 Finally a superb Sony Player |
| Review Date: September 20, 2007 |
| Reviewer: J. C. Arizaga, MN |
Ok, I usually wait to test the product for a few weeks before posting a review, but this time I can't wait that long. It's been a while since I first started to look decent mp3 player that was easy to use, looked nice and was able to manage several file formats. Every player I tried was a bigger disappointment. I'll try to relate my story and see if this helps you out deciding on a product.
First of all let me say that I'm not a big fan of the iPod. By this I'm not implying that is a bad product, in fact, I love the design. The problem relies in iTunes. The inability to transfer songs you purchases to different players or burn CDs (because your CD drive was not supported) drove me insane. There is no drag-and-drop capabilities, so you must manage your music using their software. If you imported your CD collection to iTunes or if you bought all the songs form their website, this is not a problem, but in my case, my music is completely organized on my PC, so I simply refused to use any bundled software from Apple (or any other provider for that matter). I also tried Creative's Zen, and even though it was packed with features and had a fairly easy software to manage music, it was poorly designed and looked very cheap. Plus, let me stress that I really needed a drag-and-drop player. By far the only one that met this criteria was the iRiver, which was good, but the inability to create playlists made it virtually impossible to find your music (assuming that you have several hundreds). Afterwards I tried mp3's from Sony, Philips, Samsung and other brands that I can't even recall. Every one had its own music manager, but Sony had the most annoying software of them all (SonicStage).
A couple a days ago I stopped by a SonyStyle shop and checked out the new arrivals. Not only did the looks of this player grabbed my attention, but the ability to transfer files directly. This sounded like a bizarre move from Sony, but still, I decided to give it a try. I got the Black 4GB.
After plugging the player to my computer via the USB cable, Win XP recognized the Walkman displaying it as an icon in the Windows Explorer (note that you need Windows media player V11 installed, regardless of whether or not you intend to use it. No biggie.) and I started dropping files and folders. Afterwards I created and edited the playlists all from my PC. File transfer was really fast. Video transfer is also very cool, although the only format supported is .mp4. There is a nice converter out there for free for those of you who would like to use it. Within the player, you can navigate easily sorting music by artist, song, year or even by your created folders. Note that you can still use WMP to transfer your files if you still wish to.
As far as performance, its lightweight, has a 1.8' screen size which is more than enough for me. Battery so far has lasted 17+ hours and still working. FM Radio is a nice feature but it lacks a voice recorder. Picture display is decent, and that's all you get. As opposed to the iPod or the Zen, there are no contacts or calendar options. But seriously, do you ever need that?
I think Sony made a great move by getting rid of SonicStage, I finally feel I've found the player I've always wanted. Bottom line, if this is your first mp3 player or you are just sick of mediocre software for music transfers, look no further, this is the one you need.
PROS
- Drag-and-drop, no software needed!
- Ability to create/edit folders, playlists from the Windows explorer
- Design
- Crisp Screen
- Lightweight
CONS
- Limiter amount of video formats, only .mp4 supported
- No Voice recorder
- No accessories in the market yet.
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THIS SOUNDS AWESOME!!!!
