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$135.98
0.0% pricedrop
Avg. Price: $135.98
38 customer reviews
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- Store up to 1,850 Songs or up to 30H of video on your Walkman(R) video MP3 Player and never be without your entertainment again. Playback your favorite videos right on the player using MPEG 4 and M4V profile at 30 frames per second. With up to 36 hours of audio playback and up to 9.5 hours of video playback you don't have to worry about charging your player. Easily view your movies, photos and music information on the high quality, 320x240 2.4" QVGA LCD Screen. Portrait and Landscape Mode allow for easy viewing of your videos and photos in either a portrait or landscape position. MP3/WMA/AAC Audio Codec support allows playback of MP3 and WMA DRM and non-DRM audio files downloaded from multiple sources. Also supports non-DRM AAC content, giving you multiple options for downloading music the way you want. Time Machine Shuffle - Shuffle Play among songs from a randomly selected year. Initial Search - Use the first letter of the song, album or artist to easily find the music you are looking for 5-Band Audio Equalizer - Heavy/Pop/Jazz/Unique/Custom 1/Custom 2 & Clear Bass Formats Supported - MP3, WMA, AAC-LC, and Linear PCM10 Simulated Surround - VPT Studio/Live/Club/Arena/Matrix/Karaoke Backlit Color - 2.4 QVGA TFT Display (320x240) 1 stereo mini jack Headphone Output USB Port - 1 (22 pin to high-speed USB 2.0 connector) Battery Charging - USB 3 hours (full charge), 1.5 hours (approx. 80%) Battery Life - Up to 33 Hours (Music 33-Hours, Video 8-Hours) Video Format - MPEG 4, M4V Playback Mode - Repeat (On/Off), Continuous Playback (On/Off) JPEG Playback - Normal/Slide Show/Slide Show Repeat Compatible with DCF 2.0/Exif 2.2 file format Dimensions - Approximately Width 2 x Height 3-3/4 x Depth 3/8 (50.2x93.9x9.3mm) Weight - 2.1 ounces (58 grams)
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- Excellent MP3 Player - Great Value
- I have this sony mp3 player for almost 3 weeks now and its a Great player has nothing less than Excellent Audio and Video Quality in it. I have an iPOD but I love this one better due to much better Audio, Video Quality and Battery Life.
Pros:
1. Excellent Audio Quality with the supplied headphones
2. Two Custom Equalizer functions where you can store your settings
3. a Separate Surround sound field selection (studio, club, arena, pop ..etc)
4. Automatic volume limiter system (which will limit the volume if you accidently turn it up .. safe for kids and youngsters)
5. Excellent Video Quality while playing movies
6. Excellent Video Quality while playing Digital Pictures
7. Head Phones Design cuts some noise as soon as you plug them
8. Nice Feature to Sync it with "Windows Media Player 11"
9. Upgrade to Pro Software to Upload personal videos is not bad at $12.99
10. Great Battery life
11. Very Sleek Design, Feels good in the hand during navigation and controls.
12. Auto Power Off, if player is not used. (If Mp3s are not playing).
13. Hold Function to keep controls locked.
Other thoughts (Not really Cons)
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1. Dolby Noise Reduction feature would be nice as I think some of the hiss can be eliminated. This hiss is only present in some of the Surround Audio Fields. Please do not confuse this with built-in Equalizer. Equalizer is a separate setting and it works great.
The Dolby NR is not really a Con for me as I think it requires extra circuitry thats the reason lot of small players lack it these days and it makes the player expensive too.
2. Sony Proprietery USB cable (pretty much like a iPod)
- 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 that a charging cable.
- I've had this MP3 player for about a month now and I love it. Very easy to use. It sounds great! The earbuds that come with it are very comfortable. It also has a pretty long battery life. Photo quality is great. You can even change the screen orientation to landscape. I haven't really used the video feature other than the sample ones that come installed, but they looked and sounded great. I would definitely recommend this player.
