Sony NWZ-S610 Walkman (Review) 120
Skatter Tech recently got a hold of Sony’s NWZ-S610 Video Walkman to review and we have been messing around with it for a few days. We’ve got to say that Sony should be proud since they have finally taken a big step by launching Video Walkmans which are also “open format.” (Means support for most DRM-Free music formats.) If they keep up the pace, this could help them regain their market share in the portable media sector. Getting back to the review, since this was Sony’s first Walkman in the U.S. that can playback video and the first to be “open format,” we weren’t expecting too much. As we got more into the player’s features and capabilities, we were surprisingly impressed with what Sony has turned out. Just to heat things up, we’ll even go as far to say that we’d recommend this over Apple’s new iPod Nano!
Sony NWZ-S Walkman Specs:
- Type: Portable Flash Video Player
- Capacities: 2GB, 4GB, & 8GB
- Screen: 1.8-inch 320 x 240 LCD
- Music Format: AAC, MP3 & WMA
- Video Format: MP4 Only
- Special: FM Tuner w/ Presets
- Colors: Silver, Black, Pink & Red
- Connection Type: USB 2.0
- Price Range: $99-$179
The Body: – 3.5/5
The S610’s body is simple and elegant, but not eye-catching. The unit is quite durable and wouldn’t be easy to break. The Walkman is just 3.25 inches tall, 1.7 inches wide, and .45 inches thick, making way sleeker, but thicker and taller than the new iPod Nano. On the front you’ll find the display followed by the navigation controls right below. At first we assumed the four-way commands were touch sensitive, but it ended up that all the controls on the unit are actually hard keys. The ‘back’ and ‘option’ buttons, which are awkwardly placed at the top left and top right, are used to return to the previous menu and bring up an options menu. We felt both these buttons should have been placed elsewhere, but it wasn’t a problem after some getting used to. The ‘play’ button in the center acts as the enter key. I actually prefer hard keys since it is easier to navigate the player without having to be looking at it. The hold key can be found on the left side and the volume controls are on the right. Other than that the stereo headphone jack can be found on the top of the unit while the data port for syncing and a reset pinhole are on the bottom.
The Screen: – 5/5
The 1.8-inch display, just .2 inches smaller than the Nano, is surprisingly bright and sharp enough to watch videos on. The resolution is a standard 320 x 240 and plays at 30FPS. We didn’t notice any lag or audio/video sync issues and the screen didn’t go dark when viewed at from angles as it does on many portable players. Instead of making the S610 “fat” like the new Nano, to retain the form factor the screen has instead been placed on the unit vertically. This of course means to utilize the entire display, the unit must be held sideways when watching videos. To make the unit friendly to left and right handed owners, the video and photo orientation can be set in the options to rotate to the preferred side.
Battery Life: – 5/5
Sony’s always been on top of things when it comes to battery life. My 3-year-old thumbdrive sized Walkman often lasts up to 50 hours. In the case of the S610, it supposedly lasts up to 33 hours for music playback and an amazing 9.5 hours for video playback. This of course depends on many factors including volume level, screen brightness, file sizes, and plenty more. Either way that’s quite good considering that the new iPod Nano is limited to approximately 24 hours of audio and 5 hours of video.
Media Formats: – 5/5
As we mentioned in the intro, Sony has finally gone “open format” with this Walkman and two others. They have dumped Sonic Stage, the Connect music store, and even the ATRAC format. For music, the S610 now supports MP3, AAC, WMA, and WAV all of which have to be free of DRM. The player is also compatible with Napster’s Subscription Based service and iTunes Plus tracks. As for video, the S610 will playback MP4 formats encoded in H.264/AVC and AAC. This part was a bit disappointing since they don’t exactly offer much leniency onto other formats. It even got worse when we realized that they hadn’t included any conversion tools, specify where to download samples, or to know exactly what is supported. This wasn’t an issue for us since we’ve got tools to re-encode videos, however some one-click conversion tool like the one in iTunes should be included for general consumers. We also found that all the Movie Trailers we downloaded which were encoded for iPods on iTunes worked just perfectly. Finally for the part people almost never use, photos, the unit has been limited only to JPEG.
Interface: – 4/5
We were quite pleased with the interface as not only looked fancy, but was also clean and quick. The learning curve is short, only requiring a few minutes to master. The Walkman has even got some neat features such as holding the ‘back’ key will take you back to the main menu and the ‘option’ key will power down the Walkman. Music can be surfed through by Album, Artist, Genre, Year, or in a long list of All Songs. Photos will appear in a simple folder layout just as they are copied onto the unit. Videos on the other hand will appear in a straightforward single list with thumbnails. The Now Playing screen displays standard song data plus Album Art. In addition to the standard Shuffle, Sony has added an interesting “Time Machine” Shuffle now randomly selects a year and plays songs within it. A search feature, which only works for music, can be found in the main menu, however was quite disappointing since it only lets users search for the starting alphabet of an Album, Artist or Song. The settings menu were pretty clear-cut, offering equalizer, volume limiting, and playback mode settings for music, slideshow interval settings for photos, and orientation plus brightness options for videos.
