Hardware is ace, software not so much

I dig the player. Sound quality is good, player is small (basically an oversized MD in-line remote), controls are intuitive and there are plenty of options such as EQ settings, display orientation, order of play etc.
The display is very clear but is a little "deeper" than I expected, it feels like peering into something under a layer of thick glass. I didn't expect the viewing angle to be great (because of the depth) but I can read it when wearing the included armband, so I guess it's ok.

In what's basically a recurring theme for all of Sony's portable digital audio offerings, SonicStage is the weakest link. It needs a lot of work to catch up to iTunes but I have found that it is not so bad in managing albums, which is mostly what I do. My library is about 7 GB right now and is mostly WMA that I imported. SonicStage stores native WMA and will convert into ATRAC (Sony's codec) when synchronizing to MiniDisc or other Sony players, which tends to be a slow process. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the NW-S205F does support direct WMA playback in its hardware and SonicStage syncs pretty quickly (meaning that it does not convert), so I'm definitely glad about that.

The included headphones don't seem to fit my ears very well. In any case, they seem to be designed for sport so I supplied my own - the MDR-EX71SL. The short cord seems to be a perfect match for this player when its sitting in the armband or my shirt pocket. I'm already using this player more than any other I have but I think I'll use it more when I get the accessory neck strap for it. That product appears to be out in Japan but still not out here. Another nice accessory that is included in the Japanese package appears to be belt/shirt clip. I hope that is available for purchase soon too, it will certainly be useful when using the unit as a pedometer alone.

I have not used the unit in direct sunlight, nor have I tried the calorie counter, pedometer functions but I hope to try that out pretty soon. Maybe I'll update this review then.