Taking a break, will be back with reviews when I have some more time!
Taking a break, will be back with reviews when I have some more time!
Member since:04.01.2007
Reviews:31
Members who trust:3
The Sony Walkman NW-E003 series comes in a series of colours: black, blue, pink and purple, silver and green; and in a variety of sizes: 512mb, 1gb and 2gb. I bought mine on the play.com website where I picked up the 1gb version for an amazing special price of £40. These are supposed to retail at about £69.99. I was really impressed when it finally came after a few days.
********PACKAGING AND FACTS********** The packaging came in not a stuffy old box, but in an interesting plastic package with the unit in the middle - I thought it was a picture as I couldn't believe it was that small… But it was! I was really impressed and some of the facts and figures that were dotted around the packaging impressed me further - it reads:
"3 minute charge = 3 hours playback"
"Holds up to 685 songs"
Now for a 1gb mp3 player that tiny in size to have such a large capacity of songs I was astonished. I would have to see it to believe it. However, unless you want your songs to sound drained and of bad quality, you won't have 685 on there. I managed to squeeze just over 300 songs on it at a good quality, and although this still impressed me I still knew it was no 685 songs.
********BATTERY
********* The battery life still impressed me though, once fully charged, it would last over a week - something I don't think the ipod could compete with. Simple to charge up you just stick it into your USB slot and let it do its thing. One downside to this is that you have to have a computer with USB 2.0 or it's no good. You also have to have the computer on to charge it therefore you have to be hanging around - there is no mains alternative. Another thing is that the USB part comes with a detachable cover that you pull off when you want to charge it. When that's on it really does look the part - however if you lose it (and I know people that have) it doesn't look that good and looks like its missing something. I making sure I'm being really careful!
*******SCREEN******* The screen is one of the main selling points, as it is the same as on its bigger brother the 20 GB version - as it has the "invisible" screen, which disappears when you don't use it. I think that's really cool, and it does conserve battery life even more. The screen (when playing a track) states the track name, the play/pause/stop symbol a musical note symbol, a battery life symbol and the song progression tracker to tell you how long is left. The screen is backlit and therefore there is no fumbling when you need to change the track. It isn't as luminous as the ipod but when you think that the equivalent to this is the shuffle - that doesn't even have a screen!
*******BUTTONS*******
To keep the minimal effect of the device, it isn't littered with tons of buttons. On the front of the device you will only see two. A big one - which is the play/pause/off button, and a smaller one which gives you access to all the settings.
On the side of the device, you will notice two bumps, which are actually the skip track buttons. You have to press back twice to jump back one track and the forward once. On the back of the device, there is the reset button (which you need a pin or something equally as small to press) the volume buttons and the "hold" switch. Make sure you always flick the hold switch when you have turned it off otherwise any little tap will switch on the device. Now the buttons are all very simple, with the navigation of the menu controlled by the skip buttons. The only disadvantage of this is that the volume buttons are in an awkward place and sometimes can be irritating to keep turning it over - it's just not very ergonomic.
******VOLUME AND EARPHONES******
The volume is one of the downsides of the device and doesn't go that loud. There is no limit to the volume that may be accidentally switched on, yes that's the volume and that's how loud it goes - so those who like their music blasting in their ears shouldn't be expecting it by any means. One of the most irritating things is trying to listen to music walking down a main road and still being able to hear some of the cars. It must be a hint from Sony to buy the new in ear headphones which cancel out any noise from outside. The earphones they supply with are very standard white earphones, even more basic than the ipod ones, with a very plastic feel.
*******SOFTWARE*********
The software "sonicstage" is Sony's version of itunes and irritates me somewhat. It's dull and not very user friendly and I would prefer to use itunes any day. For those who aren't that IT literate I wouldn't recommend this software, but seeing as you have no choice, I suggest that you learn it if your going to use this walkman! I was ok with the software, I could operate it fine, but still didn't like it.
*******OVERALL********
Overall, I would recommend this device to anyone who is in the market for a new mid sized shuffle type mp3. It is not ideal for holding all your songs as it simply doesn't have the capacity, but the design is excellent and I would highly recommend you use some preferred earphones. If you don't mind getting used to a new software then I would suggest this being the mp3 for you! If you get it for less than £60 you getting a bargain, but don't be put off if its about £5 - £10 more expensive - try and hunt around first. Pick your favourite colour, put your favourite songs on and escape…
Style: 10/10 Ease of use: 8.5 / 10 Capacity (relative*) 9/10 Value for money 10/10 Screen: 10/10 Battery: 10/10
Jan 29th, 2007
very helpful by (100%):
