Tokyo - Sony plans to shutter its Connect digital music service in North America and Europe next year, and end its portable players' reliance on the company's proprietary ATRAC file format.

The closure, due largely to lack of sales and the format issue, will not affect the company's Connect e-book store.

Sony will offer software upgrades for its existing portable players that allow them to convert ATRAC formatted songs they have purchased to Windows Media or MP3, and enable consumers to purchase songs for them from Microsoft-supported music services.

The company on Thursday also introduced the first Walkman portable players in the U.S. to support video playback.

The new NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 series of Walkman players will feature 2-inch and 1.8-inch QVGA video screens, respectively, and support playback of AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs, and Windows Media Audio, AAC and MP3 music formats.

Sony will begin shipping the devices in September, offering the players in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB versions ranging in price from $120 to $230.  

Related Links:
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/08/sony-connect-mu.html

http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=46356

http://www.sonystyle.com/walkman