Sony NW-HD3 Reviews

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Sony NW-HD3
3.8 stars
Average rating for this product is: 3.8 out of 5

From 4 ratings and 22 reviews

Thumb up 73% of users recommend this product

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Average Ratings for Sony NW-HD3

  • Sound Quality4.1 stars
  • Battery Life4.5 stars
  • Features3.3 stars
  • Value for Money3.8 stars
  • Reviewer Ratings3.7 stars
  • Overall Rating3.9 stars

22 Reviews For Sony NW-HD3

  • Guest 31st Dec 2008

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    Bad Points: Sonic stage, tho only commenting to say "viao music transfer tool" for the pocket vaio (another older sony mp3 player) works as a drag and drop mp3 adder. I found this and only now use sonic stage to remove music. It also does not have the same copy protection on it.
    Also navigating through the music can take a while and not being able to make playlists (well can make 1) is a pain


    General comments: As said before, good sound and it has lasted (mine still going strong after 4 years now tho battery is fading a little). Over all a very good piece of equipment, great piece of kit, well recommend Sony NW-HD3.

  • pringlefox 13th Dec 2008

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    One of the best mp3 players of it's generation. I've owned my HD3 for just around four years and I haven't had a bit of bother yet.

    At the time, and even still today when compared to some of the low end brands, the HD3 was small and lightweight considering the huge 20GB capacity it boasted.

    The sound quality still outstrips many of the flat and tinny noises produced by a number of other portable audio players. Investing in a good set of headphones is actually a worthwhile venture with the HD3, ...

  • Guest 9th Apr 2008

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    I have owned my Sony NW HD3 for what must be three to four years now, it has been my first and only mp3 player. While the girlfriend has gone through 3 different variants of the ipod in the same time, this little trooper has battled on. Its tough, sturdy, almost unbreakable and more importantly simple enough for anyone to use. Its battery life has always been exceptional and only now, a couple of years down the line has it shown to falter slightly. The main problem is purely sonicstage. Although ...

  • PixieB98 20th Feb 2008

    Reviewer rating: 5 stars


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    The size is excellent and fits well in my pocket. It feels sturdy in my hand and is far superior to the iPod. My husband has had 2 iPods and they both lasted about 1 year and died. Even towards the 10month period the battery life of the iPods was of 2h. The Sony still has an excellent battery life even after 2 years.

  • srburrows 11th Sep 2007

    Reviewer rating: 0.5 stars


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    Do not buy any Sony product that requires the use of Sonicstage. Sony have now removed the need to use the software on newer models so support for this appalling software will now be non-existent. What was wrong with simply clicking and dragging music onto the player?

  • bemahler Rank: Staff Sergeant 3rd Feb 2007

    Reviewer rating: 5 stars


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    I can't recommend this little mp3 enough it is a first class piece of kit for what it is intended to do. I have heard numerous mp3 players from all the top makers but nothing comes close on sound quality to match this player. Make sure you spend out on a really good pair of phones either Bose triport or B&O's small earphones, as they really do bring out the sound quality of this player. I hope this help when looking to buy this mp3 player.

  • edmundslu 23rd Jan 2007

    Reviewer rating: 3 stars


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    I've had this gadget for about a year and a half and have looked after it and enjoyed it. I've used it as it should be used, took a lot of pleasure from it and then, with no prior warning, it decided to stop working and die - great, that's just what I needed! Now all the music that I had obtained over the past year and a half was gone - I had obtained the music from many sources and thus did not have it all backed up at home on a computer - aside from the fact that I will have to fork out on a n ...

  • lukeirving 21st Jun 2006

    Reviewer rating: 3.5 stars


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    I have owned the Sony HD-3 walkman for 11 months now and I have just had to send it back for repair work! This was because when ever you put the headphones in it they would crackle and get quiter.
    Another problem was the original headphones had a little black rubber ring around them which fell off. This ended up causing a small electric shock above my lower lip which happened in January 2006 and the headphones had not worked right ever since. I did change the headphones for the player aft ...

  • sleepyhead20 29th Mar 2006

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    Overall this Sony NW-HD3 is the best mp3 player I owned and it's a shame it got messed up but the memory and battery life is great. Looks good, pink screen, and can alter the sound effects to live or arena music.

  • soxy6 Rank: Lance Corporal 20th Feb 2006

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    I've had the pink Sony NW-HD3 for a few months now, and I love it. I bought it for $195 off eBay, brand new - a great deal!

    At first I was hesitant to buy it because of the complaints about its Sonicstage software, but it really isn't that bad. Some people have said that Sonicstage is hard to use - I disagree. It's actually quite straightforward, and if you do need help, the manual will tell you all you need to know. The only gripes I have about the software is that it has a slow start-up tim ...

