Sony VGF-AP1L 40 GB VAIO Pocket Digital Music Player

by Sony

Product Details

Supplementary Guide [652kb PDF]

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Product Manual [652kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 4 x 2 x 1 inches ; 7.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000309ZLW
• Item model number: VGF-AP1L
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Get a colorful new window on your favorite tunes with Sony's VAIO Pocket digital music player. A 2.2" color LCD lets you enjoy digital photos while listening to your favorite playlists. Built-in battery provides up to 20 hours1 of continuous ATRAC3 playback on a single charge. It's music for your senses.

• 40 GB Hard Drive Digital Music Player offers plenty of storage for music, pictures and data back-up.

• Store up to 26,000 Tracks at 48 kbps when using Sony's ATRAC3plus audio format.

• 2.2" QVGA+ Color LCD Display can be used to see album jacket, music data and personal pictures to add rich, visual enhancement. Enjoy slide shows while listening to your favorite music, or turn your pictures into album arts.

• Sony's Connect Online Music Store offers one of the most extensive music libraries online -- a better selection than any other legal download service. Access more than 750,000 songs, including independent and foreign artists as well as featured artists and celebrity mixes, providing an easy method for downloading music legally.

• Internal Rechargeable Battery Provides Up to 20 Hours4 Continuous Playback (ATRAC3 Audio Playback) and can be charged using supplied charging cradle.

• Grid Sense Touchpad User Interface for easy and precise navigation.

• Supplied In-Line Remote Control with 3-Line Backlit LCD shows artist and song title.

• Intuitive Music Search and Play List Creation -- VAIO Pocket player sorts music not only by genre, artists and album names but also the date you listened and your preference.

• USB 2.05 PC Connection Cradle for High Speed Transfer and Charging Connect directly to your PC and recharge the internal battery by simply placing the VAIO Pocket digital music player in the USB 2.04 cradle, when cradle is powered by supplied AC adaptor. Transfer music mixes created on your PC at high speed to the player.

• Transfer Pictures Directly from Compatible Digital Cameras via USB Cable Simple, automatic process for efficient portability.

• Plays Back in ATRAC3 and ATRAC3plus Audio Format,Supports Multiple Internet Audio Formats (MP36, WMA6, WAV6) The VAIO Pocket digital music player plays back ATRAC3 and ATRAC3plus files and supports the most popular Internet Audio formats by transcoding to ATRAC3 format.

• Music Management Software Supplied Import, manage and easily transfer your digital music collections with the supplied music management software.

Product Description

Sony Vaio Pocket Digital Music Player VGF-AP1L - In the summer of 2004, Sony introduced this amazing MP3 player and multimedia storage device. The VAIO(R) Pocket has an array of advanced features for computer and digital content fans. Its 40GB hard drive stores up to 26,000 songs. With its QVGA color LCD you can choreograph a music-enhanced slideshow of personal photos. Plus, transferring music and pictures to VAIO(R) Pocket is quick and easy via a USB 2.0 port. A major advantage is up to 20 hours of play per fully charged battery - about 33% longer than its competitor. Easily gripped and operated with one hand, the VAIO(R) Pocket player also sports a unique user interface dubbed Grid Sense. The Grid Sense touchpad is a grid of raised dots which work together like a PC touchpad. It allows for smooth and precise song selection and navigation. You can also use the included three-line backlit LCD remote control to select songs when the player is on a belt loop or in a bag. USB streaming makes offloading photos from a Sony Cyber-shot(R) (or other) digital still camera to the player a breeze. The VAIO(R) Pocket serves double-duty as a storage device so you can take more pictures even when you're far from your PC. A USB 2.0 cradle is also supplied for easy PC connection, high speed transfer of files and convenient and rapid charging. In fashionable black, the VAIO(R) Pocket is for you. Unit Size - 4 3/ 4 x 2 1/ 2 x 1 1/ 4 / About 7 ounces Color - BLACK

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A really good digital music player, November 11, 2004

