Sony Network Walkman NW-E507 on Mac

[Martin]

My iPod shuffle's starting to get annoying not being able to search through songs, so I'm looking at getting a new mp3 player and the Sony Network Walkman NW-E507 has caught my eye. Here. 50 hours of battery life.

My only question is whether it'll work on a Mac. Now, the site says that the store won't (who cares) but yeah.

Thanks.

[wtd]

Do you want to give your money to the company that's selling CDs with DRM that installs a rootkit?

[Martin]

Not anymore: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051111-5557.html

Anyway, I just can't find a comparable player. I want flashed based and I want a screen. The iPod nano's nice, but only 14 hours of battery life (my Shuffle does better than that and I find it annoying still) and all of these complaints about scratched screens (which I can't argue with - the display model at the store is incredibly scratched up).

[brenn]

Can I buy your old shuffle off you?

[Martin]

I think my mom wants it actually. If not, you can have it.

[brenn]

Oh, okay. I will gladly take if off your hands if your mom doesn't want it.

(Is just gonna give it to Tony for Christmas anyway xD)

[wtd]

http://www.wotevah.com/NW-E507/

It appears the only way to add files and have the player recognize them as music to be played is through Sony's own (crappy as is par for Sony) Windows-only software.

Effectively, it's Windows-only.

[Martin]

Great.

Do you happen to know of any other players with good battery life?

[brenn]

I think my brother has an Archos, but that probably does way more than you want (you're just looking for a music player, right?)

I'm so jealous of you, you get all the selection over in Japan... it takes forever for a new product to come to dealers here, and then we only get the low end stuff. I asked a sales person at a Sony Store about specific models and she stared blankly at me and went O_O;; and offered to get me a catalogue, because she had never heard of the things I was asking for.

[Martin]

The service thing in Japan is a mixed bag though. People here feel obligated to help you even if they don't have a clue. I've given up on asking for directions here. No matter who you ask, they will always have an answer for you, even if they don't know. It's bizarre.

The selection isn't that much better though - there're just a lot more crappy products. Prices are good because there's so much competition though.

[rdrake]

Chances are you could find a driver for it through RealPlayer. It works with my Sony Net Minidisk player. They have a Mac version as well. Check it out first though to make sure.

[Tony]

brenn wrote:

(Is just gonna give it to Tony for Christmas anyway xD)

I'm not reading this thread

[brenn]

ok ok, so that was just to draw attention away from what I'm actually getting you for christmas

[Andy]

martin, dont buy it.. i own one, bought it when it first come out, the thing is amazingly beautiful, and i've only had to charge it about 5 times since i bought it 5 months ago, but its a pain in the ass transfering files. and also, if you transfer files using it from ur friends computer, you cant dump it back onto yours cuz it recongizes that its different computers. so umm, i'd go with the cube thing that walmart has, go check it out, its oled too and its amazingly small

[Martin]

The question is though will it work on the Mac.

Apple mp3 players in general have pitiful battery life, which really bugs me - they look stylish as hell.

Anyone know of any other brands that're any good?

EDIT: And also, absolutely everyone has an iPod, I'm sick of it. Think different, isn't that what it's all about?

EDIT: I think I'm going to look into the iRiver U10.