flash backes net walkman's were cool though, these ones: http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-5838111-2.html

i dont know that theyll still be making those, but anyways I think they're cool looking. Does it come close to an iPod? No way. But still, as I said I think MOST of Sony's designs are apealing. However, this year, they've been TERRIBLE! Their new display lineup is ugly as hell, same goes for their desktop Viao's.

Bean? What a gas.

Yeah, like this is going to amount to a hill of beans.

Network beans, they'll make ya toot!

or

They'll toot yer horn!

even simpler.

You'll toot!

The bean looking one is very nice I think (not worth a 30% premium over an iPod Shuffle but still looks nice). The other two...the cyliner of Crack and the iMac "puck mouse" designed ones aren't gonna fly IMHO.

I really think Apple missed something with radio though. An FM tuner is CHEAP, doesn't dilute the brand, and if people don't like it they don't have to use it. Plus, an XM or Sirus deal would have been blockbuster.

Still, I think Apple's whole strategy is get as many iTunes on the hard drives of as many people as possible. Anything that distracts from that (like radio) must be ignored. Once iTunes are all over hard drives, people have more incentive to STAY with iTunes than switch to WMA. It's like buying new CDs when you already own the tape and the record.

mdn: gives

Beans? BEANS?

Of all the things to name your product.

The things associated with beans:

Bean counters
Not worth a hill of beans
Gas (not the petroleum product)
Beans, Beans, the magical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot.
Ann Margaret in Tommy
Bean bag chairs (Oooh! Haut coutour!)
Lima beans
Franks & beans

Oh, there are just so many things I associate to the word beans that are just marvelous that I'll run rought out and get one. Or a whole can of 'em. Jeez. Someone should be fired.

Beans, beans.

They're good for your heart.

Beans, beans.

They make you fart!

Hey Mr. Bean, Let's see your fancy screen!

Despite all the bean jokes, I think this shows Sony is trying to break out of its staid box. Better to call them "Walkman Beans" than "NW-302xdi" or whatever the hell they name products these days.

The industrial design is also a step in the right direction. Still to many flimsy-looking buttons, though. And Sony obviously doesn't think its brand has been damanged in the music space with the pricing of the Beans.

But, this effort is a whole lot better than previous ones, if you get past the initial urge to ridicule the product and evaluate it more objectively.

Wow try to plug that into a crowded USB port - That is why the shuffle works so well it is no bigger than the port.

That ought to keep those "bean" counters busy..

From the website -

"Not only does the WALKMAN Bean look totally hot, it’s so much less complicated than all the other players out there to use, meaning that you can be listening to your fave tracks in no time…

Here’s the technical bit! The WALKMAN Bean comes with an inbuilt pop-up USB plug which means that when you hook it up to your PC, you don’t even have to hunt around for a wire as it connects directly. Easy and convenient!"

Much less complicated???????????

LOL

What happened to the model they introduced just a couple of months ago as the "iPod" killer; you know, the one with the neat screen. Is it gone already?

On the "Bean" name: It's probably hard for us all to remember the time when "iPod" wasn't a market-defining name. But, when it came out "iPod" was not the coolest sounding thing. Pod? What is it, something from Aliens??

That said, there's still nothing out there that is even giving Apple a reason to get concerned, Beans included....

A friend of mine traded the family cow for a handful of those things.

His mom beat the crap out of him when he got home....

OMG... the pictures of this product sent me into a laughing fit at my desk. Surely me co-workers think I've lost my mind. The bean? Really? Are they kidding?! hahahahahahahaha. I love Sony, don't get me wrong... they used to be so cool... but these days... it's sad to see how lame they've become. Also, I love the white earbuds. Posers.

Creative is calling one of theirs 'The Asparagus'.

I thought beans were inside pods?

From the Bean website:

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowArticle.action?article=1123188805574&site=odw_en_GB

Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, …you’ll be the envy of all your mates…

Huh?

LOL

"Beans and Rice?"

Pun intended...

Maybe they sshould start a trend...Lets see iPod... How about the "Beano"

Cant wait for the hot-dog shaped player called the FRANK - then they will have beans and franks.

Ha Ha

"Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, …you’ll be the envy of all your mates"

Absolutely hilarious, but I gotta tell ya, "It takes two hands to handle a whopper!"

WARNING: Beans can cause gas. Do not use in public places or when you're with your girlfriend.

beans?? I prefer the iflea

http://www.nytimes.com/video/html/2005/06/29/technology/highbandwidth/windowsmedia/20050629_GUEST_VIDEO.html

Do you think Sony has run out of ideas? Really? Honestly? I'd rather fist a chicken than buy any crap from them

MDN magic word: "cause"

'cause I'm right

Walkman Beans......silliest god dang name I have ever heard. I nearly peed in my pants.

Poor Sony.

Looks like a bean counter.

if someone gave me a mp3 player with an FM tuner it would end up on eBay in 2 weeks time. does anyone really need the extra feature? a screen is always nice, and kudos to them for doing that

as if iPOD is better than iBean...

beans live in pods don't they?

In addition, the japanese market is different, they like things named like that.

ipod shuffle is the more overrated player around....

has little style at all... and that electroluinescent screen is hella cool.

It is 1996 and Appel could have made 18 different Mac's: Wintel '95 was the winner at that time. Now the Apple iPod is the winner and the Mac is going to follow soon .. !

How you tink I go so fast?

Sony beans...I'm off to the store to get an iPod beano...

Yeehaw! Yeehaw! Ariba! Ariba! Ondele! Pronto! Ariba! Ariba! Yeeeehaaawww!!!

iBean thinking that I would rather you had gotten me an iPod instead of this ^%&*$

Sony has beans

or should it be
Sony, has beens.

Sony should make some cool add on for the iPod instead of trying to compete with it. And as far as marketing they have to start giving their products sexy names instead of number codes. I mean The Bean or something sounds better than NW-E307.

If you feel you have to keep mentioning that it's "cool" over and over in the ad, it's probably not all that cool - this is Sony trying too hard...

It should be intuitively obvious by now that it's not just the player. That last Sony flash player was actually great-looking, but they can't give those things away in Cracker Jack boxes.

iPod + iTunes + ITMS is the magic formula that Sony is still trying to figure out

Well it might be good, but I already have an iPod. Bean there, done that.