Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Walkman NWZ-B135R 2GB Drag & Drop MP3 Player - Red

This is a very solid player that meets my needs well. I wanted an MP3 player for exercise - I do a lot of training in some pretty bad weather over long distances. So I needed something that was durable, flexible and not too expensive so it wasn't the end of the world if it broke.

The player is a nice size and slips easily into a pocket. It starts quickly and has intuitive, well positioned controls. You can send playlists to the player from your computer which is a fantastic feature. It allows me to have a great variety of content on the player without having to worry about skipping past talk tracks (for example) if i'm not in the mood for them.

The shuffle feature is quirky but works. The previous reviewer is quite right to a point. If you want a new shuffle, you will need to stop play and then play otherwise your player wil resume from where you left off playing last with exactly the same track order. A slightly annoying quirk.

The screen is useful and clear to me, however I can see it would be a problem to people with less than perfect eye sight. Still it provides all necessary information.

Battery life is the best I have seen for a gym player like this at 16 hours. Not as good as dedicated mp3/mp4 players but I would not recommend taking those sort of players out exercising with you - they will get battered and they will get wet & muddy which they will not take kindly to. If you're a more moderate exerciser than me you may well be fine going this more expensive route. Personally if i'm running through streams I don't like the idea of having a hundred odd quids worth of player in my pocket.

The sound of the player is very good and you can adjust sound settings if you are so inclined. I haven't used the provided headphones myself, I have sport specific ones that I use. I imagine they are as poor as most headphones that are provided with players.

It feels solid, works without any kinks and I do not feel worried when it gets wet, sat on or jangled around in my bag. It looks nice if that is important to you! The menu system is very clear and you can browse your music collection either via folders or via your ID3 tags (album, genre etc). The buttons are well laid out and it is an easy task to adjust volume, skip tracks etc when on the move.

A really good product then, slightly let down by a quirky shuffle function and small screen. This is more than compensated for by the strong battery life, good sound performance, playlist functionality and portability.

Incidentally, while the previous review was correct about the shuffle the same is not true of criticism of the volume. The sound goes plenty loud enough for me - I use it out on busy roads and have not had it on the top volume or even near to that. Volume on all mp3 players is limited by law - if you need to crank it up that high you should think carefully about how you're affecting (or have previously affected) your hearing. If your hearing is fine then look at the headphones you are using.

LOVE IT!! Went for the Red version to be a bit different and its gorgeous- looks sleek and will slip into any pocket unnoticed. I'm an MP3 'virgin', the last music gadget I had was a cassette walkman so I hadn't a clue what I was looking for. After a lot of reading I went for this one- mainly because of the 'easy to use' reviews- well, it is, even for a technophobe like me. The only problem I had was when I dragged & dropped my playlists over from the PC- they disappeared? The music was on the MP3 but re-arranged into albums? I had to go back and re-arrange the folders within the MP3 using the PC- but I'm nearly certain thats a problem I had, not the MP3! All in all, the sound is great, it looks great, it was cheaper when I got it then it is now (4 days later!)but still a great gadget for the price!
NOTE- The headphones aren't the most comfortable, but thats a minor issue?

This is a great little item ,its very easy to use and delivers excellent sound quality for the price. The added LCD panel makes it quick and easy to scroll through albums,artists and songs.

Sony NWZ-B135R 2GB Drag & Drop MP3 Player in Red

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to carry around a sizable selection of your favourite music, the Sony NWZ-B35R could be the answer.
If you are an APPLE MAC computer user you can still use this unit despite the fact that it states it is a Windows system unit. See below for HOW TO USE THIS UNIT WITH AN APPLE MAC COMPUTER.

The Drag and Drop capability allied to the USB connectivity (On a non Windows Mac OSX and over computer can be done) makes this a convenient unit to take on holiday or in a situation where it's loss is not critical! i.e you can replace it cheaply enough if it becomes lost or damaged. It also makes a good entry level MP3 player for non-computer users.

The ease of operation of controls is very good, with selection of songs by genre, style etc like on many other MP3 players. THe sound reproduction is very good too, with an extra bass boost effect you can select, like on the Mini Disc Walkman. I purchased this for a non-computer user who is able to use it easily and is impressed with the sound quality. Small CD player Sennheiser PX100 headphones work well with the unit and it gives a very good sound through these.

HOW TO USE THIS UNIT ON AN APPLE MAC COMPUTER
As a MAC user, you can still get tracks on to the unit but it is more tricky than with a Windows computer. Modern MACs can use Windows software so you should find this solves the problem.

The Walkman won't show up as a USB device on a MAC running OS9.2 for instance and if you are using Itunes, it won't recognise MP4 format files.

One solution is to have the required music tracks in itunes on a MAC Powerbook running OS9.2 and drag the tracks from your playlist to a folder on a USB stick, renaming the tracks as required (as they will lose their id name when dragged). These tracks will then be in MP3 format.

Then take the memory stick to a later OS MAC, say one running OSX 10.3.9 and then load the folder of MP3 tracks from the USB stick on to the desktop of that machine. Then eject your USB memory stick.

Next, insert the USB Walkman and open its USB device icon and you will find the folder with some sample MP3 tracks in, now just open your imported folder and drag your imported tracks into this folder on the Walkman. Now eject the USB Walkman and it should be able to play the tracks ok.

This may be a long winded way of importing tracks, but it does the job.

So despite the interface issues which you can overcome, it is great value, great sound and easy to use especially if you don't want to lose or damage your Ipod!

This is an easy to use nice quality unit - BUT I'm returning it.

When you choose Shuffle, the player plays a random list of songs - so far so good. When you turn it on the following day, it plays exactly the same "random" list of songs again. And again the following day. So in my opinion shuffle does not work.

I complained to Sony who said :
"Sony United Kingdom Limited does endeavour to meet customer expectations. However, on some occasions it is possible that a product may not meet a customer's specific requirements. Although we acknowledge that this is frustrating for you, this is a factor that is beyond the control of Sony United Kingdom Ltd as the product is performing as it is designed to."

Other minor quibbles are the maximum volume is a little low (and yes, I had turned off the "protection" feature) and the headphones fall out of my ears.