Customer Reviews

Sony 4 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Red)

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Sony NWZ-S616 has a lot of good going for it, and I'd recommend just a few improvements.

Good: Excellent battery life, beautiful screen, navigation and buttons very intuitive (dedicated volume button a HUGE plus), and really top-notch sound quality - I'd rank it right up there with iAudio/Cowon mp3 players easily. The ability to support playlists, and its wide array of music play options is a plus (play by genre, year, artist, album, etc). Big plus is drag-and-drop capability (on a PC). No proprietary software needed. Nice form factor, too - not as thin as an iPod nano (3 gen) but, not as wide either.

Lacking: Needs a firmware update so you can delete files from the player! Really, there ought to be a way to delete accidentally uploaded music that you just don't care to listen to without having to hook the player up to your PC. Not good. Another firmware update suggestion would be to make possible a way to preview the next song (correct me if I'm wrong, but I couldn't find a way to do this).

Also, it would be nice to have the option to buy some accessories for the player, but noooo...Sony's dragging its feet on getting these available to the public, and at this time, no third-party accessories to be found.

Overall, a great player with a lot of upside if you're looking for great sound quality and flexible play options.

This is my first MP3 player, and I read hundreds of reviews for different brands before I found this Sony Walkman. I purchased it based on the positive reviews and the brand name because I own a Sony Walkman cassette player that has served me well for quite a few years. I think that this MP3 player sounds as good as the Bose sound system in my car, and anyone who says that the volume doesn't go high enough must already have hearing damage because this thing will rupture your eardrums! I was afraid that it was going to be too complicated, but once I figured out how to rip my CDs with Windows Media Player, it was easy to sync the songs I wanted, and it is just as easy to delete songs to make room for new ones. I am really glad I bought this Sony instead of some other brand. It looks great, sounds great, and is easy to use. The only thing I didn't like was the ear buds, so I bought some Sony headphones with a volume control right in the cord, which is great because I don't have to reach in my pocket to adjust the volume on different songs.
9/l9/08 - I've been using this for 9 months now and still love it. I am listening to old CD's that I haven't played in ages, and it's like I've never heard them before because I can actually understand every word of the songs. Wal-Mart has dropped the price $30 from what I paid last December, so I am going to buy another one since this one is full with 1188 songs on it. I should have bought the 8 GB to start with. Also, Sony has finally come out with accessories, and I just bought the Sony Network Walkman Audio Docking Station, as well as the Sony USB AC Adapter in case I ever get the urge to hit the road. Now all I need is a cable to plug it into my car stereo so I can listen to it while I'm driving.

I bought this about 2 months ago. Now i still cannot stop smiling when i listen to my music. Especially when i see people listening to their ipods. As far as sound is concerned, there is nothing better out there. I cannot imagine myself listening to my ipod after i listen to this. My biggest mistake was spending a lot more money for my ipod, especially after i upgraded my cell phone. I got the sony ericcson walkman phone and found out that it sounds better than my ipod, much more better :-)...If you are looking for the best mp3 player that your money can buy...THIS IS IT!!(you will have to buy a better set of earphones though)

I purchased this device about a month ago whilst looking for a nice l'il mp3 that would hold every song Jamiroquai's ever made and a lot more. My previous device was just a l'il iRiver mp3 that only held about 80 songs... Yeah, sad. Anywho, I am compelled to publicly declare my Love for the Sony NWZ-S616FRED. It holds about 2,450 songs so I have ALLLLLLL of my JMQ on it...including remixes! I have approximately 562 songs on it so there's still more than enough room for whatever else I want to add. I've already downloaded I-dunnno-how-many pictures onto it. I haven't put any videos on it yet, but I'd like too SOON! Very recently, my mother gave me an iPod Nano. Cute, but it has no radio and I can only download from iTunes! (Boooooo!) I have accounts with as well as many, many tunes on Napster and the now defunct Dell MusicMatch. Returned the iPod to mother as I can't get my MusicMatch and Napster collections onto iTunes and for that matter, onto the iPod whereas I have no problem gettin' 'em on my Sony. Also as previously mentioned, the iPod has noooo radio! My Sony does (smile!), with 30 station presets! Plus it's smaller than that wide, graham cracker of an mp3 otherwise knows as the iPod Nano. If this thing had a voice recorder and/or the option to record from the radio, I think I'd request to be buried with it. The only thing I prefer about the Nano is that scroll thingie. That feature is wicked! Other than that, compared to the Sony NWZ-S616, the iPod is inferior. The sound quality is great and well satisfies a bass lover like myself. My only gripe about the headphones that come with this device is that they're the ones where one side is longer than the other (not sure what that's called, but...); the longer side goes behind the neck... I prefer the regular ones where the cords are the same length. I highly recommend this product! Please consider and compare before purchasing an iPod. :)

I researched high and low before settling on this model. I wanted an FM radio option, so iPod was out. The Sony MP3 models had the lowest number of negative user reviews, and even these tended to be minor. Also they featured consistently positive reviews across the board from all major online sites, including Amazon. I just received it today, and it worked flawlessly. No installation (I already had Windows Media 11), and the menu was easy to follow. Very happy with my choice.

