Buy Sony 4 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)Sony 4 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black) Product Description:
- High Quality Video Playback at 30 frames per second
- 2.0" QVGA LCD Screen
- Compatible with Secure Windows Media Audio
- Up to 33 Hours Battery
- Video Codec Support: MPEG 4, AVC Baseline
Product Description
Enjoy an unparalleled audio and visual experience with the NWZ-A816BLACK Walkman Video MP3 player. The slim-line player is compatible with multiple audio file formats and includes built-in Clear Audio Technologies and EX Series headphones so you can listen to your favorite songs in crystal clarity. The 2" QVGA LCD screen9 allows you to view videos and photographs in rich color, either horizontally or vertically. Small enough to slip into a bag or pocket, the 4GB1 NWZ-A816 Walkman Video MP3 player can store up to 2,300 songs, hours of video, or hundreds of photographs2, giving you the delight of multimedia entertainment anytime, anyplace.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
52 of 55 people found the following review helpful.
The best sounding MP3 player I have ever heard.
By L. Chen
The Sony NWZ-A816 stands in the middle of the newest NWZ-A810 series. The bad news is that it is made in China, which might give you some bad feeling about the quality. However, to me, the bad news simply ends here. The moment I opened the package, I felt a high-quality slick mp3 player on my hand, which did not remind me of inferior "made-in-china" products I used to purchase a couple of years (or even a couple of months) ago. The packing of the Sony mp3 walkman was same or better than Creative's Zen Nano's package. I also like the stylish body design, which makes me feel that I am out of the crowd of ipods, with style. I purchased this Sony solely for the sound quality. The first listening (before the battery was charged. Sorry, I can't wait) immediately convinced me of its first-rate sound quality.Let me tell you something about my stereo equipment background. I started with Technics receiver 20 years ago and slowly upgraded my sound equipment to today's Adcom, Integra Research preamp with Classe amplifier. I have owned and therefore have listened extensively many receivers and separates including Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, Adcom, Parasound, Acurus, Classe. Each time I made my upgrade, I really listened carefully and made my choices. Also, my music favor is classical. I go to San Francisco Symphony Hall to enjoy fairly frequently classical music (and occasionally, pops). My standard to the music production is based on actual music concerts. Whether a set of sound equipments is good depends on how close they can reproduce the sound to the real instruments and human voices. I think that many mp3 players on market would not satisfied me with my taste. I do own (or used to own) Sandisk (so-so), Samsung (not-bad), several Creative mp3 players (ok to good) and Sony's thumb-drive like mp3 player (very good). Among them, the Sony's sound quality shined. My wife, my parents and all of my relatives and friends who listened to that Sony's thumb-drive mp3 player agreed with me. The Sony's sound character is not only clean but also with excellent mid-frequency texture. Its mid-frequency clarity and strength are essential for real-instrumental music. Also Sony's high-frequency part is every smooth. By comparison, even the second best sounding mp3 player like ipod would sound metallic or mechanical.The Sony NWZ-A816 I am reviewing now has all the good characteristics of Sony, plus that it has a little bit higher resolution. Also compare to Sony's thumb-drive mp3 player (A killer deal of $29 from Staples), this one sounds a little bit on the bright side, but with better detail and clarity. (If you think you can get more details by raising the high, try again!) The Bass is also clean and accurate. It is not very strong but you do hear the bass. If you need to feel the (strong but accurate) bass, buy yourself a fine amp with a fine subwoofer. Among all the mp3 players I have audited, including the newest ipod video, only this Sony reminds me of the concerts that I have been listening to in San Francisco Davis Symphony Hall. Also, it feels great in your hand. The operation is easy and intuitive (Thanks to the big and clear LCD). Even the earphone that comes with it has an excellent quality and performs satisfactory. My Shure E2 earphone performs just a little bit better with stronger highs (a little too strong) and firmer bass. But the Shure earphone alone costs $80.I played the build-in Spiderman 3 trailer video. The result meets or exceeds my expectation from this small screen. The sound from the video reminds me my hometheater sound system! Again, you can hear the bass but not feel it. The photos also look wonderful. It is not surprising since Sony needs to match the quality of this mp3 player to other Sony lines. The viewing angles for video and photo is just average. The colors and contrast become shifted from 85 degrees and on. You may change the orintaion of the picture or video so that you can view them in landscape. Those can be easily done by pushing the "option" button. The directional control pad may not be as cool as ipod's rotating touching controls. But to me it is the most convenient control design so far. Once attached to the computer (using proprietary USB wire), it will be recognized by your PC as a "Walkman" folder (or drive-like folder). You can drag-n-drop your mp3 collections directory into "Walkman"'s music sub-folder. You may create up to 6 more sub-folder level to organize your songs! I like this operation. The Creative mp3 players have this feature long ago. I wish it also has FM tuner and voice recording features. However, I actually seldom use them on my Creative mp3 players. So they should not be important to me. In a word, there is not a single inferior design that triggered me a second thought on this Sony. I would rate this Sony a solid 5 stars with no reserve! One more tip: please use at least 192kps level for mp3 files. This Sony CAN and WILL make you easily tell the difference between 128kps files and 256kps files! No wonder Sony used all 256kps mp3 files for the demo songs!
