PANASONIC SV-SD80 e-wear SD Audio Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This review comes after using the SD80 daily for nearly two years.
Pros
Sound quality is generally excellent
Battery life is fantastic, especially with backup AAA battery
Player is tiny and can be worn on your person or put in your pocket
Protective case offers outstanding protection and is functional
Transferring files to SD card is reasonably simple
DRM protection has never caused an issue for me
Cons
Panasonic support is woefully lacking, to the point of irresponsibility
Product is now dated for what it offers
You must use Real Audio or, when you can find it, Panasonic's SD Jukebox software to transfer files
Limited to USB 1.1; no support for third party card writers, 1.1 or 2.0
Included 64mb SD card would not function in the Panasonic USB Reader/Writer, but was able to bring it to life formatting it on another writer
Panasonic does not maintain an archive of all of the software needed to make the player work should you lose the installation CD.
Maximum volume below average - you may find it too low in noisy environments.
Overall
A great choice if you can find it at a substantial discount.I would have rated it four stars a year ago.The unit has become considerably dated now, with far faster USB 2.0 units for less money and fewer problems.This has always been an obscure player in the MP3 marketplace, and Panasonic has done nothing to change that in North America.
Some tips and observations:
Throw away the included headphones.They're terrible.I recommend the Koss Porta Pro or KTX Pro 1 headphones.They have better bass response and carry a lifetime warranty.
Panasonic in North America has been completely unresponsive to customer support requests for their SD series players.Many customer service reps do not even know the line exists, much less offer support.Panasonic online support for the product is completely unacceptable.They have essentially abandoned updating their website with software and driver updates, and they unacceptably do not provide online access to all of the software necessary to make the product work.If you lose your installation CD, your player is worthless.
Multiple experiences with customer service have never produced a satisfactory result.This is a major negative for the entire Panasonic product line and is an important consideration if you think you will need product support.
Unit must be used with included software (or SD Jukebox, usually found overseas).You also cannot use a third party USB reader/writer, which limits you to their own unit, which operates at USB 1.1 speeds.If their reader is missing/broken, it is not cheap to replace.
Certain MP3 files encoded with lower end "ripping" software do not play correctly.Those songs will abruptly end.The only way to predict this behavior is to compare the reported length of the song as it sits in your library with that reported by the Panasonic unit after transferring songs.There is no fix - you can only re-encode the song in hopes of getting through this.It affects about 3% of songs I've found, but almost always those produced by individuals, not professionally encoded files.
WMA files play at louder volumes than MP3 files.
Transfer times can be laborious.Make sure you have the software set not to re-encode your files or convert them to another format, such as AAC.It will add lots of time to the transfer.
Player controls are not intuitive for changing to random playback, boosting the bass, or other extra functions.But you can usually manage it in five minutes or less.Note the playlist function does not appear to be implemented.
Clearly the Panasonic line is not well known and you can impress your friends with the individuality of their product line.Unfortunately, it turns out there is a reason why a product line is not well known - in this case it's Panasonic's own fault.

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Product Description:
ThereM-^Rs nothing old fashioned about PanasonicM-^Rs e-wearM-^Y Secure Digital Audio player. The swank and ultra-compact design makes it easy to take your music along, as does the provided strap and armband. ItM-^Rs compatible with AAC, MP3, and WMA music files. And the large, easy-to-read LCD screen shows the song title.