Sony NWZS618FBLK 8GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)

Manufacturer: Sony Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. List Price: Our Price:$163.85 Features: High quality video playback at 30 frames per second Up to 33 Hours of Battery Life 1.8" QVGA LCD Screen Compatible with Secure Windows Media Audio FM Tuner with 30 Station Presets Description: Thinly and styleful, the videos player MP3 of the NWZ-S618FBLK Walkman combines an efficient digital music player with a 1.8"qvga LCD screen hours long the Multimediaunterhaltung. If you hear to your Lieblingslieden, regard to videos and photographs or to hear you to your favourite radio stations. Less than weighing 2 ounces however with the capacity to store to 4,500 song, 8 hours screen or hundreds of photographs the 8GB NWZ-S618FBLK video player MP3 Walkman of all this, which you must take your favourite maintenance with you, produces. Inserted memory of the Gedaechtnis-8GB up to 5.050 Lieden or up to 30H 40M of the screen on your video is player MP3 Walkman and never without your maintenance again. High Qualitaetsvideoplayback qualitaetsvideoplayback-Playback, which your favourite videos on the player with MPEG 4 and M4V profile correct with 30 frameworks per second. Battery lives with until 33 hours of Audioplayback and until 8 hours videoplayback do not have to worry themselves you around the loading of your player. 1.8"qvga LCD the screen regard easily your films, photos and music information about the high quality, announcement 320x240. Compatibly with the safe Windows central audio, which gives you more elections than at all for the Downloading and music hears. MP3/WMA/AAC Audiocodec Unterstuetzungsunterstuetzungsplayback of MP3 and of WMA DRM and non DRM audio documents downloadet from the repeated sources. Will support also the AAC non DRM contents and give you repeated elections for the Downloading of of music the way, which you wish. uses 3 free audio technologies 3 free audio technologies, in order to reproduce crystal-free area, CD quality audio. Digitally sound improvement machine (DSEE) re-establishes the higher sound frequency, which is lost, if it causes compressed music, arranges. Free bass increases the bass note with the decrease of of distortion. Free stereo reduces signal oozing of a guidance to others. FM tuner with 30 station pre-setting permits you to adjust and hear to your favourite radio stations during on the way. Time machine Schlurfen Schlurfenspiel under Lieden year preselected by one after the coincidence. (information comes from the CD information, which is downloadet by the Gracenote CDDB), initials search use the first letter of the song, the album or the artist to find easy after the music which you look for. Reversal LCD announcement clock your videos and regard your photographs either vertically or horizontal, by adjusting the screen on the determining position, which you prefer. Which in the video player MP3 Kastennwz-S618FBLK Walkman, USB cable (pin 22 to USB), MDR-E804LP headphone and extension cord, CD-ROM with Windows central player 11 and transformation of the MP3 of tools is, fast initial leader.

Reviews:

I am pleasantly surprised
I am very pleased with my walkman. It is very user friendly and the sound is great! I have really enjoyed having all of my favorite pictures on hand also.


I'm happy this thing
Well... I never had a player MP3 forwards, although I during quite some time have received wished. The trouble is that I may spend not money, and being kind a firm Wad, held I, of setting it away. After I had finally made the decision, in order to take the header, I began to do research. , regarding different net places of assembly (me build on mainly customer of reports), I decided, away of iPod and from Zune to to remain (market did not want to be chained) to iTunes still Zune. I selected nearly either the Sansa e280 or the Sansa opinion, when I happened, after these too stolpern nice small Sonys. From customer the reports was the general topic over the Walkmans the unbelievable sound quality, which they marked compared with everything otherwise on the market. Sold me in the general one (the Coiwon units were also meant, in order to have large clay/tone, but with $350 or so, it was way out of my distance.) I did not order my from Amazon on eve of the new yearly for $143, a tax, no shipping loadings (drop!). Plus, Amazon gave me $5 credit note on its service MP3 (double drop!). Receiving it on January. 15. and have you loved it since then. The Windows central player, who it came with, was simple to attach and attitude, and melodies at this baby to arrive than I thought was many simpler. I do not have other player MP3 to also compare to this thing but I love the sound quality. And this Sauger is simple to use. The interface is intuitive and I needed not to read the manual. Some Cons... The ear buds were quite acceptable, but the left side held to fall from my ear which was rather annoying. Of a pair days before, main header I the v-Moda Vibes of Costco ($69,99 with 90 daily back getting politics) up, and the audio actual even better. Over the own USB connection and the necessity to again-load by a computer burn this pretty much through. But he, I can forgive this impairment. I maintained, in which audio electronics (I was a leading engineer on the Alesis Q20 in the late nineties -- only you older musicians could know, what that is), to work and left itself ya, it explain am not simple to form a perfect piece from electronics to. They form for much compromise in the Design, and I assume that this USB is thing of one of them for the Sony of peoples. None gapless playback... became nice to have this but it is not really a large agreement for me. Also for you goes the peoples, who look, in order to buy, the price, above! Of Amazon the price of $143 one goes; they load now $163... above by 20 dollars! Even with Walmart, they went from $139 to $159! Question... Did someone buy any the Sony boxes for this thing? They sell hard plastics and the silicone rubber a one. I ordered the silicone rubber of Amazon on December 31, but apparantly, it is not available. My project ship date is in March! Everyone received notes from any from these? And I mentioned OH- that the audio quality is large? I set some the rails of the sound rail of the Gladiatorfilms, and they are ehrfuerchtig on this thing!


