Following the Walkman

For the generation that grew up with the brick-like steel grey cassette-playing Walkman, it seemed oddly enough, like the end of an era

For the generation that grew up with the brick-like steel grey cassette-playing Walkman, it seemed oddly enough, like the end of an era

Sony Walkman went 'high tech' last year, and launched a video portable media player, even though video PMPs were de rigueur. Could the trail blazing, path breaking, iconic media player that the Walkman was in the 80s, match up to the snazzier iPod? Well, if you are an Apple fan, nothing can match up to Jobs' nifty little revolutionary. But, the recent Walkman E-450 series (available in three models E455 with 16GB; 454 with 8GB and E-453 with 4GB), we discover, manages to hold its own. Well, almost.

Sony Walkman NWZ E454
Specifications
Screen: 2.0-inch QVGA
Audio format support: MP3, WMA (DRM and Non-DRM), AAC, Linear PCM
Video playback: MP4, AVC, WMV-9
Storage: 4GB (8GB and 16GB also available)
Compatibility: drag-and-drop
Battery: 50 hours' music playback
Dimensions: 44x 95 x 10mm
Weight: 58g

What we likeu00a0
* The video player supports MP3, WMA, AAC formats apart from MPEG-4/WMV video files.
* It's nice and light, extremely portable and capable of fitting into pockets with ease.
* The battery life of the PMP is pretty good. With radio, music and a bit of the other stuff (voice notes and video playback), the player lasted us for about two days.
* There are plenty of settings options for radio, sound, music, videos, and pictures. There's also a Karaoke mode whose volume can be adjusted depending on how loud you want to go. All you need is LRC (Lyrics Sync) files.
* A hold button on the side of the player allows you to pause the player with ease.
* A voice recorder lets you take notesu00a0-- a rather nifty feature.

What we don't
* You can't play the radio or the music player and return to the home screen to rummage through folders or videos. Once you hit the back button, the player goes silent, which makes this player rather limiting in its functionality.
* Transferred videos don't automatically go into the videos folder. You have to spend a lot of time figuring out where they are floating.
* The player doesn't shut down easily. Though there's a power-off button, a mere touch of the Home button switches it on again. So you'll never know if the player is on inside your pocket.
* The design seems to have a round navigation pad like the iPod, but it doesn't work like one. You have to press down on the navigation pad to work your way around it.
* The player gives you the option of arranging your music into different folders: Night, Upbeat, Energetic, Relax and Extreme in the Sony SenseMe application that comes loaded into the piece. There's also a shuffle all option if you don't care. Chances are, most of us really won't care. That's why the go forward button is there in the first place, isn't it?
* The 2" QVGA screen shows crisp videos, but the screen's too tiny and narrow for prolonged viewing. The video doesn't change from landscape to vertical mode with the flick of the wrist, though.
* Only works with Windows Media Player 11.