What is this?
Clad in a sliver finish and bearing a minimalist design, Sony's 256MB flash memory-based walkman continues the tradition to favor its proprietary ATRAC3 format over industry standards.
Sony NW-E75 Network Walkman ReviewSeptember 24th, 2004
Pros: Sound quality mostly faithful to original; great battery life; stylish.
Cons: Initiative button controls; time took to convert existing MP3s; over-priced for its functionality; lacks expandability; no rechargeable battery.
Verdict: Sony NW-E75 has the looks, but lacks the substance to take it to the top of the class.
Sony NW-E75 Network Walkman, like the NW-MS70D, is clad in a titanium sliver and bears a minimalist design. The 256MB flash memory player measures at just 2" by 1.5" by 0.75", and weighs at 2 oz. At such size, only the Samsung Yepp YP-T5V is more diminutive than the Sony's. Even so, the new NW-E75 certainly qualifies as a minuscule music player. Unfortunately, there's little Sony did to improve the usability and compatibility for this generation of Network Walkman.
Package Content - Sony NW-E75 Network Walkman
- 2 instruction booklets
- Mini USB cable
Awkward Design The NW-E75 has the typical controls, except the play, forward and rewind are all built into a 1-axis controller. The hold switch and volume control are on one side; the LCD as well as the menu, repeat, sound preset and group are located on top. The two-color backlit LCD (green and blue) is just not large enough our taste, especially since there’s more room on the player for the display. At the bottom of the unit, you will find two doors to the battery compartment and the mini-USB connector.
The Sony NW-E75 has unconventional design in that the navigation is handled by a "shuttle switch" in a somewhat awkward placement. Because of the switch, we weren't able to control the player comfortably with just one hand. Using the left hand alone would block the LCD screen; and handling the NW-E75 with just the right hand would be near impossible. So, the only viable way to holding the player was by two hands.
The NW-E75 comes with all basic functions you expect from a portable audio player, but you won't find an equalizer, which is replaced by a simple treble and bass preset. It has a full range of repeat modes, including 6 different track repeats (all repeat, single repeat, group repeat, group shuffle repeat & all groups shuffle repeat), A-B repeat and sentence repeat. There took us some time to get used to some of the overly simplified icons on the display.
For the price, it's surprising that there is no provision for a FM tuner, a voice recorder, a battery charger or even simple accessories, such as a lanyard and a protective case. There's, however, a very comprehensive manual for both the NW-E75 Network Walkman and SonicStage 2.1.
Sony claims the player can last up to 70 hours of playback off a single AAA battery, which you need to provide your own. Our NW-E75 averaged 40 hours or was able to repeat all our songs couple times before the battery depleted.
Getting Walkman up and Running Setup was relatively easy. Sony includes a copy of SonicStage 2.1, which you must install in order to communicate with your Walkman. The software itself is satisfactory, but it's not as if you have another choice. Sony's proprietary SonicStage is only software that allows you to transfer tunes to the NW-E75. When you insert an audio CD, SonicStage will give an estimate of the space needed for each of the songs depending on your preferred format.
Before sending tunes to the NW-E75, you'll be required to convert CDs or existing MP3s to your choice of ATRAC3plus or ATRAC3. ATRAC3plus, the updated codec, encodes tunes at 256kbps, 64kbps or 48kbps whereas the older ATRAC3 compresses at 132kbps, 105kbps or 66kbps. So, if you already possess an arsenal of MP3s, the conversion to ATRAC3 for the entire library is really test of your patience. And should you have already bought music from Napster and BuyMusic.com, SonicStage 2.1 won't be able to handle the conversions for those secure WMAs for you. On the other hand, if you buy your digital music from Sony's Connect, all their secured songs are already in their native ATRAC3 format, and therefore, they are ready for transfer to the NW-E75.
Transfer speed over the original USB connection was about 5 seconds per song, assuming the songs are already converted to ATRAC3 or ATRAC3 plus. Incidentally, during the transfer, the Network Walkman will work whether or not there's a battery present; and it can also double as a USB flash drive.
How does It Sound? The NW-E75's ATRAC3plus 64kbps is surprisingly good compared to 128kbps MP3 and 64kbps WMA. Since this is really a low-capacity audio player, you'll want to make use of the ATRAC3plus 64kbps to squeeze as many songs as possible in the limited space. The NW-E75's two-level bass boost is wonderful. The bundled earbuds provide responsive low-range, but they mute the mid-range to a certain degree; they also certainly don't have a lot to offer in terms of noise canceling.
