Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Minimalist design perfect for working out
Cons: Attaching it to the computer seems to be harder than
necessary.
The Bottom Line:
Best music player
For any level athlete
Hooked after one use
Sony's 2GB Walkman - A Great MP3 Player for Working Out
Over the last couple of years, I've really started to
exercise more, and as I've done that, I've gotten a lot of use out of my iPod
Shuffle. But the one thing that always
bothered me about it was the cord connecting the player to the headphones. That's why I jumped on the Sony 2GB Walkman the instant I heard about it. While it
has a few flaws, I really like it.
What Is It?
Actually, I was surprised that find that Sony was still
using the Walkman name. I can remember
having the original Walkman back in the day - a tape player that hooked to your
belt and used earphones. They were the
iPod of their day, and everyone had one and called all the clones Walkman
whether they were made by Sony or not.
Obviously, Sony decided there was no need to change the name of a good
thing, so their line of MP3 players still bears the Walkman name.
Most of their Walkmans look similar to iPods (although I
haven't done any true research.) What
makes this particular model stand out from the rest is the design. It is made up entirely of two ear pieces
connected by a plastic cord holding wires.
That's it. The player is
completely held within those two pieces.
When I have the ear pieces in my ear, it looks like I have a Bluetooth
devise in each ear. The cord goes around
the back of your neck right at the base of your skull.
The entire player is designed to fit into your ears and use
them to support it. As a result, the ear
pieces go a little further into your ears than the traditional ear buds. The device comes with three sizes of ear
pieces, and I've found the middle size the best fit for me. When I start to run, it takes a tenth of a
mile or so for them to work themselves into the best position, but once they
are there, they stay in place. In fact,
when I am in the gym and do back extensions (basically keeping my lower body
still and swinging my upper body like a pendulum), they don't move at all. I don't find I have a harder time hearing
people around me, so I feel safe running with them and still hearing cars. However, I sound like I am talking through a
tunnel when I speak, so I am probably shouting without realizing it.
Initial Set Up
I almost gave up on this before I even used it once. I got it out of the package and used the
included cord to plug it into the USB port on my computer. The little light came on to indicate that it
was charging. But nothing else
happened. There's supposed to be a
program that you can install that lets you copy music to the MP3 player, but no
prompts came up. Finally, after over an
hour of finagling with it, my roommate figured out that it wasn't plugged in
all the way. That took care of it for
me, and installing the software was easy from there.
However, on a subsequent charge, the light that is supposed
to flash to let me know it was charging never did start flashing that I saw,
but it charged just fine.
That light also is what tells you how much charge you have
left on the battery, but it only comes on when you are playing a song. By then, I have the unit on my ears and can't
see it, although I usually look when I am taking it off after working out and
see the battery level then. I wish the
battery update was when you first turned the player on, however.
You can get a 90 minute charge in 3 minutes (or so they say)
or a full 11 hour charge in about 2 hours.
Considering I was working out four to five times a week for a month on
one charge, I'd say that 11 hours is probably about right.
This MP3 player is designed to work with Windows Media
Player, and if you use that, you can even have it randomly select songs to add
to your player. I have all my music in
iTunes, however. The player does accept
that format, although you have to manually select the songs you put into the
player. I wish it had the option to
randomly select songs in any format, but that's a minor issue. It supports four formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, and
WMT files.
The 2 GB size is very misleading. Between the software to run the player and
the software that needs to be installed on your computer, you actually get 1.68
GB of music space. Still, I have gotten
better than the advertised 500 songs on both times I've filled it with music.
Using It
So, I'm charged and fully loaded. Now what?
The controls on the player are minimal, but you don't need any more than
that. To turn it on, simply separate the
two sides of the player. When you want
to turn it off, put them back together.
A rather strong magnet holds them together, although it is a bit tricky
to get it just right and to turn it off.
They do provide a plastic cover that helps you get it in place and keep
it there when you throw it in your gym bag so the battery doesn't drain away.
The right piece has the majority of the controls. In the back is a toggle switch. Press it in and you start a song
playing. Press it again and you pause
the song. You can also use this switch
to skip the current song by pressing it forward; backward goes to the beginning
of the song.
Also on the right hand side are the two volume buttons. In front is the volume up button and between
that and the play switch is the volume down button. The volume up button is a bit longer, but
honestly, I can never tell which is which without finding both of them. Both buttons respond quickly to being
pressed, so it is easy to increase or decrease the volume to the desired
level. The volume between songs seems to
change a little bit, but nothing so drastic that I worry about my hearing.
The left piece has the playback button. You can shuffle, play in order, or play by
playlist. Since there is no screen, you
really don't have any control over what you hear. I just put mine on shuffle and let it go; I
haven't even tried to load a play list on it.
I have found that it seems to reset the shuffle every time I turn it on
or off. I know in the month I kept the
same songs on the player that I heard some of them two or three times. Often, it would start up with a new song when
I turned it on, even after only one day.
Sometimes it wouldn't however, and I can't figure out what makes the
difference.
If you feel the need to find one particular song, you can us
the ZAPPIN feature on the player. It
will go through the music playing a snippet of each song until you find the one
you want to use and stop it. Again, I
haven't used this feature. I find it too
distracting to working out to try to find a particular song. I just let the player surprised me.
All of these controls are very logical to use, which is
important since all of them are out of sight when you are wearing the
Walkman. Because I was always changing
where I was clipping my iPod Shuffle, I still didn't have those controls down,
and I'd have to stop or slow down my run if I wanted to change the volume. Not so here.
After the first time wearing it, the controls came naturally to me.
The sound itself is fine.
I'm always using it with some background noise, but the sounds always
sound like they would if I had the real CD going.
Wearing it While Working Out
When I first put it on, the plastic cord connecting the two
sides was a little stiff, and the player pulled at my ears any time I turned my
head. But by the end of my first run, it
had stretched out enough that it was quite comfortable. I still find it pulls a little if I tip my
head way back, but for normal use, it's fine.
I did experiment with the ear pieces sizes a little, and getting the
correct ear piece on there also makes a world of difference.
I absolutely love it for using it at the gym. I used to move my iPod Shuffle around to two
or three places on my shirt depending on what I was doing so it wouldn't
interfere. No longer an issue in the
slightest. The ear pieces and the cord
are never in the way no matter what exercise I am doing. I'm looking forward to my summer runs since I
can now run without a shirt and not have an earphone cord stretching down to my
shorts.
Water Resistance
This is Sony's second generation of this particular design,
and it has an increased water resistance.
Really, they should call it sweat resistance. The opening to plug the USB cord into the
player seals very tightly; in fact, it's a little hard to get open. But they claim you can't ruin it no matter
how much you sweat or if you are caught in a slight rain. I personally wouldn't use it in any more rain
than that, however.
Conclusion
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