Sony NW-HD1 20 GB Network Walkman Digital Music Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)From a hardware perspective, it's a work of art. Beautiful, sleek, lightweight, and solid feeling.I got it in my hands and fell in love.And then I tried to use it.Which required installing SonicStage.I'd read all the bad reviews of SonicStage, and I'd used (what I thought was) equally bad Sony software in the past -- OpenMG for their NetMD player, for example.So I was prepared for some annoyances, fine tuning, maybe occassional bugs.I also assumed the people who complained were exaggerating about how bad it was. LET ME PROMISE YOU -- THEY WERE NOT. In almost twenty years of using computer software, tinkering with electronics, owning some version of almost every gadget known to man -- I have never seen such a promising piece of hardware CRIPPLED by such a buggy, ill-conceived, underpowered, unintuitive piece of software.It's WORSE than what people are telling you. It's so bad that I ended up returning mine and buying an Ipod -- something I swore I'd never do.The user interface isn't even consistent between the player and the software.There's no way to shuffle all the songs on the drive.User support is non-existent.SonicStage freezes and crashes for no reason, despite being upgraded to latest version and uninstalled/reinstalled. Certain songs won't transfer, others are marked as having no digital rights (even though they were tracks recorded from the same albums as other songs that transferred fine -- and that NEVER had digital rights assigned to them in the first place.) A lot of people have complained about Sony forcing you to use their proprietary ATRAC3 format instead of MP3.Honestly -- that's the LEAST of this unit's problems.The bigger problem is that the software engineers are too incompetent to program a stable program that will actually CONVERT and MANAGE those ATRAC3's. Sony's hardware engineers created this beautiful player, and their software engineers will be the cause of its failure. Words cannot do justice to how badly Sony bungled this mess.It kills me to say this, but don't waste your time.
**NEW ADDITION:To the reviewers who make comments to the effect that anyone who has problems with SonicStage software either has a faulty computer or is a complete idiot:Have you actually tried to USE the software? Or do you just sort of sit and stare at the pretty pictures on the screen?(I mean, come on.Nobody's arguing that the hardware is extremely impressive, but the software is buggy, unintuitive, and inconsistent.It's been pretty well documented by several thousand people. I can't imagine that anyone outside of the programming group that put that mess together would actually think it's a competent piece of software, and if they do, they must enjoy spending hours in front of their computer and not have much of a social life.)Second, some reviewers have disputed my claim that the unit cannot shuffle the entire HD.My claim is true, it has been substantiated by a senior marketing representative from Sony with whom I have exchanged several letters and phone calls.Yes, you can shuffle within albums (or "groups"), and you can shuffle within artists and playlists.But you CANNOT shuffle through the entire HD as a whole.The only way this would be possible would be to designate the entire library as a single playlist, and playlists are currently limited to 1000 tracks.So if you have 3,000 tracks on the player, there is absolutely, positively no way to shuffle those 3,000 tracks -- only subsets of those tracks (e.g., album, group, etc.)I suppose you could spend several extra hours of your life creating complicated playlists and shuffle between those playlists.But on an Ipod (and, incidentally, almost every other MP3 player on the market), you simply hit a menu entry titled "shuffle."

