Cute little gadget

I used to be the first guy on the block to buy every new tech gadgets when they first come out. I mean, I get them at least 2-3 years before people find out such things exist. However, it’s hard to hide my age as I get less and less interested in the new gadgets. I have not followed gadgets ever since they talked about iPod several years ago. I even stopped listening to music all together.

I suddenly got interested in an MP3 player to listen to Podcast. Out of hundreds of choices, I bought NWZ-B105F because of its simplicity not to mention its small size. The 2 GB size was more than adequate for my need, until I began to copy music from my existing collection. 2 GB seem hardly adequate for that purpose. Now that I know what it can and cannot do, will I buy one again? It’s a tough question to answer.
I’d buy it again for its small size and its built-in FM radio, but that’s about all. Here is why I may want to choose other players over NWZ-B105F...

The unit can only be charged via a USB port. If I am traveling, I might as well forget about using it unless I carry my laptop with me just to charge the NWZ-B105F. The advertised 12-hour play time seemed adequate at first, but I don’t think it lasts that long. I find it out of charge only after about 4-6 hours of playing. Thus, the battery life is a problem. My computer is set up to sleep mode after 15 minutes of inactivity, so leaving my MP3 player plugged in won’t work unless I change my PC setting by making it run for 2 hours even when not using it.

I also discovered my aging eyes make it impossible to read its small screen while driving. Its small three-line display is not easy to follow, although button functions could be learned with practice.

Sound quality is reasonably good, although it really depends on the quality of Podcast or music downloaded. It’s frequency response is 20Hz to 20,000Hz, so that it is like CD sound quality in theory. The earphones fit my ears okay, but not perfectly. Thus it does get uncomfortable wearing them for several hours. The cord splits at one point to make a Y; for left and right ear buds. The cord going to left ear bud is about twice as short as the one going to the right ear, and thus it puts all the weight of the cord to left ear... poor design. You might say, how heavy could a cord be? Well, that’s what I like to say, except it really makes the difference. And because the ear buds are simply sitting inside your ears, listening anything outside when it is windy, is difficult. Riding a bike while listening? Forget it. You hear more of wind noise than whatever you are playing.

It has FM tuner built in. Its reception is okay, but not super. I like listening to NPR stations which typically puts out the weakest signals of all radio stations.

One last thing that it has is a voice record. I remember buying a digital voice recorder for $60, and this little gadget with a similar price range has that function plus MP-3 and FM, so in a sense it is a super deal. I just never use it.

The model comes in white or black. Both looks very good. You could also get a 1GB model, but I highly advise to get the 2GB if to keep a reasonable amount of songs in the unit.