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| Review Date: October 24, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Ralph W. Neville, Lake Katrine, NY United States |
| ok let me start off by saying i have bought i believe every mp3 player out there to try and i have had a 30gb ipod video for about 6 months now and have never been satisfied with the sound of any mp3 player ive tried they all sounded tunnelly not stereo enough missing something. so i figured "oh thats just how mp3s sound" I WAS WRONG! well i am 35 years old and have been listing and buying cds since i was 15 or so. and when i started listening to mp3 players i felt something was missing the punch to alot of songs i grew up with and loved was not there anymore the warmth was gone, the sound was weak and did not sound as good as cds on a cd player. so anyways for 6 months now i have been exclusively listening to an ipod at work and in the car (this thing sounds incredible in the car to) for 6 hours a night and ripped many different ways 192,256 and then i tried lossless to see what people are saying about that, and lossless even sounded like crap on my ipod.for you ipod owners the convience is awesome the portability is great but if you really want to hear how great a cd or a song should sound do yourself a favor go to a circuit city,target,or walmart and pick up this new sony mp3 player and listen to the sound, this thing is AMAZING! it has so many different sound enhancing features it is a little longer then a zippo, skinnier, and less thick then 1 to weighs about as much as a feather (lol) seriously though its lite, and the headphones that come with it are not to bad either for earbuds but i use the radio shack koss titanium pro 75 they are incredible headphones. the only problem i have with this and where the ipod rules right now is space but please SONY put out these new NWZ models in a 100+ gig and i'll buy another in a heartbeat. the video looks great on this although small but i compared the ipod with this and although smaller the video on this is more deatiled crisper and the blacks are deeper. also when you look up an album it has a little pic of all the albums where you can just go to that specific one click it and all the songs are there. i know i wrote alot but again this thing sounds better then any other mp3 player out there so if you can do without games and want to hear incredible sounding music (just not alot of music on your player that doesn't sound incredible)then by all means pick up the this new SONY mp3 player you have to HEAR IT TO BELIEVE IT! |
Read it and weep, Apple.
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| Review Date: January 29, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mark R. Wietstock, |
PROS: Outperforms iPod Nano in every important respect, for 25% less $$.
CONS: Not compatible with iTunes; overpriced accessories.
With the introduction of their NWZ-S600 "Walkman" line of digital media players, Sony hasn't exactly put a man on the moon, but they sure have stolen Apple's thunder. All you people out there (like me) who have thus far resisted succumbing to Apple's iPod "siren song" (and all of the company's manufacturer-exclusive marketing tactics that ALWAYS end up delivering inferior components/performance to the consumer, at a higher cost) your patience has been rewarded by Sony. This digital media player simply kicks a** on its closest competitor, the iPod Nano.
PRICE:
The 4GB Nano is currently retailing for $150, or more. I just got my 4GB Walkman for $110. That's a 25% savings folks, for what I view as a superior player.
MEMORY/COLORS:
This line of Walkmans currently comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB memory configurations, and your choice of four colors: black, silver, red or pink. As with the iPod Nano, the memory is "flash" based, which means no internal drive or moving parts, and thus, greatly increased battery life (addressed further below). If you like to watch video on portable devices like this, you should probably go for the 8GB version, as video files tend to consume a lot of memory, and the operating system for the device consumes a little less than one-half of a GB, leaving you with about 3.6 usable GB in the 4GB player. Sony rates the player as being capable of holding "up to" 15 hours of video or 2,450 songs, but those ratings are going to vary substantially depending on the content and compression rates used in the video/music files you're transferring into the player. In short, this player will store more music than most people would listen to in a month, but if you plan to watch a lot of video on this player, you better step up to the 8GB version ... you'll need the extra memory.
BATTERY LIFE:
Like the Nano, the Walkman uses an internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery, but it must be larger and/or more efficient than the battery used in the Nano, because battery life is probably the most noteworthy difference between the Walkman and the Nano. The Nano is rated for "up to" 5 hours for video playback, and 24 hours for audio playback. The Walkman, on the other hand, is rated for up to 9.5 hours for video playback and 33 hours for audio. Again ... wow. Both the Nano and the Walkman will be fully recharged after only 3 hours on your computer's USB port.
SOUND QUALITY/MUSIC PLAYBACK:
I've listened to both the Nano and the Walkman pretty carefully, and I believe the sound quality of the Walkman is far superior to that of the Nano. I find the "earbud" style of headphones pretty uncomfortable, so I generally don't use them, but if you like earbuds, the earbuds supplied with the Walkman sound really great, and are especially surprising at the bass end. There's far more bass present in them than I can ever remember hearing in any other earbuds I've tried. In addition, the Walkman has a number of audio enhancement features that you can tinker with to make your music sound the way you like it, including a pristine 5-band graphic EQ (with not one, but two user-definable presets) and three advanced audio processing features called "DSEE," "Clear Stereo," and "Clear Bass."
