![A series ロゴ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/A_series_%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B4.png)
The Walkman A Series is a flagship line of mid-range
digital audio player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
s (DAP) by
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
as part of its
Walkman
Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for p ...
range. The A Series has been marketed since 2005, initially as the top spec Walkman players and since 2014 as a mid-range following the introduction of the
ZX Series. The "A" originally stood for "All in one, Advanced, and Attractive".
History
2005–2008
A3000 and A1000
![Sony Network Walkman NW-A3000](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Sony_Network_Walkman_NW-A3000.jpg)
The A Series digital music player was introduced on September 8, 2005. It was available initially in 6 gigabyte (NW-A1000) and a larger sized 20 gigabyte (NW-3000) versions, while an 8 gigabyte version (NW-A1200) was also released. They were the replacement of the NW-HD5 in the Network Walkman line and remained a
hard disk player. The A Series was Sony's "rebirth" of the Walkman, and in its press release Sony said the series is "Simply called 'WALKMAN'" thereby dropping the Network name from all its future
digital audio player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
(DAP) products.
Its release date in Japan was November 19, 2005 with a retail price of 28,800 JPY while in the UK it retailed for about £190.
The NW-A3000 and NW-A1000 series feature an
electroluminescent
Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical and electrical phenomenon, in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field. This is distinct from black body light emission resulting from ...
screen. The player is pebble-shaped and has a highly reflective front, build with a metallic back, and a generally
minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post– World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...
style. It was available in black, silver, purple, pink and blue,
Koichiro Tsujino, a Sony executive, said that the goal of the A Series was to revive the Walkman brand which had been struggling both domestically and internationally.
Battery life can reach 20 and 35 hours respectively. The player supports
ATRAC3, MP3, WMA and from firmware version 3.00 it also supports
AAC. There are a number of features to select music according to a variety of criteria, which Sony advertized as adapting to the listener's "individual tastes".
The "Artist link" function prompts the Walkman to search, find and display similar artists in that genre. There are two new shuffle modes. By selecting "My Favourite Shuffle", the device automatically selects the 100 most listened to songs and plays them at random. The "Time Machine Shuffle" function randomly selects a year and plays all of the songs from that particular year currently held on the device. On the left side is an "Artist Link" button. A recent firmware update (V3.00) added the "Artist Link Shuffle" function to the list of Intelligent Shuffle modes, along with a clock and calendar. The means of putting music on this device (as with previous models) is to use Sony's
SonicStage
SonicStage is a discontinued software product from Sony that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media ...
software, though originally at release it was a new piece of software called
Connect Player which tied in with the
Sony Connect
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
online music store, or with
mora
Mora may refer to:
People
* Mora (surname)
Places Sweden
* Mora, Säter, Sweden
* Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality
* Mora Municipality, Sweden
United States
* Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community
* Mora, Minnesota, a city
* M ...
in Japan.
Billed as Sony's much-anticipated answer to the
iPod, the NW-A3000 and NW-A1000 series became a quick sales success in Japan and Europe and a big seller during the Christmas 2005 period. However, a significant number of customers had a negative experienced with the bundled Connect Player software, making them unable to transfer music, and reports of the software crashing their computers. In January 2006, Sony acknowledged "serious problems" with the software and advised customers to use SonicStage instead. The NW-A3000 and NW-A1000 series were the final
HDD Walkman devices when it was discontinued in 2007; after this all Walkman digital audio players would be solely
flash memory.
A600
In Japan and some territories, the NW-A600 series were released alongside the NW-A3000/A1000. It is a small thumb drive design and successor to the global
E Series E series may refer to:
* BMC E-series engine, a series of automobile engines
* Electronic E series of preferred numbers, a series of preferred values for electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, zener diodes
* Entwicklung seri ...
NW-E500/E400. Future players in this style would be released under E Series (until 2008) and
S Series (until 2007).
A800
![Video playing on Sony Walkman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Video_playing_on_Sony_Walkman.jpg)
The Sony NW-A800 series was the first video-enabled Network Walkman.
Announced on March 1, 2007,
this series has a metallic build. A chrome-like strip surrounds the edge of the device, and accenting of the same style surrounds the buttons and makes up the logos on the front. It features a QVGA display with ID3 tag and album art support.
It is available in 2 GB (NW-805), 4 GB (NW-806), and 8 GB (NW-808) capacities. The interface is similar to that of a mobile phone. The screen is a QVGA (240×320) colour LCD and can be used either horizontally or vertically. The Lithium-ion rechargeable battery can last up to 30 hours for music and 8 hours for video. This player is an ATRAC Audio Device which relies on SonicStage to manage music. For photo and video management it uses Sony's Image Converter. It also introduced the new 22-pin WM-PORT
dock connector
A dock connector is a connector used to attach a mobile electronic device simultaneously to multiple external resources. The dock connector will typically carry a variety of signals and power, through a single connector, to simplify the process o ...
,
replacing the 42-pin connector found on the predecessing A Series (A1000/1200/3000).
The NW-A800 has been released in the European Union, Asia, New Zealand, and North America. As of 19 May 2007, Sony Canada has released the 8 GB and 4 GB models. The 2 GB model was released on 13 June 2007.
A810 and A910
Announced August 2007, the NW-810 hardware wise is the same as NW-A800 but introduces some substantial changes in its media manager software for the international market. The player was the first flagship to eliminate the need of Sony's proprietary
SonicStage
SonicStage is a discontinued software product from Sony that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media ...
program, introducing a
drag and drop
In computer graphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to ...
feature to transfer media instead as well as native
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player (application software), media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing sound reproduction, audio, video and viewing images on personal computers runnin ...
support. It also no longer supports Sony's
ATRAC format.
