Customer Reviews

Sony Walkman E NWZ E345 16GB Video Player (Red)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is a wonderful little MP3 player for someone looking for excellent audio quality, small form factor, low weight, and low cost. Even the screen quality on this unit is good enough to support good video playback, but that's not really this player's forte. But what it does do audio-wise, it does exceptionally well, and Sony has certainly developed the unit with the same high quality electronic audio circuitry that has been used in many other of its recent MP3 units.

The player is small and light, and has a solid, high quality feel, with no squeaks or loose parts. The menu is driven from Sony's standard MP3 menuing system, a system which is very easy to master within a minute or two. The 16gb storage space provides plenty of room to store albums, too. At 192kps, this unit will hold well over 100 albums, and still have room for storing digital photos and some videos with room to spare.

Throw out the supplied "headphones" (and I use that term advisedly) away, and combine this player with a set of Klipsch headphones (or even one of Sony's better ear bud products), and then you'll experience see the true audio capabilities of this player. The audio performance will easily surpass many of the other MP3 players on the market, and at higher bitrates with a good set of headphones, you'll have a true marvel of miniaturized electronics.

At under $100, this is a real bargain, and an enjoyable one, at that. Five stars for performance, five for price.

PROS
1. Extremely high quality sound reproduction
2. 16Gb
3. Bright, crisp screen (OLED, of course)
4. Small form factor
5. Quality construction and quality internal electronics
6. Low price
7. Excellent battery life (20 - 30 actual hours per charge)

CONS
1. No 32Gb version available
2. Color available only in red or black (nice, but where's the other colors??)
3. Album browse still not available in text-less format (which makes it easier to see more albums per screen; why was this abandoned?)
4. Headphones are a joke: unless you realize this, you'll not experience the units' true sound capabilities
5. Somewhat limited set of cases (apparently, no hard plastic case is yet available for the unit, only flexible polypropylene)

When I was thinking of buying an mp3 player for my girlfriend....my obvious choice was an Ipod. But then I gave it a thought to go check out Sony. Sony is a great brand with historic products like the walkman. Yes they were late into this game of mp3 players...but it had a reputation to maintain. This and the nice reviews from the Amazon users gave me a sense of confidence to buy sony walkman for half the price of an ipod 16gb!! It made perfect sense to take the risk. And it gave me good returns!!

The sony walkman was a delight to hold in my hand and was stylish too. Even the screen was glossy and really clear which made scrolling through photos fun. The only backlash was it attracted smudges pretty easy. Then the sound quality. It was absolutely top notch. It was very much in the same league as an ipod and sometimes I feel like its a little better too. The battery lasted a long time...although I do not exactly know for how many hours. If ipod is the competitor then it would win in sleekness and battery. The rest of the specifications of sony are as good or better.

But the biggest aspect where sony will win hands down is the price. Its half the price of an Ipod with the same capacity and its easy to load songs, photos or videos into this one!!! Beat it!!

I would definitely recommend buying this product if you care about your money as much as I do for the same quality!!

Sony has once again proved it's worth it reputation.

Cheers,
GT

I've only used this for music so far, which is really all I want it for. Nearly perfect. Very good battery life and pretty easy to navigate. Crisp, easy-to-read screen. I upgraded it from an old Zen player because I couldn't read the Zen screen in a lot of lighting conditions. I can read the Sony screen great in all conditions. Only thing I don't really like is that I can't delete from it without being connected to a computer, minor issue. I also wish they'd invent SW that would let you set playlist's playback mode individually - some to play in exact order, and other's shuffle. I don't know if anyone does that yet. I realize I can shuffle a playlist when I create it, but I want it to be completely random every time in some cases, and in others to play exact order. Overall, I'm extremely happy with this - looks, performance, size, price.

When my old 20gb HDD-based iPod began to die, it was time for me to look at a flash-based alternative. Initially, I said to myself, "Oh, well, I guess I'll be getting one of the new Nanos." But when I really looked at the value proposition, it seemed to me that the Nano added a bunch of features of limited utility to me (video, pictures and cameras do not really appeal to me on a 2.2 inch screen) and ended up costing a whole lot more than comparably-sized players from other companies. So I really started looking at other brands.

Why did I end up choosing this Sony? My main factors were these:

PROS:
-Sub $100 pricing
-No proprietary connection (it uses mini-USB, just like a digital camera)
-No need for proprietary software (you can drag and drop like a flash drive)
-built-in FM tuner
-battery life (20-30 hours of normal use)

On all of these scores, the Walkman E-series works brilliantly. It is quite refreshing to not have to navigate through layers upon layers of software (though if that's your thing, there is an included software suite) to just get music on and off your player.

