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Sony Teaches the Walkman to Play MP3 Tunes The latest version of the venerable portable music machine will handle the hot digital format Ready to ditch your Walkman for an MP3 player that can play digital music downloaded from the Web? Well, Sony Corp. is ready when you are. It's launching a new version of its best-selling tape player that's MP3-ready. At a PC show in Tokyo on Sept. 22, Sony unveiled its new Memory Stick Walkman that plays music downloaded from Net via a PC or transferred from a CD. The sleek, handheld device is due to go on sale in the U.S., Europe, and Japan in mid-December, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The only catch is the price tag: an estimated $400 for the initial model. COPYRIGHT-SAFE. But for the serious music lover, Sony's new system may be simpler to use than what's currently on the market. The player comes bundled with software on a CD-ROM disk. Once installed on your PC, the application lets you download music from the Web, regardless of the compression format. The music is then transferred to a tiny 64-MB "memory stick," about the size of a piece of chewing gum, that's inserted into the player for playback. And there's no need to worry about copyright violation because Sony has installed copyright-protection technology that allows users to transfer but not copy downloaded music It's a fitting extension of the Walkman portable cassette player, first launched 20 years ago. Over that time, it has gone through some 80 model changes and generated sales of more than 230 million units for Sony. "We're staying true to the Walkman concept of personal entertainment," explains Kunitake Ando, head of Sony's information technology operations. "What's different is all the variety we're introducing." Sony, no doubt, is hoping its loyal Walkman fans will agree. By Irene M. Kunii in Tokyo
EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT
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