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Product Description:
Sony enters the crowded hard disk-based music player scene with a formidable contender, the NW-HD1. Billed as the world's smallest hard drive digital music player, the silver palm-sized unit is slim and sleek-- perfect for a pocket or purse. Weighing just under 3.9 ounces, the NW-HD1 is so light, you'll want to take it everywhere. Inside the unit, a 20 GB drive stores up to 13,000 Songs in ATRAC3plus format when the songs are encoded at the 48kbps bitrate setting. A lithium-ion battery delivers up to a whopping 30 hours of playtime-- most other digital music devices can't even come close in the battery life department.
The NW-HD1 keeps the music smooth and steady with a built in G-Sensor that ensures skip-free play during your bounciest car rides, workouts and jogging expeditions. The 1.5" 7-line backlit display provides all the information you need to keep tabs on your tunes. While displaying track number, bit rate, elapsed time, song title, and artist name, it provides a spectrum analyzer for viewing your music's highs and lows, as well as play mode, bass boost, volume limiter and battery life indicators.
In addition to a standard mini headphone jack, the NW-HD1 also sports a line out jack so you can plug the player into your car or home stereo, or into a powered speaker system. The unit's USB 2.0 port is the key transferring music onto the device and charging the battery. Simply pop the NW-HD1 into the supplied cradle, connect the cradle to your PC and you're ready to transfer your ATRAC3plus encoded tracks at high speed to the device. Meanwhile, the cradle charges the NW-HD1's battery when the cradle is plugged in via the supplied AC adapter. A quick charge feature allows the battery to be charged to 80 percent capacity in just an hour.
The power to encode, organize, and manage the music you play on the NW-HD1 lies in Sony's bundled music software, SonicStage. With SonicStage, you can import, manage and easily transfer your digital music collections. First, import your audio CDs, existing MP3s or Windows Media files into SonicStage and then encode them to ATRAC3plus. Then, set up playlists and mixes on your PC. Finally, use the high speed USB connection to upload the tracks to your NW-HD1. It couldn't be simpler. The NW-HD1 is also fully compatible with Sony's robust Connect Online Music Store, which provides an easy method for downloading personal music in ATRAC3plus format. Connect offers access to over 500,000 songs including many independent titles as well as featured artist and celebrity mixes.
What's in the Box
HW-HD1 Network Walkman Digital Music Player, SonicStage software, earbud headphones, carrying pouch, USB cable, USB cradle, AC power adaptor

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Philips LFH0662/00 Digital Voice Tracer 0662 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have been using digital recorders for many years.I use them daily in my line of work.If I leave home without one, I turn around and drive back and get one.

The Philips is a disappointment.It is hard to use.The Ergonomics were designed by engineers I assume.Companies make mistakes by not having input from the end user.If you can't use one of these recorder with one hand (easily) why have a small one?Quality is good but a very low grade for the ergonomics.I can't use it with one hand.Olympus will be out with one in August that looks promising.I look for quality and ease of use with one hand.Also, make it super simple to set up with the time, date, etc.

This one fails in my opinion.Philips needs to call end users and get their input.

SB

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Product Description:
As a global professional in the dictation market, Philips is proud to present the Digital Voice Tracer 662, one of ten solutions from Philips, perfectly adapted to your every recording need. Featuring 2 GB flash memory, the Philips Digital Voice Tracer 662 records up to 284 hours in six common MP3 mono file formats (SHQ, HQ, SP, LP, SLP, PCM). Unlike many alternatives this allows for a higher sampling rate and clearer recordings. Files are organized within four folders (99 files / folder) for easy retrieval and can be downloaded from the Digital Voice Tracer to PC via high speed USB 2.0. With MP3/WMA music playback and customizable equalizer, you can also play your favorite tunes. Functioning as a USB mass storage device, any type of file can be conveniently stored and shared on the device. Features clean buttons for ease of use and the largest display in the market to view all relevant information at a glance. The adjustable microphone (high) sensitivity is perfect for both foreground and background recording and the large front speaker (30 mm) reproduces stunning quality playback. The voice activated recording feature, when enabled, automatically records only when sound is detected, and the index mark feature lets you mark a particular point in a recording or playback for easy retrieval. Other convenient features include the ability to insert the date/time within recording and the timer recording feature programs recordings in advance. File split/auto divide feature splits recordings into separate files making them much easier to find, edit and archive. The alarm feature schedules voice alarms to remind you of important meetings or events. Other features include slow and fast playback, LED record/playback, battery, and end of memory indicators. Includes an external lapel microphone, stereo earphones, neck strap, USB cable, two "AAA" rechargeable batteries (43 recording hours) and user manual.