  • mr123 14th Feb 2006

    Reviewer rating: 5 stars


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    Overall, the Sony NW-HD3 MP3 player is a great product, especially for the value. It's perfect for those people who want to have music on their MP3 players. It especially suits musicians, being one myself, with a really tight budget and an absence for the desire of fancy color screens and video, it fit the bill perfectly. Just make sure you are careful with the connector and buy some more comfortable earbuds; it'll be worth it.

  • stony61 Rank: Staff Sergeant 12th Feb 2006

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    This Sony NW-HD3 MP3 player is brilliant. I have used it continuously since buying it, I love it to bits. The sound quality is great with good base, although that is helped by the superb Ross Spark Plug headphone I use with it. The volume limiter fitted by Sony is not good but the use of a commonly available hack is a very easy way to turn it off. My player is now as loud as I want it with no drop in sound quality. This little player is very strong too, I wear it at the Gym and have dropped it t ...

  • Soleman 4th Feb 2006

    Reviewer rating: 1.5 stars


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    Hi, I have had the Sony NW-HD3 Mp3 player for 1 year now. I bought it from one of Dixons high street stores. After one week I had to exchange it for another one. I found the transferring of music files very awkward as you had to upload them onto Sonicstage. This took quite sometime to do. After 5 months the players hard disk stopped working, so I was unable to listen to any music. A couple of weeks later I sent it back to Sony, where they said they could only repair the MP3 player.
    When the So ...

  • Helenxxx 14th Nov 2005

    Reviewer rating: 5 stars


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    I absolutely love the Sony NW-HD3 MP3 player! When I wanted an MP3 player early this year, my friend steered me away from iPod's, and rightly so! This was, and still is one of the best MP3 players out there! Great value for money! I have already persuaded my friend to get this model, and my dad to get my mum one for Christmas (I don't work for Sony honest).

    I am going backpacking next summer, and I really wanted one that could store all my music, has a long battery life, and is easy to cha ...

  • Reina 6th Oct 2005

    Reviewer rating: 2.5 stars


    On average, people found this review somewhat helpful
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    I have to say that for the above bad points, I have been quite disappointed with the Sony NW-HD3 MP3 player.

  • Skratchin 2nd Sep 2005

    Reviewer rating: 5 stars


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    Buy the Sony NW-HD3 ! Better than an ipod!! More music on it! Longer battery life! Looks different! Choice of colours! Lightweight!

  • epzcaw 8th Aug 2005

    Reviewer rating: 0 stars


    On average, people found this review very helpful
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    I bought one in December 2004, and it died in March. I had it repaired, then the Hard disk failed in July. The retailer won't replace it, only repair. I will probably throw it out when I get it back.

    User interface is very poor.

    Group playing is awful. The icon remains, even when the group function is not being used.

  • davidjpeterson Rank: Lance Corporal 2nd Aug 2005

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    Got my Sony NW-HD3 Portable MP3 Player from Argos in the sale (think Sony were bringing out a new range so Argos were getting rid of the old stock?)

    Anyway, i'm quite pleased with it - battery life is phenomenal, left it on by accident for hours and hours the other week and battery was still more than half full.

    I've also had problems with the software - Occasionally makes my PC crash with a protection fault, anyone else had this?? I am getting used to the software though and the Atrac3 f ...

  • ant63 30th Jul 2005

    Reviewer rating: 4 stars


    On average, people found this review very helpful
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    I bought the Sony NW-HD3 Portable MP3 Player recently from Argos (they are selling them off). Overall I am quite pleased with it but it does have some bad points. The main thing I'm concerned about is the flimsy way the cable connects to the unit and also has to have the power plugged in when downloading from a computer. I'm always amazed that Sony can ask £300 plus for a gadget and not supply a proper case - you get a cloth bag to carry it round in!

  • aleein8 14th Jul 2005

    Reviewer rating: 4.5 stars


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    Sony NW-HD3: Unfortunately the previous reviewer had software trouble. I on the other hand have been using SonicStage for about 1 1/2 years and have run into no trouble yet. This software is fine for music management. I personally feel it is quite easy to use and straight forward. I actually have more trouble with iTunes! Most of my music is transferred from original CD's and from legal download sites. As such I haven't run in to many troubles with DRM. The NW-HD3 has a very simple to use inter ...

Product details

Main characteristics: Number of Songs: 5000 Family Line: Network Walkman Storage Capacity: 20 GB Main Storage Type: Hard Drive Audio Capabilities: Audio Format: more details...