Sony's Network Walkman NW-HD1 - the world's smallest 20GB MP3 player

So late last night the news crossed the wires that Sony was not only bringing their 40GB VAIO Pocket VGF-AP1L digital audio player to the States, but they're taking direct aim at the iPod (for once) with the Network Walkman NW-HD1, which they claim will be the smallest 20GB MP3 player you can buy (and yes it'll actually play MP3s — er, no we're getting conflicting reports) when it comes out in mid-August. It's not much to look at, but the Network Walkman is supposed to be able to get an astounding thirty hours of battery life on a single charge and have a retail price of $400. The press release is a little thin on details about the Network Walkman making it hard to say whether this'll be enough to pull Sony out of their tailspin, but all we'll say is that this might have been the best MP3 player of 2001.

[Rosie Plichta @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I'll believe it when I see it. It may be a cool gadget, but the Sony engineers usually put in their presumptive programming that makes it impossible to use with other formats.

[David Anthony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Why must you down any of Sony's attempts for a digital music player? I feel that they took the time and made this right. I am an ipod owner and happy at that. But I do like Sony's new sleek look taking direct aim at the Ipod. If they market it well; apple's market share will be carved in half. Sony's got it right this time; Apple has a solid player integrated with genious no brainer software. I love having options. It seems like the die hard apple fans can't take it that another cool device is about to come out.

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Hey, I love Sony but I wish that they'd done this a long time ago, and there are reports (we're trying to confirm one way or the other) that it doesn't natively support MP3 and that you have to convert everything to their ATRAC3 format first.

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

See Gareth's post http://www.engadget.com/entry/1512853428563728/

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Does the unit have line or mic input recording similiar to many of the Sony Mini Disc units?

[Jamie Shields @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

This new inovation from sony is a dream come tru the company. i am an owner of an APPLE Ipod and i hate it, the battery went dead on me within 10 months and i had to get it replaced which cost me 120 pound. I have heard it can only play in ATRAC format but i dont care because apperntly the new sonicstage 2.0 can change mp3, wma and wav... formats into atrac so we cans till put our Kazaa and imesh tunes onto the mp3 NW-HD1

[schav @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

... I have the original Sony Memory Stick Walkman and I am not suprised at their arrogance that they will be releasing this product without native MP3 playback. At first this player was cool... it was light, easy to use with its jog dial, and looked really neat. Even though I only had a 128 MB memory stick, I enjoyed it. Pretty soon though I began to get fed up with:
- Always having to convert songs from my MP3 collection to ATRAC before uploading to my device. This was so SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.
- Taking up additional space on my hard drive with 2 copies of the same song (1 in mp3, 1 in ATRAC)
- Incompatibility of the Jukebox software when I upgraded my Windows OS.
- Not only incompatibility but LACK OF SUPPORT AND UPGRADES for their software, the minute their product was discontinued (and Sony is constantly discontinuing models for newer and greater ones- see how many Memory Stick Walkmen models there are; better yet, see how many different Palm Clie's they had before they discontinued it altogether recently!!!)

I don't have an iPod even though I am an Apple fan. I am waiting for something even better and cheaper in the next gen of Mp3 players.

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Does anyone know how to convert your files from MP3 TO ATRAC?

[Johnny Depp @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

You stubborn, childish Apple fans. Always sucking Mr. Jobs' d1ck. Can't bear a defeat by Sony so you blast your competitors. Sony has more resources, more power, more money, more brand recognition and more engineering prowess. Sony Qualia kills anything Apple people could even dream of. You keep thinking Apple manufactures the iPod, but it is Japanese companies like Sony that provide all the parts. Of course the Network Walkman will have better specifications and better performance. Apple can't come close to Sony.

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Seriously, does it matter? I know that some people worry about sound quality, but all my MP3s are either at standard 256kbps or 192kbps Uberstandard, so converting to 256kbps ATRAC3 Plus shouldn't give me any sound-quality loss. Also, I'll only have them coverted when ON the player. I don't see the big deal.

I mean, it's tiny, it's gorgeous and it has incredible battery life. As a wannabe hacker I know would say, "Apple, you've been PWNED!".

[libby @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I was in Japan last week and bought the NW-HD1. Now that I am back in the U.S. I can't put the Sonic Stage 2.1 program onto my computer because of language conflicts. So I can't figure out how to get music onto the player. Does anyone have any suggestion for me? thanks.