Almost perfect.
I am a real customer and not someone was paid to support this product.
Here's my take,
Pros:
1. Excellent sound quality with KOSS portapros headphones (and decent with the included heaphones).
2. Very easy (common sense) to use and navigate (I didn't even read the instructions). IMO, this player's navigation is easier, faster, and more intuitive than the ipod (I'm serious). I can operate it in the dark.
3. Small size and very nice looking (looks as good as the ipod)
4. Dedicated volume buttons on the side (great feature here)
5. Good radio reception (no radio in nwza810 series though)
6. Great battery life (3 days and I'm still going off the charge)
7. Can search songs by folders in addition to all songs, albums, artists, etc. (I don't think ipod does folders)
8. Drop and drag feature (no need to use software such as itunes and such).

Cons:
1. No gapless playback. The PSP has gapless, why not this.
This is actually the most important feature besides sound quality you can
offer on an mp3 player (This is a big reason why ipod is still ruling).
There are countless listeners of live, classical, dance mix, and techno music which require gapless playback (and many purchase ipods instead because of it). Without gapless playback the gapless music is ruined. I hope so much that Sony offers an updated firmware for this. But don't get me wrong. This player is still better than a ipod nano without it. Mainly because the ipod sound quality isn't nearly as good and this has a radio.
2.Proprietary usb connection. The PSP uses a standard universal usb cord. What happened here? It is not that big of a deal though (unless you lose it) except that it adds to your existing cords.
3. No WMV support (I think). This is no big deal here since one should get this player only for music (not video). Maybe offer a plugin for it.

In conclusion, either gapless playback or gapless playback with standard usb cord would make this player absolutely perfect. Till then, it is only slightly better than a ipod nano because of better sound quality, dedicated volume buttons, and fm radio. And if you don't care about gapless playback (don't have any gapless albums) then this player is perfect and is worth 5 stars (Gapless playback, standard usb cord, and recording features would make it wholly perfect though).

P.S. I'm wishing Sony would come out with a player that has those missing
features (like gapless) along with recording features that records voice, line in, and from the radio. This would make the best and greatest music mp3 player of all time. I, with all my heart, believe it would take over ipod nano in sales then.


Lives up to expectations
The problem was simple: I wanted an MP3 player, but I didn't want to spend the money for an Apple i-anything.

This was the answer.

* Consumer Reports favorable review -- check.
* 8 GB memory -- check. The entire Citizen Steely Dan box set fits in a little corner, with plenty of room for the solo Fagen and Becker.
* FM radio -- nice to have that. Don't think Apple does.
* Can show off photos of the granddaughter -- wife'll like that.
* Sony has ditched the proprietary format -- about time.
* It's a Sony -- I've heard of them, that's good.
* Amazon's price was $30 less than anywhere else -- OK, sold.




Sony finally got it right!
I traded in a Zune 8GB (2nd gen) to get this player and I'm completely happy with my decision. My main concerns with the Zune were the sound quality (no equalizer!) and the battery life. This player does an amazing job on both fronts.

Unlike the equalizer on the iPod, the sound adjustments made on this device really make a difference. The bass actually got too high and I decided to tone it down a bit. As far as the battery is concerned, I took a 22-hour trip listening to the player almost non-stop and by the time I got home it still read that 25% was remaining.

Truthfully, I've had Sony players in the past and these have always been redeeming qualities. What kept them all from being perfect was Sony's HORRIBLE music software: SonicStage. Luckily, Sony finally gave up on it and this supports syncing with WMP AND drag-and-drop (something I feel all players should offer).

