FM radio is a plus when at the gym (tune into what’s playing on the tv).

Small, pocketable. As with any MP3, invest in some excellent headphones.

i got this for a friend. and after trying

it out, it’s just a clunker.(but i’m

still giving it to them)…

why do all sony products have terrible software?

the limited conversion/transfer program is terrible.

most of the video files i converted never worked properly,

and yes, i have plenty of experience in working with them.

the playlist management is non-existant, i had to get a

freeware program of the internet to make them properly.

i despise how it has to rebuild its library every time you start

it. can’t you turn that option off?

yes, the video looks fine once you get it on there, and the

sound quality of everything else is ok. but that’s a small

consolation. i don’t like apple products either, so i’ll look

at other players like sansa, and zune next time.

save your money for a better player, and make sure the software

for it is excellent, otherwise, its going to be a huge struggle to

make it useable.

Yes, they added the radio,extended the battery life to an incredible 45 hours,added more and support for a couple of other video formats,and improved the build quality but come on Sony, the most vital feature of an mp3 player is the Sound.

This one does not sound nearly as nice or clean as the 600 and 700 series Walkmans. If you have never heard the other Sony players, then you might reckon this one is fantastic, but it does not compare to the older models in sound quality.

There are several sound enhancements that were included in the earlier versions of this player that are missing here. There is no VPT ( Virtual Surround), No Clear Stereo, No DSE and no Bass Enhancement. And most of all, the volume capability seems to be about 60 % of what you got on the older units. That may be how Sony got the extra 12 hours of battery life.

The tuner in the older units was awesome, this tuner is very weak. I compared the two units side by side, and it is not just a small weak, it is nearly unusable.

The video does seem to be about the same as the older players,which was very excellent, and they did increase the size of the screen, but video was not a very vital feature for me.

Shame on Sony….. I bought this to give as a gift to friend and I am now to embarrased by the performance to give it as gift. I am taking this unit back,and I already ordered another 600 and 700 series unit while they are still available on clearance.

The terrible news is that the 30+ hour rated battery falls woefully small. I get from 15 to 20 hours and that’s using the FM radio (which should require less juice than playing songs from the hard drive). Very disappointing.

Also terrible news is the female contact on the unit. It is unique to Sony. And to add insult to injury, it will only charge up using my computer and the USB cord that was provided. It will not charge on the AC or DC chargers that I bought separately.

PROS:

1. Form, shape and size: This is a nice simple looking player, nothing flashy. It’s perfect sized, light-weight and has a solid feel to it. Yeah, all made of plastic but not flimsy at all, it feels solid in the hand. The front of the player is black glossy, the side is dark gray glossy and the back is black matte. It’s excellent that the back is matte so that it won’t get scratched easily.

2. Buttons: It’s got the right buttons in the right places. Home/Back, Power/Option, 5-way ‘joystick’ (not a joystick really as you can see 4-way buttons with a select key in the center), Volume +/- and Hold buttons. These are pretty standard buttons and are at the right places.

3. Connecting to computer (Windows Vista): This is really vital and a huge plus for this player. When I first connected the player with the supplied cable, the player started up and started connecting to the comp. The comp installed the drivers easily and it was all set. It showed up as ‘Walkman’ on My Computer and I could drill into the folders and see the files. I dragged and dropped some music files into the ‘Music’ folder and it zipped through the transfer. It was really quick. The mp3 files went straight into the folder and it did not make folders or anything, which is fine as I tend to browse the songs by their names not by albums. The drag and drop feature is really awesome as it is so simple. Windows Media Player 11 recognized it easily and synced songs with ease. So, the bottom line is you really do not need the supplied disc if you use Windows Vista (don’t know about XP, it should recognize and install the drivers straight away though, else just use the supplied disc). It even works with iTunes (at least a flyer in the box says so…not with 8.0 though).

4. Player Interface: The software interface is simple intuitive and very simple to use. I did not have to look at the user manual at all to figure out where to go for what. For browsing the music files, it organizes files by their first alphabets and you can easily search through a huge list of songs easily. I really like this feature, its quite handy.

5. Features: It plays a lot of sound, photo and video file formats. The largest plus over an ipod is that it has FM tuner. It’s got equalizer with two custom settings which you can edit as you wish. It has a clock show which shows both digital and analog time (this is just two dots but does the work).

6. Sound: Now, we come to the real part. I wouldn’t say sound quality is stellar but it is very excellent. It is better than other players I have listened to (except iriver clix2 of course). You can set your own equalizer settings or use the in-built ones.

7. Video: The video is crisp clear and the colors are vibrant. I was viewing the video at brightness level 3 (5 being the highest) and it was fantastic. I didn’t have to bump up the brightness or change any settings. It even saves the time where you stop and starts playing where yu left off, but it refreshes if you play another video.

8. Picture: The picture quality is superb (as is with video). You can watch a slide-show or browse through photos easily. The pictures can be viewed in portrait or landscape mode (both left and right orientation).

9. FM Features: FM is quite nice on this. It scans automatically or you can scan yourself too. Nothing much to say here, its ok.

Languages: There are several languages you can set the player to, this might becritical for some people.

10. UPDATE (8/31/2009) The included earbuds are fantastic…won’t provide noise cancellation or stellar sound but for the class of earbuds included with an mp3 player they are awesome.

CONS:

1. Design: The design might be dull for some, it’s not eye catching.

2. Screen: I don’t say the screen is not excellent, it is very nice crisp and clear, but it could be better with an OLED which would be just awesome.

3. Expansion: There is no expansion slot for microSD or even memory stick media. This might be an issue for some.

4. Storage: It maxes out at 8 gigs. There is no 16 gig model.

5. Color Options: Well, this is a subjective issue. Some people like the gazillion colors of ipod nanos which I reckon is lame. Yellow, green, purple…I mean seriously. Black, Red and Pink are just fine.

6. Ear buds: To be honest, I haven’t tried these but they look cheap…just like other out-of-the-box ear buds. UPDATE (08/31/2009): Ear-buds are fantastic…removing them from ‘CONS’ category.

7. Noice cancellation: Sony has noise cancellation built in to its other mp3 players but I reckon for the price, this is fine.

Bottom Line: This is a nice mp3 player with lots of features and very excellent sound quality. This could be very handy for people who are buying their first mp3 player and do not want to have anything complicated. The price is very reasonable too.

UPDATE (8/31/2009): The battery life is awesome…it gives over 24 hours of music with no equalizer, 27/30 volume setting (which is quite high)…which is fantastic.