[Docomo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

okay, so yesturday, I was in Akihabra....and I was futzing aroud with the NW-HD1, so I reach over to my buddy and grab his Ipod..... and I and thinking to myself...ignoring price, which one would I want?

Honestly, I would choose the Ipod. The sony NW-HD1 lacks the look and feel of innovation. 30 hours of battery life doesn't really have an impact on me...Sound quality was the same to my untrained ear......If you think the Atrac3 format won't be an issue, think again, I have a sony phone that can play music, but its a pain using the sonic stage program to convert things over.....oh, buy the way, if you have to reinstall your sonic stage or your OS and you don't backup your entire atrac3 collection AND have an internet connection, sonic stage won't won't allow you to convert more MP3's and so on........there are lots of little things about sony products that make them a pain in the arse to use, seriously. Sony could make the NW-HD1 an open format player just like the Ipod, but they don't, and there's many other small things they do that will limit how you can use their products.

Sony has a nice product, but its not doing anything different really, the Ipod set the standard and I while the NW-HD1, it would need to be priced well below the Ipod for me to seriously consider.

oh, and another thing about the Atrac3 format...theres something about it....something wierd....when I listen to songs at bitrates below 132kbs, the same song that would normally make me mellow makes me irritated....though I can't tell the difference with my ears, I can feel the effect. I think there's something going on with the lower bitrates that starts removing some of the full spectrum resonances and you wind up with somehting that is like add sacchrine to coffe....it taste sweet but its not quite right

[Aaron Schneider @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

As far as I'm concerned, the Sony NW-HD1 is an obvious step in the right direction but not perfect.

I predict there will be nothing truly "perfect" for another couple of years-maybe we will have to wait for the generation 5 iPods or possibly even generation 6. Basically the NW-HD1 player is excellent except that it supposedly only supports ATRAC files. It doesn't even matter whether or not this will be an inconvience or not to people. The fact of the matter is the "perfect" player would support mp3's, not to mention WMA or a future equivalent that isn't the proprietary file system of a company.

I have been waiting for Sony to come out with an iPod equivalent for a year or two. I currently have a minidisc player the MZ-E900 which I have owned for four years. It has served me well. Features that made me very impressed with minidisc player is the battery life of 25+ hours on a single gumstick battery. The beauty of this system is that not only to you get that much play time off of a single charge, but you don't have to charge the battery in the player allowing a quick swap meaning no down time in playing. It also has a small screw on accessory that allows 40+ hours of play on a single AA battery. That is theoretically 100+ hours on a lithium ion AA battery. Amazing. If you go camping for a month without electricity this can be very handy. While I am well aware of the downfalls of my minidisc player these battery life features are things that would be awesome on an iPod equivalent. Sony has stepped in this direction. iPod is miles away from this.

Another thing I must mention is the longevity of the player. This means a few things. One is that there is enough room for me to continue adding to my music collection for years to come. 20 GB is really not very impressive in terms of years of music collection. I would like to see larger size harddrives in the 40+ categories without much size increase. Apple is doing pretty well in this criteria but the NW-HD1 itself does not. Another longevity point is the durability of the case. The NW-DH1 looks pretty solid and I have been overall impressed by Sony's high end models. Might I once again mention I've had my minidisc player for 4 years, with a significant amount of use, and it is in pristine working order. The iPod on the other hand, you drop it once on anything hard (not shag carpet) and in all likeliness it's time for a new one. While the skins help, the thruth of the matter is that a player shouldn't need skins to protect it from everyday use. Instead of plastic and nice, shiny, scratch-able metal, magnesium alloys, or titanium are the way to go. While these metals are expensive, we are already paying usually a 300+ price tag and specifically $400 for this player, which might be magnesium (those of you that have or have felt the player could tell me).

The final item I will address is the price. The NW-HD1 is in the general price range of high end music players and often after a few months prices drop on Sony products, unlike Apple iPod prices, which takes years to drop (basically through new "generations"). In the future hard drive music players will become less and less expensive as seen by the 4th generation iPod. So my plan is to wait until they are all generally in the 200-300 dollar range, which will probably be about a year or two. In my mind the NW-HD1 is expensive, but I'm sure the price will drop.