FM Radio: – 4.5/5
The quality of the built in radio was strikingly good. It has been hard wired and coded into the unit and isn’t just an extra add-on. Browsing through channels was both smooth and quick. The Walkman utilizes the plugged in headphones as an antenna to gain better signal. Users can save their favorite stations into any of the 30 available presets by simply holding down the “play” key.
Syncing Media: – 5/5
Transferring data to the NWZ-S610 was a cinch. We didn’t have to deal with any drivers or compatibility issues, both my Vista and XP machines detected and self-configured the device automatically after connecting the USB cable. Since the unit is “Play For Sure” it works with Windows Media Player 11. We had no issue copying songs over and received no errors. Since the songs are DRM-Free the unit isn’t limited to just a few “licensed machines” as iPods are. Songs can be taken from one machine and a friend can easily copy, add or remove your files. We didn’t have a chance to test the unit on a Mac OS X computer and Sony doesn’t mention anything about it. We’re going to assume that if a Mac is able to recognize the unit as a mass storage device there shouldn’t be any problems since the Walkman automatically creates Music, Picture, and Video folders, which can be seen when the drive folder is opened. When compatible media is copied into the corresponding folders, the Walkman will automatically index them after being disconnected, and the items will appear in the interface.
In The Box: – 3.5/5
Other than the S610 Walkman, Sony bundles a pair of stereo headphones, a USB cable, a dock adapter, and a Quick Start guide. For such a great Walkman we were very disappointed to see how poor of quality the included headphones were. If you purchase this Walkman or even an iPod for that matter, we suggest upgrading to the Shure SE110 or SE210. Anyways, back to the box, a CD with Windows Media Player 11, Napster (trial), and a MP3 Conversion Tool (based off SonicStage) was also included.
Overall we give Sony’s Video Walkman a BIG THUMBS UP! Even though some work still needs to be done around the video part, I was satisfied to see that they have finally dumped DRM which was holding them back. I will bet that if they continue to keep their players open to a variety of content, they will be able to boost their sales. As we mentioned the video codecs are a bit limited, but most iPod formatted content should work. This should also be resolved possibly with a firmware update or when they launch a second generation Video Walkman. As for this one, it is available online and in stores as of this month and is very reasonably priced at $99, $129, and $179 for 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB. Exactly $20 cheaper than each of the new iPod Nanos of the corresponding size capacities. We recommend this Sony Walkman to anyone who is finally willing to give iPods a break, wants to be free from DRM, likes occasionally listen to the radio, and is looking for a cheaper unique product which everyone else doesn’t have.
Important Note: The unit which was provided by Sony and was used for review was the NZW-S616F which held 4GB and was silver.
Buy: Sony NWZ-S616 (4GB) | Link: SonyStyle.com
tags: aac, black, drm, flash, fm, headphones, jpeg, mp3, mp4, music, photos, radio, red, silver, sony, videos, walkman, wma
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this is a pretty good player. i really like that i can just copy music onto it. has anyone tested it on a macintosh yet? i just bought a macbook for school, but dont like how the new ipods are looking.
Works on a Mac, but there’s some weird bug where the player keeps re-mounting in Tiger (OS10.4). I just log out, put my Macbook to sleep, and then unplug the S616. Interestingly, it doesn’t have the same problem on my G5 at work, which runs OS10.3, though; it ejects just fine when I drag the icon to the trash.
Also, all my iTunes encoded AAC files work perfectly and my videos converted in iSquint work without a hitch. You can also add thumbnails to your videos by creating 160×120 jpg files, naming them exactly the same as the corresponding video files (make sure the “.jpg” extension is still on) and dropping them into the same folder as your videos. It actually looks pretty slick.
it says this thing uses the headphones for signal. wouldn’t this damage the headphones? i just ordered the shure SE-210 after reading your review, so i dont want them to break. its EXPENSIVE!
Can you listen to songs while the battery is charging? I read that you can not on the Sandisk Sansa e2xx series, so I am looking for a player that supports this capability.
I don’t believe it sends any sort of power through, therefore it should be just fine. I doubt Sony, Creative, and Microsoft’s Zune would offer this feature if there was any risk. If anyone knows more about this, please correct me if I am wrong. But no, you should be just fine.
