Best sport option

Background: I have been looking since what seems forever for the perfect headphone/mp3 solution for the gym. I exercise mostly at the gym for strength training (use my own music) and for cardio (I use guided interval training mp3 workouts). I use cardio coach (www.cardiocoach.com) my absolutely favorite cardio option and itrain (www.itrain.com) which is pretty neat too.

Traits I look for in the perfect mp3 player for the gym:

- Should be light unobtrusive and rugged. I do not want to worry about scratching dropping or damaging the player.The player should not get in the way when I workout.

- No headphone wires. Headphone wires get in the way and sometimes I have even yanked them accidentally out of the player while working out.

- Should be easy to navigate to and find what I want to play (exact Cardio Coach Volume or playlist for my strength training)

- Decent sound quality



I dont mind not having a whole lot of storage-capacity because I am OK with transferring music/workouts frequently to the player. About a couple of weeks worth of content is all I expect it to hold.



About the Sony W202: This is an incredible idea. A pair of great sounding wireless headphones with a 2GB mp3 player integrated right into the headphones.



Overall impressions:

- Better than jaybird gear the previous bluetooth wireless headphones (for use with ipods or any mp3 player) I had reviewed here (http://www.amazon.com/review/R2VP6138TP6JQ6/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm). But the perfect gym mp3 solution has not yet been invented. (I used the jaybird gear headphones with an ipod nano. Wireless freedom and no need to wear the nano on my person either...it can be kept in a corner of the gym....was quite happy...I am dumping them now and switching to this Sony W202.)



How it scores over jaybird gear:

- I have come to realize that with in-ear style sport headphones (headphones that are sweat resistant comfy and wont come out when you are active) fit has a lot to do with shape and size of the ear canal. I was lucky to get decent fit with jaybird gear. They dont work for my husband as they keep falling out when he runs. From online reviews this is what I gather too. Either they fit you or they dont. Sony has a less ear-shape dependant construction and is likely to fit more people though it is by no means universal. It has three sizes of ear bud adaptors to provide flexibility for ear canal size.

- Sound quality is better than jaybird. Jaybird uses bluetooth - bluetooth compression affects clarity of sound. Jaybird sounds decent ( better than a lot of regular non-bluetooth cheaper headphones) but is not on par with higher end headphones.



The good:

- Meet the need so well on being comfortable unobtrusive and secure-in-fit (the last being for me...your mileage may vary based on your ears). I did a 40 minute elliptical workout a ten minute treadmill run and some core training on the stability ball and they stayed put and out of the way. I did not have to as much as touch the headphones to adjust the fit except once in the first five minutes of the workout when I fiddled for a better angle in the fit for a few seconds. They then stayed completely out of the way and secure. (For me the fit is more comfy and secure than jaybird.)

-The controls seem difficult when you look at the player but when you actually use them they are surprisingly easy to operate. I had no learning time. I did not fiddle. I could very easily control the player during the very first time.

- I like the Zappin feature for ease of operation. When you press the jog wheel and keep it depressed you hear "Zappin in" and then the player scrolls through all the music on the player by playing brief snatches of each song When you find the song you want you just press the jog wheel again and it will play sequentially from that point on. To exit "Zappin" mode all you do is press the jog wheel lightly again and you hear "Zappin Out".

- For $ 69 they are very cost effective. That is less than a high end pair of headphones and less than quite a few mp3 players as well.

- It has a optional shuffle mode if you want it to play music in random order.

- Great battery life and a 3 minute charge option for 90 minute playback.



What could have been better:

- You can use two modes to transfer music to the player. The first is with the inbuilt software called "content transfer". Content transfer works with iTunes or Windows Media player. After you install Content Transfer on your PC you can drag and drop music from iTunes or Media player on to Content Transfer. It will analyse each track to recognize the chorus as it transfers music to the player. Then should you use Zappin during playback of the player it will play the most recognizable bit. Issues with Content Transfer:

a. Not eactly as easy to set up and use as itunes. OK for people who are techno-patient and dont mind reading manuals but not as intuitive as itunes.

b. The auto-recognition of the most recognizable bit may not work very well for workouts (workouts tend to have longer mp3 tracks some of which reuse music). It works most of the time but not always for music. I could not recognize most of my workouts and a also few songs using this feature.

c. The "announce" track-name feature to overcome lack of a screen in the latest iPod shuffle is a better way to navigate a screenless player. Too bad that the Shuffle still needs wired headphones. (Except for the navigation ease I consider W202 a better sport option than the shuffle).



