Sony are bringing back the “Walkman” brand quite aggressively with various new models at different price points and capabilities. Today we take a look at one of the entry level models, the Walkman B series.

Features and design

Specifications:

• Width (mm): 86
• Height (mm): 23.6
• Depth (mm): 14.5
• Battery life – continuous playback music (h): 18
• Charging time (full charge) (h): 1h 10 min
• Available sizes – 2GB and 4GB

The B series has a simple design, incorporating a 3 line display that shows current track information and allows navigation of the menus (just). Physical buttons are provided for recording, volume and track navigation – for anything more complex than that you’re into the control menus.

In common with most players you get functions to repeat the track or playlist as well as a shuffle option. An FM radio is included and you also get a recording function which can record both voice and radio content.

Voice recordings don’t need a separate microphone or specialised headphones; the device itself has a built in mic which seems to work well for recording simple memos.

There’s also a “zap” button which runs through your playlist, diving into the middle of each song to play you a few seconds of it before moving on to the next. A second press of the button starts playing the selected track properly. It’s a convenient way of navigating through an album or shuffled playlist without resorting to the sometimes fiddly display, but I could have done without the chirpy “Zappin’ in!” and “Zappin’ Out!” voice on each button press.

In use

In common with the X series walkman we previously looked at, connectivity is a breeze. The B series plugs directly into a USB port and is recognised by Windows as a music player. It synchronises with Windows media player if that’s what you want, or you can just treat it like a USB stick and drag MP3s directly onto it.

The compact dimensions of the player lead to a necessarily small screen, which in turn means navigating the menus can be fiddly. Everything is fairly logically laid out so there’s no problem finding anything but you’ll probably want to set up some playlists or browse your music via album/artist/genre as navigating a single folder with several hundred tracks in it takes some button pressing!

Sound quality

The B series is a budget model so the included headphones are fairly basic and you don’t get the electronic enhancements of the more expensive X series. That said, you do get a 5 band equalizer to tune the sound to your taste and with some decent earbuds it sounds fine.

Conclusion

At the £30-£40 price point Sony have some competition from other devices on features but the compact styling and ease of use of the B series makes it stand out.