Unfortunately the player enters into disk mode, therefore the device will be rendered useless when charging. I would assume the battery life is long enough, it charges pretty quick compared to other players we have seen. If you need to charge while listening Apple’s iPod Nano is the way to go.
I absolutely and totally adore this player. My 20gb NW-HD5 had died only weeks after this new player came out. I almost had to buy an ipod (gahh!). Even though I took a hit on capacity, I’m glad I did the right thing and stayed with Sony. My only hope is that Sony makes a large cap player in the future.
I love this mp3 player! It is much better than the I-pod Nano, and I chose it over the Zune and Sansa too. The design is amazing and the interface is killer! You can use it with several machines and it doesn’t have stupid “protection” things for the music. I seriously think this is th future of mp3 players.
@wingback.28
Glad you agree! With players like this and bands such as Radio Head offering DRM-free music, there could be a revolution in the future of digital audio players. Other folks such as Creative have also taken a similar step by opening up their players. We’ll pe publishing reviews of the new credit-card-sized Creative ZEN and the Apple iPod Touch this week so check back for the reviews.
I was so happy to come across this reveiw and the comments, as I have spent more hours than I can count researching the best non-ipod MP3 player to buy my 29 year old son for Christmas. The only thing I really know for sure is that it has to be MAC compatible and this helps. I read one reveiw on AMAZON, though, that said he had to have Windows Media player installed for it to work, even if he was just using drag and drop, but that doesn’t sound like JasonC’s experience. I sure wish there was a full test of this player on a MAC as it sounds so good compared to others I have checked out and it’s in my price range. If anyone has any more info, would love to hear…<
I am new to video mp3’s and itunes. how do you get the downloads off of itunes and onto the player? I just bought the Sony for my daughter for Christmas and would like to load some videos on it beforehand.
What tools to re-encode videos would you recommend? I would like to convert .flv or wmv to play on this Walkman. I do not use itunes, nor
ipods. Sony esupport claims that an image converter 3 software is being tested for release in the future. I cannot find any playable video for this Walkman. Any help would be appreciated.
I just went through the same fiasco of trying to get videos on. FINALLY, a Sony rep at a store figured it out. You can download a Free converter, Any Video Converter 2.1.1 from the web. Works like a charm now! I have been downloading music videos with realplayer and then converting them to the mobile phone mpeg-4 profile and it works everytime.
Sony has outdone themselves again. Love the walkman just bought four 4gb for all my kids for X-mas. I have a 2gb and can easily encode 5 full length dvds to the player. I use a program called clonedvd mobile and it takes about 20 minutes to encode each movie. Just as they say use apple ipod as the device and it even lets me encode up to 8 movies at a time… so for a long flight i just upload 5 movies it takes just a hour. I’m still blown away by the quality of video and often have people staring over my shoulder saying WOW, what is that. Most times I get 10 hours of video playback between charges. Definetly blows away the ipod. And the price $109.00 for a 4 gb and $ 89.00 for a 2 gb and thats at Sony.com….Great product….Excellent value.
i’d have to agree that this definitely blows ipod nano out of the water. i still need the 80gb ipod for my collection, but as far as a tiny, portable media device goes, i was truly blown away by this. like rob v, i use clone dvd mobile as well to encode files for the walkman, and it works like a charm. actually the whole slysoft software suite is quite amazing, i’d recommend that to everyone while i’m at it too.
I want to get this player because all the reviews i’ve read about it so far seem pretty good. But does it allow you to have playlists like the ipod does? I need to know this before I buy it because that is a big factor in my decision.
How can I download movies, and music videos oh this?
This is a really good player. Excellent Value, sleek. That being said, I have been annoyed greatly by it. Sony does not include software to convert videos to the required format, nor will the player automatically generate thubmnails for videos. There are not separate shuffle folder/ shuffle all options. Even though the instructions say that you can next folders 1 level deep, these nestings do nothing for videos, they all show up on the same level. The scroll speed for long filenames cannot be sped up, so expect to wait 10-15 seconds to see which episode number you’re choosing. The player can not be used when connected to the computer. Small, good battery life, durable ( I guess, I dropped it about 3 feet onto a laminate floor, no problems.
Can anyone tell me where I can buy/find tv shows online that are already in mp4 format or how the heck I can convert the itunes videos for the walkman???
I bought the sony walkman (nwz-s615f) for my son for Christmas and have tried for a week to get videos to download onto it. This is the first mp3 player I’ve ever dealt with and had no problems transferring music onto the player. Videos, however, were a disaster from the beginning. I couldn’t find anywhere on the net to download legal tv shows. I finally found itunes and downloaded two shows for my son (he’s 12). Then I couldn’t get them to transfer to the player. I kept getting a message that said the files were defective and to try again. That didn’t work.
