After the first details (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1620) came out on Sony's potential iPod killer, Guardian Unlimited has an exclusive hands-on review (http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,1217154,00.html).

Our prime question: Is Sony's new music player good enough to trump the iconic Apple iPod?

What I personally dislike most: You have to convert your MP3s to Atrac 3 first before porting them to the device. Since both formats are based on lousy-compression, you can expect some loss in sound quality when transferring from one to the other. :thumbsdow

This (http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20040521/dev069.htm) Japanese Site has lots of pictures of the upcoming VGF-AP1. Sony's audio player is not as stylish as the iPod, yet it is fascinating in its own way.