Amazon.com Product Review
Amazon.com Product Description Designed with an active lifestyle in mind, the Sony NW-S203F is the perfect companion for your workouts, ski trips, or commutes. The unique, cylindrically shaped MP3 player is packed with a host of valuable features, including a calorie counter that tracks the calories you've burned based on your weight and length of workout, a stopwatch that lets you track your speed, and a pedometer. Listeners who need a little extra motivation while exercising will love the Music Pacer, which switches playlists based on their pace. If you're walking, it chooses a relatively slow playlist, while hard- charging runners will receive a much more up-tempo soundtrack (the feature can be disabled at any time). And when you're finished with the workout, the music will automatically stop once the target time has passed.
A skip-proof design and quick battery charge function allow you to take your music on-the-go. View larger. |
Sony's SonicStage software lets listeners manage their music.
View larger. |
The NW-S203F isn't just a workout warrior, however, as it boasts 1 GB of built-in flash memory that stores up to 695 songs. Listeners who already have extensive music libraries can use the included software and hardware to play back their collection of MP3s, while newer listeners will find plenty to like in Sony's ATRAC format, which provides higher sound quality while taking up less space on the flash memory. In addition, the NW-S203F supports the playback of WMA and AAC (non-DRM) audio files, a great feature if you have a large catalog of audio on your PC that was ripped from personal CDs.
Navigation is straightforward thanks to the player's one-line OLED display, which shows the song title, album title, and artist name along with information about the settings, time, and date. The built-in FM tuner, meanwhile, delivers accurate, drift-free tuning of all your favorite FM stations, with 30 station presets making it a breeze to quickly switch from one favorite to another. And when it comes time to transfer data from your PC to the NW-S203F, simply connect the unit to your computer's USB 2.0 port to enjoy a high-speed transfer rate.
The NW-S203F comes with a copy of Sony's SonicStage music management software, which lets listeners manage their music, create playlists, burn CDs, import digital files, and easily transfer songs from one location to another. It's also a breeze to customize the sound, with a five-band equalizer that includes heavy, pop, jazz, custom, and manual modes. Additional features include a seamless, water-resistant aluminum body; a Shuffle Shake mode that activates the shuffle function with three quick shakes (great when jogging); a skip-proof design (the MP3 player has no moving parts); a quick battery charge function that delivers up to three hours of playback with just a three-minute charge; and compatibility with Sony's Connect Music store.
The NW-S203F, which provides up to 18 hours of continuous playback per full charge, measures 3.79 by 0.78 by 0.59 inches (W x H x D) and is backed by a 90-day warranty on labor and a one-year warranty on parts.
What's in the Box NW-S203F MP3 player, headphones, SonicStage CP software CD-ROM, armband, USB cable, quick-start guide.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(45 customer reviews) 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Sony breaks ground in the mp3 field,
March 5, 2007 Ron J. Stuczynski "Ron Stuczynski" (Naples, Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony NW-S203F 1 GB Flash Sports Digital Music Player with Armband (Black) (Electronics)
I have been trying different mp3 players and found this to be a great buy. Expecting the worst, I found this player to have an excellent sound stage; perfect even frequency with nearly no noticeable distortion at any volume. My ears are sensitive to treble causing listening fatigue. This player does not do that. I believe it to be the Sonics mated with the ear phones, the flat frequency range won't give you the range that will cause listening fatigue. With years as a guitar player and a past of car stereo competitions I would say I know a lot about sound. I would be interested in listening to the 200+ headphones on this. I would not expect much better. The bass is weak as stated in earlier posts, but it is plenty adequate and distortion free. I believe this to be a full balanced player and worth every penny I spent. Players tried: Sansa, Ipod, Creative zen.
FM tuner works well also, with super low station drift if any at all.
Pros:
1. Battery life
2. Sound...Read more
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Decent MP3 player.,
October 29, 2006 Sakotto (SF, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony NW-S203F 1 GB Flash Sports Digital Music Player with Armband (Black) (Electronics)
I'm pretty satisfy with the product.
-The screen is pretty cool, it sort of rotate as you rotate the player up and down, so screen can still be seen at an angle.
-The headphone is very nice, it fits my ear comfortably and sounds really great. Although it doesn't fit on my girlfriend's ear. If you have small ears, then you out of luck with this headphone.
The down side about this player is BASS is reduced in the player. Same song playing on my computer will have much stronger bass. When I plug the mp3 player to speaker the bass is very low. I guess it's a function to protect your ear while using headphone, so if you don't plan to hook it up to speaker then it's no problem.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Burned,
January 15, 2008 Luke Wickenheiser "lukefinite" (Lancaster, Pa) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sony NW-S203F 1 GB Flash Sports Digital Music Player with Armband (Black) (Electronics)
Let's dive right into it... The person who designed the hardware of this music player deserves an award. I use music players exclusively for working out. This is the first player that seems designed specifically for that purpose. The waterproofing and the pedometer are a God-send. I had lost 3 players before this to rust and short-circuit. The waterproofing is pretty important to me. The pedometer is simply useful. I keep track of how far I've gone and even cue the music to stop after a certain distance. Very cool. I can take or leave the tempo matching. (it is kind of insulting, I can't run fast enough to get the high tempo songs. :P)
Great, that was the pluses. Here is the reason I hate this player: the software. Notice how I kept writing "music player?" That is because this device doesn't actually play mp3s. It converts mp3 into a proprietary format. These files appear to be 2 or 3 times bigger than mp3s, judging by the number of songs need to fill the player up. (100...Read more
