Sony NWZ-A816B 4GB Video Review

Overall Rating

Size, Style, quality of music playback, intuitive.

None so far

Bought the Sony NWZ-A816B 4GB (Video) for my daughters 16th birthday. She wanted an Ipod of some kind but I refuse to pay a premium just for a name. This Sony has great reviews elsewhere so I went for it.

As a 16 year old style is everything and I have to say she's really pleased with it and is glad I didn't go for the Ipod! She's had some really good comments about it at school and she reckons the quality is fantastic - far better than her old Creative. She's very musical and reckons it's as good if not better than other much more expensive MP's she's listened to.

She loves the style and small size (in most pictures I looked at it appeared quite chunky, but in reality it's a really sleek little machine) and especially the way she can change the sounds with the equalizer facility. I didn't know it did that before I bought it and it really is very effective! It even has a Karaoke setting!

Set up was a doddle and without my help she'd quickly loaded all her old stuff and a whole lot more beside.

The screen is crystal clear and she finds it really easy to navigate around. I'd say the extra £10 I paid to get the video version is well worth while as the quality is brilliant.

The only slight down side is that it has to be recharged from a computer. This isn't usually a problem as the battery lasts for about 30 hrs, but when she takes it on a two week holiday and doesn't have access to a computer i can she it could run out. Personally I'd much rather it had replaceable batteries, but this is only one small blemish on an otherwise brilliant machine.