Sony NWZA818 - 8GB Video MP3 Walkman - Upto 30hrs Battery Life - Black

Manufacturer: Sony
Average Customer Rating:

Batteries Included: 0
Binding: Electronics
Brand: Sony
EAN: 4905524442373
Feature: SONY MP3 PLAYER
Is Autographed: 0
Is Fragile: 0
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Model: NWZA818B.CE7
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: 2007-09-14
Studio: Sony

Features

SONY MP3 PLAYER
8GB MP3 PLAYER
VIDEO AND PHOTO
UPTO 2.4" LCD SCREEN
IN BLACK

Accessories

Sony MDR-EX71SLB Fontopia Headphones - Black

Sennheiser PX100 Headphones

Creative Labs EP-630/A Earphones

Sennheiser PMX70 - Sportline Stereo Neckband Headphones

Sony SRSNWZ10 Charging Cradle, Speakers and Remote For NWS700 MP3 Player

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Editorial Reviews: Sony Nav-U Buying Guide

The Sony Video WALKMAN NWZA Series

Easy Operation

Crystal clear display coupled with a simple user interface means that you can find your music, video and photos quickly and easily. Intuitively designed, the WALKMAN video offers enhanced searching (and cover art display) meaning you can conveniently access every classification (artist/album/genre etc) from the Now Playing page.

Video Playback

Video playback lets you play video 'podcasts', downloaded content from other internet sites, TV content recorded directly to your PC, and even movies you shot on your camcorder.

It's versatile and easy to use. You can change screen format from vertical (portrait) to horizontal widescreen (landscape) and you can zoom in during playback. Stores up to 1000 video files. High speed playback, up to 30 frames per second for smooth viewing.

With the 8GB version, you can store as much as 32 hours of video (at 384kbs).

Photo Playback

Your mobile picture library.

Play your photos individually or use the slideshow setting. Plus you can even enhance the experience by adding a soundtrack.

Easy to use, you can display your photos in portrait or landscape. The display format of the photo list can also be changed to your preference: ‘Title Only’, ‘Title With Thumbnail’ or ’Thumbnail Only’.

Your Music Downloads

Your WALKMAN NWZA is WMT compatible, so you can purchase and download music from most online music providers – look for the ‘Plays for sure’ logo.

Easy Music Transfer

Transferring music to your WALKMAN couldn’t be easier – simply select, drag and drop compatible files using ‘My Computer’ and you are ready to go!

Multi Format Music Playback

The WALKMAN NWZA series plays a variety of file types including WMA / MP3 / AAC / Linear –PCM
Intuitively designed, the WALKMAN video offers enhanced searching (and cover art display) meaning you can conveniently access every classification (artist/album/genre etc) from the Now Playing page.

4 Clear Audio Technologies

WALKMAN has always stood for the highest quality portable audio. The WALKMAN video NWZA has four ‘Clear Audio’ technologies:

Clear Stereo: Technology keeping the two signals clearly separate. So what you should be hearing in your left ear will never ‘leak’ into the right ear.

Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE): This unique feature improves compressed audio quality restoring high frequency signals to poor recording.

Clear Bass: Gives clear, rich bass without distortion.

EX-Headphone: The unique shape of the earphones allows the biggest possible sound unit (13.5mm) whilst maintaining the most comfortable in-ear fit.

Display

2" QVGA colour LCD, high resolution (320 x 240), high brightness, high contrast and superior colour reproduction display your videos at their best.

To avoid the problem sometimes experienced when viewing small screens, Sony has used its TV expertise to create a great picture. For example, using a low temperature poly-silicon TFT panel with LED backlight to reproduce 262,144 individual colours so mobile viewing does not mean compromising on quality.

Battery Life

Prolong your entertainment with the WALKMAN video. Fully charged you can access thirty hours worth of music playback or eight hours of video.

To fully charge the battery takes only three hours.

*Music: ATRAC 132 kbps
**Video MPEG-4 384kbps

Dimensions

Big sound and big screen performance doesn't need to weigh you down. When you're on the move with a WALKMAN video, size is everything.

Length: 88mm
Width: 43.8mm
Depth: 9.1mm
Thinnest part of WALKMAN: 8.3mm
Weight: 53g

Colour And Memory Options

8GB - Pink / Black / White - up to 5500 tracks or 32 hours of videofiles

4GB - Pink / Black / White - up to 2700 tracks or 15 hours of videofiles

2GB - Black / White - up to 1300 tracks or 7 hours of videofiles

‘Sony’, ‘WALKMAN’, ‘ATRAC’ and their logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Corporation, Japan.
All other trademarks acknowledged.

Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: 818 .v. NANO
Comment: After using my iPOD shuffle for a while I realised I wanted to carry more music and choose what I wanted to listen to. The obvious choice was a Nano. I tried a mates for a bit. Good sound quality and I liked the menu system. However, at £130 I felt it is a bit pricey for casual use so I had a look at alternatives.

