Rating: 
Summary: 400 MP3 Limit. Look
Review: I have to admit to being a little gun-shy about this product after reading other reviews on this page. However, I have found that it met my initial expectations, and isn't as bad as some other folks apparently think it is. The sound isn't bad at all and the display is legible. It plays MP3's flawlessly. I suppose they could have done a better job with the headphones, but for the money you can't go wrong with this unit. The ATRAC feature is interesting. But if you know how to rip CDs WAV files and convert them to MP3s OR simply download MP3s from the Web, you don't even need to use the ATRAC software that comes with the unit.
Rating: 
Summary: Met my expectations
Review: I have to admit to being a little gun-shy about this product after reading other reviews on this page. However, I have found that it met my initial expectations, and isn't as bad as some other folks apparently think it is. The sound isn't bad at all and the display is legible. It plays MP3's flawlessly. I suppose they could have done a better job with the headphones, but for the money you can't go wrong with this unit. The ATRAC feature is interesting. But if you know how to rip CDs WAV files and convert them to MP3s OR simply download MP3s from the Web, you don't even need to use the ATRAC software that comes with the unit.
Rating:
Summary: I Have To Refute These People Before Me!
Review: I normally don't review electronics, but so many people before me have knocked this great player down and I have to correct the myths. First of all, this is NOT a MP3 player. It's a CD player that plays MP3 cd's that you burn yourself. It also plays ATRAC and ATRAC+ cd's which is Sony's version of MP3 that compresses files to 1/2 the size of MP3's and retains the quality. Most of these people before this review are not well versed in MP3/CD players as evidenced by the one that thinks this is an simply a MP3 player and doesn't know how to hook it up to "get music" (why do these people bother posting and skewing the reviews is beyond my imagination). I'm reasoning that most of these people never bother to read directions and simply jump to a negative conclusion when they can't figure something out. Let's face it, technology today is complicated and learning how to read is the first step so READ THE INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!This is a great cd player for the money. The sound is loud and crisp (when you use the first bass setting) and I'm really picky about bass. However, buy a good pair of headphones. Sony "mega-bass" is the best. As with all players, the ear-wear is always poor quality and the player WILL sound poor no matter what. The software is so completely fool-proof that the people complaining about it probably aren't running a system that's up to date and don't understand the problems with Windows 98 or never defragmented their system. It's simple to use and runs EXACTLY like the software that came with the Intel MP3 player from a few years back. I used the ATRAC+ conversion at 64 kbps (equivalent to 128 kbps for MP3) and was able to get over 300 songs (26 cd's) at an average of 4-5 minutes each. If I used ATRAC (not the + one), I'd probably get 50 less. The sound was not compromised at all. I WAS SHOCKED! Keep in mind I have a $20 pair of headphones and I haven't listened to it in my car or home stereo (or with the cheap headphones that came with). The file compressions to ATRAC+ did take a while but only a fraction longer than regular MP3 converting. There is one problem though, when you already have a MP3 file to convert to ATRAC or ATRAC+, the software doesn't allow you to cancel and you need to control+alt+delete to abort if you change your mind. SONY should patch this problem and I intend on letting them know about it on their support page (which is very good by the way!). The buttons are easy to use and I have no complaints except for the fact that you can't shuffle play the first track in each file you create on the CD. The player will only randomly select so you may get up to 2 tracks from the same file played after each other (a very minor issue and I never had more than 2 songs from the same file play together). The instruction manual is a little vague in some spots but I was able to easily figure things out by simply play around with it. I wanted a player to bring to work that had all my favorites songs on one disc. I was able to achieve this with ATRAC+ technology. This way I can bring double the amount of music with me. I cannot recommend this player enough!! I usually buy small electronics made by Phillips because I've had good luck with them. This is not the first Sony cd player I own. I've not been happy with other Sony items I've bought (5 disc cd player, portable cd player a few years back and an amplifier) so I hesitated when buying. I have a SONY Vaio PC and have had no trouble with it. I also like my Sony Cybershot camera so I thought I'd give them another try. I'm glad I did!
Rating:
Summary: wonderful MP3/ATRAC3-CD player!
