Sony Walkman NWZ-S610

The Sony Walkman was part of my childhood. I remember owning a yellow waterproof cassette player and feeling extremely cool circa fifth grade or so. Of course, with the advent of the iPod, the ubiquity of the Walkman brand has faded over the years, in fact some some folks are surprised when they find out it's still around, now in portable digital media player form.

With the release of the flash memory based NWZ-S610 series, Sony Walkmen have ventured into the personal video player market for the first time. And the results are pretty good.

The screen is sharp and surprisingly watchable for such a small player, and navigation is straightforward. The player is neither ugly nor awe inspiring. If it lacks some personality, it is still sturdy, simple, and compact. Designed to work with Windows Media Player 11, the Walkman supports AAC playback, amongst other audio codes.

(Sony has abandoned the SonicStage software for the Walkman line and now encourages you to use Napster over its old Connect store which it is phasing out for music. Yes, that means no ATRAC file compatibility.) This limited video compatibility is a disappointment given the screen's versatility (you can watch in horizontal mode, from either side of the player) and sharpness, but overall, the new Walkman is a solid little player.

Tested the NSW-S615F, the black 2 GB model, but 4 and 8 GB models are also available. Though my review unit was black, the roughly 1.7 by 3.3 by 0.5-inch video Walkman also comes in pink, red, and silver, weighing in at 1.8 ounces. The 1.8-inch LCD screen has a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels and takes up more than half the face of the small player. The result is a bright and sharp display too bad the video codec support is limited and the graphics are ho-hum.

Below the screen are two buttons: Back, Home and Option, Power off. If held down for more than a second or so, the former button takes users to the home screen (a nice feature that should be on every player) and the latter powers the unit down. When clicked quickly, the buttons backward navigate or reveal options menus for whatever function is in use.

For scrolling through lists, there is the familiar compass-like arrow button array. These buttons all share one surface and initially appear to be touch-sensitive, but you'll have to press them (something many users actually prefer). In the center of the arrows is the play, pause, enter button. The right panel houses the volume control rocker switch, the left panel has a lanyard loop and the Hold switch, plus the top panel has the earphone jack. A reset pinhole and Sony's proprietary connection (for your PC's USB port) rest on the bottom panel.

Sadly, the included earbuds are pretty lousy they don't fit well in the ears and lack any real bass. I suggest upgrading to much better set, something like the Shure SE210. Also included with the player is a software CD (Windows Media Player 11, Napster trial, and MP3 Conversion Tool), the proprietary to USB cable, a plastic adaptor for an optional Walkman cradle, and Quick Start and Troubleshooting guides.

File compatibility is a strange thing with the NSW-S610 series. The audio support is pretty well rounded, featuring MP3 (all bitrates, including VBR), WMA (including Lossless), WAV, and AAC (yes, it plays iTunes Plus and ripped tracks). Unfortunately, the video and photo support is meager; it only works with JPG for photos and AVC (H.264/AVC).

Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 for video. The limited video support is a disappointment because the screen is actually pretty nice, yet Sony didn't think to include video conversion software (arguably more important than the included MP3-conversion software).

Navigation is simple and intuitive on the new Walkman, and the device is saved from click by click backwards navigation hell by its. Home button you're always only one click away from the main screen. The three rows of individual icons on the home screen consist of : Intelligent Shuffle, FM Radio, Initial Search, Photo Library, Music Library, Video Library, Settings, Playlists, and Now Playing.

Intelligent Shuffle offers two modes : Time Machine Shuffle (which shuffles tracks from a randomly chosen year) and Shuffle All. FM radio (whose boombox icon somehow looks more like a film slate) is easy to peruse manually using the arrows. The Option button reveals functions like preset saving, auto preset programming (which assigns presets to all stations with good reception up to 30), scan sensitivity, return to Song Playback (which takes you to the song and pause point of whatever you were listening to before the radio), and Clock access. Initial Search slices up your music library by Artist, Album, or Song and highlights the letters of the alphabet for which your player has entries in each category.

The second row of icons begins with Photo Library, where clicking on a library name reveals a thumb gallery that can be enlarged by selecting specific pictures. The option button here will either take you to the Now Playing screen (if you're playing music) or start a slideshow. The Music icon is next and is searchable by All Songs, Album, Artist, Genre, Release Year or Folder.

The option button here offers a return to the Now Playing screen. The Video Library provides thumbnail images of what's loaded. If an incompatible file is transferred over to the player, it will show up here but be unable to play and its thumb image will simply display as the Walkman logo. The option button takes you to the Now Playing screen for music, and offers these video functions: Play from Beginning, Detailed Information, Video List Display (where you can choose to view by title or thumbnail image only), and Most Recent Video.

The final three icons are within the main menu are Settings, Playlists, and Now Playing, which is featured on the option button in many screens, as well. Some of the icons Sony chose to put on the main screen seem a bit odd to me like making Shuffle or Search their own categories instead of putting them under the Music menu under Play Modes. That said, I doubt anyone will complain about having quick access to these functions.

The Settings menu offers a meta list of options too numerous to mention, but they are divided by player function: Music, Video, Photo, FM Radio, Common, and Language settings. The Music settings offer the usual options for play mode, as well as preset and customizable EQ, virtual surround, plus "sound enhance" effects, amongst others.

The Video settings area offers variables for video orientation (this is where you change the viewing mode to horizontal) and continuous playback modes. The Settings menu also allows users to control variables for photo slideshows, turn off the annoying beep that accompanies almost every button touch, set screen brightness, and adjust the time display, amongst other options.

As I said before, with the included earbuds, the Walkman does not shine upgrading is a must here. The surround and enhancement effects aren't worth messing (as they rarely are for stereo mixes), but I found the EQ to be surprisingly excellent. Once I switched to my Shure SE210 earphones, sound was dramatically improved.

After setting my own EQ curve and using the Clear Bass option, the Walkman output some robust, well defined low end on rock songs. Usually "mega bass" style EQ settings just muddle the sound, but in this case, I found I preferred Clear Bass being part of the mix.

Video viewing is not worth your time in vertical mode, so be sure to switch to the horizontal mode in the settings menu. The relatively small screen is sharp, bright, and displays 30 fps the end result is a display that exceeds expectations. Photos also look great on the LCD, though you should be prepared for a short but annoying delay when selecting pictures. They take a moment to render fully up to optimum sharpness.

Sony rates the NWS-S610 series at 9.5 hours of video playback and 33 hours of audio playback. The audio battery rundown test yielded a life of 23 hours and 22 minutes. Stay tuned for the video results.