Sony 8 GB Hard Drive Walkmans Get Ready

Sony's 8 GB hard drive-based NW-A1200 Walkmans pack a small price, small footprint, good features and a cool display - but can you deal with Sony Connect?

Flash-based players mightbe all the rage, but maybe tha just makes the hard-drive players cheaper and cooler. Sony has officially started taking pre-orders its NW-A1200 hard-drive based Walkmans in the U.S., sporting 8 GB capacities, two colors (pink and violet), and very swanky 1.5-inch Organic Electroluminescent Displays (OLED) which makes player functions and track information appear to float just over the surface of the device.

The NW-A1200s use a lithium-ion battery (rechargeable via adapter or USB) which Sony says offers up to 20 hours of playtime; the unit can be boosted up to 80 percent capacity in just one hour of charging. The players can handle English, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Chinese (both traditional and simplified), and also incorporate skip protection and shock protection technologies to keep your music safe and prevent skipping even during the roughest bike rides, running courses, or, um, traffic.

The NW-A1200s support MP3, AAC, and WMA music ripped from physical CDs but