Sony 8 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black) by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony 8 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)
Digital camera Review: Almost Perfect...
Summary: 5 Stars
Sony 8 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)
This thing's almost perfect. The sound quality, in a word, is breathtaking. Between the unit itself and the supplied IEM/earbuds (which look suspiciously like the mdr-ex85lp's sold here on Amazon), I'm hearing instruments I never heard before in my music. Wish it had fm radio and on-the-fly playlisting (even an "add to now playing" feature would be nice), but you can create playlists via PC,and fm tuners are usually a bust on mp3 players, so I would, if the option were available, give it 4.5 stars.
Freeware app WM Converter handles video converting for this unit just fine, WMP 11 will provide album artwork, playlists and tags, and I imagine Juice or direct download from the web will provide good podcast support, and if you must have subscription-to-go music, Rhapsody (BestBuy Digital Music Store) or Napster should work great, considering there's no expandable storage options to confuse things. If you want to spend a lot of time sitting around wondering "what's happening now," go ahead and install Media Manger for Walkman. It seems to be waste of programming, to me.
Bottom line: Solid-as-a-rock, no-frills, portable A/V.
Digital camera Review: Amazing Mp3 Player
Summary: 5 Stars
I've always been a fan of Sony's mp3 players simply because of the incredible battery life they boast and always deliver. I've owned 1 GB walkman mp3 player and a sports water resistant cd player, both to this day are still working. But I was in the market for something new when I came across the reviews for this mp3 player. Everyone that reviewed it said that Sony struck gold with the audio quality that this mp3 player delivers. So I skipped the Creative Zen and went with this mp3 player. It was a great decision yet again.
Pros:
+It really does sound that good and it comes with great headphones even if they look funny.
+Battery life is amazing. I know mine does 36 hours of music because I tested it.
+Compact and lightweight. I go to the gym so I needed a small mp3 with armband.
+Files are drag and drop. Copy and paste from the hard drive to the player. Easy and supports every format I've tried. I have not tried iTunes music.
+LCD screen is bright, looks great, and does not scratch easily
+Easy menu navigation. It's not a click wheel but it's set up very well.
+Volume. It gets very loud. The last gen walkman wasn't very loud. It was fixed with this mp3 player.
Cons:
-Cannot make playlists on the fly
-Doesn't pause when the headphones disconnect (My iPod spoiled me with that feature)
-Video is not drag and drop. There is some conversion you have to use their program for.
-Included software isn't as pretty or useful as drag and drop.
The cons are me being picky. I am very impressed with this generation of Sony mp3 players. Because I have electronics addiction I may buy a Zen after awhile anyway just to see what it can do. But this mp3 player is great for the gym or just sitting around listening to music. And the battery life is great. Even if it doesn't pause when you unplug the headphones, you could unplug it and leave it playing for 12 hours come back and plug it in again and it will still be playing. My sixth generation iPod couldn't do that if I just charged it. I think mp3 players should be hooked to headphones more than a charging cable.
Digital camera Review: An excellent mp3 player, but not for videos
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the Sony NWZ-A728 because the reviews here and on Consumer Reports have been very good (despite the lack of certain features like radio), it has a reasonable price, and I did not want the hassle of iPod's propriety technology. I have in general been pleased by the player, I cannot stress its sound quality, which is enhanced with the comfortable high-quality ear buds. The drag-and-drop feature allows you to quickly put files and folders (with sub-directories) on it, and the controls on the device are intuitive. My favorite feature is the Hold switch, which comes in handy when handling it or when it is in your pocket.
The major problem with this player is that, while it supports many song formats, it only recognizes certain movies in the mp4 format. The manual and the Sony site are of no help whatsoever, and the only help I could find was a C-Net review that referenced this problem. Through trial and error, I found that you must convert movies to or find them in the mp4 format intended for iPods, and their resolution must be 320x240. Finding the correct software (I use XviD4PSP) or finding the right movie takes too much time, and sometimes I can't tell whether the movie will work until I put it on the player. The original excitement I had for the player was overcome by several days of frustration.
I would have given this 3 stars because of this major problem, but the quality is so good I had to give it 4. Consider buying this as an mp3 player, not a video player, unless you are willing to spend time finding/converting the correct videos.
Digital camera Review: Best-sounding MP3 player yet
Summary: 5 Stars
It's simple - if you want the best sound of all time, buy this. I've played music on dozens of MP3 players, including the iPod (snore), the latest Samsung P3, the Cowon S9, the amazing-sounding previous generation iRivers, etc. - and I come back to this one every time. No other player can render this level of fidelity, with this full a sound, with this rich and well-rounded a bass. My litmus test is to 1) play a superb yet dynamically demanding recording (e.g., disc 2 of Hybrid's Soundsystem 01 - a very dense and complex techno recording that requires a good player to do justice to all of the detail), 2) with superb buds (Shure SE530), and 3) without EQ or FX of any kind. Only the Sony is able to do full justice without any sound augmentation. And it does it time and time again, on any kind of music you throw at it. Yes, i have some nits - the inability to change the speed at which one can fast-forward through a long piece key among them. But ultimately what I want from an MP3 player is awesome sound and this delivers it in spades. Also, the physical construction is simply excellent - it is wonderfully slim, yet dense thanks to the significant steel component. The dedicated volume rocker is perfect. Finally, battery life is unreal. The accompanying earbuds are also very good but definitely toast up the bass a lot -- too much so in my view.
(Note -- the more currently available and similar-looking NWZ438F does not deliver as good sound as this one - as I found to my disappointment. Very curious if the new touch-screen Sony players have the same sound circuitry as this one - if so, I'll get in line once prices come down a bit.)
Digital camera Review: Beware: Merchants selling wrong models
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered from one of the non-featured merchants and got the wrong player- the older model that is now selling for much less. I inquired with another merchant whether they are selling the actual one advertised and they said: "If its not the right one you can always return it", clearly indicating that they do not have the right one.
Watch out!