It looks like Sony has something new and improved up its sleeve: the NW-HD5, a tiny 20GB audio player that is the successor to the less-than-successful NW-HD1, NW-HD2 and NW-HD3. (Sidebar: according to a DAPReview member, 4 is associated with death Japan, so that's why it isn't the NW-HD4).
In any case, Sony may finally have a winner on its hands. The NW-HD5 is signficantly smaller than the iPod, measuring just 3.5"x2.6"x0.56" and 4.8oz, compared with the current 20GB iPod at 4.1"x2.4"x 0.57" and 5.6oz. Battery life is reported to range into 30 hours, compared with the iPod's 12 hour charge.
It appears that the NW-HD5 will be released some time in May with a retail price of around US$375, which is quite a bit higher than the 20GB iPod's $299 retail price. Also, there appear to be 3 color choices: red, black and white.
AV Watch (machine translated) of Japan has several pics of the NW-HD5, including this nice Apple/Sony size comparison.
More bits at: Engadget (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), DAPReview (1 and 2), Gizmodo, Pocket Lint (1 and 2), Tech Digest UK and Digital Media Thoughts.
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[Source: Player Blog]
