Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"As someone who doesn't reside in the USA, I was wondering what would be the best way to get internet for my computer in the US for a couple of weeks? If it were Europe I know I'd look for some prepaid data. Is there anything similar offered by American carriers? A MiFi or a data SIM that I can tether from would work, but I'm trying to maintain a tight budget. Help!"
Sony's Nw-E507 is an exemplary display of Sony's lack of consumer respect. There was once a time when Sony =Quality, however now in the age of the technological proliferation of a plethora possibilities, the Behemoth of a once trusted company known as Sony has finally spread themselves much too thin.
Let's look at the device NW-E507. At first glance it is a removable device aka flash drive with MP3 playing ability. What they fail to disclose is that, even though the device itself if updateable, still refuses to play certain formats, such as in my case MPEG2 audio layer files.
Their intent with this product is to acclimate the consumer to use their poorly written program "SonicStage". Use it and you immediately recognize how unusable it is
COVERTING file formats. Try it. If you try to tranfer a file which is compatible (codec enabled within the device) to the device, SonicStage will perform the operation, only to display "CANNOT PLAY" on the device when you attempt to play it.
They insist on an unpoular codec ATRAC3 and do not support any other file formats other than MPEG1 audio layer3 files.
So when you decide to use SonicsStage to convert unsupported files, get ready for a long ride. First you have to use the software to convert the file. Wait, the conversion is rather slow. Before tranferring it to the device NW-E507 you must delete the previous files. Be careful. After every file transfer you have to select the Group where you want the file destination on the device. Otherwise it will create a New Folder. In other words, you must continually reselect the destination folder, regardless of whether or not you have been tranferring file after file to the same folde (group). Ok, well if you already converted it (atrac3 is the SonicStage default and only choice), guess what. It has to get converted again before being tranferred to the device. I typically listen to lectures which tend to be large files, and I don't want to have to be a geek to transfer file to a flash drive. Thats why I bought a NO-NAME MP3 flash drive player that plays anything I throw on it, and hold inportant files - all at the click of a copy/paste/create new folder.
Sony has failed to compete with iTunes when the time was right. Now trhey are taking it out on their customers. BUYER BEWARE. SUPPORT, EVEN WHEN AVAILABLE, WILL NOT LISTEN NOR SACRAFICE RIGHTS COMPROMISES TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR THE CONSUMER. Ileft out many other grievances, for lack of time. Good Luck.