This is an all around solid MP3 player. Initially I had some difficulty using Windows Media Player to transfer my files, but I downloaded the MediaManager from Sony.com and that worked very well it getting my iTunes music onto this unit (I have a 3rd gen iPod classic, and an iPhone (which I love). Converting my iTunes purchased music is time consuming (the DRM tracks that is), but still workable and I'm sure with continued searching I'll find a tool that works easily (as opposed to buring a CD then importing into iTunes using MP3 encoder).

I was also concerned before I bought it about the controls. I've become accustomed to the iPod click wheel and the touch screen on my iPhone, but once I got the unit it was really a non-issue. The interface is clean and easy and the front controls work well.

Battery life is awesome. Sound quality is excellent (not sure it's better than iPod as many reviewers have commented, but it is certainly as good, and likely better to most given the audio enhancement options available).

The display is crisp and video works surprisingly well. I can't imagine watching much on it, but the occasional video podcast might be nice. The display is much better than the Creative Zen V Plus I bought for the wife a year ago or so.

I would definitely recommend this unit for anyone looking for a inexpensive MP3 player with FM radio.

I listen to a lot of talk radio. I use the internet to download programs. This MP3 player make my listening static free and the internet supplies tons of free content. Playing time is huge and the batteries last forever. My only wish is that there was a fast forward in a program. It only allows you to advance to the next file.

YES HELEN, YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO!!!
This little unit is slick and neat and is the size of a pack of Trident Chewing Gum, only partially thicker. RUNNERS, it fits nicely into that little pocket they put on your shorts and is it slick and beautiful..
So-o much for the esthetics's, it is easy to learn to use, and boy does it have the features you want in an mp3 player. The sound is spectacular as you can adjust the EQ to any desired sound you might like and Its easy to make play lists for your music and play only the play list or all music..Great for making a workout music play list. DO NOT use the headphones that it comes with but get yourself a good pair of headphones (I know, another investment). You can view pics and videos and easily turn the screen horizontal and play music while showing Aunt Helen or grandma those pics you took on vacation..
THE RADIO, with ease it scans and finds all the stations in your local area and you can delete the ones you don't care for and has wonderful reception and sound. All of the buttons are easy to use and logically placed. Software, you may not want to use Windows Media 11, but that's up to you. I use WinAmp and found it easier to find and adjust my directory targets..Oh, and the battery life is spectacular, my iPod went dead in a few hours BUT this one is like that ever ready battery guy, going and going and going.
NOW for the downside..
Few to no accessories, I'm still waiting on a belt clip for $19.95, so don't expect any extras..
Must be connected to delete music..
So now you know why it gets so many 5 stars out there. Do your homework.

I've had this mp3 player for a couple of weeks now, and it's definitely better than my old Ipod. I mainly use this on my motorcycle plugged into a speaker system with a 150 watt amp. the Sony is much clearer and louder than the Ipod I had. The battery life is almost unbelievable, the specs. say that it lasts about 33 hours for music and about 9 hours for video. I've watched all the Harry Potter movies on it, 10 hours +, and listened to music for about 2 hours going to and from work, and still haven't used over half the battery life. I currently have over 250 songs and 20+ hours of movies stored on it and still have 1/2 a gig left. I'd suggest clonedvd mobile to convert the video files, when I use windows a movie takes about 1 gig of space, where as I can fit 4 movies in the same space using clonedvd mobile. Haven't tried nero to convert yet, might get the same results. Would have given this a 5 star rating if it would of had a better FM receiver in it, can hardly pick up any signal in my area. Maybe Sony will come out with an external antennae to plug into it, who knows. The controls are easy to use and I love that I can drag and drop straight to it. Overall a really solid product. Also the specs say that it doesn't work with Vista64, but I've had no issue.

While I really like my Sony Walkman MP3 player so far, I am very disappointed in the number of songs the player is capable of holding. Based on the Amazon description and some of the product reviews, I thought that 4 GB of space would last me awhile since all I use the player for is listening to songs while I work out - no videos, no pics. So I bought the player yesterday, and I have used almost all the space on about 560 songs. I am resyncing my device right now to convert all the music files to an 128 kbps format, but I don't think I'll even get close to putting 1,000 songs on this.

I should have checked the Sony site first which says that best case scenario is 925 songs if they are 3 min long 128 kbps MP3s - which is still only 1/2 the songs Amazon claims that the player holds. If I had known all this, I would have forked out the extra $50 for an 8 GB player.

So while the player is fine, just be aware that the capacity is not what it claims to be.