Comments on: Sony targets Apple iPod with Sony NW-HD5 Walkman player

By: Robert Colson

Robert Colson — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:03:01 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Md’s ever since I saw an MO in the original Mission impossible. When I went to the store’s electronics section (Northern Japan), I saw something similar, and was like.. Bam! It’s gotta be mine. Then they started coming out with MDLP.. which sacrificed sound quality for quantity.. During this era, i’d always still record on SP.. (80 min per MD..or 74, depending on which).. and use digital SPDIF connections with CD players to transfer music. I broke each of my recorders one got stolen, etc. lived without Md’s for awhile, when I came to america, but then.. one day.. on the 25th of December, Santa gave me a sony MZ-NH1. It is a beauty, and I can definitely say it’s an all purpose instrument for those that like sound. I use it to record lectures, I use it to record my music, and then x-fer all of it to PC.. where I can cut.. and paste songs, changing all sorts stuff with Goldwave, and Fruity Studio.. x-fer it to my mac, play with garageband, export it as a PCM wav. file…send it to my PC.. have sonicstage put it into MD-SP (I do not use Hi-MD’s much. I only have one, and I use it to store files, along with songs that I need to listen to to see if I like or not (from downloading)) Atrac3 (not plus) format, and import into my MD.. or.. just plug my MD recorder to my mac, using an analog 3.5 mm cable and record directly.. Put track marks later. It’s good to walk with it.. Running with it, is a hassle, so I’m gonna get an i-shuffle for my really active-activities. I have a pair of fontopia ear buds that serve me well.. Too bad Qualia is no longer, their ear buds were next on my plate..

Peace all!

By: classic coke

classic coke — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:30:45 +0000

Are there any portable devices other than Ipods that play aac format? Atrac rules!!!!!

By: Zook600

Zook600 — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 11:13:52 +0000

Used loads of different machines, iPod is well decent but having used both and compared them back to back, the HD5 pips it in my book. Only gripe is there is nowhere near enough accessories available. In particular, I would love a version of the ‘iTrip’ for my Sony. Does anyone know of a product that matches this?

By: mike

mike — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 22:36:48 +0000

i have a question regarding the software that can be used, i have heard it said that another type of software can be used for dropping mp3 files directly into your mp3 player i believe its VAIO but am not sure, could an owner get back to me on whether this is true or not
Thanks

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 16:18:08 +0000

Been reading all this with interest as I’m just thinking of getting the Sony HD-5 specifically to connect to my stereo at work (self-employed! and don’t want to keep carting my CD’s between the two places). Sorry to be so ignorant, will I be able to plug it into the power supply and just connect it up (line out mode) and run it through the stereo as simple as that, with no need to worry about battery life? Cheers and thanks in advance for your time…..

By: jamie may

jamie may — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 12:07:23 +0000

Previous posts mentioned the low volume when connecting to HI-Fi Systems. I’m sure most people know already but for those unaware, there is a tremendous difference when adjusting the AUDIO OUTPUT from HEADPHONE to LINE OUT. I haven’t messed around with the left/right/left sequence mentioned by others; but by adjusting the audio output this morning, I could reduce the sound level on my hi-fi system to level 2 out of 10 – for window rattling sound.

By: Wei

Wei — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 11:54:03 +0000

I got the HD5 and was hoping it will display unicode as almost every player does nowadays. This stupid HD5 DOES NOT DISPLAY UNICODE. That means I can’t show Chinese song titles :( .

The top cover is not just flimsy; it’s EXTREMELY flimsy! The construction quality is NOT SONY. It looks like they paid Aiwa to build it.

It sounds good or does it really sound thin…

By: Kingslayer

Kingslayer — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 00:01:28 +0000

I would advice you to get a Sony. Despite of all the discussion up there about numbers and encoding, I find my new Sony much better than the IPod I had until last month: great sound and marvellous battery life. I dont care about the brand (I have also seen stupid discussions like those up there between users of Nokia and Ericsson mobile phones), and I cant understand how some people defend or attack a brand or the other (new religions, perhaps? ;-)). NW-HD5 is simply better. I just want music player, and I still prefer playing Doom in my computer. :-)

By: Rob Glossop

Rob Glossop — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 10:38:44 +0000

Man, I had no idea this was all so complicated! Next time IÃ¢??ll do a bit more reading BEFORE I buy a portable music player. Took delivery of my Sony HD5 yesterday and thoroughly impressed.

BUT, IÃ¢??m not sure what bit rate to go for when loading on tunes. I put a few CDs on in Atrac 3 PLUS at 64kbps and it sounded pretty good but was clearly not near CD quality.

From the above, and another site, I suspect plain old Atrac 3 with 132 kbps might be the way to go in terms of trade off between quality/size/battery-life.

That said, I know I’ll get frustrated that I could have them near CD with Atrac 3 Plus and 256kbps. Storage isn’t a big issue as I’ve ‘only’ got a couple of hundred CDs. Battery-life is, as I’m off travelling for 6 months in forn parts, and may not always have access to a charging point.

Does anyone know of a link to a table showing (or is able to tell me from experience) the approximate battery life of the NW5 when files are stored at a) Atrac3 Plus 64kbps b) Atrac3 Plus 256kbps c) Atrac3 (standard) 132kbps?

Any advice gratefully received, cheers…

By: SHOWTIME

SHOWTIME — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 11:57:45 +0000

Hi guys, all you guys are getting well to technichal, I have a 40GB 4G iPod and I love it, and yes the battery is brutally bad at times (but I use it as an in-car stereo broadcasting it into my radio throught he genius of the griffin iTrip so battery life is not a drawback for me) maybe if your seriously on the move all day and you need serious battery power, then try the sony but I heard its very slow to scroll through your music library (which is very important when you have up to 15,000 tracks to look through) something which the iPod excells at. I am a graduate of a sound production / music tech course in Ireland but I’m not getting into which sounds better, if your walking are cycling around town all day the’re gonna sound pretty simillar anyway.