ericwilliams's Full Review: Sony Walkman® DNS505 Personal CD Player
WHY I BOUGHT THIS
I am a runner and listen to music while I run. I travel often on business and take a headset with me for the plane, airport, etc. I want to have a lot of music on one disc so I don't have to carry a lot of CD's. I have tried the Sony S2 Mini-Disc player but sold it for $5 because the software and operation of the player is frustrating and the Mini-Discs hold only about 90 songs on the lowest setting. I was on my way to buy an iPod or MP3 player when I saw this on sale for $59. I figured I would give it a shot and possibly save myself $400.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SOFTWARE
I was a bit leery of the SonicStage software that is part of the NetMD program for the S2. I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of use of this version. I cannot emphasize enough the improvements made with this software. All you need to do is put a CD into your drive and hit a button and the program transfers your audio CD into Sony's ATRAC3 format. Each CD takes approximately 7-8 minutes to transfer.
I was able to transfer 20 CD's onto my hard drive in a couple of hours. You can choose the quality of the transfer easily by a pulldown menu. The higher the quality, the more space it requires. I initially went with the second lowest quality. After I had those 20 CD's transferred, I just put in a blank CD-R (it will take CD-RW also) and hit record. 15 minutes later, I had 18 of the 20 CD's transferred to one CD-R.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF PLAYER
After reading the instructions, the ease of use of this player is great. I am comparing this to the ease of use of the Sony S2 Mini-Disc player which is frustrating at best. There are menu options that require using the volume controls or track selection controls but once you realize which ones to use, the operation is almost mindless. The hand strap on the case is great for carrying the unit while running and volume and track selection controls can be operated by your thumb. The construction is solid but you have to screw the top of the unit onto the bottom. This is my only area of concern as overusage might cause it to break. However, with 18 CD's on one CD-R, it may be a while before I have to open the case!
SOUND QUALITY
With the second lowest quality setting, I can definitely tell it is not the best. This is not a problem for me because while running or traveling, I am just looking for some music occupy my thoughts. Using an audio CD, the quality is superb. I did transfer 5 CD's onto a CD-R at the highest setting and the quality is as good as with an audio CD although you can only fit a limited number of CD's onto a CD-R.
BATTERY LIFE
It takes 2 AA batteries. I have used these two batteries for a month now and the battery indication on the display is still half full. I would estimate about 25 hours of play time for that month. Battery life is excellent.
VALUE
If you don't want to spend $200 or more on an MP3 player or iPod and want lots of music without lots of gear, this is for you.
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