- This digital walkman is not jam-packed with features. However the features it does offer are executed better than any digital player i've owned. It feels solid and well put together, the kind of quality you would expect from a top name like sony. Nothing feels flimsy or like cheap plastic held together by Elmer's glue. The buttons are all tactile and the feel/action of the buttons are all top notch. It is also very lightweight. By comparison, I owned the 16GB Creative Zen before returning it. Build quality was poor, specifically the button action of the direction pad. The Zen was riddled with problems (probably due to software programming more than anything).
This Sony unit has a bright 320x240 resolution 2.4" screen. Images and video can be viewed with 3 orientations; that is either vertically or flipped 90 degrees to either side for widescreen. This is great for people who want to operate the controls with either hand during playback.
Menus are very easy to read and navigate through. The "Now Playing" information screen is customizable and shows you everything you need to know, including scrolling song title, Artist, Album, Album Art, Genre, and a Time Elapsed bar.
Because this unit uses flash memory the song recall is lightning-quick. play/pause happens instantly when pressed, and returns to the exact point in that song if the unit has been shut down and turned back on. Power on is so fast it seems as if the unit never actually gets shut off, but just goes into permanent standby. If you power off and put on the hold feature, the player turns on automatically when hold is turned off. battery life is 33 hours with music, 9.5 hours with video. My understanding is that this is great battery life for a single charge. Full charge takes 3 hours, 80% charge occurs in 1.5 hours. Device can be used as MTP for drag-drop from WMP 10 or 11.
Now to the best part of this player: the sound quality. Bar none the best sounding MP3 player on the market. You will be blown away. The player offers many EQ settings including 5 bands, 2 fully customizable EQ's and a 3-notch bass boost feature. The supplied ear buds are some of the best included with any player, so you should not have to upgrade.
I have not used the video feature yet so i cannot comment on its capabilities. The player takes either MP4 video or H.264. The player does not feature a line-in or a voice recorder. For $[...] more you can get this with bluetooth capability. Don't get it if you don't need it because Bluetooth drains the battry.
Great little player. Not brimming with extra features but executes everything it does perfectly. Highly recommended.
- Excellent sound and linux compatible (w/ some tweaking)
- I bought this player on a whim. I already own an iRiver iHP-110 (which I love), an ipod Nano (which I don't), and a Creative Zen M (which is my workhorse). I was looking for a small MP3 player with adequate memory and great sound; video playback was not necessary but is considered a bonus.
When I bought this player, I was confident the audio fidelity would be excellent - and it is indeed. Sony's default headphones, IMHO, are always better than the competition's. (I use Sony's for all the players listed above just in case there was doubt as to comparisons.) The NWZ-A728 contains equalizer options as do all players but best of all let's you customize one of the settings for your own tastes.
The UI is very, very intuitive and best of all, it has HARD VOLUME BUTTONS!!! Why don't more manufacturers do this? I don't want to have to do multiple soft button presses to get to the volume - I just want to go UP and DOWN. Thank you Sony!
Video playback is very clear and the horizontal view is great eye candy. I wish it supported more formats like XVid but hey, I'm not going to rate it down for that. Battery life is very, very good as compared to my other players (with the exception of the iRiver).
I can't comment on the included software because I use Linux - Xubuntu 8.04 to be exact - and use freeware tools to manage my music and convert videos. At first blush, Xubuntu didn't see the player (and I suspect that's the case for any Ubuntu or Debian flavor). I ended up going over to the Kubuntu forums (kubuntuforums.net - look for a post by Jankushka) and you can follow his steps) to resolve the problem. (Note: Ubuntu 8.10 (intrepid) ships with libmtp 0.3.0 natively so this workaround won't be necessary once the release is stable.)
This player will end up replacing my Zen as my default device and the Nano is being retired permanently. If it had Ogg xupport and dynamic (custom) playlists like the Zen, I'd be in heaven but all-in-all, it is quite excellent. Highly recommend.