I never use the player for videos so I can't attest to how it does in that area (I've heard converting videos to play on it isn't that easy), but I do use it for photos and it does well in that regard. It doesn't allow for user customization (like setting a photo for the background like the Zune), which is a slight drawback, but far from anything significant.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone looking for a new mp3 player.


LOVE .........IT !
I am late bloomer but non the less I LOVE MUSIC. I am in my 50's & have been through some music devices in my time . Sound is SUPERB & easy to use i would definately by this product. My only complain if you can call it that are the earbuds & how they fit. Get yourself a pair you can mold in your ear type. The sound is wonderful though so they are fine in that area. I always go with Sony you cannot go wrong.


Works as Expected
Plays songs, videos and even has an FM tuner. Just what I wanted. Has enough space for it (so far anyways). Some people had trouble getting the video format right, but "Any Video Converter" works fine for me.


Best flash mp3 player out there
I did a lot of research before buying my 8 gb Walkman mp3 player. This was the only one that rec'd glowing reviews all around, so I bought it. The reviews were right-on. It sounds great, it's easy to use and it's compatible with pretty much any online music store out there. It also works seamlessly with Window Media Player, so that's an extra bonus. Got a great pre-Christmas deal on Amazon, too! My only beef is that it doesn't come with a belt clip or case of some sort. The cases offered by Sony protect the player but don't include any way to attach it to your clothing, gym shorts, etc. I ordered a Sony belt clip with it, but it's been on back-order for over a month. Strange for a unit that was just recently released, but oh well. The player itself is top-notch. The accessories just need to catch up...


Best Player with some Reservations
Sony NWZS618FBLK 8GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)

I chose this player after I went to Sony Store and looked at both NWZS618F and NWZA818. NWZS618F has a better hand grip and looked more stylish and more important was smaller than NWZA818. In addition NWZS618F has a FM radio tuner with superb reception. Despite the better rating NWZA818 has over NWZS618F, I decided to get the NWZS618F. Due to my experience with Amazon superb service and reliability, I ordered it through Amazon.

After less than a week that I was using this player, for some reason, I was not able to copy any files from my computer to the player or delete files from the player. I contacted Sony, and after spending almost 2 hours on the phone, Sony told me that it is a defective one. They wouldn't tell what exact problem is, except it is missing some files.
I contacted Amazon and Amazon promptly replaced it with a new one within a week. They even arranged the item to be picked up.

I am using the 2nd one for the past two weeks and I had no issues so far. The video and sound quality out perform any other player I have had so far. The video quality is so sharp and clear that one has to see to believe it. Another reason I chose Sony, it was because free format, drag and drop without being forced to use software. I used iPod in the past and I had so many crashes. So this was a relief for me. This is the best available player in the market to date. However, despite the size, quality of sound and video and features it offers, there are some reservations that need to be taken in to consideration.

The worse one: USB connector is Sony Proprietary and non-standard.

1st, the battery longevity, function is great, but eventually need to be replaced after 300 charge and discharge. The battery replacement can not be done by the user and it has to be done by Sony. Cost will be a consideration for this.

2nd, the player is missing some major accessories that Sony should have included in the package. The silicone protective skin and AC adapter are missing and you have to buy them separately. So whatever the cost of the player is, add another $60.00 to the price. The silicone protector is about $25 and $40 for AC adapter. You can use the usb charger that comes with the player, but if you go on a trip, you have to take your computer with you if you want to charge your player. This would put the cost of the player very high comparing to other competitive players in the market.

3rd, The player and it's silicon skin is a dust magnet and if it is black, the dust looks so visible on it.

4th, Player need to be able to play at least one other format, specifically wmv file format.
Despite all drawback and considerations, still it was my best option.



Very good product...
Excellent audio quality, except for the FM receiver. But then again, I have some problems with my Bose car radio on some of those stations.
There is so much storage space I don't know what to do with it... Yet!

The only complaint is the headphone. It keeps falling off my ears...

Great buy from Amazon.



Absolutely Blows IPOD Away!
The Sony Walkman absolutely stands second to none! I bought my daughter a very high dollar apple IPOD for Christmas...After I checked it out - I decided that I wanted to have an mp3 player for myself. I checked out many and believe that the Sony has the very best sound. The FM stereo with the digital tuner is a bigger plus than you would think - and the sound is killer!

My daughter now wants to get rid of her IPOD and is constantly borrowing my walkman.

Hope this helps if you are trying to decide. I know sound - more than most - I used to mix music and produce recordings. Sony is top notch!


Great sound, great compatibility
The sound quality on this unit strikes nano of hands down. If you attach, drag and drop of the Mac forms it simply to load


I would have bought one if it included an AC charger
I need an MP3 player for a trip but I need to charge it on the road and the $40 AC charger takes 5 weeks to ship from Amazon! They lost a sale. Charger should be included for free.


