[304608377]

hi,

where did you order the case?

It's a chinese website.

 

[davidcotton]

Had a bit of a play with the sony and got to say a little disappointed in it.  Not with the sound, as expected that beats the ipod classic hands down.  No, it's to do with the interface.  Bit of lag though that was expected.  The thing that really irritates is the lack of bookmark functions so the player doesn't remember the position of the track.  Might sound odd but I tend to listen to tracks anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes or longer.  Also listen to audiobooks as well, and obviously remembering where the last position played is a bit of a deal breaker on that score.  If I pause it and put the player to sleep then turn it back on and press play then that works.  If I leave that track for another and then go back later it doesn't.
 
Looks like I'll have to turn to android for my next player purchase.  Shame as otherwise the sony ticks all the major boxes for me.  Size, price, form factor and so on.

 

[gerelmx1986]

  Had a bit of a play with the sony and got to say a little disappointed in it.  Not with the sound, as expected that beats the ipod classic hands down.  No, it's to do with the interface.  Bit of lag though that was expected.  The thing that really irritates is the lack of bookmark functions so the player doesn't remember the position of the track.  Might sound odd but I tend to listen to tracks anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes or longer.  Also listen to audiobooks as well, and obviously remembering where the last position played is a bit of a deal breaker on that score.  If I pause it and put the player to sleep then turn it back on and press play then that works.  If I leave that track for another and then go back later it doesn't.
 
Looks like I'll have to turn to android for my next player purchase.  Shame as otherwise the sony ticks all the major boxes for me.  Size, price, form factor and so on.

It happnede to me also on my WM1A, yest it does remember the position but seems to be a bug that when triggered it forgets the position

 

[goody]

  Had a bit of a play with the sony and got to say a little disappointed in it.  Not with the sound, as expected that beats the ipod classic hands down.  No, it's to do with the interface.  Bit of lag though that was expected.  The thing that really irritates is the lack of bookmark functions so the player doesn't remember the position of the track.  Might sound odd but I tend to listen to tracks anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes or longer.  Also listen to audiobooks as well, and obviously remembering where the last position played is a bit of a deal breaker on that score.  If I pause it and put the player to sleep then turn it back on and press play then that works.  If I leave that track for another and then go back later it doesn't.
 
Looks like I'll have to turn to android for my next player purchase.  Shame as otherwise the sony ticks all the major boxes for me.  Size, price, form factor and so on.

hi david does it not have a podcast section like the A17 if it does then all you do is create a folder in the podcast section and put your audiobooks etc in the folder works like a charm on the A17

 

[Jonathan-Mac]

My red player just arrived, it's smaller than I'd imagined and very, very pretty.  It came pre-loaded with three hi-res tracks which sounded good but I can't say at first listen that they sound much better than my high-grade MP3s.
 
The amount of space on the player is a con - it's not 16gb at all, mine shows 11.7 of 12.2 available, which I assume means that a quarter of the space on the unit is taken up by the OS, which seems ridiculous.  I'd say it's very misleading to advertise it as 16gb when in fact it's only 12.  If it didn't have a micro SD card slot I'd be very pissed off right now.
 
The interface seems quite easy to use and the screen is fairly responsive but not as much as a half-decent smartphone.  It'll do.
 
I've already used the Rockbox tool to hack the European volume limit and it works very well.  Initially I could listen at the maximum 120 volume and it wasn't very loud, now it's hacked it's LOUD at only 85/120.  That's in a quiet room with my Sennheiser PX 100 IIs.  I think on public transport it will now manage just fine.
 
https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SonyNWDestTool#Changing_destination_settings_and_sound_pressure_regulation
 
Mine was bought here in Spain and initially showed:
 
Destination: CEW2 <103>
Sound pressure: 0 <off>
 
I hacked it to the US version and now it shows as:
 
Destination: U <1>
Sound pressure: 0 <off>
 
So the sound pressure setting is not part of the European volume cap, that's down to the destination setting.  I can't tell you how happy I am to finally have an MP3 player with Sony sound quality and uncapped volume.

 

[davidcotton]

  hi david does it not have a podcast section like the A17 if it does then all you do is create a folder in the podcast section and put your audiobooks etc in the folder works like a charm on the A17

Not seen it on the player itself. I'll have a play with it this weekend.
 
Edit to add :-
 
Seems I can drag and drop from media go (and I thought Itunes was bad) but doesn't get added.  So it looks like there is no podcast section on the walkman itself, unless I am missing something painfully obvious.
 