Review: I recently bought this Sony D-NE510 player to replace an older Panasonic SL-SX460 that I've had for a number of years, and I've not been disappointed by my purchase. This player has a slew of really awesome features that make it worthwhile, especially its support for ATRAC3+. The sound quality of the player is fairly good, although not quite as clear as my old Panasonic (the difference is quite negligible). The first bass boost option is okay, but the second option distorts the sound too much. No bass boost at all sounds a little thin though. The headphones that come with the player are pretty much junk, so I've been using a pair of Sony earphones that I bought a while back, and the quality is much better. MP3 navigation is extremely easy with the jog-dial, especially if you organize songs into folders. When I tried to play an MP3 disc without folders, it took me forever to find the songs that I wanted, but now that I have everything organized into folders for each album, I can almost instantaneously find the songs that I want to hear. There is a slightly annoying pause between each song, maybe about 1-2 seconds but enough to break the flow of a mix CD, although for regular CDs with individual songs, this is less of an issue. I used the bundled software to compress 28 albums worth of songs onto a CD in ATRAC3plus format at 64 kps, and now carry around 50+ albums on just two discs. Each disc took me about 2 hours to make, without a hitch, although I did not attempt to use the MP3 conversion feature. I figured it would be useless to convert from one compression format to another...and burning an MP3 disc is faster than converting it to ATRAC anyway. ATRAC quality is much clearer than MP3 at 64 kps or even 96 kps and is certainly very listenable, but isn't quite on-par with CD quality. When you turn up the volume and listen closely, you can hear the limitations of the lower bitrate. However, I usually listen to music at low and "regular" volumes, so the quality isn't that big of an issue with me (it's easier on my hearing too). Besides, I figured that being able to carry around that many songs (approximately 350) on a CD makes up for the slight decrease in sound quality. The player also has incredible battery life-Sony claims 80 hours with ATRAC discs, and 50 hours with regular CDs when using alkaline batteries. I have been using the unit with Rayovac rechargeable NiMH batteries (more environmentally friendly) and these give me about 45 hours of play time (MP3 CD) per charge, which is usually enough for 3-4 weeks of regular use for me. And I used to think that the 12 hour rechargeables for my Panasonic were long-lasting! The D-NE510 is also fairly stylish. It's rather large but has an attractive gray exterior and clean design. The plastic shell is cheap and fragile feeling, but seems durable enough. I've actually dropped the CD player from my desk a number of times (onto hardwood floor) and it was not yet skipped or had any problems. Overall, Sony has made a wonderful product. Some would probably complain that the ATRAC software has problems but keep in mind that even if you don't use this feature, the player is still a great deal. The Sony reliability, the excellent MP3 support, the jog dial and the incredible battery life make for a pleasurable and convenient music listening experience. True, you can buy a cheaper MP3 CD player, but if you consider long term reliability and battery costs, then the Sony D-NE510 is really a wonderful buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Good enough for me
Review: I tried out a few different cd/mp3 players and didn't find any one that was completely satisfactory. However this one was better than the RCA RP2450 and Panasonic MP70 I tried in terms of sound. However, in order to get that sound, I had to get just the right headphones. The ones that came with it, like many players, are worthless. Sometimes the bass boosting can sound distorted, but the headphones I bought have more than enough bass for my liking. The MP3 capabilities are good, and it doesn't take too long for it to load an MP3 disc up. The battery life is also good, I have had it for a few weeks and haven't had to change the batteries. It's not the best one out there, but for what I want, which is to occassionally listen to it on the bus or while reading on the bed, it is more than sufficient.
Rating: 
Summary: Huge Disapointment
Review: I upgraded to this model as a replacement for my Sony Psyc that stopped working 3 weeks after I bought it. My primary use is for listening to standard CDs and CDRs but I thought it would be nice to have MP3 capability. When I got this out of the blister pack and put in my first CD is was hugely disappointed with the sound quality. Compared to the Sony Discmans I have had before (and even the recent Sony Psyc) the sound was very noticeably inferior. The tonality was extremely flat sounding. Additionally I listened to a number of different CDs (if you are curious they were: Radiohead "Kid A", Radiohead "OK Computer", Various Artists "Chicago: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack", Fugu "Fugu" and The Who "Sings My Generation (Remastered)") and I noticed that the bass would start distorting if I used the bass boost feature on any volume level more than 50 percent. Also, if you have the volume almost all of the way up there is no noticeable difference when using the two bass boost presets - it just seems to blast more midrange.
I tried better headphones and it did improve the sound but not to the degree that it should have.
In terms of ergonomics, I think that it is insane design to put the volume button right next to the open and close button. You have to look every time you do adjust volume, not something you really want to do.
