Maybe I missed this 'catch' on the Beoworld site; but I just found the Beosound 6 on the official Bang & Olufsen site.

I did not find anything that made me change my opinion so far; seems to be a not very special product. I will not judge harder before seeing it in real life.

Regards,

Bieele 

BeoSound 6 - Specifications

DESIGNER Steffen Schmelling
DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) / WEIGHT 90.7 x 42.7 x 12.2 mm / 65 g
FINISH Polished stainless steel/soft-touch lacquered plastic
MEMORY 4Gbyte
DISPLAY 1.81 Inch TFT LCD 128 x 160 pixels
SUPPORTED AUDIO FORMATS MP3, WMA, OGG
OPERATING SYSTEM PC Windows XP SP2
MAC iTunes: BeoSound 6 plug-in needed
INTERFACE USB 1.1. (USB 2.0 high speed support)
BATTERY Built-in, rechargeable, approx. 40 hours playing time
MAINS VOLTAGE 100 – 240 V AC
CONNECTIONS Earphones, USB and mains adaptor via 18 pin connector
INCLUDED ACCESSORIES Bang & Olufsen Earphones, USB-cable, travel charger and leather bag

Can not play iTunes ACC, only MP3

Quote of the Gismodo site:

"We covered the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 6 back in July, but this overpriced player does have one thing that possibly makes the $700 worthwhile. It's a plug-in that allows the BeoPlayer 6 to work with iTunes, something that, well, iPod nanos (which are 1/5 the price and 2x the memory) can do already. But it does have OGG support, if you're really keen on using a format that no major download store supports. "

I agree that from the specs it is hard to find a real advantage over (for instance) an iPod. Why not buy the new iTouch for less money, more features, more memory? 

Regards,

Bieele 

Bieele,

 You make a great point, i want to like it, the design is nothing special yet not ugly, i just am used to the ipod and its user interface that i think i would not like this one's.  iPod Touch - well i would like this one more because it has more functionality. 

 I feel Beosound 6 is outdated before it is even launched,  I would rather have the Beosound 2 where design is something special and not like anything on the market at the moment. 

T.Gibbs 

tgibbs:

... i want to like it...

Strange, but that is how I feel too. I want it to be better than any iPod, but my brain somehow does not want to... whereas normally, I find plenty of arguments for B&O, not for the "opponent". I will be surprised if this is going to be a good seller.

tom:

I want it to be better than any iPod, but my brain somehow does not want to...

With a 4Giga onboard memory, don't we lose the versatility of the BS2 BS3 BS4 system, that allows to carry music on different supports?

I think I'll definitely keep my BS2....

Laurent.

I was planning to swap my BeoSound 2 for this one, because:

-it finally has a direct USB connection

-it has a higher memeroy capacity

-it would have come with a leather case 

- the original Samsung has a built in FM tuner, photo viewer & microphone

Now that the specs are here for the rebadged B&O version, it comes out there is no FM (I could understant that B&0 would have got rid of the photo & mic options, on a BeoSound, but why on earth removing the tuner????).

B&O has told us SD cards were the future, they have a range of SD card BeoSounds, and now this one comes with none!!

It is Itunes compatible but plays no AAC format[:'(]

Is is XP compatible when all the world is shifting to Vista (whether it is good or not is no the point)

It is based on USB 1.1 (it says 2.0 support, but how fast are we going to store 4 Go of music on it?)

The USB socket is not standard but a proprietary connector (so if you forget your cable on holidays, you're stuck)

and the leather bag looks pathetic!

Who will buy this?

Well I'm glad they did release Beosound 6!

Why? Well because it now makes me realise what a nice machine the Beosound 2 actually is

Who hired this Steffen Smelling?!?!        

 FIRE him!
 

BnO is definetely to late with this kind of mp3 player !! It wins only with its materials like steel and silicon rubber thats all. And without doubt the sound processing will be excellent. But the Ipod Touch fits a way better with my Bno stuff then this BS6. This company needs some new talented visionary people/designer or whatever.

Back to the drawing board on this one. Glad I have my BeoSound2!
They should have spend the money on updating the base of the BeoSound 2 to USB2.0

Karel.

I love B&O but in this case I rather go for this player:

http://www.iriver.com/product/p_detail.asp?pidx=82

 but with with A8 earphones. 

/Heinz

It looks dated, (it looks especially crap in the leather pouch, like some sad soul with his phone attached to his belt), its specs are crap (USB 1.1??) and it'll cost a fortune. I've no doubt it'll sound good but I'm sorry - this is so far down the "Not Good Enough" scale its almost a criminal attempt to steal money from brand concious folk (look out for them around a footballer's neck near you soon!).

Someone at Struer should feel properly ashamed.

Just buy the Samsung version and a pair of A8s, and save the cash for some proper B&O..., this is not good enough!

By the way, why is the leather case brown and not black?!?!?!?

br

Chr.

"the design is nothing special yet not ugly"

 Do we pay B&O prices for the design to be nothing special? I certainly don't. I think we are all use to the peculiarities of B&O interfaces on products that broadly make compatibility difficult with other products (that's been going on for years -- see postings on cables and inter-connects) but they have rarely provided bad design.

kuyttendaele:

Back to the drawing board on this one. Glad I have my BeoSound2!
They should have spend the money on updating the base of the BeoSound 2 to USB2.0

Karel.

Couldn't agree more! And I wish the BeoSound 2 had the 40 hour battery life like the BS6 along with you suggestion USB2.0.  In Bejing now, and missed listening to my music for some of the journey...

Not very special for alot of $$$ and as other have pointed out doesnt seem to fit their SD Card strategy very well

I think it is probably aimed at a different market than us. More for the style conscious youth rather than the B&O fan. Unfortunately I think events have overtaken them in the shape of the iPod Touch so I can't see it making much impression. It is being sold on sound quality so maybe a listen is called for. The good thing will be that they have not invested too heavily in this particular model by the looks of it.

For those with BS4 and BS3, the BS2 still seems the sensible option.

Well done Peter - ever the diplomat

I think this is a monumental own goal by  B&O's Marketing Department - everyone who follows the brand can see its nothing more than a half-hearted attempt at best, based on an already outdated product and the chance of attracting a new "youf" following is zero because of the ipod, the price and its limited availibility in the high street.

They would have had more impact making polished steel "skins" for iPods!

The only correct feature is the battery 40hours playing time, but the design is boring, and ALL the rest is BAD

probably a good device in 1998 - 2000 period though...  

I'll keep my BS2 some years more and the 12,5GB in SD memory cards for music (growing...)