Sony Walkman or Ipod Nano? Which to get, What is Battery Like?

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Ezzie

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#56580 18-Jan-2010 10:22

Hi :D

Im trying to decide which Mp3 player to get..

Its a toss up between the Sony NWZE445B

http://www.bondandbond.co.nz/audiotv/ipodsmp3-players/sony-nwze445b-16gb-mp3-player-black/prod100759.html

or the newest Ipod Nano..

Both are 16gb, both have radios , both basically the same price.

From what I can tell the only difference is the Sony has a slightly better battery life.

What about sound quality? I've heard is a bit better?
Does that mean the Ipod isnt?

Im leaning towards the Ipod to be honest but I cant decide!
Does the nano live up to the hype?
are its new features actually worthwhile?

Is there any other recommendations apart from these two?

Thanks :)

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#290829 18-Jan-2010 10:45

i prefer the sony only for the ease of adding content to it , it is just click and drop, the ipod is a lot fussier, if you want to get more recommendations check out Amazon user reviews.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Handsomedan

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#290840 18-Jan-2010 11:36

Long time user of iPods here...

Once you get used to iTunes, the iPod is a good buy, but the sound quality will be essientially the same, the pack-ins will be similar (Sony do better earbuds) and the choice of interface is what should influence you the most.

My recommendation would be the go to a store, play extensively with them both to see whether you prefer the UI of the iPod or the Walkman.

Thaht should be the foremost thing that makes up your mind, not the brand.

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sbiddle

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#290841 18-Jan-2010 11:38

What software do you plan to use and where do you plan on buying music from? Nothing beats iTunes for the simplicity of downloading content.

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#290842 18-Jan-2010 11:40

sbiddle: Nothing beats iTunes for the simplicity of downloading content.

Couldn;t agree more.

It's almost TOO easy!

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gadgetmannz

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#293183 26-Jan-2010 19:28

I agree with the other ipod users, very easy to use all round. Apple are very hard to compete with in the world of MP3's. I guess it depends what you're used to. Sony offer some pretty good products.

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alasta

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#293187 26-Jan-2010 19:53

Just to add to what's already been said, you would probably have a much broader choice of accessories with the iPod.

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NZtechfreak

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#293211 26-Jan-2010 21:36

For that kind of money you could spend only a little more and get a perfectly good phone to use as an MP3 player, along with WiFi/GPS etc etc... Just a thought.

As far as iTunes go, its a double-edged sword, I know plenty of former iTunes users who have gone on to get non-Apple devices to use as their MP3 players and then found their whole collection is tagged in a way that the new player can't recognise etc and they're so inured to iTunes that they become acopic. No argument they are great music devices, just depends on where you see your needs going in the future. I guess bottom line - don't make iTunes a heavily weighted part of the decision.

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plod

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#293228 26-Jan-2010 22:27

for windows users there a plenty of itune alternatives while using ipods

macuser

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#293236 26-Jan-2010 22:51

NZtechfreak: For that kind of money you could spend only a little more and get a perfectly good phone to use as an MP3 player, along with WiFi/GPS etc etc... Just a thought.

As far as iTunes go, its a double-edged sword, I know plenty of former iTunes users who have gone on to get non-Apple devices to use as their MP3 players and then found their whole collection is tagged in a way that the new player can't recognise etc and they're so inured to iTunes that they become acopic. No argument they are great music devices, just depends on where you see your needs going in the future. I guess bottom line - don't make iTunes a heavily weighted part of the decision.

NZtechfreak,

I'm not sure you are likely to find a mobile phone for around $350-400 with a user experience good enough for the user to be interested in using all of those features.

iTunes is great for 99% of people, it does everything and more than they need it to and occasionally there will be some incompatibility with other players in the music formatting, but then all music clients will do that.

If Zune was available in New Zealand, maybe we would have another good option, too bad it isn't.

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#293251 27-Jan-2010 00:30

I've used both and both are good units, Good audio from both and both have great (but quite different) interfaces, it's a matter of choice.

Sony:
Music files can be simply drag and dropped into the player from windows, nice and simple but it's not automatically categorized. It can be plugged into any PC and any new (legal!) files dumped on to it to listen to immediately.

iPod:
iTunes is a great music manager but it might not be for everyone, iPods are synced with the iTunes library, you cannot just drop in files like a flash drive.

it might be prudent to keep another backup of our music anyway in the format you are used to and allow iTunes to work on a COPY of the files.
iTunes is also an extremely good music store and the file audio quality is acceptable to good and actually cheap enough to not bother with illegal downloads. (and it's restriction-free now, 256Kbps AAC-lc files)

I own an iPod nano with custom software making it more like the Sony.

I also have a shuffle and a 60GB and an iPhone but I almost forget the iPhone's a music player!

Along with a boxful of junked "free-sample" rubbish players that are now just history.

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#293264 27-Jan-2010 07:29

The 5800 would fit the bill nicely, last price I saw was $416 at parallel importers.

I'm aware that iTunes is good, but there are alternatives that are also just as good, and iTunes does come with liabilties that are unseen for most until it matters. I was merely pointing that out, better if the OP knows about it and can figure it into his decision no?

Paradoxsm's suggestion is really the best workaround, makes copies of your collection and put those through iTunes, so that way you get iTunes pros without the liability.

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Ezzie

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#295097 1-Feb-2010 09:19

So I bought the 16gb Nano, and while i like how easy it is to use and all the features - the battery life is shocking!
Apple advertise 24hr music playback - according to the website, that is just going thru a playlist of 300 odd songs, and just letting it play i.e. no skipping, fastforwarding etc.

After having used it for the first time last week, and a 7hr charge period.. I was dissapointed to get only 13 hours out of the battery life.. this was with a bit of skipping thru songs / browsing the song library etc.

I decided to do a test run in the weekend, and have it replay 1 song , over and over again, under the conditions stated on the apple website - straight run thru, no back light , no playing with buttons, hold button on etc etc.
Managed to get just under 18 hours , which is still 6 hours less than apple advertise.

I'm really dissapointed and feel annoyed that I spent $300 to get 13-14 hours play under "normal" use.
My 4 year old samsung 1gb mp3 player after 4 years can still do 11 hours on 1 charge.

Are there any Nano users out there who have had similar problems?
What sort of batery life can be expected?
Im thinking of taking it back and replacing it..maybe its a faulty battery.

alasta

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#295116 1-Feb-2010 10:23

You'll probably find that you'll need to run the battery through a few charging cycles before it will reach its full capacity.

Ezzie

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#295131 1-Feb-2010 10:53

oh ok thanks alasta.. do you mean like the battery has to be "broken" in?
have you heard of that sort of thing needing to be done with ipods before?

ive probably charged it about .. 3 times, but ill try it for the rest of the week, see if it makes any difference.

alasta

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#295136 1-Feb-2010 11:05

I'm not expert on batteries, but I'm pretty sure that there is a break-in period even for the Li-Ion batteries fitted to modern portable electronics.

I can only judge this anecdotally rather than scientifically, but my iPhone battery seems to be lasting a bit longer now that it's had a couple of weeks of use.

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