- Sony 8 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player
- Ignore the color factor - this is a great unit. 8GB is much better than the 4GB as it hold significantly more data. Easy to use, load, edit and change content from your computer using MS Media Player or the Sony software.
- This Sony 8G MP3 player has everything I needed. Easy to load. Easy to use. Excellent sound quality. Excellent ear buds. This is the second one I have purchased so that now my wife & I each have our own to use. Worth the price.
- Now it is my favorite player
- I have been fed up with the second generation of iPOD Video and Kenwood HD30GB9 (an expensive Japanese player which is not sold in the US) before this one came into my eyes. Sony have made lots of excellent players in the past, and the A series video players are the best they provide right now. The 8G/16G flash memory within such slim and delicate artwork is enough to keep all the collection I have, given that I'm a pure audiophile using this player only for music. The software is very easy to use and fully compatible with PC (Sure, because it's Windows Media Player), which contains one most important function missing in iTunes - library update. With regard to sound quality, neither of my previous players is a match in replaying Jpop. The vivid vocal, real and tight bass, and wide headroom make a superb listening experience every day. Now it is my favorite player that I would love to take with me all day long.
- 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.
- Sony NWZ-A728 Comprehensive / Usage Review
- I'm going to try to make this review as comprehensive as I can.
I've owned this Sony NWZ-A728BLK MP3 player for about 10 days now and have tweaked around with it as much as I can. However, I did not like the included media manager software and won't be discussing that part of the package.
In short, the main reason why anyone would consider this player over other competitors is simple--sound quality.
Pros:
Excellent battery life
Excellent sound quality
Very crisp 2.4 inch screen
Pretty good video playback
Plug and play recognition
Organizes music files based on ID3 tags as well as file name
Cons:
Charges only through the included USB cable
No FM radio, voice recorder, or other extra functions
No playlist creation on the MP3 player itself (has to be done on the computer)
Sound quality:
Compared to the Sansa and Ipod players, this thing blows them away due to its crisp sound quality. Playing the same track on each one, I was able to hear background instruments and melodies that were inaudible on the other MP3 players! This is particularly useful when listening to orchestrated music tracks or any other tracks with a wide array of instruments playing at the same time.
The 5 band equalizer also includes a "clear bass" column that you can adjust, which really helps to bring out the low bass sounds. There are a few preset equalizer configurations as well as two custom ones. (Mine is set to a V formation across the 5 band with bass up to +2, try it =P).
The VPT Simulated Surround feature is amazing and offers 6 different surround sound environments for the user's taste. (Matrix is my favorite followed by Studio and Live whenever I feel like listening to my songs in that kind of setting).
The other sound options, DSEE and Clear Studio are mentioned in the item description above.
The included Sony EX earphones are great looking and quite durable. You get small, medium, and large changeable silicon rubber earbuds in the package. I even accidently yanked the earphones out of my ears while doing some punching exercises only to find it undamaged.
Video:
To get video playback on MP4, you must find a video converter with customizable conversion settings. Simply getting a PSP converter won't work due to differences in the required resolution. I have converted 4 files so far without fail by following these conversion specs:
Video Codec: mpeg4
Video encoder: H.264 / AVC
Video Size: 320 x 240
Video bitrate: 1000
Audio Bitrate: anywhere from 128 to 320
Audio encoder: AAC
Audio channels: 2 (stereo)
Hopefully everyone else will be as successful in their attempts to get their video files to play on the MP3 player.
The video files play beautifully once you get them in with the right format and can be viewed vertically or horizontally left as well as horizontally right (basically means from every side except upside-down from the top). The only downside with the video playback is that you can't tweak the sound quality like you can with music playback.
