Sony Walkman NWZ-S545 MP3 Player Review

For yours I have been militantly boycotting the iPod and almost all Apple products, accept the Macintosh II (only because it is so old and badass).  Apple is a company that seems to be all about profit and limiting control which really bugs me. But because of this boycott I have found it hard to find good alternative in the world of MP3 players. In 2006 I got my first MP3/video player the Creative Zen Vision: M (60 gig), which up to only a few months ago (even with a screen with half the pixels burnt out) served me as a great music player. After that, for a brief time I owned a 120 gig Zune (which was amazing) which unfortunately was damaged beyond repair :(

You served me well Zen

So a few months ago i went out to the Sony Store and picked up an MP3 player I had looked at while working at a Best Buy, The Sony Walkman NWZ-S545. My first impression, to be honest, was not amazing, as the first one i bought was broken when I bought it and had to return it the next day. I figured I would try my luck on another one, which turned out to be a great decision.

So I guess I should highlight exactly what the ma fucker can actually do. The model I bought can hold 8 gigs of music/pictures/video/voice recording.

Music: The quality of the music playback is fantastic! The sound is crisp and detailed and contains an equalizer to customize the sound of the unit to your personal preferences. When used with my pro headphones the sound is fucking brickhouse! The Walkman also has very simple library navigation making it easy to find the song/album/artist your looking for in no times. This version also has 4 speakers on it (2 in back 2 in front) that for such a small device are actually really loud and clear and are great for when I'm at work and need to be able to transport my music throughout the warehouse.

Pictures: The picture viewer on this device is of fairly high quality but is extremely limited to the small size of the screen. To view most images properly you have to constantly switch between vertical and horizontal and fiddle with the zoom feature. But to be honest, the picture viewer gets almost no use from me.

Video: Good video playback on an Mp3 player is extremely important to me. I spend a lot of time per day on buss' and rely on movies or TV shows to distract me of the fucking smelly fat weirdos surrounding me. The video quality is fantastic on this device. The quality is bright and clear even on such a small screen. Often time i forget I'm watching movies on what is essentially 2' x 1' screen. My only problem is skipping ahead in the videos (and music) is bloodcurdlingly slow, and really annoys me at times. Other than that the video playback and size of the video compressions is great.

Voice Recording: Haven't used the feature, chances are I probably wont, but you never know. Could come in handy...at....school?

Considering its $115 price tag, its tiny size and its fairly decent features the NWZ-S545 is a pretty decent Ipod alternative, and I can see it serving me well until I can afford something better. Though his player is great, the interface is kind of weak, the battery life could be a lot better and the scan feature during movies and podcasts is dismal. I give the Sony Walkman NWZ-S535 a 8.6451/10