Sony Selling Waterproof MP3 Player Inside Bottles of Water

[Kahani]

An mp3 player? How '90s.

How hard would a waterproof micro sd port be?

Considering that there's already a waterproof microSD slot in the Sony Xperia, apparently not very hard at all.

As for people saying that 4GB is plenty because that's all you need for a gym session, what you are apparently missing is that most people don't want to have to constantly faff around swapping files every time they want a change. I want all my music in one place, and then I can change between playlists, make new ones, or just hit random depending on how I feel. I can barely fit my music collection on the 32GB SD card in my phone, so a 4GB mp3 player is about as useful as one with a 3.5" floppy drive.

Imagine having a waterproofed 20-35gb player that could accept Flac quality music, that shit would be amazing when priced at least £50.

As I mention above, Sony already sell waterproof phones that can play FLAC plus just about any other format you might want. As do Samsung, and Motorola used to although I'm not sure if they have any currently available. Admittedly a little more than £50, but since anyone looking for a waterproof mp3 player is likely to have a smartphone anyway, why would they not just get one that can already do everything the mp3 player can, only much better?

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

As I mention above, Sony already sell waterproof phones that can play FLAC plus just about any other format you might want. As do Samsung, and Motorola used to although I'm not sure if they have any currently available. Admittedly a little more than £50, but since anyone looking for a waterproof mp3 player is likely to have a smartphone anyway, why would they not just get one that can already do everything the mp3 player can, only much better?

But I already own a Motorola phone that's lasted me 7-8 years, I don't see the need in getting anew phone, I already have my NExus 7 but I just want an Mp3 player from Sony that's 35-60gb that's waterproof, I've yet to see them try though, yes we've seen them try but only for sports users, a demographic that's going to have to pay off big time for the whole vending machine+water bottle getup.

 

[Evil Smurf]

For what it's worth, I just wrap my phone in the plastic wrap for sandwiches to make it waterproof. As my phone still works, I'd say I'm on the money.

 

[Dogstile]

As for people saying that 4GB is plenty because that's all you need for a gym session, what you are apparently missing is that most people don't want to have to constantly faff around swapping files every time they want a change..

This is absolute bullshit. Lets put the maths up on this.

Lets assume its a 4 minute song so around 4 megabytes. This is 1024 mb to a gb. x4 you get 4096. So at a megabyte a minute you get that - whatever room the software takes. If we assume the software takes up a gb, you get 3072 minutes of songs. This is like 51 hours worth of music.

If you have more than 51 hours of music you're swapping regularly because you're getting bored, you're in the minority.

Edit:

Hell, you could even use way higher quality music and still have a good 10 hours of music.

 

[Megacherv]

Sony seem to be on a waterproof craze recently, what with the Xperia Z phones and tablet, any word on the Vita slim being waterproof?

The water proof phone thing has to do with people in Japan using their phones in the bath. As for the Vita, no, they are not planning on setting it up with waterproofing anytime soon.

OT: So, they gave away a bunch of them first? Will they be sold in bottles of water on store shelves? I'm really confused as to what that Ad was getting at.

That was meant to be a joke but kinda fell flat

 

[lacktheknack]

My question is who carries around $100 in coins to buy one of these things :/

No one. Haven't you ever seen vending machines take credit card?

OT: Cool. If I ever get back into swimming, I'd buy it.

 

[EvilRoy]

I'm a little surprised at the number of people decrying the 4 gb storage. Honestly I think its great, particularly since it is intended for exercise.

Itunes sells music with a bitrate of 256 kbps last I bothered to check, so about 15 mb per min. Assuming you've lost half a gig to software, that's still 239 mins of music - more than enough for even a half day hike let alone a single workout session. Add to that the fact that many people aren't audiophiles and use 'regular' quality mp3s at 160 kbps, doing the easy math that increases the time on our device to 382 mins.

If you own more than six and a half hours of music for workouts alone, and you find yourself concerned that you will have to swap out music as you get tired of it every week then I would hazard that you don't read this website. Between a part time job and 6 to 12 hours of exercise a day (assuming you would need to hear a song at least ten or so times per week to get tired of it) you wouldn't have time to use the internet.

I own an ipod that I like to use for general walking around, but even with the 8 gb of storage on it (too small to fit my full collection at my preferred bitrate) I still don' hear the same song for days at a time.

 

[Dogstile]

My question is who carries around $100 in coins to buy one of these things :/

No one. Haven't you ever seen vending machines take credit card?

OT: Cool. If I ever get back into swimming, I'd buy it.

Jesus christ every time I come back to this website it gets worse, that avatar is fucking scary man.

 

[lacktheknack]

My question is who carries around $100 in coins to buy one of these things :/

No one. Haven't you ever seen vending machines take credit card?

OT: Cool. If I ever get back into swimming, I'd buy it.

Jesus christ every time I come back to this website it gets worse, that avatar is fucking scary man.

if only you knew how much worse this avatar is going to get

 

[Nooh]

Lots of complaining

This specific MP3 is designed for people who do go swimming or biking, etc in places with a hell of a lot of water. Looking at the thing it says up to 8 hours playback and a quick charge will have you going for an hour? Shit, i'm ok with that. Also, 4gb is plenty enough. I'm an IT professional and that's all my memory stick needs. If I want to take a lot of data i'll take my External HDD but for most basic troubleshooting applications, you'll be able to store all of the ones you will reasonably need on a 4gb.