File transfer and organization:
This player is automatically detected on the computer and works just like a flash drive. You can click and drag files into either the "MUSIC," "PICTURE," or "VIDEO" folder. You can also store your music into organized folders that you make yourself (basically a folder hierarchy that goes down all the way to the 8th folder in a folder according to the manual). This also allows files to be played according to the folder it's in if that's your desire. You can also create new folders outside of the MUSIC and VIDEO folders to carry other bits of data such as text or PDF documents (flash drive-like function).
Once everything is loaded onto the MP3 player, you'll be able to browse through your songs via the first character of the file name itself (including 0-9) or the folder name that contains the file. This means messy and old mp3 files will still be manageable when mixed in with new mp3 files that contain ID3 tags! It's essentially up to your preference on how you want to organize your collection.
Battery life:
Sony claims this MP3 player can do 36 hours of music, but the problem with that claim is in the details. The player does get 36 hours when playing 128 kbps files with all the sound features turned off and the equalizer set to all zeros. But why anyone would plan to do that is beyond me... You paid for the advanced sound features so you might as well use it! I got roughly over 20-some hours with all the features turned on and constant fidgeting with the options as well as some video playback. (This is a very rough estimate. If I have time to track the playback time with all sound functions on, I'll update that number). Overall, I'm still impressed with the longevity of the product's battery life.
To extend the running time of the battery (aside from the sound features), you can turn:
-turn down the screen brightness
-set the screensaver timing to "15 sec"
-set the screensaver to "blank"
-set New Song Pop Up to "deactivate"
This configuration will prevent your player from needlessly turning on its screen while playing music (which it does every 15 seconds by default).
Other accessories:
Accessories for this MP3 player are few, far, and expensive. The only one I bought was the silicon case, CKM-NWZA820. This thing comes with a screen protector as well as the silicon case. For anyone who has a problem with the ease in which the "hold" button slides, this might help. (This has never been a problem for me though).
Conclusion: This is a great MP3 video player that does what it's supposed to do very well.
Update: With all sound features turned on, including equalizer and VPT surround, I got around 20 to 21 hours of playback (tracks ranged from 128 to 320 kbps).
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- I'm sure this would be a fantastic player if it were compatible with Audible downloads, and the software could actually import all the files I had already put into my itunes library. I hate working with media player 11 and how ugly it really is in comparison to apples presentation and options for importing and loading itunes is oustanding in this regard because it is constantly updated, and FREE. (which is my favorite kind) So, spend the extra cash and invest in a compatible player with something from mac. I now have the 8G nano, and love it and its simplicity of use.
- Could have been a contender
- I agree with the other reviews that the screen is large and sharp, and that the sound quality is awesome. I also like the menu system and enjoy the ability to sync the device using Windows Media Player. So far, so good. Where this device strays from a 4-star review is in its ability to play songs seamlessly.
THERE IS NO GAPLESS PLAYBACK! If you listen to continuous DJ mixes like I do, you will be annoyed listening to this device as it inserts a half-second moment of silence between each track. This is completely unacceptable and should have been fixed in a firmware update. As of the date of this review, Sony has not fixed this and has not expressed an interest in doing so. This is a total deal-breaker for me. Even non-mix albums have songs that blend from one track to the next and this player totally ruins that. Unfortunately, the lack of gapless playback is not noted in any product specs, so I did not learn about it until I purchased this product.
A much more minor criticism is that the device is a fingerprint and smudge magnet. This is not that big of a deal, but if you watch a lot of videos it could be an annoyance.
I had such high hopes for this device, but the lack of gapless playback annoyed me to the point of hating this product.
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- Excellent sound and linux compatible (w/ some tweaking)
- I bought this player on a whim. I already own an iRiver iHP-110 (which I love), an ipod Nano (which I don't), and a Creative Zen M (which is my workhorse). I was looking for a small MP3 player with adequate memory and great sound; video playback was not necessary but is considered a bonus.
