Review on Sony D NF430 Walkman: Your Ultimate Portable Compact Music Player by Chef Deane

I had the DNF420 version before purchasing the DNF430 and was very happy with its performance. But there were four different problems with the SONY ATRAC CD player: 1) Player 2) Sonicstage software 3) Headphones 4) Atrac recording. The CD player was excellent - it would display songs and let you skip from song to song or album to album. In addition, FM tuning enabled reception at gyms that broadcast television programs on FM stations such as CNN and ESPN. From time to time I would see CNN news on the gym TV monitor and to hear the audio I would just switch to the preset FM selector and voila. However, the headphones had to be replaced with noise-cancelling headphones. At first I wasn't ready for the headphone frenzy. In the gym, with all the movement and sweating, the standard earphones unfortunately didn't stand up to the daily demands. However, I was able to solve this problem. I've dropped my CD player a few times at the gym or on a treadmill, but it continues to work reasonably well. My critical issues were the Sonicstage software. I wasn't aware of this - until I bought stonicstage and started using this software, this software was finicky and took time to learn. "Ripping" a CD and "BURNING" a CD were relatively new to me. As such, I was unwilling to "tolerate" the learning curve issues associated with the software. It took a while and was frustrating at first. Once all the settings were made, the learning became clear - software, library, recording and performance worked like clockwork. I was able to store over 250 songs on one CD. However, at times I was skeptical about reaching the quoted 400 songs that SONY is talking about. Anyway, I also backed up and then restored my music using Sonicstage software. This also worked like a charm. I was very lucky to have this backup as my PC system crashes at least once a year. My library and selections have been restored well thanks to Sony and the restore feature! In the ATRAC system, the recording differed slightly from MP3. MP3 was a portable format while ATRAC was not. I don't think the MP3 playback in playback mode also had description and navigation functions. So I was left with the ATRAC recordings. I am very happy with my CD player because it works well, sounds great and can be put in my gym bag and left in the car overnight. The CD player was able to handle the COLD and HOT weather temperatures in the Northeast US. I use the CD player at least three times a week, at the gym, and so far - no problems.