It’s simple really:”Freedom is just another wordFor nothin’ left to lose”

Simply “THE BEST” N “LARGER THAN LIFE”

omg!! this is horrible. I bought an iPod b/c i was offered a 40GB photo for $150 and pass up the HD5. I was going to buy one of these b/c my iPod sucks, mainly the constat reseting i have to do and the terrible battery life. Now it doesn’t look like i’ll be getting an HD5 now.

hey… they have a bunch of HD-5′s at the Tempe, Arizona Frys Electronics… all the colors… red… black.. silver… i just got mine last week.

I am just happy to have my NW-HD5. I wonder if they are going to still sell the replacement battery still?

perfectdamage – how much was it when you bought it, and any idea if they ship them? Outpost.com sells for Frys, but doesn’t have it listed.

i justr bought an nw-hd5 yesterday.. love it i got it for the price of a 2gb nano on clearance too. Might have to hit e-bay if you want replacment batteriies or accesories though

Just got the nw-hd5 – and you are so right…the sonic stage just a kill joy – i find that i cannot load any songs i have that are in real player format…and it’s such clunky software full of niggles…

these are still quite available here in australia for very little (a little over AU$300 if recall correctly). they have been phased out but can still be found.

i bought an HD-5 too, its a fantastic player, and i can say it feels good to look around and almost every one on the train has the white ipod headphones, and im the only one that has something different…sonic stage is alright, its useable, but i do hope they create an update or just scratch the software altogether…

I’ve had my HD5 for a little under a year now, and I’ll be gutted if it gives up the ghost. I really love this player, and with a few very minor tweaks it would be perfect.Here are a couple of things Sony could do, to bring the HD5 back:1) Colour screen, god knows why its important to look at photos/video on an mp3 player, but people like it. So add a colour screen.2) Album art3) Better screen sealing to stop dust getting under it4) Non-cracking buttons (to be fair, Sony have now fixed this, but I can’t be bothered to send mine back!)5) Better on the fly playlisting, lets face it, this sucks on the HD5, and the iPod makes it simple, so fix that.Thats it, this player is a fine piece of kit. 20gb is more than enough for a music player. Any more is really just dick waving to be honest. How many people have music collections that large (that they actually can stand to listen to!).Sonicstage isn’t perfect, but it does for me, I use it for playlists only, so I don’t have a huge library stored in the software, which makes it better.

omg the greatest hack thingamy doodle ever!!!!!!!!

I have NW-HD5 for more than 6 months. I broke my display around christmas and they replaced it with a new one for about 90$. I thought it would be a big waste not to repair this perfect (for me) mp3 player. 2 weeks ago at a party it just stopped working. I don’t know if anybody dropped it down and break it or … i just don;t know. I went to the service again and they told me there are 2 possibilities for this thing:1-it felt down and the hard disk is fucked up.2-if you use it for really really long time it can also break down (this is also possible for me)So the guys told me there isn’t point of repairing it because it would be expensive.( I think they just didn;t wanted to deal with it, they didn’t know what’s the problem)Now I am really sad that noone can help me and that NW-HD5 is out of sale…I opened the mp3 player and I saw the hard disk is TOSHIBA.So my question is: If the guys from the service can;t help me can I find somewhre to buy the hard dick and replace it myself. And if this is possible is it the hard disk going to be very expensive. Does it worth???I hope someone answer me because I really want to listen to music P.S.Sorry if my english is bad. (I am from Bulgaria )

look on ebay for a new one dude, may not come up straight away, though they do appear.. this is what i would do, then get a gaurantee 5 year warranttee? in uk it covers you against accidental breakage.. not sur if you have that kinda thing in your country, though worth looking into for your nxt purchase..also i suggest looking at a low end player for going out to places where the player will get abused, the nwhd5 is a v.high end playerso dont abuse it!!!!

yeah you got point…but isn’t the shipping price, the waiting and stuff going to do it pointless?I will think more…but see this…i went to sony cervise again and asked them about the price of a new hard disk (and i know from myself that the hard disk is toshiba MK2006GAL)…so the guys told me: 154 euro!…and if you go to some site where you can buy the hard disk it is 90$…so difference is huuuge!I still haven’t decided what to do, but 10x for the advise ))