When I bought this player, I was confident the audio fidelity would be excellent - and it is indeed. Sony's default headphones, IMHO, are always better than the competition's. (I use Sony's for all the players listed above just in case there was doubt as to comparisons.) The NWZ-A728 contains equalizer options as do all players but best of all let's you customize one of the settings for your own tastes.
The UI is very, very intuitive and best of all, it has HARD VOLUME BUTTONS!!! Why don't more manufacturers do this? I don't want to have to do multiple soft button presses to get to the volume - I just want to go UP and DOWN. Thank you Sony!
Video playback is very clear and the horizontal view is great eye candy. I wish it supported more formats like XVid but hey, I'm not going to rate it down for that. Battery life is very, very good as compared to my other players (with the exception of the iRiver).
I can't comment on the included software because I use Linux - Xubuntu 8.04 to be exact - and use freeware tools to manage my music and convert videos. At first blush, Xubuntu didn't see the player (and I suspect that's the case for any Ubuntu or Debian flavor). I ended up going over to the Kubuntu forums (kubuntuforums.net - look for a post by Jankushka) and you can follow his steps) to resolve the problem. (Note: Ubuntu 8.10 (intrepid) ships with libmtp 0.3.0 natively so this workaround won't be necessary once the release is stable.)
This player will end up replacing my Zen as my default device and the Nano is being retired permanently. If it had Ogg xupport and dynamic (custom) playlists like the Zen, I'd be in heaven but all-in-all, it is quite excellent. Highly recommend.
- Sony 8 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player
- Ignore the color factor - this is a great unit. 8GB is much better than the 4GB as it hold significantly more data. Easy to use, load, edit and change content from your computer using MS Media Player or the Sony software.
- This Sony 8G MP3 player has everything I needed. Easy to load. Easy to use. Excellent sound quality. Excellent ear buds. This is the second one I have purchased so that now my wife & I each have our own to use. Worth the price.
- I have and love the 4GB unit. I run out of space and got an 8 GB unit. Mp3 and videos work as good as the 4GB, but when I loaded my photos I was completely disappointed. Colors are just not right, and pixelation shows in High res images (the same files display great in the 4GB unit). It looks like the JPG engine was changed.
One more suggestion for dear Sony, how about a Micro SD slot?
- No Video Conversion Software
- It is actually not a bad device. But given the high end price, I am somewhat disappointed by:
1) Poor video support:
It is more expensive because it has a larger screen. However, there is NO VIDEO CONVERSION SOFTWARE included. You are supposed to purchased that separately. There is LITTLE INFORMATION about the audio/video it would accept, besides MPEG4/H.264. I eventually work out how to get ffmpeg to reliably generate conforming video and audio, but it took two whole hours.
2) Poor unicode support:
Many of my MP3's have traditional chinese tags. Technically, the characters are shown correctly, but some characters have thick strokes and some have thin strokes that make them look very incongruent.
3) Can only delete songs using a computer
Other than that, it is a good device, with sleek looks and generally smooth performance. However, given the high end price, I am likely to pick a different product if I were to make a purchase again.
The usb cable to the device looks proprietary, so better not lose it. I was able to connect the other end of the proprietary cable to an iPAQ charger that I have, so I can keep playing songs while charging. (It can't play songs when connected to a computer).
- Sony NWZ-A728 Comprehensive / Usage Review
- I'm going to try to make this review as comprehensive as I can.
I've owned this Sony NWZ-A728BLK MP3 player for about 10 days now and have tweaked around with it as much as I can. However, I did not like the included media manager software and won't be discussing that part of the package.
In short, the main reason why anyone would consider this player over other competitors is simple--sound quality.
Pros:
Excellent battery life
Excellent sound quality
Very crisp 2.4 inch screen
Pretty good video playback
Plug and play recognition
Organizes music files based on ID3 tags as well as file name
Cons:
Charges only through the included USB cable
No FM radio, voice recorder, or other extra functions
No playlist creation on the MP3 player itself (has to be done on the computer)
Sound quality:
Compared to the Sansa and Ipod players, this thing blows them away due to its crisp sound quality. Playing the same track on each one, I was able to hear background instruments and melodies that were inaudible on the other MP3 players! This is particularly useful when listening to orchestrated music tracks or any other tracks with a wide array of instruments playing at the same time.
