Ipod Mini
Ipod 4G
Ipod Nano
Ipod Photo
Creative Zen Xtra
Creative Zen Micro
Creative Zen N200
Creative Zen NanoPlus
Iriver H320
Iriver H10
JetAudio iAudio U2
Toshiba Gigabeat
Now, as you can see, I've had a wide range of players from a wide range of companies. For the past few months...I've been using the JetAudio iAudio U2 and it's been phenomenal. The sound quality cannot be matched...that's just all there is to it. Nothing really even comes close...until now. But...and there is always a but...the iAudio just couldn't satisfy me when it comes to space on the drive. I had the 1GB player (there was a 2GB as well)...and that's fine and dandy but that's not enough space for me (I've got over 70 gbs of music). With the 1GB player I could put 10-15 albums on there at a time. Sure, that's not too bad, but I liked using the Ipod 4G and the Iriver H320 in my car as well. I've got an auxilery line going from the back of my car stereo to a mounting spot for an MP3 player. The iAudio just wasn't cutting it in that respect.
So I began the search for a bigger player, >4GB. I went and tried out the Nano...bye bye...shitty sound quality, per the usual for the Ipod line. And back I went to the iAudio. I was considering going to the iAudio X5 which is a 20gb player but it's also slightly bigger than a 20gb Ipod, so that is pretty much out of the question. I don't want to have to keep my iAudio U2 around for gym use if I get a Jukebox player so I began doing a little research online since I had tried out virtually every player that you could buy IN a store. I came across the beauty I have in front of me right now.
Presenting, the Sony Network Walkman NW-HD5 with 20gb of storage space at a nice little price of $255 from Amazon.com right now.
(I don't feel like taking pics tonight so I'm putting up the stock photo).
This is the one I got...the black version. There are two other colors: silver and red. Supposedly there have been button cracking issues with the two other colors because they have clear buttons. Regardless, the cracks are right in the four corners around the "play" button and they are so damn small I can't even see where they WOULD crack. So I stuck with black as it was my first choice anyway.
As you can see, it's much smaller (and thinner) than a 4G Ipod...which is outstanding. Mine is also in English...lol.
Now...as you can see, it's a damn fine looking player. I know, I know...people don't like the interface already because of the buttons. Well Sony has a great idea...it's called SEARCHING. Press a button and a search "keyboard" comes up and you just press the letter you want to skip to and voila, you're there. No wheel spinning or touch stripping (sounds fun though). It's really quite simple, and really quite useful.
Another hellova nice feature on the player...a nice and smooth 40 hours of play on a single charge (HOLY CRAP!).
Also...for the past couple years, Sony has been pimping the hell out of their ATRAC format. While I didn't agree with it at the time...I do now. This player will allow you to play your MP3s on it...no problem (same with WMAs)...but it really shines when you convert them to ATRAC. Now...for some reason, when you just put an MP3 on the player, Sony limits what you can do with the sound equalizer. I mean you can adjust the bass and trebel but not really anything outside of that when it comes to fine tuning your listening experience. Again, the iAudio is ridiculous at that. But...if you convert your MP3s to the ATRAC format (at 132kbps) you will get equal sound quality to that of a 256kbps MP3 file. So, imagine what that does to the disk space...for example...I had one CD in MP3 format that was 77mb. In ATRAC it was 48...and it sounded exactly the same without any sound enhancements. Once I transferred a few Albums in both format and did some listening tests, I am convinced that ATRAC is a good thing. The downside is that you have to take about twice as long to transfer the songs over to the player because it has to go through the conversion process at the same time. It is a price I'm willing to pay though due to the fact that I am getting better sound quality and a smaller footprint. Also, for some reason, you get 10 more hours of battery life when you use the ATRAC format. Wonder why that is?
One of the main complaints I see all over the web is the SonicStage software that comes with the player. You are required to use it to transfer music to it...which sucks, but it works. I have yet to have any problems whatsoever with the software. I have a feeling it's because people are still using the 3.0 or 3.1 software because I went right to the Sony site to get the newest which is 3.2. I haven't had any problems and it's just as intuitive as ITunes if you ask me...and people go crazy for that piece of spyware.
So...in conclusion...the Sony guys have finally come out with a player that will satisfy me. Sure...I'm lacking some of the other features I so highly coveted (FM tuner for one)...but when a player gets the MP3 thing correct...I'm willing to sacrafice a little bit. This player sounds GREAT (although still not up to the iAudio standards) and it's in an extremely small package for a 20gb player. Seriously you have got to see it in action because you cannot believe how small it is. Not exactly Nano small, but you get the point.
Hopefully I'm done with these Mp3 threads for a while...although I highly doubt it with Christmas coming up and all of the companies coming out with their new players.