By 

Edgar - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VGF-AP1L 40 GB VAIO Pocket Digital Music Player (Electronics)

I bought the Sony Vaio Pocket about a month ago. The first thing that I noticed out of the box is that it looks really cool. It's stylish, a little bigger than an ipod, and pretty light. The G-sense touchpad is also really cool. The navigation is a lot easier than the ipod, it takes a while getting used to, but you can do a lot more with it, like make playlists, change the equalizer, and add album covers, without having to switch between menus. The best feature, though, is the fact that it is in color. Listening to music while looking at pictures is fun. You can plug a digital camera right into the music player and transfer photos. And you can use any picture as the cover for any album, which you will see in the "Now Playing" screen. There are some glitches in the player, for example: In the main menu, if you go to "Artists", then choose an artist that has some songs in an album, but isn't the only artist for the album, it will give you all the songs in that album, instead of just the songs with that artist. Another glitch is that the main control panel, wich pops up if you put your finger on one of the g-sense buttons in the right column, sometimes doesn't refresh, so if you press the play button, sometimes it won't change to a stop button, it will just stay a play button. This is no big deal, just take your finger off the button, the control panel will go away, then put your finger back on the button and the play button will have turned into a stop button.
I had no problems with the software that it came with, it is easy to use, Sony Connect is a good music download service, though I don't know how it compares with Itunes. I have read reviews of other sony portable music players that said that transfering to Atrac3 was slow, but it wasn't slow on my computer, so that wasn't a problem. Transfering music to the player is really fast. I like Atrac3, it takes up less space than mp3 and it has the same sound quality.
One more thing that made this player a four star instead of a five is the headphones that it comes with. it is a remote control that plugs into the player, then earbud headphones that plug into the remote control. The place where the two earbuds come together is way off center, so when you are wearing them, the two cords come together at the side of your head. This is a problem with the remote control, because it pulls on one of the earbuds, and it can fall out easily. You have to use the remote control with the earbuds, because without it the earbud headphones are way way way too short. I just got different headphones and use those without the remote control.
Well, there is my review. I suggest that you buy it and just use different headphones, because otherwise it is a really cool digital music player. Go Sony!!!

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It suprised me to say the least!, August 15, 2005

By 

Krishna Polina (Leesburg, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony VGF-AP1L 40 GB VAIO Pocket Digital Music Player (Electronics)

My 5 Star rating is based on my 2 weeks love affair with Vaio Pocket after three upgrades that are ESSENTIAL for out-of-box product. The upgrades allow the player to BECOME MP3 Player. If you don't upgrade it will be ATRAC3 plus Player, which is Sony version of MP3. First install the software's on the CD that comes with the player. Then do the following steps:
Upgrade 1: Firmware on Vaio Pocket to version 3.0 from Sony Site:
http://www.css.ap.sony.com/VAIO/download/downloadList.asp?cat=VAIO%20Accessories&Model=VGF-AP1
Upgrade 2: Vaio File Transfer program from Sony Site:
http://www.vaio-link.com/Vaiopocket/downloads/downloads.asp?l=en&f=VMTU
Upgrade: Sonic Stage 3.2 from Japanese Site (Link is for English version):
http://www.aii.co.jp/contents/sonic/_data/sony-ss32/SonicStageInstaller.exe

This MP3 Player when connected to you PC is recognized as a removable Hard disk. So, using the Vaio Music Transfer program or Sonic Stage, you can copy your MP3 files as easy as drag and drop. Use Music Transfer Program if you have lot of MP3 in an organized format. The copy speed is much better than I've seen in iPODs and Rio's. I didn't find using the G-sense pad to browse and play my music files. I felt it was just as easy, as the wheel on iPOD.

