Rating: 
Summary: Trashware
Review: I bought the music clip version of the sony players. These products are a total waste of money. True, they have a sleek, compact design but are functionally worthless due to the multiple limitations of the software (open MG jukebox) which must be used to download or convert files. As best I can tell they are not really MP3 players but only play reformatted MP3 files. As a result you must clog up your hard drive with all of the converted tracs in addition to the original MP3 files. To make matters worse, you can only check out a song from 1 computer to one music clip player. But wait, it gets worse. You can only check a song out to that specific player 4 times. This is SONYs effort to protect copyrighted music for which it has a vested interest. But the ads are misleading and the product worthless to me. This is SONYs next Betamax. I've gone back to my prior, somewhat chunkier player which is convenient if slightly larger
Rating: 
Summary: quality is all
Review: I can understand that people are concerned about the check in and out procedure (I don't think it's too complicated anyway and I understand copyright problems very well), but if you want the realy best sounding mobile piece of sound this is the only choice. ATRAC 3 definitely beats mp3 by far when it comes to dynamics and distortion. and in combination with sony fontopia earphones ... you almost get the sound of a good home stereo into your shirtpockets. Even classic cd conversions don't lose any of their transparency. Don't listen to mp3 freaks. They are deaf anyway. The ms walkman is a serious piece of mobile HIFI! Believe it!
Rating: 
Summary: Come on Sony, you can do better than this!!
Review: I concur with many of the views expressed already: The hardware unit itself is very much in the tradition of "Sony" quality, which means excellent. The buttons, especially the jog dial, are easy and intuitive to use, for instance. It comes on instantly with a press of a button and it also remembers where I left off the last time, both of which I felt were desperately lacking in Creative Nomad II, which I also own. On Nomad II, it takes at least two push of the Play button (once to turn it on and again to play music) to hear music and it does not have memory function like Sony's MS Walkman, so every time I turn it on, I have to scroll down the list of song titles (which is abbreviated and thus hard to figure out) to get to the last song I heard. Just by comparing these two features, you can see how I came to regard Nomad II as a computer peripheral (as perhaps should be, considering it is from Creative), while MS Walkman is clearly a portable AUDIO device (again, because it is from Sony). The new MS Walkman (announced in Japan) that has magnesium body casing looks even better.As for the software: Again, as many reviewers have pointed out, OpenMG Jukebox 1.2 needs a lot of improvement. However, I might point out, it is not so bad when compared to the software that came with Nomad II (Nomad's has problem handling long file names, for instance). OMG Jukebox Ver 2 (also announced in Japan) seems like a lot of improvement. I think Sony should distribute this new version for free to existing users. My biggest complaint is its use of copyright protection technology. I don't have problem with ATRAC3 per se; I think it actually sounds better, even at lower bitrate (I usually use 66 bitrate to store around 25 songs on 64M Memory Stick), than MP3, though it does not do any better job at compressing (I think WMA and TwinVQ does much better job at making smaller file sizes for similar sound quality than either ATRAC3 or MP3). The problem is OpenMG, which is Sony's proprietary music copyright protection technology that makes this player SDMI-compliant. Only the mad scientists participating in SDMI can come up with a stupid idea like "check-in & check-out" for transferring music between PC and portable audio player. This concept severely limits copying or moving of music, which I suppose is good for music labels and artists, but terribly flawed in context of everyday PC usage. After ripping from CD, OpenMG-enabled ATRAC3 files cannot even be moved from one harddisk drive to another, let alone copied. Whereas MP3 file is very much a computer data like any other, OMG ATRAC3 is untouchable as far as your normal computer operation is concerned. Realizing its limitations, Sony belatedly came up with a backup tool for OMG, which only allows backing up the entire collections (no selective backing up is possible), and only onto a local drive (no network drive). Since I received MS Walkman, harddisk drives of my notebook PCs (both of which are Sony VAIOs, incidentally) crashed twice, instantlly destroying my entire collection of OMG ATRAC3 music files (just before the second crash, I was thinking about doing a backup but could not get to in time) which were measured at around 4 GB (a few full days worth of ripping CDs...). Through these crashes, all of my MP3 files survived because I had them backed up in other places (which is easily done). To sum up, MS Walkman (along with its cousins, Netwalk Walkman and Vaio Music Clips) are excellent digital portable music players that can potentially wipe out in one swing all the pretenders and look-alikes from the likes of Creative and Compaq (those are thinly disguised computer peripherals, not audio devices), only if Sony stops fooling around with SDMI and OpenMG (there is nothing OPEN about OMG) and produces straight-ahead "MP3 players". Until then, I will stick to my "computer peripheral", a newly-acquired Nomad Jukebox.
