Sony 16 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)
From Sony
Sony¿s NWZ-A729 Walkman MP3 player¿s svelte design houses a gorgeous 2.4¿ QVGA LCD display that makes your audio and video entertainment come alive. The compact digital music player¿s 16GB storage capacity and easy-to-use menus let you store and quickly find up to 4,000 of your favorite digital music tracks, hours of high quality video, or hundreds of photographs. An extra long 36 hour battery life means the fun will last as long as you do, while Sony Clear Audio technologies and the supplied EX Series headphones help ensure you enjoy superior CD-quality audio clarity, even when listening to external audio sources.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #28628 in Consumer Electronics
- Size: 16 GB
- Color: Black
- Brand: Sony
- Model: NWZA729BLK
- Dimensions: 2.00 pounds
- Display size: 2.4
-- Posted May 22, 2008
Run an extra mile to the latest music, or watch a funny video to pass the time on a plane. You'll never be far from your multimedia with this sleek 16 GB Walkman Video MP3 player. Enjoy pristine audio quality and watch spectacular full-motion video in portrait or landscape mode. The attractive, slim-line player supports multiple file types and lets you control it all on a high-resolution 2.4-inch QVGA LCD with intuitive menus and simple operation. Small enough to slip into your pocket, the 16 GB built-in memory can store up to 3,800 songs, up to 62 hours of video, or hundreds of photographs, offering a great variety of multimedia entertainment wherever you go. A long-lasting battery also is included.
 Enjoy pristine audio quality and watch spectacular full-motion video in portrait or landscape mode. |
 Have a variety of multimedia entertainment at your fingertips. |
 Less than a half-inch deep and small enough to slip in your pocket. |
High-Quality Video Playback
Playback your favorite videos--up to up to 62 hours of them--right on the player using MPEG 4 and M4V profile at 30 frames per second. Easily view your movies, photos, and music information on the high-quality 320 x 240 display, which allows for easy viewing in either a portrait or landscape position.
Battery Life
With up to 36 hours of audio playback and up to 9.5 hours of video playback, you don't have to worry about running out of entertainment.
Compatibility
The Walkman is compatible with secure Windows Media Audio, giving you more options than ever for downloading and listening to music. It supports playback of MP3 and WMA DRM and non-DRM audio files downloaded from multiple sources. The Walkman also supports non-DRM AAC content, giving you multiple options for downloading music the way you want.
Clear Audio Technologies
Utilizing four Clear Audio Technologies, the Walkman reproduces crystal clear, CD-quality audio:
- Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) restores the higher sound frequency lost when creating compressed music files.
- Clear Bass enhances the bass sound while minimizing distortion.
- Clear Stereo reduces signal leakage from one channel to another.
- EX Series headphones deliver deep bass sound from a closed design that's compact, lightweight, and comfortable to wear, thanks to changeable silicon rubber earbuds that also help isolate outside sounds.
Time Machine Shuffle
The shuffle feature lets you play among songs from a randomly selected year. (Information will come from CD information that is downloaded from the Gracenote CDDB.) Or, use the first letter of the song, album, or artist to easily find the music you want.
What's in the Box
Sony 16 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black), USB Cable (22 pin to USB), MDR-EX082 Headphones and long cord, CD-ROM with Windows Media Player 11 and MP3 Conversion Tools, Quick Start Guide, Adapter Plate (for optional 22 pin cradle)
Outstanding MP3 player - Best I've ever used
This MP3 player is amazing. I've been searching for a replacement for my Nano who's battery only lasts about 1 hour per charge these days. I think this is a much superior product in many ways.
First off, the Pros:
1. Battery life. So far, I've been playing video and MP3s on one charge about 9 hours and the battery light is still 1/2 full. The statistics claim 10 hours of video and 30+ hours of MP3 songs. I don't know if I'll get that much, but so far I'm very happy.
