Sony NW-E507 Network Walkman (1GB)
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"the competition better lookout for this new walkman - packed with features" on by urbanNavigator
Pros: battery life, small size, look, lcd display, jog dial, playlists, attachable clip
Cons: headphones supplied aren't great
Summary: Bought this to replace my minidisk player that had started to fail (4 years old). I was going to purchase another minidisk player because of the great battery life compared to mp3 players, but then saw this new network walkman.
Unlike the flash network walkman model before this, this does support wma and native mp3 files. I think the one before this required converting to atrac3 using the supplied sonic stage software.
Battery Life: Sony says you can get 50 hours out of it playing atrac3 files. If you use it normally, with mp3 files, you can expect less than that, but still well over 30 hours. It has an internal li-ion battery that charges very quickly (3 min quick charge for 3 hours playback, about 45 min for 80% charge, 2 hours for full charge).
LCD Display: The iPOD shuffle doesn't have one. Many other mp3 players have very small lcd displays which don't display a lot. This has a 3 line LCD display that is very bright, uses little power, and displays everything you would want! Track #, artist, title, bat life, etc. etc.... the text even scrolls nicely if it doesn't all fit on the line. There is a power saver feature to turn off the display after 15 seconds, you can still tell if the unit is turned on because a wave shoots across the display every 5 seconds. 4 display modes, including a screensaver with bubbles.
Features: Organize your songs into playlists using Sonic Stage and transfer to the device (drag and drop style interface). Play your songs back by album or artist. Easy to find songs on the plyaer. Adjust bass and treble. AVLS (who uses that!). Jog dial for easy navigation in menu's and to move forward, back a song and FF RW.
Unlike other mp3 players, this comes with a plastic clip that you can attach to the player to clip on your side (great for the gym) instead of wearing around your neck or arm. I prefer this compared to other players.
Compared to other mp3 players that have no features (iPOD shuffle lets you put songs on and then you can play them, or play them randomly - thats the only feature) and don't let you see what youre listening to after the songs are on the player, this blows the competition out of the water.
You'll want to buy a better pair of headphones, and the plastic clip is a bit cheap looking so might break after lots of use. Would also be nice if you didn't need a cord to attach to usb port but could directly plug the player into it. -
"Stylish, but MP3 is crippled" on by Renegade Lisp
Pros: Very stylish. Hardware feels very solid and durable.
Cons: MP3s have to be encrypted with Sony software before you can play them
Summary: I bought this player for our teenage daughter, because I was sure the style would make her fall in love with it immediately. She did. But then we tried dragging and dropping her favourite MP3s onto the unit, only to discover that it doesn't work that way. You have to run MP3s through a special obfuscation software by Sony in order to play them. You cannot move these obfuscated MP3s off of the device afterwards -- so our daughter wouldn't be able to share music with her friends with this device. I explained this to her, and she immediately agreed that she would rather have a slightly less stylish, but "free" MP3 player, that allows her to do anything with her music that she wants. We returned the unit to the dealer the next day, and bought her another one for the same price, which does allow drag-and-drop.
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"just another pretty face" on by benzslrpee
Pros: great battery life, great sound quality, excellent exterior design, OLED screen is a step ahead of most if not all mp3 players
Cons: poor menu/navigation system, severly limited mp3 capabilities, 3 line display + roughly 120 songs = too much scrolling around,
Summary: i really wanted to like this mp3 player, really, i did. but who ever is in charge of Sony's Audio Design should be hung, shot and sent to hell in a tidy hand basket for the following reason...
- there is no possible way to just "drag and drop" mp3's into the device (like iRiver) which makes it rather annoying to use because...
- the synchronization software is a mess. compared to itunes where what you enter in the "artist, title, genre...etc" will transfer accordingly to your ipod, the Sony SonicStage software doesn't. infact, you can fill out ID3 tags for your mp3s and once it transfers only some will show up on the Walkman, the rest are filed under "unknown artist and unknown album" (perhaps some tag version conflict?). so then the only way to fix that is to manually re-enter the ID3 tags for the mp3's located on the Walkman (takes about 30 min for 120 songs) so that you can figure out what song to choose.
