geoffdoggy

Chill out mate, this is the internet, not a writing contest. Nadz, you got your player for 20quid! You can't really complain too much eh? i understand tho, u don't want to spend too much cash on repairs otherwise it's hardly a bargain anymore, but it doesn't sound like anything you'll be easily able to fix yourself, no matter what information you can get off the internet (unless you're actually skilled with dinky little electronics, etc), so really you've got 2 options: 1: send it to Sony for repairs, you may find that even including the 40quid inspection fee youre talking about, this is cheaper than getting a new player. Then again you may not -you do live in the UK I presume where these things tend to be a little hmmm -overpriced(?)... 2: look for another bargain second-hand player on ebay, etc. If you found one for 20 quid before, maybe you will again. Just be prepared for it to break again. Like they say: Easy come, easy go. At least it didn't cost you 200 quid

No, it won't display the album art on screen (at least mine doesnt as far as i know -if anyone knows otherwise please, do tell) but thats not really important is it?

Just for the record, i dont think 300 euros is too unreasonable at all. Look at that thing -theres not a scratch on it, looks like the mans taken good and proper care of it. Remember this is a HD5h -H meaning 30gigs not 20, and better quality buttons that dont crack. If it really is in great condition (as it looks), this is a very rare and desirable item. You won't find anything new that comes close to the quality of this player -300 euros or not. If you have owned this player you will understand the value. I do, and mine is 'well worn' to say the least. If I was in the market for buying a new DAP right now i'd be buying this, my advice to you is get it, it's surely a collectors item by now anyway.

The Lithiom-Ion batteries used in walkmans, cameras, etc nowadays are not like the old kind of rechargeable battery. Traditionally, excess recharging of a battery (particularly before it had been fully discharged) would shorten it's lifespan, however li-ion batteries, as far as i know, work the opposite way round, in that regular recharging -and recharging before the battery is empty- is a benefit and increases the batteries long-term life. I don't know for sure what kind of battery the a806 takes, but my hd5h has a Lithiom-Ion, and im pretty sure this is the standard now. In that case theres no need to turn off the USB charging -don't worry about it, its good for your battery

Yes I had exactly the same problem and I'm afraid it is bad news... I live in Hong Kong so luckily its very easy to get to a Sony service centre, just a walk-in affair, very quick. I took my HD5 in, they sent it to their technician, within a week he called me up and told me it is indeed a Hard Disk failure... Anyway I told them to fix it whatever the cost (mines a hd5h -30gig -so i really cant see anything else id like to replace that with at the moment that would have the same capacity / quality in such a small size)... It was ready for me to collect within 2 weeks of giving it to them -job well done. Only snag is the cost: it was more than HK$2000 (only about 300 dollars for labour so this was mostly for the new hard drive) So thats a large chunk of the 230 pounds I paid for the thing when i bought it in England. As you can see on this forum many people will tell you that you can replace the hard drive yourself, i dont know what your technical expertise is but if you do that you will save a lot of money (and maybe even upgrade to 40gigs or more apperently!). Personally I dont know too much when it comes to fiddling with tiny electronics etc so i just paid up and i feel it was worth it as it was (slightly) cheaper and a whole lot easier than tracking down a new replacement HD5h. There's people who think ive been a bit daft there, but most of em own big chunky nasty sounding ipods so they dont really understand. In my view Even Sony themselves havnt been able to offer a suitable hd5 replacement yet so im sticking with it, besides we all know longer battery life and better sound quality beats being able to watch music videos on the bus.

Yeah I just found this out too.. a little bit frustrating as i was planning on grabbing all my tunes off the hd5, therefore having a nice complete music library to play with on my shiny new Vista PC. dont have an xp machine anymore either so i cant just grab them onto that... oh well i guess it serves me right, shoulda known.. anyway come on GYM lets have a Vista compatible version ASAP please? get with the times eh?