PC makeover with Best Buy $1,199.99Walkman versus the rest--Ask the Editors
X-Series Walkman takes on the Samsung P3
Q: I am finally ready to cross that bridge and get me a touch-screen player. I wanted to know your expert opinion on the Samsung P3 and the Sony Walkman X-Series. I purchase all my music from Napster, Amazon and some from Rhapsody. I use Window Media Player 11, so I need a player that is compatible with that. Please let me know what you think. -- bensworld411, via e-mail
A: Although I've only used a preproduction sample of the X-Series Walkman, I can tell you that I favor it over the Samsung P3. Granted, the X-Series is quite a bit pricier, but I personally prefer the onscreen interface and touch-screen implementation (though the P3's is certainly flashy). I also straight-up love the fact that the Walkman has tactile buttons on the top for controlling playback (say, while you have the player in your pocket). Both devices will work equally well with the system you use for music, and both offer excellent sound quality.
Really, I would narrow it down to two things: price and whether you prefer Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. If you want a cheaper device that includes the ability to sync up Bluetooth headphones, go with the P3. If you want something with a slicker interface that has Wi-Fi and built-in Slacker capability (free music!), go with the Walkman. Better yet, if you can hold off a few more days, I'm expecting a retail unit of the X-Series to be delivered to my desk tomorrow, which means we'll have a full review up for you very soon.
Walkman versus Walkman versus Fuze
Q: After reading your take on the NWZ-S638F (8GB), dated October 28, 2008, I am almost convinced to purchase this, but I wanted your opinion on this unit at $119.99 versus the NWZ-S716 (4GB) with armband and protective black rubber case at $83.98. I was all ready to buy the NWZ-S716F until I read your opinion on the S638. Now I'm deciding between these 2 Sony units, or the Sansa Fuze, either 4GB or 8GB (not as important since these have memory expansion). Help me with my decision. I will be using these mainly for music and FM radio. Thanks for your time -- Tim, via e-mail
A: The S638 Walkman is essentially a follow-up to the S716. The former (which doesn't have the integrated noise-canceling capability found throughout the rest of the S-Series) offers an updated interface with great podcast management as well as a dedicated Rhapsody Channels section and a smart playlist creator called SensMe Channels. If you don't listen to podcasts, don't use Rhapsody To Go, and don't really care about a smart playlist creator, the S716 is a fine option--though it's a bit dated, it still offers excellent audio quality and a fantastic battery life. And you're getting a bit of a deal with the armband and case bundled in, although I'd recommend getting the 8GB S718 if you that is an option, since Sony players don't have memory expansion.
While I think the Sansa Fuze is a great player that offers an exceptional value, I prefer the Walkmans because of the higher-quality construction, the slicker interfaces, and the more impressive audio quality. However, really any of the players you mentioned would be a suitable option for simple music and FM radio playback.
For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine.
Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
Sony is responsible for some of the most *IRRESPONSIBLE* behaviour in the industry! They suck you in and then force you to use their proprietary memory stick, or their proprietary encoding for music or videos, and if you were one of the unlucky millions who purchased a Sony music CD, then you were probably involved in one of the most insidious scams ever perpatrated against a customer! Sony violated the CD ROM license by producing a music CD that did not comply with the CD ROM standards. They included in their music CDs a small bit of code that would hide from all virus and phishing programs and track every song you had on your computer and then phone home with that information and identifying information about you..and while Sony did not admit to this part, the most likely reason for doing this is to proceed with lawsuits against people who had illegal music on their computers! Unfortunately, because the people are Sony are such idiots (or fortunately?) the program didn't work right and instead of tattling on their customers, it caused computers to behave erratically and reboot constantly! I personally know of several dozen people who paid technicians thousands of dollars to *fix* their computers, some even went so far as to buy new computers, only to have them behave erratically after a Sony music CD was played in their computer!
And why would Sony do something like this? Well, why would the brick PSP consoles? or lock down the PS3 interface? They don't trust their customers! Sony is also one of the biggest contributors of the RIAA! And they are one the major researchers for copy protection software...The arrogance of this company is unbounded, and the only thing to bring them down is to vote with your wallet. Avoid Sony like the plague! And watch Sony crash and burn....Look at what is happening to Blue Ray! Sony cheated by paying the major movie studios hundreds of millions of dollars to switch to Blue Ray instead of HD, and so they did...So now every blue ray video sold must pay Sony a royalty for the privelidge...HD was public domain...no royalties what so ever! And what's funny? It's now been almost a year since Blue Ray "won" the format wars and there are *STILL* more HD movies out there than there are blue ray...Blue ray sales are falling, not increasing, and all because of the GREED of Sony.
