Should I buy the A800? Please advise quickly!

[narsaksaskak1]

Hey guys can you advise me whter or not i should buy this new device from Sony? Im thinking either this or the nano, but just about eveyrone has the nano. i am currently in japan right now so i can buy one. my worries are that it will be in japanese and i cant use it on my windows XP home in english. are there any threads in this forum for people who just bought one and guidelines for them to follow?

Also, I download some of my songs and movies. Can I upload them on this device even though its not bought from sony?

[Shinji Ikeda]

Hey guys can you advise me whter or not i should buy this new device from Sony? Im thinking either this or the nano, but just about eveyrone has the nano. i am currently in japan right now so i can buy one. my worries are that it will be in japanese and i cant use it on my windows XP home in english. are there any threads in this forum for people who just bought one and guidelines for them to follow?

Also, I download some of my songs and movies. Can I upload them on this device even though its not bought from sony?

Hello,

Here is a quick response from someone living in Japan. The software on the included software support several language version of SonicStage including English and Japanese. So this will run on your Windows XP home. Second the NW-A800 series Network Walkman work independent of the language of your operation. The language of the menu's will by default be in Japanese, but can easily changed to English or another language.

There are several reviews and opinions on this site of various experiences with different version of the NW-A800 series.

Also long as the music that you downloaded do not have any DRM associated with them you have no problems transferring them to the NW-A800 series.

A word of advice the NW-A800 need SonicStage to transfer your songs to it. If you have patience you will have no problems. Additionally, it is recommended that you use Image Converter to transfer your movies and pictures to the NW-A800 series. You do not need to use Image Converter, but Song uses a specific naming convention for these files.

I hope this helps, and good luck on your future purchase.

[lilkick]

get sony , nano is flat music player, sure NW-A800 series has its drawback like slow transfer rate and people said alot on sq issue, like which earphones suit it, but compare it to nano, sony wins, not individual at all if u buy a nano, cause everyone has one, BORING......

[dura_]

As Shinji Ikeda indicated, language will ont be a problem.

I think the nano is a beautiful piece of hardware, but the A8xx looks and feels even better. Sound quality wise the Sony sounds so much better the nano having that typical unpleasant flat and sharp sound out of its headphone-out that keeps me from buying ipods. But not everyone is interested in good SQ of course, otherwise ipods wouldn't be this increbly popular.

[JBdeal]

Sound quality comes from Sony, huge sale figures come from ipod, a matter of quality or like everyone else. i think that NW-A800 runs longer than nano, it can play video which nano can't, nice stock earphones which nano doesn't have, great design for NW-A800 that nano can't compare to, large screen and better viewing than the nano, even if we forget about that Sony has a good sound quality, the A800 still beats nano inside and out, however it doesn't sell as well as the nano, we can go on and on about how apple does great in the market, but get quality from Sony or popularity for apple

[ppau0822]

i would recommend the a808 if youa re into watching videos, but if you are looking for something that has excellent SQ then i recommend the s706.

[AntiPod]

i would recommend the a808 if youa re into watching videos, but if you are looking for something that has excellent SQ then i recommend the s706.

i know sound quality is a personal thing but i must say that a808 is better in terms of SQ compared to s706 to most people. The advantages of s706 are only noice cancelling and FM.

[juli_]

The advantages of s706 are only noice cancelling and FM.

And the 3-minute charge which is absent on the 808! Also depends if you like full sound or sharper sound

From what I've read it is not a case of 'most' people preferring the SQ of the 808 - there are plenty of people who prefer the richness of the 706.

As I said before, it all depends on your sound preferences, but I would have to disagree that the 706 is less detailed - in my opinion it is more detailed than the 808 and nicer to listen to. 808 is still very good - but 706 is easier on the ears!

Edited June 26, 2007 by juli

[narsaksaskak1]

Wow thanks for the information guys! Im defiantly going to buy one now, tomorrow. Now, I use itunes because i have a 4th generation ipod. will it be a huge hassle to move all of my music over. most of its in one folder thank god. whats the easiest way to move music over?

