I like the sound of my iPods, but even my Sony Walkman phone sounds ok with some decent headphones. As a company, there are far more reasons not to buy anything made by Sony. Not that it's ever stopped me
I would go with sony for sound quality. IPOD is good and bad because of Itunes. Its a hassle to download music of the IPod, not as easy as a mp3 player.
I gave my one vote to Ipod cos thats what i have, but i really think they are both great, my roomate have Sony, and they both have good and bad. But good question though..
I' go with the Sony Walkman cos they are the best on audio and could here sound at all frequencies clearly.
Even though it means lugging around all my CD's, I'm very into the old school walkman. Hell, if it was an option, I'd choose an 8 track!
I used to own the 10GB 3rd Gen Ipod.. now my GF has nano.. sound quality hasn't improved a bit. And battery life still sucks (literally) even on solid state memory. Now I have a NW-E016F - it gives you the best sound quality for an MP3 player. But it really needs to have it's screen enlarge a bit. It's a pain to browse your collection. Ipod is for people who appreciate aesthetics and are victims of good advertising. Who the heck needs to see the actual Mp3 player all the time?