- You can also simply treat the player as if it were a detachable hard-drive on your PC and manually copy songs. Whe you use "Zappin" it will then play a snatch from the 45 second mark within the track. I think this feature is better because it allows you to organize the music exactly as you want within folders on the player unlike Content Tranfer mode that organizes its own folders on the player. However there is no way to scroll from Folder to Folder during playback. The player will go through your music in alphabetical sorting order - by folder and within each folder by track name. You can easily organize the music so that you put in a preceeding number (like 01. 02. 03. ...etc) before each Folder name or track name to ensure it plays in the right order. The ability to scroll not just through tracks but also at the folder-name level whould have created the equivalent of playlists on the player and brought it pretty close to perfection in my opinion.

- There is no way to mark tracks to exclude them in shuffle mode as you can with ipod models (I can mark workouts audiobooks and podcasts to be excluded in shuffle mode on my ipod and just listen to my music in random order).





The bad:

- You can skip to the next song or the previous but you cannot forward or rewind within a track.

- The USB connecter on the player is not covered. During active use that represents an issue because sweat could get in and cause damage. The positioning of the mini-USB connector port isnt exactly where sweat is likely to reach but still...if you work out hard the player coud be at risk.





Should you get the player?:

- Only if you are thinking of getting a new player specifically for the gym or for active use. Otehrwise get something with a screen to help navigation.

- If you already have a player or wireless bluetooth headphines wait for the next Sony Walkman W202 version which (based on how vendors release upgraded models of popular mp3 players) should be about April 2010. I bet the player will overcome many glitches in its next avatar.

- If you buy make sure you buy from a place that has a return policy in case the player does not work for you during the first couple of exercise sessions.

More detail ...

Excellent MP3 Player and a Bargain at That!

This is a wonderful little MP3 player for someone looking for excellent audio quality small form factor low weight and low cost. Even the screen quality on this unit is good enough to support good video playback but that's not really this player's forte. But what it does do audio-wise it does exceptionally well and Sony has certainly developed the unit with the same high quality electronic audio circuitry that has been used in many other of its recent MP3 units.



The player is small and light and has a solid high quality feel with no squeaks or loose parts. The menu is driven from Sony's standard MP3 menuing system a system which is very easy to master within a minute or two. The 16gb storage space provides plenty of room to store albums too. At 192kps this unit will hold well over 100 albums and still have room for storing digital photos and some videos with room to spare.



Throw out the supplied "headphones" (and I use that term advisedly) away and combine this player with a set of Klipsch headphones (or even one of Sony's better ear bud products) and then you'll experience see the true audio capabilities of this player. The audio performance will easily surpass many of the other MP3 players on the market and at higher bitrates with a good set of headphones you'll have a true marvel of miniaturized electronics.



At under $100 this is a real bargain and an enjoyable one at that. Five stars for performance five for price.



PROS

1. Extremely high quality sound reproduction

2. 16Gb

3. Bright crisp screen (OLED of course)

4. Small form factor

5. Quality construction and quality internal electronics

6. Low price

7. Excellent battery life (20 - 30 actual hours per charge)



CONS

1. No 32Gb version available

2. Color available only in red or black (nice but where's the other colors??)

3. Album browse still not available in text-less format (which makes it easier to see more albums per screen; why was this abandoned?)

4. Headphones are a joke: unless you realize this you'll not experience the units' true sound capabilities

5. Somewhat limited set of cases (apparently no hard plastic case is yet available for the unit only flexible polypropylene)More detail ...

Not bad... Esp. for the price.

Let me begin by admitting that I am "downgrading" to a Coby 610 from an ipod Nano which broke (mysteriously) a few months ago. I needed an MP3 player and I could not afford to invest in a new Nano. The Coby was my compromise: at a fraction of the price and apparently with far greater capabilities this machine had the contest hands down.



Well sort of. My principal need was a machine that would play music WELL and hold a lot of it. I got what I paid for: the Coby 610 has copious memory (more than enough for my needs) and seems to be able to play my music just fine. So my complaints here are technically superficial. But I think they are worth considering.