For the one hat are interested in i sell my HD5 bought in europe the last year. i bought it for 300 euros so make me a proposition and i will come back to you as soon as possible. i’m in australiaDoes anyone know how to rip the music from the mp3 player to a computer. is there any patch available.Contact me l.feuilletin@gmail.com

For aftermarket batteries go to global batteries http://www.global-batteries.co.ukI have had one of there batteries as a spare for months now due to the unavailability of the original sony product. Same battery life and it has been completely reliable. Both the original and the generica battery are made in China regardless, quite possibly in the same factory

Sony is probably the best electronics company ever. This player is awesome. I got used to Sonic Stage, so for me its the perfect player. The sound is great! The design is fantastic!If you dont have the money for one of these fantastic players, then I suggest getting a Sont MP3 Player.

So what would be your reccomendation for a hd5 replacement?I want 1 but cant find them anywhere because theyve bin discontinued.Btw dont want a nwa1000-too big compared to the hd5

I have had this player for over a year and it is truly an amazing player.The battery life is outstanding – advertised at 40 hours, I actually get 35-40 hours.The sound is simply the best available. It is crystal clear and with a good headset such as Sennheiser or Bose you will maximize the enjoyment of this product. There aren’t any muffled or hissing annoyances at variable volume levels.It charges fast too and can be used while it is charging which can’t be said for a lot of players including IRiver Clix which I own as well.The interface is simple to use including navigation through the menus. I like the tactile buttons better than the scrolling or touch-sensitive devices. It is a personal preference but navigation is quite easy.Sonic Stage. This usually brings horrorific images to the minds of users. I must be honest and admit that it isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Sure, I wish the Sony device wasn’t proprietary like its I-Tunes cousin but SS does the job in managing music libraries and transfering music. It won’t convert music for playback if purchased from online vendors like Walmart or Urge because they add that protective garb to it that prevents converison. It used to convert Walmart music but they upgraded license protection several months ago and now it won’t work. If you burn pruchased music to a CD and then rip it to via SS then it could be used.Overall, I am very pleased with this player. For the future (even though I heard they are discontinuing this product line) a color screen for album art and pics, using WMP for music transfer would make this product almost flawless.

I’ve had this player for nearly 1 year – and I’m very happy and feel luck for having one – considering the are hard to get now adays. It’s light, small, excellent battery life and sound quality is superior to many current mp3 players out there! There not much negative aspect i can say except maybe SonicStage. It’s not bad and to me it’s easy to use being IT/gadget freak. I mean it’s fair to say that it probably needs to be improved when it comes to user friendly but besides that I’m extemely happy with it!!By the way I don’t use SS anymore as there is an alternative software to use: http://web.mit.edu/semenko/sony-hacks/sonicstage.htmlCheck that out and use another program to rip your CD’s to mp3! Works beautifully!

I live in 57775 Las Vegas, Nevada. Have you been here before?

I bought an ipod a while back, thinking it would blow me away. Hmmm….I sat there looking at itunes trying to figure out how to burn a cd. You have to make a playlist and drag and drop each song? How lame. I don’t see why everyone is complaining about sonic stage; i returned my ipod and kept my sony. The so called bass booster on the pod is horrible, it just distorts the music, no real bass. Overall I think sonic stage is much more intuitive than itunes. Even my bro who is an ipod freak admitted that itunes takes a while to get used to. Its a real shame Sony doesn’t make this player anymore, and any similar ones with larger hard drives…8 gb is way too small for me.

I got my 20GB HD5 in Japan for USD$250 earlier this year, bet you there’s still a few left … best thing around!

i had my hd 5 since it came out and i’ve found that its actually prettymuch indestructible (either that are i am fuckin lucky) i’ve taken it snowboarding and landed on it after falling from many big jumps and shit and although it got dents and shit it still works perfectly

i’ve only got one problem with it…..i changed my pc and now i can’t put any songs on it cuz sonic stage asks my to wipe the hard drive….i don’t wanna lose my music!!!! HELP!!!!

