Sony CD / MP3 player > Reviews (28)

I got my D-NE715 about a year ago and since then it has served me ok but is nothing special. There are a few nagging issues I shall address later.

Sound
Lets face it it’s a Sony, the sound quality is very good, with Mega Base to get you jumping and AVLS (Automatic Volume Limiter System) which protects your lugs. Another feature is the G-shock, I know most players now have a very good anti skip system but the one on this player is great, I have never had it skip on me, even when I take is snowboarding! The earphones that come with the player are fairly standard Sony ones and unfortunately my ears seem to be a funny shape, which just doesn’t agree with them, so I had to get new ones. I’m sure they work for most people though

ATRAC3plus
ATRAC3plus (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding3plus) is an audio compression technology, developed from the ATRAC3 format. Though the ATRAC3plus format can compress music content to about 1/20 of its original size, you can still enjoy high quality sound. You can get about 30 CD’s onto a CD-R/RW if your CD’s are around 60 mins in length and your recording onto a 700MB CD-R/RW at 48kbps. This is pretty good and you can play audio CD’s and mp3 CD’s as well. The player displays the song name and artist. To make accessing your music easier, before you transfer to disc you can put your music into groups and files which you can access from the player, once it’s on though you can’t change it.

Other Features
Shuffle/Repeat, programmable up to 64 tracks in your fave order, Jog dial to allow quick selection of tracks, connectable to your stereo

Batteries
An important thing to consider when choosing your portable CD player (ie no external power source) is the batteries. And this is a real plus for this player the battery life is very good and charging doesn’t take forever, you don’t even need to take them out just plug the player in and press charge.

Looks
I think this player looks pretty cool, after all I did buy it! It may not be everybody’s cup of tea though.

Ease of use
Not bad here, could be better but once you’re used to it its ok.

BUT

Ok up to this point your probably thinking “yeh this sounds like a pretty good player”, however

Software
I don’t know what Sony was thinking here but SonicStage SIMPLE!! Burner, the software you use to make your ATRAC CD’s, is one of the worst programmes I’ve used. It really has given me endless problems so….

Is it worth it? Killing two birds with one stone is often a good thing to do, playing your audio CD’s and having mp3 and large storage capabilities is a great idea but especially with the price, I don’t think Sony have pulled it off with this player, I reckon you maybe better to go for a good mp3 player.

Thanks for reading
Ian