Sony NW-HD1 Review

Summary

Sony Network Walkman NW-HD1, the new music-only player powered by a 1.8-inch hard drive, enough RAM to provide 25 minutes of skip-free playing, and an impressive 30 hour battery life. While initial reports mention that the NW-HD1 will support MP3, WMA, and WAV — and technically, that’s true — it seems the “support” comes via the same old Sony trick of converting everything to ATRAC3 on the fly. That still could put some consumers off as it will not link directly with some download music sites. Still, this is the one they’re counting on to make a dent in the iPod’s dominance, it’s got a couple of problems, with the ATRAC3 and probable lack of WMA DRM files.