NW-A1200...2.5 hour battery life. WTF?

[akasan]

July 1st 2007...My sony HD5 died. It was the hard drive. Silly me, I opened it up. No I didn't pop the strip that connects the front buttons, but whatever I did, it no longer comes on anymore. Now I can't find a replacement on Amazon or Ebay. I tried listening to the Sansa that I bought, but it's not the same, so I started carrying around the Zen Vision M, but while decent, something about the sound quality on that is dead and flat to my ears no matter how much I play around with the eq. So I pull out the A1200 (I went through a mp3 player buying spree last summer until I finally realized that nothing would satisfy my ears like the HD5) Sound wise, it's good, not Hd5 good, but I have no problems with it. The major issue is the BATTERY LIFE!!!!! I use a mixture of Mp3, Wma, and Atrac all ripped at 192kps. From a full charge to when the battery drains the space of time is around 2.5 HOURS. 2.5 friggin hours. It was like this when I first bought it last year which is why it stayed in the desk all this time. Is this normal for this machine (Was it made by sony-get 30 hours on one charge sony???) I've seen some reviews mention the horrendous battery life but I've also seen reviews praise it's battery life. Did sony ship out a batch with a faulty battery? If I replace the battery will this solve the problem? I know I am usuing what is considered a "high" bit rate compared with the 48/64kps that they use for their "official" battery tests but I don't think I should be taking such a hit. Is it a firmware issue?

Patiently waiting for sony to bring the NW-A808 to america (just might order off of ebay even though the thought of paying $300 for an 8 gig makes me cringe) but in the mean time....the a1200 is it. I wish I had never gotten that minidisc player three years ago. Wouldn't have become spoiled by sony sound quality.

[Ascariss]

what volume are you listening to it at? since that will determine how much battery life you get.

what about accessing the player? how often do you do it? every few min or almost never?

estimating, i get about 6-8 hours on my a1000, the battery usually runs down to 1/3 or 3/4 after listening to 3-4 hours. I only use mp3s though, and all are encoded at 320 kbps, so I am not surprised this is the max life for me. I'm alos using a 15 second screen, the brightness is so to the middle, and no screensaver. volume ranging from 8-12.

so 2.5 hours is not normal, its really poor to be honest.

[akasan]

depending on the song anywhere from 20 to 30. I do tend to access the player a lot but I did a test a few days ago, just letting it play randomly from a playlist and the battery life wasn't that much better. No screen saver, brightness set to the lowest possible, Custom EQ on (+3, -1, +1, 0, +1, +3). I know using the EQ the battery will take a hit but it shouldn't be by this much.

[AntiPod]

oh my! a product with 2.5 hours of battery life does not deserve a label from sony!! i feel bad for u, it's kinda late to mention this but u should have returned it when u first bought it. if the 1200 is still under warranty u better go to sony ASAP

[dura_]

My A3000 gave me abysmall batterylife too.

[Ascariss]

lol 20 to 30, a bit high might I add. the eq is a bit different than my setting but I am sure your volume and the accessing of the player is the main cause.

do this, discharge the player 2-3 times fully, then reload each time to full, should bring the battery back, otherwise your battery is shot.

[beakster]

depending on the song anywhere from 20 to 30. I do tend to access the player a lot but I did a test a few days ago, just letting it play randomly from a playlist and the battery life wasn't that much better. No screen saver, brightness set to the lowest possible, Custom EQ on (+3, -1, +1, 0, +1, +3). I know using the EQ the battery will take a hit but it shouldn't be by this much.

I also own a 1200, The best I've ever had is about 9 hrs, at 132 atrac3, no screensaver, new song pop up off, no eq, and no skipping etc just letting it play. In reality 6 hrs is about the beat it can manage. I hoped it woiuld imrove with a few charge cycles but it never did. I think the only solution is to pension it off and buy a nwa808. Shame really as apart from the battery the nw a1200 rocks.

[stargazer_tom1]

Hi in the manual it says that if u dont use the player for a while, when u start using it again the battery life will be short and the capacity will increase with charge/discharge cycles...i didnt use my a1000 for 2months and when i went to use it the battery life was terrible but it soon fixed itself with a few charges!

Maybe thats whats wrong with urs

-Tom

[imagine_]

Also, did you condition your battery properly when u first bought it?

Ie. fill up and discharge completely 3 times. If you didn't, this is most likely why you are having such bad battery life.

[VTN]

I've had the same problem with NWA-1000. i listen to it at 20, eq at jazz, shuffle all, and i get very low battery. usually it will only last me a day before the battery indicater is at one bar. Should i go and change my battery?

Another problem i've had with it is thta now, i can only hear out of one headphone, and i know it is the mp3 player, because i tried using another pair of headphones, and i can only still hear out of one.... could someone help?

[Ascariss]

why are you listening at such a high volume? O_O

I rarely go above 14 and 15 is rare for me.

I've had my a1000 for 2 years now, granted didn't use it for the entire 2 years but probably around 75 of the time, since the A3000 was a bit cumbersome , battery time is still the same as when I tested it when I got it, 10-14 hours. question what kind of headphones are you using?

you don't need to condition the battery when you get it, there is no need for that, you only need to condition it when battery life begins to be affected.