Sony NWZS618FBLK 8GB Walkman Video MP3 Player (Black)

• High quality video playback at 30 frames per second
• Up to 33 Hours of Battery Life
• 1.8" QVGA LCD Screen
• Compatible with Secure Windows Media Audio
• FM Tuner with 30 Station Presets

Amazon.com Product Description:
Slim and stylish, the NWZ-S618FBLK Walkman Video MP3 player combines a powerful digital music player with a 1.8" QVGA LCD screen for hours of multimedia entertainment. Listen to your favorite songs, view videos and photographs or listen to your favorite radio stations. Weighing less than 2 ounces but with the capacity to store up to 4,500 songs, 8 hours of video or hundreds of photographs, the 8GB NWZ-S618FBLK Walkman Video MP3 player delivers everything you need to take your favorite entertainment with you. 8GB Built-in Memory Store up to 5,050 songs or up to 30H 40M of video on your Walkman Video MP3 player and never be without your entertainment again. High Quality Video Playback Playback your favorite videos right on the player using MPEG 4 and M4V profile at 30 frames per second. Battery Life With up to 33 hours of audio playback and up to 8 hours of video playback you don't have to worry about charging your player. 1.8" QVGA LCD Screen Easily view your movies, photos and music information on the high quality, 320x240 display. Compatible with Secure Windows Media Audio Giving you more options than ever for downloading and listening to music. MP3/WMA/AAC Audio Codec Support Supports playback of MP3 and WMA DRM and non-DRM audio files downloaded from multiple sources. Will also support AAC non-DRM content, giving you multiple options for downloading music the way you want. 3 Clear Audio Technologies Utilizes 3 Clear Audio Technologies to reproduce crystal clear, CD-quality audio. Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) restores the higher sound frequency lost when creating compressed music files. Clear Bass enhances the bass sound while minimizing distortion. Clear Stereo reduces signal leakage from one channel to another. FM Tuner with 30 Station Presets Allows you to preset and listen to your favorite radio stations while on the go. Time Machine Shuffle Shuffle play among songs from a randomly selected year. (Information will come from CD information that is downloaded from the Gracenote CDDB) Initial Search Use the first letter of the song, album or artist to easily find the music you are looking for. Bi-Directional LCD Display Watch your videos and view your photographs either vertically or horizontally by adjusting the screen to the orientation you prefer. What's in the Box NWZ-S618FBLK Walkman Video MP3 player, USB Cable (22 pin to USB), MDR-E804LP Headphones and extension cord, CD-ROM with Windows Media Player 11 and MP3 Conversion Tools, Quick Start Guide.

Very good player; needs minor tweaks:
Having owned and used this player for several months, here's my Pro/Con list: Pros: 1. Excellent build quality. The face/screen is made of a much tougher material than the iPod, and doesn't scratch easily. 2. Excellent interface. Intuitive and simple. 3. Excellent screen quality; this player will run video at 320x240 30fps. Screen is sharp, bright. 4. Excellent sound quality (but see below). Sony sound enhancements for the most part work very well, and produce the best sound I've ever heard from any digital audio player (DAP). 5. Very good radio feature. 6. Unique (to me) "year-shuffle" feature...allows you to shuffle tracks within a year, selected at random. Fun to watch. 7. Works well with WMP11. Can also drag/drop files. 8. Exceptional battery life. Advertised at 33 hours for music, and hits it for the most part. Cons: 1. Overly aggressive volume leveler function produces audible artifacts when engaged. Depending on material, audio will sound muffled/uneven/warbling. Not sure if this can be fixed via firmware; best option for now is not to use it. 2. Lack of on-the-go playlists. A major oversight, in my opinion, especially when the "long-play" button is not assigned to any other function anyway. Most DAP's have this feature, so its omission here is glaring. Firmware addressable, whenever Sony wants to improve a near-great product and stick it to Apple. 3. Lack of gapless playback. Again, firmware addressable. 4. When displaying ID3 data for album or track year, pre-20th century dates are not recognized. For example, one cannot enter "1783" for as the year of an audio track - it will display as "Unknown". Granted, I don't think this will bother a ton of ppl, but for my classical pieces, I like to enter the year of composition. Fixing this limitation will enable these tracks to work great with the "year-shuffle" feature! Firmware addressable. 5. Included earbuds are average. They are not terrible, but do not in any way do justice to this player; replacing them is super-recommended. 6. Maximum capacity is only 8GB, and not expandable. 16GB would be nice, and I would pay for a 32GB. 7. Sealed battery. 8. Proprietary USB cable (surprise). 9. No wall or auto charger included. 10. A bit on the $$$$ side, but I guess that's always been Sony! I've read that people have had trouble getting videos onto this player. I've been able to do so easily by converting everything to mp4 format, at 320x240. I then dragged the file into the player, and it's always worked fine. Currently no Rockbox firmware is available for player, but that's no fault of Sony's. It's just on my wishlist. Final note: A 7-series of this player is now available. It features active electronic noise cancellation, but requires you to use special included ear buds which will also introduce audio artifacts. I absolutely recommend sticking with this 6-series and using quality passive noise-cancelling earbuds.

great purchase:
i have not had any problems.such as freezing up,cutting off when recharging and keep hitting the reset button.these are problems i have had with other mp3 players GREAT ITEM.

Thank God for MP3:
This is not my first MP3 player. I was specifically looking for one that would be cpmpatable with Napster, and this was on their list. The first one I bought I made several mistakes, so I did more research this time and also examined what I really needed. My first player (which cratered after less than a year of pretty easy use) had a 30 gig memory. As all I wanted was music, that was too big, and was astronomically priced. You also needed a degree from M.I.T. to work it. My Sony is a completely different story. I got 8GB, which seems to be plenty so far. It was a breeze to set up, and to play. It is very small, so easy to tote around at the gym. The battery charge lasts about 30 hours of play or more. I am not very technical, so ease of use was very important to me. I love this player and I don't think you can beat Sony.

Sony Video MP3:
So far this is a great MP3 player. Great sound and once I figured out to put the "hold" button on the battery life is excellent. I don't use it to watch video and probably wouldn't, but the sample video is excellent... it's just small for watching video.

Happy with it.:
Still trying to understand its features. I don't understand its users guide too well. I really wish I understood how to delete songs from it.