Customer Reviews
I really like this player 
2008-06-20
I bought this little player on sale at Best Buy, and I have been thoroughly pleased with its performance. I have almost all my music library on it, and have only used about half its storage! The sound quality is excellent.
I even like the earbuds that come with it, and that's saying something, because I am NOT an earbud fan. These buds fit snugly into my ears, and are comfortable. The salesman said that the player would accomodate the over-the-ears phones I have if I wanted.
The battery life is great. I haven't maxed it out yet, but I've used it every day for a week without a recharge.
It's simple to use, too, which is a plus to me. I don't want to have to fiddle with a bunch of different menus to get to what I want, and I don't have to do that with this player. It has several options for listening or viewing, but all the avenues to get there are easy, and not interdependent.
The player uses Windows Media Version 11, which I'd tried before and didn't really care for--I'm a version 10 fan, and I can be pretty set in my ways. But I went ahead and did it, and I'm getting used to it, so it's not that huge a deal.
The player is super thin and light, so be careful not to forget you've got it in your pocket!
I do wish Sony had thought to include one of the little storage cases made specially for it; the window could get easily scratched on it. But the thing with this little player is that it'll fit in most cell phone cases you may have lying about, which is what I did.
Overall I'm very pleased.
Left me in a state of bliss 2008-06-18
If you like classical music you owe it to yourself to get this walkman. I cannot describe it but this is one of the few times I've really really enjoyed music. This device seems to have some sort of noise cancelling feature built in which makes it quite hard to hear outside noise but at the same time, it doesn't sound so loud as to make you deaf. Excellent device and yes, better than the ipod nano. It's not as flashy as the ipod touch but it definitely has better sound, which is the reason you want an mp3 player not so?
Hands Down, The best 2008-06-16
I had the 8GB and just updated to the 16 GB.....out of the box just like the the 8GB this unit is hands down the best sounding MP3 player on the market today....can you say blows away Ipod? Easy to navigate, great looking screen, simple and light but not too small. The stock ear buds that comes with it are awesome. Bass response and top end are fantastic. I highly recommend this unit, You will not be disappointed.
Sony NWZA729BLK 
2008-06-01
Bought this little player about a month ago. I was very excited to get it based on audio quality reviews and user interface quality. The player delivered on battery life, ease of use, screen quality and overall construction. However the audio quality in my opinion was disappointing. Paired with a pair of Shure E500 PTH, the bass and warmth at the low end cannot come close to my old IRIVER H320. Even ripping music in lossless format any trying every audio setting available cannot overcome the lack of power in the low end. It does produce great highs and midrange however. Audiophiles need look somewhere else to get the total package.
Walkman Player For Everyone 2008-05-25
Even though I am older in years my spirit is young so I wanted an MP3 player that was easy to use and understand and I also wanted a little bit larger screen so I could see some of the Pod Casts I was looking forward to enjoying. This fits the bill. I have had no problems downloading my music (Rock if you need to know)and the Pod Casts I wanted to see. Best purchase I could have made.
Almost Perfect... 2008-07-23
Sony 8 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)
This thing's almost perfect. The sound quality, in a word, is breathtaking. Between the unit itself and the supplied IEM/earbuds (which look suspiciously like the mdr-ex85lp's sold here on Amazon), I'm hearing instruments I never heard before in my music. Wish it had fm radio and on-the-fly playlisting (even an "add to now playing" feature would be nice), but you can create playlists via PC,and fm tuners are usually a bust on mp3 players, so I would, if the option were available, give it 4.5 stars.
Freeware app WM Converter handles video converting for this unit just fine, WMP 11 will provide album artwork, playlists and tags, and I imagine Juice or direct download from the web will provide good podcast support, and if you must have subscription-to-go music, Rhapsody (BestBuy Digital Music Store) or Napster should work great, considering there's no expandable storage options to confuse things. If you want to spend a lot of time sitting around wondering "what's happening now," go ahead and install Media Manger for Walkman. It seems to be waste of programming, to me.
Bottom line: Solid-as-a-rock, no-frills, portable A/V.
Great device but software is buggy 2008-07-20
First of all I would like to say that I am as happy as I could possibly be with this MP3/MP4 player. It works as well as I expected. There are TONS of mp3s on mine now and at least 25 pictures and several videos. The ear buds that come with this model are terrific too! They are comfortable and the sound is amazing. The display is big and crisp. Both video and pictures look great!
But don't even install the software.
The two main applications that come on the CD are Rhapsody and Media Manager for Walkman. I would be happy with Rhapsody if it didn't keep crashing. It drives me crazy that it crashes at no particular time or messes up the listing of my library.
Media Manager doesn't see my Walkman! Media Player and Rhapsody both do but not Media Manager. I uninstalled Media Manager and reinstalled it. I tried everything I can think of (and I have 12 years experience in IT. My PC is a new Pentium Dual Core 2.66 GHZ with 2 GB of RAM.)
So I use Itunes to rip my music, keep libraries, and I drag and drop them to the Sony Walkman.
Since this player also plays only .mp4 videos, I looked on the included CD for software that will convert videos in other formats to .mp4 but there is none! Instead I downloaded a free app off the internet.
There are many free downloads that will do all of this and more for you. If the software that came with the Walkman worked I would gladly give this product 5 stars. If I were to rate the player by itself I would give it 5 stars easily. Since I'm rating the whole package I will give it 4.
