Worst MP3 player: Sony Network Walkman

I'm a big Sony fan, and own many products that I am very happy with, but their Network Walkman "MP3" players are just plain awful.

I bought one for my wife a year back because it looked like a nice choice for jogging. But unfortunately it was so cumbersome in every sense that she has never used it. The whole concept is wrong, from its very inception, here's why...

The thing is that it's not a real MP3 player, which means that you can't play back industry standard MP3 or WMA files; Sony has opted instead to support only proprietary ATRAC3 files. Never heard of them? Me neither.

To upload music to the Network Walkman you have to use Sony's ugly SonicStage software, you can't just copy files in the easy and straightforward fashion you may be used to.

The problem with this whole idea is that this is definitely no iTunes.

But my frustration just hit the roof; in an attempt to finally used the thing I tried to load the SonicStage software onto my Mac, and guess what? No Mac support.

So I'm off to the Apple Store for an iPod... I have two myself and of course love them (although my favorite MP3 player for sports is the Rio Forge Sport MP3 Player)...

Tags: Sony, Sony Network Walkman, Network Walkman, Rio Forge Sport MP3 Player, ATRAC3

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