Rating:
Summary: Do not buy this
Review: I hate Sony and their ultra-proprietary BS. This is NOT an MP3 player. It's a device to detract attention to Sony's "political correctness" in the music industry. I'll stick to a REAL MP3 player, thank you. I returned this POS in less than 2 hrs.
Rating:
Summary: It's not an MP3 player - It's better
Review: I have been a proud owner of the Sony NW-MS7 for a couple of weeks now and it is one of the most beautiful and best sounding portable audio machines I have ever used. Before I bought the NW-MS7 I researched the product on the web and in the stores (Tottenham Court Road, London) for about 2 weeks. I wanted a player that can use MP3, WAV and also record my CD collection. It was also important to have playback without skipping (unlike portable CD players). However, during this time I became concerned about the conversion to atrac3, memory storage and battery life. It has to be said that there is alot of confusion on the web about the atrac3 conversion. The NW-MS7 is not a mp3 player. So you will have to convert all your mp3's into the atrac3 format. If you have alot of mp3's then it will be very time consuming and once converted you cannot play the atrac3 files in anything other than the software provided with the walkman - so the chances are you will have two copies of your mp3's. When you have converted your favourite tracks you will have to go through a process of checking IN and OUT the music onto the memory stick. This is a very simple process. Some (over-reacting and panicking) reviewers seem to think that you can only check out a song four times and after that you have to go through the hasstle of re-sampling the music. This is WRONG. Yes, you DO have to check OUT the songs and you do have the limitation of checking them OUT FOUR times BUT as long as you check them back IN when you change the music on the memory stick then you're not going to run into any problems because this will restore the count back to four. Also, this product will only work on one computer running ONLY Windows 98 ( Windows 95 upgraded to Win98, Windows NT and Windows 2000 are useless with this product) - so you can't update the memory stick on a work or friends computer - This limitation could be a real disadvantage. Sure, some music may need to be copyright protected but what will happen if you decide to upgrade to a new system or operating system or if the computer you currently own has a major meltdown. As far as I can tell the NW - MS7 will not work on software re-installed onto another system. The sound quality is awesome. It has the same sound definition as a CD player but at a fifth the size and weight. This unit will not skip as everything is stored on a chip with no moving parts. One 64 MB memory stick will hold approx 80 mins of music at the default setting of 105 kbps. At this setting you're not going to be dissapointed - especially if the sound is converted from a CD ( the converted sound quality can only be as good as it's source ). Initally I did have a problem with the music ripped from my CD's. The converted files skipped slightly when I played them back with the atrac3 software player and NW-MS7. I worked out that this was because in the setting for the Open MG player I was using an 'optimise cd drive' ( in this case it was a creative encore DVDx2) option. When I reverted back to the default settings the skipping stopped. If you make your own music on your PC this is one of the best ways to listen to your creations. The sound is breath taking. It's converted with depth and clarity. The unit is very easy to use, you have the opportunity to upgrade the memory and above all it has a rechargable lithium ion battery. This will only give you 4 hours of playback but you can use it with the AC power cord connected. So it will recharge as you listen to your music or check in/out your next compilation. I have found having another 64 MB memory stick around an advantage. I have one memory stick with my favourite music and I use the other for daily re-arranged compilations - just for variety. This works out a little expensive for 160 mins of music EXPENSIVE - but - this is new technology - remember the price of VHS films when they were first released in the early eighties. It wouldn't have hurt for Sony to install an FM radio into this unit. I think it would have been a nice touch considering the limited storage space. And the headphones - while excellent for listening to music - I had people staring at me while I was walking down the street. Not because they're cool but because the tips of the earpieces are so shiny they looked like a pair of dangly earrings. Not cool! especially in Hackney Central, London. I replaced them very quickly. Overall this is an amazing player. I was going to go for the newer NW-E3 but the ability to upgrade the memory and rechargable battery won it for me. In terms of sound reproduction I could not tell the difference between the NW-MS7 and a CD player (even on the default setting) and it looks veryattractive. However, there are a few niggles with the software and compatibility with other Windows Operating Systems. Most of which, I hope, will be sorted out with upgrades and patches in the future. But, if you have the full installation of Win98 on your system and abit of surplus cash you will be in for a glorious audio experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Overlook The Memory Stick!
