Sony NWZ-W202 W-Series Walkman review (2GB, pink)

The W-Series Walkman is predictably light on extras, but Sony does integrate a few unique and useful features. The first is something called Zappin, which lets you browse through tracks by ear by playing a snippet of the chorus of each song. You can choose between long (10 seconds) and short (4 seconds) settings for this mode, and if you come across a song you want to hear, a press of the jog button will start it from the beginning. The player also offers a quick-charge feature that will give you 90 minutes of playback from a 3-minute charge--particularly handy for a fitness-friendly player. And the package includes a sticky-bottomed stand/docking station for charging the device and transferring songs (done via standard Mini-USB). Finally, each earpiece is magnetized and when you stick them together, the player automatically powers down.

Unsurprisingly, the W-Series Walkman is an audio-only device; it can play back MP3, AAC (unprotected only), and WMA (subscription included) files. Although a playlist section showed up under the player when we connected it to our PC, there is no indication by Sony that the device can support anything resembling a playlist. This would be a welcome feature, considering the sporty applications. Another gym-friendly extra that would have been nice is an FM tuner, though we can certainly understand excluding one in such a compact device. The small size of the player also excuses the rather unimpressive 12-hour rated battery life, which CNET Labs beat by just about 25 minutes in testing.

But as for the straight-up digital-audio playback, overall audio quality will depend at least somewhat on how the headphones fit. The deeper the earbuds go and the better the seal, the deeper the bass response will be. For our part, we had to hold them in to really hear what the W-Series could offer on the low-end--and what it offers is more than adequate. Regardless of fit, you can expect clear-sounding audio with no distortion or background hiss. Also, the earbuds aren't the best at blocking outside noise, but this is a good thing if you're going to be jogging outdoors. The player's volume gets plenty loud, though, if you want to drown out the hum of gym equipment.