Sony NW-E99 Network Walkman 1Gb - Chrome

I had a Sony MZ-N10 minidisk walkman for about a year and never really got any use out of it, and decided to sell it and buy an MP3 player. I'm a Sony man and therefore it had to be a Sony. After going around the block and looking at other makes, including the iPOD, I came to the NW-E99. Its the latest from Sony and it has 1GB of memory.

Pros:
1. So small and dead sexy. Don't be fooled by the pics here or anywhere else, its much smaller in real life! Which is a good thing of course.
2. It has 1 GB of memory, plenty for me to store all my favourite tracks. It has a group function which allows you to sort all your music out in folders and you can name them whatever you like. I sorted mine into Soundtracks, R&B, Indie, Pop, etc.
3. Battery life is a ridicolous 70 hours from 1 AAA battery, if the music files are converted to ATRAC3. 60 hours for ATRAC3plus and 50 hours for MP3 files without any conversion.
4. Sound quality is excellent and I was shoked at how loud this thing is. The loudness issue was the only thing I was worried about before I bought this, but now I am going deaf!
5. This baby is so easy to use. The shuttle switch makes it so easy and pain free to navigate between tracks and groups. The volume is nicely situated at the side and can be easily operated when inside a pocket or underneath clothing.
6. It has a 1 line display with back light. Has all the usual perks you'd expect from the walkman brand - options to choose different display info, sound options with base & treble contol, AVLS, an internal clock, backlight options, beep options etc. you get the picture.
7. A cool kneck strap is also provided so that you can have the NW-E99 hanging from your kneck. Nice.

Cons:
1. The finish is very nice but it has one flaw! Finger prints get smudged all over it. Not a problem but a different finish would have been nice.
2. Although the shuttle switch is a great touch, the other buttons aren't. There are 3 small black buttons which control Menu, Group, Repeat & Sound. It's these buttons that feel rather stiff and just dnt seem right. Not easy to operate these buttons when you have it beneath clothing. To save frustration, I have to use both hands!
3. The 1GB of storage is divided in to 2 lots of 512MBs. This again is not a major drawback but just makes transfering a bit more time consuming. I'd have preffered just one drive with 1GB.
4. No radio.
5. The earphones provided are rubbish. To truly appreciate the sound this baby has to offer, you should get yourself some proper Sony earphones like the Sony MDR-EX71SLB Fontopia Headphones. They will cost you another £25-£28 though, but well worth it.

So all in all, I love this gadget. Its got a great sound quality, very small, huge battery life (the best on the market, this is where the iPOD eats dust!), and its so cool and its a SONY. }:o)

If you need more memory, then go for the other Sony 20-40GB players. Sony cause nothing beats its sound qulity and battery usage. If you dont like Sony, then look at other makes like creative, Iriver etc. They are all good too.

Hope this helps.

A happy new year to all you Amozonians.