Sony S-544 8 GB Walkman Video MP3 Player
Product Description
Exercise your options with the slim and stylish S series Walkman video MP3 player. Featuring built-in stereo speakers, you can unplug your headphones and listen to your music out loud. In addition to superior sound quali… More >>
5 Comments
I bought this walkman because of the great reviews. I had this products for about ten days when it just went blank. I couldn’t recall any of the songs I downloaded and the battery will not recharge. For a while the screen would pop up and a little progress bar would show up in the corner. Now it doesn’t even do that. I’ve already thrown away the packaging so I can’t return it. Sony used to be a superior product, not anymore.
My daughter had us buy her an iPod which iTunes and complexity and a headache in a box. Simple seems so hard for some companies. I know a lot of folks have iPods and manage to make them work, but we have one life. Technology that takes time to figure out will always loose out to technology without a learning curve.
I love flash drives. The whole drag and drop thing where it asks no questions, it just accepts anything, I think is brilliant. So the MP3 players I’ve used have been the super cheap ones because they’re drag and drop. I tried some mid-level MP3 players but its all about propitiatory software and the inevitable learning curve. Not with this Sony. Draggy droppy listen smile.
It does play vids, but the trouble there is conversion. Here’s a bit of irony: I have a Sony GC1 “Net-sharing cam” which records on quicktime. Which is not played by this Sony player.
So, how do you put something on this Walkman from, say, Youtube? Well, first xfer it to a flv format (freeware) and then use another application to xfer it to WMV because that’s all the Walkman will play. The fact that this unit gave my technology-delayed self at least chance inspired me to figure out how to get vids on it.
All in all, if you like simple, Sony simplified.
My husband has large fingers making it hard to use the touch screen products, and he just wants to click a button and go. Its easy to use, and once it was charged, lasted my hubby a few days. It can hold the whole bible on it.
We bought 2 of these models. The 8GB Violet and the 16GB Black. The 16GB Black version had to be returned due to defects in several pixels in the center of the screen that were there when we received it. At present the 8GB is about 25% full. The 16GB might be a better way to go depending on one’s storage needs.
It has basic functions that work well. We previously bought a cheaper touchscreen with many more features but it was junk.
It is easy to copy mp3 audio and wmv video files from one’s computer with Windows Explorer. Just be certain the wmv files are 320×240.
The case is metal and seems very well built. The plastic face is soft plastic and scratches easily. THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM.
We bought this accessory: “Sony Walkman S544 S Series TPU Silicone Clear Case + Screen Protector + Car Charger + Wall Charger for Sony Walkman + Wristband”. The silicone case is great with holes cut in all the right places. The wall charger is very useful as it will not work when plugged into a computer and will not charge if the computer is off. The car charger may or may not be useful. The screen protector and wristband are junk. We bought another screen protector and it was just as bad.
It really needs a software update to add a playlist function so that one can add and subtract songs to it while out. It could also use more ‘bells and whistles’ for the display and other features. An auto-off would be nice that could be turned on for various periods of inactivity. It is also slow to scroll down a list of songs that have artist, album, and title as one has to wait for the horizontal scrolling.
It should come with a hard mineral face that does not scratch so easily!!! The case and 110 volt adapter should have been included.
The USB connector is Sony’s own design instead of a standard mini-USB.
In general we are happy with it. It does have room for improvement.
Im not an expert on mp3 players or really anything technological, but I found this mp3 player really easy to use. Just plug it in and sync it through windows media player. But when I first plugged it in, it automatically synced everyting on my computer! All my music and pictures! It really holds a lot for 8gb!
my only problems are like people have commented, it does scratch easily. I bought screen protectors off ebay for $3 for a set of 3, I highly recommend. I bought the accessory kit with this and the case for it is way to small!! Its the wrong one. But I figured for the extra $10 it was okay because the home charger and car charger worked.
As far as the battery life, it does not last as long as they say!!! It is pretty good though, I use mine at work and it will last me about 2 work days without charging, but thats with minimal skipping and messing with volume and all that stuff. The battery wears out faster and shows low life by end of night so I usually charge it every night just in case, especially since I do like to skip songs sometimes. DONT be deceived by the battery life. If you need something that lasts the 45 hours it says, dont get this one.
Also it does turn on way to easy that sometimes I wonder if I ever turned it off…