Sony NWZ-E355 Review

[GreasyTacoAficionado]

Sony NWZ-E355 Review


The Specs
Specs:

• Audio Format(s) Supported : Music: MP3, WMA (DRM), AAC, Linear PCM
• Station Preset(s) : 30 FM Presets: Auto or Manual
• Screen Size : 2" QVGA TFT color display2 (320 x 240 Pixels)
• 16GB advertised, Device reports 14.1GB available for song storage

Power Specs

• Battery Charging (Approx) : USB-based charging
• Approx. 3 Hrs(full charge)
• Approx. 1.5 hours (approx. 80%)
• Battery Life (Approx) :
• Music: 50 hrs. (MP3/WMA 128kbps);
• Video: 10 hrs. (WMA 384kbps);
• FM Radio: 20 hrs.
• Power Type : Built-in Rechargeable Li-ion Battery

In the Box

• NWZ-E355, USB cord, cheapo headphones, and a useless manual

Purchase info:

• Bought at BestBuy Canada for $130 CAD (128 USD, 93 EURO)

Why I Purchased the Sony NWZ-E355
I’ve been looking for a MP3 player to replace my aging but still functional 1GB Creative Zen Nano Plus. I use a pair of Shure SE102 headphones which cost about $70. They provided the sound isolation I wanted for listing to music or podcasts, like the hilarious MBMBAM.com podcast (highly recommend you check it out), while going for a run or going to the gym. I considered the following MP3 players to replace my Zen: SanDisk Clip Plus 4GB, Sony NWZ-E345 16GB, Zune HD 16 or 32 GB, and the SanDisk Fuze Plus.

I really like Zune HD but it’s a little more than I wanted to spend, and I thought it might be a little too big for running or taking to the gym. The SanDisk Clip Plus looked like a great size but I was concerned the 15hour battery life might be a little too short. So far the SanDisk Fuze Plus isn’t available at retail.

I first became interested in the NWZ-E355 after learning it allows playlists to be created on the device and songs to be deleted on the device (Edit:Thanks to great feedback in comments I've discovered that files in the Music folder cannot be deleted on the device itself, Sony you heart-breaker you). The NWZ-E345 doesn’t do this as far as I know. Shortly after that I saw BestBuy Canada had the 16GB NWZ-E355 for sale for $130 CAD, that’s 44% more than the 16GB NWZ-E345’s price of $90. Quite a markup, but I decided what the hell and bought the thing.

Hardware
The E355 is a good looking player. Clear plastic covers the front of the unit and extends a few mm past the top providing a small window for light to pass through, the effect is pretty cool. Being made of plastic you know it will scratch easily if dropped or if you put it in your pocket with your keys so it’s best to use some kind of case with it. Unfortunately Sony doesn’t make a case with a belt clip, so right now I’m just using a small baggie made for sunglasses. The buttons on the front tilt to a certain degree when you touch them, this feels a little cheap but they function just fine. On the Right side is a hold switch, and volume up down buttons. On the bottom are the 3.5mm headphone jack and the USB 2.0 port.

The first thing that struck me when turning on the E355 was how beautiful the menus look. Sony uses a combination of colors and fading light that make the menus a joy to use. The screen is a 2" QVGA TFT color display with 320 x 240 Pixels.



Sound
This is only my second MP3 player, my other is a 1GB Creative Zen Nano Plus, so I can’t make any direct comparisons. It sounds great to my ears though. I didn’t bother trying the cheapo headphones that came with the unit, just my Shure SE102 in ear monitors.

Battery
Sony advertises battery life of 50 hours for (MP3/WMA 128kbps) music,10 hours (WMA 384kbps), and 20 hours for FM Radio. Sony claims charging times of 3 hours full charge, and 1.5 hours 80% charge, over USB. I haven’t been able to test this out yet.

Included Software
Sony has a setup.exe file stored on the player with some kind of software on it for your computer. I didn’t bother trying it out.

