Sony NW-HD1 20 GB Network Walkman Digital Music Player

Rating:
Summary: Turn back now, before it's too late
Review: Great piece of hardware. Fatally flawed software, at least for some of us.
Before purchasing, try downloading Sony's Sonic Stage from Connect.com. If you can't get that to work, you'll never get this player off the ground. If you can, you have a prayer of a chance, but you'd better be patient.
Many more headaches than it's worth, given the outstanding competition.

Rating:
Summary: Pure Magic
Review: I had thought about writing out a really long and drawn out review of this product, but so many other reviews (positive ones) have hit the mark on this device whats left to be said. After reading a few (and limited) negative reviews I was a bit nervous but i'm glad to say they were wrong, this product, well, Its pure magic. So I'm only going to touch on my Major Pro/Con

Pros:
Don't Blink! Man, talk about loading the music on this device! Yes the conversion from mp3 or even ripping a cd takes a bit longer but when you actually transfer it to the device itself its like pure lightning! WOW!

Con:
I don't really have any cons to be honest, the only thing I would ask of sony is that next time the upgrade this model is to add a megga bass function (I like alot of bass in my music).

You can't go wrong with the product, the software is NOT that bad and the new downloadable 2.3 version of this software is quite good.

IPOD is for the kids, the NW-HD1 if for the adult.
IPOD is like driving a Ford Focus, the NW-HD1 is pure Lexus!

Great job Sony.

A final note:
I urge anyone struggling between IPOD and this product to buy this product first, try it out for the 14 day return period. You won't be dissapointed and you won't return it!


Rating:
Summary: NW-HD review
Review: I just want to say that i have loved this mp3 player from the day i got it and i have had no problems using it. My friends have ipods so i have had some time to compare the two and i have found that the NW-HD1 is much better. One of my friends has 1,200 songs on his ipod and it takes up 6GB, i have 2,500 on my NW-HD1 and it takes up 4GB. My friends get 8 hours playtime with their ipods and i get 25 hours playtime. This thing is like the size of an ipod mini and the sound quality is good. I am very happy with my choice to purchase the NW-HD1.

Rating:
Summary: Great buy!
Review: I love the mp3 player, it small and compact, the software installation is very easy, and transfering songs to the device is too! The sound is wonderfull, you can set it sound as if the singer is in a studio, live, at a club and so on. This is really a great buy! I am enjoying it so far, and pretty sure anybody would! LBarbosa Houston,Tx

Rating:
Summary: A Bit Pricey, But Worth Every Cent!!
Review: I read most of the reviews of the NW-HD1 on this site and on cnet.com before I shopped. I found the reviews here balanced and found cnet's overwhelming negative (about 70% of folks there disliked the product). This was my first walkman purchase since the early 90s, and was alarmed by the poor reception of the product on cnet.com. I was doubly concerned since I am not conversant in the technical speak and the reviewers there, I assumed, knew what they were talking about. So, I gave serious thought to buying the iPod.

I am glad I did not bow to the pressure. The balanced reviews on this site and my own positive experiences with the Sony brand convinced me to purchase the NW-HD1. I LOVE it. Every aspect of this devise oozes ease of use. I have been copying CDs onto the device for the past 10 hours and I have had no problems. Admittedly, I have not downloaded songs yet from the Sony site, but based on my experience so far, I would venture to say it will likely be just as easy.

The device is absolutely beautiful, elegant, and classy. And it imparts the feel of luxury and being well made. This product is what the Mercedes Benzs of old were to the luxury car market: built to last without all the gimmicky gadgets.

My problems with this player are minor: the carrying case that comes standard is impractical, as is the earplugs. Of course the price is steep, but in this case, it is money well spent. I have no regrets and would always choose this product over the competitors. A beautiful and solid product!

