Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony NWA806FP 4GB Video WALKMAN - Pink

Just bought the Sony NW A806, after much deliberation as my previous experience with Sony products has been that while the quality is excellent, they always have some quirk to them. This is different, the build quality is only ok and it has a quirk to it. Firstly the build quality, it feels very light and plasticky, though the buttons themselves are fine. The quirk is with the SonicStage software - the only response to this software is 'why, oh why'. Why would a reputable company bundle something that is so atrociously bad at doing something so simple - transferring files from one device to another? I have to say my instinct was right and I will not be looking to buy any Sony products in the near (or distant) future.

I waited six weeks for this player to be delivered and then was really disappointed not with it( I haven't been able to get it working) but the software supplied. SonicStage 4.3 is supposed to be compatible with Vista, but one look at the forums on the net suggests otherwise. I spent a complete afternoon, at my own expense, reporting the problem to Sony Support. Advice was of the type "delete your temp. files and then try loading the program". After more of the same and another two days for "support" to reply to my email answering their latest question, I gave up, repackaged the player and sent it back. I don't need the hassle of crap software or the even poorer response by Sony Support

This is a very classy mp3 player, and looks great in black. The display is very clear and the control buttons are very solid and make a welcome change for people who struggle with the ipod wheel. But the whole thing is let down by the reliance on SonicStage . This unit will play WMA, but you don't have drag and drop...you have to go via the worst piece of software ever! So, don't buy this, as Sony has just seen the light and is about to release a new model which overcomes the limitations of this player (I can't review it here - that breaks the rules).

The Good -
1. Ligthweight
2. Long Battery
3. Good Controls
4. Quality sound
5. Shorter charging duration

The Bad -
1. Not an "MP3" player, beware! This is an Atrac player. You will need to convert all your mp3 to Atrac so you can use it in your walkman. This has certain fallbacks : a) Software (sonicstage)dependent because you need the conversion, no drag and drop from explorer just like a simple USB stick. b) Longer uploading time (from your files to your walkman) c) If you have lots and lots of Mp3, the conversion could be a time consuming effort.

2. Expensive. If 20 hrs battery life is ok for you, other more flexible 'real' mp3 players are recommended (eg. samsung, etc..)

3. Sonicstage program is like a plain vanilla icecream. Creative's jukebox software is better, albeit their mp3 players are the worse.

I was attracted to this device by its smart design; the fact it was smaller than an iPod Nano, its longer battery life and that it is supposedly better in several aspects. Big Mistake.

The SonicStage 4.3 software that came supplied on a disk would not install onto my PC. I tried downloading the program from the internet instead but still experienced considerable difficulties and the process just froze or I got error messages. Eventually I somehow managed to get the software installed onto my PC (although I'm not sure how).

Having installed the software, I found that I could not get the device to connect with the program. Although Windows recognised the music player as a mass data storage device, nothing I did could get it to connect with Sony's own program. I also tried an earlier version of SonicStage in case there was an issue with the latest version, but this did not solve the problem.

The troubleshooting guide on Sony's website offered no useful advice whatsoever.

I tried repeating the whole process again on a different computer but had exactly the same experience. Having given up and resigned myself to the fact that this device was not going to work and I would have to return it, I found that Sony's SonicStage software had corrupted some files on both the PCs I had tried it on and I had to completely rebuild the entire contents of both of them from saved back ups.

I rated this item with one star only because there is no option to give it zero stars; a music player that you can't put any music on and which trashes your PC doesn't deserve any at all.
I can only advise avoiding this item and looking for an alternative. I will not risk purchasing any Sony music players again.