To sum up, the NW-HD1 needs to support just about ALL types of common music data files and needs about double the memory in the same size package to be worth it. The other things I mentioned above such as a magnesium body would be nice too.

In terms of my perfect music player, it would be about 80GB, about the size of the iPod mini (too small and its harder to use and you can lose it), built like a tank and in the 300 dollar price range. Wait a few years. My bets on either Sony or Apple providing me with this perfect player.

[H?on @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Before I get branded as a "Sony hater" or "Apple loyalist," let me just say that I don't own an iPod or a Mac or any kind of Apple hardware whatsoever. What I do own are Sony products - I have probably 20-30 different models of Sony electronics in my house - and I would still defend the quality of their products. But this new "network music walkman" is for the birds. If I can't copy my mp3s - that I've legally ripped and organized from my own personal, legit music collection - in their ORIGINAL form to the player, and be able to copy them back to my PC - without ANY other recompression scheme, copyright intrusion, or format swap, then forget it. I have no interest in this player whatsoever; it's a pretentious, proprietary piece of crap. Sony's just digging themselves a bigger hole in the portable audio market.

[Vader @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

This unit transcodes all of those file formats. So in the time it takes to up load your mp3, it will convert it to atrac. Simple seemless and invisinle to the owner.

[australia @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

i jus bought this in japan...im back in aus now and i cant install the sonic stage ting cause my windows isnt japanese...help me somehow...

thx

[australia also @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

well, first of all i'll start by saying i think this looks awesome. as an avid supporter of sony, and the proud owner of a fine md player, this sparks my interest, because whilst i still plan to use md's for my stereo, i want a portable ROM music player. i would never consider getting an ipod, and i'm glad sony have now entered the market.

the fact that it's virtually the same size as the ipod mini, with the storage size 5 times the ipod mini, and battery life greater than 3 times any ipod, makes this product even more appealing.

as for the atrac thing, ppl, grow up. most of the music i put on my md is in mp3 format, the software seemlessly converts it into the atrac format while it's actually uploading, so it doesn't even bother me. and i am really impressed with the atrac codec. i say good on sony for doing this. i'm used to atrac, i think it sounds great, and everybody who sees this as some huge attrocity should get over themselves. as i've said, my net md uses the same process, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

oh, and did i mention that, it's a sony. the name you can trust when it comes to consumer electronics.

in response to ur qn australia, for my net md, i purchased an md player in the first line of net md's, that came bundled with the open mg jukebox, so i don't have sonic stage. however, corrct me if i'm wrong, but it uses the same sonicstage software that the new net md's use atm. so... all you have to do is find urself an english version of sonicstage. i'd try the net, to c if u can manage to score it for free from anywhere, but if all else fails, try the speedy spares thing that sony reccommends, for spare parts. they will definately have a legit copy of sonic stage, but you'll have to purchase it. i don't think it will be too much though. hope that helps.

[australia also @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

if you still can't find the english version of sonicstage, try going to www.connect.com and you can download the latest english version for free.

[matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

i have to admit that i was impressed with the ipod when i saw it two days ago, but ive heard the battery horror stories and the mugging target that is the white headphones and i personally cant see the fuss in digital music. I love mini disc and having owned two i'm now going to buy the discontinued mz-e10 magnesium player. it looks way cooler than the ipod and this new network walkman. Atrac3 is a fantastic platform, well i know it is on mini disc and i cant see it being a problem in didital either. as previously commented, the ipod is hardly open format, with apple's own aac and mp3. wow who cares, either wma or ogg vorbis are the formats needed thesedays because of their superior quality. I cant actually see a problem about converting invisibly into atrac anyway especially with firewire buzzing through at 420mbps and usb2.0 at 450mbps. its simple and you get the best sound quality so please get the sony and make techie apple heads shut up

[Trash @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

If you have any luck using the Sonic Stage 2.1 downloaded from www.connect.com with your Japanese device please let us know as i will be going to Japan in a few weeks and would love to pick up the device while I'm there.

