The 818 Walkman video player is Sony's top-of-the-line portable player, part of their 810 Series and the first the company is billing as "open standard." Sony has finally seen the light and will now support music downloaded from today's most popular sites in a variety of formats even as it phases out its closed ATRAC format and the CONNECT music store and software management system.

The 810 series is compatible with security-enhanced Windows Media Audio, supports most subscription music services, is certified for Windows Vista and sport the PlaysForSure verification. This Walkman even plays unprotected files from iTunes and managing your catalog and transferring files is now a simple drag and drop procedure. Just about the only thing the 818 can't handle is a Macintosh, as Sony continues its long tradition of not working with Apple's operating platform.

Small and elegant, this Sony Walkman is easily mistaken for a cell phone, but is really a fully featured portable device. We tested the highest memory capacity, 8BG, which can store a little more than 5,000 songs or up to 33 hours of music. While the video screen boasts unusually high resolution for a portable device, watching more than a short film clip (particularly those in the widescreen format with bars above and below) on a 2" LCD screen made our eyes burn.

Music management is straightforward and songs can be organized into multiple categories, including the year each was released. The "intelligent shuffle" mode shuffles all tracks, or you can pick "time machine shuffle" to mix things up within specific years. Buttons are larger than many players and the user interface is simple to navigate. Sound quality is high and the battery life superior to many other multimedia models out there.

Do yourself a favor and turn the beep volume off straight away. It's easily accessible via the setting. Otherwise, every time you try to navigate the player and hit a button a clanging sound will ring in your ears (unless you like beeping, then by all means, leave the factory settings where they are). Once that has been disabled, it's fairly easy to scroll through photos and song information without interrupting playback.

The 818 is clearly looking to compete with Apple's video iPod, right down to the lack of an FM tuner or built in voice recorder. While its design is sleek, the control wheel is misleading: Volume control is on the side and finding it quickly takes some getting used to. Still, the price tag makes this a very attractive alternative to the iPod, especially considering the 818 comes with a step up pair of ear buds for superior sound quality and comfort.

Pros: Lightweight, easy to navigate, good video resolution, works with multiple music formats, better earbuds
Cons: No FM tuner or recording capability

Warranty
1 year