I will also say, having listened to it for a few hours and through a few types of speakers (headphones, earbuds, and via stereo minijack to my a/v receiver), that the sound quality is quite good, and perhaps a bit better than at least my old iPod (I cannot compare it to current-gen Apple products.)

If you're considering this player, you should remember that you're giving up a few things which may or may not mean a lot to you:

CONS:
-No native iTunes management of purchases, libraries and playlists (there is an included utility which allows you to drag and drop items from iTunes to the player, but they do not all work. The manual recommends using Windows Media Player - pretty much the worst music management software in existence!)
-No "Clickwheeel" navigation (the controls take a bit of getting used to, and are not as intuitive as the Apple products)
-You cannot create playlists on-the-fly while using the player (best option - use WinAmp to create playlists while the Walkman is connected to your PC/laptop)
-Diminished ease-of-use for video (apparently, only WMV is supported, and it is very picky about resolutions and encoding bitrates)

Overall, if you manage your expectations, you should be very happy with this player, and very happy with the extra ~$70 in your wallet compared to the Nano.

You are NOT getting a fully integrated experience in the manner of the iPod. Sony has not created a seamless software suite to complement your experience. There are a few things you can't do (on-the-fly playlists, mp4 videos. If you want to do slightly more advanced stuff like playlists, I recommend the freely available Winamp program for managing files). There are also fewer accessories available compared to the iPod (this is probably a mixed blessing).

But you ARE getting a very competent 16gb player (well, 14.4gb after all the system software) which you can use just as easily as a USB thumb drive (as opposed to the irritating hidden file structure of the iPod), with no proprietary device connectors. To me, these benefits combined with the drastically lower price more than make up for the minor drawbacks.

I was looking for a MP3 Player, and since I don't know much about what going on these days (my last player was a 1Gb China-made junk), I first looked at iPods. Their price was way higher than what I was prepared to pay, and besides, many customers said it wouln't work without iTunes. Well, maybe if an iPod cost less than $10, I would put up with iTunes, otherwise, no way.
I decided to shop around, saw that Zunes had many problems, and finally reached this page. 16Gb for less than $65? It was almost too good to be true. Ok, the unit was bright red, but a black silicone case turned it into a seemingly normal player. Battery life is beyond belief (30+ hours), screen is crispy clear, sound is great (I have Shure SCL2 earbuds).
There's one drawback, though: for some reason, when I connect this player to my Sony car stereo, via USB (so I can control everything with my remote), it takes almost 2 minutes to sync. If I connect it on the aux jack, it starts playing at once, but then I have to use the player to change tracks.
In any way, I'm really happy I got this player, it is fantastic, and at this price, a steal!

If all you want to do is listen to music, and you keep your music on Windows Media Player, this is an excellent choice.

Pros -
It works perfectly on Windows 7 with Media Player. I can't stand ITunes, and that is why I will never own an IPod.
Great sound quality with quality headphones, like the Sony noise canceling models.
Very good battery life.
I don't use any other feature other than listening to music, so I guess it does everything I want.

Cons
Like all the other MP3 players I have owned, the settings are scattered all over the place, so it may be very difficult to find what you want to do without the manual handy.
If you can figure out how to set the clock on it without a manual then you are smarter than me.

An important tip is to turn on volume equalization. It was driving me crazy having to crank up one song, and having my ears blown out on the next. It is off by default, and the option is pretty well hidden. Also, I have not figured out how to show time remaining on songs. It only shows elapsed time.

Nice unit, looks and feels silk, drag and drop works nice, do not have to full around with any additional tools to load, sort, rename files.
Battery life is very disappointing, it is not even close to advertized 30hr.
20hr is top I could get out of this thing playing nonstop.

I bought two cheap players that were supposed to do more than the Walkman. One did not work at all. The second worked for about 15 minutes. The sony is a great little player. Very easy to load music. I can't beleave that the I-pod, over twice what I paid for the Sony could work any better. I use my Sony on my motercycle, play all day and still have battery. Amizon came through, good job.

Tom J.
7/13/10

Easy to use this is the 4th Sony mp3 I've bought. More functional and rewritable. My kids and grand-kids love 'em !

I previously had a 4gig version but I ran out of room and decided to upgrade. This is the best MP3 player on the market IMHO. The sound quality I use JVC HA-FX66 in ear phones) coupled with excellent battery life (30+ hours on average) make this a great buy. I can't think of enough superlatives to describe this thing! Just buy it, you won't be disappointed.