Today, I called Sony and found out that you have to download Media Manager from their website to convert music but it doesn’t work for videos. You have to purchase Media Manager PRO ($12.95) in order to convert videos to the proper mp4 format. Okay, not happy that I have to purchase software to make this work, but I did all that. This program doesn’t detect the two videos from itunes either. They are m4v format. So… I searched for a converter to change m4v to mp4 and that program didn’t work either. I NEED HELP! My sanity depends on it.
Thanks for any help!
http://www.any-video-converter.com/download/ – allows you to convert stuff you already have, and even download Youtube videos. Just use the mp4, (cellphone) settings
[Comment ID #39661 Will Be Quoted Here]
Thanks, The Time. I just tried the freeware version of the above mentioned program and it wouldn’t convert my itunes videos. I looked into the PRO version of the software but it did not say that m4v files are supported. Are any of you able to view itunes videos on your Sony player??
Thanks-
Quickly going insane!!
from the above website, which one do you use to download youtube videos and how do you do it? really need help….
is there any way to get videos on here without using media player 11
Don’t buy this player. I have tried all of the ideas listed above to get video to play on this thing and it just doesn’t work. I have only been successful in downloading 2 video trailers from Sony’s website, that is the only video I’ve gotten on this thing. No drag and drop, forget syncing the video through Media Player 11. Maybe it’s my PC, but even if it is this piece of junk should be more compatible and user friendly. I have tried all of the video conversion tidbits from the previous posts, no luck. Good luck, if you buy this thing you are rolling the dice on it actually working as advertised.
Get the Media Manager from Sony. It is a free download and it will convert music files. You do have to pay $12.95 to download the PRO version in order to convert video files but it was worth it to me cuz I was so frustrated. I still can’t figure out how to convert the itunes videos (.m4v files.) But I have found other videos online that my son likes and the Media Manager PRO does convert them.
Here’s the website to download Media Manager. It is for the model NWZ-s615f.
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=NWZS615F
Hope this helps! I still like the player even though I’ve had so much trouble with the video aspect. My son hasn’t put it down since Christmas.
i kind of agree with you troy. i have tried a lot of converters and it just doesn’t work. it has something to do with that AVC thing. probably. I have converted a video into an mp4 but still it just doesn’t play on the walkman! it’s really making me go bananas!
i have converted and played many movies and shows on this player. i use mp4 with h.264 encoding at 320×240 resolution. i use super (c) and it works well.
transferring the videos is just a matter of dragging and dropping the converted files over to the video folder on the player. I don’t think that WMP 11 or 10 for that matter recognizes mp4s, which is why they cant be synched that way. or you can use the sonys media manager as merrie mentioned to sync the videos.
[Comment ID #39939 Will Be Quoted Here]
Are you finding movies that are already encoded h.264 or is the super (c) a program to convert? If super (c) is a program, where did you find it?
how do you put videos on this thing?
i download them and try to sync them but it tells me theres an error.
where can i find a place to download videos and have them sync onto my walkman?
can any one tell me hot to put videos on it? i made sure it was mp4, but it still doesnt work!! plz help
can i transfer songs from a cd to the player?
I recommend this program “FLV to AVI MPEG WMV 3GP MP4 iPod Converter” it converts .avi and .mpeg etc. to almost everything…
Marty, i tried using Super c but it still wont work. I converted my videos to mp4 and the the h.264/AVC encoding but my video file is still in .avi and it wont transfer to my walkman. Please, I’m in desperate need of help.
I have the sony nwz-s615f and my computer won’t pick it up, it says it needs a driver,I have xp with the service pac 2 still can’t download music from pc
to player,I’ve tried sony support,and microsoft support,to no avail, can somebody help me PLEASE.
can someone please tell me how to successfully put video on this thing.i can get the video itself on but it doesn’t have any sound to it. i am using media coder if any body knows how to use that it will be a help so i want have to download anything else.please try to explain it very simply because im only 13.
You cannot convert the videos from the iTunes store as they have DRM (copy protction). This isn’t Sony’s fault, but a limitation that Apple has added to most of their files you can buy from the iTunes store
In regards as to how to convert videos for this…just get DVD decrypter to rip the .VOB files from the DVD and then convert using (iPod 5th gen settings) Videora iPod converter. You can also skip the step using the DVD decrypter and just have Videora iPod converter rip and convert, but I think it takes a little bit longer this way.
If you use the 5th gen iPod settings, 320×240, AVC 768bit, your videos will work every time.
how do you take songs off the player if ur using windows media player?