First if you get a Coby 610 you will be amazed at how light and chintzy the plastic case seems. My Nano had a sturdy flashy beautiful metal case-- this one FEELS ready to crack in my hands (note: actual cracks have yet to appear). Second you will notice that the font used on the display screen is a blocky system font-- easy enough to read I guess but far from sleek or stylish. Next you will discover that the "fly wheel" on the lower half of the front panel does not "fly" at all: the Nano had a wheel that actually "swirled" allowing me to scroll and navigate through the Nano's various menus: here it is just a directional up/ down/ left/ right button placed on a silver wheel.



Okay more good things: I was blown away by the fact that for about $30 I could watch a full-length movie on the [tiny] display screen. I mean it's really really small and the practicality of watching ANY movie on a screen so small must be considered questionable but there it was right there: a movie on the LCD display. My Nano could never do that.



Am I happy with my purchase? I guess so. I do not feel like I was ripped off certainly nor do I feel like I walked in blind. I guess I was just well disappointed... When I got it out of the box and started working with it I was disappointed. I didn't feel like I had gotten an amazing new thing for a bargain price. But I am glad I have it. Rihanna just isn't the same unless you can hear her sing.More detail ...

Playlists lots of room can be taken anywhere wow!

I recently ordered this product off of Amazon and I am extremely satisfied.



First I will give you a run down of what equipment I use this with. My laptop (Entertainment HP 2GB RAM with Vista) my surround sound (Phillips Hi-Def) my Sony PS3 (not the PS3 itself but the charger for the controllers) car stereo & iHome speakers.



When I was browsing potential MP3 Players my main concern was playlists and if the player could hold up under pressure (aka being on my arm while jogging being dropped and tossed around in general).



I have put songs on it (mostly MP3 & WMA format) from Windows Media Player on my laptop. In order to create playlists I first put them as a list in Windows Media Player and then right clicked on the list in order to send it to the player. All of the songs were in the exact order I put them in (in the past I had experienced a problem with the MP3 Player jumbling things)! The menu is easily to scroll through using the navigational keys. The player also remembers where you left off in a song and in a list. If I turn it off during the middle of the song all I have to do is scroll to "Now Playing" in the menu to pickup where I left off. It came with a disc to install it but all I had to do was hook it up to my laptop with the usb cord. No installation was necessary (although my computer did have me name it). No additional software was necessary. Windows Media Player was enough. I have not found a way to delete songs off of the player without hooking it up to the computer but this is not a huge deal for me since everything else is perfect.



The volume goes up to 31. I generally do not put it over 16 or 17 which is plenty. The battery life has varied some. I think this has to do with the days when I am constantly scrolling through songs as opposed to days where I select my list and let it play. This makes it generally 7 to 10 hours respectively.



It holds up while I am jogging. I always prefer to purchase electronics that can take some abuse since I am clumsy. This player has held up under my treatment (which is saying a lot)!



To charge it I did not purchase a charger. I use the charger I bought for the PS3 controllers. It works just fine and does not take forever to charge. I also like that there are no batteries I have to replace.



I also hook the player up to iHome speakers so I can "jam out" when I am doing laundry or some other house chore. It also works well with the surround sound system I have. All I have to do is plug it in with the usb cord.



I highly reccomend this MP3 player if you're looking for something that works with the rest of your electronics. In the past I have purchased players that have had serious compatability issues and it drove me nuts trying to figure out how to use them. Next I am going to purchase one for my nine year old. He already can use it perfectly! So if you're looking for compatability user-friendly features and durability look no further!



Update as of 10/4/08



I dropped the mp3 player off the upstairs deck at my house and thought I broke it but luckily there is a reset button on the lower back of the player. You have to use a small point (I used a thumb tack) to press the button. It was a total life saver.



Update as of 1/8/09



I noticed when I was updating the playlists that the playlists already on the player that had less than 18 songs on them were jumbled. All of the playlists in which I had placed 18 or more songs on them remained perfect and in the order I had originally specified.



PS. I would highly advise buying different headphones.More detail ...

Old Guy Review

Being 67 years old and wanting something simple to use I used previous reviews to settle on the Sony 4GB Walkman MP3 Player.

I couldn't be more satisfied.It comes with a cd that allows dowloading an excellent tutorial along with Windows Media Player 11. Instructions are clear and concise. I had read in one review that you couldn't delete songs. This was untrue as its simple but does require being hooked to your computer.



If I can use this anyone can and they will be very satisfied with the quality ease of use and sound quality.

