Saturday, August 11, 2007

The Sony NW-A1000 Review

Ok, I am probably the last one on the planet to write a review on the player. Anyways, here goes..

The Story so far: In my quest to find the perfect sound, I embarked on the journey to find the best my pocket could afford. First, my quest took me through 3 different earphones – all Sony. I settled on one of them – the Sony MDR-J10. It looks sporty and had the type of sound I was looking for. My thirst was partly quenched, but, I still had to keep walking and find a good enough player that gave me the punch I was seeking. Lightning struck when Sony launched the Walkman range of phones. The idea of having a phone that rocked my heart out was something kewl and suited me in every sense. The SE W300i was something I really liked. Then, as if out of nowhere came another yearning. I gave into that too – I got me an iMate. OS on a phone is good, but, I didn't get the punch I wanted with the iMate. So, once again, I walked the long mile. Went to the mall, walked into the Apple store and...umm..well..naaaaaaah! not the iPod. My heart wasn't in it. I've always not really liked the bass of the iPod. So, I walked into E-Zone and straight to the Sony section. I felt like Jerry being flown to the pie.

So, I was here and looking at something that could store quite a lot of songs. GBs worth, but, I didn't want to store them all. Re-cycling is something that cuts out the boredom. My eyes fell on the latest line-up of portable mp3 players and then stopped on a purple Sony NW-A1000. 6GB sounded god enough. The sales chap put let me test it with the earplugs he had and it was..ok. I put in my J10 and WHOA! My next few steps were towards the cash counter and then back home.

Now, the story starts. The player is quite kewl and all that, but, there are hurdles to overcome. First, the player is a player..not mp3 player..OUCH! Then, you needed the SonicStage software to convert your mp3s into ATRAC and then dump them into your player. Copyrights, DRM..well. you name it! The software is really (it hurts when I say bad things about Sony..but..) awful. I couldn't get it to work on my Vista OSed laptop more than just once. The local support asked me to upgrade my firmware and SonicStage from a URL. The firmware upgrade was useful. The player response improved. But.. I haven't been able to download the new version of SonicStage. Its a nightmare considering the bandwidth I have and the fact that you needed an installer intermediary to actually download the software that you will be finally using. The whole philosophy of having such an intermediary sucks. Anyhow, I looked up at some forums and found some alternatives. Thanks to the folks at ATRACLIFE! You folks are awesome. The Winamp plugin allowed me to transfer my songs as ATRAC to the player. The transfer rate between the player and the PC is very good!

The next bit was to do with the volume. Some kind of Volume restriction is laid in. The max volume is like 30 and it ain't loud enough. It sounded good enough at the shop with doors closed and sound proofed, add some traffic and you go – "James, more head banging volume, man!" The folks at ATRACLife had a way here too. A combination of button presses and stuff and your volume is much louder! Kudos amigos!

Now, it was time to look at my face and the expressions on it - "Dude, iPod was better". NAAAAAH! I am going to stick to my guns.

The player is quite sexy. Mine's blue (couldn't get RED!). It has a liquid display and the buttons neatly arranged and user-friendly. The artist/song/album search features, the equalizer, Favorites list, Smart shuffle - the feature list was impressive. I didn't want a huge list of features – half of them I wouldn't use. More than all that - I love the sound. Keeping to the Sony tradition, the player has a good quality output. Add my J10 to it and its awesome.

I wouldn't say you must buy the player. You get better ones in the market. For me, this is good enough. J My software woes and volume issues are over with and now its good music to sooth the nerves. "Keep it comin', James.. YEAHHHH!"

Lets Play - "Follow the Leader"

A few days ago, I was reading this forwarded email. I generally don't open emails marked with FWD immediately. It gets piled up till I go through them during the weekend maybe. This email, though, caught my attention when it arrived. The Subject read - "Team Science". Many of you out there must've read it too.

The article that the email carried was written in a very nice way. In about 20 sentences, it talked about being a team player and what goes into creating a successful team. I identified with every line of it.

Once you are in line for a Lead position, we hear the sentence - "You are as good as your team is..". To me, that sounds kinda silly! The Lead certainly needs to set an example to the team and all that, but, he needs to be an innovative person and a person who should be atleast 2 steps ahead of the team - LEAD FROM THE FRONT. To be able to do that in today's world is something quite challenging. Technology-wise, he needs to keep abreast of what is going on and know beyond just plain common stuff. Management-wise, the team should think what he is thinking. Only when there is an identity of minds, there will be a better understanding of things. The article actually reframed it as - "The team is as good as you are".

In today's world, we are crushed for time. Most leads are trying to find that 25th hour in a day to complete work, however organized and capable they are. Well, its not just about organization and ability, it has more to do with SUPPORT and UNDERSTANDING. Support from team mates, peers, people you report to and sometimes even people from other teams. Help is always needed somewhere or the other. Let us say that I am leading a team reporting to a Dept. Head, who, does not consider or even listen to what I have to say and just keeps asserting his/her own point of view everywhere, even if, it sometimes makes no sense, it does a lot of damage in the relationship and the chain of displeasure, frustration, irritation, loss of interest is built. That is when attrition levels boom. It is a "pass on" culture, your frustration is passed on to the next one and the next one and so on.

Being proactive is something everyone appreciates and it is a quality everyone needs to imbibe. As human beings, we are not always proactive about everything. We are reactive about some and proactive about some others. Its not a good leadership trait to preach pro-activeness, when, actually, you arent pro-active yourself, but, your management book says so. Such expectation will make your workmates uneasy around you, leading to a lot of unpleasantness and irritation. If you have a team that is, well, a big mix of character, its always good not to expect change in the root.. meaning to say.. you play around with the surface.. unless.. if the person is willing to change the way you want him to.

Another thing I've noticed quite a lot and sometimes do myself - playing the advisor. If you form the middle layer between a team and a head, well, you get it both ways and have to give it both ways. But, things are not so easy always. About 60% of the time, you are playing the dead poodle. 20% of the time, you hear it from upstairs and aren't really able to say much to your team.. just keep 'em yourself. The rest 20% is split into two 10 percents where you play the monkey. Keep running to both ends till you finally catch the ball and take it home. The "dead poodle" act is something that is really what is bothering. This is where you really need to work things out silently and play it out. Everything thinks you are dead, but, you are actually silently strategizing your next move. Playing the Advisor comes in all these percentages, you gotta talk to the people around you and make sure your point gets through. The minute your bullets hit the walls, JUST STOP! or mom will shoot!

These are just a few points that I've learnt the hard way.