I have the NWZ-S616F and use Any Video Converter Pro. It converts video easily, and use it on the mobile phone setting for mp4. I upload the file using windows explorer, with cut and paste. I have converted avi files only so far, but it works very well.
hello, i know this might sound pathetic but Free iPod Video Converter 1.32 build 852 works very well, the only problem i’m having with it is that the quality isnt very HQ like i would have liked it to be…hope that helps
wtf i stole this from a friend expecting it to be awesome… its ok i just am having a hard time with the videos
ok im a bit dim ……so how dow you turn the walkman on or off?……the screen is always on “every moment has its music”and i cant get it off!
but it is awsome
hi i’m luigi i’ve mp3 sony nwz-s615 f and i can’t converter my files in mp4. is there someone who can help me? thanw’s
Hi Luigi,
Simple fix for your problem. I convert all my mp4’s to mp3’s using a simple and free utility called SWITCH. When you install it, it will actually showup on your right click menu as an option, making it especially easy to do a conversion. Here is the website. Good luck
http://nch.com.au/switch/index.html
is there a possible way to set up a background this mp3 player?
Super (C) works for me. It’s a free converter that’s pretty easy to use and I haven’t had a problem so far. Latest version can be downloaded at http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
Just make sure the settings are as follows:
1. Output Container: mp4
2. Output Video Codec: H.264/AVC
3. Output Audio Codec: AAC
Video Settings:
Video Scale Size: 320:240
Aspect: 4:3
Frame/Sec: 30
Bitrate kbps: 768
Audio Settings:
Sampling Freq: 44100
Channels: 2
Bitrate kbps: 56
AudioStream: default
You’ll see these settings summarized and listed in the red Output box.
I use this to convert videos for my PSP too, although that requires a few different settings. Anyway, hope this helps.
P.S. Forgot to mention. To transfer the video files to your Walkman, simply move or drag and drop. The default location the converted files are saved to is: C:\Program Files\eRightSoft\Super\Output. But you can change the save location by right-clicking anywhere on the Super (C) dialog box and selecting Output File Saving Management. Specify a folder there and click Save Changes.
My mind’s in a thousand places today. I forgot to mention one other thing. Make sure to transfer the converted files to the Video folder on your video walkman. That’s it.
i got a sony walkman mp3 player a NWZ-S615F and i cant get videos on it because i dont know how to if you do please e-mail me at sarahramsey67@yahoo.com to tell i really need your help plese
When the mp3 is connected to the computer it is meant to automatically recognize. If this doesnt happen, is there a way that you can manually recognize the device.
Would someone please post a step by step on how to download videos?
Does this player also support mini-games? My daughter saw an Ipod and wants one for the music and the little games, but I am not a fan of the drm stuff, so I was hoping that this player could also handle mini-games.
go to this site :http://www.any-video-converter.com/download/
scroll down and download the free version (2nd to the last) when you install this,add the file to be converted, then up in the top right change the profile to “Mobile Phone MPEG-4 movie” once it converts, right click on the converted file, scroll down to where it says, destination folder, open it, open your sony mp3 video folder and then drag and drop from the destination folder to the video folder.
I went through hell and high water to finally get this thing to play videos.. would have been nice for sony to make it convenient or help someone here. I rate this player 2 out of 10 just because of the sheer lameness of the video problems.
I am a geek and i know my stuff about mp3 players. this is one of the best MP3s on the market at the moment. i gave one to my ‘dog’ to try to make up but it turned me away.(i go to william parker school).
any licence key for any dvd converter?
i tried to convert the videos several times but it only can make it until 3mins only.
any free licence key without having to purchase it=)
is there a firmwere out there for this walkman please let me know if there is thanks
i ment update
I have a Sony NWZ-615F MP3 Player. How do you load movies on it to watch. If there is a step by step way to do this I would like to know how. This is eating me up.
Thanks
[Comment ID #40104 Will Be Quoted Here] Your Windows media player may be outdated. Try to upgrade to the newest version or install it from the CD-ROM that is supplied with the player.
so nice ipod i love walkman you know i will just buy
The sony walkman sucks. I cant download videos and the pictures don,t work. The product SUCKS
my god i cn’t get songs onto dis thing [pulls hair out of head]
how do you get music for it
My walkman mp3 will not let me play music. It says my liscence has expired. How do I fix this?
The cord that connects to the computer and MP3. That is basically the life of the sony Walkman, I plug it in correctly but… The connection thing will not pop up :(. There seems to be nothing wrong with the cord or THE mp3. Can anyone tell me what to do? (don’t suggest for me to puchace another one -_-)
I bought this mp3 player for my wife and she hasn’t even had it for 5 months and the down button does not work. I tried to contact sony and found out that it would cost me $77.00 to get it fixed under warranty. Thats almost as much as I PAID for it. I would not recomend this mp3 player to anyone and will not buy anything from sony again!