I bought another Sony for my wife !!More detail ...

Great mp3 player for the gym

I purchased the Coby mp3 player for the gym because I like to listen to the radio in the morning. This player perfectly fits the bill. Radio reception is very good and it was easy to program in stations - in fact automatic. It also has 4 megs to hold plenty of music or whatever else you may want to load in. The only down side is that it would not load off of my itunes so I had to use another platform to load music.More detail ...

Satisfactory but a few problems

Bought this for a friend & loading it with their music for them (they're not tech savvy). A good player for non-tech savvy people as the menu / interface is fairly simple & obvious. However:



1) Sound is not that great. I had to create my own "equalized" setting (it lets you create & save two equalization curves) in which I boosted the bass and minimized the treble to get it to sound normal. Probably the ear buds -- my Apple iPod sounds much better when I plug them in -- but even so not quite as good as an iPod. However if you're willing to fiddle & make your own equalizer setting with the bass up high the treble down low and everything a straight line in between that's okay.



2) Poor programming in many ways. They may improve the firmware but as I write this (end of Dec 2009) the sort of software bug I find is: load up songs of one album that has more than 9 tracks and track 10 plays immediately after track 1. That is it ignores the actual track number and orders the tracks by a simple alphabetical reading of the name. Shouldn't do that!



3) FM reception is okay but not superb. (Just so you know there is no AM). Easy to set presets and flip around the presets but no way to label the presets (e.g. "WNPR" or "OLDIES"...)



Here are the plusses:



Looks nice feels nice very small (approx business card size about 1/3" thick) certainly saves $ over an iPod if the recipient will definitely not want to put applications on their device or do anything other than simply listen to music.



More detail ...

A-Mazing!

This is my second purchase of a Sony Walkman. My first one was for my husband for our anniversary. I bought him an 8g player (NWZ-E438) and once I got that up and running I realized that 8g really isn't that much when I realized that he has a whole bunch of cd's and videos and pictures. But the reason why I bought the 8g of that model was because it had an equalizer. Now let's talk about this beautiful S545 model - WOW! It's 16g and what a beauty. the sound quality is A-Mazing and the picture/video screen is clear and crisp. AND it has an equalizer - 5 settings plus 2 custom settings = 7 equalizer settings. I bought mine at Walmart and it was $119. I also got it in red - the red color is a nice color not faded or pastelie. The sound quality from the exterior speakers will surprise you. Keep in mind that you will not be able to host a large dance party with it but it is just perfect for a personal experience let's say in your room or something like that. The sound from the speakers is quite nice and I would compare it to the speaker from my Motorola RAZR2. My phone can get a lot louder than the Sony Walkman but the quality of sound is just as good. I was not in any way disappointed with the quality. The only thing I would change on this player is the placement of the speakers - they are on the back not the front. The picture of this player might fool you to think the speakers are in the front but they are not. I also learned that this player will not be able to download podcasts. The higher-end Sony Walkmans do.



Another thing is that the software for the player comes loaded in the player instead of including a cd in the box. It worked really great it was simple and just way too easy to use. It was much easier to set up on the computer and get going than the one I bought for my husband. With the software "Content Transfer" all you have to do is drag a song or a picture or a video right to the Content Transfer window and POW - it's there and it knows right where to put it (music pictures video). So you don't even have to fuss around and click into the different files. I already have 1926 songs in WMA format in 48Kbps 38 videos and 223 photos and I have 10g left. Right out of the box because of the software itself there is 2g being used for the player and you get 14g to play with.



This player will also record voice recordings and FM radio recordings (song advertisement talk show or whatever). It looks like they give you 99 hours and 59 minutes of recording time.



The FM player will only work if you have either your headset plugged in or your speakers plugged in. The FM won't work with the external speakers - it needs to use the wire as an antenna. And I didn't think the FM was bad - worked and sounded just fine to me.



So if you are looking for a player you just might want to consider this one. More detail ...

Satisfied Customer

This player was exactly what I was looking for - something relatively inexpensive on which I could upload audio books for on-the-go listening. I do not have a lot of sit time but enjoy books. This fit the bill. The greatest pro to me is the fact that each track not only has a timer that counts up the time but this player counts down as well simultaneously. That way if I want to re-listen to a track I know how far I've got to go back. Most players just have a counter that counts up the time without letting you know how much time is left on a given track. The biggest con - I bought a candy apple red player. Although it is nice and pretty the quality of the finish is poor. It scratches easily. Even just a bit of pressure from winding the cord around the player has nicked the finish. Considering the pro however it's something I can live with.More detail ...