Review: I have had my memory stick for around 7 months. I normally do not write reviews, but I think the reviews on Amazon are unfair to the product. True, it is not an MP3 player. True, it takes some time to change files from MP3 to sony's format (the only reason I give it 4, and not 5, stars). I am not a computer guy, nor am I an electronics guru, and I have no problem converting my music with the sony software. The rechargable battery, size, weight, ease of use and plethora of features completely outweigh the two cons from above. So what if it is not a "true MP3" player. It has operated flawlessly, travels like a champ, is a perfect companian at the gym and gets tons of use. The magic gate memory stick is a huge plus. Add more sticks and it's like bringing multiple cd's or mixes with you. I could go on, but like I said writing reviews is not my thing. This NW-MS7 is. If you are in the market for a portable music player of any kind, check this one out. It truly is awesome.
Rating:
Summary: Mp3 is great
Review: I have just purchased this product and I am amased by it's simplicity and how versitle it is. When you buy any new product to do with Pc's you never know what yur gonna get. With this Mp3 player you get great software which makes the transfer of Mp3 from computer to the stick very simple and easy. The stick itself is very small and compact and it looks cool too. There are good clear instuctions on how to install and run it and you can even store all your CDs on your computer. What I do,to save money on buying lots of mg (very expensive), is to get all of my favourite songs and just simply put them on when I get bored instead of storing all the hefty mp3 files on cards(that is what the computers for duuuu). The transfer from Pc to Mp3 is very fast and the big plus for thoughs of you out there with loads of dosh is that it is upgradable which is not avalible with all Mp3 players. The Memory is good as well it is sony's own brand offering MAGIC GATE memory which means it is dead fast. The stick will tell you if it is connected to the computer which is always good to know. Also the stick does not take batteries it just charges up like a mobile phone so you will save loads of money on all thoughs battries that you would have used. Overall this is a very user friendly peice of equipment that looks very cool and beleive me this will make all of your friends gealous when you slap this baby on the table.
Rating: 
Summary: perhaps a big, huge problem
Review: I heard from numerous sources that once a song has successfully been stored onto the player then deleted that same song can not be re programed onto the player. This may pose a huge problem to many people, it would certainly annoy me.
Rating:
Summary: Its cool
Review: I love Sony. I think there inovators and leaders in the electronics industry. This product shows just that. Easy to use, attractive and a nice peice of equipment. Setting up was easy. The registration process was a little overboard. I dont think you should have to register a product just to use it. "Big Brother" But you gotta do what you gotta do. Nice features and decent software but the conversion time is way to long. Also whats up with them crappy [cheap] earbud head phones? When you spend[this much] you should at least get some rockin head phones to go along. In closing worth $400.00 no. Worth $200.00 yes. Bottom line.
Rating:
Summary: Not really MP3 - or Windows Media Player Compatible
Review: I own this and I really wish I had not purchased it at all. I use windows ME with Media Player and have a fairly extensive collection of MP3 files recorded from my own collection of CD's. I purchased this for use while traveling due to its size and storage capacity. The box and advertising is extremely deceptive with respect to its use of the ATRAC3 format instead of MP3. Even the windows Media Player site would lead you to believe its compatible with MP3 directly - it is not. Sony's OpenMG software is very primitive and hard to use compared to other Juke Box software packages. I really dislike having songs taking up my hard drive in both formats. I own a lot of great Sony products. This is one I wish I never purchased.
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