Simply called 'WALKMAN', the new digital music player from Sony features spectacular ergonomic design and an exciting range of intelligent features that allow the user to enjoy... more
A review by TheFirstEscapist on Sony Walkman NW-A3000 20 GB November 21st, 2005
Author's product rating:
Sound Quality
Excellent
Ease of Use
Average
Look & Design
Excellent
Range of Features
Excellent
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
'Better than iPod' design . 'Better than iPod' look . Battery life (20 - 25 hours) . The entire piece of hardware !
Disadvantages:
The abysmal almost unusable software .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
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 terms of the unit itself, this is by FAR the best looking unit I have ever seen. It absolutely destroys the competition. I can't think of many gadgets - let alone MP3 players that look much better than this. It is quite simply - a superb piece of design, it looks absolutely fantastic and I can guarantee it will be the envy of your friends. The best part about it - is the excellent screen - which you can't actually see (only if you look hard can you see it). Basically - imagine a metallic surface - and then when you want to use the player - writing comes from out of the metallic surface and glows on the screen. It's called an 'Organic LCD' - and it looks fabulous.
THE PLAYER:
Basics: It's a silver 20 Gigabyte (3000-4000 tracks) MP3 player by Sony.
The player itself is very simple to use. Whilst it doesn't quite have the brilliance of the iPod in its ability to move between menus quickly (the click wheel on the iPod being one of the truly great design feats in MP3 players) - it has very few buttons.
First there is the navigation area, with up,down,left,right cursors and the Play/Pause button in the middle. These are basically used for finding which tracks you want to play (or playlists/albums etc..).
There is a back button to return to the previous menu,.
And there is an options button to take you to 'Options'!
The volume button is discreetly on the side of the MP3 player and the Hold button is discreetly on the top of the MP3 player. The connection port from player to computer is discreetly on the bottom of the MP3 player. There is also a button on the left hand side which is completely useless and redundant because of the software.
My point is - is that Sony have made a very versatile player without overwhelming the user with too many things to press - much like the iPod and most of the other players these days.
VERSATILITY:
The way in which you can organise your tracks is as good as iTunes - but you'll have problems with doing that, because of the prohibitive software - more on that later.
The player plays music in the ATRAC3 format which is better quality in my opinion (as a trained musician with pretty good ears) than any of the competition. I would recommend transferring music at 160 kbps as it is probably the best quality that you can get without sacrificing too much space, it's difficult to notice much of a difference after that unless you're a highly trained musician.
The problem I have with all MP3 players is that they insist on their own formats. So Apple with their iPod - when you download tracks from iTunes - you do it in their format. So then - when you buy a new MP3 player - like I did - you can't transfer any of the tracks to the new player, because they're all protected.
Maybe - they'll come up with a universal format, that'll never happen though. I will always have this criticism of MP3 players.
SOUND QUALITY:
Well - it all depends on what format you upload your tracks and what headphones you use. But on testing the players with the same headphones - I found the new Sony player to be slightly better than my old Sony MP3 player and my old iPod.
BATTERY LIFE:
Fantastic. 20 -25 hours on full volume playing 160 kbps music. This is almost DOUBLE the iPod's battery life. This is seriously impressive work by Sony.
Essentially: this piece of hardware is absolutely fantastic.
But hardware doesn't work without the software.
SOFTWARE REVIEW:
Sony's new range of MP3 players came bundled with the new Connect Player.
With the old MP3 players - Sony had software called Sonicstage. This was widely derided and rightly so for not being the most accessible software and for being buggy. The latest version 3.3 - isn't iTunes - but it's certainly very usable.
However- with the new MP3 players - it's difficult to use Sonicstage, and of course - I tried out the new software first.
CONNECT PLAYER V1.0
This has to be the worst designed, most broken product released in the history of Sony's software releases. It's absolutely abysmal. Basically - it doesn't work! It's absolute rubbish.
Firstly - the program takes up a huge amount of your memory when it's running - which slows down the computer considerably.
When importing albums - the program often crashes.
When exiting the program - the computer crashes. (My computer is state of the art - and is from a manufacturer called VoodooPC - who are essentially the Ferraris of PC manufacturing) The crash is not down to my computer which is extremely well protected from internet threats as well.
It's almost impossible to transfer music without the program crashing. And when it does work - it takes 5 hours to transfer 2500 tracks (it should take about 30 minutes).
I managed to get 2600 tracks onto my MP3 player - but it took me about a week, and much hassle and time. I also had to wait for the first update form Sony (there will be MANY) - to get the transfer working at all.
The CONCEPT of the software is great, and what they've done is essentially copied iTunes with the design - but used different colours. The problem is - is that the software is just so broken, that your average user who gets this player for Christmas is not going to be able to use it - and will therefore get frustrated, and most likely return the product to Sony!
I think you've got the idea - the software is abysmal, for the reasons outlined above.
CONCLUSION.
So - on hearing such a two sided review - what do you - the buyer need to know about whether to acquire this product or not.
At the moment - unless you are an EXPERIENCED or KNOWLEDGEABLE computer user - do NOT buy this product.
If however - you have the patience to perservere with it, then by all means - get it.
