A wireless wonder from Sony (Sony Walkman NWZ-W202 2 GB)

Member Name: liz3yy

Product:	Sony Walkman NWZ-W202 2 GB
Date:	12/06/09 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No wires, easy to use

Disadvantages: Slow to download songs

I bought my first MP3 player in 2005 when I finally had the cash to ditch my outdated CD walkman and join the white ear bud brigade with an Ipod Mini (remember them?) the predecessor to the Nano. I upgraded (or should that be downgraded?) a year later to a shuffle and thought that would the last digital music player I would ever need, that is until a month ago....

I'm a member of a forum dedicated to running (yes laugh all you want!) and one day they ran a little contest to give away a new Sony Walkman MP3 player that had been donated to them, all you had to do was write about whether music helps you when you exercise and which types of music are better than others. I gave my little contribution and week later was thrilled to learn I was the winner! I still don't see how my answer was better than anyone elses but who I am to complain?!

All I knew about the player was that it was the latest offering from Sony and that it retails at around £59. I excitedly waited delivery of said item whilst my other half started to plan what songs to put on his "new" ipod, see, we like to recycle in this family!

I was surprised when I received the MP3 player at the shape of it, it looks like a gadget from Star Trek and I struggled at first to figure out how to wear it. The ear buds rather than being separate pieces are attached to the body of the player, a short cable joins them together and also fits behind the head preventing the player from falling off when you're wearing it. To put the player on you simple detach the two pieces of the player put the cable behind your head and position the ear buds in place. It stays put really well and didn't budge an inch even when I went out for a brisk run.

The player is comfortable to wear though does look a little odd, the body pieces of the player attached to the ear buds are quite large and stick put a couple of inches across your face if you see what I mean? it's not easy to explain. I had some strange looks when I went out in public with this on.

Setting up the player was a little difficult initially, I had to read the instructions 3 times before I fully understood how to set it up on my pc and to transfer songs onto it. To do so you need to connect the player to your pc using the cable supplied, wait a few seconds until your pc recognises the player. You then need to find a folder that automatically uploads to your pc containing software called Software Transfer. Once you open this for the first time it automatically opens itself every subsequent time you connect the player.

Transferring songs to the player is slow work, you can drag and drop songs either in groups or individually direct from iTunes. Each song takes a good couple of minutes and a whole album earlier this week took a good half an hour, unfortunately the process slowed down the rest of my pc so I had to walk away and do other things whilst it thought about it. Once the songs are on the player though listening to them is a joy, the sound quality is fantastic and I think better than the Ipod, songs sound clearer and sharper plus louder as well.

The player has simple controls, a click wheel to scroll between songs and two little buttons to change the volume in addition to a switch to change to shuffle. The player doesn't have an on/off button as it simply doesn't need one. To turn the player on simply detach the two parts of the player and depress the click wheel, you'll hear a beeping noise telling you it's working. To listen to the song you want move the click wheel until you hear another beep, then the song will start. You cant unfortunately choose which song to start with but if you fill the player with songs you enjoy then what's the problem? To turn the player off just attach the body parts together again, it really as simple as that.

The player can hold around 2000 songs which is more than enough for me. It also has a little stand to sit on whilst it's charging up.

I'm thrilled with this player especially as I got it for free, but I would also be more than happy to buy one either for myself or as a gift. I prefer it now to my old ipod and wouldnt change this for the world

Summary: A good alternative to the Ipod range

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