Sony MP3 players Part 1: W252 Wearable Walkman

For months I’ve been looking for an MP3 player that’s small, discrete, good quality but not Apple. I initially thought about getting one of the small Apple shuffles, however, my dislike of iTunes put me off that pretty quickly – I’m more of a simple drag and drop kind of girl – I have the power!

As I was growing up, I was always saving my pocket money to buy the latest Sony Walkman – cue nostalgia – and due to the quality of Sony back then, I would normally have got something that was pretty good every time, as they just lasted! In fact, I think I still own my slim metal cassette Walkman! So as you can imagine, when I was offered a couple of players to review, I jumped at the chance.

The first MP3 player I tried was the W252 Wearable Walkman (in pink). This player is a wireless headset with built in MP3. My first impressions of the MP3 player were average – It didn’t excite me. It’s not the most attractive product Sony have produced, however I can see why this would work for sports enthusiasts. I decided to put on the headset and tackle a day of housework and I have to say, as far as anything active goes, this player is great although it’s not the kind of thing I would wear on the tube to work. I found the controls a little fiddly at first as this was a new concept for me – I found it hard to distinguish what button is what, but I think practice makes perfect. The player is water- resistant and washable so is perfect for the more ‘active’ market and the packaging would indicate that this is the market Sony are aiming it at. The sound quality is excellent for the price and the player comes in 4GB (NWZ-W253) as well as 2GB. One higly impressive feature is the fast charge – you can put it on charge for 3 minutes and it will give you up to 3 hrs playback – Impressive!

Overall i would give the W252 Wearable Walkman a supportive 7/10

Technical specifications NWZ-W252

Please be aware that the features/specifications can differ from country to country.