Using the NWZ-E355
The Good

• If you start listening to a song or podcast like the great ones at MBMBAM.com, and then change to something else, the player keeps note of where you left off and will continue on from that point. This is especially great for podcast listening.
• You can create playlists on the device itself, the E355 calls these Bookmark lists. But you can only do this for items in the Music folder, not the Podcast folder.
• The player can create automatic playlists based on info in the MP3 file ID3 tags, like genre, artist, etc. And it also creates playlists (SenseMe Channels) based on its analysis of the music, channels include Night, Extreme, Upbeat, Relax, Energetic. I thought this would be a gimmick but it actually seems pretty handy. After telling the player to analyze my tracks it put my electrobeat music from http://zpower.zieglerc.net/ (ZPower, pretty good DJ) into the Energetic Channel, Cool.
• Sony has included two karaoke options, Maximum Karaoke Mode and Minimum Karaoke Mode. What other company would do this? I’ll never use these but it cracks me up that they’re there. I also have no idea how to create the lyric files needed for Karaoke mode. EDIT: Instructions on how to create the LRC text files that contain the lyrics for Karaoke mode at http://www.sony-asia.com/support/faq/411702 Audacity would be a good program to use to pinpoint the time the lyrics are sung to 1/100 of a second http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• There is a Language Study mode that lets you use up, down arrows for quick replay or setting A-B repeat playback. This would be great for anyone studying a language podcast. Clicking the left or right button Rewinds/FastForwards the MP3 by about 3 seconds. This seems handy but you’d think this would be the default use of the left right keys for all songs and podcasts, not just when using Language Study. More on this in a bit.
• There is a Battery Care setting that lengthens the life of the battery by only charging it to 90%. Cool, but I still like user replaceable batteries.
• After 1 month of use: After useing the E355 on a lanyard for a while I really appreciate its small size and lightweight. I thought having it hang around my neck would bug me while running but I barely notice it's there.

The Weird to Not So Good

• A bit slow to fast forward and rewind podcasts. Took 1minute 25seconds to fast forward 15 minutes. The speed of the Fast Forward should increase the longer you hold it. On the E355 it does this to some extent but not enough. But the fact that the player always remembers where you left off listening to a podcast helps reduce the need for this function. Edit: As mentioned in the comments, FastForward is much faster if you first pause the MP3. Doing this, it took about 10 seconds to FastForward 15 minutes.
• You can listen to MP3 files in the Music folder while viewing options outside the Music folder, but you can’t listen to files in the Podcast folder while viewing options outside the Podcast Folder. This is mildly weird.
• I’m not sure this player can ever be turned off. Even if you turn it off and activate the hold switch, pushing any button will turn on the screen. Weird.

The Bad

• If you accidentally depress the left or right arrow buttons, in a quick manner, while playing a song or podcast, the player automatically starts over from the beginning. This is really annoying and easy to do accidentally when taking the player in or out of your pocket, so you have to activate the hold button before you place it in your pocket.
• The manual has only the bear minimal amount of info and legal considerations. There is no info on how to create the lyric files for karaoke mode and there is no info on Sony’s website. EDIT: Instructions on how to create the LRC text files that contain the lyrics for Karaoke mode at http://www.sony-asia.com/support/faq/411702 Audacity would be a good program to use to pinpoint the time the lyrics are sung to 1/100 of a second http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• Sony does not make a case for this player with a belt clip. My old Creative Zen Nano Plus came with a little belt clip case which was very handy. Sony doesn’t include one, they don’t even make a case with a belt clip, they make an arm band case, and they make a small silicon case with a belt loop. But who wears a belt when they go running, or go to the gym? I’ll have to see if I can find an older iPod Nano case with a belt clip.
• There is no support for play count. It would be great to use the player, have it keep track of the number of times each song has been played, then sync this playcount info with your song library on your computer via Windows Media Player, and then transfer in a new list of songs. I read a rant on this topic on a Nokia smart phone forum somewhere. I have no idea which MP3 players or smartphones support this, if any. But it would be nice.
• If an file is in the MUSIC folder, you can add it to a BookMark List (Playlist) on the device, But NOT if it's in the PODCAST folder. Also, if an file is in the Music folder, you cannot delete it on the device, but you can if it's in the PODCAST folder. Common Sony, what's with these weird arbitrary rules. If there's a song on my player that sucks I want to have the choice to kill it.

