Sony NWA806FW 4GB Video WALKMAN - White
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £69.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First
(5 out of 5)Perfect alternative to the iPod - Finally!
Frankly, I'm amazed that the Sony NWA800 series have not managed to creep up the bestsellers list to rival the iPod. It took a lot of surfing the net to find this mp3 player, but I'm now glad that I did. It not only looks fantastic (as good as, if not better than, the iPod nanos) but sounds fantastic. The earphones provided have pretty good sound quality although it takes a while to figure out how to get them into your ears. The quality of the visuals is also pretty impressive; the player came with the trailer for spiderman 3 and it was remarkably clear, though albeit a bit small to watch anything longer than a few minutes on.
For me, the main reason to get a Sony mp3 player was because they have the best battery life on the market and when they say 30 hours, they mean it. Sadly, they chose not to give this the massive 72 hour playback that some of their other players have, but I guess that's simply because this player has a powerful screen that the others didn't have.
The only quibble that some people may have with using Sony is the program used to transfer files, Sonicstage. Personally, I've never had any trouble with it even though it is occassionally a bit slow, but I have heard that others have had problems with it.
Pros:
Battery life
Looks good
Good sound
Can cram about 1000 tracks in 2gbs - not bad
Nowhere near as common as the iPod
Cons:
Sonicstage
Amazon not the cheapest (in this case)
Overall, if you have no problem with Sonicstage, this player is probably one of the best on the market and definately worth considering.
(5 out of 5)iPod Nano killer!
I feel moved to write this after reading the other reviews here and on AV forums. Get this straight from the off - the 808 is a great product.
I have owned a NW-HD3 a NW-A3000 and so too has my wife. We are far from satisfied with Sony of late (they seem to have general issues with quality control) and aren't fans but there are several things about the Sony that keeps us coming back:
1) Battery life absolutely kills iPods. Sony batteries last and last
2) Sound quality on the Sony units is far better than on the Apple and most 3rd party offerings
3) Sony units are far sturdier than their more popular counterparts
The 808 has all the features of the earlier NW-A series players. It improves over it's A1200/3000 counterparts on a number of levels:
A) Sound quality is improved over previous models
B) The supplied headphones are superior to the old ones
C) The unit is far faster than the old hard-disc based NW-A and NW-HD players and is quicker than an iPod nano of the same size
D) Sleek and light without sacrificing sturdiness
E) The screen is far superior, being easily viewable in almost any lighting conditions
F) (and this is the obvious one) It plays video and pictures
Why have an MP3 player that plays pics/vids anyway?! I never quite understood that one...
Last, but certainly not least, a word about the software. Listen carefully.
SONICSTAGE IS NOT RUBBISH (anymore)!
It's about time that the iTunes generation realised that other software packages aren't always inferior - SonicStage 4x can do everything iTunes can and in most cases it can do it quicker. I've been a SonicStage user from the early days of NetMD and SonicStage 1.5 and I more than most understand how clunky and unhelpful it could be. Sony have learned a few lessons along the way and produced a reasonably good music management, ripping and burning solution with an online store integration. Want to see a truly horrible offering? Try Sony's Connect software - now THAT's dire!
Be not afraid of SonicStage - it's friendlier than the public will lead you to believe. While it is true that it isn't perfect (neither is iTunes, BTW) it does it's job well and is a good partner for an MP3 player that is superior to the equivalent iPod model.
In summary, this Sony player is the best yet from the Japanese giant and a viable alternative to the trend-setting Apple icon - here's hoping for a 16GB model soon!
(1 out of 5)Great hardware, apalling software
This is a superb little piece of kit in every respect. The sound is superb (I know because it came pre-loaded with 3 free songs). However, I have not once been able to listen to my own music on it. But why, you ask?Well, the problem is the SonicStage 4.3 software that comes with it.
This is the software you need to load tracks onto your player from your PC. I am pulling my hair out trying to install it on my Windows PC with XP Home Edition SP2. It WILL NOT INSTALL, no matter what I do and hence the whole package has been a waste of money.
I've scoured Sony user forums on the internet and, in case you think this is an isloated case, I've discovered that many other people around the world are having exactly the same problem.
The error message I get is "Installation process for SonicStage 4.3 has been terminated (2051, 20697)". Try copying and pasting this into Google and you will see that it is common place. I reccommend you don't run the risk with this product - buy an iPod or somethinng but NOT a Sony that includes SonicStage 4.3.
Please sort it out SONY!!
**UPDATE: I have managed to get SonicStage on my PC. To do this, I had to reformat my hard disk and re-install Windows, including all of the relevant updates and service packs. It now works fine but be warned that there may be a few problems.
(5 out of 5)superb sound
excellent little mp3 media player....sonic works ok with my mp3s and yes it is clunky but you get used to it....headphones are best ive had on a mp3 and ive had a few!!!!
battery superb and sound options vast.
video and photo great and you can see it in daylight.
bit pricey but you get what you pay for.
(5 out of 5)Sony have finally done it!
It took them a while, but Sony have finally produced a genuine iPod-beater.
This is a fantastic device:
-Build quality is top notch
-Quick, fuss-free interface
-Much bigger (and better quality) screen than the Nano, enabling excellent quality video playback
-Amazing sound-quality, no doubt helped by the inclusion of some excellent earphones (it would be nice if other manufactures took a cue from Sony and stopped bundling rubbish with their MP3 players)
-Incredible battery life
As is always mentioned, SonicStage could do with some improving (or they should simply stop forcing people to use it altogether), but the Image Converter software makes it surprisingly easy to convert videos. I am using a Vaio and had similar problems to others initially installing it, but this was resolved by downloading all the updates on Vaio Update.