Rating:
Summary: Do not support Atrac3!
Review: I was so close to being sold on the sleek compact design and great battery life of this hardware (I will give them 2 stars for that) until I read between the lines about the type of software Sony is shoveling. Do not support Atrac3! Why? It is against your own best interests as a consumer. Atrac3 (just like Betamax cassettes) is not the norm, MP3 is (like VHS was). This is just a crappy attempt from Sony to continue to own the music they sell you even if you already own it on another media. So even if you rip your own CDs, that you paid your hard earned money for, there is a chance that licensing won't permit you to play it on this device. Don't believe me? Check out this article on the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4194047.stm
Why would you want to waste more time transferring your Mp3 files to Atrac3 (inferior quality to Mp3) on faulty software (read other reviews) just so you could make Sony an extra buck? I am not saying to run out and get an ipod (not perfect either), but do your research before you buy a Mp3 player and make sure that it really is an Mp3 player and not some lame excuse from some billion dollar company to continue to own your music. Hopefully in a year or two Sony will realize their shameful error and reformat this hardware.


Rating:
Summary: Very happy with my purchase
Review: Just picked one up. Upgraded from being a minidisc user so I am already familiar with the quirks of SonicStage. Yes, I know that in two weeks here in the US the NW-HD3 is coming out and will play MP3s natively but frankly I want ATRAC, I have done simple listening tests side by side and agree ATRAC is a richer, warmer sound than MP3.

It depends on what kind of user you are I guess. All my music comes from burnt albmus so converting to ATRAC doesn't bother me. If I were someone who had a hard-drive full of MP3s from Kazaa then admittedly this wouldn't be the best choice for me as far as file-format is concerned.

But all that said, I'm already extremely pleased with my purchase. It's true - until you get one in your hand, or your pocket you don't realise how small and light this thing is. The 30hr playback for me was a big seller as I use the unit all day listening to music at work, and have gotten use to Minidisc batteries lasting these kinds of lengths. Side by side with colleagues' iPods it just feels so much smaller and lighter.

I did a lot of research and wanted to add some information that might help people thinking of taking the plunge, because I feel this is a unit that has a had a lot of unfair bad press - a chance to right some wrongs, and agree with others on some matters:

1. Volume. The unit has been cited as having low volume. It definitely depends on the headphone match-up. With in-ear solutions like the fontopia headphones, you'll never be able to blast past 1/2 - 3/4 of the total volume before your ears explode - believe me it's plenty loud enough, but with my DJ style headphones it is noticeably quieter. This can easily be corrected with a custom EQ of your choice which noticeably increases volume the moment you play with it but some tracks can get drowned out by the NYC subway.

2. Shuffle - some reviews have stated that the unit can't shuffle. Not true. I agree it is not as immediately obvious as an ipod but once you understand how it works you'll see that you can shuffle at multiple points in the folder-tree, such as shuffling the whole HD, or shuffling just an artist, or just a genre, or just an album. Plenty of flexibility here once you understand it

3. Sonicstage - seriously it's not that bad, and growing up through the various versions with my minidisc I can tell you it's a lot better than it was. My only real frustration is that you only see items on the unit displayed in the order you put them on the HD, but you can drag and drop this order to your taste. Hopefully future versions of sonicstage will address this.

4. Gapless playback - yes it's here - and if you call yourself a music fan you should demand it. It allows you to hear albums in the manner in which they were intended without false stop-gaps of silence occuring between tracks that were designed to blend together.

So there you have it - hope you have the information you need to make an informed decsion. I din't want to become another white-earbudded iPod zombie (NYC is crawling with them). I care about build-quality, battery life, and most of all sound-quality. In the display case next to the Sony the creatives, iRivers and Apples really just looked so plasticky.

Hope you enjoy yours.

Rating:
Summary: iPod meets its match
Review: My dad had bought my siblings the 20 gb iPod for Christmas, and my boyfriend bought me this Sony player, so I've had the chance to compare the two first hand.