Final Thoughts
The Sony NWZ-E355 is a great little player with nice menus and great battery life. I thought things were logically laid out until I discovered you can delete files in the PODCAST Folder on the device, but not files in the MUSIC Folder. So Beware, if your girlfriend (or boyfriend?) loads your NWZ-E355 with Katty Perry songs before that transatlantic flight, you're stuck with them. Notwithstanding that bit of insanity, I still feel the $130 CAD (128 USD, 93 Euro) is a little pricey for a plastic player but it still compares pretty well against Apple’s 16GB 6th Generation iPod Nano which goes for $189 CAD (185 USD, 135 Euro). It’s a shame that Sony doesn’t include a nice case with a clip on it for taking it to the gym or running. That’s the niche that SanDisk has effectively targeted the Clip Plus at, and now Apple too with the 6th Gen Nano. If a clip isn’t a priority for you, and you don't mind not being able to delete songs in the Music folder on the device, the Sony NWZ-E355 is a nice player, especially if you can find it for closer to $100 CAD(98 USD, 71 Euro).


Final Final Thoughts
Edit: 38 days later. Nov 4, 2010
Well, Looks like I'm not the only one who thought the E355 would be better priced at under $100. Just noticed BestBuy Canada lowered the price.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below are some more pics, and a more in depth look at the menus of the NWZ-E355.


















Loading files via Windows Explorer: Music Folder vs Podcast Folder
Using Windows Explorer to load MP3s onto the player you’ll see there is a folder marked Music and another marked Podcasts. When using the device these folders are viewable from the Music and Podcast menu items on the main screen. You can put music or podcast MP3s in either but the player does treat the two folders differently.

MP3 files in the Music folder:

• Can be added to on the fly playlists which are called Bookmark lists on the device.
• Cannot be deleted using the device itself, that's disappointing.
• Show up in the SensMe Channels, which are categories of your music the player makes based on Beats Per Minute other crazy stuff. I could see these being useful if you have lots of music on your player. Categories include: Night, Extreme, Upbeat, Relax, Energetic, Shuffle All

MP3 files in the Podcast folder:

• Cannot be added to on the fly playlists which are called Bookmark lists on the device.
• Can be deleted using the device.
• When a podcast is done playing the player doesn’t automatically start playing the next. If there’s a way to change this I haven’t found it.

The Main Screen Menu:

1. SensMe Channels
2. FM Radio
3. Playlists
4. Photos
5. Music
6. Videos
7. Settings
8. Podcasts
9. Go to song playback screen

Main Screen Menus In Depth

1. SensMe Channels
   • Night, Extreme, Upbeat, Relax, Energetic, Shuffle All
2. FM Radio
3. Playlists
4. Photos
   • DCIM: empty
   • Picture: contains: 18 different Screen Saver Pictures; 3 Wallpaper images: Black, Red, and Blue
   • Pictures: empty
5. Music
   • Your given the choice to view files in your Music folder in 8 different ways. (1)All Songs - alphabetically, (2)Album, (3)Artist, (4)Genre, (5)Release Year, (6)Playlists - created in Windows Media Player or other software I assume, not the device itself, (7)Bookmark - there are 5 different Bookmark lists, which are playlists you create on the device itself, you can only add files contained in the Music folder, not the Podcasts folder; and (8)Folder - gives you a folder view of your Music folder.
6. Videos
7. Settings
   1. Music Settings
      1. Play Mode: Normal, Repeat, Shuffle, Shuffle&Repeat, Repeat 1Song
      2. Playback Range: No idea???? All Range, Selected Range
      3. Equalizer: None, Heavy, Pop, Jazz, Unique, Custom1, Custom2. There is a Clear Bass setting in Custom1 & 2.
      4. VPT (Surround): Stands for: Virtual Phones Technology, choices are:None, Studio, Live, Club, Arena, Matrix.More info at:
         http://www.sony.net/Products/vpt/overview/index.html
      5. DSEE(Sound Enhance): Stands for Digital Sound Enhancement Engine, choices are: on,off. More info at http://www.sony.com.au/support/faq/318000
      6. Clear Stereo: choices are: on, off
      7. Dynamic Normalizer: choices are: on, off
      8. Default Bookmark List – No idea what this does
      9. Album Display Format: Title & Cover Art, Cover Art Only
      10. Display Lyrics: on, on (no screen off), off
      11. Karaoke/Language Settings
          • Off,
          • Language Study: lets you use up, down arrows for quick replay or setting A-B repeat playback
          • Maximum Karaoke Mode: Play karaoke with the lowest vocal volume. Use the up down button to raise or lower the song key
          • Minimum Karaoke Mode: Play karaoke with the lower vocal volume. Use the up down button to raise or lower the song key
      12. DPC (speed control) – Digital Pitch Control, allows you to change the play speed without altering the pitch of the sound, choices are: x0.5, x0.75, x0.9, off, x1.1, x1.25, x1.5, x1.75, x2.0. Works on items in the Music folder, as well as the Podcasts folder.
   2. Video Settings:
      • Zoom Settings: Auto, Full, Off
      • On-Hold Display: Yes, No
      • Order of Video List: Date/Time (oldest), Date/Time (Newest), Title (A>Z), Title (Z>A)
   3. Podcast Settings
      • Podcast Language Studes: On, Off
   4. Photo Settings
      • Photo List Format: Thumbnail + Title, Thumbnail Only
   5. FM Radio Settings
      • Scan Sensitivity: High, Low
      • Mono/Auto: Auto, Mono
   6. Alarm/Sleep Timer
      • Alarm Settings: Alarm on/off, Alarm Time, Repeat, Default Alarm Sound, Alarm Song
      • Sleep Timer Settings: off, After 30, 60, 90, 120 Min
   7. Common Settings
      • Unit Information
      • AVLS (Volume Limit): on, off
      • Beep Settings: on, off
      • Screensaver: on/off, Type, Delay
      • Brightness:5 brightness settings
      • Wallpaper Settings
      • Clock Settings
      • Battery Care: on, off; “The battery’s life may be elongated by limiting the charge amount to approximately 90% when fully charged”
      • Reset/Format: Reset All Settings, Format
      • USB Connection Mode “Use when connection to USB cannot be established. Use this mode? Yes, No
   8. Language Settings – 13 different languages
8. Podcasts
   • Gives a folder view of your podcasts
9. Go to song playback screen
   • Go to song playback screen

