bob123_

Yes I had same problem with some album art. The only way I found to resolve it was to in WMP11 to choose the album in question, highlight the songs, right click and choose 'advanced tag editor', click the pictures tab and add the art you want. This seems to embed the art into each file/song. If this doesn't work let me know as I have had a couple of unusal situations which has required me to remove all tag info from a file etc. The best way to avoid any issues is to use ripping software that embeds album art when the songs are ripped. I use dbpoweramp which works well.

Zizone, what does a condenser do in an mp3 player? I have come across condenser mics for guitars etc, but can't see how that would apply to what an mp3 player is doing. Can you or any shed any light?

I would definitely be interested in your proposed application. WMP11 is fine but doesn't support AAC transfer etc as so you can't have any ACC songs on WMP playlists. I have found Winamp to be unreliable and unpredictable in terms of what is transferred to the player. Album art isn't such a big deal for me as I use dbpoweramp to rip files which embeds the art.

Thanks for the link Ascariss. Interesting

Ceres, when you say those who want high quality sound reproduction won't bother with BT, what is exactly the quality of the BT? I was led to believe the actual files were streamed meaning no loss in quality. BT could be very useful when used in tandem with a BT receiver plugged into your home stereo. You could then listen to all your music at home through the walkman. But if sound quality is compromised then it is less attractive. Anyone know the details of BT sound quality?

Yeah i'm on the fence too. Looking at video on youtube it looks like player still doesn't support playlist on fly or deleting songs from player & I assume if it could handle gapless that would have been promoted. Shame. main differences to 818 appear to be increased storage, bigger screen, & bluetooth. but guess we will have to wait and see.... ATRACLIFE blog... where are you??????????????????????????????????????

I'm confused. Do these devices have noice cancelling? I have seen a photo on Engadget i think that had a switch on the top for NC and another photo that had NC headphones. But the ones on the UK Sony site seem to not include NC. I can't tell from the Sony Japan site either. Anyone have any definite specs etc?

DavidJ, you have to make sure that the album art is assigned to the album in Sonicstage. If you set your view in sonicstage to "albums" then right click on the album and select properties you can assign art to the album there. I don't have an Sony NW-806 but I would have thought that would work

I think the SonyStyle Japan site said 15 November or something like that for the release in Japan. Does anyone know if this or something similar will be release worldwide?

I would have to agree. I fairly regularily check Atraclife because I thought they were ahead or at least equal with other sites at reporting Sony news. Even if it is just a Japan release it is still a major release. Atraclife's silence is surprising

pata2001. what's with all the negative attidude???? Why don't you just wait and see??

if they do release it world-wide they may release drag n drop versions. player looks awesome and is exactly what i've been waiting for. If you are listening... Sony, please please please release this world-wide!!!!!

I'm not sure about the lossless format (i assume you mean ATRAC lossless). I'll leave that question for others on this forum with better expertise/experience. But I would have thought that if you can convert an ATRAC Lossless to mp3/acc without using the lossy ATRAC file then presumably the quality should be preserved.

It looks like for those of us outside of Japan, future walkman players will be without ATRAC support. So if you are planning to upgrade now and in the future then it is sensible to encode your music to mp3/acc (there are other forum topics with view on what is best). From what I understand and have experienced your plan to convert your atrac music to mp3 will result in a decrease in the quality of the music. You will essentially be compressing a track from an already compressed track. So, as bad as it sounds you are better to get those cds out again and rip straight to mp3/acc.

I think they will also be getting ready to sell the A818s with drag n drop support. Here in New Zealand the sony.co.nz website has had the new A818s up for a while showing saying 'out of stock' - upon me querying sony nz they say that the A818s will be available in about a weeks time. Note that from the A818s (8GB version) is $399 NZD, same price as was for the A808. The NZ website says that the S61* series will be available from October.

I think what Ascariss was saying is that he has inside knowledge about what Sony is releasing next and it sounds like it is soon and is a 16GB flash player - yah very exciting!

I don't think Sony has given up. Clearly with the release of the recent products they are trying. I just think sony is being realistic about what they have and about how dominant Apple/Ipod is. They probably realise they don't have a product that is going to make enough of an impact. Given Apple/Ipod's dominance it will either take the passage of time (ie. the market changes) or a revolutionary product for Sony to make serious inroads. Until then they probably just want to lie low. There maybe a big change in the market there is no longer sale of DRM audio. At the moment Ipods have an advantage because they are they only players that can play content downloaded from ITunes (with the exception of the EMI cataloge that is). IF DRM is totally removed and consumers have a greater ability to switch between players then the Game is on again for sony. I think that is why they have now gone to WMP/drag&drop - so that in a few years time (or sooner) they are ready to have a real go at the market.

If I was Sony I would forget about the HDD player market and focus on Flash Drives. I'm sure that's what they will do. It won't be that long till there are 20gb+ flash drives in players, and when there are, HDD players will start to become irrelevant.

Ascariss, Do you mean you knew that they were to release new devices, but you're not sure whether these new ones are it?

Does anyone know whether Sony is releasing any new Walkmans soon (other than the recent ones)? From memory this time last year they released the S700 series - perhaps they will release another S-series? Or are they finally going to release a high capacity Walkman again? The reason I ask I because I am in the market for a new Walkman (only brand for me I'm afraid - because of sound quality) and while I like the A818 model, would prefer something with more capacity. Anyone have some inside knowledge?

Remember the blog entry back in May: Teaser: Sony Changes Everything and promises of details etc... did I miss something or did the further details never come???? What the f7$k?

I wonder how the below email from Sony New Zealand fits with this news? I thought when they were talking about a firmware upgrade and improved functionality they were just referring to the current firmware upgrade. But maybe not?? ---------------------------------------------------- Hi David, Thank you for your email. The NWA808B will have new stock arriving in mid-September. We apologise for the delay in this model. The new stock arriving will have a firmware upgrade and improved functionality. Best regards, The My Sony Team Customer Communication Marketing Division Sony New Zealand Limited PO Box 100-045, North Shore Mail Centre Akoranga Business Park, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand Maximise you Sony experience and register your Sony products at www.mysony.co.nz

I remember reading hints and comments suggesting that Sony would release higher capacity walkmans later this year (maybe HDD or maybe flash). Anyone have any updated info on this. Particularily interested in any 'hints' the admin staff may be able to provide. Pretty please?

There does seem to be some big changes going on at Sony in this division. Like pata2001 I'm not sure why there isn't something on the main page. Also no further word on their article re "Sony Changes Everything...." What's going on guys? I'm not at all bothered by the death of Connect, nor really if they ditch ATRAC (even though I have a lot of music in the format). As long as they coninue to make innovative, reliable, quality, great sounding players I will be happy.