Sony announces line of Digital Media Port accessories
By Donald Melanson 
posted Feb 27th 2007 9:17PM
posted Feb 27th 2007 9:17PM
While we're not sure if the "Digital Media Port" on Sony's new line of A/V receivers is anything more than a glorified USB port, it looks like it won't be left unused for long, with the company wasting no time in announcing a range of accessories that'll take advantage of it. Likely to attract the most attention is the $100 TDM-IP1 iPod dock (pictured above), which isn't the first iPod-happy device we've seen from Sony, but is still a rare enough occurrence to make us to a double-take. Rounding out the line-up is the $80 TDM-BT1 Bluetooth audio adapter (check it out after the break), the $200 TDM-NC1 WiFi network audio adapter for streaming music from your PC, and the sure-to-be-best-seller TDM-NW1 Network Walkman cradle, which will set you back $50. Look for the Bluetooth and Network Walkman accessories to be the first to roll out in March, with the iPod dock following in May, and the WiFi adapter bringing up the rear in June. 
We recently purchased a Sony Bravia Home theater system (HDX576WF). It included a Digital media port adapter dock for an i-pod. Since we have a Sony Walkman (NWZ-A816) we couldn't use the dock. However the operating instructions for the home theater claimed that you could access music, pictures and video through a digital port adapter and even control the attached device with your remote control. So we purchased this item directly from sony:
Digital Media Port Walkman® Cradle
Connects your Walkman® Video MP3 player to the Digital Media Port on BRAVIA® Theatre systems.
All the unit does is play mp3 files and charge the battery. When we contacted Sony customer service, we were informed that only the i-pod docks work as described in the manual. Sad that Sony would want want you to buy an i-pod rather than a walkman.
I was wondering whether the $100 TDM-IP1 iPod dock is worth it for getting digital sound; Can anybody assist me to know whether I should stick to Apple's IPOD dock connector with composite A/V cables to hear good sound. I have a SONY DVD HOME THEATER SYSTEM MODEL DAV-DZ850KW & BRAVIA TV; Is there any difference in sound quality using either.