I will so laugh when Sony's stock is delisted!
So Sony is a major goliath in electronics and the entertainment content side. Deal with it. Buy what works and stay away from the rest...or just stay away. That's what's great about CHOICE. But let the rest of us decide for ourselves on what's acceptable or not. Given their current propensity to create large amounts of red ink, they'll get the message soon enough.
After the CD Copy protection debacle, Sony took a huge hit and have gone back to using less intrusive forms of copy protection (thank god) and they have learned a serious lesson and they have been known to learn form their mistakes quite often. These things are hit or miss and you miss far more often than you get hits; but this was a ******* move on theri part i have to admit. (The PSP Go is going to be their next miss)
PSPs are bricked only if u flash the firmware and use the homebrewed firmware. If you use it to do things that it was not designed for, aka flashing the OS which you would only need to do if you wanted to pirate games, then you are violating the EULA. I have a PSP and i have never had my PSP bricked after 5 updates and a swim in the toilet because I use it for what it was designed for, PSP games and Playstation Store Content; not including the toilet swim)
PS3's are pretty high end computers, but at the end of the day they are no differnet from the VCR and DVD player in your house. They are consumer goods desigined to do specific functions. Not only that they have access to people's personal information like credit card numbers and email addresses etc.This has nothing to do with trustung their customers. As such Sony cannot risk someone developing some sort of trojan or virus that can penetrate and exploit the PS3 (and if you think this description is not fair then I'd have you look at apple. They lock their OS to a specific hardware set to ensure a specific experience and that is what their customers get and the company is better off for that and their customers dont feel like the company is accusing them of theft aforhand)
Its not that Sony doesnt trust their customers, its just that they have too many variables to worry about. What is even more telling that Sony trusts their customers... to an extent is that the PS3 can now run Linux operating systems. Back in teh days of the PS2, that console culd as well run Linux but sony scrapped it in fear of users exploiting that feature to pirate games (which it was later proven that they could)
So you might say that the PS3's XMB is relative to a regular PC's BIOS, and a BIOS is not something that is easily modified uness it was designed to be overclocked and such. However you can do quite a bit from the XMB on the PS3. Despite it having some shorcomings, It's a fully functional OS without having another linux OS installed on top of it and it gets quite a bit done. I don't see the need for too many people other than Sony to mess with the XMB and as far as the PS3 goes its open enough that i use it almost like a second PC in a way. (Little bonus with having the XMB locked down is you never have to worry about driver problems)
I understand how you feel, but when you look at the big picture, you in a way feel both proud of and sorry for Sony. They created the portable music industry and lost it to Apple, they revolutioned the consumer music industry with the Digital CD but dropped the ball on the move to digital distribution. Its intersting how the proprieters of digital didn't see where their own innovations could take them. They brought 3D to the home console and schooled the most experienced in the industry at their own game for 2 console generations.
Sony is an excellent company if a bit reckless.
The current walkman's are a game of catchup, but what Sony has produced is some of the best sounding portable music on the market despite having low capacities. They are almost at the point to be rivaling the iPod in certain areas and have begun to open up to more standard platforms and are not repeating the old Sonic Stage Software madness (I Hope i never have to use that software again)
And no i'm not a Sony fanboy, I have a Zune, a PS3 and a Dell laptop.
I hope this evens out your argument. I have countered every argument you have put foward and i didnt even need to say how all the sound enhancement technologies that Sony has developed over the years has been crammed into the Walkmans and is what gives it it's exquisite sound.
VM.
On the downside, the player does not have games or apps, but these things don't really concern me, I don't use those options on my cell either. The one large downside, and this is pretty much true of all non-apple devices, is lack of accessories. Trying to find anything for a Sony Walkman is a pain in the ass.
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by iff2mastamatt
July 7, 2009 7:19 PM PDT
- I think both players have DNSe EQ settings, which I love to use in my Samsung P2. I don't know why Sony made the X-series so expensive, I just bought a Dell Mini 10 netbook for under $400, C'mon Sony...
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