2. My favorite feature of this player is that it does not rely on ID3 tags in order to catalog your music. The majority of my MP3 collection is several years old and do not have ID3 tags embedded in the file. My nano would not recognize these songs, but this player just plays based on files and folders. Adding music requires no 3rd party software, just a simple drag and drop in Windows Explorer. Couldn't be easier and I love it this way.
3. Sound quality is superb. There is a 5 band EQ, plus "clear bass" enhancement that really brings out the lows in
songs. The EQ really lets me customize my music to my liking. The sound quality is better than any MP3 player I've ever heard. Sony hit a home run on this player!
4. The video feature is outstanding. 2.4" LCD screen is bright and colorful. I didn't buy it for the video capability, but it's surely a cool bonus.
5. Navigation is a cinch. I didn't even need to read through the instructions and I was able to navigate all the menus in a few short minutes. The buttons on the unit are firm and responsive, and feel like they'll hold up for years. The volume and hold buttons are on the side of the unit and are easy to access.
6. The player will bookmark your movie file for you. So if you stop a movie and switch over to playing MP3, and then later on want to continue you movie, it will start up where you left off. Nice feature. And when the unit is powered off, and then powered back on, it remembers where you were in your last MP3 song (I've read that some Sony units won't do this, but this one does).
Cons:
1. The file transfer speed seems pretty slow to me given it's USB 2.0. Takes about 3 minutes to transfer a 500MB movie. About 50 seconds to transfer a standard MP3 album. Not a huge deal, but my Nano was much quicker.
2. When you unplug the player from the USB cable, and have hundreds of files on it like I currently have, it has to build the library, which can take up to 30 seconds, before you can access it. Again, a minor quirk, but nothing is perfect!
3. No FM radio, no recorder. I can live without these features, but they may be more important to other people. If keeping these features off the unit allows for more battery space, that's fine with me!
All in all, I'd highly recommend this player to anyone looking for a high quality, great sounding MP3 player that does not require special software (re: iTunes) to run.
terrific little player
This digital walkman is not jam-packed with features. However the features it does offer are executed better than any digital player i've owned. It feels solid and well put together, the kind of quality you would expect from a top name like sony. Nothing feels flimsy or like cheap plastic held together by Elmer's glue. The buttons are all tactile and the feel/action of the buttons are all top notch. It is also very lightweight. By comparison, I owned the 16GB Creative Zen before returning it. Build quality was poor, specifically the button action of the direction pad. The Zen was riddled with problems (probably due to software programming more than anything).
This Sony unit has a bright 320x240 resolution 2.4" screen. Images and video can be viewed with 3 orientations; that is either vertically or flipped 90 degrees to either side for widescreen. This is great for people who want to operate the controls with either hand during playback.
Menus are very easy to read and navigate through. The "Now Playing" information screen is customizable and shows you everything you need to know, including scrolling song title, Artist, Album, Album Art, Genre, and a Time Elapsed bar.
Because this unit uses flash memory the song recall is lightning-quick. play/pause happens instantly when pressed, and returns to the exact point in that song if the unit has been shut down and turned back on. Power on is so fast it seems as if the unit never actually gets shut off, but just goes into permanent standby. If you power off and put on the hold feature, the player turns on automatically when hold is turned off. battery life is 33 hours with music, 9.5 hours with video. My understanding is that this is great battery life for a single charge. Full charge takes 3 hours, 80% charge occurs in 1.5 hours. Device can be used as MTP for drag-drop from WMP 10 or 11.
Now to the best part of this player: the sound quality. Bar none the best sounding MP3 player on the market. You will be blown away. The player offers many EQ settings including 5 bands, 2 fully customizable EQ's and a 3-notch bass boost feature. The supplied ear buds are some of the best included with any player, so you should not have to upgrade.
I have not used the video feature yet so i cannot comment on its capabilities. The player takes either MP4 video or H.264. The player does not feature a line-in or a voice recorder. For $[...] more you can get this with bluetooth capability. Don't get it if you don't need it because Bluetooth drains the battry.
Great little player. Not brimming with extra features but executes everything it does perfectly. Highly recommended.
