I have had each iteration of this MP3 player as Sony has in my opinion produced the best music player for gym users such as myself. But. The competition is very limited for wearable MP3 headphone combinations and by no means is this Sony item perfect. It is however, a considerable improvement on the previous version which had a grim power on/off button and serious failure issues whereby it would simply stop working - which happened to mine. First off the buttons are much nicer to use and that makes a real difference. Once you have got the muscle memory in place it's all good. The overall construction both appears and feels very good and Sony seem to have moved back up a step from the previous model fortunately. It is also very secure on the ears and there is an additional rubber adjuster that can be fitted along with different ear buds to turn this into a MP3 player suitable for swimming with. And Sony seem to have worked out that they can't make software and this is a simple drag and drop operation for compatible files or you can sync using Microsoft Media Player which I do. But - like each version Sony have made there are improvements and retrograde steps. Whilst there is no doubt this is a much better player than before Sony have taken away the storage/charging cradle which held the player together securely which was ideal when being dumped in a sports bag. This player has a very small charging-transfer unit that fits to one side only meaning you have to be very careful when removing it from a bag in case it is pulled apart too much. In use the sound is good not brilliant. For my ears slightly bright. And not loud enough as Sony being a responsible company adhere to the dB safe levels which may not be loud enough to completely drown out the piped in stuff in some gyms. For use outside it would be fine I guess. There is a function to allow ambient noise to be heard which is something that road runners may find useful as cars etc. can be heard. Overall though, this is my gym player of choice because it sounds good and I don't have faffy wires hanging around me.

Great product. Bought specifically to use while swimming. So glad I did. It has made my swimming workout so much easier and enjoyable.

This is a great device although it still has room for improvement. They need to make it louder so a noisy pool would be tough to enjoy. Also, needs improvement with the user interface to select music.