-----------------------------
Options Menu for files in the MUSIC and PODCAST Folder
Hitting the Option button when playing an MP3 brings up different menus, depending on whether the file is in the MUSIC Folder or the PODCAST Folder.

Options Menu for files in the MUSIC Folder

1. Play Mode: Normal, Repeat, Shuffle, Shuffle&Repeat, Repeat 1 Song.
2. Playback Range: All Range, Selected Range
3. Karaoke/Language Study: Off,Language Study, Maximum Karaoke Mode, Minimum Karaoke Mode
4. DPC (speed control) – Digital Pitch Control, allows you to change the play speed without altering the pitch of the sound, choices are: x0.5, x0.75, x0.9, off, x1.1, x1.25, x1.5, x1.75, x2.0
5. Display Lyrics: Only for songs that have a lyric text file, not sure how to make this.
6. Equalizer: None, Heavy, Pop, Jazz, Unique, Custom1, Custom2. There is a Clear Bass setting in Custom1 & 2.
7. VPT(Surround): None, Studio, Live, Club, Arena, Matrix
8. Add to Wishlist: I have no idea what this is
9. Detailed Information: of the MP3 file
10. Set as alarm Song
11. Add to Bookmark: You can add songs to five different bookmark lists, ie playlists.

Options Menu for files in the PODCAST Folder

1. Podcast Language Study
2. DPC (speed control) – Digital Pitch Control, allows you to change the play speed without altering the pitch of the sound, choices are: x0.5, x0.75, x0.9, off, x1.1, x1.25, x1.5, x1.75, x2.0
3. Equalizer: None, Heavy, Pop, Jazz, Unique, Custom1, Custom2. There is a Clear Bass setting in Custom1 & 2.
4. VPT(Surround): None, Studio, Live, Club, Arena, Matrix
5. Detailed Information: of the MP3 file
6. Delete This Episode

That's my review. Hope you enjoyed it. Drop some comments to tell me your thoughts on this review, the NWZ-E355 and life.
~Greasy Taco Aficionado

[CrowdAds]

[lestatar]

WOW...Just WOW....Great great work man...Thank you sooo much for the incredible information and the scads of excellent in-use pics.

Brilliant ...am rating this thread 5 stars immediately and Positive-repping you

Awesome work and cheers,
-lestatar


EDIT:
Re-read the whole thing...a couple comments and suggestions and 2 questions:
- awesome formatting man
- love the category breakdowns

Suggestions:

• A bit slow to fast forward and rewind podcasts. Took 1minute 25seconds to fast forward 15 minutes. The speed of the Fast Forward should increase the longer you hold it. On the E355 it does this to some extent but not enough. But the fact that the player always remembers where you left off listening to a podcast helps reduce the need for this function.
• I’m not sure this player can ever be turned off. Even if you turn it off and activate the hold switch, pushing any button will turn on the screen. Weird.