Not bad decent value but a few flaws

[Edit: Upgrade from 3.5 to 4.2 stars; see below]



After my poor experience with the Phillips GoGear mp3 player (reviewed here last week) I thought I'd see what Sony can do with an mp3 player.



I bought their first (excellent) FM walkman in 1980 but haven't used one of their portables since. I am in general a Sony fan and my 1986 Trinitron is still running like new. Gotta love that kind of quality! But do they still have it?



First the good:



-Excellent battery life: 30 hours for music and it does get close to that if you don't do much scrolling. Nice.



-Lots of gigs for a c-note: about 6 bucks per gig once you realize that it's only 14.4 gb. I hate the way companies do that btw. Don't tell me I'm getting 16 gigs and then give me ten percent less. Be honest! Stuff like that loses customers savvy ones at least.



-Good sound...but with that traditional Sony eq curve: very flat. I've had a few Sony receivers and cd players and tape decks over the years and they are all very flat across the ranges. This makes for nice tight bass and decent mids but the top end is always a little compressed and lacks shimmer and overtones.

Still a solid tone not tinny.



-You can use folders saves a lot of scrolling time. Put jazz metal etc into their own folders. Nice. Any smart mp3 player does this.



-Nice simple drag and drop of files right out of the box with no need to install the software. That's sweetness because almost every problem I've had with mp3 players stems from badly written software and avoiding the need for it altogether is preferable. If you can avoid installing your included software for any player do it; it only causes hassles in the long run unless you need a certain feature. Drag and drop is where it's at: quick simple efficient. And no adware etc installed surreptitiously by the software cd a newly common scam.



-Gets good and loud. Helps with certain headphones. Sounds good on my Koss PortaPros and great on my AKG K701s. The phones that come with this are cheese as usual. Buds will never compare to real cans.



-Excellent for running my main use for mp3 players. It hasn't skipped on me once and can take all sorts of shaking and bouncing. Very nice.



-Very thin light sleek. Takes up almost no space in any pocket purse etc.





-A strange design touch that I haven't seen anyone mention but which struck me right off: the control buttons on the front panel are shaped almost precisely like Mickey Mouse's head! This can't be coincidence; surely someone in design did this on purpose. So is Sony in bed with the Mouse or what's up? In any case sometimes I see it and hear Mickey's estrogenic squeal in my inner ear saying "Pluto! Punch me in the nose and let's get this party started!"



-Along with the essential external volume buttons there's a manual lock switch on the side of the unit. Very useful to not have to scroll to make this go on and off. A good design feature that all mp3 players should have. You might want to use this when it's off and in your pocket as the unit turns on with only minor presssure on the front panel button...but that leads to:



-Another major plus this unit starts playing exactly where the last tune you were playing stopped in about a half second after the button is touched. Some players take ten seconds. This baby rips right into the music in a flash (literally; flash drive players have so many advantages). Excellent.



But the bad:



-the screen is waaay thin; it's already covered with scratches after only a few days in my empty pocket. Not good. I don't care about the aesthetics but do need to see the screen!



-to ff or rewind quickly you must first pause the track: took me a while to figure this out. Not a big con but could have been been done without needing to pause.



-and the one thing that will make me return this item next week: you can't delete songs or files from the player. You must first hook it up to a computer! Terrible design. My years-old Muvo deletes on the fly as do my Dell DJ and other players. This is a huge mistake: with 4000 songs how can I remember all the ones I need to dump? Very major flaw and a deal breaker for me.



But for those who only transfer stuff they already know and love this is a pretty darn decent player. I don't know who wants to watch movies or vids on a thumbnail-sized screen but as a music player this offers good sound and plenty of storage for a good price.



At this rate we'll get a terabyte for a c-note within a couple years.

Can't wait! Then we can put everything on in lossless FLAC files the only real way to go. MP3 is okay but still a compromise.



Hey Sony: not bad...but how can you leave out such a huge feature as deleting on the fly?