By the way - just to add my comments to the debate. For me formats are not the issue as I only rip from my own CDs so the format they actually play in does not matter as long as the sound quality is good - and in my experience atrac3 gives very very good results.
I love my iPOD but:
1 - Battery life is a problem (I can't get a complete flight to Japan out of it)
2 - My 3rd Gen device has quite a lot of bugs which are just annoying
3 - iPODs are *so* yesterday... (I'm joking)
4 - Size is an issue - I'd like something that its into my inner suit pocket without looking like I'm wearing a gun.

The Sony appears to solve all these issues - even item 3 :-)

However the Sony device is not an iPOD killer - there's too much momentum behind the whole phenomenon for any *single* device to displace the iPOD (I believe).

Cheers...

[tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

though transcoding everything to mp3 seems dumb as hell (even if it happens during transfer it hits performance and sound quality) it might be one reason sony managed to make the unit run for 25-30 hours on a single charge. i guess i could live with that.. maybe.. maybe not considering how clumsy sony software tend to be. the software has to be good, and most i've heard about sonicstage has been negative. i've had a panasonic sv-sd80 for a few years now, and while the unit itself is a nice piece of hardware (tiny!) the riddicilous sd-jukebox software i have to use to transfer songs onto it pratically renders it useless.

however, sony making the unit unable to charge from usb, and putting the usb and power connectors on the crandle only is absurd. it means you have to carry the cradle around if you intend to plug the device to anything while u're out (let's say you want to use it as a portable hard drive between home and office)! gah...

given the choice between this sony and ipod however, i would probably go with the sony. long battery life and compact size are important to me. the cowon iaudio m3 looks ok too (at least it plays mp3 and what not).

[Jim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Having used a Sony NW-MS70D and SonicStage software for the past year, I have some worthwhile comments to make. I have seen many negative comments regarding the software and Atrac-plus. The Atrac format is a great one. The sound quality is excellent and any format that allows me to save valuable hard drive space on my notebook is welcome. Yes the previous versions of SonicStage were clunky, the latest version works very well and allows copying of tracks to an audio CD. At 500-plus CD's in Atrac on my hard drive, I cannot wait to get my hands on the newest Network Walkman.
Good Listening, Jim

[nw-hd1 lets go~~ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

im thinking of getting the nw-hd1 ive read alot about it and would like to ask one question... if i have for example music in mp3,wav,mid ect will all of these be able to play on the nw-hd1? i dont care if i have to wait 3 mins each song im just asking will everything play?

[cyp @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Are any differencis between american and japanese model of NWhd1 bec. on american site there isnt any remote controler with LCD on the cable(in accessories)?
please,tell me who has this nw... got if you have rem controller too...

[Larry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Regarding nw-hd1 lets go's question, the new NW-HD1 player will transcode MP3, Wav, and even non-secure WMA files into your choice of Atrac3 or Atrac3+ formats. It will not transcode Midi files as they are a different beast. Midi files simply contain instructions that require a sequencer to translate, rather than containing the compressed music itself.

[Chad Golden @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Hey all, I checked out the NW-HD1 at our company store the other day and my only problem with it is not being able to find out if it'll import anything w/o converting to ATRAC3. I have an MD player and while it's a cool little gadget, I hate the fact that I have to leave the songs on my HDD in order to be able to "check them back in" from the MD player. I don't want to have all that space on my drive just sitting there being occupied. I went so far as to erase all the files that I'd recorded onto one of my MD's and you can't delete them w/o checking them back in, which is not possible if they're no longer on your HDD.
Another thing that sucks is that you can make only one recording of a particular song file at one time. You can't make two identical recordings w/o checking the songs back in. I know this is to combat piracy but if my wife and I want to both listen to a particular MD while we aren't together...

[THINKVAIO @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I HAVE A 40 GB IPOD ITS GREAT WAS GANNA BUY THE NEW CLICKER NOT ANYMORE...I KNEW SONY WAS PUTING SOMETHING THAT WOULD KNOCK EVERYONE OUT..THANKS SONY..

