Highly recommended MP3 player!

As this was my very first MP3 player, I did considerable research before making my selection. I wanted something reasonably-priced and easy to use, that looks and sounds good, and is suitable for use in the gym. The Sony NW-S705 (2gb) fits the bill on all accounts.

Although it's now one of Sony's older models, I noticed it seemed to be holding its price in the market. However, I shopped around and managed to get a good deal on E-bay.

I was a bit wary of Sonic Stage, as I had read lots of negative comments, but luckily it all went very smoothly. I didn't have anything to compare it to, but found the instructions straightforward, and put on about 90 CD's with no problem. This took me about 4 hours, but I was selecting tracks within each CD, not just transferring the whole CD. I also downloaded and transferred some music from their Connect site, which was also easy to use. Their library of tunes didn't seem to be terribly comprehensive, and I couldn't find all the music I wanted, but I must admit I was looking for some rather obscure ones! (I understand that this music service is actually due to close on 31.03.08). Altogether, I have just over 700 tracks on the player, and just over 500mb of free space.

The controls are easy to use and the display is bright and clear (except in bright sunlight). Although there is no power button, when you press to stop a song, the display goes off automatically after a few seconds, and the player enters Sleep status. This is explained on Page 16 of the Quick Start Guide accompanying the device. The battery literally takes minutes to recharge, and lasts for several hours. It still had charge after a recent 10-hour plane journey.

The sound is extremely good, both from the recorded tracks and the FM radio, and the noise-cancelling headphones really do help to block out any ambient noise: on the plane, bus, train, walking along the road, working out in the gym, anywhere. I also bought the Sony clip (CLPNWS700), which is especially handy for the gym.

All in all, a very practical device with good quality sound. And very cute in metallic pink!

Wow this is soo good

the size of this player is smaller then most MP3 players it looks very good and playes ammazingly, and unlike MP3 playes you can change the disks lots as they only cost £1 each! you fit about 4 normal CDs on one MD so your sorted! must buy!

watch out how you connect to your PC !!

A reliable, high capacity, great sounding mp3 player with a long life battery.

However, I had tons of problems at first with the"Sonicstage" software on my PC. The unit would take ages to be recognised by the software when connected by its USB lead.

After lots of experimentation I found that the unit MUST be connected to the PC through a motherboard USB socket (at the back of the PC) - NOT through a hub USB socket (at the front of the PC), or other attached USB hub, as I had been doing!!

Once I had sussed this, all the connection problems vanished and the software worked perfectly.

Amazing

I wanted to know a few answers about this minidisc which i didn't find out, so i will tell you.
1) It looks different from the picture given (better)
2) You are supplied with a 1Gb minidisc
3) You can scroll through songs when playing another (like on an iPod)
4) There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Sonic Stage, it's far better than the previous ones.
Hope that helps! Buy this minidisc. It's very good!

Minidisc is the most versatile

I bought one of this beauties. First of all I like minidisc, although IMO one have to be a bit fanatic with minidiscs.

The device is working properly, the sound quality is very good, it is easy to use, light, good battery consumption.

The software: If you rip original or burned CD-s (which has original compilation) it's very fast to download to your MD. The CDDB recognizes even Finnish music, so it's great.

With mp3's not so easy but you can trick the Sonicstage if you don't want to type the artist, song and so on.
If you have an original compilation in mp3, burn it to an audio image file and mount in to a virtual drive. Load the virtual drive in to Sonicstage the CDDB recognizes the album and you can download to your MD!!

I use my MD everywhere, even in car with a car cassette adapter...

There are other important features, e.g. one can use it as a"pendrive" with almost 1Gb.

One thing I miss: the leather case. Sony changed to textile bag.

So, I can highly recommend

Not sure

Pros:
- 4GB plenty to store
- quite a nice piece of kit, well designed
- looks cool

Against:
- the noise canceling headphones are not noise canceling unless you push the plugs straight into your inner ear however perforating your eardrum - used it in the gym and even turning up the volume had the gym music and background noises there plus the plugs constantly fell out of my ear canal. The best headphones I have ever owned and still own are from the 80s, massive, covering the whole ear, however: noise canceling for real. I was disappointed after all the positive reviews
- the software I found ok but Sony is notorious for making software that isn't compatible with Mac, which my Lap Top drives on - seems Microsoft and Sony must be big buddies in business: really applies for most of their products
- trying to find a carrier case was also a nightmare - took weeks of surfing - Sony's own products for the NWS706 are rubbish - found one at Comet in the end: the last place I thought searching out

O.k. but not brilliant.

NW A1200

This mp3 can be annoying as many people say with the font being too big which makes the viewing hard etc. But i think all that can be forgotten because sony's compression of songs to Atraac3plus is great, i currently have just over 2000 songs on this player and still have 3gb of memory left to add to.

Cute and sounds great

Great little MP3 player that not only looks great (cute and girlie) but is really easy to use. Have loaded on lots of tunes and really love it. Highly recommended.

P Series review

I chose this product to replace a larger, less mobile laptop due to the amount of travel my work involves.
The size of this machine has to be its reason for purchase, although very small and mobile it does suffer as it is a slow runner! It takes its time to boot and open applications, also a large amount of heat is prodused on the underside.

I do like this laptop as it is ideal for having a PC on the move and having space to spare. I would recommend it to people in the same situation. I would not however recommend it as a full time substitute for a laptop, battery life is small and the keyboard/pointer can prove to be difficult for prolonged use.

Due to the country I am working in I have not had use of the 3G benifits. I look forward to updating this review on return to to UK.

I love it!

This Sony walkman is fantastic! I have owned an iPod, which broke after a year, and also a Creative:Vision M - that died after 9 months. The Sony Walkman is far superior to either of these. The sound quality is great, I especially like the different sound settings. It looks really attractive, the pink colour is really cute, plus it's really thin so it will fit in your jeans pocket easily. Sometimes pink things can look vile when you get them in your hand, but it's not the case for the Walkman. The memory is good for what I need it for - it can actually hold more songs than I previously thought. The battery life is also good - I use it loads travelling to and from university and it only really needs charging once a week. The headphones that came with it were a bit weird so I'm using it with some JVC ones and the sound quality is still good. The battery does take quite a while to charge. The controls are user friendly and if you don't want an iPod but are looking for a good mp3 player, I'd say buy this!