Dont know the model no of my old Sony walkman
Sony is rather peculiar when it comes to naming their player, only using model numbers that require a degree in cryptology to make sense of. It does make some sense but may not be obvious at first, especially for people not familiar with Sony’s. Therefore, here is a short guide:
The First part of the model number is either NW or NWZ. NW is Asian models, NWZ are American and European models. NW = Network: Walkman
The second part is a letter and 3 numbers. The letter shows the model type and the first number shows how advanced the model is, more or less.
The second number shows the generation. The first generation was players such as the A800 which used sonic stage. Then the A810 came as gen 2, A820 as gen 3, and we're now at gen 4 even though there’s not A830 (yet) - there are however other gen 4 players.
The last number shows capacity. 3 means 1GB, 5 means 2GB, 6 means 4GB, 8 means 8GB and 9 means 16GB. 0 is an indication of the player regardless of capacity.
Sometimes the model number is also shown with one or more letters at the end. Often that’s the color, ex BLK for black. KB for the A820 series means Bluetooth, headphones are included.
Most the players follow this rule more or less but of course there are some exceptions when it comes to Sony.
Series:
B - Basic - stick players
E - Economy - small flash players, current model E430
S - Specialized - medium flash players, current model S630 and S730 (extra feature for S730: Noise Cancellation)
A - Advanced - large (screen) flash players, current model A720 and A820 (extra feature for A820: Bluetooth)
Example of use of these model number codes:
The NWZ-A829 vs. the NWZ-A726: Both are European models. Both are the A series, generation 3, design is identical. The A820 has BT which the A720 doesn’t, hence the higher numbering for more advanced features. The A829's last number, 9, means its 16GB. The A726's last number, 6, means it’s 4GB.
-A players getting noise cancelling NW-A820, but then NWZ-A820 does not get it.
-S players have radio added on while A does not. Again one could argue a radio is specialized and so its on the S model
-although it is possible headphones also play a role, the new E43x models come with cheapo headphones while the S63x models come with higher end headphones and the 700 series usually coming with noise cancelling headphones and always with the S letter (this started in the first gen 700 series with the Noise cancelling)
HD based player naming scheme
They initially started out as flash based but moved to HDD in the HD-1 (hard drive 1) then moved onto HD-3 and then HD-5. Of course the numbers only showed that 5 was newer than 3 and so forth. Then the newer HDD based models arrived, the A1000 and A3000, and later the A1200. Unfortunately the numbers didn't show well the sizes of the hard drives
A1000 - 6 gigs
A1200 - 8 gigs
A3000 - 20 gigs
although divide 6/1000 = 0.006
0.006x1200 = 7.2
0.006x3000 = 18
so its not close to the 8 and 20 gigs
Atrac vs Non-Atrac
Although I agree NW and NWZ specify which area the device is sold but it wouldn't be Asian vs. NA/Europe since the NWZ models are on sale in India, Australia, New Zealand, and other Asian countries. It probably is to differentiate between atrac and non atrac models. Since all NWZ models can't play back atrac.
Generations and Capacity
The middle number, it does show generation
80x - first gen
81x - second gen
82x - third gen
83x - fourth gen (presumed)
But there is no 83x but there is a 73x series and 63x series on sale now, so and this signals the 4th gen
Ex. F in the naming signifies radio (FM) as in NWZE436FB, FM radio and black in color.
As for capacity, since 9 is 16 gigs now is it highly possible that 9 will become 32, 8 will become 16, 6 will be 8 gigs, but I have no such info to support this idea.
Colors
R - Red
B/BLK - Black
S - Silver
P - Pink
L - Blue
I am sure more could be added but I'd have to dig for full model numbers of older players.
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