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Sony MZ-N420D Net MD Walkman (Blue) Review

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(More customer reviews)My husband has the white one ($99). He has had his for a year and loves it. I got this one(blue - its cheaper, but the same model) for myself with some birthday giftcards from amazon. I love this. It does not skip or anything. I does take a little while to burn the music, not just drop/drag/ and go. But it makes up for that when you can put the number of songs on it that will last you for ever. And add to it the fact that the battery lasts a lot longer than in other players. My husband and I went through 2 different players before this one...lets just say we will stick with this player for a long time. We have his and hers players and love em. He runs and I walk and they do not skip. I also bought the carry case made for these and I love it. My husband just carries his as he runs, but I can't stand to hold stuff while I workout. I have run with it, using the case and it is so much easier. You won't go wrong with this player.

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Product Description:
This stylish player lets you store up to 5 hours of digital music andbring it with you on a single, skip-free MiniDisc for about the price of a large coffee. The Net MD iscompatible with MP3, WMA, WAV,and ATRAC3 audio formats, and it even comes with a MiniDisc so you canstart recording right away. ItsUSB connection delivers burn rates at up to 32x for your MP3s and CDs.A handy Jog Dial provides easy navigation, and SonicStage and MD Simple Burner Application softwarelet you group your tunes and customize your playing environment.
The player's 3-line LCD display provides album, artist and song titleinformation on a clean, single screen. A headphone jack and headphones are included, but not thesingle AA battery, which you'll needto take the device away from your computer. Battery life is estimatedat a whopping 56 hours (maximum).
NOTE: The Net MD's recording features and bundled software arenot compatible with the Mac OS operating system.
What's in the Box:
Sony MZN420D Net MD Walkman, headphones, SonicStage software CD-ROM with MD simple burner application, USB cable

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Sony MZ-NE410 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder Review

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(More customer reviews)After browsing hours and hours for a cheap alternative to buying an mp3 player and something I could run with I spent about 2 hours in Best Buy and reading reviews on Amazon.com to find what I wanted.I paced back and forth through the aisles constantly going back to the mp3 area only to find myself so close to buying this open item iPod...it was 269 for a 10 GB old style iPod, however it was kind of beat up.
I realized its really not practical to buy that thing or any other flash mp3 player for that matter...if you ever wanted to change songs you'd have to head back to your computer to add or remove songs on to your flash mp3 player.I knew about the Sony MZ-NE410 and it was on sale for 99 dollars.I use to own a MiniDisc player and hi-fidelity is a plus for a minidisc player vs. an mp3 player.Ignore those SNR (Signal2Noise Ratio) numbers on mp3 players nothing compares to a minidisc player.
Last but not least LP4...I was afraid it was going to sound horrible like a 64 kbps mp3 or even worse...LP4 is freaking amazing let me tell you.There is a quality difference but the difference is hardly noticable to the average ear.I can hear flaws but there's no distortion and its very clear.Amazing product!99 Dollars and CHEAP MEDIA!Each minidisc holds about 320 minutes (LP4 Mode), 160 (Lp2), and 80 min (SP NEAR CD QUALITY).It is about 1 ounce lighter then an iPod and MUCH MORE PRACTICAL.Stop throwing away your money...the iPod's Hard Drive is more likely to fail since there are moving parts in a Hard Drive.I listen to about 5 or more CD's on one minidisc.I am still using the one that came with mine.Its not as thin or as small as those keychain mp3 players but its great for jogging and small enough.
The minidisc player also plays just like Sony's recent mp3 products.It buffers music into its memory while it's playing and stops spinning the minidisc after gaining filling up its buffer space.This increases battery life (about 56 hours with E2 Energizer Batteries) and the actual players life and of course for movement protection (G-Protection).Most mp3 players only play for about 10 hours.Technically an mp3 player is suppose to last longer then something with moving parts but many forget that an mp3 needs to decode the music which is like processor power in your computer and translate it to a sound unit in your player just like sound cards in your computer.YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THIS!There's no pretty LCD but you're listening to music not watching equalizer bars go up and down and see the lapse time of the song, screw the LCD.

