Review Sony knows a thing or two about design, but when it came to portable digital audio, Apple stole the crown that Sony had worn since the launch of the original Walkman, writes Riyad Emeran.

The iPod has been around since 2001, and there have been competing products launched from a host of other manufacturers, but Sony was always conspicuous by its absence. Thankfully, Sony has finally entered the world of hard disk-based players, and I have to say that this is the best looking device I have ever seen. The Network Walkman NW-HD1 is stunning, finished in brushed aluminium with a display that's viewed in landscape orientation rather than the more common portrait layout. Even our resident iPod fanatic had to admit that the NW-HD1 looked fantastic, and was far more pocket-friendly than his iPod.

Considering that the NW-HD1 contains a 20GB hard disk, it's incredibly light, weighing only 112g compared to a 158g iPod. Add to this tiny dimensions of 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.4cm and you've got a high-capacity device that's unbelievably portable in every respect.

The display may not be as large as the iPod's, but it's very clear and easy to read. Navigation is good, but not as intuitive or quick as the iPod clickwheel. Instead, you get a four-way rocker switch with a single button in the centre. In a menu, the four-way rocker allows you to navigate, while pressing the button in the middle will select the highlighted option. When a track is playing, left and right on the rocker will skip forward and backward, while the centre button will play/stop.

On the top of the unit you'll find a volume control, and Menu and Mode buttons. The Menu button will take you into the settings menu. Here you can alter the play mode, limit the volume, set the language, format the hard disk or change the contrast level of the display. There's also a Sound option that lets you set the EQ on the device. You can choose from various pre-set EQs, like jazz, heavy and pops (no that's not a typo, it really is called pops), but you can also create two of your own settings. There's also a Virtual Surround option with various pre-set options, but I wasn't too keen on any of them. One final useful feature under the Menu heading is the Audio Out selection. Here you can decide whether you want a headphone output or a line-out. The latter will improve the sound quality when you're hooking the player up to an external amplifier.

The Mode button allows you to navigate your music. If you keep pressing the Mode button it will cycle through all its options, which are Artist, Album, Genre, Group and Other. It would appear that the Group mode is meant to be Sony's version of a playlist, but more about that later.

On the base of the NW-HD1 you'll find a switch for the internal battery that will turn the device on and off, while there's also a hold switch to stop you inadvertently pressing any buttons while it's in your pocket.

The headphone socket has a slot next to it to accommodate a remote control, but Sony doesn't supply one in the box. Considering the price of the NW-HD1, I find the lack of remote control very disappointing. I did try plugging the remote control from my old MiniDisc Walkman and although the controls worked, the display didn't. That said, while I was at a Sony press conference a couple of months back, I plugged the remote from a Hi-MD Walkman into an NW-HD1 and it worked perfectly.

The backlit green display is small, but the resolution is high, making it very easy to read and navigate. You can choose whether you want the display to be positive or negative, but I stuck with negative - the positive setting is just a bit too green for my taste.

What you do get in the box along with the NW-HD1 is a very stylish black docking cradle, a power supply, a USB cable, a velvet pouch and a set of headphones. Unfortunately, the NW-HD1 won't charge over USB, but of greater concern is that it won't even connect to your PC unless you have the power supply plugged into the cradle. There is also no way of either charging or connecting the NW-HD1 without the cradle, since everything is routed through the proprietary connector on the base.

So, Sony has created a stunning looking digital music player that's smaller than an iPod and arguably more desirable, but would I buy one? Unfortunately the answer to that question is a resounding no. Now, if you're wondering why I'm so definite in this answer, it's because the NW-HD1 has some fundamental problems that just shouldn't be there, and ultimately these problems ruin what could otherwise have been an excellent product.

First and foremost, just like every other digital music player that Sony has released, the NW-HD1 doesn't support native MP3 playback and this is ludicrous. If you have a large collection of MP3 music, you will have to convert it all to Sony's ATRAC 3 format before you can transfer it to the NW-HD1. So, although copying music to a USB 2.0 enabled player should be a quick procedure, when you're having to convert your MP3 files it's a much slower process. I imported eight MP3 albums to the NW-HD1 and it took well over half an hour to complete the process.