OMG! This thing is amazing!
This is my second Sony MP3 player. The first is great but required that SonicStage software. Yes, it was a pain, but the sound quality of a Sony made it worth while. But then, Sony comes up with THIS gem! I am hearing things in songs I never knew were there. Additional harmonies, guitar riffs, bass lines ... amazing!
This gadget is simple to use. Just Drag and drop. The videos are superb. Very sharp picture quality. I grabbed two neat software programs. (off the web) One for grabbing videos off YouTube. Another for making my own clips from DVD's I own. I can't believe how much stuff you can put onto this. I've got over 500 songs - 40 videos - 300 pictures and I STILL have 5GB left. Battery life seems strong as I've rarely dipped below one bar down.
I can't think of anything negative to say about this unit. It is expected that you will buy your own headphones, based upon personal preference, so I won't knock the earbuds they include. Although, they're really not terrible. I just don't like earbuds, myself.
My recommendation .... BUY THIS UNIT. And don't scrimp on the storage size. Get the 8Gig .. Spend the extra bucks. It's well worth it.


Great MP3 player Video choices limited
The sound from this player is great once headphones are upgraded, FM radio is nice addition along with graphic equalizer. The videos are pretty well limited to film trailers would be nice to find a MP4 converter for DIVX / VOB to enjoy a real movie. No hard case available as of yet with arm band for gym however fits in pocket very small. Only charges on USB I think there is an A/C charger available from Sony so you know it will be pricey!


Good Product, HIGHLY OVERPRICED
Its a great product no doubt about it, but its too overpriced. At this day and age you can get atleast a 30 gb MP3 player for that price. Also the headphones are nothing but aweful. Please keep in mind that you will have to spend money for a good set of headphones when you buy this overpriced product.


Awesome MP3 Player....Highly recommended!
I bought this Sony NWZ618FBLK 8GB Walkman as gift for my wife. I do not have to say, its coolly a player mp3. normally with devices may you this, wear my wife interest, learn like one it used (ex tearing up music and Transfering to the device). But this thing is thus simple to use, my wife, those is gotten caught fast on and downloadet music on their. It handhas its whole music with the current Windows central player. Photos are also simple to load. If you can to be able to shift a document of a booklet on others on your PC, then, you you your photos on Walkman to load. Very simply. Which concerns screen, I have downloadet only some video tie-clips. Fortunately I found free software, which converts easily all videos automatically into format mp4 and syncs in Walkman. I was not to convert short main videos and you hose video with success, but a full length of films tried. I would like to also underline that, shifting between the different functions, as music, screen and photo and are fast very smooth. Hardly any convict time. Different, which is plus large, is the battery life on this thing. This player has a very long battery life. My wife can hear to him on one week to load without having. Surprise. The only thing, which cannot seem I, in order to receive, on this Walkman to work on, is the album art characteristic, which indicates the album covers as icon for your music. A tragic thing does not seem, because albums are marked easily by suitable information, but it like a really cool characteristic that I wish that I could use. If sound and video quality go. Sounds Walkman (the tones, which come even with the cheap headphones it are really good, with) and videoplayback is very richly ehrfuerchtig, vibrant and smooth makes. The screen of nearly 2 tariff is a good compromise between mobility and "Viewability". Photos are pleasant to watch out in addition. The FM tuner has acceptable admission and is a nice characteristic, which can enjoy my wife. All in all, this Walkman the Qualitaetsplayback, well, designed to use and simply. Can you for which more ask? I recommend me in high of degrees.


Great Player and Great Radio
I have several MP3 Players including one of the 800 Series Sony Players. The main difference between the 600 series and the 800 series seems to be the lack of an FM Tuner on the 800's ( but better Headphones), and the 800 Series is thinner,longer and feels like it has a higher quality build even though it is manufactured in CHINA, the 600's are made in Malaysia). They are both outstanding players, but you will need to upgrade the headphones on the 600s to experience the true potential of the player.


I used to sell audio euipment in a previous life, and I one thing I learned is that the interpretation of good sound is relative to the individual doing the listening and the musical material they listen too, and not always dependent on the equipment. After some of the hifi demos in the store, I have had people tell me they couldn't tell the difference between a 179.00 stereo combo unit and 1,500.00 receiver.

That being said I did not believe all the reviews that talked about how good the sound is on this player. I figured some of it was just hype from people that hate Apple. I have $ 10.00 Generic MP3 players that sound as good as 250.00 players when using the right pair of Headphones.