- ok fine...i'll live with that since the wee gadget still looks sexy with that smooth exterior. the file transfer speed was kind of slow compare to the ipod, Zen and iRiver so i figured my laptop was underpowered and slotted the player to my desktop. smack me silly and call me uncle but the cursed device wouldn't let me transfer/recieve files from a new computer UNLESS i deleted the existing tracks off the walkman!! which meant re-entering those ID3 tags again. BAHHHH
...i know the folks at Sony take this whole music copyright thing seriously, but for the love of God, it seems that they really, REALLY didn't want to add mp3 capability at all to this player. but its ok, it's still sweet looking and feels good in the hand so i'll give it one more shot.
- 2 hours later i managed to load my songs, and with a quick 3 minute charge (you get 3 hours of playback with that!! holy crap thats awesome) i decided to take it outside jogging and immediately noticed 2 things...
- you can't see the screen in daylight because of that reflective coating, and i mean i had to find a tree, get some shade and cup my hand over the OLED screen to get a read out. but running at night, that screen was brighter than day and a sight for sore eyes...really cool.
- the text scrolls length wise on the device, naturally given it's shape, but wearing on a lanyard, belt clip or whatever means you're going to have to take it off in order to look through your menu options...otherwise everything appears sideways (which paired with the reflective coating makes it an olympic feat to read the text).
...i mean in the end, i don't know what to say. for the longest time the public begged Sony to provide mp3 support and the wish was granted, but not willingly i guess. most people can live without the drag/drop function (although it would be nice but a lot of mp3 players don't have that), many won't mind re-entering some tags, fewer might have the patience to re-enter them again...but very few will appreciate the fact that if they paired the device to their laptop first their is no possible way to add new mp3's from another computer unless you delete the existing ones. i mean, it has great sound, the bundled earphone are of good quality, the design has enough flash to make this a hot item among teens-adults...but it just shouldn't be this frustrating to use darn it. i guess i'll go date my ipod mini with its measely 2 hour battery life until something better comes along. -
"A Competent Sony Product" on by Xephas
Pros: Small/Compact, Stylish, Extremely Long Battery Life, FM Radio, Easy Controls.
Cons: Easily Scratchable
Summary: "Reviews" are meant to "review" the product. It's not a place to advertise another product.
I feel there's a need to introduce myself before I review this product. The readers can then get a glimpse on what type of Digital Audio user I am, before they consider my opinion. This is the first D.A. (IE: Digital Audio) gadget I have bought. I like my gadgets to be separated (IE: Phones should only call or text, Digital Camera's should only take pictures, D.A. should only play music). I like any product that does what it says it'll do and do it for a long time. Quality over quantity. Originality is also a plus.
I bought my Sony NW-E507 at a local computer store and have had the pleasure of using it for the past week. The product came with the D.A. device, ear buds, extension to the ear buds, USB connector, small black drawstring pouch, belt clip, and software/instructions/papers and such.
I was extremely excited to open the box. The first thing I managed to pull out were the ear buds, which at first sight made me say "what the hec", and I also remember laughing. The ear buds were strangely irregular. The left ear bud is about one feet shorter than the other. I suppose it was made with the intention of your D.A. device always being on the left side of your body. I didn't care so much about the ear buds. They're always replaceable, and I didn't buy the product for the ear buds (so I saw them as a bonus, even if it does look strange). I will warn all image conscious consumers that the ear buds may compromise your look. However, if you have long hair you may be able to cover it up. I'm not a fan of ear buds in general because they hurt my ears.
The ear bud extensions came out next, and it's a little longer than one feet. It's a good extension that'll work with any headphones/ear buds. I managed to pull out the D.A. device which is the sexiest shaped gadget I have seen. It looks alien, plus it's very shiny. Recharging the Sony NW-E507 was a joy to watch, and the O-LED is extremely bright in a dim room (even brighter in a dark room).