I used to have the Sony MD, not sure what model type but it was almost 500 USD. Sonicstage wasn't so easy to use so Im a bit worried about that.

[narsaksaskak1]

Also, Shinji, thanks very much for the helpful info!

[Shinji Ikeda]

Wow thanks for the information guys! Im defiantly going to buy one now, tomorrow. Now, I use itunes because i have a 4th generation ipod. will it be a huge hassle to move all of my music over. most of its in one folder thank god. whats the easiest way to move music over?

I used to have the Sony MD, not sure what model type but it was almost 500 USD. Sonicstage wasn't so easy to use so Im a bit worried about that.

Hello Naraksaskak1,

First, on SonicStage has improved much, but still has some quirks. If you have iTunes I suggest that you keep it. One thing that SonicStage is missing is a RSS reader. SonicStage is used only to manage your music before transferring them to the NW-A800 series Walkman.

Second, Just drag-and-drop your music library into SonicStage. You can drop the entire folder into SonicStage. I must warn you that it will take time for SonicStage to build your library. So please be patient. If you really want the NW-A800, my advice is to download SonicStage (the English version) first. Then you can get used to SonicStage.

[narsaksaskak1]

I will defiantly keep itunes as my music player and its nice to hear that all i have to do is simply drag my itunes folder over and drop it into sonicstage and it will be easy. I dont mind the time it takes, i just want it to work.

Alas, i was not able to purchase hte A808 today because it was sold out! I am now in taiwan headed to hongkong. I just hope its not too expensive there in hong kong =( It is sold all over asia right?

[FatFrank]

I will defiantly keep itunes as my music player and its nice to hear that all i have to do is simply drag my itunes folder over and drop it into sonicstage and it will be easy. I dont mind the time it takes, i just want it to work.

Alas, i was not able to purchase hte A808 today because it was sold out! I am now in taiwan headed to hongkong. I just hope its not too expensive there in hong kong =( It is sold all over asia right?

They're selling the A806 (4MB) in Thailand for USD $329 & the A804 (2MB) for USD $239.00. Not sure if this is a good price or not but I'll be heading to Hong Kong end of this week to check out there prices; I believe I could get a better deal in Hong Kong as prices tend to be lower than anywhere else I've been

[hign n mighty]

it's all up 2 ur listenning preference ,if u want a warm sound ,choose s706,if not ,cop the a808

[FatFrank]

update, just purchased the A806 (4GB) in Hong Kong for HKD $1828, glad I waited, now on the hunt for a screen protector and protective case; sound is amazing.

I currently has the Bose Triport earphones and the Shure E2C earphones, damn if I'm not impressed by the stock Sony earbuds that comes with the A806.

Bose Triport are uncomfortable, they don't seem to fit quite well into the ear and continually loosen, fall out.

Shure E2C- very weak bass and earbuds difficult to put on as wire is required to go "over the ear"

Sony ear buds are straightforward, fit snuggly in the ear and base on the pre-loaded music, accentuates the highs & the lows of music very clearly, will experient with all 3 earphones with songs downloaded into player before making a final earphone choice.

[narsaksaskak1]

FatFrank,

I also just recently purchased the A808 in HK for 2188 I belive, a cheaper price than I would have gotten in Japan. I love the A808, so much better than the Ipod its ridiculous. Its just...fun to use. However, i do dislike my friends who critize me because I bought it instead of an Ipod, idiots...

Anyway i digress,

This is a truely excellent player and Frank, you can get nice cases for this player at Sonystyle, 555 Henessy Road right next to Sogo in Causeway. Have fun!

BTW, no other places in Hong Kong sell the case, dont waste your time asking those electronic shops, most havent even seen the 808. They just gave me a blank look.

[JustAnUnCoolCat]

Ok, let's be honest here, Sony users are probably as determined in their choice as typically iPod users are sheep-driven in their choice.

But hey, we made our choices..., so let's respect choices made.

My only real comment that separates the difference between Sony obsession and Apple obsession is simple - Typically Sony kit is bought by people who want quality, Apple DAP's are heavily chosen by trend and fashion/coolness influences.

