Sony Walkman NW-A3000 20 GB

I would love to write this review in two parts - and about two separate products. On the one hand - we have the hardware, and then the other hand we have the software. Now most sensible manufacturers will make sure that the software runs with the hardware, and then they have a successful product. Sony however - seemed to have employed a bunch of schoolchildren to make their answer to iTunes - the connect player. This is a shame - because it seems like they've hired the world's best designers to make the MP3 player. LOOKS: So the NW-A3000 - is the answer to the iPod. The iPod beater. Well in ... more

To start, i have owned one of these players since Easter this year, and i have been extremely happy with it, no problems whatsoever. Let's start with looks. The NW3000 is black with a silver band and a clear top. The top is also completely black when turned off, or when playing music - when you push a button, lights underneath glow and you can see what you're listening to, perform searches, etc. The buttons are a bit iPod like, with out the 'wheel' functionality, but they are robust and feel like they're up to a lot of action. The screen is great, single colour, but decent brightness and ... more

Sony has truly created something great in this player, as in my opinion it blows the basic ipod out the water. Especially as these can now be bought for less than £130. I have always disliked ipods for many reasons (mostly unfounded!), and was frustrated that despite the ipods flaws (low battery life, flimsy and poor screen), no other company had seemed to really come up with anything that could compete with it. That is until this lil' gadget was built. Turning it on, the user is greeted by the 'home' menu, containing nine icons referring to different aspects of the player. Most of the time, I ... more

The NW-A3000 is the first harddisk player I have seen which I actually like the appearance of. I looked at all the available colours in the shop before I chose and the black is definitely the most classy looking. I thought I would get a bit sick of the purple in a few months time, and I had trouble seeing the screen on the silver model, no such problems with this one though. In the box you get the player, a cable to connect it to your computer , an adapter to charge the player via the mains and a few leaflets. You also get a driver and software CD which contains the user manual. I was a little ... more

Got this for Christmas from my wife. Knew she was buying me a Sony player but was expecting the NW-HD5 so this came as a real surpise. This is my first foray into the world of MP3 players so can't compare with other items, but this is definitely worth getting from my experience so far. The unit is very easy to use. I haven't looked once at the instructions (which are a PDF file with the software rather than a manual). All you need is the quick start guide and common sense to navigate round the player - it is that simple. The sound quality is what you expect from Sony but you MUST remove the EU ... more