[Botham's Love @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Listen, you guys all seem to missing the point. Fair enough, Sony make the stylish products, fair enough Apple has the monopoly strangle-hold on ther cool advertising, and fair enough ATRAC3 sounds as good as any other compression codec, but SonicStage sucks ass solely for the checkin/checkout facility. As rightly said earlier, if Sony don't even allow you to properly organise/control mp3's you've LEGITIMATLY acquired what is the point? At the moment, I have to wait HOURS to transfer tracks onto an NW-MS70D just because of compression, and even then it only gives you 3 chances to do this. If Sony are trying to bum themselves they're going the right way about it! RealPlayer promised a 'fix' for this problem, but it seems to work worse than Sonic Stage, in that it won't read ATRAC files from the device. If you guys know a way round it, this would be appreciated, but why should I be asking in the first place? Sony blows, Apple blows, they all blow, but no-one has a sensible answer to remedy the status quo, only needless ball-sucking of the guys making heavy dollar from our gullability. They can all go to hell til they make a player concerned with music, NOT extortion!!! And another thing, any of you retards who think Sonic Stage is good is deluding themselves into thinking they don't sleep with their grandma!

[AussieRick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Not only is this thing ugly, but it's bloody expensive too! It doesn't play AAC (MPEG-4) audio (the best quality for file size) either, and even antique MP3 and WMV files have to be coverted! No wonder the reviews and comparisons to the iPod have been bad! Just like Microsoft, Sony is also unsuccessfully trying to play catch-up with Apple! Is this the best that they can do?

[IXLR8 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Wen't out and bought the Sony NWHD1. Currently don't have any digital music player but have over 500 cds. This thing is sexy, looks expensive, and the fit and finish is Lexus like or better. I have installed the software and currently transferring my cds to the unit. It is taking aproximately 2-3 minutes per disc to convert from original uncompressed format to ATRAC3. I have already transferred about 100 and used all the default settings. It works flawless! Sound quality is very impressive, having high end audio and speakers I had some reference and I have to admit it sounds good! Most people would say it sounds great. I found something interesting not mentioned on the box. As soon as I plugged in to my pc via usb cable, before installing software, WinXP found the player. Under "My computer" I found another drive. I could access it like my pc's drive. I wonder why they don't market this...I am now storing photos and office documents. I quickly transferred over 5 gigs of stuff to my buddies computer by just plugging the unit. Bottom line I like the unit, sounds good. I bought Sony because I have other products from them and they have always given me excellent performance. I have been using it for several days, several hours a day and have yet to recharge...battery seems endless...I am sure there is a lot of good products out there from other brands but the size, features, battery and the name sold me.

[IXLR8 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Wen't out and bought the Sony NWHD1. Currently don't have any digital music player but have over 500 cds. This thing is sexy, looks expensive, and the fit and finish is Lexus like or better. I have installed the software and currently transferring my cds to the unit. It is taking aproximately 2-3 minutes per disc to convert from original uncompressed format to ATRAC3. I have already transferred about 100 and used all the default settings. It works flawless! Sound quality is very impressive, having high end audio and speakers I had some reference and I have to admit it sounds good! Most people would say it sounds great. I found something interesting not mentioned on the box. As soon as I plugged in to my pc via usb cable, before installing software, WinXP found the player. Under "My computer" I found another drive. I could access it like my pc's drive. I wonder why they don't market this...I am now storing photos and office documents. I quickly transferred over 5 gigs of stuff to my buddies computer by just plugging the unit. Bottom line I like the unit, sounds good. I bought Sony because I have other products from them and they have always given me excellent performance. I have been using it for several days, several hours a day and have yet to recharge...battery seems endless...I am sure there is a lot of good products out there from other brands but the size, features, battery and the name sold me.

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Man, why cant they make a good network player i dont have one or anything, i was gona get one, but im not to sure anymore. i want something small, something thats a tank, about 50gigs can stall all fomats and some pics if i wanna transfer some stuff aand a lcd screen, and has any1 seen or have "winamp" u can like make ur own list and stuff like that and organnise my music thats wat i want. something with style too and mattalic colours too and mayb a digital camera in it if thats possibal

Amen,
Can We have anymore Amens?

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I have been an avid fan of Sony's products since I received a Net MD Walkman for Christmas a few years ago; I have been looking for an upgrade lately, and this device seems like it would be the perfect choice. I don't mind converting to Atrac so much, considering that the most I ever really load onto the Net MD at any one time is a full CD, which takes a maximum of ten minutes. I can understand that some people prefer to have everything almost instantaneously, but I don't mind having to be patient for a good thing.

