Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100101 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sony
• Model: NWHD5H
• Released on: 2005-06-20

Manufacturer's Description
Meet the seriously sophisticated new WALKMAN!
The brand new NW-HD5H is an ultra-compact 30GB HDD player, combining great looks with cutting edge design and an incredibly long battery life.

The NW-HD5H is quite simply one of the smallest 30GB HDD players around. With its incredibly light aluminium body and tiny credit-card-size dimensions, this ultra-compact model gives new meaning to the word 'portable'.

Don't let its diminutive dimensions fool you: this sleek little player is capable of storing up to 1350 CDs worth of music. That's a staggering 19,500 of your favourite tracks on tap wherever and whenever you want them. You'll always be able to find the right tune for the right moment.

It goes on and on and on
With so many tracks at your disposal, you'll need a really powerful battery to be able to listen to them all. Luckily Sony has thought of that: the NW-HD5H offers 40 hours of battery life. It leaves the competition standing and you listening to your favourite tunes as long as you want.

What's more, the battery is removable meaning you can carry a spare or pick up a new one while you're out.

Easy to use, easy to love
The NW-HD5 is extremely user-friendly. Sporting an exceptionally large and easy-to-navigate 7-line LED screen, the attention to detail in the design of the player is obvious. From its bright backlight display through to its elegant front and its adjustable screen colour, the NW-HD5H provides a superior user experience.

What's more, its technologically-advanced 'follow turn' feature means the display is synchronised to your hand movements, flipping from horizontal to vertical depending on your every move. Now there's no such thing as the wrong way up.

Just in case of accidents, this player carries extra insurance in the form of a sophisticated G-sensor. The NW-HD5H's specially designed sensor kicks in when dropped, providing immediate and effective shock protection.

The NW-HD5H comes supplied with SonicStage3.1 software, making all your downloads and track transfers simple.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Outstanding music player
Received this as a replacement for a MP3 player by a different manufacturer.

This is an amoazing piece of equipment that sounds really clear and has a decent amount of storage in the 30gb drive.

I had the usual problems with Sonicstage but having spent the best part of 12 hours sorting out the listings it transfered smoothly on to my PC. With Sonicstage I would recomend that you take your time as it is not as intuitive as other pieces of software and if you treat it as such then things will go better.

The volume limiter is a bit on the low side but this is easily unlocked by going in to a hidden menu and switching it off.

To unlock the volume limiter follow the following steps:

• Start the player. Start playing a song. Turn the HOLD function on by sliding the swich at the top. Then, Hold the SEARCH/MENU button and enter the button sequence:
• Right, Right, Left, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Up, Down.
• Let go of the buttons, and put the HOLD switch back to its original position.
• The backlight will cut out and you'll be in the service menu with "POWER" displayed.
• Press DOWN a few times to select OTHERS and press Right to get into the menu.
• Keep pressing down until you get to SP SET (Sound Pressure Setting).
• Press Play/Pause to get into change the option.
• Then press SEARCH/MENU to toggle the option on or Off (obviously, Off is for louder sounds).
• Then either hold STOP or remove the battery to get the player out of the
service mode.
• For some reason, you'll have to go back into the player's options to manually turn the backlight on again after doing this.
(Note that the attachments below apply to the original HD3 instructions.)

I have done this on my own new HD5H with no problems but I take no responsibility for any problems people may experience as there are a lot of other options in this hidden menu that could have a detrimental effect on your player.

The all new, all whizzy-bang MP3 Player for grownups
As a modern Grandmother of 9 I wanted a compact, long-lifed battery MP3 player with big storage capacity and with ease of use being paramount. Life is too short to spend fiddling - and I have not been disappointed with the HD5 at all. It is credit card sized believe it or not (thicker of course!), the buttons are easy to use and positive and the software "Sonicstage" is a breeze to get into. I've been able to find every track that I want quickly and the shuffle mode is a great addition. The sound is clear and not distorted in the higher or the lower ranges. True, the volume is capped but more than adequate for my preferences.

I have experienced no problems loading tracks onto the player and after what seems to be most of my music collection loaded, I still have masses of space left.

On the negative side, I bought a black leather flip case which does a good job of protecting the player because the silly bag that comes with the player really lets it down. I'd have paid a little bit extra for a decent case to be honest. I'd also like to see Sony bringing out a docking system with speakers for people on the move but hopefully Sony will see to this sometime in the future.

All round, it was money very well spent and has the feel and look of a bit of equipment that is going to last.

Sony NW-HD5H 30GB Network Walkman
I had been waiting for an ideal player to buy, eventually, I decided to take the plunge after reading many many reviews on the internet and doing extensive research of the pros and cons - I chose this Sony device.
The device is excellent and I have no complaints whatsoever, I may purchase better headphones, but that is in no way detrimental to the quality of the headphones, I think its simply my ears are not what they were.

A point which was making me doubtful regarding this initial purchase, was all the negative reviews about SonicStage 3.1.
Well, I use Windows 98 SE, and its the first time I have used the SonicStage environment. I havent experienced any problems with it at all. I read the instructions that came with the software, and everything performed exactly how I wanted it to do - no problem, so Im not sure why others have a problem.
The instructions that came with the device(PDF File) were very good, and quite consise - theres plenty of information there.
I didnt mess with the ATRACplus options, this device will play normal run-of-the-mill MP3's which is exactly what I wanted.
Theres also a nifty free feature in SonicStage; when you connect to the internet, press a button in SonicStage and the software connects to a server and fills in all the track details off your CD in seconds, which saves you doing an awful lot of typing of CD track details.
All in all, if you are looking for a decent sounding quality player, which is very compact for a 30G player, then this would be a good place to start, and compare other products.