Sony NWZ-B173F 4 GB MP3 Player

This is same as sony B-163 but with a refined look.The working and controls are same but change in position.
+ve
1.Bass and five mode equalizer the so called ipod(2gb) dont have.
2.Ear phones provided are good and quality of music buzzing in is awesome.
-ve
1.Little bulkier than what i hav expected though its not a big concern..
2.The real problem with this is u hav to press the volume controls a little harder to increse or decrese the vol.

BASS....BASS....BASS.....its superb and im loving it...

I BET IT IS TOUGH COMPETITION TO APPLE IPOD(2GB) IN TERMS OF PRICE AND PERFORMANCE....

If it is only thing "THE MUSIC" u care for the -ve doesnt matter.Go for it....

P.S im a satisfied customer of this sony product.

A handy, compact yet powerful package with all round brilliance. Excellent audio with deep rich bass and above decent treble, amazing ease of use such as the Zappin' function, super sturdy and upmarket build quality. Not to mention the handy quick charge option to keep you on the go.
The FM, voice recorder works great as well.Oh, and before i forget; and the battery life is incredible....

Somehow i personally feel 4gb is the perfect size to go as well. Its not too little that you leave out your favourite tracks and not too big to leave you confused which tracks you wanna listen to.

On the flipside, Sony only supplies its generic basic headphones with the bundle. Considering it is a premium MP3 player and on the rather expensive side, could have been bundled with a better headphones.

Either way the sheer awesomeness of the player make it worth every buck well spent.
Cheers... "

I will talk about few +ve as well as -ve points about it.
Firstly, +ve:
- even Appls can't beat the music quality
- nice look
- controls are quite easy to operate
- battery life is too good

-ve:
- little bit bulky

Else it is the best one to buy. You may think it as a little costlier, but it is worth for the price.
If you are very much fond of listening some good music then you should go for it.

I am very much enjoying listening songs on my Audioplayer. :-)

SUMMARY: Decent audio quality (what else would you expect from a Sony?). Fairly decent build quality. Display is good, software is a little slow. Stock earphones are also fairly decent.

DETAILED SUMMARY:

AUDIO QUALITY:
Audio quality is good; what one would expect from Sony. The graphic equaliser works. You can save one custom EQ setting. And you can hear the change in the sound as you're setting it. Volume is good (I have tested it with both the stock earphones as well as in-hear Creative EP-630).

BUILD QUALITY:
I was kind of disappointed with the build quality. The cap of the USB jack fits well enough, but it makes me think that if you exercise/run/walk vigorously enough, the cap will fall off. The belt buckle slots in very well and fits snugly. But it feels so utterly plastic in every way. The rotating dial which changes the track or moves up/down on the menu should have been easier to rotate. It's not like it will crumble if you drop it on the floor once, but it certainly doesn't feel solid enough to last a few years (then again, in this day and age, who needs electronic devices to last more than a couple of years, eh?).

FEATURES/EASE OF USE:
A few highly annoying things:
-- The menu transitions respond really slowly to your touch.
-- In order to change the Repeat or Shuffle mode, you have to go into the Menu and go down multiple menu hierarchies.
-- Talking of which, there are only 3 modes: Repeat Song, Repeat All, Repeat All with Shuffle. Only 3 stinking modes. I have a 6-year old Sony Network walkman that has 5 shuffle/repeat modes (for example: shuffle within folder, repeat folder, etc.)
-- The volume controls are much more responsive, but the buttons are so tiny.
-- There's a button for ZAPPIN/Bass. ZAPPIN is annoying. You don't need it. And the most annoying thing is every time you start it (by accident or by choice), it wastes a couple of seconds saying "Zapping In" and "Zapping Out". Ergh.
-- And while on the topic of "Bass", you can choose either to have the EQ enabled or have a high bass. Both work equally good, so it's really up to you.
-- Couldn't be bothered to try the FM or the voice recording. I mean, why would you?

THE FINAL VERDICT:
This is a decent MP3 player. Connect and transfer files. Audio quality is ok. But if you like to have a quick/responsive player, nope. It's slow, but good if you want to just connect your earphones and let it play the songs one after the one.

After reading a lot of reviews and comparing with other mp3 players in this range, I bought this one last week. Flipkart delivered it in 4 days (which is awesome).

+ve points:
1. Sound quality => Superb Bass! This is the best mp3 player in this price range to boast of such a thumping bass quality. The sound range and dynamics are good. Even at a low volume, the little sound details are clearly heard.
2. Looks => It has a sleek design and its not too heavy. The LED illumination is a real beauty. When in bass mode, the LED tries its best to keep up with the beats of the song. But after a while it becomes useless because you probably don't intend to keep staring at the mp3 player while you're listening to music. So you can also turn it off in settings to save a bit of battery life.
3. Battery life is good considering that you're not listening to music at full volume and bass mode.
4. FM Radio and recording is an added plus point.

-ve points:
1. The zapping mode is pretty useless.
2. The scrolling is not smooth. If you're very selective about your songs, and haven't created any playlists yet, you'll be tired of the scrolling system in this player. Its rough and the response time for scrolling is not good at all. Initially I was confused whether I should turn it clockwise or anti-clockwise to go down a list. But then I got used to it. Yet, the scrolling system is pretty messed up.
3. The earphones will start to hurt if you're listening for long hours.
4. The cap on the usb connector is not very firm.

I'm giving it an 4/5.
Primary reasons => It lives up to its purpose, which is, a handy pocket mp3 player with good sound quality. But -1 for the messed up scrolling system and response time.

And yes! Its is so much better than an iPod. Its worth its price. 4GB + better sound quality compared to 2GB + lower sound quality of iPod nano.