I thought I'd update this thread now that I'm back in California, and back in my Van. I did recently try 2 programs to convert my drm'd music with no luck, and much frustration. I wound up burning and reripping the albums I really wanted on the new MP3 and laptop.
First, The Sony NWZS545BLK sounds great in my Van. A little better than the late beloved Toshiba. Its slightly louder with a more crisp bass thump, too much for my unamplified stereo above 28 out of 34 volume. Whilst the Highs do not seem as crisp, I am hearing some background vocals or instruments I have not heard before.
I'm still playing with both equalizers to fine tune the sounds for different music. Some of
My Music which was originally poorly recorded sounds much better than with the Toshiba.
But there are some detractions.
-The Plastic non touch screen scratches much too easily.
-It cannot play music while it is being charged.
-It can only be charged by a computer USB port. I have other 5 volt USB ports, 12 volt and 120 volt. They activate the light, but do not indicate it is charging. So if I run the battery dead, I'm Shit outta luck, and have to turn on my laptop and plug it in for 3 hours before I can use it again. Seeing as how my laptop is my biggest electrical draw in the van, this really irks me.
-After online chatting with a Sony tech, I spent another 50$ for a cradle hoping I could plug it in to charge and still listen to music. It will not, and the Audio out port of the cradle seems to drop the fidelity by 15%. It's going back tomorrow for an 85% refund.
-One has to use WMP12 and Windows 7 to transfer playlists. All the other music can be dragged and dropped using explorer, or Synced in WMP 8 and above. I have 2 laptops now, and the new one with windows 7 has pissed me off to such a degree I nearly smashed it to pieces and set them alight. It has replaced 30% of the correct album art with the incorrect, and splits single albums into 2 or more albums with separate songs. It has also fouled the album art on the Sony MP3 player too, when I transfered some playlists to it.
-One cannot bookmark tracks on the unit. If you have some random music on shuffle and want to hear it again later, you better be confident in your memory or write it down.
-One cannot erase anything but recorded voice or recorded FM radio files on the unit. All Songs, videos, pictures must be removed while hooked to a computer.
- Apparently Sony never adds firmware updates, like every other MP3 maker.
-The battery remaining charge indicator is way, way off. Within 8 hours the screen display says 1/4 battery remaining, but when I plug this into the laptop, it indicates 72% remaining. Perhaps this will be more accurate if I ever drain the battery fully.
While My 5.5 year old Toshiba was twice as big and 3 times as heavy with 6 less GB, could not play videos, record FM radio or voice or have an alarm, it did come with a strong, idiot proof cradle which would allow charging while playing music. I figure this is why the unit, which claimed 16 hour battery life, 5 years later would still last 10 hours. I simply only used the battery when outside the Van. The Sony claims a 42 hour battery life, but I have to use it's battery, always and therefore cannot expect the same lifespan from the unit. I could have easily replaced the battery in the Toshiba myself if I had to, the Sony does not look as easy to open up.
The Toshiba I could set to always display the screen and next song in the cue at full brightness, the Sony does not list the next song in the Cue, and blacks out the screen after 10 seconds, requiring one button press to light the screen, and another to perform any function.
No doubt I'll wind up fabricating a Hardwood cradle to safely, protectively hold the player in a convenient location for driving, or to move to the back of the Van, but it's inability to be charged and play music at the same time would have removed the unit from contention when shopping.
The Sony sounds good, but I wish my old Toshiba could have held on a few more years. It was big, clunky, useful and ran excellent, just like my Van. The Sony is just flashier with a couple unneeded features, and a major detraction in it's inability to play music while being charged.