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"Welcome back SONY,.." on by lil-yankee
Pros: sleek desing, great features, open software.
Cons: Placing of the hold botton (wow!)
Summary: This walkman player could easily represent sonys comeback. It shows some steps forward in the companiess lost incentive to bring competitive products to the mp3 player marker, onces dominated by their walkmans.
This tiny player will offer you good storage for its size at 8gb and what we've come to expect from the company, 30 hours of battery life. it has a great design overall taking away that hold button and a nice user interface. The videos in the screen look really sharp to my amazement given the fact it is their first video walkman and has sufficient buttons to not want to scroll wheel through it. One plus about this walkman that isn't a tradition of many companies is its headphones. It brings high quality headphones that make it by far the best sounding player out of the box. Its also pocket-friendly player and best of all open source. You can just drag your music from many computers and have them come to you with no restrictions unlike that friend of ours Ipod. Personally though, I would have liked for them to just come out with a really nice software for it as it would make your music better organized and easier to manage. All in all, a great player and definitively something to consider over a fat nano. Choose wisely.. -
"Excellent MP3 Player" on by ScottieinToronto
Pros: Astounding Sound Quality, Beautiful Screen, Great Battery Life
Cons: No Expansion Slot
Summary: What a great job Sony has done. I am so used to walking in a Sony store and quickly viewing the MP3 player selection and feeling slight stomach pains when I see that darn Sonic Stage software advertised with each and every one. You see I was a big Sony guy back when MD players were the new thing. I absolutely have never heard any portable device sound as flawless and clear as that good ol' Network MD player until now. Thing is back then, it used to take me hours upon hours to get the music encoded correctly in ATRAC format. I would have to re-encode all the MP3's and to my surprise, when I would come back to the computer, one track would sometimes have an error, and I would have to re encode the remaining songs. I'm sure you Sony people know what I'm talking about.
Imagine my surprise when I walk in the Sony Store once again and gracefully step up to the shiny glass counter and see some rather attractive players. What's this? Drag and drop? hmmmm... Can't be! No software required? Liars! At about this point, I feel a little dumb because a week previous I picked up my first true mp3 player.... "The Mighty Ipod Classic (80GB)" I know I know but hey, I figured I bought 3 of them for different family members over the years and I may as well give it a try since the price was good and it is the #1 MP3 player. Well to put it bluntly, the Ipod is a beautiful player, has a nice interface, lots of storage, nice screen, and has a great price. But when I turned this thing on, and synced my music, it left me wondering, is it defective? Why do all of the songs sound crackly, flat, and dull. There wasn't one sound preset I could select that would make me feel like it sounded remotely like my old Sony MD Player.
Oh sorry I'm all over the place. Well I ended up returning the Ipod the day after I went to the Sony Store... to Walmart, which put me in the awkward position of stretching the truth due to their Ipod return policy of only returning the device back to an official Apple Store. I went back to the Sony Store and picked up the 8GB player and hot damn. This is what a music player is supposed to sound like. Punchy sound, great bass without the crackling sounds or weird thumps, clear, brilliant highs, and just provides the listener with a phenomenal sound stage. When I'm spending $200-300 on a piece of equipment, based around audio, it has got to bring my music library to life and make me eager to hear the things the musicians intended the listener to hear and experience. Great Job Sony. We can go on and talk about the lack of fm tuner and the weird placement of the hold button, but I'm giving this player a 9 just because it really defines what a great listening experience, on the go, is all about. -
"Solid purchase! Welcome back Sony!" on by Arby44
Pros: Great UI, Easy to use, Great Battery life, Nice nav buttons
Cons: No FM tuner, Short earbud cable, no included protective cover
Summary: It's really is annoying when you have this great MP3 device in your pants pocket and the stupid cable to your earbuds pulls them out because it is a foot too short! All-in- all this was a very worth while purchase. Good pick Jasmine/CNet.
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"WOW Sony NWZ-A818 is awesome........." on by shehzad
Pros: Stellar sound quality, features, WMA subscription services compatible, great battery life and easy of use.
Cons: Not 16GB capesity available yet and hardrive based 160GB DAPs for audiophiles.
Summary: It's an awesome move by sony and it's right on time. I think sony offering so much more than ipods and zune. First high quality earphones with better battery life and easy of use. Also sound quality is realy awesome, must buy.
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"Intense listening experience..." on by jjett77
Pros: AWESOME sound, sturdy/solid metal build, numerous sound enhancements/adjustments, quality earbuds, small size, user friendly navigation
Cons: FF/RW could be faster (even with pause feature), organization of music lineup, other than that nothing
Summary: This MP3 player is phenomenal...the sound is amazing. I mostly listen to progressive house/trance and dance music and let me tell you, with the sound on this thing, it feels like your live right in the club next to the speaker. It's even good for future hearing loss from listening to loud music because it's toned down and not a sharp loud sound. It's a very comfortable yet deep sounding tone. I wanted something different since everyone and their brother has an IPod and boy am I more than happy with this. If your looking for a real-to-life sounding music player, this is the one for you. I am very critical and selective so you can count on this review. Only problem with an accesory that I have come across was that there was no armband for the gym (which is mainly what I need this for). But, sure enough I found one (Made by DLO for the Samsung T10 MP3 model # of the case is 005-2425) at Best Buy that fits this thing perfect (except for the volume control and hold button, which is easily pressed through the case and the hold button is at the bottom so you can easily slip finger through and switch it). Just make sure this is the correct fit when your at the store because I threw the box out and I am getting all the case info from BB website. Im sure it's this one, but if it's not find the ones that look most similar to this because one of them will fit this player perfectly, I should know cause I have it. Go for it guys!
Sony NWZ-A818 user reviews (8GB, black)
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