The Japanese company launched the Network Walkman last month, on the 25th anniversary of the first (cassette-based) Walkman.

ECONOMIST: The race to catch the iPod | The

The iPod can download music only from iTunes, while the Network Walkman can take songs from the Sony Connect service, but not from iTunes.

ECONOMIST: The race to catch the iPod | The

And what's more, after they announced their new line of Network Walkman devices late yesterday, we discovered they even had intentions of adding WMA support, which just about dislocated our jaws, they dropped so hard.

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