Pros: LOOOOOOOOOONG battery life!
Good sound quality.
Price.
Small.
Light.
Cons: SonicStage.
Tiny slick plastic side buttons/sliders.
Display is only one line.
No armband included!
The Bottom Line: Light, holds many songs, and lasts a HELLA long time. If you lead an active lifestyle, this is all you really need in an audio player.
flux73's Full Review: Sony Network Walkman NW-E107 (1 GB) MP3 Player
Okay, so let's get this out of the way - it's not a Shuffle killer. The media has a way of overdramatizing things. However, I do like it more than the Shuffle, and I think it will compete quite nicely with Apple's flash player. I suppose I'll sprinkle in a few comparison points with the Shuffle since undoubtedly some of you will be interested.
Some basic specs:
- 1 GB Flash memory (200 songs using 192kbps MP3 encoding - I like to know I've encoded beyond my listening range :))
- Up to 70 hours on one AAA battery.
- Backlit one line LCD Display.
- Plays ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus and MP3 files natively.
- Supports WMA and WAV files via conversion.
- Hi-speed USB (USB 2.0, as opposed to the NW-E99) transfers via cable.
- Does not support drag and drop (as far as I can tell) for audio, though you can store and transfer files on it.
- Adjustable treble and bass.
I just got the player a couple days ago. My first impression on opening the box was that it was much smaller than I thought it would be. Not as small as a poker chip like they claimed (which would make it incapable of holding a AAA battery), but it's not much bigger. The back of the player is not flat. It arches into a hump to accomodate the battery. The shell is all plastic and the build quality is as nice as can be expected with plastic. The color is gray/metallic (there are supposedly additional colors coming out later). There are 3 play/navigation buttons on the face of the player that are actually part of the face itself. See an enlarged photo of the player and you'll see what I mean. The volume button is a long rocker button on the right. The hold switch and USB port is on the left. There are also two buttons in the back for sound/play mode and menu. These button are not only tiny, but recessed, making it difficult to push. Luckily, they're not buttons you push very often. Overall, the side and rear buttons are kind of a weak point. If you're fingers are at all slick, the hold slider and the volume button are really tough to hit. In my opinion, if they had rubberized the side buttons, it would have made for a nicer "feel". I may do this myself with those grippy sticker surfaces used to hold cell phones to your car dashboard. Anyhow, overall the quality is nice enough. It certainly holds it's own against the Shuffle.
What Else Is In the Box?
It comes with a USB cable and earbuds. The first thing you should do is throw out the earbuds or give them to someone who really doesn't care. I have a pair of Bang & Olufsen earbuds and the Sony EX71, both of which are vastly superior. I recommend the EX71 which are relatively inexpensive and has a two piece cord, of which the non-extended portion is the perfect length for attaching a player to your arm during workouts or outdoor activities.
It also includes a disc with the new SonicStage 3.0, which you must use to transfer music to this player. Unfortunately, this player does not appear to do drag & drop, though when you plug it in, it is recognized as a drive, so you can use it like a USB flash drive if you wish.
The USB cable IS kind of a pain and I really hate to add more cables to my computer. On the other hand, you don't need the USB port to charge the player, and the lack of a USB plug on the player, keeps the bulk down.
What's NOT in the box is an armband. This is a little annoying since Sony is marketing this player to people who want an mp3 player for exercise. An armband would have been dirt cheap for them, whereas it'll cost the consumer an extra $10-20 for a 3rd party armband. Show your customers a little extra consideration and you're more likely to have them coming back in the future, Sony!
Interface
It has a one line backlit LCD display. There's also another 'line' below it with all the symbols like play mode (including shuffle!), equalizer mode, and battery life. No matter what Apple or its fans say, the display IS useful. Yes, I agree you don't look at it very much with a flash player. However, with 1 GB of storage, you can put a LOT of songs on there for which you may forget the artist or song name and you want to know. Also, it's nice for comparison purposes just to see the difference between a 192kbps encoded song and a 160kbps without having to check back on your desktop to see what the encoding rate was. It's also nice to know what kind of equalization is being applied to the songs (since the option of equalization is there) and to know how much battery life is left (I would say this is the BIGGEST advantage to having a display).
The interface itself is a bit complex, though half an hour of playing around with it will familiarize you with everything. I'm not sure that this could have been easily rectified. The player actually has quite a few things you can do (button beeps, backlighting, play options, sound options, display options, auto volume leveling, equalization, etc) and unfortunately only one line of LCD to show you the options. You can even format the whole player and wipe out all the songs.
Sound Quality
The sound quality is decent out of the box, but much improved once you play around with the equalization to raise the high and low ends. I realize it's subjective, but the non-equalized sound just doesn't have enough 'oomph' on the low-end and enough crispness on the high end. That said, I was pleasantly surprised at how powerful the sound could get off of one AAA battery that will allegedly last close to 70 hours. As I said before, get some quality earbuds.
Note: the Sony EX81 is supposed to come out soon and supposedly has improved sound quality AND has overhanging ear clips so that they stay in better while exercising.
There is no on/off button. When you stop the player, the screen stays lit for about 3 seconds and then the player turns off. When you hit the play button again, it wakes up and continues playing from where it left off.
Transferring Songs
As I mentioned before, you have to use SonicStage 3.0 to transfer songs. I haven't really used the previous versions enough to know about them other than that they seemed to be widely reviled. Having only used it for a bit, it seems okay to me. Not great, but not horrible either. Seems a bit slow loading up. The default interface setup is a bit "busy", but you can customize it so that it's a lot simpler to use. The biggest fault I can find with it is that it doesn't convert your CD's to mp3 - just ATRAC3. Which kind of makes me roll my eyes since I thought Sony was trying to make an effort to get on the mp3 bandwagon. But, it didn't bug me for that long since I've decided to keep using iTunes to organize and encode my CD's and to simply have SonicStage import the files whenever I load it to transfer songs. Hopefully, Sony gets cracking on the next version of SonicStage though. Or RealPlayer or WMP gets compatible with the EW107, which would really be ideal to me, since I like both of those programs too.
Transfers happen very quickly via USB. Nothing else to discuss here.
Battery Life
For me, this was the MOST important feature of this player. It was the one and only reason I finally decided to get a flash player. I can live with a lot of minor problems with a player, but I really wanted a player that would go a LONG time and use a standard battery. The problem I had with the Shuffle is that the battery only lasts 12 hours, and it needs a USB port to charge it. I take quite a few trips per year when it would be inconvenient or flat-out impossible for me to get to a USB port. With this player, I definitely won't need it unless I use it for 10 hours a day for a one week trip (and I won't ever be doing that). And even if I did, AAA batteries can be found anywhere and everywhere. I dislike the idea of rechargeable batteries also because it will eventually lose capacity (remember the iPod battery fiasco?). I've had the player for only a few days, and the battery level indicator has not even dropped one bar yet (total playing time has been about 4-5 hours). If Sony's claims are even close, they've got a winner on their hands. I hope the next player has a larger display and easier to press/slide controls. The upcoming 400/500 series also look promising.
I paid $149 at SonyStyle (free shipping). I think it was a good deal and I'm satisfied with the player. I can deal with the little quirks in software since the battery life is 70 hours. I still can't believe with how much I've used it that I'm not even at the 1/10th battery life mark. Sony's software department may need an overhaul, but their hardware engineers are magicians. Good to see Sony getting into the mp3 player game. It's not the perfect player yet, but it's step in the right direction, and I don't need a perfect player right now. I just need good enough. This player is better than that. I'm looking forward to seeing their future products.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 149 Recommended for: Athletes - Lightweight and Portable, Perfect for the Gym
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