Sony has had somewhat mixed success in the portable audio player market. The electronics giant has, in the past, played an unfamiliar second-fiddle to Apple, Creative and a number of other bigwigs in the field.

The recent range aims to inject new life into the audio market as well as rectifying some of the problems that haunted earlier players.

Although Sony still uses the Atrac format, you’re no longer forced to convert your audio as the A1200 includes support for Wma and mp3 formats.

Atrac is nowhere near as frustrating as it used to be and, if you do decide to stick with Sony’s recommended format, you’ll benefit from lower file sizes with no discernable loss in quality; it will also squeeze an extra few hours of life from the battery.

The A1200 also works with Windows Explorer so you can use the player as a portable hard drive, which is a useful feature that was missing from earlier models like the NW-HD3.

Audio still needs to be transferred with the Sonicstage software provided, but it’s far quicker and easier to use than it used to be. You’re even offered help in updating ID3 tags if the software detects some that are incomplete in your collection.

This is something you’ll want to pay careful attention to if you're to take full advantage of the wide range of playback and shuffle features built into the player.

Indeed, this is where the A1200’s strength really lies. After a short library refresh to organise any new music you’ve uploaded, you’ll find a host of options to configure the way the player controls your tunes.

Most notable is the dedicated Artist Link button on the side of the device that automatically scans the ID3 tag on the current track and reports a list of similar artists; great for grabbing related music when you’re in the mood for a particular genre.

You’ll also be able to shuffle through Artist Link results, while the Time Machine function plays music from a specific era and you can even have the player collect your favourite tracks into a playlist based on those you’ve listened to most often.

Tracks can also be rated out of five and, again, playlists will be created according to your ratings.

It sports a monochrome screen that looks great, but this does mean you won’t find a video player, photo viewer or other multimedia support built-in - Sony make no bones about the fact that this is a true audio player.

Elsewhere you’ll find a clock and calendar, but not much else to add to the substantial audio support.

Sound quality and battery life are both very impressive. You’ll get around 17 hours from a full charge and a few more if you use Atrac encoding.

We’re also particularly impressed by how stylish it looks. The fade-out effect on the screen leaves a sleek black surface and subtle silver lines that definitely competes with the iPod on the style front. Coupled with the audio control, it results in a player for the serious music maestro.

The A1200 is available in a choice of colours, although the Phantom Black version is recommended for impact value alone.

£150 is very reasonable for an 8GB player, particularly considering the aesthetic qualities and audio features on offer.

If you’re looking for a more rounded device with a colour screen and additional media support, the A1200 won't suit, but those serious about their music should consider the player a more than capable alternative to the iPod Nano.

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