Sony Network Walkman NW-HD5 (Silver)

June 17, 2005 02:45
Good
1.5/5
During a two week work trip, my loving wife decided to send me a small gift. At the front desk of the hotel sat a small Fed Ex package with my name on it. After opening it, I discovered that my wife bought me a hard drive MP3 player. I already had a flash model from iRiver, but wanted something to put my whole collection on.

I previously had mentioned to her that I was looking into one of the iRiver models. While she was sopping though, she saw the Sony and though it would do.

I paniced whan I first opened it, as I saw that it was a Sony. I remembered reading somewhere that Sony was only using a propietary format for music on their players. I for one try to to purchase any product that does such a thing. But after reading the box, I came to the understanding that MP3 was now supported.

I opened the box... This thing is beautiful! It is very small, sleek, and firm. I was really impressed. The controls were simple to understand, with only a few important buttons on the front (No side buttons were needed here). Even the black and white screen seemed perfect. Why use a color screen if the thing is going to sit in your pocket?

After reading the startup instructions, I installed SonicStage 3.1. This software is REQUIRED to transfer mp3's to the device. All I can say is that this software is by far the worst excuse for executable code I have ever seen, and I write software for a living.

The first thing I had to do was "Import" my Mp3's to SonicStage. This process took over 30 minutes. I though perhaps it was converting them, or copying them to a different location, but no. I have no idea why it took as long as it did. But once they were in there I was rest assured that the rest of the process would go smoothly.

That was my next mistake. I hit the transfer button, saw files begin to be copied and left for dinner. Upon returning, I discover that my entire computer is locked.

I try again... This time I only had 459 files left to copy to the device. After waiting 20 minutes to finish, SonicStage throws an exception and the computer locks. Try #3 results in the same thing. Try number #4 was going on while I was writing this review. As I write this, I am actually saving this review in notepad, so I do not have to type it over again. Do you want to know the results? Crash, but no locking this time.

So in review, I have a $300 beautiful looking paper weight. No songs = no mp3 player. Sorry Sony, but you might made a great looking product, but your interface leaves much to be desired. Sony needs to get a life and allow grown up adult users to transfer files the way they want to, and not require some quirky aftertought of a product do it for them.

- thomaskuhn

August 15, 2005 11:10

4.5/5
I've been on the market for a hard drive mp3 player for a while now, seeing how my flash based devise was no longer adequate to store my music collection. I'm a bit of an audiophile, so my number one priority was getting a player that was built sturdy and had the best sound quality.

I compared the hd5, the cowon x5, and the apple 20gig at a shop at hong kong. Since i've done a lot of reconnaisance work, my initial feeling was that i'd be in love w/ the cowon's sleek sexy design and the apple's incredible ease of use. The sony was the number three contender, and the wild card since i didnt know what to expect (and quite frankly wasnt expecting much out of it). Boy was i wrong.

The thing that striked me first was how small the hd5 was compared to the other two. Both the x5 and the ipod were a good 1/2" taller than the sony, which is quite noticeable. On the other hand, i didnt really notice that the hd5 was slightly fatter than the other two because it's general shape actually had a better feel in my hand. And the feel of this tiny player is amazing. It's sturdy metal casing and sleek buttons made the other two seem cheap in comparison. The x5 in particular had such a fragile feel that i was afraid that i'd break it just by squeezing too hard. Also, the tiny control stick on the cowon protrudes out, making it (at least to me anyways) seem much less sturdy than the apple scrollwheel or the hd5 buttons. The third design category that the sony had an edge in is weight. It's noticeably lighter than both the apple and cowon, but an extra ounce didnt really matter all that much for a hard drive device. Aesthetically, the sony is a real beaut in person and it's dark screen w/ white characters gives it a refreshing contrast to the more traditional black on white display. With that said, it'd rank it second to the apple in looks, w/ the cowon (suprisingly for me) in a distant third. The x5's screen looked cheap and the slight curvature in the middle of the body just made the unit seem fragile. And because the apple is so common everywhere nowadays, its look has become bland and almost outdated, making the hd5 all the more attractive.

Having won the design category in a landslide over the other two, all the hd5 had to do was hold up in audio performance. Luckily, i had been traveling that day and had my sennheiser hd590's on hand so i could test out each player w/ worthy headphones. The highs on the apple and sony both seemed equally crisp while the x5 lagged behind. When it got to the mids and lows, however, the hd5 definately had a deeper thump than both the competitors. The only gripe i had w/ the unit was that the majority of the EQ settings work only with the native attrac3 tunes and did not work for mp3's. Nonetheless, even with only miminal control over the EQ, i was able to get the unit to produce the right settings for me. The max volume on all three were all quite close, so that wasn't as much of a factor as i had imagined.

So after winning both the design and performance brackets for my little test, it was obvious which player i would choose. I had little need for an FM player (since i never used the one in my flash player anyways) and didnt have a need for a video player since i have a psp for that. The sony was simply the best pure music player out of the three.

