At some point maybe a month or two ago I received an email from Klout about being eligible for a Klout Perk. To be honest, I wasn’t that excited because I hadn’t be awarded an impressive perk yet from them. Most perks were something like a $5 gift card to McDonald’s. Or a pizza cutter (because we ALL absolutely need a pizza cutter). But this one was different. It was for the new Sony Walkman. I was stoked. I tried it out yesterday in two scenarios (and will continue to try it out this week, and update anything noteworthy): At my work desk as a pair of headphones, and at the gym doing CrossFit. Here’s my take:
Unboxing and Installation
And there it is. That’s the product straight out of the box. It comes completely assembled with some extra ear buds for sizing. As you can see, there are no cords. There is a microUSB jack on one side that allows you to charge the device and transfer music. A microUSB charge cable is included in the box. However, I forgot it at home and was worried, but since I have an Android phone I simple used that. It was very convenient and a welcome realization.
To install the software you plug the Walkman in for the first time and let your computer load up the program.
The install is super simple, and only takes a few button clicks. However, it took longer than I imagined it would. It took a solid fifteen minutes from the moment I plugged it in until installation was completed. Not very long in the scheme of things, but longer than I imagined.
Once installed you will have a helpful tutorial/guide window that links you to various pages with how to use the device, as well as tech support. The other program that installs is the “content transfer” program.
Content Transfer
This program is how you put your music on the Walkman. It’s super simple and supports drag and drop from iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Windows Explorer.
To put music onto the device all you do is open up one of the three programs listed above and select the songs/playlists you want to transfer, and drag them into the content transfer window. That’s it. You’re done. Each song takes maybe five seconds to transfer.
I created a playlist in iTunes with 21 songs; about 1.3 hours of listening time, and it transferred in a minute or two.
All in all it took me maybe 25 minutes to go from in-box to ready to be used. That included installation, playlist creation (took longer than you’d think), and music transfer. It’s a VERY easy process and can be done quickly if you know what music you want.
Charging
Here’s one of my favorite parts about the Sony Walkman: the charging speed. I had the device plugged in while I was transferring music (obviously) and in that time alone it probably gave me a couple of hour of play time. The device gives you an hour of play time after just 5 minutes of charging, or so they say. I wasn’t able to directly test this theory myself since I had it plugged in for longer, but I never ran out of battery and the battery indicator is still flashing green after an hour or so of playtime for me.
All indications point to their claim being true. Even if it’s a little more than five minutes, all you need is a quick charge and you are ready to go for your workout, which is perfect.
The Device Itself
The Walkman is very easy to use. There is a bit of a learning curve on using it while wearing it; I found myself accidentally hitting the wrong button the first few times I interacted with it. This wasn’t unexpected and not a very big issue, as you’re hitting the buttons blindly. Once I learned the layout it wasn’t an issue to switch songs, pause playback, or change the volume. One great feature is that when you hit certain buttons (Play is one of them), a voice will tell you what you pressed. This doesn’t happen with the volume rocker, but does happen when hitting the Shuffle/Playlist and Play/Pause button. It’s a nice touch that makes the experience a little easier and nicer.
The headphones do a great job of not moving at all. Maybe I got lucky, but the headphones that were in place on the device fit my ears (which are on the smaller end) perfectly. Wearing them as headphones presented no issues whatsoever. During CrossFit they stayed in, and were comfortable, while doing jump rope and handstand pushups. Even upside down, with me sweating profusely, they stayed nice and snug in my ears.
The sound quality is excellent as well. The headphones do a great job of keeping outside noise at a minimum. Only when I was standing right in front of the speaker at CrossFit was there a problem, if that’s a problem at all. The bass is a lot heavier than I expected which is nice, and all of my music sounded exactly like it should. These aren’t low-grade headphones.
OH YEAH!
The Walkman is water resistant. You don’t have to worry about sweating, no matter how much. This thing will work perfectly. If it gets dirty you just wash it in the sink with room temperature water. How cool is that? They have a waterproof version as well that you can actually swim with which is great. The easy cleanup is a huge plus.
Other Notes
The device I was sent for the Klout Perk has 2GB of memory. That’s wayyyy more than enough for my workouts. The 21 songs I put on the device maybe filled up ten percent, and that’s stretching it. You can fit hours of music on the device, so you’ll never be disappointed with what comes on.
One thing I do wish was available was Spotify integration. I hadn’t used iTunes in a year or so before opening it to transfer music. On Spotify I have a ton of playlists available that I wanted to transfer, but obviously that didn’t work. I know it’s a lot to ask, but a Spotify-enabled headset would make this an absolute must-have. Let’s get it done Sony!
Final Thoughts
Admittedly, I am not a headphones kind of person at the gym. Maybe it’s because of the types of workouts I do at Crossfit (they don’t leave room for cords at all), but it’s also because CrossFit is so social. Headphones do block you off from the rest of the world. At CrossFit I am constantly talking to people and supporting them through workouts. I noticed that when I had the headphones on people didn’t even try to socialize with me, and that was a weird feeling. I’m just not into being isolated like that. If I was at a different type of gym by myself it would have been different. For CrossFit, not so much.
I actually took the headphones off for the main WOD (workout of the day) because I didn’t like that isolated feeling. Listening to my music definitely motivated me when I was warming up and doing a pre-workout routine; it felt great to have my own music to listen to. CrossFit, in my opinion, is just not the right type of gym environment to listen to headphones. For those who work out alone and not in group classes, this device is definitely something you’ll want to look at. If I go work out on my own, I’m definitely going to be bringing the Walkman along.
All in all, this is a fantastic product. I haven’t used headphones at the gym in a long, long time (over two years), so I don’t have any recent experience to compare these to. But I do know that I’m going to be bringing the Walkman to the gym with me every day from now on, which I think says plenty. It’s turning me from a no-headphones user to a headphones user. Mission accomplished Sony.
[DISCLAIMER]
I was given this product for free through the Klout Perk program. I was not told to write a review, and have done so on my own, and willingly. I was not compensated in any other way, or told to give this product a positive review. These thoughts and notes are a true and honest opinion of my experience with the Walkman so far.
The post Here’s my review of the new Sony Walkman, the #FitnessWalkman appeared first on All Grown Up.