Help!!! I bought the HD5H last year around October and also go tthe remote and superior headphones, i loved this unit and treated it with utmost care. I also had the Proporta case. I used to put it in my pocket and always said one day I would put the screw in the back of the case and use the belt clip. Last Thursday I finally did this and when I was out I put my headphones in a seperate pocket and left the unit on the belt clip. Less than three hours later, it was gone, as the screw came out of the back of the case (I did screw it in extremely tightly), I have been upset about this for just over a week, and I cannot find a replacement anywhere. Can anyone, anywhere tell me where I can look, I do not like the new model, and I dont want another brand.

For anyone who might be interested. My NW-HD5 packed up a few weeks ago, when I switched it on it just displayed the startup screen for about a minute, you can just hear the hard drive clunking away (click of death) and then it would switch of again. I eventually took the plunge and bought a replacement drive from ebay, a MK2006GAL made by Toshiba, i’m fairly sure you could replace it with a MK3006GAL if you wanted the extra capacity. I’ve now fitted the drive, it was a bit fiddly but basically you undo the two screws at the bottom of the case and the insides slide out, then swap the drive and slide it back in again making sure you plug the ribbon for the keypad back in. Gives a warning that the drive is not initialised when first switched on but you just need to initialise the HDD from the options menu and hey presto a fully working player

Steven My hd-5 packed up at about the same time as yours with exactly the same problem and id really love 2 get it fixed ive spent ages looking around for parts but no luck please could you tell me where u found your parts and any other infomation you think might help, thanks.

I’ve owned mine for over a year now. I’ve taken it to Iraq, Pakistan, and Korea. When I arrived to Korea I bought a new computer, and my player accidentally deleted all my music. (User error). No big deal I thought, so I tried downloading Sonic Stage from Korea…it said I had to be in the states to register it. I wouldn’t take No for an answer…I went to Google and typed in NW HD5 hacks. MIT actually created software that you can use instead of Sonic Stage. I would highly recommend this as an alternative. You will still need a program to convert .wav files to mp3s, however those are a dime a dozen and free. It saves headaches, etc. I don’t understand why sony would sell their products world wide and not allow people to register them world wide. I’ve owned Gateways 20 gb, an IPOD 20gb, and my NW HD5. I can say my HD5 is far superior to anything on the market. Its a shame these didn’t come as an 80gb.

Has anyone tried to replace the drive with the newer MK3008GAL? Or even better, tried to replace it with an even bigger drive, e g 40GB MK4008GAH? I have exactly the same problem as Steven and want to give it a try.Matt, depending on where you are living, try pricerunner.com. They might have links to what you are looking for.

Björn you can not use the new drives because they use another connector (ZIF). You could use MK2006GAL,MK3006GAL,MK2007GAL, MK4007GAL. I am also looking for those drives but they are very hard to get in Switzerland.

SONY IS A BAD CORPERATION!!! PROBLEMS ETC WITH THEIR STUFFi have had this player for 1 and a half years now.after a few weeks dust got on under the screen. after two months the butons became dodgy, not responding to being pushed, then it wouldnt turn of or pause. i had to attach tape to the battery and pull it out every time i wanted it off. then the screen cracked and wouldnt display any information. the plastic top came off aafter 10 or so months and then in about august/september 06 it just didnt work att all. i could still use it as a hard disk drive but the other night the connector to the PCB detached through use i spose. ive tried to fix it but its just really badly put together and now i have 11GB of data backed up on there i need to get to and i need to find out info about this drive… its just been a headache. i would only recomend this if your gonna use kiddie gloves with it and keep it in a protective case or somthing where nothing could touch it.also, sony shop is useless! they dont know what on earth theyre talking about and are very annoying. i own a PS1, PS2, NW HD5 and some other junk thats gone over the years. its all broken and the only reason my PS1 still works is that i fixed it.i dont trust sony much any more. just through bad experience with their equipment.

My HD5 packed in over the weekend, i use mine with the Connects2 car kit on my Sony Stereo Head Unit.When you switch on the round circles just go round but no menu appears, also the computer doesn’t recognise the unit.Has anyone seen this before?