The 5 band equalizer also includes a "clear bass" column that you can adjust, which really helps to bring out the low bass sounds. There are a few preset equalizer configurations as well as two custom ones. (Mine is set to a V formation across the 5 band with bass up to +2, try it =P).
The VPT Simulated Surround feature is amazing and offers 6 different surround sound environments for the user's taste. (Matrix is my favorite followed by Studio and Live whenever I feel like listening to my songs in that kind of setting).
The other sound options, DSEE and Clear Studio are mentioned in the item description above.
The included Sony EX earphones are great looking and quite durable. You get small, medium, and large changeable silicon rubber earbuds in the package. I even accidently yanked the earphones out of my ears while doing some punching exercises only to find it undamaged.
Video:
To get video playback on MP4, you must find a video converter with customizable conversion settings. Simply getting a PSP converter won't work due to differences in the required resolution. I have converted 4 files so far without fail by following these conversion specs:
Video Codec: mpeg4
Video encoder: H.264 / AVC
Video Size: 320 x 240
Video bitrate: 1000
Audio Bitrate: anywhere from 128 to 320
Audio encoder: AAC
Audio channels: 2 (stereo)
Hopefully everyone else will be as successful in their attempts to get their video files to play on the MP3 player.
The video files play beautifully once you get them in with the right format and can be viewed vertically or horizontally left as well as horizontally right (basically means from every side except upside-down from the top). The only downside with the video playback is that you can't tweak the sound quality like you can with music playback.
File transfer and organization:
This player is automatically detected on the computer and works just like a flash drive. You can click and drag files into either the "MUSIC," "PICTURE," or "VIDEO" folder. You can also store your music into organized folders that you make yourself (basically a folder hierarchy that goes down all the way to the 8th folder in a folder according to the manual). This also allows files to be played according to the folder it's in if that's your desire. You can also create new folders outside of the MUSIC and VIDEO folders to carry other bits of data such as text or PDF documents (flash drive-like function).
Once everything is loaded onto the MP3 player, you'll be able to browse through your songs via the first character of the file name itself (including 0-9) or the folder name that contains the file. This means messy and old mp3 files will still be manageable when mixed in with new mp3 files that contain ID3 tags! It's essentially up to your preference on how you want to organize your collection.
Battery life:
Sony claims this MP3 player can do 36 hours of music, but the problem with that claim is in the details. The player does get 36 hours when playing 128 kbps files with all the sound features turned off and the equalizer set to all zeros. But why anyone would plan to do that is beyond me... You paid for the advanced sound features so you might as well use it! I got roughly over 20-some hours with all the features turned on and constant fidgeting with the options as well as some video playback. (This is a very rough estimate. If I have time to track the playback time with all sound functions on, I'll update that number). Overall, I'm still impressed with the longevity of the product's battery life.
To extend the running time of the battery (aside from the sound features), you can turn:
-turn down the screen brightness
-set the screensaver timing to "15 sec"
-set the screensaver to "blank"
-set New Song Pop Up to "deactivate"
This configuration will prevent your player from needlessly turning on its screen while playing music (which it does every 15 seconds by default).
Other accessories:
Accessories for this MP3 player are few, far, and expensive. The only one I bought was the silicon case, CKM-NWZA820. This thing comes with a screen protector as well as the silicon case. For anyone who has a problem with the ease in which the "hold" button slides, this might help. (This has never been a problem for me though).
Conclusion: This is a great MP3 video player that does what it's supposed to do very well.
Update: With all sound features turned on, including equalizer and VPT surround, I got around 20 to 21 hours of playback (tracks ranged from 128 to 320 kbps).
