Mossberg on Sony's iPod challenger

I can't remember a review in which Mr. Mossberg is quite so harsh, especially to such a major player as Sony. But, I'm quite happy with my new iPod anyway. WSJ.com - The Mossberg Solution:

For my test, I used a very modest collection of 431 standard MP3 files. SonicStage 2 refused to transfer 15 of the files, posting a nonsensical error message. After that, it took an agonizingly long two hours and 13 minutes to transfer the remaining 416 tracks to the Walkman. By contrast, Apple's iTunes software transferred all 431 songs to an iPod in about four minutes.

Also, the Sony software stores a shadow copy of your music library on your hard disk in ATRAC3 format, so the tracks don't ever have to be converted again, but this takes up much more hard-disk space than iTunes requires.

And, unlike the iPod and other hard-disk players, the new Walkman can't be recharged, or connected to a computer, directly. You have to first place it in a cradle, which has the connectors for the charging and computer cables. That means you have to carry the cradle on trips. And, even with the cradle, the Walkman can't draw power from a computer for recharging, as the iPod can. You have to plug the cradle into an electrical outlet.

But the Walkman's biggest weakness is its lousy user interface, which is dense and confusing. The SonicStage 2 software and the Connect music store are also badly designed. This is because, for all its historic brilliance in designing hardware, Sony stinks at software.

For instance, while the Walkman's tiny screen shows lists of artists, albums and genres, it can't display a list of all your songs. And neither Katie nor I could figure out how to make it shuffle through the entire song library, even after poring through the 45-page manual. Two Sony officials gave us conflicting advice.
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On top of all that, Sony's marketing claims for the new hard-disk Walkman are over the top. The company claims the player can store up to 13,000 songs. But that's only if you use a very low-quality standard, 48 kilobits per second, which reduces audio quality. In fact, the new Walkman holds the same 5,000 songs as the 20 gigabyte iPod when you use a quality level roughly comparable to the default on the iPod.


If you love the Sony name, or the Walkman's size and design, or if you regularly take flights lasting more than 12 hours, you might be willing to pay $100 more for this new Walkman over an iPod. But, for everybody else, until Sony fixes the multitude of sins in this product, steer clear of it.