Sony today introduced a new hard drive based digital music player. The Sony Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1 has a 20GB storage capacity, a 2.2-inch color LCD screen (320 x 256 resolution), and is compatible with Sony’s ATRAC3 and ATRAC3 Plus digital music formats, both of which include digital rights management (DRM). The Vaio Pocket (115 x 63 x 17mm; 195g) is both larger and heavier than the 20GB iPod (104 x 61 x 16mm; 158g). However, Sony claims their new player offers 20 hours of playback compared to the iPod’s 8 hours. The Vaio Pocket will go on sale in Japan next month for around ¥53,000 (US$475). There are no plans to bring it to the US at this time.
