juli

Me too

How disappointing that Sony don't think anyone outside Japan needs 64GB. Who is the brains behind all this?? Seriously! Okay, I know Japan models always have the nice features that get stripped down for release elsewhere - but capacity? Who decided only the Japanes need 64GB? It reminds me of when the A829 was released, and 16GB was available in some countries, with only 8GB available in others. What's the logic behind all this? No one outside of Japan could fill a 64GB model??

Yes, gapless is VERY important. There's nothing worse than hearing that annoying stutter in between tracks. I don't care how short the gap is, it shouldn't be there in the first place. Live concerts are really spoiled with gaps. Mind you, if the new 64GB Walkman was released outside of Japan (which it's not going to be, sob...) - then I'd have more room for WAV files so I could still have gapless and room to spare. Then I'd start complaining about the lack of playlist functionality!!!!!!!

I also have audiobooks on my Touch that I want to put on the X. So I'm going to burn them to disc via iTunes, and then rip them in a Sony-compatible format. No idea if that will work, but it's worth a try.

Great review Anthony. It would be so nice if Sony addressed that prehistoric Netfront thing that they have the gall to call a browser. But can you remember the last time there was a decent firmware upgrade that addressed anything useful? It's a pity, because until the browser is more user friendly, I can't see anyone wanting to trade their Touch for it. Still, the one thing we rarely see is any complaints about the sound and I guess from that point of view, it doesn't disappoint at all. It would just be nice to have access to some basic features, seriously, they couldn't implement one measly on-the-fly playlist? Not one?

It really is a crappy browser, but I'd love to think Sony might upgrade it in the future. Maybe if there are enough complaints, they might?? Anyway, glad you got your album art sorted out. That beautiful screen needs album art

I selected all the tracks, then 'extended tags', deleted the existing album art, clicked 'ok' - and then added the 'new' album art. That fixed it for me, it was as if one of the covers was being overridden by WMP tags, so I had to delete all the existing art associated with the album before adding the fresh one.

Gav, so you mean the front album cover, the one that shows in the main list on the Sony - shows the wrong album art, but then once you select a track from it, it's okay? I had a few of those which I had to correct using mp3 tag. Nice tip about the picture dragging. So much to learn with this new player, I didn't have so many album art issues with my other Sony daps!

Hey Paul, let us know if the album art eventually displays on the Sony. If you highlight ALL the tracks in one album, and then right-click to select Advanced Tag Editor, you should be able to add a cover to the whole album. I normally use that method if 'paste album art' doesn't work for all the tracks.

Hi Paul, first of all make sure the album art is embedded in your id tags (I use mp3 tag because it's simple). Then sync again once you've made sure they're embedded in the files. You should find they appear on the Sony once you've done that. If you still find some are not displaying, open them in Photoshop or other photo-editing software, and make sure they're saved as jpegs in 'baseline standard' format, not 'baseline optmized' or 'progressive'. Try that first, and then if it still doesn't work, come back and yell Gav - hi, yes I've had the same thing happen. Have you got WMP set up to add missing information or anything? I had to disable all intervention by WMP because it kept changing my covers in the night... Try mp3 tag to see if it shows the same cover for the 'Greatest Hits' albums, and if it does, you can change it from there. If you edit the properties in WMP, and right-click on 'advanced tag editor', and then 'pictures'... you can add or remove covers from there too.

KittyKat, is your album art displaying okay? I had an issue with a few covers that didn't appear, but I eventually solved it. If anyone else is having issues, just say, and I'll explain how I fixed it. Yeah, the youtube feature is more fun than I expected, doesn't make up for the lousy browser though. God, it's crap. But as a music player, I just can't fault it in any way. That s-master amp has to be responsible for the extra goodness!

Hey KittyKat, yeah, Explorer seems to be the least awful option for me at the moment. WMP can't see AAC files, and Explorer often crashes with the message: "This device has stopped responding or become disconnected" if I transfer too many albums at once (although it doesn't seem too fussy about when it crashes!). It's a nuisance, but as I only plan to do a mass transfer once, I can live with it. And it wouldn't be a Sony if everything was quick and simple

Hey Anthony, I've been using Windows Explorer because about a third of my music is in AAC (for the Touch) and WMP doesn't see those files at all. I prefer to use WMP to sync because I'm so familiar with it, but with all my AAC files invisible, I can't How are you liking it compared with the 818? Does it still sound brighter to you? And did you know Play and Amazon UK are selling it for

Hey KittyKat81, glad to hear you're loving it too! As for the crashing, well, it crashes on me a lot too. As soon as I try to transfer more than a handful of albums, I get 'Waiting-Walkman is busy' and then it freezes. I'm using Windows Vista so I don't know if that's the problem. And it's very very slow to transfer, brings back 'fond' memories of SonicStage I did manage to write an email, but it took so long I wouldn't bother to do it again unless it was an emergency. But at least I can check emails on it if my computer is shut down, and then if I need to reply, I'd just switch my computer back on. I am loving it more every day.

