Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Digital Music Player (NW-MS9)

I've been wanting to purchase a portable MP3 player for quite some time now, and I finally bit the bullet and got the Sony NW-MS9. I think it's a really great little player, though I have some issues with the "digital rights management" (DRM) implementation. I'll separate this review into two portions - the player and the software...

The player (plusses)
* Sound quality is great! Though I have no other players to compare it to.
* Comes with a trendy keychain attachment, not a carry strap.
* Small, compact, fits in that pocket-within-a-pocket in your jeans!
* Feels sturdy (not like a toy) for it's size and weight (1.5" x 3.25" x 0.75", 2.5oz without keychain)
* It has a blue backlit (can be turned off) LCD screen with different display modes. (the equalizer is tres-cool!)
* It does have a two level bass booster (which is more than sufficient).
* It can be used as a portable yet small hard drive.

The player (neutrals)
* It uses Sony's ATRAC3 compression - which is similar to that of an MD recorded in LP2. In my opinion, it's almost indistinguishable from CD, especially under the conditions I use it in. (bike rides)
* It can only utilize OMG (ATRAC3) files recorded at 66, 105 and 132kbps. So the software provided (OpenMG) converts audio files into a format that can be used by the player. Note that the bitrates give you ~131min, ~82 and ~65 minutes respectively on the provided 64MB card.
* Would be nice if it came with some kind of leather/vinyl carrying sleeve.

The player (minuses)
* The "gum stick" battery needs to be charged externally, though if you have an MD player that uses the same battery, it's not an issue. However, when connected to a PC via USB, the player can be accessed, and files can be read/written to it (including playing music from it through the PC)
* It only works with MagicGate memory cards, which are white, cost more (+~$10 over normal) and hard to find. It would've been nice if it came with the 128MB card to start with.

The software (plusses)
* Good music recorder (ATRAC3 files, supports high speed ripping)
* Very simple to use interface.
* Imports MP3 songs by adding it to it's internal database; does not convert them on the spot, only when needed.

The software (neutral)
* Songs can be checked out to up to three different devices (though they can be checked back in at any time).
* MP3 files need to be "optimized" into ATRAC3 - which adds to the conversion and download time (normal download times are ~4-5sec on my PC), unless you've done that before (cached)
* No special "visualizations" like WIMP/WINAMP/etc. Just a simple interface with a simple spectrum analyzer/wave displayer.
* To backup your music, you need an internet connection. I haven't tested this function yet (the internet backup isn't available on OpenMG v2.0)

The software (minuses)
* ATRAC3 (.OMG) files cannot be transferred from one PC to the other due to the DRM requirements. In fact, I tried moving a file, and I couldn't use it anymore.
* I think I know what the implications of this are when your PC gets nuked by say a virus, though I won't post speculation until I try the music backup function.
* Doesn't link to the media hotkeys (next/prev/stop) like WIMP.
* The software has a horrid screen refresh rate, even on a P3-850.
* The software doesn't support "NSSM" (Non stop mega mix, like some of the new trance/ayumix CDs I have) playback style (there's a noticable pause between files being loaded) on music files, though it does support it on CD Audio (unlike WIMP). I haven't tried this on the player though.

So there you have it, the biggest minus was because of the Digital Rights Management thingie, which is why it gets a 4, but it's a great little portable music player. I'll just have to keep my entire collection in MP3 format, not their proprietary OMG format =)

Once again, Sony delivers marvelous hardware with marginal software (see also their line of digital cameras that lacks Windows 2000 support). This player, the physical unit itself, is excellent: conveniently small, well-styled and lightweight, with a nice display for a small device. The sound quality is excellent (good bass!). For the price, a 128meg memory stick would have been nice. I haven't personally purchased a second memory stick yet, but potential buyers should be aware that they can be a bit expensive and hard to find (see the other reviews). Overall, however, I like the hardware and have no serious complaints.

The software is another matter entirely. I expected that it would be fairly straightforward to add and remove songs with this device: I assumed that when the player was attached with a USB cable, Windows would simply recognize it as an extra drive, with normal copy/delete functionality. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The only way Sony allows the user to interact with the player is through a software package called OpenMG Jukebox. This Jukebox not only plays songs and maintains playlists, but it also "optimizes" songs in different music formats for use on the player. "Optimize" is a misnomer here, as it implies that the operation is an optional way to improve performance (maximize storage, increase sound quality, etc), whereas in reality ONLY music "optimized" to Sony's proprietary format works on the player.

Since the vast majority of users maintain their digital music collections in mp3 format, this creates quite a dilemma. Either the user 1) stays with mp3 and converts songs "on the fly" to omg, Sony's format, as he puts them on the player (this greatly increases the time needed to copy songs to the player) or the user 2) maintains two copies of all his songs, one in mp3 and one in omg (this obviously consumes drive space rather quickly) or the user 3) converts all his music to omg, and is forced to use OpenMG (rather than the mp3 player of his choice) to listen to it. None of these options is particularly appealing.

I am torn on the "final verdict" for this product. The hardware easily deserves five stars. As for the software, I sympathize with Sony's desire to fight music piracy (though I think their motives are probably more financial than moral). However, I believe that the protections put in place through the use of their proprietary format do far more to mar an otherwise excellent piece of hardware than they do to prevent piracy. Anyone determined to pirate music can still do so, at the cost of a little extra disk space or a few more minutes, and those users who, for instance, only have mp3's ripped from their own cd's (which does not constitute piracy) are still forced to accept the inefficiencies inherent in any proprietary format. In the end, Sony's software only succeeds in causing music pirates a minor inconvenience, at the cost of giving all their users headaches. So sadly, I must give this well-designed product a rating far lower than it deserves.

I bought this unit mainly because of it's size. When I got it home I found that I have to use Sony's software to use the portable unit, which converts it to ther format (not mp3 like the box states) but it would not "optimize" my mp3's therefore I couldn't use it as I wished. Oh I could play my mp3s on their jukebox, but that's not the reason I bought it, I bought it so I could take my mp3s with me. I went to their website to get help on importing and the instructions I read talked about functions that my software didn't even have. Upon calling them on the phone (which was surprisingly quick and efficient) I found that I could basically only use mp3s I downloaded from EMD (Electronic Music Distribution) which I have a good idea is affiliated with Sony. I really don't care for super-corporations telling me which music I can and can't listen to especially when I give them 300 of my dollars. Now I have to go back and battle with the store to get my money back. They should clearly state on the box "Will only play MP3s that we say you can play"

Sony, the greedy bastards that brought you Betamax, are back at it again with this digital music player. IT IS NOT AN MP3 PLAYER. It converts all mp3 files into a proprietary code that makes using the files for anything other than this player impossible. Unless you want to have two versions of every song on your hard drive, one for Sony and one for everything else, do yourself a favor and buy a real mp3 device.

All you need to know about this device is that its manufacturer, Sony, is a music publisher.

So they created this device to protect themselves and lock us out of having unfettered access to OUR music that we purchased in CD form.

Their software and memory stick technology use the term "open" to describe the accessibility of your music, but it's really closed, or at least limited.

It works like this: you copy your CDs onto your harddrive. Then, you "check out" songs from the harddrive to your memory stick, much like you check a book out of a library. At that point you can only listen to the song from the stick, or your CD. It will be unavailable on your harddrive until you check it back in -- just like at the library. There are also limits to the number of times/or amount of time you can "check out" music (I can't remember which -- that's when I gave up and returned the thing.)