Where to buy Sony NW-E75 Network Walkman?
User Review(s)
"Best flash mp3 player ever" i used 5 diffrent flash mp3 players in one month(rio,Smamsung yp t5h,iRiver iFP790T,creative muvo,and the sony nw-e75)They all costed about the same price when i bought it.Out of all these mp3 players the sony one had the best quality sound and the bass was excellent,the bad thin gabout this is the screen is small and has no fm tuner or voice recorder.Also has 70 hour playing time but for me it worked for about 60 hours with a normal AAA battery.This thing holds about 11 hours of music and its a good quality too. From David, May 20, 2005
"Excellent Sound Quality and Small!" This Sony MP3 plays REQUIRES that you use its software in order to convert standard MP3s (and other music formats) to its ATRAC or ATRAC3Plus format. Even though the sound quality and compression of ATRAC4Plus is superior to MP3, you will be waiting a bit to convert and transfer the files over to the Sony NW-E75. Some amateur users (who don't read the manual) will find that using the Sony NW-E75 without its accompanying software will result in the player being recognized as a flash drive (Windows XP). This is a hassle, but this player is well worth your time for its overall quality if you're willing to be a little patient. From Chris Davis, January 04, 2005
"nw e75 hurt my ears" What attracted me to this mp3 player was firstly the reliable make 'Sony', and secondly the fantastic battery life 'up to 70 hours'wow!. However, what really spoiled it for me was the tinny/screechy sound.After a very sort while it gave me earache and a headache (from a person who never ever gets headaches).
michael g . nottingham. From michael g, December 20, 2004
"Digital music with no moving parts.YESSS!" This is it!
A small,digital music recorder with the most highly defined recorded sound that allows me to do something most cats in my field do so very often.LOOP.This device gives me spot accurate ability to punch and loop on it's A-B repeat mode and loops on the dime if not the double.I like music and songs like anybody else but some parts in songs,usually the none vocal parts,tend to make songs all of itself just with a 8 beat/measure bar that requires me to loop it till infinity.Unlike the Sony mini-disc Walkman MD,NW has no moving parts or springs in its music drive so damaged or sticking discs and what-not don't interfere with the flow of the music and with one tiny little AAA battery that's a whole lot of flow now don't you know!! From Natemic, November 11, 2004
"70 Hours, Who Cares ?" The battery life on this thing is incredible. Who cares if it takes a tiny bit of time to load your MP3’s in (Is that all you care about)? This little Mp3 has one of the best sound qualities I’ve ever herd on an MP3 player, and its album/group changing mode is amazing as well. The change track slide button is very easy to use and this little thing is far more stylish than most I’ve seen. Shame about there being no case though, it will get scratched pretty easily. The only other thing I noticed to make it better would be if the screen was at the top rather than bottom. When I hold it, it feels like it’s upside down. Overall though if you trust in this little machine it will take you far, it’s taken my attention. From Alistair Lowrie, November 02, 2004
"So Nearly..." Being in the market for a new MP3 player, I was very excited when I saw this and when I tried the one that my friend had bought, it was everything that I expected. It is easy to use, small and sexy. Needless to say, using Atrac3, it also sounds amazing - but for me, this just isnt enough memory. I would happily pay 2 or 3 times more if it had either more, or expandable, memory. Also, why not include a rechargable battery? How much harder would that have been for them to include. But the most stupid has gt to be using USB 1.1 for transferring the files. This is pointless, when USB 2.0 would be so much easier to use. If these tiny problems were remedied, then this could be the perfect ultra-portable player. From Johnny Wilde, August 07, 2004
"high quality" sound quality compared to Panasonic & Samsung is superior. Don't mind the time taken for file conversion. The format allows for a lot more files than mp3. Size of unit is perfect for athletics. Don't know about the weird headphone setup yet, but I'll give it a try. Main complaint--$200 and no protective case of any kind??? not even plastic??? From emtee, August 01, 2004
"Just as you suspected, this thing sucks!" I recently got the Sony "Network" walkman from sony.....and let me tell you, what a pain in the butt. This thing does not want to play over 90% of your mp3's in their native format, yet gives you some error and states that it must be converted over to Atrac format. Not only is it a slow Usb 1.0 format, but it also has to waste time by converting it to a different format........in general, not worth it! From Sean, July 23, 2004
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. NW-E75 Network Walkman Specs
Interface(s)
Original USB
Released date
August 2004
Platforms
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