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
5 Star Sound
By Darryl Pierce
I wanted to give this Player a 5 Star Rating because it sounds so good right out of the box. You don't have to upgrade the headphones as you do with many other players. The included earbuds sound great and almost made me take my V-Moda Vibes back to Costco, but the Sony's have a slightly different sound ( little more bass) , and they are a little bigger than the Vibes.I read a lot of reviews at different websites and I thought many of the reviewers were just blowing smoke, or the retailers were just publishing the positive reviews. Many of the reviewers said this was their first player, so I figured what heck do they know about MP3 players. So after I got mine, I loaded 51 of my favorite songs and proceeded to listen via my V-Moda Vibes Earbuds.I also went back and listened to my Sony mini disc player just to compare the sound and have a reference point.All I can say is wow, what an experience. I wanted to put the unit down after about 2 hours of listening and go to sleep, but I couldn't. I listened to all 51 songs ( some multiple times) until 3:00 am, the day after Christmas. I heard new detail and clarity that I had not heard before,and even at low volume. I just got lost in the music and forgot I was listening to an MP3 player. Incredible Sound and dead silence in between songs,no hiss or digital artifiacts creeping into the sound.It reminded me of the first time I heard a Professional Series Casette Walkman ( About $ 400.00) back in the 80s.The volume range on the player is 0 - 30. I found that 10 is very comfortable, and the sound is even good at lower levels, which with most of my other players, is not the case.The player has 5 Pre Set EQ Settings and 2 Custom Setting ( great for different users, or different headsets if you use a different set for working out,vs general listening)It also has some other sound processing settings that compensate for some of the differences in bitrates rates on the MP3 files. It has a feature called DSEE ( Digital Sound Enhancement ?) that almost sounds like cross between BBE processing and DBX Processing. It would not surprise me it was either or. It also has built in Surround Sound Options ( I am assuming for the Videos) ,Sound Normalizer and Clear Sound. They all do something so you have to experiment with settings to get the sound you prefer. The good thing is when you scroll over a setting, the player changes the sound to let you preview that setting before you actually select and keep the setting. My initial listening was with the default factory settings and I was very happy with the sound, but I have now made adjustments to compensate for the headphones I use.There have been some complaints from other reviewers about the length of the headphone cord even with the extension cord. I agree, it is shorter than most cords, but there is an upside to the length that I only noticed today. If you are excercising or working in the yard with these earbuds, you don't have to worry about getting the cord tangled or snagging on something because the cord stays close to your body. There are times when I wish it was about 3 inches longer, mainly when walking. Since there is no belt clip, the player has to go in the pocket for now.Now back to the player itself. It is easier to navigate than the 600 series. ( I have both). The click wheel on the 800 series is more tactile than the controls on the 600 series players and doesn't require as much thumb movement. I have never used an Apple Ipod, but most people talk about the click wheel on the Ipod and how easy it is to use, I can't imagine anything much easier than this Sony player's click wheel,and I have used a ton players, other than Ipod.This the fastest and most reponsive player I have used. I have many others, but they all have that awful boot time before you actually can play music. The Creative Zens will start fast if it's not a complete cold start, but this player will start about 5 seconds after you hit any key from a cold start, and faster after you have been using it, and power it off for moment. I you advance to new track , it is quicker than most of my other players. (It takes about 15 seconds for my Zen Micro to start cold and about 20 secs for the IRiver HD 320.)It sync's really fast using Media Player 11, and also allows you to drag and drop music which is big shift for Sony digital music players.Displays Album Art and file details. I did not have any lock ups or freezes when trying to sync the player. The paperwork included with player says there is a a firmware upgrade availalbe now, but I see no need for it, but if you buy music online, you might want the firmware upgrade.The player displays Photos and Videos and I have used both features. You can view photos and listen to music at the same time.This easiet way to get the photos on the player is to Drag and Drop them into photo folder via Windows Explorer.I also moved a couple of videos to the player. This is not easiet process unless you just happen to have a lot Mp4 Vidieo Files stored. I used a program that I use with my PSP to convert video formats to whatever format you need. Once you get the video on the unit, it is crytal clear, although with a screen this small you probably wouldn't want to watch full lenght movies on it. I din't buy this player to view videos or view