Sony has recently launched their newest Walkman gadget, and when I say Walkman, I don't mean the old portable cassette tape players that Sony is famous for pioneering. The NW-A800 Video MP3 Player is obviously and attempt on Sony's part to steal some steam (and some market share) away from the Apple iPod. This player also marks the first instance of a combined MP3/Video player for Sony.

“The new WALKMAN Video MP3 player combines the best visual experience with the ultimate in Sony sound technology. The new WALKMAN is compact, stylish and affordable without compromising on screen size which is incredibly important for consumers.” said a Sony spokesperson.

Shipping with a 2" QVGA LCD display (320x240 pixels), it comes with memory capacities ranging from 2GB to 4GB to 8GB with four color options; violet, black, white and pink. But perhaps the most impressive feature is the continuous 30 hour music playback or the 8 hours of video replay.

Some very cool accessories include a car cigarette lighter power adapter for charging, a mini jack for playing through your car stereo system, FM and Bluetooth transmitter (sorry, no word on AM).

But in the grand scheme of things, it's just another portable media player entering a market already bursting at the seams. The Sony NW-A800 doesn't really boast any new feature or break any new ground. It may playback ATRAC audio files, but they sound just like AAC, MP3, OggVorbis, and WAV. Video has been done to death. Adapters and plugs too. The battery life is impressive, but not a key selling point. They storage capacity is lower than most (especially in comparison to a hard drive based iPod), but isn't a major issue. The starting price of $294 USD is a little high, especially if that's for the 2GB model and higher for the 8GB version. It will be starting its life in Europe with some pre-sales (official launch come April) and will eventually make its way around the globe.

Yeah, it looks like a nice portable media player, but does it stand a chance against the iPod. I finally recently bought my first iPod (I was the last person on the planet, nay, in the universe to do so) in the for of the 80GB black video iPod. I quite like it despite its very few short falls. The battery life is shameful but somewhat expected when having to spin a hard drive. I love the extra portable storage space, but iTunes ticks me off sometimes. But my real gripe is that there seems to be no iPodLinux install that will work with my iPod right now. I'm certain someone will develop some support soon, or maybe one of you might know if there is a version of iPodLinux to support my iPod.