[Jonny @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I am a huge fan of Sony Products. I own about 10 Sony products from all across the board; computers to walkmans, and have always been impressed with their beautiful design. Their computer designs are, in my opinion, as close as the PC-World comes to matching the elegance of Apple design. Their new Network Walkman is no different in terms of striking design, and when comparing the NW-HD1 and new 4th generation Ipods, one can certainly feel the signifigant size difference; the Walkman is absolutely tiny. Now as for software, Apple's ITunes is by far the better program. No need for conversion to some company endorsed audio format, unless you are dealing with WMA's which, still are converted in a much better fashion than Sony's flashy, yet clunky Sonicstage. As for transferring the files between the computer and the device, Apple's ITunes is truly flawless (I can say this because I owned a 4th generation Ipod for a month). It is no exagerration to say that it takes only 10 seconds to transfer an entire CD. Since Sonicstage combines both the function of converting to files to Atrac and transferring the files to the NW-HD1 together, this process is much more timely... I would estimate 3 minutes per CD. Overall, I find the features of both MP3 players very comprable. The Sony is smaller, and with a much longer battery life, but the Ipod includes far superior software. So take your pick, you'll be happy either way...

[Trevor @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

The HD1 has finally landed in the UK. I got mine yesterday and first impressions are positive all round. I too have been an MD user for some years - always with a full CD or two to a disk. I have also started to use Connect since it launched here last month. So ATRAC has no fears for me. Sonicstage 2.1 is a great improvement over previous offerings but is still a bit clunky & slow. 'Check-in check-out' is a bore. The unit itself is great; small, light, a doddle to use with intuitive buttins & dial. My pc-stored music transfered faultlessly and reasonably quickly. Playback quality is fantastic. (I recommend better 'phones though - Sennheiser PX100, say). The supplied phones are pretty average and do not include a remote control. I connected my MD-NH1 remote and whilst some functions (volume control, for example) work fine the backlight doesn't seem to work. Any work arounds anyone? Finally, as to the iPOD debate, each to his own, I say. Both Apple & Sony have their proprietary systems for compression. I admit that I'm a long time Sony fan, but overall I guess I find my HD1 better on sound quality, battery life (I hope!), build quality and overall design. Buy one and enjoy it.

[Jeremy Tuck @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Ok, so the sleek look of Sony's NWHD1 Network Walkman is great. But despite being wary of entering the unknown world of Applemania - I bought the iPod. It's excellent! The main decision around MP3 versus Attrac3 is about where you want to keep your main track storage. And, yes, you DO want to store your primary tracks in MP3. This gives you all the software options proliferating the web for MP3 manipulation (e.g. MP3gain, which allows individual sound level control - better than general "normalisation"). MP3 means you can use your player to be the main track storage, without having to duplicate and clog up your PC. MP3 is also a useful choice if you want to add an MP3 CD player or MP3 car player to your toy collection. I have read hundreds of debates about Attrac3 versus MP3. And, let's face it, it's not about sound quality at all. Encoding MP3 at a bitrate of 192 is good enough for writing back to CD without audible loss. Although this means larger files and compromising on how many songs can be loaded, at this type of capacity it really isn't an issue (40 gig is rather massive). MP3 is a standard, which Sony will undoubtedly support later this year - but they have foolishly omitted it on the NWHD1's first release. Sony's "iPod killer" has ironically, become an iPod seller. A final thought: the iPod accessories really are rather good too.

[MIke @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I have the Cowon I Audio M3, and the software was great, and it sounds absolutley wonderful everything about it is great when it functions properly, but i'm sending mine back and I made this decision less than 36 hours after i had bought it because the connection from the inline remote to the unit itself is very poor and you will lose sound or the backlight will go out, and I had to try to push it in as hard as i could to get both to come on at the sametime. I don't know if this was just my unit or it is a common defect, but I am lucky enough to get a full refund with no restocking fee so I am taking my business to sony and hope that this ATRAC3 format doesn't degrade sound quality and that the Sonic Stage software is improved from 1 year and a half ago, when i helped my cousin with his mini disc player, it was HORRIBLE then. But the sony is so compact and you get such great battery life you almost have to give it a try.

[Yosh @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Sony > Apple.
'Nuff said.

[kathy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

i'm doing an ad campaign for sony's NW-HD1 for a graphic design class. the sony store told me that the average age/gender of the person who buys this product from them is most often 20-30 yr/men. do you think this is true? are most of you who have purched this product in that age category?

