Sony NW-E507 Network Walkman 1 GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.1 x 7.2 x 11.2 inches ; 1.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0008JFCWY
• Item model number: NWE507
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,709 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

The Sony NW-E507 Flash Memory Walkman(R) is a stylish flash memory music player that lets you enjoy your digital audio anywhere. The incredibly lightweight body weighs just 37 grams, even with the battery. It sounds great and it's convenient to carry -- exactly what you need while you work, travel and just hang out. Rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery with up to 50 hours playback Quick charge function - 3 minutes charging is sufficient for 3 hours playback time SonicStage 3.0 software for easy music management and unlimited music transfers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

370 of 381 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great player, unfriendly DRM software, May 29, 2005

By 

Laurentiu Badea (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony NW-E507 Network Walkman 1 GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner (Electronics)

This player is fairly small, although it may be confused with a shiny lighter. I actually kind of like that kind of camouflage since it makes it less likely to be stolen. There is no mistaking it for a lighter once the bright OLED display comes alive.

The controls are well-thought, a Sony trademark of sorts. There is a large play/stop button, two paddles on the "shoulders" for volume, and a sliding joystick control around the headpone jack. The joystick works like a watch crown. Pushed down, it puts the device in "hold" mode. It has two other positions. To skip to next/prev song, you rotate the joystick a bit (when not in "hold" mode). The bottom hides the mini-USB port. Minor gripe: the device stops playing when the USB cable is plugged in.

The OLED display is a very nice touch and it integrates quite well with the player's design, although I wish it were a tad longer to be able to display more text without scrolling. The fixed font makes it hard to read sometimes. A proportional font would work better (probably fixable with a software upgrade).

Which brings me to the reason why I gave it only 4 stars. And why I am going to return it. There is simply too much hassle associated with putting music on the device and copying it back from it. The software insists on controlling what I can and cannot do with my own files. You can only upload mp3s by using the included SonicStage software. But, regardless of the original source, it will not let you download the files back unless you perform an "authorization" with some remote site I don't care for, presumably because it assumes you're a "thief". That, my friends, I cannot have.

Sigh. The recipe was simple and easy to follow. The mp3 player is a USB storage device, with a universal driver, you plug it in, you copy files to/from it, it plays whatever it can from your folders. It would have worked everywhere, even with a Mac or Linux, or even years after support for the actual player had lapsed, without any extra effort. But no. Not with this one. You can certainly upload files to it, it will just ignore them if you didn't put them via SonicStage. You can look at it as having two areas on the drive, one for the encoded music that it will play, and one for your files, that it will not.

To recapitulate: it is My computer. My mp3 player. My music. I find it odd that Sony thinks I will pay them money so they can POLICE my own computer. Nuh-huh. Not me. I guess I'll just have to put up with a clunkier interface of Archos, Iriver, or I don't know, Lexar, that at least give me the FREEDOM to do what I want with my own stuff.

97 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shiney Metal-like coating melted off., June 24, 2005

By 

D. Schiffler (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony NW-E507 Network Walkman 1 GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner (Electronics)

This is a great player, supurb sound, great FM reception. I used mine for running and after running with it two times, the shiny metal coating over the OLED display wore off. It's still readable, but looks crappy. I have no idea how it happened. I'm wondering if the salt from my fingers wore it off as I turned the knob. I'll be returning it to Sony for a replacement. Disappointed with the quality though, so 3 stars.

Update: What happened is when I pressed the display button, the salty sweat from my fingers got into the player causing the screen to be coated with a salty substance. So, word of warning: Do not operate controls with wet hands.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like things simple ...DO NOT use SonicStage!!, November 20, 2005

By 

jkcornell (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony NW-E507 Network Walkman 1 GB Digital Music Player with FM Tuner (Electronics)

If you are like me and like things as simple as possible, do not install the enclosed CD, do not use SonicStage software, by far one of the most unfriendly players I have seen. You may fit up to 650 or so atrac3 files in this player, but you have to go through all the hassle of converting your mp3 files and once in the player they are copy protected meaning you can't do any further copying plus the quality isn't as good as that of 160kbps or 192kbps mp3 files...the solution: the most simple there is:

go to the Sony asia pacific website at:

http://www.css.ap.sony.com/consumer/template/DDSummary.aspx?Id=44358&Category=Personal+Audio

to download the NW505/507 driver (do this step first) and MP3 File Manger software which installs right on your player in seconds. Then is just a drag'n'drop game from iTunes player with no hassles whatsoever. The downside: you'll only be able to fit 80-100 songs in a 512Mb player or 160-200 songs in a 1Gb player, but if you are like me that keeps a music library in iTunes in my home PC and just uses this portable MP3 for trendy music this shouldn't be an issue and the sound quality is unbelievable!

One more tip - Plan to spend $15 more on headphones (Sony's MDR-E827G are the best) as the headphones included with the player are useless.