I do recommend you buy this product. I'm happy with it.
An excellent mp3 player, but not for videos 2008-07-18
I bought the Sony NWZ-A728 because the reviews here and on Consumer Reports have been very good (despite the lack of certain features like radio), it has a reasonable price, and I did not want the hassle of iPod's propriety technology. I have in general been pleased by the player, I cannot stress its sound quality, which is enhanced with the comfortable high-quality ear buds. The drag-and-drop feature allows you to quickly put files and folders (with sub-directories) on it, and the controls on the device are intuitive. My favorite feature is the Hold switch, which comes in handy when handling it or when it is in your pocket.
The major problem with this player is that, while it supports many song formats, it only recognizes certain movies in the mp4 format. The manual and the Sony site are of no help whatsoever, and the only help I could find was a C-Net review that referenced this problem. Through trial and error, I found that you must convert movies to or find them in the mp4 format intended for iPods, and their resolution must be 320x240. Finding the correct software (I use XviD4PSP) or finding the right movie takes too much time, and sometimes I can't tell whether the movie will work until I put it on the player. The original excitement I had for the player was overcome by several days of frustration.
I would have given this 3 stars because of this major problem, but the quality is so good I had to give it 4. Consider buying this as an mp3 player, not a video player, unless you are willing to spend time finding/converting the correct videos.
What's an Ipod? 2008-07-12
I'm going to go out on the limb and say that I'm not exactly a fan of the Ipod. It seems that everywhere I look, I see the ubiquitous optical circle of conformity that is the Ipod's interface. To be frank, I'm sick of it. But thankfully enough, my aversion to conformity has led me down the path of looking at options generally overlooked by the common mass of consumers.
The Sony NWZ-A728 is quite possibly the best sounding mp3 player currently on the market. Sure, competitors such as the Cowon D2 perform better in terms of a flat EQ, but none of these other players pack the signature "Sony Punch". And none of these players bundle with ear-buds or headphones that sound as the good as the MDR-EX82's included with this walkman. So all in all, I can safely assure you that this is the best sound you can get "out of the box". Vocals are excellent. Clearbass comes as a welcome substitute to the "bloated" sound that megabass delivered. I find that the included buds provide enough fidelity to clearly hear the thrums of each cord on an acoustic guitar.
As for the player's construction, I couldn't be any happier. Unlike the Creative Zen, this player does not exhibit the least bit of "plasticy" feel. The weight of the player in my opinion is ideal. It feels substantial yet light enough to carry without difficulty. In short, this does not feel like a toy.
Perhaps the first thing you'll notice upon booting this player up for the first time is the screen's clarity. The included fifa video does a great job of showing off the player's 30 frames per second playback. I personally use a freeware program called Videora Ipod Converter to convert videos. All in all, I think the screen is beautiful. There are better offerings... but for this price segment, I think this quite alright. My only caveat with the screen is that it is made of plastic. I would have preferred glass but I guess a screen protector will have to do.
In terms of value, I'm a little iffy. The player was bought for 160 dollars. The silicone case was approximately 30 dollars. If you choose, you could buy the ac adapter for another 40 bucks. I'd say your average customer would spend about 200 dollars. 230 with the adapter and case. But the fact that the headphones don't have to be updated aids the value argument. I would say the fidelity offering is about 50 dollars worth ( senn px100 or akg k26p). So all in all, this player actually initially seems iffy in terms of value. But I guess after weighing in the value of the headphones included, it kind of makes sense.
I think most of the other points about this product are covered within the other reviews. I really don't think you can go wrong with this product. Since the initial warranty offering is a little risky. I would recommend logging onto [...] and purchasing a Sony authorized 2 year extended service plan which is $[...]. Hopefully, I can add to this review as I use the mp3 player more.
Great audio but video? (3 stars - not 4) 2008-06-28
I purchased the NWZ-A728 thinking that I was getting an MP3 / video player. I already owned a Sansa 4GB mp3 player that I was happy with (overall) but it lacked any practical video playback features.
The NWZ-A728 is slim, lightweight and sturdy. Its menu system is user-friendly and its sound quality is superb.
Unfortunately, the NWZ-A728 is to video players what a McDonalds hamburger is to steak: technically it's beef but its definitely not a t-bone. Want to download and view Amazon Unbox movies? Sorry, doesn't support it. Want to transfer your home video to the NWZ-A728? Be prepared to locate a converter to transform the files to MP4 format (and even then, most won't play).
I must just be missing something. I use WMP to sync music to the NWZ-A728. Of course WMP doesn't support MP4. Surely Sony will have plenty of information about converters, where to find MP4 video, etc ... not so much. It's as if Sony assumes that obtaining MP4 video is some kind of innate knowledge or, worse, doesn't care.
If you're looking for a great MP3 player and don't care about video, this certainly fits the bill. If you're buying a player to take on the plane with you to watch movies, keep looking.
UPDATE: According to Sony's tech support, any MP4 file can be downloaded to the player (although they will not identify any sites or software). However, neither downloading MP4 files nor converting files to MP4 format resolves the issue. The player simply says "Cannot play; file format is not supported." I would downgrade my rating of this product but Amazon doesn't allow it.