What do I need to do to load video on this thing?!! Every video I try (yes I used Super(c) and several others) will not copy. I copied the demo video that came on the Walkman to my laptop, changed the name then tried to copy it back. Even that won’t work. What will work?
Peter: Please go back and read comments on 12/6 and 12/7/07. Video FORMAT
is critical. I download video via Orbit [free] (.flv format);then I use Any Converter [free version] software to make the format change to H.264/AVC. Net search will find both these programs. The process is fast and nearly 100% successful. Move the converted video file over to the player. See if this solves the problem.
Dendoc: Thank you for suggesting the Any Converter. While the Custom, H.264 format does not seem to be acceptable, the “Mobile MP4″ (MPEG-4) format is accepted by the Sony Media Manager v1.1 (no barred-circle). Unfortunately, the Media Manager insists the Walkman (NWZ-S615F) is not connected and while Windows Explorer has no problem copying music to the device, it still refuses to copy video in any format. Any further ideas would be greatly appreciated.
All: Thank you. Your many comments provided the clues that solved my video loading issues. For me, success required “Any Video Converter” in “Mobile Phone MPEG-4 Movie” mode, and upgrading from “Windows Media Player 10″ to “Windows Media Player 11″. The tiny Walkman screen has surprising resolution. Pretty nice, now that I finally got it working!
player is good in the area where it is bought it doesn’t work in other countries
jodix free ipod video converter works. most software that can convert an mp4 mpeg4 acc file will work. you can get away with 256-384kbps video quite well, audio is better with atleast 128kbps. the problem is trying to get h264 working. its so picky, i haven’t been able to get any to work so far. SUPER supposedly works, but is a very slow encoder. xilisoft and jodix and handbrake all encode much faster, but i only use them in mpeg4 mode.
handbrake h264 settings. paste into advanced tab window
level=13:bframes=0:cabac=0
it works
media coder also works for h264 encoding, similar settings required.
I got one a few months ago and I still don’t understand how to put videos and pictures on it. I tried to download that media manager and it didn’t help. I was wondering if someone could explain to me how to get the videos and pictures as I am not good with these things.
My computer won’t recognize this as a Mass Storage device, and I don’t know how to fix that. I have WindowsXP with SP3, and it’s a desktop machine. Oddly enough, a laptop with WindowsXP SP2 was able to recognize it as a Mass Storage, so I could drag&drop, but not my computer?? I can’t put movies on because of this, too. I’m not sure what to do, any help is appreciated.
i went through a lot of troubleto buy this player
i love it sooo much
but i got it 4anbout 4 months now and i cant seem to get any vidoes in it
i tried everything
i dont want to regret buying it
please tell me who to get vidoes in it
xxx and i will be thankfull
huh..finally i’m able to transfer the videos..thanks to all..u have to upgrade ur windows media player to 11 first..n convert the videos by using the any video converter
Here’s a really helpful answer on how to get your computer to recognize the NWZ-S616 as a Mass Storage Device instead of an MTP, so then you can just drag & drop your files and movies without having to go through WMP.
This WORKED for me, and it’s simple, which is why I’m pasting it here.
“I first found that when I plugged my player into my computer it registered it as a MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device and in turn never showed up as a storage device on my computer. I fixed this by going into my Control Panel -> System Icon -> Hardware Tab -> Device Manager button.
Clicking on the “System Devices” tab should have “Walkman” or MTP device. Right click on it and go to properties, now before doing anything it should say “Location — —— Location 0 (Walkman)” if not try unplugging the walkman and see if the MTP device you’re looking at is removed from the list, just to make sure it’s the right device we’re looking for.
If you’ve confirmed it’s the Walkman, click on the “Driver tab” and click on “Update Driver…”. Then click on the “Install from a list or a specific location (Advanced)” option and click “Next”. Now select the “Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install.” and click next. It should now bring up 2 driver choices, one being “MTP Device” and the other “USB Mass Storage Device”. Select the USB option and select next, it will then install your walkman as a USB storage device and after that’s done. It should be a matter of unplugging and plugging the Walkman back in and it should show up on your storage options in “My Computer”"
MERCI BEAUCOUP MERCI BEAUCOUP MERCI BEAUCOUP MERCI BEAUCOUP MERCI BEAUCOUP MERCI BEAUCOUP – really better than the Sony consumer service: “sorry mister, i don’t know….bye”
Oh, as for Videos – I use Super (C) from http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
It’s a bit slow in Encoding, but it works for me. I had no troubles getting a full 88minute movie on it.
