More juice than your daily smoothy! The new Sony NW-HD5 Network Walkman™ gives you up to 40 hours of continuous music playback thanks to the power of a removable Lithium-Ion battery. The NW-HD5 also introduces a new feature from Sony, a Bi-Directional LCD Display. It allows you to view the display in either a vertical or horizontal mode for whatever position you might find yourself in. The NW-HD5 also supports various audio formats including: WMA, WAV, MP3, ATRAC® and ATRACplus™, and its simple navigation buttons make it easy to manage your music. You’ll need that, because you can put up to 13,000 songs on its 20GB hard drive.
Review by PC Magazine
Sony has been struggling to keep pace with Apple’s hugely successful iPod and iTunes, but it’s been a losing battle. The Sony NW-HD5 20GB hard drive audio player is a solid competitor: It certainly has a leg up on its wheel-sporting white rival in the battery life department, and it has a couple of navigation features that should make Apple take note. It lacks extras like an FM tuner or recording, but so does the iPod, and the lack of frills makes it very simple to use. But despite the player’s ease of use, very good sound quality, and (finally) native MP3 support, Sony’s MP3 player is still held back by the required software and overzealous DRM.
Review by Engadget
Besides those pesky, persistent issues across the board with Sony’s Network Walkman series (like their hardheaded insistence upon using SonicStage, etc.), and those freaking broken buttons, Sony’s NW-HD5 might well have been the digital audio player for purists. Its long battery life (and removable battery), competitive size, simple design, and bright screen might have matched it against the Karma or iRiver devices, but Sony still refuses to go WMA (let alone OGG or FLAC)—which is probably why PC Mag only gave it a “good” rating, and not a great one. Better luck next time, Sony—how about listening to the customer for the HD6, eh?
Review by CNET
Sony’s MP3 stock has shot up mercurially since introducing native MP3 playback to its Network Walkman franchise. Its latest hard drive-based player, the supercompact Network Walkman NW-HD5, has winner written all over it. Although the 20GB player lacks extra features that make the iRiver H320s and the Cowon iAudio X5s of the world so popular, the HD5 delivers big time, with a wonderfully simple interface, a tiny form factor, sweet sound quality, and wicked battery life. Available in silver, black, or red, the HD5 has a list price of $300.
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