I am sorry that this review is not going to address the MP3 features (although I will say that the Atrac3 proprietary system seems like a non-starter - but this unit can play standard MP3s which is a good thing.) I took this back to the store for a refund the very next day and I am going to do some more research on finding a better sounding portable.
Bottom line: If you don't mind sacrificing sound quality on your standard CDs so that you can hear MP3s this might be for you. If you do care about sound and are on a budget and MP3s are not essential, look elsewhere (again the Sony Psyc sounded better and is $20 cheaper.) Update: I just bought a Panasonic SL-MP70 and am really happy - great full sound (even on MP3 files) with great lows and highs and clear seperation (even on the supplied "cheapo" headphones it sounds pretty good.) I paid $10 less than I did for the Sony and have what I want. I had made the mistake of buying the D-NE510 based largely on the Sony name and I think Sony knows other people will do the same so they aren't as concerened with quality as they should be.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I wanted...
Review: I wanna address the sound quality of MP3 files first off. It isn't the player itself that affects the sound, it's the file. So unless you don't know how to make a GOOD MP3 file of course it's going to sound bad.
Second, this IS AN MP3 player. If you have a program like Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum you can make an MP3 CD that is playable on your computer and/or portable MP3 Player or a DVD player that supports MP3 CD's. I'm not too worried about what it looks like or if it's a good size. It's what's on the inside that counts and this product does a fairly good job, and at that price I'm happy about it. I'm not sure about the other MP3 players but this one is really nice. So all in all, learn how to make a GOOD MP3 file and look over your CD burning program to see if they make MP3 CD's and try it out. You won't know if it'll work unless you try it out first.
Rating:
Summary: ...was that noise there before?
Review: I was excited at finding this cd/mp3 player, at the price it is. It's very cute, and I love the jog dial fro easy song access. I do have quite a few gripes, though. First off, I could only fit 380 songs on my mp3 cd (not that I'm really complaining about this), but the cd took literally 3 hours to burn. Why, I have no clue. Many mp3s won't play off the disk now, which is disappointing. In the end, the disk only plays 270 songs. The sound quality is horrible, too. There's an odd, rather metallic clicking noise in the background with the bass, now. It's really irritating, and I recognize it from other cheap mp3 players I've owned before. I'm considering returning it and spending more on a better mp3/cd player. I'm really disappointed with this product, I mistrusted the Sony label, evidently.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST CD/MP3 CD PLAYER'S OUT THERE!!!
Review: I was looking for a cheap CD player with good quality, and this is it. I can store almost 25 HOURS of music on one CD, or up to 490 songs. It is AWESOME!!! I am in the school band, so I travel a lot, and I bring my CD player and a lot of CD's with me on the bus.. It can be a hassle changing all of my CD's all of the time, but not with the Atrac 3 plus. I put 65 of my favorite songs on one CD, and it fits FIVE HOURS of music, more than an MP3 CD can fit. The quality of music is also great. The headphones it came with are very good, but not excellent. (What do you expect?). The program it came with to put all of the songs on one CD is very simple to use, you just select which songs you want to put on the CD, and it burns them. When I burned my CD, which had 5 hours of music on it, it was done in ten minutes. This CD player also looks good and is rather small. Believe me: looks ARE important. You don't want to walk around with some ugly CD player, do ya? It is also small and lightweight, and very portable. Another cool feature is, when you are listening to a CD, you can see through the CD player in a small, clear space. For about 30 seconds, you see the CD spinning around, but then it stops spinning. I think that it takes all of the data it needs off the CD and plays it from a type of hard drive. This prevents skipping (There is none at all!). Another cool thing: I love to download music on Kazaa. If you do too, then you know that sometimes the songs get cut off when you put them on the normal CD's. For example, I downloaded Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith, and it got cut off 30 seconds into the song. But when I put it on my Atrac CD player, it played the entire song! This made me very happy. It did this with every other song I had downloaded and had gotten cut off. This is VERy COOL!!!This CD player is Well worth your money, and I reccommend it to anyone who is looking for a good, quality CD player for cheap. AWESOME!!! OVERALL SCORE:
Quality of Sound: 9 Ease of Use: 9.5
Program Ease of Use: 9.7
Looks: 9.4
Rating:
Summary: Response
Review: In response to another review, I used an old MP3 CD from my other MP3 CD player and it worked. I created that CD with Roxio and didn't need to change the files using the software that came with this product. So far I have had no trouble with it and it has much better skip protection then my old MP3 player. Overall I would say it gives you all you need in an MP3/CD player.
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