- I'd been looking for a better player than my PSP (Playstation Portable), and this fit the bill perfectly.
The pros:
- Sound quality is outstanding, especially when you activate the built-in enhancement features. Best sound quality of any portable device I've ever used!
- The screen is beautiful; large (relatively speaking), crisp and bright.
- The controls are pretty intuitive, easy to use while it's in your pocket without having to look at it.
- True Plug'n Play; unlike Creative Zen, iPod and Zune, this player is instantly recognized by Windows as a mass storage device (i.e. disk drive), so copying and managing files is easy and requires no proprietary software ("bloatware").
- Plug'n Play recognition lets you use it as a Flash drive as well; transport music/videos/whatever between different computers.
The cons:
- The USB cable has a proprietary connector, holding you hostage to Sony if you lose it or want another one.
- USB-only charging by default. No A/C adapter is included.
- Inexplicably, there are two "pictures" folders on the unit, and neither can be deleted (you can actually delete them but they'll reappear automatically).
- Hold button slides out of "hold mode" too easily.
- While in hold mode, any button press activates the screen to tell you the unit is on hold, which eats battery juice unnecessarily. Should simply ignore key presses and stay dark until hold mode is released.
- Music fast-forward and "rewind" functions increment too slowly.
- Videos must be in unique MP4 format (even Sony's own PSP-format MP4s will not work on this).
- Optional protective silicon "skin" is a dust magnet; put it in your pocket and you'll pull out a fuzz-covered MP3 player.
- Battery life is about half of what Sony estimates (I'm getting 3-4 hours per charge, with very little video use).
More configuration options for music and video would be nice, but it's not a deal-breaker.
Despite these cons, this is still a great player. And 8gb at this price is a great deal. Get yourself a set of noise-canceling headphones to make it sound even better and you'll be very happy.
- Question about video playback
- So, I heard the audio from this player at my friend's house. It was much clearer, and well defined than that of any iPod.
I DO HAVE A QUESTION??? about the video conversion. If I use videora or another video to Mp4 converter, what resolution do I need to set it to?
Will this player accept video formats that have been converted from xvid,divx, avi--to MP4 using said conversion programs? Which programs do you recommend? And again, what resolution does it need to be set to for it to work on this player?
Thanks.
- Excellent MP3 Player - Great Value
- I have this sony mp3 player for almost 3 weeks now and its a Great player has nothing less than Excellent Audio and Video Quality in it. I have an iPOD but I love this one better due to much better Audio, Video Quality and Battery Life.
Pros:
1. Excellent Audio Quality with the supplied headphones
2. Two Custom Equalizer functions where you can store your settings
3. a Separate Surround sound field selection (studio, club, arena, pop ..etc)
4. Automatic volume limiter system (which will limit the volume if you accidently turn it up .. safe for kids and youngsters)
5. Excellent Video Quality while playing movies
6. Excellent Video Quality while playing Digital Pictures
7. Head Phones Design cuts some noise as soon as you plug them
8. Nice Feature to Sync it with "Windows Media Player 11"
9. Upgrade to Pro Software to Upload personal videos is not bad at $12.99
10. Great Battery life
11. Very Sleek Design, Feels good in the hand during navigation and controls.
12. Auto Power Off, if player is not used. (If Mp3s are not playing).
13. Hold Function to keep controls locked.
Other thoughts (Not really Cons)
================================
1. Dolby Noise Reduction feature would be nice as I think some of the hiss can be eliminated. This hiss is only present in some of the Surround Audio Fields. Please do not confuse this with built-in Equalizer. Equalizer is a separate setting and it works great.
The Dolby NR is not really a Con for me as I think it requires extra circuitry thats the reason lot of small players lack it these days and it makes the player expensive too.
2. Sony Proprietery USB cable (pretty much like a iPod)
- 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 that a charging cable.
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38 customer reviews
