Uh, oh, Apple: Competition for the iPod

Sony is introducing their new version of the Walkman, a 20-gig player that is a direct competitor for the iPod. And if I read it correctly, it even plays mp3s. Actually, it converts mp3s into a proprietary format for use on the player, but you can load your mp3s onto it (which you can't do on the iPod). No, wait, this article says you can't do that. OK, now I'm confused.

Wait, here's the answer from a different article:

The Walkman supports only Sony's ATRAC3 compression format, versions of which are used with Sony's MiniDisc players and its recently-launched Windows-only "Connect" online music store. Music files encoded in other formats, such as MP3, first have to be converted to ATRAC3 before they can be played and software to accomplish this is included. Transcoding typically results in some reduction in quality.

I feel much better now.

"New Sony Walkman aims to silence iPod" on MSNBC.com.