They really need to rename that bookmark list to favourites though.
 
Further edit to add :-
 
Yep done the hack, takes all of five minutes following the rockbox instructions.  Mine now reads Destination U (1) Sound Pressure o (off)

 

[WilcoRoger]

  I ordered this screen protector from China, seller beyonddmacys - 3 pcs for 2 bucks, not much of a risk. It's in the mail, let's see, how long it takes to get it here.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3x-Clear-Matte-LCD-Screen-Protector-Guard-Film-Cover-for-Sony-NW-A35HN-/262762331979

 
The screen protector arrived after a looong time in the mail (6 weeks). Works as advertised, good and cheap. Actually the screen feels better under the fingertrips. 2 bucks well spent.

 

[Jonathan-Mac]

Those who have bought the player - how much total space does it show?

 

[304608377]

  Those who have bought the player - how much total space does it show?

If you getting 16gb ver. You are end up getting about 11.3gb something like that. 

 

[WilcoRoger]

Remember, that the preloaded hi-res songs also take up storage space.

 

[fish1050]

  If you getting 16gb ver. You are end up getting about 11.3gb something like that. 

 
 

  Remember, that the preloaded hi-res songs also take up storage space.

I am guessing that Sony is taking roughly 4 GB of the 16 GB for the OS and master file table and maybe some space reserved as a buffer.  I would guess if you deleted the preloaded HiRes files you would be around 12 GB.  Having a better OS certainly adds new features and capabilities but it also tends to take up more space.  Has anyone found the A36 or A37 non HN (no noise canceling earbuds) for sale?  It seems at least here in North America if you don't want an HN version you will be stuck with the A35.

 

[davidcotton]

Seems I was not remembering properly with regards to the track positon.  It only bookmarked it on audiobook formats.  So it seems the sony is fine for music but not much else.  It will play audiobooks if in mp3 format etc, but just not remember where you left it.  It also doesn't seem to have a podcast section so can't use that option either

 

[goody]

  Seems I was not remembering properly with regards to the track positon.  It only bookmarked it on audiobook formats.  So it seems the sony is fine for music but not much else.  It will play audiobooks if in mp3 format etc, but just not remember where you left it.  It also doesn't seem to have a podcast section so can't use that option either

Looks like i wont be buying this then i find like you the podcast section important to me...i load my audiobooks and it works wonderfully on the A17..could it be a bug ?..somehow i doubt it because sony 1.0 release software is very good ..

 

[davidcotton]

  Looks like i wont be buying this then i find like you the podcast section important to me...i load my audiobooks and it works wonderfully on the A17..could it be a bug ?..somehow i doubt it because sony 1.0 release software is very good ..

No idea about the bug.  Seems sony have released one firmware release already.  If I had known about the lack of bookmarking/audiobook support I would not have bought it (site I ordered from does not accept returns of opened items, so won't be buying from there again).  As it is I'll load up a few albums on a smaller sd card and have the player in my bag as a standby in case I forget my main one for work (as there is nothing worse then being stuck at work without music of any sort, and it's happened a few times).

 

[fish1050]

  hi david does it not have a podcast section like the A17 if it does then all you do is create a folder in the podcast section and put your audiobooks etc in the folder works like a charm on the A17

 
 

 
Not seen it on the player itself. I'll have a play with it this weekend.
 
Edit to add :-
 
Seems I can drag and drop from media go (and I thought Itunes was bad) but doesn't get added.  So it looks like there is no podcast section on the walkman itself, unless I am missing something painfully obvious.
 
They really need to rename that bookmark list to favourites though.
 
Further edit to add :-
 
Yep done the hack, takes all of five minutes following the rockbox instructions.  Mine now reads Destination U (1) Sound Pressure o (off)

 
 

  Looks like i wont be buying this then i find like you the podcast section important to me...i load my audiobooks and it works wonderfully on the A17..could it be a bug ?..somehow i doubt it because sony 1.0 release software is very good ..

If podcast and audiobook support have been removed since the A10/A20 series along with AptX I have to wonder about Sony.  I thought the idea was to offer more features with each new version of the player and not less.  Especially useful features like these that people actually want.
 
All Sony is doing for me is giving me reasons not to upgrade from my A17 to the A35 which has all these features.  
 
If Sony gave me a choice between having a touchscreen vs having AptX, audiobook and podcast support I would choose the 3 over the 1 every time.  I just hope Sony is planning to add at least the audiobook and podcast support in a later firmware, although AptX support would be nice to.