And for people who complain about sonicstage as being horrific and impossible to use, all i have to say is that it's no harder than the software i use with my iriver flash player. If you cant take the 1/2 hr or so to explore the software and learn how to correctly use it, then you're just demanding too much and are probably better off w/ the idiot-proof ipod/itunes combo. But if you have the minimal patience necessary to learn a fairly simple and straightforward program and are on the market for a player that plays music and plays it damn well, then the hd5 is for you.

- df813

June 18, 2005 09:28

4.0/5
I originally had the HD1 which has now been donated to my boyfriend "the mini iPod i s garbage" (his broke) campaign. The size and weight is slightly larger than the HD1 counterpart, but I like the new hardware interface.

Still not a fan of SonicStage as it takes forever to upload my songs (I let it transfer overnight), but then again, I do have quite a collection. And I must admit, the software is getting better and better.

As an MP3 player, I think it's great. It no longer requires the docking station that the HD1 came with, so for travel (which I do a lot of), this is a smart upgrade for me.

- kika128

June 29, 2005 09:56

4.5/5
Some other stuff was that the Sonicstage was pretty easy to use, took like 5 min to understand what was what. The transfer time was pretty short. The screen is pretty basic so a little 5 year old kid can understand how to use it. Like everyone else says the headsets that come stocked do not do the player justice. I don't know what some people were talking about not being able to play all the MP3 songs, well mine played without a hitch. BTW I was about to buy an ipod with my student discount, but then this little player with first not being an ipod, second removable battery got my attention. Basiclly if you want some great simple MP3 player that is not apple this might be your player. It could be an "ipod" killer, depending on what your needs are.

- sacking03

October 5, 2005 03:51
Terrible
0.5/5
I love this playey, the sound quality and battery life is just amazing. I think the sound is better than my old Iaudio M3 40gb.
The player itself is tiny and beautiful, I would love to give it a 10 star rating if is not because of the STUPID Sonicstage.
I already have a large collection of mp3 files on my PC prior to the arriel of the Sony HD5. I arrange all my mp3s in folders which I can easyly recognise, access and mamage. After the installation of the Sonicstage everything become a nightmare. First it take forever to convert all my mp3s into sony format and save it on to my hdd, which makes my 200gb hdd out ot space. and then all the song that are not English (ie, Chinese, Japanese) cannot display properly thus cannot be played. I spend a whole week try to figure out how to make those song display correctly while I wait for sony's advise. Luckly one week later(after uninstall, reintall the Sonycstage for few times and change the regional setting of my PC). Got email reply from sony saying, it is not possible to display Asian character on sonistage.(give me a break, I just mamage to do that on my own). Anyway, The real big problem starts here, Since I uninstall the Sonicstage, and reinsall it again, it won't recognise my Sony HD5 as a legitimate player for my PC and ask me to format my HD5. So, I ask Sony again is there a way I can safe my mp3 files on the player and the answer I got is-sorry, no. 3 weeks on and I am still trying to sort my mp3 files in the right order and to figure how manys mps3 I have losted thanks to Sony. If you only have limited mp3s and only play English songs then, Sonicstage is fine, otherwise stay away like plague.

- souwanaplay

November 6, 2005 08:48

4.5/5
I have been using a flash player for the past few years and finally decided it was time to upgrade. Since i was in no hurry, i spent a ton of time researching hard disk players. What i learned was that Ipod was an easy to use player that everyone had. Great job Apple marketing. I was looking for a player that had more substance than just "everyone had one". If the Ipod turned out to be a superior product, fine i will buy one. My goal was simply to find a player that was the best at doing one thing: Providing quality portable music. I will assume you have read the reviews on this and the Ipod. Therefore you know the basic pros/cons. I am writing this review for one purpose: to discuss my experience using the loathed sonicstage. I will summarize: IT IS FINE. I have three computers that i use it with, all you have to do is go to the sony connect store and type in your email address to authorize the computers. Then you can transfer music all day long from up to a maximum of 5 computers. Secondly, it is not slow - as long as you dont convert the files to ATRAC...my experience has been that the music has sounded so good in its MP3 form, that i dont even need to use the equalizer (which only works for ATRACs). The library is perfectly functional and transfers are seemless.

I read reviews about people complaining about the volume. This is BS. The only time you may have a problem with volume is if 1) you are taking off in a Jet and 2) you record you music in 64kb ATRAC sound quality.

This leaves but one negative to this player - the plastic top. if i drop it and it lands on this, it may break...so i need to be careful.

To conclude: exceeded my expectations and dominates all players.

- inglwd

June 21, 2005 01:50

5.0/5
Sony always surprises us with extraordinary products. They always start low then finish high.

This product has made significant impact on iPods domination position.

When Sony mp3 players are compatible with iTune or free of Sonic Stage, it would change marketshare radically.

- congly4nhandan

June 22, 2005 10:08

5.0/5
Opened the package today and transfered all my music from my computer without a hitch- The music is from every source imaginable and no problems.

Nice nice nice- goodbye mini!

I also was going to give it a nine (cause nothing is perfect). But to give a device this nice a 1 is just silly ! Enjoy!