I came across the Sony 818 in a sale for £70. I checked out the magazine and on-line reviews and whilst the Nano recieved positive reviews, some had issues with the sound quality and the headphones come in for some stick. The Sony reviews seemed more favourable including the headphones and with a £60 saving against the iPOD I took the plunge.

Charging up first time took about 4 hours. Connected to Windows Media Player, it loaded a driver and away we go. You can auto sync and transfer all your music or drag and drop. Transfer is very quick. You have to use WMP 11 but a copy comes with the 818 if you don't have it. You also get an e-manual [you only get a quickstart guide in the box] plus a programme to convert ATRAC files as they are not compatible with this player. You can also download the Digital Media Manager which is a bit like iTunes and use that to handle the data. I use WMP and it sync's my music and photo's but not video?

The menu system is easy to use and very intuitive. As easy as the Apple. Sound quality is excellent. It is richer and warmer than the crisp, clear sound from the Apple. It sounds more Hi Fi'ish. Turning on the various enhancements does improve the sound further. I usually play with the volume on 15 [half] and this is loud enough. The buttons are equally easy to use and i've never needed to use the hold button on the back.

The device starts instantly and I particularly like the auto standby option which switches off the device [adjustable] when play stops. It saves you from leaving it on accidentaly and running down the battery. However, i'm not convinced that the battery will last 30 hours but i've never tested it as I charge it weekly. The device switches off completely after 24hrs of inactivity.

I tried it through my Hi Fi USB and the sound is superb. It charges too. It also charges via the PS3 and you can copy from the console onto the device and vice versa.

The headphones are an odd design but insert easily and the rubber gromit moulds to the ear canal. The quality is excellent. I find I never need to adjust them, something I had to do regularly with the Apple ones and they block out background noise much better. They don't eliminate it but it is muffled. I find that passing traffic drowns out the iPOD ones. The cord is short with an extension. Apparently the short length is for those who carry the device in a breast pocket. No excess cord flapping around but there is not a lot of play. You can add the extension which is more generous. The right earpiece is much longer than the left. I find it makes handling the earphones a bit of a fiddle but at least you can identify which is left and right.

Photos are easy to view and you can do a slide show. Better in landscape mode though and the Spiderman demo illustrates how good video can be if you can get the files onto it that is!

Criticisms? There is no remaining time on the track playing and you cannot tell how much memory is left on the device. You need to connect to WMP. You can't delete on the device either. Also, a mini USB would give more flexibility to recharge as you have to use the cable supplied. Minor issues I think.

Overall, this is an excellent music player and I think I got value for money. I commend this to you if you are not one of iPOD fraternity.

Enjoy.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Excellent product
Comment: This is a really nice player - sound quality is excellent and battery lasts a long time (though I don't get the claimed 33 hours). I've had this player for 6 months and am very happy with it. Previously I didn't like Sony players after I bought one without realising it was tied to Sony's truly awful SonicStage media manager software - thankfully, this now works with WMP11 and Windows Explorer and works with it very well.

Pros: sound quality is excellent; simple to use; nice display

Niggles: cannot create playlists on the player itself (they have to be synced from WMP); getting video on to the player is too difficult; it doesn't use a standard USB sync/charge cable (though to be fair, most MP3 players, incl iPods, don't either).

Customer Rating:

Summary: Superb !
Comment: Superb quality product. Had almost two weeks now, as unfortunately had to return Creative Zen because it 'froze' twice, within a few days of ownership. Found Sony ear phones with player too tinny, unless I play around with equalizer settings to increase bass. They are very clear though. So have just purchased some very good & portable sennheiser PX200 headphones. Must say cheaper option delivery service from Amazon on both products very quick ! Very easy to 'Drag & drop' music through Windows Exporer. Same with Photos. Had problem with videos. Could not get video clips/films onto player. However, for others struggling suggest searching Google for "DVD Catalyst 3". It is fantastic & so easy to use. Any negatives: Screen a bit small. Would not want to view films, just clips. Ok for photos. Cannot delete music direct on player. Have to delete it through Windows Explorer with Mp3 connected. No Mains adapter. Otherwise a Great player. Ideal size & very easy menu to follow. Buy it !

Customer Rating:

Summary: Absolutely superb player and transfer softwware. No mains charger, though.
Comment: After an awful time with 2 Creative Zen Vs, one of which was incurably corrupt and the other unworkable with Creative's s/ware, I wrote off the £28 I spent on this garbage and went for the Sony. Can 138 5* reviews be wrong? NO!

This player is so good. Why? Sound quality: really superb. Ease of music transfer: very easy indeed. Operation: simple, intuitive. Options: The EQ and other options for repro are outstanding. Design: sleek & neat. Manufacture: it's metal, not cheap-feeling plastic [like the Zen]

AS a music player, this device ticks all the boxes. There are those who moan about watching videos on it. Why anyone would want to watch a video on a screen the size of a Christmas postage stamp, I can't think. What a waste of file space.

