Sony closing down their Connect digital music store

Yet another online media store is closing down admitting that challenging Apple iTunes in this domain is very tough.

Sony has announced that they are closing down their Connect digital music store. The company also plans to support more media formats in their upcoming digital media players.

The company also launched a couple of new Walkman branded digital players which support a variety of formats including WMA, MP3 and AAC.

The new Sony Walkman NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 models also comes loaded with FM tuner and the capability to play video files.

These players would use the Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 for managing files on the player.

Dave Wascha, director of Windows Client Product Management at Microsoft Corp. had this to say on these new Sony players: “With this initiative, Sony is debuting an important option for digital media players as it opens new doors for a rich digital experience.”

Sony added: “With these new Walkman players, Sony has widened its digital music environment to support Windows Media technology. This gives customers greater flexibility in their music software approach. As a result, Sony will be phasing out the Connect Music Services based on Sony’s ATRAC audio format in North America and Europe.”