photos, but it is a nice option.The build quality of this player is awesome and almost makes you want to treat it like a fine piece of jewelry. Therein lies another problem, there are not many accessories including cases for this player, so remember that if you buy this player. I am currently using the little case that came with my V-Moda Earbuds. If I didn't say it before, this is a really small player. Another reveiwer commented that she almost took it back because it was "so tiny", but ultimately kept it because it sounded so good. Even after reading those comments, I was surprised at how small it was when I opened the box.This player is small enough to fit in the coin pocket of most mens pants which is where I have it most of the time, but I am also afraid of damaging it so I will be ordering the case from Sony, which is the only case I have seen available so far.The player does not have a power light to let you know that it is on, but uses a fade in / fade out clock calendar display that you see every few seconds. (In order to save battery power, there may be a way to disable that feature in the menu)There are only four things I don't like about this player, but I knew about 3 of them before I bought the unit so I can't be too hard on Sony.1.) Proprietary Cable for Charging Battery and Connection to PC - I have an idea why they did this and I hope I am wrong. If they did it to make you buy cables from them, that is short sighted. That just creates ill will with consumers, and it won't be long before counterfit cables or cheap cables show up Ebay.2.) Lack of Accessories ( Cases)- This may change as the Sony units becomes more popular. I tried some of the Ipod Nano Cases and while they will protect the player, they make it hard to use.3.) No FM Tuner ( the 600 series has the Tuner) - The 600 series players offer the FM Tuner,costs less money, sounds just as good. Not sure what Sony was thinking here.4.) Headphone Jack on the bottom of unit. I wasn't expecting this, even the Sony 600s series players have the headphone jack on the top. I thought maybe this was done to keep all of the cables ( Charging/Sync and Audio Togther) but you can't listen to the player when it is being charged on your PC. I haven't tried charging it with a CAR USB Charger yet. I hope it will still play while being charged if necessary, but with an advertised battery life of 33 hours, it should not need to be charge very often. I have been playing it for two and half weeks now on the original charge.As I said earlier, I give the player 5 Stars for Sound Quality, Ease of Use, Build Quality and Battery Life. The proprietary cable thing and lack of a tuner concern me enough to lower the rating half star for each on the product, epescially when a tuner was included in the 600 series. I don't want to call the 600 series a lower end unit because it sounds identical to the 800 series ( when using the same headphones) and has the same interface except for the Tuner Screen, but the build quality is different, I won't even say that it is lower, it is just different and in someways better.My suggestion for you if you are looking at this unit is to get at least the 8 GB model, especially if you put any video or photos on it. The time machine shuffle is feature that works well if you have large collection of music. It is very similar to DJ Shuffle on the Creative Zen, and it will keep your listening experience fresh, as long as your ID3 Tagging info is up to date.Finally, if you are a person that really, really loves music and liked the sound of the Net Walkman Mini Disc players, and early Non MP3 Sony CD Players you will love this player. I listened to some of the same tracks on both players, this Walkman is so much better sound wise plus you get the convenience of instant access to hundreds of songs.This is a very good player and I don't think you will be dissappointed if you buy it. I had given up on Sony in the MP3 market because I was tired of converting all my MP3s to ATRAC. ( even though I like the ATRAC Sound) Also, the thumbdrive Sony MP3 players just didn't quite hit a homerun with me, but they definitely have a winner here, and no I do not work for Sony. I just pray Sony doesn't blow it by making a major design change( other than the USB Connection) to this player.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.The beautiful sound!
By Michael J. Nawa
First, I have to admit that I'm somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to how music sounds and how my tv looks, etc. As a result of this, this MP3 player is the first one that I have ever owned, and I have to say, I am SOOOO happy with it. The sound quality is unbelieveable. There are so many different equalizer settings that you can find the right sound for every type of music. The interface is a delight to use, and the screen, even though it is 2", is so clear and easy to see. The battery life is awsome too. I haven't charged it in 2 weeks now and I've listened to it some almost every day. Now, with all that said, I do have one problem. It is not that easy to add videos, not that I have found yet anyway. The main problem is compressing things small enough to put them on. But, I'm still giving it 5 stars because I'll work out this one small glich soon. You won't be disappointed with this purchase, it's worth every penny!
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