Sony D-NF400 Psyc ATRAC Portable CD Player with Digital Tuner (AM / FM / TV / Weather) Review

I needed an mp3 player for listening to an mp3 CD made from an audio book. Therefore, the player had to be able to resume from the middle of an mp3 track, and it had to be able to fast-forward and rewind within a track. It also needed a built-in radio so I could listen to it while I'm at work.

After some research, I settled on this one. It had everything I was looking for, and it also is very frugal on batteries. Sony claims "more than 85 hours" of playback on two AA's. It caches some of the mp3 data to memory and only spins up the disc when the cache runs dry. So the designers definitely thought through a few things. [Edit: I've now had this for at least a month, using it for about an hour a day five days a week, and my first set of batteries is still only half depleted.]

One feature I wasn't expecting was the ability to play m3u play lists (if you put it into a special play mode--read the manual to figure out how). Unfortunately, as I learned through trial and error, the player only supports two playlists per mp3 CD. My best guess is that this is to try to make mp3's look less attractive than Sony's proprietary ATRAC format, which this player also supports. But anyway, the player also supports playing individual folders as "groups" and you can always use the hack of numbering the tracks as the player by default plays tracks in alphabetical order. And since the player reads ID3 tags, you don't have to worry about the number in the filename showing up on the display.

Another minor issue is that if you pause an mp3, the player will use that time to load more mp3 data from the disc, but during that time (about 2 seconds), the controls will be unresponsive. So you can't pause and then immediately resume an mp3--you have to pause, wait 2 seconds, then resume. (I notice this because I frequently pause my Pimsleur language CD to give me time to formulate the answer to a question.)

For anyone researching this player, the D-NE300 player is pretty much the same as this one, but without the built-in tuner.

While the D-NF400 isn't perfect, it seems to be the best player out there for my needs, at a reasonable price.

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Product Description:
Spin your commercial CDs, your homemade music CDs of almost any stripe, or listen to the radio, TV, or weather-band transmissions with Sony's versatile, full-circle D-NF400 Psyc-styled Walkman portable CD player. The snazzy player includes SonicStage software, which lets you take full advantage of ATRAC3plus (Sony's proprietary music-compression technology) when making custom MP3 CDs on your computer. Playback options include 32-track programming, repeat (track, disc, or program), random play, and--thanks to Sony's great work in DSP efficiency--more than 85 hours of ATRAC3plus CD or up to 50 hours of audio CD playback from 2 AA batteries (not included).
The D-NF400 Psyc offers a 2-line dot-matrix display, full ID3 tag recognition, and bookmark playback (which lets you program your favorite songs from multiple CDs and play them back at the touch of a button). CD Text support displays artist and title information with compatible commercial audio CDs.
ATRAC3plus is a high-quality audio-compression technology that reduces the size of digital audio files while preserving much of a track's original sound quality (similar in concept to MP3 or Dolby Digital sound formats). With ATRAC3plus, music can be burned and compressed at 132, 105, 66, 64, or even 48 kbps (kilobits per second), letting you select the right balance between fidelity and storage space (you'll get around 490 songs per disc at 48 kbps).
Compatible with ID3 tagging and most CD burners, SonicStage CD Simple Burner software transfers songs from CDs or MP3 music files from your PC's hard drive and burns them to recordable CDs using ATRAC3plus compression.
The D-NF400 Psyc offers a whopping 51 station presets, which works out to 30 FM, 10 AM, 4 WB, and 7 TV stations so you're never far from your favorite channels. You can hook the player up with your home system through an optional analog stereo "Y" interconnect.
Skip-Free G-Protection technology boosts the laser pickup's shock protection to minimize read errors that would otherwise interrupt your music, providing quick recovery from both horizontal and vertical shocks. The D-NF400's heat-resistant lid helps protect the player against high-temperature build up, especially when you're using it outdoors or in a vehicle.
Digital Mega Bass Sound boosts your music's low end without high clarity and low distortion, and there's also a built-in equalizer with 3 preset curves and 1 customizable setting. Sony's automatic volume limiter system (AVLS) conserves batteries--and guards your hearing--by capping your listening level at either of two settings. The player works with an optional AC/DC 4.5V power adapter (AC-E45HG or -E45A).
What's in the Box
CD player, MDR-027LP stereo headphones, CD-ROM (SonicStage software), a user's manual, and warranty information.

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