Sony NWZB105FBLK 2GB Walkman MP3 Player (Black)

• USB Direct Connect
• Multiple Audio Codec Support - WMA and MP3
• 3-Line Color LCD Display
• FM Tuner with Recorder Functin and 30 Station Presets
• Up to 12 Hours Battery Life

I am a complete novice to MP3 players, and only a little computer savvy. I have resisted the MP3 craze for a long time now because I am an old school audiophile and prefer "albums" to "tunes". But when my FM headphone unit I used for workouts at the gym crapped out on me, I decided to take the plunge, assuming they could be had with FM capability for the option of watching the TVs at the gym.

I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at how easy this Sony is to use, and how good it sounds. I did have to download an updated version of Windows Media Player, but once I did that even a tech dummy like me easily ripped my favorite CDs to my computer, and "sync-ed" the songs to the MP3 player.

And the sound is pretty good for a relatively cheap set of earbuds, with actual bass and good clarity. I'm not going to give up my multi-thousand dollar stereo anytime soon, but for car and gym use, it will do very well.

My only problem is finding an armband for it, seems any elastic armband with a small sleeve would work but I'm haven't found one yet.

[EDIT]I did find a cheap armband that looks promising, a Nextar MA-ASAB01. The Sony fits pretty snugly and is still accessible due to the clear plastic pouch of the Nextar.

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I'm not sure why others are having problems, but this item works great for me. I'm using Window$ XP, with Winodow$ Media Player 11. I plug the Walkman into my USB port, and it shows up in Media Player, ready to save music to.

I created a few Playlists, dragged them to the side (as Media Player showed), and clicked "Sync." Then all the songs were loaded onto the Walkman. It even converted my non-MP3 files into MP3s without me having to do anything.

All this *without* having to insert the provided CD (I think it's mostly a Napster free trial and the instructions for the Walkman in PDF).

I also really like the FM receiver. It's a nice feature that I don't think ipods have.

It also has AVLS, which if you turn it on won't let you turn it up past "safe" sound limits--I found the maximum volume lower than I might have thought was safe, so it's a good reminder that these little ear buds can easily cause hearing damage. (This feature is an option, you can blow out your hearing if you desire.)

I haven't had a need to use it, but the Walkman does come with a voice recorder that allows you to record a voice memo. It will also let you record a song off the radio--if you're listening to the radio and your favorite song comes on, just hit the Record button twice and the recording starts--sorry, it can't go back in time and get the start of the song you missed :-)

The last nice feature is the easy to twist "Hold" switch that inactivates all the other buttons. Since the others are so easy to push, the Hold switch is nice if you're jostling your Walkman and might accidenttaly bump one of the buttons.

I find the USB cover clips on quite securely. It has a nice little metal spring inside it, unlike most USB storage devices that just slip on and can easily fall off.

I'm taking a language class, and was able to easily move the practice tracks from the class CD to the Walkman.

The one main "flaw," as others have stated, is that it will not start at the same mid-track place after you restart it--this could be quite annoying if you are listening to electronic books and don't always finish a track before you turn it off. It does remember which track you are on, but will start at the beginning of the track only.

All in all, a great little MP3 / FM player.

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I was looking for a small, relatively robust MP3 player with superb sound quality to use while jogging or while traveling overseas. Ideally, I wanted the player to also have a solid FM radio that allows FM recording.

So, I read a lot of reviews and here are my impressions after using Sony for a month:

Sound quality:

The sound coming from this tiny player is very impressive, rich and full of details in mid-tones. Kudos to Sony!

FM Radio:

I expected that the FM radio sound will be substandard based on my previous experience with some other portable FM radios/MP3 players. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to hear jazz from the local Canadian Jazz.FM radio station (FM 91.1MHz). The sound was noise free and terrific for such a small FM radio. Wow!

FM Recording:

This player records FM radio in MP3 format (up to 192 kbps). Some other MP3 players that I had considered (SanDisk Sansa, and even some high-end Sony models) didn't have this feature. For example, Sandisk players can record FM audio but it is uncompressed WAV format. WAV "audio CD" standard consumes approximately 10MB of disk space for each minute of audio! I didn't think it makes much sense to record FM in CD quality as the FM radio is already not "CD quality", so why waste valuable storage space by storing 10 times bigger audio files?...

USB Storage:

I had no problem using this player on my 3 computer(s). Two of them have Windows XP and one is Windows Vista OS. No problem at all, just plug and play. I have to note that all my computers are up to date with software patches.

True, the device does not show as USB drive but it shows as "WALKMAN" in Windows explorer and it still allows you to copy files back/forth like with any other USB key. You can copy all your MP3 files to/from device using this method or use Windows Media player and do it from there.

You can stop your computer from recognizing your Sony player as a MTP device ("WALKMAN"), and recognize it as USB key (MSC device) if you do the following:

1) Plug in your Sony MP3 player, the computer will detect it as MTP device

2) Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager, find the player (it will be called WALKMAN), right click on it and Uninstall

3) Temporarily rename the file "c:\windows\system32\drivers\wpdusb.sys" (a windows portable device driver that comes with windows media player 10 or above) to something like "wpdusb.sys.bak".

4) After doing so, the Add/Remove Hardware wizard popup should appear when you plug in your Sony player.

5) When it prompts you to look for the install files, choose the option install it yourself rather than let Windows look for it.

6) Again, in the next prompt, choose to look for the install files yourself.

7) You should then be given a choice of installing it as a MTP device or an USB mass storage device, choose the USB option.

Your computer should recognize it as a MSC device now. I strongly advice you to make a backup of all files you see, as you might need them later..

You can also rename back file "wpdusb.sys.bak" to "wpdusb.sys"

NOTE FOR SONY:

As some people already noted, when powered on, player continues playback from the beginning of the last played audio file. You can, of course, fast forward and this is not a huge problem for individual MP3s but can be annoying for audio books or CD mixes where a single MP3 lasts 45min.

This isn't such a big issue issue for me, but I hope Sony releases a firmware upgrade to fix this.

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I was very positively impressed by the ease of loading content on to this Walkman, charging it, battery life, and audio quality. The earphones that come with the device are light and easy to use. I am happy with the 2 gigabyte capacity. The "hold" wheel lock on the back allows the push-button controls to be temporarily suspended, which is perfect when keeping the Walkman in a pocket while doing some manual activity. I am glad that I bought this product rather than some similar competitor products. I would recommend it, and consider it an excellent value.

This MP3 player is great, u don't have to use cables to sync or charge it. Has FM radio, voice recorder and u can even record your favorite FM program on a MP3 file. The sound quality is amazing (like all Sony's products) and is very portable. I don't know why most of the people prefer the iPod Shuffle instead of this one... and is cheaper too!. The only complain is that the shuffle doesn't work as expected.