[tom rutherford @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

i have a nw-hd1...& a vaio dsktp. After loading the hd1, I noticed a few tracks showing multiple times when on "album" setting...they dont show when in "group" setting...can anyone offer a solution????? T.R. Or is this a glitch of some sort???

[Karen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I have many songs saved in my Windows Media Player - they are .wma files. Will I easily be able to transfer these files to the hd1?

[Cooper @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I just made the jump into a digital music player after years of compact discs, which seem to be going the way of the 8 track. I decided to go with the NW-HD1 for battery life, number of songs, and the Sony name. I have been a big fan of Sony for a long time, from my Vaio laptop to my home theater system. I already had Sonicstage on my laptop, so file transfer was no problem. I had my player for FOUR, count �em FOUR DAYS before the screen stopped working. I never dropped, kicked, threw, or otherwise molested the played in any way. Well call me silly, but I think the screen is a fairly integral part of this little gadget. I called Sony and they were less than cooperative in replacing my player. I did not pay this amount of money for an item that will last four days and not a second longer. I was sorely disappointed by my NW-HD1 experience. If you go with this product make sure you keep your receipt and the original packaging because I am sure that Sony will try and hang you out to dry instead of standing by their product. Buyer Beware.

[warren @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

just purchased sony nw-hd1 from florida @ a cost of $349 under the �200 mark ive installed all the software,here comes the intresting part put the machine in the docking cradle and charges the unit however after 2hours the unit stops charging and it wont allow me to upload music ive allows got the american power connector ive charged it via a power converter from 240v to 110 any help guys would a uk cradle charge a usa unit ??? any help guys as my son is going potty because my daughter bought a ipod with the bose docking station and its getting on his nerves

[Wuggy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I am the proud new owner of this amazing gadget, I have been asked on numerous occasions how to convert files, all you do is open the sonic stage window and go to Libary you then right click on a track and go down to convert format and press ok this will then come up with another small windown saying Converting once this has done the window will close and the file has been converted. Looks better than an i-pod, stores more songs than an i-pod, lasts longer than an i-pod, lets face facts - It IS better than an i-pod.

[Snoop Doggy Dogg, The Doggfather @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Hi, not being a regular purchaser of either apple, sony or any electrical gadgets, i decided to get one seeing how cool they are. After looking at the ipod, and noticing how many people had them, and ALSO noticing how recognisable the product is from the earphones, i decided not to buy one. the sheer size and bulk of them as well as the stupid clicky wheel thing is annoying. the quality of sound, yes may be good, but at the end of the day do you want to be seen looking like you have a shoebox in your pocket? The sony network HD1 was the answer... Small, sleek, and simple. No stupid games, no clicky wheel. Just a simple plain MP3 player that looks stylish. I agree, yes the software may take a bit longer to use, and to download all your tunes onto the actual thing, but at least you can fit this thing in your pocket and listen to it without being recognised.

End of story

Sony wins.

[bob @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

has anyone seen this on sony's webpage
http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?mdl_id=1791&news_id=63
says this
Posted: Dec 27, 2004

A firmware upgrade will be available for NW-HD1 devices to support �native� MP3 files. Please check back soon for further information about this upgrade.


If this means what I think it does, you won't have to convert to atrac3. making the sony a better buy in my opinion than the iPod.

[Dick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Any idea if this upgrade is out yet? I'm looking to get one of these in the next few weeks and I'd be much happier if it supported mp3.

[Dominica @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

Ok everything was fine, till I found problems wits transfering back data I didn't wanted on my Sony player anymore... as appearently I found no more space on my 20Gb HD :}
I had no other choice but formating the HD1 disc, and now I am not able to transfer any more mp3 to that pi**** Amtrack mode whatever!

Does anyone know how to make it work again, beside all those limits *#$@%^
Dazzle

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

It is about the network walkmans, does the network walkamns live up to there name and work on a network. What is the difference between the two 20gb network walkmans, all as I can find is appearance, weight and size?

[Georgie Bradshaw @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

I have a load of music saved in Window Media Player and spent ages cataloguing them into 'playlists'. Now I want to download my 'playlists' onto my HD1 but of course the SonicStage software won't recognise my 'playlist' can anyone help or have I missed something in SonicStage?