I confirm these steps work, as posted by a user above, though for the particular movie I had, I had to click “Stretch It” for it to show up decently on my NWZ-S616 screen. You may or may not have to do this. If it shows up squished and the people look “long”, try encoding again and click Stretch It.
1. Output Container: mp4
2. Output Video Codec: H.264/AVC
3. Output Audio Codec: AAC
Video Settings:
Video Scale Size: 320:240
Aspect: 4:3
Frame/Sec: 30
Bitrate kbps: 768
Audio Settings:
Sampling Freq: 44100
Channels: 2
Bitrate kbps: 128
AudioStream: default
Please help. I bought the NWZ-S616F 2 weeks ago and my windows explorer has recognized it up until tonight. I plugged it in to add some more music and it does not appear in explorer. It did charge so I know that is working but does anybody know why I can no longer see it or how I can fix it? Thanks
Hey, Infernal…thank you so much for leaving those detailed instructions for making windows explorer see my Sony walkman…I got it today and the excitement was spoiled by this minor detail of my walkman not being recognized…but there you were to help…THANKS again!
how can i put videos on my walkman everytime i try its says an error has occured
This thing is a piece of garbage. It’s not even five months old and it won’t power on. It pops up the start up screen but doesn’t show anything. Contacted support and tried reseting it seven times and so on. Only parts are covered, not labor. It will cost more for me to have it fixed than it was to buy. This is the second ripoff I had from sony. REad their warranty before purchase. Buyer beware….sony products break, and it’s more expensive to fix them than to buy them. Don’t make my mistake by buying one of these. I”m off to buy an ipod or something else.
Have a NWZ-S615F. I put songs onto it and it played well BUT now it says I need Compatible software to play my music. SOMEONE HELP ME!!!!!
Infernal says
Here’s a really helpful answer on how to get your computer to recognize the NWZ-S616 as a Mass Storage Device instead of an MTP, so then you can just drag & drop your files and movies without having to go through WMP.
This WORKED for me, and it’s simple, which is why I’m pasting it here.
“I first found that when I plugged my player into my computer it registered it as a MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device and in turn never showed up as a storage device on my computer. I fixed this by going into my Control Panel -> System Icon -> Hardware Tab -> Device Manager button.
Clicking on the “System Devices” tab should have “Walkman” or MTP device. Right click on it and go to properties, now before doing anything it should say “Location — —— Location 0 (Walkman)” if not try unplugging the walkman and see if the MTP device you’re looking at is removed from the list, just to make sure it’s the right device we’re looking for.
If you’ve confirmed it’s the Walkman, click on the “Driver tab” and click on “Update Driver…”. Then click on the “Install from a list or a specific location (Advanced)” option and click “Next”. Now select the “Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install.” and click next. It should now bring up 2 driver choices, one being “MTP Device” and the other “USB Mass Storage Device”. Select the USB option and select next, it will then install your walkman as a USB storage device and after that’s done. It should be a matter of unplugging and plugging the Walkman back in and it should show up on your storage options in “My Computer””
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOUTHANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
I’m totally satisfied with the 4 GB version, videos have to be converted to mp4 format, but there are more versions of this file, iPod mp4 is not what you need. anyway, i didn’t managed to find a good free converter, so I’m still searching. But it isn’t the fault of the player…
Thanks Infernal. The “USB Mass Storage Device” driver option fixed my Sony nwz-s615f connecting. You Rock
Infernal bro thank you so much for your comments, really helped me in making it work :) god bless ya
Chris – a good, free conversion program is Super: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
It can be a bit slow, but it does a very good job and has a lot of options. If you’re unsure if what settings to use, it’s been mentioned on either the first or second page of these comments :)
Others – You’re more than welcome :) I’m glad you were able to find the information, and that it helped!
please some one help me look my walkman worked perfectly before until now and it said some thing about music and it was blue like when press reset and i left it in the compute for a long time it wasnt charginn or nyhthing and it worked i was so happy and it was overtaken by my sadness because i plugged the charger in this time my walkman workls but very low battery and it doesnt pop up in the computer im not sure if it is because of my new windows sp3 plase some 1 help me i have to give this for a present 2 sum i love the most in the world and there leaving
Dear holders, I have it and solved all problems which are in discussion. Just read all INFERNAL help, it works! By XP, go to Start-Control Panels-Administrative tools-Computer Management-Device manager (small icon of computer on your left hand side) tab should have “Walkman” or MTP device. Right click on it and go to properties, now before doing anything it should say “Location — —— Location 0 (Walkman)” if not try unplugging the walkman and see if the MTP device you’re looking at is removed from the list, just to make sure it’s the right device we’re looking for.If you’ve confirmed it’s the Walkman, click on the “Driver tab” and click on “Update Driver…”. Then click on the “Install from a list or a specific location (Advanced)” option and click “Next”. Now select the “Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install.” and click next. It should now bring up 2 driver choices, one being “MTP Device” and the other “USB Mass Storage Device”. Select the USB option and select next, it will then install your walkman as a USB storage device and after that’s done. It should be a matter of unplugging and plugging the Walkman back in and it should show up on your storage options in “My Computer””. Holla for original uploader Inferno!!!
me mandaron un mp4 de japon y hasta ahora no se como se vaja video todo esta en katakana y kanyi como hago para traducirlo o quien me da lo pasa el manuel ami correo gracias
thanks alot really helped alot
Hi all.