Point 1:
Try this: hit PAUSE first and then FF/REW. It should result in much faster searching speed. This is an oddity of the E345 and the S545 as well.

Point 2:
The Sonys seem to always stay on, yes, but in a low power mode. Within a few hours of last usage, the device wakes up nearly instantly. If not used for more than 24 hours wake up takes a bit longer on my E345, but still acceptably fast.

Questions:
1 - Under the Sony EQ is there still a ClearBass setting?
2 - You mention on device delete of songs/content. Is this the case? This is a huge deal for me, as are on the go playlists, both of which are missing on the E345 and both of which I dearly would love to have.

I am now really thinking I am gonna grab one of these sooner rather than later. Hate you...

cheers,
-lestatar

[Marvin the Martian]

Great review!

[GreasyTacoAficionado]

lestatar,
Thanks for the kind words, great to hear. Thanks for the tips on the FastForward and ReWind. I'll have to try that out.
EDIT - Yes you are correct, pausing and MP3 and then fast-forwarding was much faster. Fast-forwarded 15minutes in 10seconds. I added this info to the review in the "The Weird to Not so Good" section.

Your Questions
Questions:

1 - Under the Sony EQ is there still a ClearBass setting?

No.
Equalizer:has None, Heavy, Pop, Jazz, Unique, Custom1, Custom2
But there is a Clear Stereo setting in Music Settings.

2 - You mention on device delete of songs/content. Is this the case? This is a huge deal for me, as are on the go playlists, both of which are missing on the E345 and both of which I dearly would love to have.

AAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!!! I tought I had it all figured out then you had to go and ask this

For MP3 files in the Podcast Folder

• Delete on device: Yes you can delete them
• Add files to the Bookmark Lists?: NO, You Cannot add them to the 5 Bookmark Lists (which are essentially playlists you create on the device).

For MP3 files in the Music Folder

• Delete on device?: No you cannot delete them. If you didn't ask I wouldn't of realized that.
• Add files to the Bookmark Lists?: Yes you can add them to the 5 Bookmark Lists.

God Sony is crazy.

Edit: Okay, I've edited the points under The Bad, and the Conclusion to reflect this.

[lestatar]

Hmmm, thanks GTA...So, sort of improved over the Sony E345, at least with regards to OTG playlists.

So only 5 Playlists available eh? Are they user nameable/re-nameable? Or simply like Bookmark List 1, Bookmark List 2, etc...

And they ditched the ClearBass feature from the EQ eh? Very sure I don't like that, but would need to hear the E355 myself, especially with the VPT stuff [stuff which I normally hate as I feel it makes music sound too artificial].

Still, your review has me WAAAY more interested in this E355 than when it first came out.

cheers, and I am sending you the bill in case I decide to buy one.
-lestatar

[Marvin the Martian]

On the E345 and S545, the Clear Bass was located on the left on the EQ screen when you were in Custom1 or Custom2....so it's not still there? That would be a bummer if it was gone.

And re: the player turning off or not, lestatar is partly right. The E345 and S545 would be in a standby mode for 4 hours, during which one button press would bring them to life, unless the hold was engaged. After that, they'd shut down completely, but still wake up fairly quick.

So whenever I was done using one of them, I would simply pause it, and engage the hold.

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

On the E345 and S545, the Clear Bass was located on the left on the EQ screen when you were in Custom1 or Custom2....so it's not still there? That would be a bummer if it was gone....SNIPPED....

Indeed, Marv cleans up after my type vomit again... Please check as he mentions. I would be kinda surprised if Sony ditched the ClearBass functionality from the Custom Settings...

And sad....

[GreasyTacoAficionado]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

On the E345 and S545, the Clear Bass was located on the left on the EQ screen when you were in Custom1 or Custom2....so it's not still there? That would be a bummer if it was gone.

Yeap, looks like Marvin is correct.

[meetooman]

Superb effort for this in depth review, thank you. The photos are great too.
I can see that the UI is beautifully updated even if it's clearly in line with the previous models from the NWZ series. I would collect this E350 for sure.

[The DarkSide]

WOW!!! Damn fine review!!! Now I'll go to bed and mope, since I can't even put together half a review,...................
I'm thoroughly impressed.

