What do you think of Sony's NWE003FB MP3 Walkman 1GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner?

I own the predecessor , the NW-A600. Before that I owned the Ipod Mini 4Gig, the 1st gen without the updated battery.

IPB Image

Its very similiar in design and features, most likely the one your buying is a facelift.

The product itself is very solid. Very good. Its sound quality was better than my friend's nano and/or my last ipod I owned. FM tuner works as advertised, although you have to have in a certain position sometimes to get clearer sound. Nothing of concern. Very slim too and it fits in your pocket next to your keys. So it does exactly what it advertised to do. I also like the fact that you can setup your own playlists, just like how the ipod firmwares allows it.

For once I was happy it had good battery life too. It says around 50 hours, never really recorded how much but playing on and off would get me about a couple days worth. My old mini ipod ran for about 5-6 hours and it really pissed me off how going to school fully-charged and by the end of the afternoon had no power. If you want a player that will run for a whole day's worth of work, whether it be business, school or exercise, this is it.

Now the cons.

When I first bought the product, it had HORRIBLE SOFTWARE. I did research before buying and I figured how bad could it be? It was bad enough that it almost made me return this mp3 player. The mp3 player is good, but the CONNECT software kept crashing, lagging, and erasing my playlists. Uploading the song was a chore, it would be graceful just to upload a song without an error popping up. Do some research around the net regarding the sony CONNECT software and you'll find disgrunted owners. This is where apple had the upper hand; the Itunes wasnt great but it made simple tasks just the way you want them done.

Now the CONNECT software has been updated many times so its not as bad as it used to be. In fact, it doesnt lag that much or crash as much. But its still a little shaky at times. You can buy it now with confidence knowing the problems I had were at least addressed in some way.

The player doesnt have images or movies and neat visuals. Its very bareboned for what you want. It also doesnt have the same aftermarket as Ipod and Apple, not alot of accessories and whatnot. I said earlier that the sound quality was better and it is, its just that its not as bass pumping and loud as the ipod nano. Of course, the nano's sound was very rough and had traces of static while the sony player I own was more crisp and clear. The difference is very noticible.

All in all its a safe buy if your a casual user. If your no frills-type and only want to listen to music and it to work all day, then this is for you.

soompi forums: What do you think of Sony's NWE003FB MP3 Walkman 1GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner? - soompi forums