Customer Reviews
PERFECTLY SIMPLE! 
2008-03-15
This is exactly what I needed. I load the music I want, (drag and drop), then I go run and listen. It's light weight, it's small enough to fit in the pocket of my shorts. Just the basics is all I need, I don't need a video screen or tons of storage. I paid $60 at Sears, well worth it.
this player sucks! 
2008-03-03
I got this player through my USA based friend who visited india in December. This player, though looks nice and sleek, has a tendency to hang. I was trying to copy few songs on this player and after copying 4-5 songs, the player went off suddenly and windows was unable to recognize this USB device. The player is not even getting started after this. I don't know what am I supposed to do with it. Don't go for this product. It's not worth it.
Better have pockets, there is no case available. 
2008-02-27
As a player, it works well. However, we discovered there is no case to hold it. There is also no place for a lanyard or really anyway to secure it. If your outfit doesn't have pockets, I guess you can tuck into your underwear. Not good for you gym rats and runners.
Owning previous Sony Walkman's, we have used Sony Connect and have all of our song ratings/playlists on there. Unfortunately Sony Connect does not support this model. It comes with a disk for Napster which we don't care to try and are trying to set up Window's Media Player 10 for it...but can't say we like it.
good hardware, bad firmware 
2008-02-20
I've chosen this product for two reasons: (i) it can be used as a USB stick without a cable, hassle free. (ii) A 2 GB Sony mp3 player with FM for this price is a very good deal. However my experience is not quite what I expected.
After just 5 days of usage the USB connection failed!!! It was disconnecting then connecting over and over again by itself. Basically the connectivity to a computer was lost. This happened in just one week, without any abuse or mistreatment. After going through a one hour troubleshooting on the phone with Sony customer service, they decided to replace the product. I have received the new one last week, no problem so far.
I have some other 'minor' complains about this player. Start-up is slow considering the complexity of the product. Even though I was using only the %25 percent of the memory it takes 5-10sec. to start up the player. Battery life is 12 hours which is bad but bearable. It does not resume the file when you close and open the player. I hope they can fix this with a firmware upgrade.
And, couple of words about the sound quality. I am not an audiophile but my ears did not like the response of the included headphones. I bought the cheapest Sony headphones, now the sound is superb. I also own an Iriver (390T) and I can not tell the difference. Do not expect much from the equalizer; I think the default setting is the best.
I think the strongest point of the player is Sony's excellent customer service :).
Truly a work of art 2008-02-08
After reading the experiences of others you may begin to worry about the consequenses of purchasing one for yourself.
I work in an IT department and can testify to the complete lack of knowledge many users have.
I own two of these units (one black and one white) and cannot say enough about their usefulness. I will admit that the many controls may confuse some users, and that it takes a few minutes of practice to master; but the product cannot be matched for its size, features, and cost. It outperforms my Sansa by a long shot.
I have ONE computer that will not play nice with the Sony, yet accepts the Sansa (that's my fault - and can be easily fixed). These Sony's work flawlessly in the dozens of other computers I work with. If your computer doesn't recognize the Sony device, try another computer. The fault is in the computer, not the Sony.
Product is defective 2008-05-17
The unit came with defect. Everytime I push the on button, it turns
itself off. It is just possible to turn the
mp3 on when it's connected to the computer. I am awaiting a replacement.
sucks 2008-05-12
this product stopped working all of a sudden.....when i contacted the sony support they said they will replace it, but i am not sure the new one is going to b problem free....
its worth for money though a bit expensive 2008-05-07
i have been using it for 4 weeks and had no gliches till now and hopefully will never have.bat life is good.good lcd display. its a bit expensive but worth for money.it looks stylish and is sleek.
i short its good and should be used delicately.
Awesome mini MP3 player and recorder 2008-04-11
I was looking for a small, relatively robust MP3 player with superb sound quality to use while jogging or while traveling overseas. Ideally, I wanted the player to also have a solid FM radio that allows FM recording.
So, I read a lot of reviews and here are my impressions after using Sony for a month:
Sound quality:
The sound coming from this tiny player is very impressive, rich and full of details in mid-tones. Kudos to Sony!
FM Radio:
I expected that the FM radio sound will be substandard based on my previous experience with some other portable FM radios/MP3 players. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to hear jazz from the local Canadian Jazz.FM radio station (FM 91.1MHz). The sound was noise free and terrific for such a small FM radio. Wow!
FM Recording:
This player records FM radio in MP3 format (up to 192 kbps). Some other MP3 players that I had considered (SanDisk Sansa, and even some high-end Sony models) didn't have this feature. For example, Sandisk players can record FM audio but it is uncompressed WAV format. WAV "audio CD" standard consumes approximately 10MB of disk space for each minute of audio! I didn't think it makes much sense to record FM in CD quality as the FM radio is already not "CD quality", so why waste valuable storage space by storing 10 times bigger audio files?...
USB Storage:
I had no problem using this player on my 3 computer(s). Two of them have Windows XP and one is Windows Vista OS. No problem at all, just plug and play. I have to note that all my computers are up to date with software patches.
True, the device does not show as USB drive but it shows as "WALKMAN" in Windows explorer and it still allows you to copy files back/forth like with any other USB key. You can copy all your MP3 files to/from device using this method or use Windows Media player and do it from there.
You can stop your computer from recognizing your Sony player as a MTP device ("WALKMAN"), and recognize it as USB key (MSC device) if you do the following:
1) Plug in you Sony player, the computer will detect it as MTP device
2) Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager, find the player (it will be called WALKMAN), right click on it and Uninstall
3) Temporarily rename the file [...] (a windows portable device driver that comes with windows media player 10 or above) to something like "[...]".
4) After doing so, the Add/Remove Hardware wizard popup should appear when you plug in your Sony player.
5) When it prompts you to look for the install files, choose the option install it yourself rather than let Windows look for it.
6) Again, in the next prompt, choose to look for the install files yourself.
7) You should then be given a choice of installing it as a MTP device or an USB mass storage device, choose the USB option.
Your computer should recognize it as a MSC device now. I strongly advice you to make a backup of all files you see, as you might need them later..
You can also rename back file "wpdusb.sys.bak" to "wpdusb.sys"
NOTE FOR SONY:
As some people already noted, when powered on, player continues playback from the beginning of the last played audio file. You can, of course, fast forward and this is not a huge problem for individual MP3s but can be annoying for audio books or CD mixes where a single MP3 lasts 45min.
This isn't such a big issue issue for me, but I hope Sony releases a firmware upgrade to fix this. It will make this player ubiquitous.
CONCLUSION:
I am very happy with my purchase and I can say that this player is a bargain in this price range. I bought the same player for my wife and she is happy with it.
A medioc player, could be great 2008-03-31
This product indicates some progress made by Sony. It does not require proprietory software anymore. It has compressive functions, player, FM, recording. Easy to use. Doesn't need a cable.
However, the product could be perfect except that:
1. it doesn't really act as a USB mass storage drive, It will not work on Unix and Mac's. Even in Windows, it doesn't behaive as a regular USB drive does, and it is not listed by the 'Safely Remove Hardware' tool in Windows system, which means you are not sure when is safe to remove it like you are with the regular ones. Consulted custum service, problem can not be solved.
2. the sound quality is really medioce. I am not a real audiophile, but I feel that it losses something. The bass is weak. A rich music sounds just bony. It doesn't bear Sony's quality at all. You may improve the sound quality with a better headset though.
3. As some other reviewer discovered, it does has some minor noise due to statics. It is not serious problem, but could be annoying.
If Sony could make it work as a real USB drive, and improve its sound quality. This could be the No.1 product in this category.