If you are gonna pay on the high side, and in honesty .. both brands are high-sided on prices for what you get, at least you know where the money went to with the Sony

What stops me buying an A800 to replace the A3000 is simple logic and value. I dont really need video support (but if it came in the package and wasn't the usual postage stamp low-qual joke, i'd use video now and then) so any premium proportion to the asking price due to video is totally not acceptable for a feature i'd hardly use. But the prices are pretty much in line with Sony HDD units and the iP*d/N*no market, so that premium issue is kinda settled.

What kills it off for me, is value. Like i said, dont really need video... and would i trade off 50% or more of storage for a feature i dont really need..??

I may be mad, borderline insane some may say, but i aint stupid... so unless the A800 drops into a proportional price reflecting it's storage capacity, then it's a case of A3000 having a long secure place in the virtual cat basket.

If you want Sony, video and the idea of insane money for Sony portable DVD unit dont figure into common sense, then i guess the A800 series is a good move.

But like i said earlier in the reply, let's respect choices made

'Tom Kat'

Edited July 9, 2007 by JustAnUnCoolCat

[Shinji Ikeda]

It is hard to compare hard drive to flash memory. Technically both storage mediums are different in many aspects. Currently flash memory is more expensive than hard drives. Depending on the amount for flash memory, it is significantly more expensive. Yes, it is disappointing that the price between the two formats are not equivalent. The current situation is the state of the market, and not specific to one manufacture.

With the NW-A800 series the price also includes a large colour screen. The video play back is a nice feature and is better than other players, but just a feature. A longer player would do better job for video play back. Additionally, it could be strongly argued that most owner of the NW-A800 series use their players primarily for music play back.

The premium issue does not exist, unless it can be considered that all flash based media are selling at a premium. If one can not justify spending the extra money for a flash based play, so be it. That is their choice. To expect the cost of flash based players to cost the same as hard drive based players is not logical.

[Shinji Ikeda]

repeat

Edited July 9, 2007 by Shinji Ikeda

[Shinji Ikeda]

repeat

Edited July 9, 2007 by Shinji Ikeda

[JustAnUnCoolCat]

There is indeed a price premium issue.

I am fully aware there are differing costs between flash memory and hdd storage, which affect prices, but that was NOT the premium i meant.

The premiums come in a number of levels, all applicable here.

1. You pay as much for under 10Gb of flash memory as you can get 20Gb+ for, that is a premium price factor.

Sure it's related to differing costs, but it's not a premium that's irrelevent. That's why back when i worked in the industry, i was never unaware of the price premium the different storage methods added to some devices.

2. Both Sony and Apple have a price premium on their products, not all Sony items are loaded disproportionally upwards to the extent that Apple do with their range, in fact - there have been some absolute bargains in the Sony range, where Apple stuff always seems to carry the premium on the high side.

The N*no, Sh*ffle and iP*d all demonstrate that one nicely. antd have done consistently since day one they appeared.

The NW-A series, at least they sit vaguely on a similar parallel of 'premium price for premium goods' to the saner premium priced goods.

3. Larger screen, sure.. the A800 series may have a 'large' screen vs most of the competition - but hell, the premium you pay for the screen and video on the move (in almost all video enabled players) is silly - it's like paying for downsized capacity when it comes to storage vs what is the norm for storage in the price range of the premium stuff. Then you pay silly money for a relatively tiny screen (and it is small really) that makes me think back to early casio pocket tv's in size terms (and premium prices they had too).

Trust me on this, if a product is seriously worth every penny of what you pay out for it, i'm there giving such things the recognition they deserve, but i'm seriously not about to give any of those tiny screen pocket decks any recognition of value yet a while, because simply stink in value terms.

If i was gonna lay out money on a pocket video enabled deck, i'd buy a PSP and add the optional HDD and extra battery capacity and mem sticks be damned.

The PSP aint that wonderful value for money, in basic form, but at least the screen is vaguely on the right side of sanely scaled and you get a hell of a lot more for your money.