What makes this file format problem even more annoying is that I'm actually a big fan of ATRAC, having previously been a MiniDisc user for many years. What I would really like to have seen was the ability to copy my MP3 files over as they are, and then be able to rip any new music using ATRAC3. That said, there have been rumours floating around about a firmware upgrade for the NW-HD1 that will allow it to play MP3 files natively, and someone "in the know" at Sony recently told me that I should believe those rumours.

Of course one of the reasons Sony has traditionally given for not supporting MP3 is that ATRAC3 produces better quality audio, and I really can't argue with that. Ripping a CD using ATRAC3 Plus at 64Kbps produced sound quality easily equal to an MP3 encoded at 128Kbps. Unfortunately, the next step up using ATRAC3 Plus is 256Kbps which brings with it a correspondingly large file size - however, encoding at this level produces sound quality that is truly staggering. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between an original CD and an ATRAC3 Plus encode at 256Kbps, it really is that good.

One of the big selling points of the NW-HD1 is its claimed battery life of 30 hours, and this is definitely something that's worth shouting about. This is another reason why Sony has shied away from MP3, because ATRAC3 is a much less demanding audio codec, which allows Sony to achieve such high battery life ratings. However, you have to dig a bit deeper to get the full picture. Sony's claimed 30 hour battery life is based on all your music being encoded at 48Kbps, and unless you have absolutely no concern with audio quality, you'll never rip your CDs at such a low bit rate. So, if sound quality is important to you, not only will the battery life decrease, but you also won't get anywhere near the 13,000 songs that Sony claims you can fit on the NW-HD1 - although to be fair, Sony clearly states on the box that this number relates to tracks encoded at 48Kbps.

OK, so the lack of native MP3 support isn't an insurmountable problem, but Sony's SonicStage music transfer definitely is. I remember looking at Version 1 of SonicStage and finding it awkward and convoluted, and even though Version 2.2 is far better, it is still an unpleasant application to use.

It's hard to put my finger on exactly what's wrong with SonicStage, but I guess the most obvious issue would be that it's completely unintuitive. I'm fairly sure that anyone that's used either iTunes or MusicMatch didn't have to read the manual. Both these applications are very powerful music managers, but they are also a cinch to get to grips with. SonicStage on the other hand, has lots of features lurking inside it, but it's going to make you work hard to figure them out.

Take playlists, for example. With a device that can potentially store thousands of tracks, the ability to create your own, custom playlists is paramount. However, trying to create a custom playlist under SonicStage for use on the NW-HD1 proved to be a Herculean task. Nowhere is there any reference to playlists, so I assumed that Sony has decided to call them something different.

I eventually spotted the 'My Compilation Album' button under the Library tab of SonicStage. I then went about the process of creating a Compilation Album, but when I finished it and transferred it to the NW-HD1, it actually copied all the tracks over again, even though they were already on the device. Next I tried to create a Group folder on the NW-HD1 itself. I dragged certain tracks into the new Group folder and when I selected that folder for playback, everything was there - so far so good. Unfortunately, if I created another Group folder and wanted to use any of the tracks that I'd put in the first one, they were removed from the original Group folder. Wading through the help screens proved useless, and even searching the web didn't shed any light on the subject. I'm sure there must be a way to create playlists on the NW-HD1, but regardless of anything, it shouldn't be this hard.

So, Sony has proved that it can still put everyone else in the shade when it comes to hardware design, but when it comes to software and firmware, it still has a long way to go.

I really wanted to like, no love the NW-HD1 because I have never seen a high-capacity digital music player that's as small, light, and beautifully stylish as this one. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, beauty is only skin deep and once you scratch past the surface of the NW-HD1, it's not nearly so lovely underneath.

Add to all this the fact that Sony has given the NW-HD1 a UK RRP of £299 and things start to look even worse. Considering that the fourth generation iPod carries an RRP of only £219, the Sony looks very over priced.

Verdict

The NW-HD1 is small, slim, stylish, light and sexy. Unfortunately, the lack of native MP3 support (or WMA for that matter), lengthy file conversion process, convoluted, difficult software, and inability to create playlists with ease takes all the shine of this little Walkman. I'm not the biggest fan of the iPod, but given that it offers better file format support, a superb user interface, excellent software and a £80 saving over the NW-HD1, it definitely looks like the better option.

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