Sony NW-A3000 Review

Overall Rating

Sleek and chic.
Light for 20Gb unit.
Good battery life.

Layout of controls.
Access to music files.
No programme function.
Worthwhile features(?).
Poor software.
Poor sound quality for a Sony product.

This Sony NW-A3000 was a Christmas present I received in 2005 after I earlier dropped and lost my Creative Zen Touch on a tram. Having seen the adverts for the 'Walkman' on TV and knowing the quality in Sony products that I had used in the past, it seemed an ideal replacement...hmmm.
The unit itself is very pretty and sleek, like the new pebble-style mobile phones in appearance and lighter than the Creative Zen that it replaced. With a good battery life from a small recharge time. However, the old adage of "style over substance" is particularly apt when describing this product (hello, iPod Nano owners!).
The unit only has three main buttons on the front that must be used in conjunction with each other for operation and this can take a long time to get used to. To access your music you are required to go back and forward through the library without the option of programming tracks or even albums to listen to in a particular order, everything must be organised through the bookmark function which acts like a play-list but cannot be played whilst it is being programmed and the music is briefly interrupted by a short pause every time a track is added to the bookmark (very irritating!).
As an alternative to this, Sony, in their infinite wisdom, have added some features to the player that I have used only once in four months of owning the unit. 'Time Machine Shuffle' randomly plays tracks from the same year, which is good if you have a couple of albums from one year but if it's just a couple of singles then you can quickly find yourself reaching into your pocket to start again. The 'My Favorite' (sic) function allows you to play your favourite 100 songs from the library. Now, when they say 100 favourite, they mean the 100 songs that you have played most recently, even if you have only played it for a few seconds before skipping to another. This is an example of the inflexible design and lack of control that you feel when using the NW-A3000.
Software was initially poor but this is improved with a download from the internet although track management and organising tracks into Bookmarks is still difficult and frustratingly slow.
The sound is on the tinny side and the pre-programmed sound settings (jazz, pop etc.) are virtually indistinguishable from each other and I have resorted to customising my own sound setting that is a slight improvement.

Overall, frustrating and disappointing.

To coin a phrase:
Never.Buy.Another