I suspected that was going to be the case here too. Using the right headphones, I expected this player to sound good, using the Sony MDR7902 Professional Studio Headphones, and the V-Moda Vibes. However, I was not prepared for how good this player sounded using the V-Moda earbuds.

I loaded 51 of my favorite songs on it the first day I got it, and proceeded to listen to all 51, until 3:00 am in the morning. I could not stop listening. I hear detail that I never heard before, and imaging that I would only expect to get using a pair of properly spaced speakers.

The volume levels on this player can potentially cause hearing loss and Sony includes a very prominent warning in the box. Using the V-Moda Earbuds, I listen at level of about 10 out of 30. The surprising thing about the Sony Player is that the it sounds just as good at 7 or 8 as it does as 17 or 20. There are pre set equalizer settings and two custom EQ settings. ( This is good if use use two different types of headphones)

I don't want to repeat everything that everyone else has already said, but the sound from this unit is awesome when you use a better pair of headphones than the ones included in the box.

Also, no one seemed to mention the FM Tuner in this unit. This unit has one of the most sensitve and musical tuners I have heard in any portable device. I have players from Creative,MPIO, I-River,Virgin and Sandisk, none of the tuners in those units have really great sound, the Creative probably had best tuner followed by IRiver, but again, none of them can top this Sony Tuner.

The sound of the tuner in this unit reminds me of the FM Tuners of the late 70's and Early 80's, when FM was a serious source of musical entertainment and the sound quality was important. I can hear a lot of detail that other tuners just don't provide.

This player is so easy to navigate I think my 80 year old mother could probably use it with no problems.

Someone made a comment about the transfer speed not being very fast, but this is the fastest unit I have ever owned. Media Player 11 recognized the player right away, and I was able to move over 182 songs in under 15 minutes. ( Most of that time was picking which songs to move)

I might add, that you can drag and drop through Windows Explorer.

There is so much more I would like to say about this player but that would be repitious. I will say I wish Sony would have used a standard USB mini jack instead of the proprietary jack. The USB charging and lack of an adapter is not a problem, I expected that and most players come that way now. You can pick up USB Chargers for under 10.00 dollars almost anywhere now, however I took away one star for the proprietary connector thing.

Sony is on the right track and they are now making the players that some of us die hard music fans knew they could produce once they stopped trying to control the music rights. I cannot compare this unit to an I-Pod because I have never heard and IPOD, but you will not be disappointed with this player. If you can afford it, get at least the 8 GB model. You will want to load it up and listen a long time. The battery life is stated as 33 hours for music, I have used the player for about a week without charging but I don't know the cumulative run time.


One final note, there are not a lot of accessories for this player. I have yet to find a case other than the Sony Case offered on Amazon. If you are looking for music docks and other stuff, you won't find them yet. I thnk they will come. I did notice that the prices for these Sony players are tarting to go up rather than come down. That may be testament to how good they sound and more demand. I have seen several places online out of stock on this player.

We can only hope ...

Great Player..........


A perfect Player
I love this player, I mean absolutely love it. The sound quality is superb. The headphones are not bad, in fact to me the sound quality was fine and depending on the sound settings I used I barely turned the volume up half way to block out noise around me. I enjoy the fact there are so many different sound settings, clear stero being one. I like unique the best, but live makes you feel as though you're really at a concert.
This is not my first MP3 player, I have owned several hard drive players and still have one other flash player. I have been faithful to Creative Labs, but after going to the Sony website I decided on this one.
Sony has a learn section with informative videos and information on the player you're interested in. I quickly learned all the features of the player I liked and I also had a live online chat with a Sony customer care rep who was corteous and helpful, even though I had not completely decided on this player. They care about their customers and that was a huge plus for me in making my final choice.
The radio stations come in great, even though I live way out in the country. Syncing is easy and stress free using either the Windows Media player 11 or the Sony media manager, which you have to download from the Sony website, as it was released after the players were shipped to stores. I also love the Sony Connect store. Easy to navigate and there are bios of the artists when you pull up ther CDs.
With the exception of only 90 days labor on the warranty, but the extended warranties are more affordable than that of other competitors, I'm very happy with my Sony NWZS618F. It has all the features I'm looking
for, sound quality that is par none and support from a company that really cares about the buying public. Welcome back Sony!


Good looks, great sound...
Just recently, I decided to abandon my Creative Zen Vision M because I disliked the touch/glide pad so much. In fact, any function more than just skipping tracks was avoided on the Vision M. This significant annoyance, as well as discovering that I didn't really need the HDD capacity, helped me to start looking for a replacement.