[Xinz]

I give it 5 stars too, great work from an individual

[JxK]

Veeery nice review.

[JK98]

Wow! Variable speed playback with automatic pitch correction and a separate podcast area!

"If you start listening to a song or podcast like the great ones at MBMBAM.com, and then change to something else, the player keeps note of where you left off and will continue on from that point. This is especially great for podcast listening. "

If you play part of an album of podcasts then some music, will the player not only save the position in the last podcast file played, but also which podcast file it was playing last? i often play albums that contain many 30 minute podcasts, and I want the player to keep track of which podcast file it was in the middle of playing when I decide to listen to some music, and to have an easy way to resume that podcast without my having to remember which file was playing last.

Does the E355 play low bitrate mp3 files? Some older Sony players will not play mp3 files below 32 kbps, and I think they also may not play mp3 files at 8 khz.

[lestatar]

jk98: do i detect excitement about the E355 in your voice? And I am sure you caught the 50 hour rated battery life!

Don't worry, I am getting more interested in this myself as well - damm u GreasyTaco lol

Seriously this new E355 seems to address a few of the main issues I have with the otherwise great E345. I just may have to investigate.

[JK98]

Originally Posted by lestatar

jk98: do i detect excitement about the E355 in your voice? And I am sure you caught the 50 hour rated battery life!

Don't worry, I am getting more interested in this myself as well - damm u GreasyTaco lol

Seriously this new E355 seems to address a few of the main issues I have with the otherwise great E345. I just may have to investigate.

I guess the E355 is MTP only though? My pc had issues the last time I tried using MTP. I guess I need to reinstall Windows Media Player. I guess the E355 can use Windows Explorer to copy and paste files to the player without installing any software?

The Fuze+ looks like a great disappointment to me. Not only did Sandisk not provide variable speed playback with automatic pitch correction, but they didn't increase the battery life compared to the Fuze. The Fuze+ also has no way to quickly pause or restart the player while the touch controls are locked. The Fuze+ uses a micro usb connnector. I wanted a mini usb connector.

It seems like Sony is improving. I hope they will add a card slot to their future players, and also make them MSC or MTP user selectable. I had problems with my Fuze after putting files on card memory in MTP mode.

[lestatar]

jk98, the Sony seems to be MTP first, but also MSC capable under the right conditions.

I have long been saying they are primarily MTP and can be made to function as psuedo-MSC devices under Win via device manager only, but I may have been wrong.

My own experience with the Sony E/S has been on my personal WinXP machines, which at best have WMP 9 installed on them and only the MS MTP Porting Kit installed.

However, it appears that with updated WMP installations [WMP10 or higher, as Sony requires/recommends in their documentation], the devices will show up as WALKMAN under Win Explorer and allow for standard drag and drop.

BUT!

I am not sure if this is true MSC management. For one thing, I do not know if the Sonys in this manner will support many levels of nested folders.

Still, yes, for me, this new E355 is looking increasingly like a must buy/try. As for uSDHC support?

From your lips to Sony's ears...

[The DarkSide]

JK98 is ALIVE and EXCITED!!! WooT!!! I'm happy tonight!!!

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

JK98 is ALIVE and EXCITED!!! WooT!!! I'm happy tonight!!!

[JK98]

I wonder if Sony player designers are reading ABI and the Sandisk website message boards? It seems like Sony has come through with the E355 and provided a few things I really wanted. I am impressed. I am almost tempted to buy one. I wonder if it will soon be under $100? I saw the 8 GB E354 on the ToysRus website in red for $64. I would really prefer a 16 GB E355 in black though.

The Sony E355 looks like a much nicer player than the Fuze+. I was waiting for something good from Sandisk, and the Fuze+ is a total letdown. They should have had a touchscreen player with a 3.3" screen to replace the View, and an audio only player to replace the Fuze.

In case Sony mp3 player designers are reading this, how about making a model that runs on a AA or AAA battery, and some models with a card slot(full sized SDXC preferred)?

[lestatar]

Power to the people perhaps? Unlikely I think, but who knows? LOL

As for the AA/AAA battery thing? Methinks you are barking up the wrong tree here my friend Still, never hurts to make one's wishes known....

Indeed, this new E355 does look very tempting to me as well, but like you am holding out for 16GB model before I even begin entertaining serious thoughts towards purchase.

My stuff is quite good atm...