The Walkman plays the most common compressed audio file formats, including .mp3, .wma and .wav. The song title shows up on the screen, you push the "play" button, and you're good to go. Depending on the amount of tag information appearing with the file, you can easily scroll through and pull up files by artist, album, alphabetical title listing ... whatever works for you. You can also create customized playlists in Windows Media Player 11 that you can transfer into your Walkman (more on that below).
On a CD included with the player, Sony also provides software that will allow you to convert any Sony "ATRAC" files you might have kicking around your computer into a file format that the Walkman will play.
Like all other non-Apple digital music players, the Walkman will not "synch" with iTunes or transfer/play music files downloaded via iTunes, because, in typical fashion, Apple formats iTunes downloads so that the only portable digital music player you can use to directly transfer files purchased there is ... you guessed it ... an iPod. I won't bother telling you my feelings about being asked to pay $1.00 for download of ONE SONG, and then being told by the company I just bought it from that I have to also buy their overpriced, underperforming digital music player if I want to listen to the song I just paid for anywhere other than at my computer station. Well, maybe I just DID tell you my feelings about that ...
You can avoid this problem by making your online music purchases through another vendor, like Napster.
VIDEO QUALITY:
The video screen on this thing is a 1.8 inch high res GVGA TFT color display. It's small, but it is sharp and bright, at 240 x 320 pixels. The screen will knock your socks off. Using the trial version of a third party video compression software I found on the Internet, I compressed a little piece of "Gladiator" and loaded it into the player just to see how it would look and sound, and it was, in a word ... awesome. Every minute detail seen in the film was clearly visible on this little screen, the playback was flawless, and the accompanying audio was fantastic. Unlike the screen on the Nano (which is square), the screen on the Walkman is rectangular, and you can change the video layout from vertical to horizontal and tip the player to one side or the other, so you can easily view movies in their original "letterbox" aspect ratio. That is SO COOL!
Video compression is a bit too complicated a subject to discuss in any detail in this review, but this Walkman plays .mp4 video files, with AAC audio. Once you find suitable software for conversion of your DVDs into this format, and use your computer to convert your DVDs (a pretty time-consuming and CPU-intensive process), you'll be able to easily transfer the resulting files into your Walkman and watch all your favorite DVD movies/shows on your player. Of course, you will also be able to transfer and play any shows or movies that were pre-formatted when you downloaded them.
It will also store and display gazillions of photos, in .jpg format, if you want to use the player for that function.
The various system menu items are well-designed and easy to read on the video display. Scrolling through the various menu functions is a breeze, which brings me to the operating controls.
SIZE/CONTROLS:
The Walkman is about the size and weight of a cigarette lighter, measuring about 3" x 1.75" x 3/8." It will fit easily in the smallest hand, with easy, one-hand access to the front control panel.
The front control panel consists of a play/pause key in the middle, surrounded by right/left/up/down touch pads, that are very easy to use. The unit turns on and off by holding down the multi-function "Option" button at the upper right of the control panel, and the "Back" button at the upper left of the control panel allows you to easily back up through all menu options to return to the "main menu," which is the menu shown on the video screen in Sony's stock photo of the player. The volume is controlled with a +/- toggle located on the top right edge of the player, and there's a sliding "hold" switch on top left edge. You use the "hold" switch to ensure that you don't inadvertently turn the player on or off while carrying it in your pocket. These controls are also easy to locate and use. As with Microsoft Windows, there's generally two or three different ways to make the controls do what you want, so you don't have to be a tech genius to familiarize yourself with all the player's features, and be able to use them within a very short period of time.
I personally prefer these types of controls to the touch-sensitive controls used in the Nano ... fewer unintended control changes.
USB INTERFACE:
The Walkman connects to your computer via a USB cable provided with the player. It is "plug and play" compatible with Windows XP and Vista, and interfaces directly with Windows Media Player 11. That is, in Windows Media Player 11, you can set up "synch" functions that allow you to control and move files to and from your player/computer more easily, just like iTunes does with iPods. You don't HAVE to use this function, however. You can also just "drag and drop" files to and from the Walkman using MS Explorer. That is, the Walkman shows up as a new drive when you plug it into your computer, you open it up, and just drag the files you want into the "Music" folder in your Walkman. The files are transferred into the Walkman, and off you go.