I subsequently bought a 4Gb Sansa e260 and an 8Gb Sony NWZ-S618F.

These two units are very similar in function, except the Sansa has a recording feature (from either its radio or its inbuilt mic) that the Sony lacks. However, the Sony screen is much nicer and the interface is simpler and more logical. The Sony also has better sound quality. I decided to donate the Sansa to my eight-year-old Daughter.

Firstly, as many other reviewers have stated, Sony has done the right thing by discarding their proprietary software for the simpler drag and drop system. Although I have never used the Sony software, I like the idea of drag and drop simplicity. Therefore, I use Directory Opus 8 (which is a very powerful and customisable Explorer replacement) to list my music and then drag the tracks I like into the MUSIC folder on the Sony. Now that's the way I like it.

There are many good features of the Sony. They include; small size, a dedicated volume control, a nice screen, very fast (instant) start-up (from standby), great battery life, the excellent sound quality (with a number of sound enhancement features that seem to work) and the pseudo analogue clock in screen-saver mode.

I also like the styling of this unit over all the previous Sony DMPs (and many other brands and models). It looks nice, without making it impractical (like, too shiny or scratch prone).

That said; there are some negative aspects of the NWZ-S618. Firstly, it has a proprietary USB connector that means you have to take the cable with you for charging. The obvious benefits of a standard USB cable, such as replacement price and availability, would be most welcome.

Then there is no on-board way to check memory capacity, no on-board track deletion facility (without formatting the drive), no way to create play list on the fly and no record function (as mentioned above). The Time Machine Shuffle is a useless gimmick and you can't name radio station presets. Finally, the slow file transfer rate is appalling. The Sansa is considerably faster when transferring data.

Some other reviewers have stated that the supplied earbuds are rubbish. I can't comment, because I have never used them. I use a set of Koss PortaPro headphones. If Sony were to offer better headphones with the player, it would possibly increasing the price of the unit. And in my case, they still wouldn't be used.

As for video and image performance, I can't comment on that, either. I didn't buy this music player for watching videos nor for looking at photos. Although the screen is nice, it would be too small to appreciate even the most basic movies and/or images.

Another minor personal issue is the radio icon which looks like a clapperboard, thus, can be confused with the movies folder.

Most of the issues I've listed above could possibly be fixed by way of a firmware update. If this is done, along with standardising the USB connector, then the NWZ-S610 series will be nearly perfect for its target market.

I like the Sony NWZ-S618 so much, I even convinced my Luddite wife to purchase one. I recommend it to anyone in the market for a decent-sounding, easy-to-use DMP that doesn't lock you into purchasing your tracks form a single vendor.


I am VERY happy with this product
I investigated for the weeks trying to select the right player mp3 didnt I really wish ipod. I ran finally over this player and couldnt discovery all possible negative reports over her, therefore I decided to buy her. It was simple to use and fast and simply to high-load music too. It has large sound quality. I would recommend definitly this player to everyone.


Exceptional sound quality and easy to use.
I had the Sansa e280 for a few months and was never that happy with it. First the sound quality was average at best, with no real bass, The EQ function was very limited and did not offer much improvement is adjusting the sound. Also the blue function ring annoyed me in the fact the you could not turn off or adjust the brightness of it. Apart from that the player was okay.

Then I had it stolen, so I started looking for something new. Highest on my list of requirements was sound quality. Next was drag and drop functionality, I did not want to get tied to a proprietary system like the iPod. Third was an FM Radio. After much research on the internet I narrowed the choice down to two; The Cowon iAudio 7 and the Sony NWZ-A818. The Cowon is hard to find and I could not find one in a store to touch, so I chose the Sony. Am I happy I did.

The NWZ-A618 is a great player with exception audio quality, I cannot not distinguish between my CD player and the Sony with high bit rate MP3. Sound quality is phenomenal with a good pair of headphones. Bass is low, clear and crisp with no distortion noticeable. Yet is it not overwhelming and muddy. The EQ and additional sound tweaking options offer a wide range of choice and allow you to highly customize the sound to your liking.

Drag and drop from Windows Explorer is just as I hoped, easy to use. I have not installed the software that comes with the player yet. The player is very quick to start and shutdown.

The device is small, smaller than it looks, but appears to be a quality construction. The OS and input devices (buttons) are intuitive. The quality of pictures and video is also very good however the screen is tiny. In truth I did not buy this device to watch video, so that does not worry me.

There are a few minor quibbles, such as the release year does not pick up info from the tags and there is no way to create a playlist on the device. Also the lack of codec support is frustrating but not the end of the world. All in all this is one great MP3 player.

