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!"