Being designed for swimmers is no excuse for it having poor storage.
We are talking about music, not application storage, so your ImA does not apply here at all.

If we limit ourselves to 320kbps mp3s we got ~10MB per song (2.4MB per minute). Thats barely scratching 400 songs and in reality will be less due to how storage is calculated and the OS of the player.
And carrying your external HDD in your pocket to listen to music isnt really ideal now is it.

Actually, yes, it is exactly a valid excuse for it having poor storage. This is specifically made for being able to listen to music while working out in wet conditions. You don't need more than a couple hours of music because, here's the kicker, you can replace the songs between workout sessions. Shocker, isn't it? It's not made for carrying around your entire music collection everywhere you go, it's for giving you the option to listen to music while working out even if you are a swimmer, for example.

And in the wise words of Ilya Bryzgalov:

Spoiler

 

[Lightknight]

Well, that's one way to drive the transport costs up...

On a serious note, 4GB in 2014 is just pathetic. I can get 32 GB micro SD cards for a couple of bucks, and that in retail. Any word on what that thing costs?

It's 4GB of only audio. No screen. So it isn't as bad as if an iPod touch had that little. But yeah, it's not that big. 1,000 or so songs depending on the specifics. It'll get the job done though. I don't really have over 1,000 songs that I would actually want to hear underwater.

They do appear to have an 8GB version but this is indeed pretty far behind. Any word on whether or not you can switch out the memory? I assume the ability to do that would make it cease to be waterproof.

 

[the doom cannon]

As I mention above, Sony already sell waterproof phones that can play FLAC plus just about any other format you might want. As do Samsung, and Motorola used to although I'm not sure if they have any currently available. Admittedly a little more than £50, but since anyone looking for a waterproof mp3 player is likely to have a smartphone anyway, why would they not just get one that can already do everything the mp3 player can, only much better?

Would you go swimming with your phone? Where would you put it? The device caters to a niche audience that swims a lot, and their marketing strategy is spot on. Pricing is also decent.

Also, why would you ever need more than 1000 songs to listen to while swimming? Bigger storage would also drive up the price of the device too, and having removable storage would probably increase the size.

 

[Scrythe]

Imagine having a waterproofed 20-35gb player that could accept Flac quality music, that shit would be amazing when priced at least £50.

Now you're just being unreasonable.

We're not living in the future or anything.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Imagine having a waterproofed 20-35gb player that could accept Flac quality music, that shit would be amazing when priced at least £50.

Now you're just being unreasonable.

We're not living in the future or anything.

I wouldn't call that unreasonable, we've done so much for mankind for such a long time that having this made wouldn't be that unreasonable, asking for the cure for cancer to be totally made for everyone indefinitely and for free is totally unreasonable.

I keep hearing from people that "the future is now" from the ads and books and media I'm reading and seeing these days.

 

[loa]

I'd be worried that the water corrodes those things or that algae start growing on them after being in the bottle for a few months and I also wouldn't drink that water.
Seems pretty impractical.
It also seems to me that water constantly swashing against it while you're swimming would most likely do no good for the music listening experience.

 

[Weaver]

As someone who only owns 320kb/s MP3s (or FLAC files) 4gb isn't really that much when a song clocks in at 16 - 20 megs.
Though I have hundreds of gigs of music so idk.

 

[Scrythe]

Imagine having a waterproofed 20-35gb player that could accept Flac quality music, that shit would be amazing when priced at least £50.

Now you're just being unreasonable.

We're not living in the future or anything.

I wouldn't call that unreasonable, we've done so much for mankind for such a long time that having this made wouldn't be that unreasonable, asking for the cure for cancer to be totally made for everyone indefinitely and for free is totally unreasonable.

I keep hearing from people that "the future is now" from the ads and books and media I'm reading and seeing these days.

<.< I was being sarcastic.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Imagine having a waterproofed 20-35gb player that could accept Flac quality music, that shit would be amazing when priced at least £50.

Now you're just being unreasonable.

We're not living in the future or anything.

I wouldn't call that unreasonable, we've done so much for mankind for such a long time that having this made wouldn't be that unreasonable, asking for the cure for cancer to be totally made for everyone indefinitely and for free is totally unreasonable.

I keep hearing from people that "the future is now" from the ads and books and media I'm reading and seeing these days.

<.< I was being sarcastic.

Oh well now i feel stupid now.

I'll just waltz over to this corner now.

 

[lemby117]

4gb should be plenty for a gym playlist, I have no idea what you guys are on about when you think its not enough. For me that's what, a couple hours worth of songs?

My 4gig has about 200 songs, 5 or 6 audiobooks and a few playlists set up and it's not even using 2 gigs. I don't know what people are complaining about, it's more than adequate since, y'know, all it does is play music.

On another topic, I wonder if the water is any good.

I have 1000 songs taking up 12 gigs... thats why this is a problem for people

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I don't know about these screenless variants but I DO know that Sony makes some nice MP3 players. I bought an NWZ-E364 a while ago. It cost a lot at the time but it's been beaten up rather hard over the years and it's still trucking along just fine. Not to mention all the awesome options for it and a slick interface to boot. Perhaps the only problem I have with it is that it's only 8 GB and you can't expand the storage with an SD card.

Nevertheless, I'm not the kind of guy who gets WHOLE ALBUMS of music in one go, so my music folder is really small compared to others. (2.5 GB) So this MP3 player is rather perfect for me. Of course, it may not have the raw functionality and power of, say, a Creative Zen, but in its own tier, it's amazing.