If you don't already have Windows Media Player 11 installed on your computer, this upgrade is included on the CD provided with the player, or you can easily find and download the newer Media Player online.
FM TUNER:
Although I'm not personally a big fan of my portable digital media players being mucked up with extras like FM tuners and voice recorders, I have to confess that the FM tuner in this player is cool, and works very well. There's a simple, clear screen graphic for the tuner control; it's easy to scroll through and assign presets to your favorite stations; it seems to zero in and receive stations very well, and plays very high quality, at least when you're using the earbuds supplied with the player. For those of you who don't know it, the "antenna" for FM tuners supplied in players like this is your headphone cable, so your reception can vary dramatically depending on what kind of headphones you're using and how their cable is shielded ... just a word to the wise. Anyway, if you plan to use the FM tuner in your player a lot, you'll be happy with this one.
ACCESSORIES:
As is usually the case with Sony, it would appear they're padding their bottom line on lowball sales of the player by overcharging for accessories. For example, the custom fitted silicone and leather cases offered for this player are ridiculously overpriced at $40 ea.; the hard plastic shell is about $30, and you can't presently get these items ANYWHERE for anything less than that. Adapters that would allow you to plug the Walkman into your cigarette lighter or AC wall outlet for recharging (as opposed to plugging it into your computer's USB port) are likewise overpriced at $40.00, excluding tax and shipping costs. At that price, I plan to simply do without these accessories, but I'm still delighted with the value represented by the player itself.
SUMMARY/CONCLUSION:
Unless you're totally strung out on iPods and Apple, you'd have to be a fool to not take a serious look at the Walkman if you're in the market for a new portable digital media player. This little gizmo is stacked, it's very attractively priced, and you'll love it.
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The best.
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| Review Date: December 30, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Alex Kloumann, San Francisco, CA |
Pros:
Sound quality is crisp and full; EXCELLENT navigation and UI; dedicated volume control on the side; player instantly turns on, no wait time at all; great battery life; nice to look at and hold.
Cons:
There are no on-the-go playlists which is the most significant con, also, any button turns on the player so the hold switch must be set to "lock" after it is turned off but no big deal.
Electronics consumers these days seem to prefer cool yet impractical features over quality. Style over substance. Maybe it has always been that way. Electronics manufacturers respond by putting out shiny, snazzy gadgets with cool features that are poorly designed and not fun to use. Sony however, is going in a different direction and targeting a different crowd. The company is focusing on simplicity, quality and ease of use. Hence this awesome player.
I've owned 2 iPods, a Creative Zen Micro-Photo and a Sandisk Sansa e280. I gave this 5 stars because it is the best mp3 player I have ever used. However, Sony should have included on-the-go playlists.
Navigation with this player is superb. Forget scroll-wheels or touch-pads or fancy-pants impractical touch-screens. The right and left arrows move through the artist list alphabetically. The up and down arrows are then used to select your choice. So simple. The "Now Playing" screen can be returned to from anywhere. Also there are 2 custom equalizer settings and playing around with them is a treat when the sound quality is so good. There is a loop on the side for a lanyard. Get the hard clear case from Sony. It makes the player much easier to hold and use. Get the player as well. |
good one!
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| Review Date: February 24, 2008 |
| Reviewer: J. Simonis, defiance ohio |
| I got this in 4gb sat. morning, sunday I had it filled up with 911 songs. I use a Vista laptop and had no problems at all. The sound is outstanding if you trash the junk earphones that come with it. I am using Grado headphones and it sounds just like my cd's. The FM radio picks up more than any other small radio of it's type I have used. Pretty much the best mp3 player I have used. The battery seems to last longer than the creative Zen I have been using. You won't regret springing for one of these if you want good sound in a easy to use package , just get whatever decent headphones you want, the ones you get should sell for about two bucks! |
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