- darno grim ccb

June 17, 2005 03:31

4.5/5
This player lives up completely to expectations of being an iPod killer. It's a very slick design with the high quality aluminum case, much better than any photos online, and much better than the iPod's plastic look and feel.
Sound quality is very good and the battery seems to last forever.
I wish this player supported WMA natively, or a plugin would be available to use Windows Media Player 10 for music transfers. SonicStage 3 is o.k., but still has its limitations.

- pdcl

August 29, 2005 10:38

4.0/5
I purchased my HD5 on Saturday, August 27th and am truly pleased with all of its features. The feel of the HD5 in your hand is very solid and gives you a sense that theres something more than plastic involved in its construction. I was able to figure out the navigation within two or three pushes, everything is very intuitive if youve ever had a player before. The size is fantastic, smaller that I thought I would be able to get away with.

This is my first big plunge into the big player arena, moving from a half Gig Flash MP3 to this HDD MP3. I spent the first night ripping about 50 CDs in my collection onto my computer since I have so much room now and dont have to be so critical about what can go on! The on the fly book marking is very simple and is more likely in my case vs. setting up play lists in advance on my computer. Searching for music on the player is very much like using the MS Media Player, so everything feels that much more familiar.

While researching whether to purchase the HD5, an iPod, the Samsung YH-J70 or the Cowan X5, it was a bit tough to figure out which of the products had the best compromise of features that fit my needs. I usually wind up creating an actual list of features that I really want in order to get through selection process and not get hung up on emotional response to things.

My need for this player is travel; I have been a professional traveler for a few years now, but usually keep it within the US, no more than about five hours of fly time per day. With relatively short flights, I have been able to get away with a small MP3 player and my laptop HDD. I am now moving to trips between the US and APAC, and am in the need for ten to fifteen hours of music play time capability.

A primary feature that I was interested in was battery life and this definitely drove me to the HD5 which has at least twice the real world battery life of the iPod. Good quality playback is of course a requirement, layout of controls and connectors are key as well. Since Im on the road a lot, I am always trying to reduce the amount of stuff that I haul, so charging via USB was important too. The HD5 seems to have faster charge via USB times than other players as an additional perk (came with AC cable too...not sure if this is true of the iPod). I saw on the Cowan X5 that there was a little adapter required to get all of the cables hooked up to it, this one item totally scared me off of this player regardless of all the high praise from user.

In terms of special features, i.e. FM tuner, pictures, video, etc, I wanted an MP3 player, not something pretending to be a small computer. I am not sure why I would want picture and video capability on my MP3 with a screen similar in size to my picture phone&is this really seen as a usable and sexy feature to people?


I was pretty sold on the HD5 but very concerned about all of the dissenting comments concerning SonicStage that I read online. In the end, I figured that every MP3 player that I had ever purchased in the last five years had come with quirky but functional software applications. I decided that I would just close my eyes and take the plunge and not get hung up on this one issue. In the end, the SonicStage software is just fine, it works very smoothly, imports and transfers tracks effortlessly and doesnt seem as cluttered with odd entities that I have seen in other applications. With that said, let me reemphasize a warning that I have read and have now experienced. If 95%+ of your computer based music comes from ripped CDs you will not be unhappy with SonicStage and the HD5. If by chance you are a music downloader and this music did not come from the Connect Music Store, your music is completely unusable on the HD5. Let me say it again, you have music from Napster, MSN Music, etc&this is all completely unusable on the HD5 because of SonicStages self impose license verification management protocols. Sure it would also me cool to have this player work on a drag and drop format, but I am not a sharer of music, I put it on, prefer for it to me cataloged for me so that I can logically search for it and delete it if I am done with it.

I have already ordered the aluminum hard case from PDAextreme.com since I will be throwing this into my computer bag and dont want to crush the screen now have a button depressed that entire time running down the battery. Other than this, I dont think Ill need anything else since its such a complete and clean gizmo!


Rational for dispatching the competition:

Apple iPod:
Battery life too low, lots of reviewer complaints about scratching of case and screen, too much junk on player&I think this degrades its usability and drains battery life, the shear number of accessories available allows Apple to give you nothing since you can be forced to purchase them from third party.

Cowan X5:
Since Cowan offers a high battery life version (the L ?) I didnt hold battery life against it, the proprietary loose adapter required for connection of cables at the base was my sole reason for taking this off the list.

Samsung YH-J70:
Not really available yet, but I like Samsung and there companies leadership so I always give them a look. Usability doesnt look to be quite a simple as the iPod and HD5 and I had some concerns on its robustness and cosmetic vulnerability as commented on by a reviewer or two. Truthfully, I needed my player now and couldnt wait for availability and additional information on this devise.

Others:
cNet had enough to discourage me from doing much investigation of the others as well as a general impression of cheapness I have for the Creative players and a boycott of all Rio players (really bad experience with a player from Rio where they had a bad, defective player, they knew it but were not interested in recalling it&did I mention that I HATE Rio?)

- shindman