I got a new nwz-s615f walkman. I’ve been using it for weeks.It’s a great dig player for me. But I’d like to know how should I create Playlists successfully.
I tried on Home>Playlists menu but it says ” ..Please connect to a compliant software or device and transfer playlist”. Please advise…
best regards,
Toto-22
Hi, Toto22
To make an actual playlist on your walkman, you will need to do this through Windows Media Player. It’s a bit inconvenient, but that’s the only way to do it. Good luck!
Somehow I wound up here looking for a solution to my Walkman problem. I own a Sony NWZ-A816 and I could see the foolish thing in Media Player but I could not get the folder view of the device I can see when I am at home on my desktop. I read the Infernal post from 7-11-2008, followed the directions exactly, and now i have folder view on my XP laptop just like at home. Thanks.
Hi This thing seems really good but is just annoying. I’m trying to up load music on to it for a patient of mine who has lost the driver cd, but my computer wont recognised it. Its not in MY COMPUTER and not in the DEVICE MANAGER!! – I open the DEVICE MANAGER and pull it out to see if anything changes, nothing!! what on earth am i doing wrong.
Its really not there, charges fine but is no-where to be seen.
Really need some help here fellas!
i have a big problem with my MP3, the thing is that everytime i charged it,says connecting to the USB. I have try everything to fixed it, and because of that i can’t copy videos or movies that i have conveted already.Please help me!!! THx
Hello.
My problem with this device is basically that everytime i put songs on the mp3 player, it never shows on the mp3 player library or screen. Can some one tell me what i did wrong and help me with it? please and thank you.
Uncle – To get your computer to list the device under My Computer, you need to follow the steps outlined in this comment: http://skattertech.com/2007/09/sony-nwz-s610-walkman-review/#comment-49980
Jackie – When I connect my player to my PC, it shows as “connecting” with the circle thing spinning round and round – however, it’s still charging, and you can still drag & drop your files to the appropriate folder :)
Jahni – Make sure you’re putting the music files in the MUSIC folder when you’re dragging & dropping the files. Alternatively, you can use Windows Media Player to sync the songs onto the player, and it should work just fine.
Good luck, everyone :)
NEVER GET THIS! its sooo damn bad it hasnt been 5 months and its already broken! the mp3 wont turn on so i tried fixing but it didnt work so i brought it back to the store i bought it from and they fixed it but after a week it happened again! does anyone know how to fix it?
Thanks Infernal but I had already trid this:
“Clicking on the “System Devices” tab should have “Walkman” or MTP device. Right click on it and go to properties, now before doing anything it should say “Location — —— Location 0 (Walkman)” if not try unplugging the walkman and see if the MTP device you’re looking at is removed from the list, just to make sure it’s the right device we’re looking for.”
My problem seems to be that it ids not picked up anywhere on my system. Or on my wifes SONY VAIO laptop.
Any other advice / ideas??
So when you right-click My Computer, select Hardware, and then go into Device Manager – when you expand those categories at the side, you don’t see the Walkman or an “MTP” device anywhere? When it’s plugged in, wait a few seconds and then expand every category (clicking the + sign) and see if you find “Walkman”, “MTP” or even “SONY MP3″ or something like that.
If you DO see that, then you just have to right-click it and select Update Driver, then Choose from Specific Location (or something along those lines) and then select “Don’t search. Click next and then you should have 2 driver choices: MTP or USB storage – click USB.
If you don’t see it listed in Device Manager…what do you see when you look at My Computer when it’s plugged in? Look at it before and after the Walkman is plugged in – do you notice any difference when you plug it in?
Oh, also, what happens when you plug the Walkman into your Computer? Does anything show that additional hardware has been detected? If not, try going into Control Panel > Add New Hardware and the above steps should apply, also.
If none of this works…what Operating System are you using?
Is there any way to charge the Sony Walkman (NWZ-S618F) and have the screen turn off ? My screen always stays on saying connecting to USB. I would like to get the screen to turn off while charging at the same time. Thanks for your help.