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Product Description:
The MZ-NE410 Net MD Walkman recorder has everything needed to create great-sounding music mixes. In addition to transferring music at up to 32x speed (using its LP4 mode), the unit's SonicStage Jukebox software stores and manages digital music files, custom playlists, and music transfers, making it a cinch to transfer music to the device. The MZ-NE410 offers high-speed transfer from a PC via a direct USB connection, and it can record more than five hours of music on one 80-minute minidisc (using LP4 mode). It also uses Sony's skip-free G-Protection technology, which eliminates or reduces skipping during many active uses. The MZ-NE410 is compatible with the RealOne music player and the pressplay.com online music subscription service. It plays back ATRAC3 files and supports multiple Internet audio formats, including MP3, WMA, and WAV. The unit provides up to 56 hours of continuous playback on one AA battery.
The Easy Skip group-folder function helps organize songs into albums or groups. Once the music is transferred to the MZ-NE410, you can easily skip from group to group. Besides the bundled SonicStage software and SonicStage simple burner application, the MZ-NE410 includes software for creatively organizing music. MoodLogic software goes beyond typical jukebox applications, letting you compile music by mood or tempo rather than simply by artists and song titles.
MoodLogic corrects file information by identifying and retitling mislabeled tracks during ID3 tag cleaning. It also has a feature called Music Marker, which lets you "tag" music during playback. Once the device is reconnected to a PC, MoodLogic retrieves the marks, connects to the Musiclub Web site, and provides information about the song and artist and links to download new tracks, purchase CDs, or discover similar artists.
Note: The MZ-NE410's recording features and bundled software are not compatible with the MacOS operating system
Here's how you can use the included Sonic Stage Software to manage your music files:

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Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This Player is very nice and capacity is OK for a removable media, however the whole Hi-MD---OpenMG----SonicStage---ATRAC is very inconvenient to use.

I will summarize:

PROS:

-ATRACplus algorithm sound decent at 64kbps, comparable to MP3 at 128kbps in my opinion. There is also a 256kbps option which sounds very good, but files are pretty big for the Hi-MD capacity, makes it inconvenient.
-The advertised price for the Hi-MD blank disks is ok, around $7.
-Price compares to that of the MiniIpod or some Flash MP3 players, however this is "supposed" (read below) to be upgradeable by buying more blank Hi-MDs
-Runs on AA battery.
-You can run with it andget no skips.

CONS:

-You MUST use SonicStage software to transfer files to / from the MD.
-No MP3 support on the unit, only plays ATRAC.MP3s are transcoded by the PC software.
-SonicStage is a little bit unreliable.
-You CAN NOT upload songs from MD to your PC.So you can't use the MDs as a backup of your PC music collection, because if your PC fails, you can't upload the songs again.
-Even if you encode songs in ATRACplus with SonicStage, you can't move the files to another PC.And I'm not talking about illegal moving, you might have more than one PC.
-You can only play (so far) ATRACplus files with Sony's software (in your PC, I mean).
-Hi-MD blank discs are scarce, not even sony online store has them in stock at the moment of this review.

I think this unit is a good alternative to a Flash based MP3 player of medium capacity (256-512MB) if you can find it for less than $200.

For a little more than this you can get a 4/5 GB HD player like the MiniIpod and save the hassle of the propietary format, algorithm, rights protection format (OpenMG) and having only one choice of software.

I think Sony could have made a good product but it's taking the wrong path towards protection of copyrights.They shouln't do soat the expense of reducing the product functionality and reliability.

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Product Description:
G-Protection * up to 30 hours playback time * direct USB interface and software for high-speed recording from PC * stores music or data to high-capacity Hi-MD media * compatible with standard MiniDisc media

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Sony NW-A1200 8 GB HDD Digital Music Player (Pink) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)this is a very nice mp3 player with a feminine touch. it plays mp3s in a very nice sound quality. it has what it takes to be one of the best gifts for your gf. nice look, great color, innovative display, compact size.
supports playlists, album, genre .... etc.
some times it does not recognise some mp3 files. if you faced this problem, simply, convert it to WMA with any conversion tool and back to mp3 with no loss in quality and you are done.
I recommend it.

