Sony grabbed headlines last week for announcing two new hard drive-based portable music players able to download music from its Sony Connect website.
The company, historically known for taking a leadership position in the portable music business, had until recently frowned upon MP3 players commonly used to store music downloaded free off the internet.
However, Apple's phenomenal success with the iPod and iTunes has prompted the electronics company to follow suit.
The Japanese giant is not only late with this release, but its products are almost sure to disappoint.
The two Network Walkmans are not groundbreaking in terms of features or design and look like more expensive, flashier versions of Archos' products.
The US$400 20-gigabyte Network Walkman NW-HD1 and the $500 40GB Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1L will be released in autumn.
The Network Walkman holds up to 13,000 songs, and the Vaio Pocket up to 26,000. The Vaio Pocket has a 2.2-inch colour screen that lets consumers display photos and album covers while playing music.
