Sony Walkman NWZ-S544

The Walkman S series has undoubtedly been one of the most successful ranges of portable audio players, even if a certain iPod nano has stolen the top spot. Sony is now back with a player that's positioned just a notch lower down the market.

Handling: taking the Mickey?

It's difficult not to think of Walt Disney's super-star mouse when looking at the controls of Sony's NWZ-S544. As for the rest, it's all the usual Sony stuff and you'll soon find your bearings.

As seems to be way with cars, an updated range means extra bulk for the somewhat stout S544. This is due to the inclusion of built-in stereo speakers, the point of which is somewhat debatable. There's also a little built-in arm for standing the player up horizontally to watch films. Handling the player poses no problems at all, even if you could be mistaken for thinking you're using a mobile rather than an MP3 player.

There are no surprises in the software interface. It's still largely based on the PS3, which is a clear influence in all of Sony's products. It's nothing new, but it's neat and it does the job.

One major downfall, however, is that podcasts are no longer separated from regular tracks, which means they can now pop up in random playback mode. Unfortunately, Sony has also got rid of On-the-Go Playlists.

Audio: new but poorer-quality earphones

Sony has really cut back for the S544, supplying earphones of the most basic kind. In fact, as well as being particularly unexciting, they're also a bit stingy with the bass. We've definitely seen (or heard) worse, but for a player that's first and foremost designed for music it's certainly a shame. On the other hand, the headphones output is very good, as is often the case with Sony. The sound is rich, well reproduced and isn't subject to the metallic misdemeanours caused by poor signal processing. So just this once, all I can do is advise you to invest in some decent headphones to get around the problem.

The supported file formats are fairly basic. We would have at least hoped to find OGG or FLAC, but the choice on offer is nothing to write home about. The same can be said of the video formats, with the addition of AVC but that's pretty much all. In any case, there's no point kidding yourself, even on the 2.4-inch glossy display with wide viewing angles, your eyes will soon get tired of watching video content on the S544 - all the built-in stands in the world won't change that.

A final saving grace of the NWZ-S544 is certainly not its catchy name, but its battery life. Very few quality digital music players can boast a battery life of over 40 hours. Plus, in reality, the battery can last for almost 50 hours in audio playback mode. The S544 also has an FM radio with 30 presets and a voice recorder function.

To sum up, with good-quality sound, stereo speakers (then again ...) and an unbeatable battery life, this S-series MP3 player doesn't do too badly. Beware though, as in both the sub-categories and the overall score this MP3 player gained its stars by the skin of its teeth!