The Sonic Stage software wasn't so difficult to deal with, at least not the way other people have described it to be. I think the problem maybe that a lot of users are not flexible (or comfortable) with using new software. I will say this, Sony products assume that a lot of their consumers are competent to some level and are capable of using different software. If you're unfamiliar with using broad ranges of software and have absolutely no patience, this may be a minor (or major) hurdle for you to cross. Once you're comfortable with using Sonic Stage it shouldn't be a problem. There are also updates on Sony's websites where they allow the "drag and drop" feature that a lot of D.A. users adore, so the Sonic Stage fiasco can be averted. The software for the Sony NW-E507 should no longer be a factor to consider when buying this product.
The device itself is very easy to control. The O-LED light in the morning is a bit washed out to see, but I still manage to see it. If you angle the device there's no doubt that the screen is readable. However, I've never tried viewing it in direct sunlight so I'm not sure what the implications of that may be. It comes with a black drawstring pouch which you can always use to shield it from the sun. Rarely do I take the device out to pick a specific song. I usually have it in the pouch hanging off my belt loop while I walk around campus.
The main reason of my purchasing the Sony NW-E507 is for the battery life. After the charge, I managed to use the device for around 15 or so hours and it only consumed one-third of the battery panel. The battery life has unbelievable stamina. Some consumers are concerned about the battery being "built in", which leads me to comment that on the bottom of the device where the port for recharging (and song loading) lies there are two screws. The battery is replaceable, though I'm not sure if you should do that on your own. It's probably best to send it in to Sony to replace if you have no clue what you're doing.
The sound quality is great, and the volume is able to reach high levels. Since the Sony NW-E507 is a flash based D.A. device, your songs will never skip because there are no moving parts. I tested this out by shaking the device to an extreme degree, and it didn't skip a beat. I find myself listening to the fm radio ALOT. The radio does become a bit fuzzy at certain spots and I'm not sure if jogging or running may cause it to be fuzzier.
The surface of the device does seem to scratch rather easily. After a weeks use of mainly having it in the carrying pouch, I've managed to find very light surface scratches (nothing deep). I'm also afraid to touch the device with oily or greasy hands. If there was one thing I could ask to improve on the next model of the Sony NW-E507 it would be a more resistant surface.
I've heard that some devices can still play music while they load, but since this is my first D.A. gadget I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing. I only load music from my own computer, and while I'm loading music into the Sony NW-E507 I can always listen to the same songs on my computer. It may be a problem if you're using a different computer that does not have your music collection? There are still ways to go around that if you try. It's not something that I would consider to be a problem.
All in all I really love this product. It's something that will last for years (if you take good care of it). I enjoy and appreciate its company. It does what it says it'll do (play music) and it does it well and it does it long (battery life). While I walk through a campus located in the middle of a city, I could not thank Sony enough for creating a device that manages to drown out the annoying cell phone users whose conversations can be heard a mile away. Sony, you are my hero. -
"Sony Support provides utility for MP3 drag-n-drop. No SonicStage required!" on by cuban8
Pros: Direct drag-n-drop of MP3 files from Windows Explorer. No installation required,
Cons: Minimal song management features.
Summary: Other users have mentioned all the good bits about the player like great sound, cool looks, etc., but the major gripe seems to be the Song Management Software (SonicStage).
So I would like to share my little "discovery" on Sony Support website that they do provide a small utility for drag-n-drop support of MP3 files from Windows Explorer directly to the Network Walkman series. Transfer is faster than iTunes
Check it out!
www.sonydigital-link.com/DNA/common/asp/details.asp?l=en&v=mp3installer_2_0&m=mp3
Another amazing thing about this utility is that it actually resides on the player itself (less than a song's worth of storage), so I can run it from ANY computer I plug in to.
With its small program size, it inevitably has very little song management features. So I just use Windows Explorer to edit my IDTags on my MP3 directly. (You can do this by right clicking on the MP3 and select Properties, then go to the Summary Tab and click the "Advanced" button at the bottom, then double-clicking the fields like "Title", "Genre", "Album", etc., to edit.)
<a href="http://www.sonydigital-link.com/DNA/common/asp/details.asp?l=en&v=mp3installer_2_0&m=mp3">Link to MP3 File Manager</a>
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