[Edit: 12/30/09. I now have to give this little thang a little more than four stars...and hooray to Amazoon's code writers: we can now finally change our ratings after the original review. I returned my original to the mallwart (so nice of them to let us try stuff out! And so unfortunate they can't pay living wages so I might feel bad about costing them restocking fees...) but after looking around for a few weeks I realized this Sony unit offers far more bang for the buck than any other mp3 player out there. So I picked one up here saving twenty over the mallwart price and am very happy with it barring the above caveats.



The best way to deal with no delete feature seems to be to mark the tracks you don't dig with the "wishlist" feature on the options screen and then when you charge the unit you can open the files and delete tunes you've wishlisted. Much more hassle than deleting on the fly but at least a workable solution to my main negative about the product.



If Sony releases a firmware update that lets us delete on the fly (not sure if that's possible or not; hope so) then I'd have to give this thing an almost perfect rating.



Pair it with Koss Portapros and you will be blown away by the sound.]









More detail ...

excellent sound

I have owned many of the high end tape and cd players sony has offered

including the most recent ultrathin DNE20 cd player a mini-disk player

and the original silver-blue metal walkman.



The sound quality on the E series player is exceptional qualitatively

exceeding all previous offerings. Listening to a good recording of

say classical piano music you may get the impression that the piano

is in the room and even be able to make out some level of structure

( for instance how far away the piano was during recording ).



The user interface is self explanatory and very adequate for listening

to cd's. If you have a pc with the right windows operating system

and media player it is easy to transfer disks to the player using the

few printed instructions that come in the box.



The actual execution of transfer still has some problems : If your disk

was sold by a distributor not linked to microsoft's ( proprietary? )

database you may find that the cover photo and track titles have been

replaced by the closest thing microsoft can find in its online database.

Although I could type in the right titles myself I couldn't find a

simple way to insert the right cover photo and occasionally ( once or

twice ) cover photos did not get transferred into the player.



On the other hand windows media player is supposed to 'rip' the whole

content of the cd which does appear to get transferred into the player.

This along with the onboard 5-channel equalizer may account for the

difference in sound quality compared with the ipod.



If your main interest is listening to music and have regular access to

a windows pc the E-344 is very well worth the ~$75. Sony also offers to

replace the player after 2 or 3 years for an up-front payment of ~$11

( 2 years ).More detail ...

don't expect an ipod but functional

This isn't a bad little mp3 player.



pros: it has a screen relatively cheap has radio. The screen image is ok (note the pic. of the girl is a sticker).



cons: the interface is somewhat non-intuitive. You have to push the left/right buttons to scroll down. The video is a nice feature but it uses .amv (converting software included) which is hardly used by mp3 devices. I've had no trouble getting video converted lots of trouble getting the audio from the video to play (although I have had minimal success).



all in all: it's not a bad mp3 player. I got mine on sale so maybe that's why I'm not as disappointed. $40 is probably the limit on what I'd spend on this (although who knows what lesser mp3 player you could get for this $). Again it's not an ipod but if you can be content with an mp3 player that has a few bells and whistles (but not great ones) it's a good buy. More detail ...

Solid Performer

When searching for a new mp3 player the trail always leads me back to Sony. Its more about overall quality then brand loyalty. Over the years Sony's Walkman line has gone the distance and more. The all new Sony S Series Walkman adds to the legacy.



The S-545 16gb Walkman brings it on with a crisp color enhanced 2.4" LCD screen that is easy on the eyes. At 2" x 4" x .4" it comes in a bit larger then its older cousin. A larger body undoubtedly is required to provide support for the external speaker system. The speakers won't get confused with my home system anytime soon but they do provide an excellent source. With headphones on this mp3 player delivers a cornucopia of sound. Missing but not that noticeable is the noise reduction feature. The on board equalizer can be tweaked to one's own preferences or users can choose one of the six presets.



The Navigation pad located directly under the screen is a breeze to operate. Three controls are located on the right side of the unit. One locks in the controls. The second one allows for easy switching from speaker to headset. Volume is the third control. The standard headphone jack and a USB port can be found on the bottom of the unit. The detachable flip out stand is an okay feature that allows for easy standing on my desk or shelf top. I would have preferred that it was permanently mounted.



The S-545 supports mp3 mp4 AAC AVC WMV WMA and PCM. PCM is Sony's version of WAV. It pairs well with Napster To Go. Its hit and miss with Rhapsody To Go. Sometimes its a smooth transfer other times its not. Downloading my playlists from Windows Media Player was a breeze without the usual hiccups associated with older mp3 players.



