Sony Walkman E-340 Series 8 GB Video MP3 Player (Black)
I did an A/B comparison of the audio quality with my SoundBlaster Live! sound card in my PC using good headphones (Sony MDR-84's). Even with the bass boost and equalizer tweaked, both the low and high end are weaker. The high end is more like a cassette tape player. It's not awful, but the difference is very noticeable. If you like sharp clarity and rumbling bass, you're going to be disappointed. At least there's no background noise at all. According to my research, this Sony has good audio quality compared to other players. It's sad that there just aren't any truly hi-fi MP3 players. The manufacturers seem to assume that they'll never be used with real headphones. Sigh.
If you pause before scanning, it scans much faster (2 minutes per second). This is very important for finding your place in long audio book files. The manual doesn't make this feature clear, so you're welcome.
You can scan backwards past the beginning of one MP3 into the end of the previous one. This makes finding your place in an audio book much faster.
It sorts files by file name and allows the files in a single folder to be played in order regardless of the order they were copied to the player. It remembers where you were when you power it off, but unfortunately, it does not remember where you left off if you switch from an audio book in one folder to, say, music in another, and then back to the book. It should automatically remember your place in each folder. It doesn't. There's no bookmarking.
It does NOT do that annoying fade in/out thing that makes you miss several words of an audio book when you pause.
I really like the two user-defined equalizer presets. I have one set for music with high and low end increased, and the other set for audio books with the low end reduced. It's very nice to be able to easily switch subject matter without having to manually adjust the EQ.
It's not much of a video player. Of the 12 .wmv videos I copied to it, only 4 played. You'll have to re-compress most videos to make them compatible, which is very time-consuming.
Color: Black
Model: NWZE344BLK
Enjoy your favorite music and videos wherever you go with the new compact and slim E344. Featuring a long-lasting battery, the E344 enables you to listen to up to 30 hours of music and view up to 4 hours of video1. Drag and drop functionality makes it easy to manage your music and videos.
- 8 GB capacity for about 2,000 songs
- Up to 30 hours of audio or 4 hours of video on a single charge
- 2-inch, 262,144-color LCD with 240 x 320 QVGA pixel resolution
- Supports MP3, WMA (DRM), AAC, and Linear PCM audio formats; AVC, MPEG-4, and WMV (DRM) video formats; JPEG image files
- One-year limited warranty
List Price: USD 79.95
Lowest Used Price: USD 60.00
Lowest New Price: USD 75.99
Lowest Refurbished Price: USD 49.99
Even survived the washing machine!
Had one for about a year now. Its not the perfect an IPOD but its close. It works well, its durable, easy to use. I even ran it through the clothes washer in a pair of shorts and after being dillagent when I found it in the machine I just ran it through the dryer, recharged it and it still works.
One odd thing is the radio can drop out and slow down every now and again. Its very odd. Last a second, its like a memory refresh or something. It would be nice to be able to create playlist in the device rather than through Windows Media player etc.
I wish it had an independant off on button.
Overall though its the best MP3 Player i have had in a while. Most dies within a year and never survive anything remotely as bad as a washer.
LOVE IT!
I own an earlier mdoel of this, from the NWZ series, and it is so easy to use, to upload music to. Lightwieght, carries a lot of music, excellent sound.
Nice Sound, Good Battery, Great FM Radio
This Walkman works very well. Comes with software that install automatically on Windows 7 (what I have). Converts any type of video (that I've tried) into small size WMV that can be played on the device, with simple drag and drop. Since this is a small screen I would not recommend watching long videos. Battery last long. Has a built in FM Radio that works flawlessly: that is, receives signals with incredible quality and fast switch between stations. The back of the Walkman is glossy and scratches too easily, so if you want, go find a cover for it. If not, just take good care of it like me.