If sound quality is paramount, then look no further, Enjoy.



best sounding flash player on the market
I finally am happy with my setup. I have tried Ipod, Zen and others nothing comes even close to this unit. The most important thing a MP3 player can do is to sound good. The sound on this play blew me away! Its important to understand that the stock earbuds that come with this unit and ever other unit are mediocre at best. A few years back I decided to invest in some high quality earbuds. I ended up with the Shure e4 and then went and had custom fitted ear pieces make from Westone. Believe me when I say that upgrading to good earbuds makes a huge difference! This unit really strives at the following features above most:
- Clean sound (as I stated above... much better than others I have tried)
- No software needed to upload. (what a blessing this is)
- Instant start of mp3 files. (Others I have tried take a second or 2 before the mp3 starts)
- Easy to navigate. (Song db is updated from ID3 tags automatically after undocking)
- Very long battery life (I only have to charge this unit every couple of weeks verses every day or 2 with others)


Great Player
I like really this player MP3 for many reasons. It is very simple, music, to add fair counter acting force and drop of your window central player of the computer hardrive using (version 11 of the window central player is enclosed with the player). The headphones are o.k. and the radio characteristic are nicely to have in addition. The keys are simple to use. _ a objection will its, those, because it thus small be it seem, fragile be, I become recomend a box buy or with it extreme straight take care. Sound quality is unusual.


Sounds great, looks great - all I want in a music player
I just received my NWZ-S618 from Amazon 3 days ago. Here are my first thoughts. In true Sony fashion, the player sounds great. (I use Shure SE110 headphones.) Some of my previous mp3 players include products from Cowon and Creative, and of course the iPod. I have to say this is the best sounding in terms of clarity and depth. The equalizer adjustments make a big difference if you spend the time to fiddle with it.

I must add that the black version of this player is absolutely stunning! The pictures don't do it justice. If you are considering this player, drop by a Sony store to see how small it really is. The matte finish also prevents fingerprints from getting on the case, which was the most annoying thing about my old iPod. Another plus is the flexibility in how you transfer music to your player. I currently choose to use WMP11, but drag and drop works just as well. The iPod/iTunes combo is great, but it means that you'll likely be stuck buying iPods forever since it can be troubling to move your music library to another software.

One thing that few people bring up is the fast start-up time. I can play a song as fast as I can switch off hold and press play. This is compared to a 5 sec. delay in my Cowon player. As others mentioned, battery life is excellent. The bad headphones and USB charging are to be expected, so it wasn't much of a downer for me. Last thing is I wish Sony included more video support. The screen is so bright and beautiful, but it is unlikely I'll make use of it because I don't want to convert my video files. No star off for that though, since I bought this product as a music player and it performs superbly well in that respect.


I like this player a lot
I purchased this player as well as the NWZ-A818 recently because I wasn't sure which one I liked the best. In the end I chose this player because I liked the form factor better. This player looks more solid and less flimsy than the 818 in my opinion. It's smaller and it has a built-in FM radio which the 818 doesn't have. Aside from that, the two players seem to be identical. i.e. they have all the same EQs and other features. However, the one thing that really puts the 818 ahead of this player when you look at the package as a whole is the head phones. The head phones on this player are pretty terrible. They are pretty much the equivalent of the $9 Sony headphones that you can buy separately. You'll probably want to replace them with at least some MDR-EX51s. Even the though the MDR-EX82s that come with the 818 are smaller, they seemed to have better clarity than the much larger MDR-V6 studio monitor headphones that I have. The mids and highs seemd better than EX51s and they didn't have the cheap cabling that EX51s have. MDR-EX82s aren't sold separately to my knowledge, but, I'm pretty sure they are the same as the EX85s and those sell for about $55 at the moment. So, value-wise and out of the box sound-wise, the 818 is probably the better choice unless you want the radio and you are picky about the size and form factor like I am. One other difference that I noticed between this player and the 818 is that although the 818s screen is larger, the screen on this one looks a lot better. It's noticeably brighter and better looking no matter what the brightness settings are on.

