Sony Walkman NW-E407 1GB MP3 Player - Blue

On the face of the player is the display and 2 small buttons. The display is bright, clear and easy to read. The first button is the Search (whilst in play mode) and Menu button (whilst in stop mode). The second button changes the display - you can choose between track details, the time/date and even floating bubbles. Both of these buttons are quite fiddly to operate, but you soon get used to this. On the back is a recessed button which toggles the Repeat/shuffle modes and also lets you choose between 3 sound settings which can be preset using the Menu botton. It helps if you have fingernails to operate this one!

With your player you receive a plastic belt clip, a pair of earphones, a USB cable, a small bag to keep your player in, lots of instructions in numerous languages and a cd which contains a manual for both the player and the Sonicstage software. To be honest I found the Quickstart guide a little confusing. My advice is to plug the player into your computer via the USB cable (this charges your player), place the cd into the drive, and follow the instructions.

I have read here on Amazon of various problems with Sonicstage but I personally so far have not had any problems, although this is Sonicstage 3 so perhaps Sony have finally got it right. Ripping cd's is oh so easy, and very quick. The software even remembers which tracks you have already transferred each time you connect the player. There is also an easy download function, for Sony music of course! I particularly like the function which automatically extracts from a central database the album details, including who sang and who wrote each track, which are transferred to the player. You can of course type your own details if you wish.

So far I have transferred 263 tracks using Atrac3plus at 64kbps, and used up just over half of the 1Gb memory. Quality is very good in my opinion. I cannot really tell any difference from the original cd. Battery life is excellent with a claimed 50 hours not being too far off the mark from a full 2 hour charge. There is a 3 minute fast charge for a claimed 3 hrs playback, but I cannot so far confirm if this is correct.

I found the supplied headphones perfectly adequate, although I did invest in a pair of Sony MDR-EX71SL phones which are better, but not £25 better.

A music mad work colleague asked to try my player using the supplied phones - just for one track. 45 minutes later I virtually had to restrain him before I could get it back. I now have to hide it in the bottom of my desk drawer to prevent him testing it a little more. In short a great little player. Go on, treat yourself, you deserve it - unless of course you want to wait a little longer for the sister model with built-in radio. Personally I would save my money and stick with the NWE407.

30 mins after loading up the software i was confidently saving tracks to my library and transferring to my mp3 walkman. The software is dead easy to use. The only problem i have had is that some tracks on some cd's will not copy across but that's probably a problem with the cd.

The unit itself is very easy to use and is just like sifting through files on your computer. All the controls are quick and easy and the sound is great. Its also great to be able to scroll through the artist/track etc and see what is playing or to find what you want easily. Some (well known) mp3 players don't have this facility.

Here's my only (minor) problem. The earphones are the type that are shorter on one side than the other so that the wire then comes under your chin. I use mine when i am running and find that the earphone on the shorter lead (left) sometimes pulls out.

Anyway a fantastic player and would recommend it very highly particularly for the technologically disadvantaged like myself.