So why deduct 1 star? I think that Sony have seriously short changed us by not including a mains charger. After all, this player almost certainly will go on the road with its owner, way out of reach of a recharge from a prolonged spell connected to a PC. Someone has mentioned, in a comment on a review, a charger 'on eBay/Amazon for £5'. I have not found one on Amazon, probably because Sony themselves do not list one in the accessories available for the NWZ-8xx series. I have found a useful mains + car-charger + USB cable for £20 inc p n p from Singapore on eBay. They say that the cable is a genuine Sony one. Why Sony don't even list one is a big mystery and rather dopey.

There's been some rather petulant spouting about file types and compression rates versus library size. I have written in more detail about this as a comment to one of the 1 star reviews but I'll summarise by saying that this player will provide anybody with less than barn-owl hearing ability and studio quality headphones with many hours of pleasure listening to music transfered at at least 128 kbps. This is NOT cd quality but for most people, in most realistic listening situations, it's perfectly adequate. I was prepared to trade 25% library space by using 160kbps for a notional 25% increase in quality - but only probably audible in a quiet hotel room or such.

The only way I can think of to improve on this 8Gb player is to get one with more capacity. Then maybe go for the wireless Bluetooth option. I've heard an MP3 player [don't know which make/model] through Bluetooth cans and the sound was brilliant.

Finally: the Zen V which was a complete dud was ceremonially stamped to atoms under a stout boot heel. It was all it was worth.

Customer Rating:

Summary: It just blows them all away
Comment: It would be easy to just jump into the anti-Apple corner and send this Sony player up without anything concrete to put it there - but this is not really helpful to people looking for facts.

Initially I was going to buy an older model of this about 2 years ago, but when I found out there were some rather nefarious issues with the bundled software and formats supported I switched to an I-pod at the last minute. This was the beginning of a 'hate hate' relationship with one of the most awful devices made by man.

I had frequent crashes of the software on the I-pod itself, it would randomly do odd stuff. The control of the unit with 'that' dial was just rubbish - especially if you had anything other than the exact required amount of moisture to dirt on your fingers. The top mounted headphone socket had that wonderful 'fill me with water when it rains' design 'feature' to it. On the plus side it had big storage, albeit of the delicate moving-parts HDD variety.

Where the I-pod experience was totally awful was I-tunes. I could start the program and go for a twenty minute jog before the thing had finished scanning my large library on my home PC. It's buggy insistence to keep trying to calculate useless playtime information and download cover art was infuriating. It crossed my mind that by requesting cover art it was telling Apple Central just what I had on my home PC and a TCP dump of the communication taking place pretty much proved it. Then followed weeks of trying to find third party replacements for I-tunes to integrate it with Windows (I gave up with it on my native Linux box as it would not play). After finding expensive plug-ins that corrupted the device from Media Player I finally found a godsend called 'Anapod Explorer' from Red Chair Software. This allowed the basic explorer to i-pod drag and drop needed. Problem is the seeds were sown for me. With the dial being awful (navigation,volume and all user functions being dependent on it, and the sound quality not really being all that I gave the thing to my daughter and hunted for a replacement. Enter stage left this tiny Sony.

After checking reviews on Amazon I found that it no longer had any of those nefarious software issues left over from the great root kit scandal. The box had a bit of weight to it, but after extracting the tiny player this was all down to to the various documents and packaging. I wanted this player to be quick and easy to use without having to put any software on to my computer, and without the need to read the manual. I got what I wanted.

Now, being an awkward customer I run a Linux PC (Ubuntu as it happens). This makes any hardware a bit a of a challenge to say the least. In went the USB lead and presto! It appeared on my desktop as a 'Walkman'. I was able to drag and drop mp3's to it in seconds (yes us Linux users have desktops too - it's not all command lines). It took about 3 minutes to transfer 150 tracks onto the player (all 320kbps I'm fussy). Not the fastest transfer, but considering I-tunes would still be booting I was not put off.

The battery was all but charge out of the box so I was able to test the unit at once. Navigation was simple and a breeze. The layout logical and positive. The display was bright and welcoming and every function was logical without the need to look at any manual. There was no nasty 'dial', just positive buttons. It is also half the size of an I-pod (seriously, it is). I stuck in the included headphones and the sound quality hit me as miles better than the Ipod. On full pelt it did not start suffering from distortion in the output stage. But then it's a Sony init!

My one disappointment came in the volume. It was not loud enough for me and I did not like the in-ear cans that came with it (I'm old school). With heavy heart I stuck a cheap pair of Panasonic cans into it expecting it to get worse, not better. To my surprise the volume jumped up to a level that someone as deaf as me could enjoy.

So after all this waffle and a-b experience comparison, what is the conclusion? It blows the I-pod away. It is out-of-the-box compatible with multiple operating systems appearing as a 'drive' the way it should. The sound quality is awesome, video is crisp if you really want to waste storage looking at it. The build quality feels better, the design over-all is just better by miles.

The tradeoff? Well, of course it does not have masses of storage. But it has plenty for people who rotate their music and want a good on-the-go player without the delicate hard drive to trash when they drop it. In the land of the MP3 player, if you get the basics such as usability, availability and sound quality right you have a winner. A lesson Apple need to learn.

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