I would recommend buying this product in 2 months time - when Sony will have sorted out the software (they'll have to - otherwise they're going to lose a LOT of money, and a LOT of customers).
I swear - if the Sony boss could see that software - a lot of people would get fired. I hope he does.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the MP3 player - the unit itself. It is the best looking player onthe market, and is is only just a bit more expensive than the iPod Nano - which is 16Gb less in size!!
It's the broken software that lets this product down, not the player - it's such a shame that Sony haven't been able to get it right. They've put so much effort into getting a great MP3 player out for Christmas - and they've forgotten to finish the software.
A hardware product with defective software generally makes the hardware unusable, and that is nearly the case with the NW-A 3000.
Consider buying it in 2 months but not now - unless you're a computer-geek/(me)audiophile(me)/person who wants to have gorgeous gadgets to show off(sort of me!).
This was a big chance for Sony to eat into the iPod market - unfortunately - if they don't sort out the software - they will fail.
SO SORT IT OUT SONY!!!
N.B. MY REVIEW SCORE IS BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCE ON THE PRODUCT. I AM LUCKY TO HAVE GOT IT WORKING. MOST USERS WILL PROBABLY GIVE IT A 2 STAR RATING BECAUSE THEY WILL BE UNABLE TO GET THE SOFTWARE TO WORK.
Advantages: Sleek, Decent Capacity, Battery Life Disadvantages: Price, Read speed
...I personally would recommend the Sony NWA3000 simply because it is a very good alternative to the iPOD in my opinion. There is more than enough space to store all your albums (be serious, 80GB is only good if you want films in your pocket). It looks fantastic (though you will want to clean it all the time - get a silicon case to stop the scratching) and is definitely a fashion item :)
All in all, the price is a little over inflated, but for what ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Superp sound quality Disadvantages: Sometimes crashes
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 ... ...Sonic Stage, supplied on the Sony website. I cannot recommend this program enough, as it is fantastic. Its simple to use, very fast and efficient.
The unit has also crashed several times, but it's not too much bother as long as you have something small and pointy to jab the reset button with. Despite this flaw, it would seem this is nothing compared to the amount of problems my friends have had with their ipods.
I have to admit that the ipod, and ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Sounds amazing, looks cool, clear screen, easy to use, feels good, good weight Disadvantages: No support for ogg, connect software is useless, slight hesitation on menus, no remote
...and reinstalling the software, but Sony saw fit leave almost all files on the system even after an uninstall, including registry values. I narrowed my problem down to corrupted registry values, and had to manually go through and delete them individually. When I re-installed after this, a new version of the software was found and installed, this works better than the original. Even though it now works, it still has a number of problems. Its very slow, ... ...of files seems to stress it out. It isnt very intuitive to use, its often hard to tell exactly what the software is currently doing, and getting it to do exactly what you want can be harder still, if not impossible. For example, if you want to rip a CD onto your walkman, you also have to save the ripped files onto your computer. For me, this is pointless as I already have my CD collection saved as ogg vorbis files, so naturally I just wanted to rip ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Great looks and sound Disadvantages: Software a bit slow
...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 ... ...is what you expect from Sony but you MUST remove the EU volume limiter or you will be very disappointed. The unit is supplied with the limiter ON and, even at full volume, it's just not that loud. However turn the limiter OFF and it becomes a different beast all together. As well as being louder the sound is much clearer and crisper. It is extremely easy to find the hack to turn the limiter off on the internet. You do not need to pay for the codes ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Fantastic sound quality, great screen, user friendly software Disadvantages: Not an IPod so not compatible with many podcasts etc...
...I've loved my previous Sony MP3 player but not so much I wouldn't lend it to my Aunty who was going on a long coach journey. The dear old girl was off to buy a CD walkman and cart the 9 CD's of her unabridged audiobook with her. "No Aunty!" Han crys. "Technologically not savvy - in just a few minutes the entire audiobook can be in this tiny little machine."
So my Aunty leaves with my NW-HD5 20 GB MP3 player and doesn't want to part with it. We strike ... ...what the bug was that Sony needed to correct but would not recommend buying this gadget to someone without easy access to the internet.
The Connect software managed to find all the music in Sonic Stage and transfer it across. It then allowed me to upload CD's into Connect whilst simultaneously transfering songs to the player itself. (The terminology for music transfer has also been standardised so that transfer is referred to as 'sync'ing). This ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Simply called 'WALKMAN', the new digital music player from Sony features spectacular ergonomic design and an exciting range of intelligent features that allow the user to enjoy music in a totally new way. Sony WALKMAN NW-A3000 is a true extension of the user's personal taste and musical preferences. At the press of a button, the 'Artist Link' function will search every artist, album and song stored on the device and offer suggestions of artists and bands closely linked to the genre of music being played at the time. Sony WALKMAN NW-A3000 also features two new shuffle functions. By selecting 'My Favorite Shuffle', the device automatically selects the most listened to 100 songs and plays them at random. The 'Time Machine Shuffle' function randomly selects a year and plays all of the songs from that particular year that are currently held on the device. Featuring an advanced organic EL display, Sony WALKMAN NW-A3000 not only incorporates a range of great features, it also offers the ultimate in ease of use through an appealing user interface and fantastic visibility.