Amazon video is a new option that is also supported. Video can be synced from my computer as well. I've never been big on downloading video to my player. I did download a couple of photographs on this model. The display was outstanding. Unlike my older Walkman this model doesn't offer the wallpaper photo display option.



The built in FM tuner picked up all ten of my stations. With auto scanner functionality thirty preset slots are available. The FM radio is crystal clear when using the headset as an antenna. The alarm and timer features are a nice add on. This model also has an impressive on board microphone located on the bottom of the unit. There are three voice settings. Voice playback quality was excellent. Battery life has always been biggie with Sony. On a full charge I got almost a full thirty five hours of music.



The Sony Walkman S-545 16gb Mp3 player comes packed with a USB cable flip stand ear buds installed operating manual and the standard one year warranty. Body finishes include; black and red in the 16GB model. Pink and violet are additional choices in the 8GB model.



Economically priced this latest edition to the Walkman line is a durable and reliable product that delivers. Easy to use and loaded with features the Sony S-545 is a prime time performer.More detail ...

Good for the price but poor user interface

The sound quality is good--excellent if you give extra points for the low price. It was easy and reasonably quick to load MP3 files from my PC to the Coby MP305 once I figured out how to get into the correct USB mode. I am also impressed that this unit includes an excellent FM radio--my $300 iPod doesn't have a radio



I like everything about this device higher except for the confusing and limiting user interface. You can set up separate folders for each album or artist but navigating from one album to another or from one artist to another is quirky at best. If you are looking for an excellent value on a shuffle-mode MP3 player look no further but if you want to be able to select specific songs this may not be the model for you.More detail ...

Cheap Packaging Antiquated Technology

Admittedly I purchased this product largely based upon the price and the good reviews mentioned here. Since I was purchasing this as a replacement for my Autistic son my basic requirements and expectations for an mp3 player were minimal. An effective player without all kinds of technological bells and whistles would suit me fine. After opening the package however I immediately reassessed my "minimalist" viewpoint. The first thing I noticed was the player's cheap flimsy encasing; which is some sort of cut-rate thin plastic. That was my first disappointment. The second thing I noticed was the fact that the manufacturers appeared to have taken my minimalist theory a bit too literally because the entire unit consists of a display area and two buttons: a Menu Button and a Control Button. That's it. My second disappointment. Still in an attempt to not be ultra finicky I read the rather ineffectual instruction manual hooked it up to my PC charged the battery and after a while went about the process of transferring music files into it using Windows Media Player. Although the synchronization of the music files was slower than my other mp3 player (Sansa) it did go smoothly because it was easily recognized by both my PC and the media player. That was a nice plus.



Now that the unit is fully charged and loaded with 1500+ music files the time has come for me to turn it on and give it a whirl. I insert the ear buds that came with the music player into my ears. They feel weird; overly large and slanted at a strange angle. My third disappointment. Time to turn the player on already. Press...press...confused pressing. Eye-roll! The technology is extremely slow and rudimentary and looks like something I would find on a 1996 CD player. Sigh. My fourth and biggest disappointment. Yet I persevere on. OK I got it. It's playing but the sound is very very low. I examine the player looking for the volume control button. No button. I search through the manual looking for answers to my volume dilemma. Nothing. Time to dig into the player itself to see if the volume can be controlled with either of the two buttons. After a series of frustrated presses and slow displays I find an area in the system that allows me to alter the volume output but the only selections are "Jazz Pop bass etc." I stare at the display in utter disbelief. I haven't seen such options in years! This has got to be a joke. Am I being punked? My fifth disappointment. Before I begin to panic though I take my expensive Bose headphones and plug them into the unit with the hope that the ear buds that were enclosed with the player were of poor quality. No such luck; the same faint tinny sounds ring through. Huge sigh. The sixth disappointment. Disgustedly I sit there looking at my purchase as the truth finally sinks in. I just bought a cheap crappy mp3 player that is using Sega technology in a Wii world. I feel like such a doofus.



Cons:



- Looks cheap

- Feels cheap

- Extremely antiquated technology

- Slow start up and display

- Does not signal to the user that the battery is fully charged

- Confusing controls and display

- Ridiculous volume settings

- Very low volume

- Uncomfortable headphones



Pros:

- Low price

- Ease of file synchronization





In summary unless you have taken out your disco ball and are in need of a music player to complete your ensemble skip this one.

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