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Product Description:
8gb HDD digital music player

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Sony NW-E507 Network Walkman 1 GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This player is fairly small, although it may be confused with a shiny lighter. I actually kind of like that kind of camouflage since it makes it less likely to be stolen. There is no mistaking it for a lighter once the bright OLED display comes alive.

The controls are well-thought, a Sony trademark of sorts. There is a large play/stop button, two paddles on the "shoulders" for volume, and a sliding joystick control around the headpone jack. The joystick works like a watch crown. Pushed down, it puts the device in "hold" mode. It has two other positions. To skip to next/prev song, you rotate the joystick a bit (when not in "hold" mode). The bottom hides the mini-USB port. Minor gripe: the device stops playing when the USB cable is plugged in.

The OLED display is a very nice touch and it integrates quite well with the player's design, although I wish it were a tad longer to be able to display more text without scrolling. The fixed font makes it hard to read sometimes. A proportional font would work better (probably fixable with a software upgrade).

Which brings me to the reason why I gave it only 4 stars. And why I am going to return it. There is simply too much hassle associated with putting music on the device and copying it back from it. The software insists on controlling what I can and cannot do with my own files. You can only upload mp3s by using the included SonicStage software. But, regardless of the original source, it will not let you download the files back unless you perform an "authorization" with some remote site I don't care for, presumably because it assumes you're a "thief". That, my friends, I cannot have.

Sigh. The recipe was simple and easy to follow. The mp3 player is a USB storage device, with a universal driver, you plug it in, you copy files to/from it, it plays whatever it can from your folders. It would have worked everywhere, even with a Mac or Linux, or even years after support for the actual player had lapsed, without any extra effort. But no. Not with this one. You can certainly upload files to it, it will just ignore them if you didn't put them via SonicStage. You can look at it as having two areas on the drive, one for the encoded music that it will play, and one for your files, that it will not.

To recapitulate: it is My computer. My mp3 player. My music. I find it odd that Sony thinks I will pay them money so they can POLICE my own computer. Nuh-huh. Not me. I guess I'll just have to put up with a clunkier interface of Archos, Iriver, or I don't know, Lexar, that at least give me the FREEDOM to do what I want with my own stuff.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Sony NW-E507 Network Walkman 1 GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner

Product Description:
Beautiful design. Incredible functionality.The NW-E507 is superior in every regard. The 3-line organic electroluminescence display is sharp and clean, artfully providing song title, track duration, and battery information. This 1GB player lets you load up with 695 songs, but doesn't stop there; it also has an FM tuner. Tired of your tunes? Tune in the local indie station. Yeah, it's about the size of a pack of gum, and it has an FM tuner and 1GB of storage capacity. The NW-E507 also features insane battery life: up to 50 hours of playback on one full charge. And, If you're down to your last bar, just quick charge it. A three minute charge gives you three hours of play time.It's time to step up to Sony.1GBBuilt-In Memory Which stores 695 songs on the device.Built-in FM Tuner Provides accurate drift-free tuning of FM stereo radio stations. Presets allow the user to skip directly to the most listened to stations.Compatible with the Connect Music Store: The Connect Music Store provides an easy method for downloading personal music. Connect Music Store offers access to an extensive online music library including many independent titles as well as featured artist and celebrity mixes. 3-Line Organic Electroluminescence Display (Displays Song Title, Length, Battery Indicator and much more) The 3-line display offers a wide viewing angle, high quality display with a unique look. View information about the music, settings or time/calendar in any lighting condition. Super Quick Battery Charge A three minute charge will provide up to three hours of playback. Up to 50 Hours of Playback Life with Rechargeable Embedded Battery Internal battery provides up to 50 hours of continuous playback on each charge. Plays Back MP3/ATRAC3/ATRAC3plus Audio Formats For customers who already have extensive music libraries, us

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