Excellent MP3 player

I've had mine for 3 weeks now primarily for using in the gym and I really like it. It is tiny, slick and classy. I have WOWed people with this. They were shocked that there are other cool MP3 players besides iPod.

Here is the breakdown of what I like and dont like:

Pros:

Small
well-made
Good battery life
Sounds great
The display is just right.
I am amazed how great the user interface is given minimum number of buttons and controls.
Radio tuner (it's an extra $50 to add it to iPod)
No need to look at it to change songs. The silver ring on top is the control; you skip songs with that. Way cool.
The armband is super handy and well made; Perfect for working out; just perfect.
Did I mention small and stylish?

Cons:

Battery not replaceable; pretty much like almost all other MP3 players, however by the time the battery goes, you wanna buy a new one anyway.
The earphones: This is pretty much why I am giving this player a 4 star instead of 5. Although they are around the ear sets, but these particular ones don't fit well. I have another Sony around the ear sets that fit great and I was disappointed to find out these suck big time. It could be that I have big ears, but still.
Music software: It is pretty bad. Don't forget to update the software which makes it easier to use, but still sub par. I figured, since I am not gonna upload music to it so often, it shouldn't bother me, and I was right.

Rating:


Great sports mp3

I have always been a fan of the "sporty" mp3 players vs the larger multi gig "hard drive" mp3 players or even mid-side ipod-ish style mp3 players.

Pros
-Great display.
-Decent radio
-Great charging options (as it says a very short charge will get you good to go for a good workout period no problem)
-Awesome design, looks sleek.
-Nice armband, protects, solid, looks good.
-Cool features i.e. "shuffle shake" or sports mode, (plays different playlists based on your speed), stopwatch.
-Software is kinda nice how all the navigation/downloading features are all in one program.
-Unique twist navigation (that little silver band on the player) can be slid up and down on the top of the player as well as twisted left and right to navigate. Pretty simple.

Cons
-They let you sort by album/artist/title etc, but even then it can be tedious flipping through them if you want to get to certain songs.
-Like an ipod in that there's no way to get the battery out, not an issue for a long time, but something to keep in mind...
-There isn't really an explanation for the different features on the player itself, some reading required.
-Sony's music format, oma or something like that, pretty lame. Not really recommended to download from the sony site if you can get mp3 format somewhere else. That being said if you research it, you can convert oma to mp3.

Overall, very nice for working out, if you want an mp3 player to house your 40gig collection and leave in your car, not really the mp3 player for you. If you are a little tech savvy and want one for on the go, and especially working out, then HIGHLY recommended.

Rating:


Fantastic Music to My Ears

I could start this review by telling you some annoying quirk of this unit or that Sonic Stage software could be better. Everything is gray-everything! Even electronic devices!
What I really like is how the Sony proprietary Atrac 3 audio compression makes music sound. That's why I still use the not so popular mini-disc and now this flash device.
If I wanted to be hip-I could have an I-pod but the sound reproduction does not match Atrac 3-not even close.

So this neat little device can pump music to my ears or through my $2500 stereo system. 1350 songs using 48K sampling rate in 2Giga bites is a lot of music. This 3-4 times the comparable amount for a I-pod using Mp3 or WMA compression.
No hard disc to crash. A hard to beat combination Sony and GREAT SOUNDING music. Easy to use-what more could one ask for?

Rating: