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Sony NWZA818 - 8GB Video MP3 Walkman - Upto 30hrs Battery Life - Black | 
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| Brand: Sony
Category: CE
Buy New: £84.99
New (8) Used (8) from £66.99
Rating:  179 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 0.4 x 0.4 x 0.4
MPN: NWZA818B.CE7
Model: NWZA818B.CE7
EAN: 4905524442373
Release Date: September 14, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New in Box. UK dispatch, 1st class delivery
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| Features:
| • | SONY MP3 PLAYER | | • | 8GB MP3 PLAYER | | • | VIDEO AND PHOTO | | • | UPTO 2.4" LCD SCREEN | | • | IN BLACK |
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| Accessories:
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| Similar Items:
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| Customer Reviews: Read 174 more reviews...
 Wow! What a great player! November 26, 2007
Sood (UK)
95 out of 95 found this review helpful
Initially I fell in love with the ipods, having played around with the new ones; small, very intuitive menus and great looking, and that super click wheel (you really need to experience it for yourself before you know what I mean about the click wheel) - but after a long hard look at many reviews decided to go for the sony and boy am I pleased i did!
The player is very small and sleek, comparable to the nano ipod. Menus are straight forward, while not as nice as the ipods click wheel, its very easy to use - I never even bothered with the manual as if you've used any type of mp3 player its fairly stright forward to work out all the buttons. It works straight out of the box (after charging of course) - I found I had no need to even open the manuals/cd.
The player supports CD cover art which is a great touch, but it does mean you might have to get an ID3 v2 tag editor for your pc or apple to add the cover art if your mp3 files dont already have them (luckily there are a lot of good free/open source onces available). Once you add the cover art you can drag and drop the mp3 files as per normal in windows explorer (finder on macs).
The player has a small screen which unfortunately does *not* come with a screen protector - I would get one to avoid it being scratched, they are not expensive, any pda, mobile phone screen protector will do as long as it is big enough to cover all the screen, Im really surprised it didnt already come with one on. My other niggle is the hold button is hidden at the back of the player, so will take time getting used to, but its only a minor thing. Another anoyance for me is the lack of Most Played, Recently Added options on the menu, but again its only a small point.
Another thing surprisingly missing is a case. Most players at least include a sleeve or case to help protect the device, and I would have appreciated the same from Sony. When you spend that much money on a device like this, the last thing you want to find is a scratch on the finish, the first time you take it out of your pocket!
One of the things putting me off the ipods is its lock in to iTunes, this was similar with sony to its sonic stage/atrac rubbish, but luckily sony have got over their madness and you can use it like any other UMS device, i.e. simply plug it into your pc/mac and use windows explorer/finder to drag n drop files - couldnt get any simpler really. It was my main swaying point moving away from ipods. The player comes with software, but I didnt even bother installing it - I just drag n drop, and I'm up and running within minutes.
Sound quality is unbeleivable; really very good. The heaphones are the new type of in the ear headphones that goes completely into your ears and it was the first time I tried this type. I was very impressed with the quality and how comfortable it was on the ears, my only concern is the normal 'in the ear' headphones (you know the single lump) allows you to listen to your walkman at a relatively good volume while still being able to hear traffic around you (assuming your not blasting away at full volume). These heaphones block out outside noise so may be a bit more dangerous if your using it while walking/running/cycling. I suppose this is one of many reasons what makes them sound better, by taking out any distracting background noise. Apart from the safety issue, I really like the headphones.
The player comes with a usb charger which means you plug it into a pc/apple to charge it, but I can imagine this can be very annoying to someone without easy regular access to pc/apple. The player can be charged from the mains, but you have to buy the add-ons yourself. Having said that the battery life is fantastic.
For those of you interested you can mains charge through a cradle (which you can buy on its own - around 25 - or bundled with speakers - 70-100 unless your lucky enough to get the free speaker offer when you buy the player), or you can get a mains adapter which plugs into the player (around 10 and lower).
I got my player with the cradle/speaker offer. Amazon managed to bungle the order (maybe just the start of the christmas rush), but it eventually arrived. Incredible value for money - get it while it lasts! It also means for me, I can use the cradle to charge the player, rather than relying on a pc/apple - I can imagine it would be very annoying if you plugged it into your laptop, and the laptop goes into hibernation leaving with your player not charged.
The screen is a bit on the small size, but similar to the ipods. Probably a bit too small to watch too many full length movies on it. However it's bright and crisp and can be used in landscape orientation for viewing photos and videos. The main menu screen is well organised and playback screen displays cover art and a wealth of (ID3 tag) information. I like the fact you can browse your files and photos while the player is still playing music in the background.
*****
Bottom Line: Sleek, slim, very easy to use, incredible superb sound quality, plenty of sound enhancement options (accessable through the menu). Video very good. No built in radio, no voice recorder, no memory expansion slot (good 8gb storage space; should be enough for most people), no case/arm band, no screen protector or mains adapter included (usb adapter included). But the pro's for this device far outweigh the cons.
Overall a highly recommended item!
*****
Awesome!!! September 28, 2007
Iain S. Macdonald (Glasgow)
90 out of 91 found this review helpful
Just got delivery of the 4gb version of this model and it is jaw-droppingly good. Now if you see any of my other reviews I have a resistance to iPods because of the lock in to iTunes and have bought the Toshiba gigabeat and two Zens which I can safely say pale into comparison. This piece of technology is sleek, intelligent, has more functions than the Zen (all be it without radio) has a better sound quality than any mp3 I have tried out inc Ipods and well what else do you need. The display is crystal clear and stylised with a clear vibrant layout and cool graphics. Now with the universally accessed Windows Media player the transfer of music is as it should be, straight forward and uncomplicated. 33 hours battery life they say, well even half of that beats an iPod or Zen! Until now I was totally a Zen fan but after my experiences of them I am convinced I have finally found an mp3 that will meet the heavy usage requirements that it will need and have all the functions to last in the ever changing market place for a good while yet!
Buy this machine in any format you won't regret it!
Excellent Player September 25, 2007
saxacat (UK)
44 out of 46 found this review helpful
Just received mine today, direct from Sony, it couldn't be easier to use; plug it into a USB port and synch it with Windows Media Player 11 (a copy of media player 11 on CD is included).
Headphones are great and the sound quality is the best I've heard so far.
Fantastic package; Apple eat your heart out.
A truly awesome piece of technology (handy video conversion tip near the end) December 5, 2007
Billy Ray Valentine (London, England)
94 out of 100 found this review helpful
As personal reviews of stuff like this can be so subjective I reckon a little insight into my thinking should give you an idea of where I'm coming from and hopefully allow those who's brains roll along similar tracks to reach a nice, comfy mp3 destination...
#1 - I love my music.
#2 - Although gadgets are cool, for me they've gotta have a solid purpose. Buying one off the back of some ad campaign assuring me my life will be full of hot chicks and spontaneously cool parties if I get one just isn't me.
#3 - iPods are slick, no question, but all that relentless Apple hand-holding bo11ocks (must use your iTunes, can't use that computer, not sure about this format, drag 'n' drop? - you don't want that, etc. etc.) drives me nuts.
So with that lot in mind I've been trawling the net the last coupla months looking for a replacement for my trusy yet limited 1gig Creative Zen Nano Plus. As when making any informed decision you gotta list your main priorities, mine were thus (no particular order):
* Excellent sound quality - whats the point otherwise?
* Excellent battery life - if it doesn't last at least a week on one charge with a min 2-3 hours use a day then its toast.
* Small & light yet solidly constructed as i don't treat these things like miniture demi-gods - it lies around the house, it goes in my pocket, i'll drop it occassionally, etc.
* Must use drag and drop with ZERO reliance on one piece of software to add/remove files.
* Absolutely NO TOUCH CONTROLS - try flicking to the next tune or fiddling with the volume in your pocket, or even just working the sucker one-handed.
* Don't give a sh*t about extras like games/alarm clocks/radio/customisable displays/cover flow.
* Simple navigation.
* 8gig flash memory - not interested in having my entire music collection with me all the time.
Without beating around the bush, the Sony was the only thing that hit all these targets for me. So I got one. And it is indeed brilliant. Immense sound quality, literally plug it into your PC and your ready to go, battery lasts forever it seems, weighs next to nothing despite an all metal construction, viciously easy to navigate your way around, superbly simple menu layout, video looks & sounds great (sat through Eddie Murphy's Delirious and loved it), genuine value for money.
Problems?
My only real gripe is Sony's insistance on a proprietry USB connection, they got rid of that Sonic Stage sh*t so why not use a mini USB connection too? Not a massive deal & certainly not a deal breaker, but it is a needless irritation. However as this player is clearly a rejigged version of the NW-A808 and manufacturing processes being what they are, not to mention nothing being perfect, I'm gonna let this one slide.
People point out theres no on-the-fly playlist creation (although you can import them from WMP11) - a valid point that holds no water for me, just let the music flow. You wanna hear a particular song? Take 5 secs of your time to flick through and find it.
Video only supports mp4 at 320x240 resolution - again so what? The way I see it this means you know exactly what you need. Far as I know there's nothing out there that supports every popular video codec in every resolution so whatever you get your gonna be doing some converting and having a single format/res target just keeps things nice and simple. Bare in mind though this is a music player first and foremost, the video works and works well but it is relatively basic. If watching videos on the move is your bag you should be dropping 200+ on a iPod Touch or one of those Archos numbers.
There is one irritant that rises from this though which is the current lack of such a conversion tool in the package. Also Sony are way too vague regarding the whole conversion process and supported video format of the player - bad Sony. However being the solid, upstanding citizen I am, allow me to recommend using the excellently named WinAVI 3GP/MP4/PSP/iPod Video Converter! software. Costs $25 (or not if you know your P2P onions), but tried a few freeware things and this knocks them all into a cocked hat - as the old saying goes: pay peanuts, you get monkeys. To give you an idea, I used it to convert a 23min/140meg Family Guy episode from DivX to mp4 - took 4 mins on my laptop.
So to conclude: in the flash-based mini personal media player market, right now, click wheel or not, this bad boy sits at the top of the tree.
Thank you and goodnight...
Fantastic Buy! September 25, 2007
H. Brownlee (London, UK)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Recieved this today, superbly impressed. This is the first mp3 player I have bought and I am pretty much in love with it!
It is easy peasy (even for a semi technophobe like myself) to use, 2 hours after opening the box I am listening to pretty much my whole music collection on it.
The headphones are fantasic,I normally get painfully sore ears after 10 mins with most in ear headphones, and the sound quality is amazing.
I most definately recommend this to you ... buy, buy, buy!
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