Sony called the A810 as being built on an "open platform" and promoted it.
It was also the first video-enabled Walkman in the U.S. market.
The NW-A919 is a 16GB video Walkman with a digital
1seg TV tuner and
recorder
Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...
allowing the recording of 16 hours of live broadcasts. The player has a touch screen, measures 47.2mm×86.0mm×12.3mm and was available in black or silver. It was released in Japan in November 2007. Tech press in the west nicknamed it ''TV Walkman''.
A820 and A720
![Sony NWZ-A828 Walkman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Sony_NWZ-A828_Walkman.jpg)
In March 2008, Sony debuted A820 and A720 series. The A820 was the first Walkman equipped with a
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
module which can be used to connect wireless headphones - the A720 lacks Bluetooth. The upgraded A820 and A720 had a 2.4" LCD display and a selection of memory from 4 gigabytes to 16 gigabyte. This also includes the popular 8 GB version. In some regions the package will contain a pair of Sony In-Ear Earbuds with sound-reduction technology. The EX85 series earbuds are included in the US retail package. It will not include an FM radio, additional memory storage, or a voice recorder.
2009–2011
A840
Introduced September 2009, the A840 Series was very thin (marketed as "Super Slim"), only 7.2 mm thick. It has a 2.8 inch
OLED
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED or organic LED), also known as organic electroluminescent (organic EL) diode, is a light-emitting diode (LED) in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light i ...
display; it was not filled with extras such as touchscreen or internet capabilities, which was reserved for the
Walkman X Series.
This was the first A Series to adopt the now familiar "
Mickey Mouse" button layout that was first introduced in the E and S series the year before.
The A840 came in capacities of 8 gigabyte up to 64 gigabyte. It also introduced several new features, including a Language Learning function, a playlist bookmark function, and Virtual Phones Technology. It has rated 50 hours music playback time or 10 hours video playback time.
A850
![Sony Walkman NW-A850](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Sony_Walkman_NW-A850.jpg)
The A850 Series was released in November 2010 exclusively in Japan for 24,000 yen (16 GB), 30,000 yen (32 GB) and 40,000 yen (64 GB).
A860
The A860 Series was introduced in 2011 (alongside S760 and E460 series). It has a 2.8 inch LCD touchscreen and is styled like a contemporary smartphone. It introduced for the first time in the A Series the
SensMe
SensMe is a proprietary music mood and tempo detection system created by Sony Corporation, and employed in numerous Sony branded products, including in some Walkman digital music players, the Media Go application, the PlayStation Portable, and Sony ...
channels and Karaoke Mode functionality.
After this model, the A Series was replaced by the
F Series.
2014–2019
![SONY NWZ-A15 Hi-Res Walkman Digital Media Player](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/SONY_NWZ-A15_Hi-Res_Walkman_Digital_Media_Player.jpg)
The A Series returned with the NWZ-A10 hi-res Walkman introduced in September 2014, with the ability to play 24-bit
FLAC files as well as
ALAC and
DSD. It features Bluetooth and NFC. The player is small sized relative to smartphones of the time and has a 2.2 inch non-touch display, demonstrating the focus on a "classic" music player.
The base NWZ-A15 16 GB model retailed for US$299.
Released in 2015 the A20 Series also has noise canceling.
Introduced in October 2016, the A30 Series can also playback
Direct Stream Digital
Direct Stream Digital (DSD) is a trademark used by Sony and Philips for their system for digitally encoding audio signals for the Super Audio CD (SACD).
DSD uses pulse-density modulation encoding - a technology to store audio signals on digital ...
(DSD). It now has a 3.1 inch touchscreen display.
It was followed by NW-A40 and NW-A50 series.
2019–present
A100 and A105
![Sony's 40th anniversary Walkman NW-A100TPS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Sony%27s_40th_anniversary_Walkman_NW-A100TPS.png)
At the 40th anniversary of the original Walkman, Sony introduced the NW-A100 series in September 2019. The A100 series has a similar design as the A50 but with a larger display and borrowing physical key designs from the
NW-ZX300 - it includes a 3.6 inch display, 26 hours of audio playback, and both a 3.5 mm headphone and
USB-C
USB-C (properly known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system with a rotationally symmetrical connector. The designation C refers only to the connector's physical configuration or form factor and should not be confused with the conn ...
port, the latter replacing Sony's proprietary WM-PORT.
Paying tribute to the original cassette player, the NW-A100 series players include a cassette tape splash screen that changes depending on what is played. There is, however, no FM radio present.
The limited edition anniversary model, NW-A100TPS (with the TPS paying homage to the model name of the 1979 Walkman), has a "40th Anniversary" logo on its back, as well as the very first Walkman logo. This edition comes with a soft cover, styled like the first Walkman.
The Japanese domestic model, for the first time, no longer has
ATRAC audio support.
Specifications and comparison
See also
*
Walkman S Series
The Walkman S Series is a line of portable media players designed and developed by Sony, currently marketed in Japan. The S Series made their debut in the fall of 2006 and later were launched in other regions. Although the first generation of mode ...
*
Walkman X Series
*
Walkman ZX Series
*
List of Sony Walkman products
The following is a partial list of Sony Walkman products which includes products of various formats under the brand. Up to March 2010 Sony built 400 million Walkmans (of which 200,020,000 were original cassette Walkmans) worldwide.
Walkman (ori ...
References
{{Sony
Sony products
Digital audio players
Portable media players