Pros:
1. It has to be the screen. As good as any screens from Sony and it's bigger than iPOD Photo.
2. 40GB hard-disk
3. Jacket Picture (Cover Art) that you can assign to your albums. Player displays it while playing songs from that album.
4. Sound quality better than many other MP3 Players including iPOD.
5. You can transfer pictures from Sony and several other digital cameras to this player without PC. But you need to have the cradle, which comes with the player as it has the USB outlet.
6. Very cool remote that can be used to navigate some simple features while listening to music. It has a two-line LCD screen.
7. Can be used as removable hard disk with 40GB capacity.
8. Replaceable battery unlike iPOD.
9. 20+ hours of runtime once charged fully compared to 5-8 hours on iPODs.
10. Very classy color metal and finish.

Cons:
1. It definitely has to be the length of headphones cable. I wish it had couple more feet. Fortunately, it's not an expensive accessory to buy.
2. Have to have the cradle to handy if USB connetion is needed or when it's time to charge. But with 20hrs life on battery, it's something we can live with.
3. Less choice of cases unlike iPOD which sometimes is worth buying just for the cool cases out there. I got a case from PDAir site which is made for this player. Excellent quality. So, no complaints now.
4. Crashes when playing some corrupt MP3 files. The solution is to delete that file using SonicStage software after restarting.

For $250, I think it beats iPOD Photo in many areas. I personally, would prefer this over iPOD even if it was same price as we get several accessories already included with the Sony and the battery is replacable and sounds and feels better. If you are a techie, you will even find it user friendly like the iPODs which is it's main strength.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vaio Pocket - Amazing & Stylish, October 26, 2005

By 

Mr. Iyare A. Umweni "iyareu" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony VGF-AP1L 40 GB VAIO Pocket Digital Music Player (Electronics)

I bought this after much searching - in fact I bought an ipod mini for my wife so I have some experience of both brands.
For those who love their music quality and want some style this machine is a great choice.

1. It is a 40GB player and cost £199 when I bought it - you will struggle to get a different 40GB player for £199 anywhere (even if it is being discontinued)

2. The screen is ace and displays almost all the information you could ever want to see of any track.
The track title
The Album cover
The Artist
The sequence number of the track (1 of 11 of an album or 211 of 9500 if you are just playing randomly from tracks on the machine.
The elapsed time AND the track length AND a graphics of how far along in the track you are.
The current time.
The battery life
That is a lot of information to put on one screen.

3. Browsing your music is made easy. The album display shows both album name and artist name as you search through.
When searching by track - it displays artist as well.

4. The sound quality is excellent and there is EQ management.

5. Cradle is a boon. Keeps machine protected and sturdy and provides drop in and out when when connected to either PC or stereo equipment. Also it is a great place to leave the machine when not using it meaning it will always be charged when you want to use it.

6. Navigation is simple once learned - same with ipod - you have to learn it first.

7. Robust build quality.

8. Battery life is excellent - I get at least 20 hours. (That is with a mix of Atrac3+ (64kbps)and mp3(192kbps) files. Every review I have seen quotes 20 as the minimum.

9. The searching mechanism (with the firmware upgrade) means I can search through 9600 tracks in a bout a minute just by keeping my finger on a button. This is impressive.

10. You can transfer pictures to it from teh camera.
This is not limited ot sony cameras - I have an olf Fuji F601 Zoom and to connect it to a XP PC you need to download the drivers. I was able to connect it to the AP1 and download the pics directly - AMAZING!!

I have had to reset it twice(or thrice) I think but on the whole it is an absolutley excellent machine and well worth the money.

It is let down by the software - Sonicstage - which must be used to manage the music on the player.
Sonicstage is not terrible in it's functionality but in it's operation(although there are some real holes e.g. not being able to create playlists on the PC and transfer them to the player without retransferring the tracks).
It holds up the PC it works on and is generally slow.
Once the music is on the player however - you are free and can enjoy it.
With the firmware upgrade you no longer need to convert mp3 files to Atrac - they just copy directly onto the player. Also instead of using Sonicstage 2.3, 3.2 has just been released which is a big improvement.
It uses USB2.03 so is very fast.
I love it - I have 9882 tracks on mine (there is nothing like having all your music with you) and have nearly 5 GB left. This is in addition to hundreds of pictures.

I thoroughly recommend this wonderful piece of Kit.