This is the best player EVER!!I wasn’t really a Sony fanboy before but now it seems there is no choice but to be just that.My 30 Gig HD5 has brushed off six months of snowboarding without so much as a peep while the battery is absolutely amazing and still lasts over 30 hours between charges (and only takes an hour or so to charge anyway!).It is an travesty that Sony seem to have given up on the harddrive player market when they could have taken this product and improved on it and eventually brought people around to their way of thinking ( IE. amazing batt life, small size, huge capacity and peerless audio quality)I am now in the market for another player as I need something smaller and lightweight for the gym (only credible choice at the moment is a shuffle 2nd gen) and i am gutted that sony only have one mid-sized player left to sell rather than the whole spectrum like they used to. I am NOT looking forward to Ipod hassles such as poo batteries and breakdowns and I am not looking forward to being part of the drone collective.

I just bought a replacement battery for my HD5 on eBay. Cost me less than $20 all up (AUD), compared to more than $80 (plus $10 shipping) for the genuine spare part from Sony.Only thing is that the third-party battery doesn’t have the tab on the label to let you pull it out, so you’d have to wrap a ribbon or something around the battery before installing it, or you will never be able to get it out again.

Yeah. I think i’m the only HD5 owner in Indonesia.I bought it in Singapore a few months before it’s actually marketed in my country. HD5 was still very new back then, and a lot of magazines reviewed it and most said it has superb audio quality, which is what i’ve been always looking for. so finally i decided to purchase it because i DIDN’T want an ipod.i loved this player so much and i’m very proud of it. period.

I actually agree with Chriss. Despite that it says it has a shock resistance i once accidentally dropped the HD5 slightly on the floor while closing the windows and the half screen never worked again. I tried to hit it again against the floor so that i could bring back the whole screen but i guess i destroyed it and i am glad i destroyed it though i could listen music only with a half screen.

Does anyone know if the hd-5 could get it’s hard drive updated?

The HD5 was a great mp3 player. My dog chewed on mine. There are a bunch of dents and the screen is toast but it still plays music. Does anyone know where I can get just the case to replace mine? Anyone know where to get the mp3 player at all?

the nw-hd5 uses the mk2006gal toshiba hard drive. Mine just conked out so I just dissambled it and removed the hard drive. There is supposed to be a 40 gb hard drive that with fit mk2007gal.

had a nw-hd5 for a while but the forward and volume up buttons won’t work so I can’t add any new tracks or i’ll be stuck with my first playlist. Can anyone help?

Anybody know how to plug the keyboard connector back in? I can’t seem to get it in all the way…

One day i fell over and my NW-HD5 broke. So i sent it off to sony, and after a few months, they sent it back, saying that it was not fixable. But the hard drive still worked and i could transfer songs onto it. So i used it to back up my music.But recently, when i tried to connect it to the computer, there is no recognition of the walkman on my pc. I really need those files stored on the hard drive. Does anyone know how i can retrieve them?

Like to buy a technical broken NW-HD5 (everything inside can be broken, like harddisk, display etc.). What I would need is the housing which should be in a nice optical condition (including buttoms) with the internal small polyimide flexible connection cable (which I have damaged during I replaced the harddisk). Color isn’t important. Anyone who would sell me its for some bucks (to Germany)?

want to buy a broken NW-HD5. need some parts for my old player.

Rob,“http://web.mit.edu/semenko/sony-hacks/sonicstage.html”I only recently aquired a NW-HD5 and was scared at the propsect of using SS, did what you suggested and downloaded the driver then MP3 file manager and it is absolutely fantastic!Thankyou so much.Definately recommend using this to anyone who prefers a simpler drag and drop style programme. And it is self contained within the player, brilliant.

Hello, I have had a NW-HD5 for the last 3.5 years and it’s been working great. Never any major incoveniences or problems with Sonic Stage other than the usual people complain about. The only thing is, my mp3 just died one morning. I picked it up to head out and it wouldn’t turn on. The next morning, after trying to charge the battery and buy a new one, I just got a msg that read Reconstructing Hard Drive and it died again. Does it mean it’s beyond any sort of help? I’d rather buy a new one if the cost of having it checked is as high as it usually is, so rather ask for ppl’s opinions.Thanks!!!