Sony Walkman WM-FX290
This walkman has FM/AM radio, reception of some TV stations, a weather band, and a tape player. I know that most people these days prefer to wear iPods or at least portable CD players, or other digital machines, but I like to listen to books on tape, my old and new mix tapes, and of course, the radio, especially National Public Radio. This machine is relatively cheap (I found it used but in excellent condition at Amazon.com for about $10 plus $5 shipping), and it serves my needs.
I previously had the Sony Walkman WM-FX281 (reviewed on
http://www.epinions.com/content_163656076932), but one winter's day I was wearing it and I tried to get my change out of my pocket and in doing so unhooked the machine from my belt: it fell on the ground and the tape mechanism broke. I was upset to lose such a faithful friend, which I had had for only about six months, but at least I am able to compare the new and old.
The FX-290 is a more recent model than the FX281, and has a few
advantages.
** First, it is I think just a little bit slimmer, which is nice.
** Second, the "HOLD" button, which when on prevents the radio station from changing accidentally pressing the electronic buttons when you are carrying it around, is on the top rather than on the front, and so is easier to reach and turn on and off.
** Third, and most importantly, this machine operates on just ONE AA battery, not two. It advertises lasting about 35 hours on that, and in my experience that is about right. I have had it for a few months now, and I haven't had to change the battery yet. What's more, I haven't experienced the tape mechanism starting to slow down and distort the sound as the battery goes down. This is a big improvement, since the problem was quite annoying with the old FX281 on some tapes.
There are some
disadvantages compared to the old machine. The biggest one is they have changed they way you switch between manual and preset tuning on the radio, making it more difficult. On the FX281 there were separate buttons for manual and present tuning, but now there is just one /- up and down tuning button, and you have to alter the mode in order to switch between manual and preset tuning. That's not easy if you are in the dark, in the rain or walking down the street.
Some other observations:
** The radio reception relies on the headphones as an aerial, so you are better off getting headphones with a long lead, because that will get you better reception. (My favorite headphones are the SONY silicone ear buds, reviewed at
http://www.epinions.com/content_163658174084 and these have a very long lead.
** The weatherband is still a waste of time. I have never found a weatherband that actually works, and I live in a highly populated area on the east coast of the USA.
The TV audio feature very rarely works well. Occasionally ** I can get Fox TV (channel 5) but that's about it. But I almost never have any interest in listening to TV audio anyway, so this is a needless feature.
** The MegaBass feature introduces quite a lot of distortion and is basically just too heavy for most purposes. Maybe it would be nice for listening to some dance/rap/reggae but it would be more tempting to use it if it were a shade more subtle.
** I've never found a use for the "Local" FM mode nor the "AVLS" feature. As far as I can tell, the AVLS is meant to stop you hurting your ears when listening on headphones, so it makes the sound very quiet. I find the volume control a better device for getting the volume right.
The separate carry case with the attachment to hook the machine to your belt is basically the same as on the previous model, and it works OK, but it isn't great. Sometimes it takes some fiddling to get it out, and since you have to take the machine out every time you want to turn the tape over, that is a bit vexing. I think I will aim to get auto-reverse on the next walkman I get, because it is useful.
Those are complaints and it sounds like I don't like the machine. But as I said at the start, it actually works very well for what I want it to do, which is play tapes and FM radio. The tape buttons are easy to use, on the side of the machine, and it is easy to get to the volume control. It has digital FM tuning, which is MUCH better then dial tuning. It has 40 presets, which are probably many more than you will need. It is reasonably stylish in design. I'm happy with it.
