Personally I'm a music maniac and have used various devices (3 sony casette walkmans, 1 sony CD walkman, 1 sony netMD and a creatvie muvo^2) for years. Sound quality was always going forward and muvo^2 was really a step back.

Sony had some really nice DSPs (e.g. Type-S 24 bit DSP of my MD), engineering intelligence, innovation and other things required to build an iPod killer. I've been listening my MD for two days and thinking that why sony is not building devices which sound THAT good. Sony is already an expert in low power electronics. With a decent UI / styling, an extreme DSP and an easy way to transfer files between PC and device (like iPod (that can sync with linux too) or the plain removable device scheme) sony can beat everyone in the market and fill a niche market which is filled with ppl who are listening music 10hr+ a day.

Yes, Type-S was for Atrac family but if sony can make atrac sound that good, can make mp3 sound that good too.