Sony confirmed yesterday that it plans to add native MP3 support to digital music players, in a move that will likely help the products compete more effectively with more popular competitors like Apple's iPod. Until now, the Sony devices were designed to only play files encoded with Sony's proprietary Atrac music file format.
The shift from reliance on its proprietary format will begin with flash memory-based players, the electronics giant said, but plans are still being finalized on how and when products will add MP3 support. CNET News.com affiliate ZDNet France first reported of the change in Sony's strategy for the European market. U.S. representatives said the company is making similar plans here.