But since my tolerence for tiny screens and frankly crap imagery which goes with a lot of the personal video players (the pocket ones anyway, and the cheapo bargain bucket DVD units) makes them a no-interest when it comes to my spending money on them, there's zero danger of me jumping on the pocket video enabled player bandwagon.

And being housebound means such things would literally be gadget scale toys in my life. A PSP, if i had the inclination and was ready to spend a bit more on the expansion to give it decent capacity and battery life, would be my first port of call for Sony pocket video devices. But if i really have the desire to have a limited scope device, then i'd probably vote with something with a decent sized screen and 20+gB of HDD - at least the eye fatigue would be way down by comparision and i could actually have a decent sized collection on the storage.

If you rate gadget value as value for money then i guess some would say those pocket video devices are good value - but when you do the sums and see what you get for the money, they aint that good value. In fact, they are pretty close to similar value proportionally that 1st gen HDD DAP's were vs multi-codec CD devices. For the price diff, back then, you could buy a crap load of CD-RW's for the diff in price between the two varieties of decks.

Likewise, today, you can buy quite a quantity of mem cards of a decent size for the price diff between the HDD and Flash based video enabled players.

'Tom Kat'

[narsaksaskak]

I haven't had any eye straining issues with my 808. Ive watched a full length movie and 6 episodes of house on it without thinking "Hey this screen is too small". A bit amazing really...I never thought I would actually spend more time watching movies and tv shows in this thing than listening to music.

Anyway, Im not disappointed that I bought this, 280 bucks in Hong Kong, the Nano is 250 for the same storage space and 30 bucks for less features and a player that no one I know has is nice. You could say you spend more for the wow factor.

Plus the headphones are nice too. Very nice.

[LuLu]

I haven't had any eye straining issues with my 808. Ive watched a full length movie and 6 episodes of house on it without thinking "Hey this screen is too small". A bit amazing really...I never thought I would actually spend more time watching movies and tv shows in this thing than listening to music.

Yes but how was your arm after holding it for 6 hours?

LOG

[juli_]

I haven't had any eye straining issues with my 808. Ive watched a full length movie and 6 episodes of house on it without thinking

Plus the headphones are nice too. Very nice.

LOL! Aren't your eyes even a little bit sore after all that viewing? My eyes would have dropped out and rolled down the garden path by now! I never watch anything on it, I can just about see full-sized album art on it

Yes, the headphones are fantastic considering they're just the 'stock' buds. I think the last few Sony daps have all come with decent headphones

[narsaksaskak1]

Oh and what settings do you guys use? Like do you use the sound enhancer? Clear stereo? Equalizer? Im a bit of a newbie at all of this so any help would be appreciated =)

And btw, I didnt watch 6 hours straight. What I meant was that I have watched all of those episodes and movies in a span of around a week or so. Boredom...

[narsaksaskak1]

Oh yea, also wanted to comment on Sonicstage. If Sony did one thing right, it was the easiness of adding tracks to sonicstage. Since I download much of my music, the track titles can be a little off because I change them around and Itunes doesnt recognize it. Like my file name is just Hotel California and Itunes doesnt find the artist. Sonicstage does...at least it got something right.

[FatFrank]

FatFrank,

I also just recently purchased the A808 in HK for 2188 I belive, a cheaper price than I would have gotten in Japan. I love the A808, so much better than the Ipod its ridiculous. Its just...fun to use. However, i do dislike my friends who critize me because I bought it instead of an Ipod, idiots...

Anyway i digress,

This is a truely excellent player and Frank, you can get nice cases for this player at Sonystyle, 555 Henessy Road right next to Sogo in Causeway. Have fun!

BTW, no other places in Hong Kong sell the case, dont waste your time asking those electronic shops, most havent even seen the 808. They just gave me a blank look.

Thx for the tip, I'll head on over to 555 Henessy Road to pick up a case, You're right, many of the electronic shops had no idea about the Sony A800 series. Although the screen may be small, it's great to have to have an option of watching a video when you find yourself having time to kill.

I normally go to this site to download MPEG4 videos........http://www.ipodnova.tv/index.php

Edited July 16, 2007 by FatFrank