Best sounding currently in market IMO
I have Rio karma and it has been going strong for 5 years now. However i was in market for a player that would replace this awesome player. So i reviewed Ipod touch, Creative Zen, Cowon D2 , Iaudio and Sony A729. Here is what i think about the Sony A729
Best features:
Sound: The sound quality of the this player is phenomenal. It is close to Rio karma ( Which IMO is the best DAP ever). The clarity of highs and the bass is just exceptional. I use UM2s for listening. The packaged headphones are excellent. so for average user they don't have to upgrade. The sound without EQ will be sufficient for most users. for crictical users there is a 5 band graphic eqaulizer. The clear bass is well executed without bloated bass you used to get with Mega Bass. Clear stereo is also a good feature. Manual says it works with only packaged head phones but i have kept it on for my Um2s and see a bit of difference. The DSE is good feature but i have tuened it off since i use cutom EQ and don't want too much clutter with other treatments.
Headphones: The included sony EX headphones are really good and you don't have to replace them. They don't seal well as UM2s but they handle the load well
Screen: The screen is bright and vivid and shows album art and detailed track information
Music DB: You can drag and drop music using windows explorer(UMT), Use WMP 11 or included Media manager. Each has it quirks i will explain later. The songs can be categoried by Album,Song, Artist, Year , Genre folder.
Responsiveness: As it is a flash player the response is instant. There is no power off button. However holding the Option button will put the player in standby. The battery life is about 30 hrs which is good for 3-4 days worth of playing without charging. The songs are bookmarked and start at the same place when you exit standby.
Video/Pictures: I don't fancy wathcing Video on such small screen. But the demo video was crisp and quality is good.As i won't using this player for either of these features i can't comment on that.
Build quality: It is typical sony build. Nice metal finish on the top side and hard plastic on the back side. The seams are flawless and it feels light and solid.
Not so Good features:
Price: It is expensive player and comes with no accessories. I spent about $100 bucks additional for Ac adapter, Leather case, Protection screens.
Transferring music using windows expolrer: you see the player as USB drive with following folders in addition to others : MUSIC, PICTURES, PICTURE, VIDEO etc. You just drag you music folder into music directory and you are set. It supports 9 level hierarchy for music categorization. However i found that when you use this feature the Now playing screen doesn't display year for the music track. Not sure why . I use ID tags 3.2
Transfer using WMP 11: When you connect player go to sync tab and register your player and transfer away. The major problem was i couldn't get it to stop synching and only transfer music i put in sync list. I had about 40 GB in my folder and it tried to transfer all music. I still can't figure out how to disable the automatic sync. Also i think it gives
incorrect information on space remaining on player. Also you have to use WMP 11 to tranfer playlists.
Transferring using media player 1.1: I hate to say but this is the best way to tranfer music. The space remaining on player is more accurate.The ID tags are transferred correctly. You can update album art correctly. However the transfer is slow and UI freezes often. So you have to be patient. Also if you do have good quality Mp3s disable Senseme analysis or else ternafers will be at a crawl pace.
In general transfers are slow even on USB 2.0.
Bluetooth: Eventough this player came without bluetooth, just a note to those who would think of getting A829. The bluettoth is just for playing music and it compresses already compressed music so sound quality will suffer. If it was used to tranfer or share music i would have got A829. Maybe it will be firmaware update.In its current state it is just a gimmick.
Other shortcommings:
1)No on the go playlist. This is a must for me. Maybe they will include in next firmware.
2)No FM radio ( not that i listen to radio often but nice to have in need).
3)No ability to manage tracks in player. You have delete/modify tracks using WMP11 or media manager 1.1 or explorer
4) Equalizer. It is a good start , but is not parameteric and increases in steps of 1 and goes upto 3 only.
Conclusion: Sony A729 is worth every penny if your main goal is to listen to muic as it was meant to be listened. It has excellent sound quality and good battery life and built solid. It is the only player that came closer to the phenomenal sound quality of Rio karma. It is far superior than Ipod touch and other players in market currently. Cowon is close second. So i would recommend this player Highly
