Sony, the people who brought you the rootkit to "protect" their music....

[Saracen]

... Boycotting them wholesale is going to affect you more than it affects them.

I can't see how. As the duck says, there's alternatives to pretty much everything. I'm struggling to remember the last time I bought anything from Sony. I think it was a domestic Minidisc player .... about 10 or 12 years ago, I'd guess.

[SilentDeath]

Sony suffer from being too large. One division doesn't know what the other is doing.

There may well be a story behind the use of unlicensed software, this isn't an excuse, and i'm not defending Sony. In a huge organisation with a large IT department mistakes like this could be pretty easy I'd guess. Of course they should have procedures in place to guard against it, just like any other large organisation.

On the hardware side, Sony do produce some excellent products, although peoples opinions of them are tainted by the actions of a completely unrelated devision. Should you really discount the option of a Sony dSLR just because Sony BMG (this is actually a legally seperate company) made a right balls up with copy protection?

Unrelated?
Sony have a long history of restricting what can be done with their products. The could potentially have made some nice DAP's but they decided to use and force atract encoding rather than use the standard.
They are forcefull with DRM, they like DRM and will make huge compromises to make sure you have it.

They forced that game importer out of business by making multiple lawsuits from every court in europe... That is hardly fair is it.. they didnt have a chance to prove they were innocent or to see if it were really a crime. What if they stated to sue the customers? It would NOT supprise me.

DSLR's... why would you want a sony? WHY? cannon or nikon are far better brands.

And yes, their tv's suck too. The ps3 does have better alternatives.... atleast if your not bothered about those games released only on one system.

[MadduckUK]

Lik-Sang.com was the importer

and dont forget the farce that was: All I want for Christmas is a PSP at The Pocket Gamer Blog

[Funkstar]

The could potentially have made some nice DAP's but they decided to use and force atract encoding rather than use the standard.

They do make nice DAPs that use WMP for syncing and handle MP3 and WMA, much better than using iTunes etc.

DSLR's... why would you want a sony? WHY? cannon or nikon are far better brands.

They are an extension to the Konika Minalta line and they were excellent cameras with excellent lenses. The Sony dSLR range is highly regarded. They do make some of the best digital sensors on the market (until recently Nikon used them exclusively, i think they have had a falling out since Sony released their own line)

And yes, their tv's suck too.

Aren't their Bravia's extremely highly regarded?

[TheAnimus]

Unrelated?
Sony have a long history of restricting what can be done with their products. The could potentially have made some nice DAP's but they decided to use and force atract encoding rather than use the standard.
They are forcefull with DRM, they like DRM and will make huge compromises to make sure you have it.

They forced that game importer out of business by making multiple lawsuits from every court in europe... That is hardly fair is it.. they didnt have a chance to prove they were innocent or to see if it were really a crime. What if they stated to sue the customers? It would NOT supprise me.

DSLR's... why would you want a sony? WHY? cannon or nikon are far better brands.

And yes, their tv's suck too. The ps3 does have better alternatives.... atleast if your not bothered about those games released only on one system.

As i'm probably the only person in this thread to of been threatened with legal action, which i would presume was on direct action of sony, this is intresting.

Some people get their nickers all in a twist. You don't like DRM, don't buy the DRM product, that simple.

Some people also are either morons or have never worked for a company over a size of about 3. The people who pirated this, will of in no way been acting on a policy by Sony, i bet you Sony have all sorts of paperwork and procedures to order software, some will simply of not been bothered to do them, odds are a contractor, as it wouldn't be the person who mailed the vendor for support would it?

Sony Records is in essense a seperate company to sony electronics, whats worse sony electronics looks like the stupid child disapointing the parents next to sony records (now, remember why sony created sony records, because of the failure of betamax, when bringing out the AudioCD they wanted a major publisher on their side).

Projects like OMG (the really awful software for transfering music back and forth between walkmans) where often nicknamed Symphony or Harmony to show the internal cohesion between Records and Electronics.

And as for boycots etc, Why do some people always cry this every time a kitten gets stuck up a tree. Some of their hardware is good (TVs are really above par) but others kill them in the price catagory (Samsung) an alternative for the PS3, their ISN'T anythign in the price bracket, its un-denyably a better peice of hardware than the 360 for games that are ported to both because it runs virtually silently, thats enough to make it win in my book (but not enough to of made me sell my 360).

Jezzz people, this is a real no story, more a "and finaly in a lighter note sony got sued."

[Sinizter]

Please show me a BD player profile 2.0 for £300.

Oh wait a minute, you are not going to watch any HD movies because Sony and their Blu-Ray won the HD battle. (On a slightly different note, I would personally have preferred HD-DVD, but you can only play with the hand you have been dealt).

[MadduckUK]

anyone up for some waffles now?

[malfunction]

They do make nice DAPs that use WMP for syncing and handle MP3 and WMA, much better than using iTunes etc.

Things must have changed an awful lot since I last used a "network walkman" as I think it was called back then (NW-MS7). Buggy software that took an age to encode and transfer data and required you to insert the original disc to verify that you could install an updated slightly less buggy version of the software downloaded on line for which you'd already had to register to even get at the download.

[Funkstar]

anyone up for some waffles now?

no. I got pancakes instead

Things must have changed an awful lot since I last used a "network walkman" as I think it was called back then (NW-MS7).

Yup. They were really pants originally, but the newest gen are nice little things.

Have a look at this one: Sony : NWZ-A828K (NWZA828K) : United Kingdom

Drag and drop, compatible with common audio and video formats, stereo bluetooth (comes with headphones). Really does look like a brilliant DAP.

[Saracen]

Please show me a BD player profile 2.0 for £300.

Oh wait a minute, you are not going to watch any HD movies because Sony and their Blu-Ray won the HD battle. (On a slightly different note, I would personally have preferred HD-DVD, but you can only play with the hand you have been dealt).

Personally, I don't give a fig for HD, whatever flavour it is.

Perhaps, if prices come down to the point where DVD is (and I mean both drives and media), but meantime, I don't see me watching HD movies, but it's nothing to do with Blu-ray v HD-DVD, and nothing to do with boycotting Sony.

As TheAnimus pointed out, Sony make some good TVs. They also have a nasty habit of using proprietary chips that make repairs economically non-viable. My last Sony TV got scrapped because they wanted £250 for a single chip that failed ...... excluding the cost of the repair itself. I haven't bought a Sony TV since.

[dc72]

I have to say, I do enjoy the irony considering their love of DRM.