Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony D-NE710 ATRAC3/MP3 CD Walkman Portable Disc Player

I picked up this CD player after my beloved iRiver Slim-350x died on me. I loved that CD player, you can go read my review and see for yourself. But after much deliberation, I decided not to buy another iRiver, because a lot of people have complained about the life of their disc players. So I went ahead and got this disc player, and I am quite happy with it.

The player sounds nice, and you have some limited control over bass, but not treble. That is one thing that irks me about the majority of portable CD players, is that they have such limited sound control. But it's not a problem here, because this player sounds great. I also like the menu structure, and the jog dial makes it easy to get around. I wish the display was backlit, and I tried to cure that by purchasing Sony's MD/CD remote from AudiCubes.com. With my great luck I learned that the remote does not work with this disc player, so I don't have any way of reading the display in the dark. The display is very clear and shows all the info you need from the id3 tag. The skip protection works great, you actually have to try and make it skip. If Sony puts "G-Protection" on something, you would need to put it through a chocolate milk commercial before it will skip. Also the disc player is cool looking, and not too bulky. My favorite feature is the battery life. 95 hours if you are playing MP3's, and I believe it. It takes me a week of use before the power meter goes down. The player also supports rechargeable batteries, which is great it you have an ac adapter, or battery recharger.

My only real complaints are the lack of a backlight, limited sound control, and also the 1-2 second delay between switching songs/directories. Those complaints are all very minor for this great sounding and looking disc player. At its price tag, you won't find a better deal. Now the real question is whether or not I like the better than my iRiver. I would have to say they are nearly equal, but the iRiver just has so many features, it's hard not life that one a little better. Non-the-less, I am very happy with the player I have (the Sony, incase you weren't following).

My first mp3 CD player, and I'm quite happy with it. Have never tried the 'atrac' software, but I don't need to - machine plays all my various mp3 backup discs from even years ago with no problem. Sure beats burning every download to .wav file!

I bought this portable mp3/CD player after doing alot of research about them. I must say I was disappointed in this product after having read all of the great reviews.

Pros
- Plays mp3 CDs, each CD will hold probably over 100 decent quality songs
- Easy to use
- Displays track title
- Lightweight

Cons
- Sony boasts that the product can hold up to 400 songs on one mp3 CD. While this is true, songs must be reduced to extremely poor quality. If you want mp3s at about 128 kbps, you can fit probably close to 150 songs. If you want them to be CD quality (320 kbps), you can fit about 50-60 songs.
- No bass at high volume levels. This player has 30 different volume levels, and if the volume is raised past the 24th or 25th level, virtually all bass is lost even when the bass is at its maximum setting. I've had this same problem with my Sony Mini-Disc player and was disappointed that Sony has not improved in this area. I have a 6 year old Aiwa portable CD player that's just about dead, but the bass is so clear and rich even at high volume. If you like to listen to your music loud and with alot of bass, I definitely would not recommend this player.
- Sometimes the top of the player will open up in the middle of a CD for no reason at all.
- When played at high volumes, there are often times pops and crackles every few seconds in each track. I have played the same CDs at higher volumes in my other portable CD player and my regular home CD player and this does not occur.

For a fairly expensive portable CD player I would have expected more. If you listen to softer, less loud music you will probably really like this player. However, the poor bass makes this an undesireable player for loud listeners.

I absolutely LOVE this player! I can't say enough good things about it!

My review, though, is primarily about the software. If you are under the impression that you will be able to install the software and easily put "490 songs on 1 CD" without a level of frustration that is off the charts, think again! Sony's SonicStage software is the WORST software program I've EVER dealt with! Knowing that my walkman was arriving in the mail, and wanting to be ready for it with an ATRAC3 disc, I downloaded the latest version (version 4). A really big headache and a lost night of sleep is the best way to describe it nicely. I understand through the internet grapevine that Sony is discontinuing SonicStage in favor of a different program. Soon, Sony! SOON!!!

You'll love the sound, performance, sleek look, and G-protection of this machine. And, when Sony's software department gets its act together, you can look forward to actually making the ATRAC CDs that we're told we can make now.

If anyone has gotten their software to work, please email me! Thanks!

Great product! i just recently bought this because my old discman broke, and it works great. I've actually gotten more expensive dismen in the past, but this one seems to function better than all of them. Great job, sony!