Sony NW-S703F Noise-Canceling Walkman MP3 Player (Pink) | List Price: $189.95
Discount Price: $199.98
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Brand: Sony
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Compact pink MP3 player with 1 GB of built-in flash memory
- Supports MP3, WMA, AAC, and ATRAC formats; built-in FM tuner
- 3-line, rotating OEL display; Jog Shuttle dial for scrolling through info
- 5-band equalizer with heavy, pop, jazz, custom, and manual modes
- Measures 3.43 x 1.07 x 0.58 inches (W x H x D); 1-year parts warranty
4.5 Stars! Beautiful hardware, so-so software [Posted on 2007-06-07]
The Sony NW-S703F (Sony should really rethink naming their mp3 players)is a beautiful piece of hardware that boasts innovative noise canceling properties, great sound, and good looks. I was in the market for a flash player for exercising and I came upon a good deal on this particular player and I have been more than pleased with it. Here are some of the pros and cons of this flashy little device:
Pros
+ Innovative noise canceling function that really works! (note: noise activating function is only activated when using the proprietary headphones)
+ Great design and small size. The player resembles a futuristic looking lighter or a metallic pocketknife, its really eye catching and unique.
+ Excellent sound quality
+ Very intuitive to use
+ Cool graphical user interface and menu design, everything about this player looks modern and cool
+ Cool intelligent shuffle features, including Time Machine Shuffle (shuffles through songs from a particular year), My Favorite Shuffle, and Sports Shuffle (shuffles songs for a particular time span, say a ten minute jog. Sports shuffle also features a cool little animated jogging figure that even stops to drink water when you pause your music)
+ Jacket search - you can search through your music library by the album cover and it even plays a sample of the albums first song
+ Impressive battery life
Cons
- Sonic Stage software is not the most user friendly software to work with, but don't let the software prevent you from looking into this player, its not that bad.
- Proprietary; if you lose the headphones you lose the noise canceling capabilities. And like another reviewer stated these headphones will not work with any other mp3 player; this player will also not work with audible files, subscription music services, or netlibrary files, you pretty much either have to use your own music or buy music from Sony's Connect music store.
- Lack of accessories
All in all, I'm am more than pleased with my purchase and if you don't let the Sonic Stage software scare you away then you are in for a real treat, as this player boasts excellent sound quality, innovative noise canceling function, and a very eyecatching modern design. The pros definitely outweigh the cons. If you're looking for something different and eye catching than I suggest you give this player a go..
Great Player, SonicStage Sucks [Posted on 2007-07-18]
The other reviews are right on the money, but I thought I would throw my $0.02 in and mention that you don't necessarily have to use the included SonicStage software. voidMP3FM (http://www.drvoid.com/) is a 3rd party piece of software that runs from the player itself, and lets you copy your music onto (and even back off of!) the device without going through the PoS that is SonicStage. Now, this program was made for a different model of MP3 walkman, but the only error I've come across is that the track time displayed on the screen only goes up to a minute and thirty seconds - the whole song will play, but if it is longer than 1:30 then the displayed time will take longer to count up to that 1:30 maximum. This program also lacks the capability to display cover art, but for most this isn't a big deal.
Good Walkman if the noise-canceling part is not your top priority [Posted on 2007-08-06]
I own the not noise-canceling version of the Sony Walkman, which I love. Because where I work is turning into a very noise place I decided to give the noise-canceling sony a try. I am sorry to say I am very disapointed. I didn't expect the same results I get with my Bose but I did expect some noise canceling. Didn't get much at all.
Besides that it is a great little thing. It is very intuitive to use and resists wear and tear.
Player is Great--software has lots to be desired [Posted on 2007-08-18]
The player itself is great.
Pros-
long battery life
great sound
graphic equalizer
album icons
files are searchable by song, artist, album, release year.
the noise reducing headphones help on trains, busses, etc.
It has a built-in FM tuner!
cons-
It's hard to figure out how to tell it what order to play songs in. I've been frustrated by this.
The software isn't good. SonicStage is rather notorious for having bugs. When I bought this player, it came with SS 4.1, and gave me error readings when trying to delete some tracks from the player. It basically erased most, but not all, of a few tracks. So these few tracks showed up on the player, but would not play because the software had not deleted the entire file.
Secondly, there are some compatability issues with this software; some files won't work on it. So beware.
Gem of an MP3 player [Posted on 2008-01-20]
Having done quite a bit of research on mp3 players, I settled on this Sony unit, and I haven't been disappointed. As one other reviewer stated, the SonicStage software is not as user friendly as iTunes, but it's not as bad as some have depicted it to be. For one, SonicStage does allow you to easily transfer music to different computers, by using the unit as the transferring mechanism, and there are no problems with registering units like with iTunes.
A few points though:
i) from a practical point of view, this is a unique mp3 player because of the noise-cancelling feature. I know when you fly long-distance there are distinct advantages to using noise-cancelling technology to relax you and take away the constant drum of the aircraft engines, which allow you to sleep more easily on overnight flights, but believe me, the people wearing these Bose headphones ( - even the on-ear Bose 3s) do NOT sleep! I mean how can you sleep properly with huge great big cans on your ears? They are sweaty, don't allow your head to turn, and for most people they end up giving you a headache. The headphones that come with this unit, however, allow you to sleep...and also don't require batteries...and will continue for up to 60 hours! What more can you ask for???
ii) Sony only provides the unit and headphones. You really need the unit stand (available on Amazon) and also either the perspex holder with clip or the pendant to make the unit secure for moving around.
iii) this unit is not available through retail outlets in the US. It is available in Canada, Europe and Japan though. Consequently I'm sure repair is headache and getting accessories is not easy either ( - to get mine I had to use a friend in Canada).
Overall I am extremely pleased with my purchase though, and would recommend it highly to anyone who travels a lot and wants the noise-cancelling feature.
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