After a few false starts, Sony is firing two shots across Apple’s bow with its latest flash-based music players, both of which play music, photos, and videos and offer Clear Audio Technologies for enhanced sound quality. The A800 and S600 leave the lame Sony Connect store behind and support AAC, MP3 and WMA files. They also sync with the more popular Windows Media Player 11 and work with all the major online music stores under that umbrella (including Napster, Urge and Yahoo). The A800 features a two-inch QVGA LCD (good for watching video) and comes in white, black, silver and pink. The sportier S600 features a smaller 1.8-inch display and includes an FM tuner. This model comes in black, pink, red, and silver and has a soft-touch finish.
Sony Walkman S600 Series; $120 (2GB), $160 (4GB), $210 (8GB)
Sony Walman A800 Series; $140 (2GB), $180 (4GB), $230 (8GB)
www.sonystyle.com