The good:
Very small and light
Finish looks fairly scratch resistant
Simple design that looks durable
Long battery life
You don't have to install any special drivers on Windows XP (although you may have to install Windows Media Player 11)
Screen is very bright
The user interface is intuitive and easy to use, for example, you can easily change EQ settings
Good sound quality, has lots sound adjustment settings
Has several EQ settings and two custom ones
The UI is very responsive
Skipping from one track to the next is fast, probably faster than a hard drive based player

The average:
File transfer speed, I thought it would be faster than the hard drive based Rio Carbon 5 GB that I was using previously, but, it seems only marginally better

The bad:
Cheap head phones, if they included the EX82s instead, this review would be a 5/5 instead
Price could be a bit lower considering you can get a 30 GB hard drive based player for close to the same amount of money
Proprietary connector designed to make you buy Sony cables when they could have just used a normal USB connector
USB charging doesn't seem to work with a USB charger adaptor, you need Sony's expensive one
Uses MTP not USB mass storage, doesn't have a drive letter associated with it, so, you can't copy files to it using the Command Prompt, but, it does work nicely from Explorer
Not sure if it can be used (unofficially) on platforms other than Windows
I don't like the way the right and left buttons work when scrolling through artists, it should jump a page at a time IMHO, rather than dividing things up into alphabetic ranges
It doesn't seem to show thumbnail images of images that you put on it
It doesn't recognize directories beyond one level deep for images, not sure if this applies to music or not
For me the amount of storage is still a little low, a 16 GB model would probably store virtually all the music that I listen to on a regular basis
It might be nice if you could delete files from the player itself rather than having to use a computer

Overall, I would definitely recommend this player, but, I'd recommend getting some better headphones after the fact if you don't already have some. Most of what I have listed above under the bad is just me nitpicking.


Sony 8GB MP3 Player



I'm soooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!
After my old PHILIPS died one day, I went on a long and blurry-eyed search for a new player. I had decided that, this time, I would make a wish list of all the features I wanted in an mp3 player. So, I set out to find the perfect combination of the best I could get at a price I could afford (and not feel too guilty). After reading about 300 million reviews I settled on this SONY. I am so happy with it! It has everything on my list except you can't record a song from the radio, which to me is a very cool feature. Other than that, I can watch full length movies (I love how you can change the direction of the screen). I have all my cds on it, AND the best reason ever!? I can listen to audio books!!!!! The perfect trifecta if you're asking me! OR I can listen to the radio or look at pictures.
It did take a bit of an adjustment getting used to the size, it's sooo teeny! And you can't read the buttons unless tilted in the light at just the right angle. But after you know which ones do what it doesn't matter.
If you do buy this one then, look around for the best price and go for it! you wont be sorry.


iPod killer!
This mp3 player from sony is great in almost any aspect, the price is very reasonable. It is made in Malaysia not China!

Pros:

- Sound Quality is the best I have heard in a DAP( better than iPod, Zen stone, Sansa e250, creative zen v wide,etc) 2 customizable EQ's and about 4 pre-set EQ, clean bass, and digital sound enhancement
- Best screen I have seen in my life in a DAP (1.8")
- Great battery life: up to 33hrs ( 3 hours aprox to charge via USB)
- FM radio with pre-sets
- Time machine shuffle ( it is fun and original)
- Comes with some sort of anti-scratch film in the screen
- only 65grams, less weight than most cellphones or mp3's
- No ATRAC!
- Two ways to upload files ( WMP or USB storage)

Cons:

- Size can be small for people with big hands
- No AC charger included, only USB cable
- Video codecs are very limited
- Folder navigation is kind of generic
- Expensive accesories

The pros easily overcome the cons of this mp3 player. It is a great option and everyone should consider it if searching for a small and portable DAP.


Silly charger
I have no complaints about the product itself, is very good. However, how silly only to put a USB charger with the player. I mean if you travel or if you want to charge your player somewhere without a computer, you can't. You will have to either be close to a computer or take yours. Or buy an AC charger which is what they really want you to do.


AWESOME MP3 EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What I enjoy about my sony Mp3 are the many features such as the video selection, putting any song files and the most important thing radio, which many mp3 dont have. I really recommend to purchase this item!!!!


A Great Little Video MPEG3 Player
The first thing, which was pleasant me suprised, when this product arrived, that it is SMALL. The face of the player is smaller signifigantly than the range of a credit card in the length and in the width and is multicolored the approximate depth one zippo lighter, which is bright the screen, and, although it is a little small for the purposes of the screen and the photos, the interface for navigation is sharp much earsy and it includes a Radiotuner also. For the reliable Sony customer and the SonicStage Sceptics; They can be able or not be lucky to know that Sony is it SonicStage left. All their players function seamlessly with Jukeboxes such as Napster and Windows central player. They also do not play no more the ATRAC family of formats, but the fear not SonicStage user; The device comes also with a program to change whole ATRACs to MP3s for it. And as always with Sony players, the battery life is outstanding and even regards the bright screen. This is a large player, who regards its price



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--end of Sony NWZS618FBLK 8GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)