OMG, I think I'm buying Sony

...I didn't expect I'd see the day that I'd say that. Anyhow, I've been looking for an MP3 player and decided that my best bet was to get one that was well suited to use while exercising - biking (outside) and running, primarily.

I'm not looking to break the bank and I don't need a ton of features - I really don't see the need to store pictures on it or videos or anything like that. As it is, when I'm at home I'm at my computer and when I'm at work I've got my own computer. There's very little time besides exercising that I even need an MP3 player at this point, and hence my leaning toward this Sony unit.

So I started searching and found the Sony NW series MP3 players


a review is here: http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_NW_S205F_2GB/4505-6490_7-31985389.html?tag=also




I really like the fitness related features which include a built in "G-sensor" (a gyroscope) that powers the pedometer and also allows some cool features like the ability to shake the unit 3 times while the LCD is facing upwards to switch from normal to shuffle mode. It can also detect the pace of your run and allows you to designate a "slow" and "fast" playlist, and the unit will switch to either depending on the speed your are going.

It also features a stop-watch and countdown timer, a calorie counter, an FM-tuner, is water resistant, and supports AAC, WMA, MP3, along with Sonys proprietary ATRAC format. While OGG support would be nice, I plan on picking up a general purpose more full featured player down the road that will support open formats, and so the features this thing has offset the lack of OGG support, imo.

I found the 1gb version for only $85 online, and that includes an armband.

One thing it is missing is the ability to upload your exercise data to the computer for some kind of tracking. I'd write a program to do just that if I had any idea how I could access that data.

I haven't ordered it yet - so please let me know if there are any other (fitness oriented) units around the same price ($50-100) with similar or better features that I should consider.

Looks pretty sweet. If I didn't already have a player, I'd probably look pretty hard at this one.

The only drawback that might affect some are it's lack of support for DRM'ed WMA's or AAC's. I don't have any DRM restricted music, and refuse to buy any, so it's not a problem here.

Also, you need to use their custom software for transferring music to the unit, and from what I've heard the software is clunky and slow. There are some homebrew alternatives though that are supposed to be much better.

I have a Sony NW-E005, which is basically an earlier model (launched about a year ago). Mine basically looks like a USB memory stick.

It is a fantastic player, and I'm sure this one will be as good if not better. HOWEVER - I was forced to use the awful SonicStage software to transfer music to it. Luckily someone (equally as irritated as me) wrote some public domain software to transfer MP3 files to it.

Sony really need to sort out SonicStage, it's terrible. But then again I can't see how any software that strictly enforces DRM crap can be user friendly in any way.

I've heard the newest versions of SonicStage not only don't enforce the DRM, but allow you to de-DRM all of your SonicStage DRM'ed files.

At any rate, I plan on using the public domain software!

How is the sound quality on your unit sonicfactory? And problems with bass distortion at higher volumes that isn't a result of the headphones (i.e. clipping the output )?

Oh and, have you done any comparisons of Atrac3+ encoded material to other formats and if so, what did you find?

I must admit I am curious about that codec. I'd never encode the music on my HD in that format, but if it is significantly better than other formats I might take the time to re-rip some CD's and encode them as such. I've also heard that Atrac3+ takes less power to decode and can provide better battery life. I wonder if there is any truth to that.

Well whether or not SonicStage has DRM built in or not, it has an awful interface and usability issues. I could list them all, but I don't have several weeks to spare :)

I use VoidMP3FM http://www.drvoid.com/ software - it's effectively 'donationware' software.

I would make sure there is an alternative that is compatible with the player you buy, as I'm not sure whether voidMP3FM will work with all Sony players.

Sound quality is absolutely top notch. The build of the device is rock solid, unlike an ipod that'll probably fail after a few months. Sony should supply a decent pair of headphones but I opted to get a pair of Creative EP-630, easily the best in-ear headphones I've ever heard.

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=437&subcategory=441&product=11397

Atrac format is good - I would say quality wise slightly better than WMA on a kbps for kbps comparison. However due to having a large catalogue of MP3 files on my home PC, I'm sticking with MP3 for now rather than converting all my hundreds of CDs again. Also bear in mind the software I linked above only supports MP3.

Battery life on these players is huge so I don't think it'd make much difference playing atrac or mp3. If I plug it into my work PC for a couple of minutes before leaving the office, it lasts for another 2 hours or so... recharging isn't really an issue.

hmmhmm! but.. what if the LCD just happens to be facing up, say, if you put it in your pocket, and you're jogging? Shuffleshuffle! DAMNIT! >.<

I think, given how it'd have to be facing for the LCD to be facing up in ones pocket, that people would be looking at me rather funny. XD

I simply wouldn't put it in that pocket ;)

"Hey, Is that the new Sony NW S205F Mp3 player or are you just happy to see me?"

Well, the unit arrived today. No review yet as I haven't gotten anything transferred to it so far. I thought, since there's a new version of SonicStage available that I'd just give it a try and see if it was as bad as I'd heard the previous versions to be.

So far, I can unfalteringly say that it is the antithesis of "good software." It's slow (sometimes switching to the next song is taking like 10-15 seconds...wtf?). It's taken about 15 minutes so far to import my current tracks and it is only about 50% done. I'm not clear as to what it is doing to import them and why it is taking so long.

Oh, and it won't even let me adjust the volume or switch tracks while it is in the process of importing. Grrr.

The hardware better be better than the software. Of course, given how clunky SonicStage is, I don't see how it could be worse.

[edit] At this point I can say the headphones sound very good and fit - my ears at least - quite well.

Yeah hope you can find some user-created software for it. Must be something available somewhere, SonicStage is an absolute nightmare.

I thought you wrre talking about Sony STOCK. If you did that you'd be crazy.

LOL, no! Buying low is only wise when you anticipate growth ;).

Anyhow, the player itself is fab. Awesome sound quality and a fairly intuitive interface given it's small size and limited buttons. The workout functions: pedometer, distance tracker, calorie counter, etc seem to work really well too - which is good because that's the primary reason I chose this over some competitors.

For $85, which includes nice headphones and an armband, this thing was a steal.