A stunning mp3 player, stylish, easy to use and well built. (Sony Walkman NWZ-A818 8 GB)

Member Name: Trengot

Product:	Sony Walkman NWZ-A818 8 GB
Date:	26/02/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great build quality, easy to use, large capacity, cheaper than equilalent Ipod.

Disadvantages: Can't make playlists on the go, and can't play while plugged in.

I bought this player about a year ago as a replacement for a 20 Gb sony HDD player (HD3). I bought it from a sony shop rather than online, so it cost a bit more but I thought it would be easier to return if it went wrong. It turns out I could have saved the money. It has been faultless. I have dropped it countless times, come off my bike with it in my pocket a couple if times and it hasn't missed a beat.

The interface is simple and intuitive to use and makes the included (computerised) instruction manual unecessery. It is easy to upload music and so quick that being unable to hold your entire music library is not an issue. You just upload what you want to listen to for that day. Or week. Or however long it takes you to get bored. 8Gb is a lot of music. It also works with WMP rather than the old sonicstage software that let down all the older sony players.

Music is found on the player under the usual options (artist, album, genre etc) and then listed in alphabetical order but rather than have one continous list as some players have, this player (as with other sony ones) allows you to scroll sideways to jump through the alphabet three letters at a time (although I think that might change as you add more artists). A useful feature if you have few songs by each artist (and therefore lots of artists). Videos are shown as one list and pictures are viewed by the file that they are stored in.

The sound quality is more than adequate for my ears. If it was any better I probably wouldn't notice it. The video quality is good and the screen is large enough to watch short clips, although I wouldn't want to watch full length films on it.

Some reviews I read while thinking about buying it stated that the hold slider was in an awkward position on the player. It is true that it is unusual (on the corner of the back rather that one of the edges) but it doesn't take long to realise that it is in the right place to allow you to use it (with your third finger) while holding the player normally. Admittedly, if you're left handed it would be in an annoying place.

The unit itself is very stylish. As it does not have a shiny finish it doesn't get scrathed easily or show up fingerprints etc. Its casing is aluminium rather than plastic so does not crack and if you do hit it hard (or land on it) it conitinues to work (albeit with a slight dent).

One slight downsides to it is the need for it to be connected to a pc to make playlists. And even then it took a while for me to work out how (I used Winamp in the end). The only other thing that is annoying is that you can't listen to it while it is plugged in.

A ver impressive mp3 player all round, and I have no real problems at all.

Summary: A very good choice for people who do not need to carry their entire music collection with them.

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