At first I had some trouble with the software and transferring the songs, but once I had the unit on a more solid surface, the problem was greatly reduced. I still have problems with the software from time to time, but I've learned what to do to overcome them.

I also did not like the default format for the songs that were being transferred, but after increasing the bitrate, I have no more complaints. The songs take up more space and take more time to convert, but it's not a sacrifice I mind making for better audio quality. I still have plenty of room for all of my favorite music, and, being a college student, I have a whole lot of music. I currently have 235 songs and have used only around 2 gigs of space on the player.

It is nice that the iPod accepts mp3 format. I, personally, like the sound quality of the ATRAC3 format that Sony uses just as much.

The two things that I am most impressed with for this unit are the size and the battery life. The unit feels much smaller than the iPod does to me, and the battery life lasts at least twice as long with around the same time of charging. The unit is visually appealing, as well. I also like that it comes with a dock station for charging and connecting to a computer, which the 20 gig iPods do not.

The controls of the unit are not too small to control, as some people think, but I'll admit that I have small fingers. Controlling the unit became like second nature after just a few minutes of playing with it.

Just like that of the iPod, the backlight makes the screen very easy to read. I, personally, do not like either the headphones that come with the iPod or the Walkman. I recommend buying better quality headphones no matter which unit you decide to purchase.

Overall I am very satisfied with the product.

Rating:
Summary: Like a Porsche 911 w/ Tires Made of Solid Granite!
Review: This thing could be not just a iPod beater, but THE iPod beater. Instead I'd rather have a $100 flash based player like the Rave-MP258 (actually had one). Why? Because the SonicStage softwear is the most crippling act of sabotague I've ever seen a manufacturer ruin their product with. It's like if Porsche decided to ship the 911 with granite tires. Hell of a product, but does not work worth a $#!+.

SonicStage has something called openMG. It checks for some kind of digital copyright but wouldn't even let me transfer ripped wma files on my pc which came from my own cd's? How goofy is that. Forget drag and drop...I like the convenience of that, but even though "My Computer" showed transfer of mp3s to the the Sony (drive H on my pc) when I tried to play them they weren't there.

Sony continues to disappoint. Years ago it was Beta. They did not share the format to others at first and then JVC came along with VHS and licensed it to all who wanted to use it. Bye, bye Betamax.

SACD will likely fail. Try to find one in a disc store...You can't. Plus while others like Marantz build universal DVD-A /SACD players, Sony in it's inane superiority builds only SACD players. No DVD-A support. If multi-channel audio has a chance the only way is through universal players, but Sony will help send the whole concept to the grave with it's tunnel vision.

Don't buy any Sony digital music player unless you want total frustration like I've got. I should have purchased an iPod by the new leader in personal audio, Apple...A #@** computer company can build finer audio equipment than the world's largest consumer electronics company...Whad'ya think about that. Sony, no baloney...but a load of something for sure!

Rating:
Summary: Sonicstage is the worst and the support team is retarded
Review: user Benjamin Murphy has entered room

analyst Donald_ has entered room

Donald_> Welcome to Sony Online Support.


Donald_> How may I assist you?

Benjamin Murphy> whene is the firmware upgrade going to be relaese for the hd1?

Benjamin Murphy> and sonic stage is the worst piece of software ever developed, is there an alternative?

Donald_> I do not have prior knowledge on firmware updates.

Benjamin Murphy> from the website

Benjamin Murphy> 12/27/2004:
Coming Soon - NW-HD1 firmware upgrade for native MP3 file support

Benjamin Murphy> thats a mnonth ago

Donald_> I am sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Donald_> We are Sony Online Technical Support Team and do not have information on new releases and updates.

Benjamin Murphy> yeah, because that would be helpful, which this has not been, i guess i'll continue to use my $400 music player as a conversation piece and spend the rest of my day submitting negative reviews to every website i can find

Donald_> I can understand your frustration.However, if the firmware for the native MP3 is available, it will be put on our website for our dedicated customers to download.