Hi SimonbUK, gnice to hear you're enjoying the Sony. I prefer it to my Touch 2G as well, much more fun to listen to. By the way, you said Wi-Fi works perfectly well, are you talking about general internet browsing /email etc? I think the Netfront browser is truly horrendous!!!!

Oh, the youtube feature is fun. And I like how I can just be playing a track from my library, then click on the link, and up pops a list of video clips of what I'm listening to. And I didn't think I'd use it much but since the browser is POOP, it's fun to have the youtube link Look forward to more impressions later. Don't you just love it when you get your hands on a new Sony?? Oh, and I was reading up on the Cowon S9, and almost spat out my tea when I read it had as 'good' a sound as the iPod Classic 120. I bought the Classic a while ago just to hear what it sounded like, and well, I returned it asap... so I was really surprised to read a pro review that praised the S9 for the wonderful SQ - and then said it was as good as the Classic Have fun listening!!

It's such a crap browser isn't it? It's pitiful, shameful and a joke! Look forward to more SQ impressions when you've had more time with it. I think it's warmer than my 808, but with more detail. Either way, I love it. I just wish there'd been a version without wifi for a cheaper price, 'cos the browser part isn't really usable

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey, for your first listening session, don't drag too many albums over unless you want to be sat there till tomorrow

The 829 was Mac-compatible so the X should be too, although Sony hasn't drawn attention to that in the specs. By the way, Play.com has finally updated their release date to 22nd May, and they've reduced the X to

jimbo, the only case I've seen so far is on Amazon. It just went up overnight from

Hey Anthony, can't wait to hear what you think of it if you manage to pick one up today! dura - I sold my IE8's last month when I bought the UM3X. I would love to keep everything, but I can't

Anthony, after 3 days with it, I can say I absolutely love it now. It's sooooooo detailed but never bright or harsh. Until I got some more listening time under my belt, it was hard to make a judgement. But I listened for about 3 hours today and it was amazing. Guitars sound fantastic and vocals are really smooth and upfront. The 808 took me a few weeks to adjust to, and the X, just a few days. I can't honestly see that anyone who likes the Sony sound would be disappointed by it. It sounds wonderful!

Right this minute I'd give it 4/5 starts for sound quality, mainly because I'm still not used to it. Remember I didn't like the A808 for a while when I first got it, I complained a lot that it was cold and bright and then one day I fell in love with it. It was just that it was quite different to the S706 and it took me time to get used to it. The 706 sounds pretty bad in comparison now! If I'd had to rate the 808 when I first got it, I'd have given it 2/5 so I know it's a matter of adjusting to the extra warmth and power that the X seems to have. It never went away, that's right. It may have got 'lost' when the iPod flooded the market, but it didn't go away. Sky TV should get their facts right. Is that the cradle you were talking about yesterday? The one for

Anthony, yes you can record from the TV using that thingy you mentioned! And the A...................................Z thing is not what I thought at all. Someone with more knowledge about it over at Head-Fi pointed out that if you touch the dots, and then slide your finger across the row - it will bring up the letters. I tried it, and it's actually better and faster than the previous A-D / E-K shortcuts. Hey kavin - I'll post some more about it tomorrow. Hopefully kittykat will have some impressions by then too

Yes, it's really nicely proportioned and very easy to grip, This is what's missing on it so far, 'Now Playing', 'A-D' shortcuts and 'Go to Artist', so don't bother looking for those features, they're gone. Instead of the A-D / E-K search option, there's now just an A..............................Z - so you have to guess where N-T is for example by just hitting somewhere in the dots! They're features that I'm very used to, but I expect I'll get used to the fact they're not there after a while. And it seems to be quite slow at transferring, so if you're going to have a quick listening test, don't drag over too many albums