Sony Walkman NWZ-W252

A jukebox to love

MP3 Player Review: Sony Walkman NWZ-W252
by May Chua
05:55 AM Jun 25, 2010
How time flies. The Walkman has evolved from a chunky rectangular box to a heart-shaped wire-free headset. The newest entry to the wearable W series is even water-resistant.

The Sony Walkman NWZ-W252 ($129) can withstand rain and sweat. You can even clean it under running water. It's a pity you cannot bring it for a swim nor immerse it in water.

The MP3 player consists of a wire-free headset with a jog dial and three buttons as controls. It's a lightweight gadget (43g) that remains comfortable after hours of usage, and the earphones pump out decent audio with good bass.

You can listen to music without having to disentangle wires first, and control everything by pressing the buttons on the headset instead of reaching for your pocket or bag to find the player.

In exchange for this convenience, you forgo a display screen and finer controls like rewinding and fast-forwarding within a track. Thankfully, this Walkman makes up for the lack of a screen in two ways.

Firstly, there's the "Zappin" mode, which plays four- or 15-second clips of each song. Press "Play" to exit Zappin mode when you find the song you're looking for. I find the four-second clips too short for me to press Play on time. And it might take too long to sift through your library using the 15-second option if your Walkman is filled to the max - 2GB worth of tracks.

Secondly, the W252 announces which mode you're in when you press a button, so you know if "Shuffle" is on, or whether it's in "Zappin" mode.

The bundled software (compatible only with Windows) can analyse each song you put into the player and determine the most recognisable segments to play in "Zappin" mode. Analysing and transferring 60 songs takes about 13 minutes. When this analysis is disabled, it takes about two minutes to move an equal number of tracks. If you're familiar with your playlists, forgo the analysis.

I find the battery life of the NWZ-W252 rather short, even though my review unit outperformed the official claim of 11 hours by three hours. The handy Quick Charge feature, which makes the player last 90 minutes on a three-minute charge, compensates for this. May Chua

by May Chua

05:55 AM Jun 25, 2010

http://www.todayonline.com/Tech/Techreviews/EDC100625-0000046/A-jukebox-to-love