Sony NWZE444B E Series 8GB MP3 Walkman with Voice Recording Function – Black
Posted by Notcot on Sep 18, 2010 in Portable Sound & Vision |
5 CommentsReply |
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Had this Walkman for a month now. Fast delivery to Ireland despite Royal Mail disruption. Works well out of the box. Nice slim feel to unit, good in gym, controls much better design than previous Cr…. model. Easy to find songs..have’nt used the video yet. Sound quality excellent, earpieces adequate..would prefer the earbud type. Charges quickly on a universal Camelion charger.. not sure if it holds up 20 hrs..would probably need all settings on min. and running a dark screen. Software adequate but not great…must use computer to delete songs..very difficult to organise playlists compared to C…
This player has met my expectations and I would recommend it
Rating: 4 / 5
Its no contest – the Walkman continues to be the best sounding portable music player on the market; something not even Apples swanky iTunes adverts can hide. Tthough judging by popularity, the fashion-status is something Sony simply can’t buy. Its credit to Sony though that rather than fall for the trap of selling for the image conscious, they provide products like this that are fat on features, yet slim in price.
8GB is an adequate amount of space for the casual listener, though may be a bit lacking for those who take their music a but more seriously, and encode in higher bit-rates. The user inferface is reminscent of many Walkmans before this over the past 2/3 years, and so using this device is something of a doddle. Even transferring music gives you a bit more freedom than direct syncing with iTunes; using either your standard Windows or Mac folders, you simply drag and drop your media.
The device only falls short in reproducing the visual media, particularly disappointing when it promises so much. In a world of multimedia mobile phones and iPod Touches, the NWZE444B’s screen simply can’t compare to any other dedicated product on the market. Although it has Bravia technology (high contrast) and is suitably crisp, the size is just too lacking to enjoy any kind of visual content. As far as I’m concerned, this Walkman should only be seen as a standalone music player if one is serious about quality playback.
In short, this is a superbly priced device for the features you’ll get, but as a music lover myself, it is the build and music quality that I see my money being invested in to.
Tom Cat
Rating: 4 / 5
We bought two of these for a brother and sister and sent them off to Canada for Christmas. The two kids (young adults actually, 21 and 26) love them. As soon as they opened them, they were on the internet downloading songs etc. They said they were very happy with how easy the Walkmans were to use and the quality of sound is excellent. Much cheaper than the ipod equivalent and with Sony quality, great choice.
Rating: 5 / 5
I am pleased with walkman.The only downside is its not quite loud enough,but i understand it’s not uncommon in mp3 players.I play it through a small amp most of the time so am reasonably satisfied.My last mp3 player was also a sony which lasted just over a year before failing.Sony were not interested and suggested the repair would cost twice the cost of the mp3 new,and said i should just buy another.Great customer care! An extended warranty might be a good idea.
Rating: 4 / 5
I came to this player having never used MP3 players from any company other than Apple, so I’m comparing the Walkman with the iPod Nano (5th Generation).
Firstly, compatibility. The player is not compatible with Apple computers, so it’s Windows or nothing. The product pack doesn’t claim any Windows 7 compatibility, but once you have installed the software (it’s on the player), it downloads an updated version that is Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit) compatible. If you want to synchronise content automatically, you need Windows Media Player 11 or later. If you use iTunes, you can drag-and-drop files onto the player, which works well enough.
Compared with an iPod Nano of comparable capacity, the price is very reasonable. It also feels lighter – it’s plastic rather than aluminium, and shorter and broader. Like the Nano, it has a small screen, about 2″, which is just about big enough to watch a film if you turn the player on its side.
The controls look like the wheel on the Nano, with a couple of extra buttons placed like mouse-ears on the wheel. Actually, the wheel isn’t a wheel at all, it’s four buttons in a cross shape (up/down and left/right) with a select/play/pause button in the middle. The mouse-ears are “back” (or keep pressed to return to the home menu) and “option” (keep pressed to turn the player off). The volume control, and up/down rocker, is on the right edge of the player, as is the hold switch, which stops you from accidentally pressing buttons when the player is in your pocket.
The player can display photos, play movies, music, plus it has an FM radio and can record voice memos. There’s no “shake to shuffle”, no VoiceOver and no camera. Otherwise, it has all the functions of a Nano.
If you’re coming from an iPod, you probably use iTunes. Be aware that none of your purchased DRM-protected content (such as .M4P music files) will play on the Walkman. M4As (iTunes Plus) and MP3 files are fine.
The player may warn you that it needs to convert movies to play them. In my experience, it spends ages converting them and still can’t play them. It’s happy with .MP4 videos and .MPGs, but not .M4Vs or .MOV files.
Sound quality is quite good. By default, the volume is limited to prevent possible hearing damage – you can turn this off if you want. As with the Nano, the video screen is tiny, and the quality is not great. The orientation can be changed so you can watch sideways.
The headphones are very poor, worse even than those that come with the Nano, but of course they’re easy to replace with something better. The USB connector has a bespoke plug at the Walkman end, so that’s a cable you mustn’t lose.
Battery life is better than the Nano. After playing music for 12 hours continually, the battery was still more than half charged.
Compatibility issues, especially for movies, is a let-down, and I still find the controls slightly awkward compared with the Nano. Given that this sort of device isn’t really intended for watching movies (that’s what iPod Touches are for), and that most of my purchased music is compatible iTunes Plus content, it’s a fair choice as a “music on the go” player.
Rating: 5 / 5