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it looks rather intelligent. then again, so did the zune campaign at first...

Actually it is perfect as far as biological value of the protein portion is concerned. My opionion is: Sony USA don´t know what they are doing here. Screw the critics. There are far inferior players out there in the US although it might not be profitable to compete with a high price device for 10% market share.

Thanks for the little insight. I am sure the guys can be very proud of themselves. They put out the ultimate blend of design and technology with the s7 late last year. cramming that much tech and powerful soundstage in such a tiny, high tech package is a great achievement. While form factor dictates some compromise on ui it´s still one hell of an accomplishment only true engineering skill can put out. I have used ipods and was very happy with them until s7, a8 changed my mind despite of problems with sonic stage. I only wish that Sony had been more daring with a8 design and feature set. Certainly inclusion of fm radio as on the s7 and nc feature would have been feasible. I also would have wished for design elements of s7 to make their way onto a8. Anyway, I am sure this will happen for xmas season. What I want to see is: 2in qvga oled screen, fm radio with recording, nc, "sun glass" design in spqr purple and it´s a 10/10.

flash device with 1) 2 inch qvga screen 2) durable casing like the current nano 3) dedicated volume controls 4) working custom eq 5) 808 sq not asking too much, actually.

don´t know about high end. look at the bravia series. it worked nicely for a while but turned devestating in a matter of months.

That´s a steal. 20 more than the 1gig shuffle. S probably didn´t sell pink too well...or how else could it be?

try this: uninstall ss set up a new user account in windows. log on to new user account set region to china in windows control panel of your new user account install ss from cd ticking japan / china as your locale hope it helps.

Hi Tom Kat, AAC is a very logical step considering S efforts in the PS3 Video Arena. PS3 MUST be able to support AAC. The same holds true for mobile phones as aac audio is part of the 3g partnership along with h263/64 video standard. So it´s only "natural" to streamline codec support across the entire portfolio. In due time Atrac will be relegated to legacy support status. I am sure of that. Anyway, the ongoing pimping of Atrac in SS and various manuals is starting to get embarrassing. ATRAC is terminally sick as is Sonic Stage. Sony Divisions have not been closely integrated in the past which also -in part- may explain why Atrac did not receive more coverage when it was competitive. HE-AAC needs to be supported by dedicated silicon to be battery efficient.

Yes I do. Let me tell you that hardware wise there is nothing to improve on the player apart from the hold switch. You´ll love the gui and snappy way to get around the entire player and its features. trust me, once in your pocket you´ll be amazed at how polished and refined an mp3 interface can be. It´s been a long time coming. And I don´t mean for Sony. Anyone who appreciates engineering skill will be tempted by the a8. Greetings to Stuttgart from CGN!

I mainly listen to rock music myself. I can attest to the great -not very good- sound quality of the 808. As you certainly experienced in the store build quality is a cut above the competition. check out www.mp3flash.de In the latest issue you will find a graph exposing the d2 to be tonally flawed, at least without eq and the firmware they tested it with. The problem in the response curve w/o eq is very pronounced so I think it´s a firmware issue. The reviewers found on the subjective side of things that the d2´s eq was able to compensate the problems the d2 suffers out of the box. Also note that 808 price just dropped sharpy. You can get the 8 gig unit for the same price as the 4 gig d2. As far as pressure is concerned both clear bass and the eq are very usefull tools. Even the heavy preset does a very fine job. Bear in mind that the baseline sound on the 808 is very clear and uncolored. You could also try samsung t9 or k3. Other than that I don´t see any viable options.

i´m not sure what setting the copy protection flag in wmp actually does. but from what i have gathered not much as you are playing back files on your laptop that were ripped on a machine in australia. so it may be a sonic stage problem. try ml_sony and see whether your wma songs appear in your player´s library. http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2293

...migrated the license. I think that´s where your problem is. Your walkman offers native wma support. Did you add copy protection in wmp while initially ripping the cds?

Prices also dropped sharply here in Germany. 279 > 222 Euros. That is very competitive.

I second your impressions. It´s just many people listen to bass heavy music like hip hop these days and die for some nice warm, midbassbloom I really like the sony mx90 a lot with the 808 and would recommend these phones as an initial step up from the bundled phones. Really, I´d advise caution with the more expensive iems because ,as witnessed here, a whole bunch of them offers rather a signature than sound.

1) the vibez do indeed -imho- look vulgar. furthermore, my first unit died after 5 days, the replacement lasted a few months and just died on my sister to whom I passed them on. AMAZING 2) the ue 5eb are huge and uncomfortable. forget about working out with those. one more thing: their bass performance is in a league of its own 3) you want it all and you want it for rather cheap. if phones meeting all of your criteria existed at 200 usd, they´d be amazing.you´ll have to compromise (settle for less)

to each his own. that´s the great thing with a function eq setting. personal taste and greatly varying phone setups can all be accommodated by one single device. i´d never buy anything else (again)

hey, I actually prefer my slightly eq adjusted 808 although I can understand why you like 706 sound better. Last week I attended a queens of the stone age concert concert here in town. I absolutely loved the sound setup and color that was totally different from the washed-up cd sound. I find it very easy to duplicate this kind of tonality with the s7.

the cheap sure are rather bad and I don´t know the jays. the cx 300 are very bass heavy and not that efficient (loud) there are also the vmoda vibez around. many people like them, i don´t. i suggest you give them a try.

Hi, I don´t seem to properly understand you. Are you saying that you are making the same observation in Japan?

hi, unfortunately audio leakage is a major concern with these sony phones. surely, they don´t fit the bill for you and that´s a pity bc i also own the mentioned hje 70s and find the sonys much more agreeable. as bangraman mentioned above the mx 90 really have a very comfortable fit. truth be told i consider them to be the best gym phones around. as they go for around 60 euros around here i´d have to say the sound quality -given the price point- is unmatched. i also own more expensive iems but still use the mx 90s quite often. how much do you want to spend?

Well actually, I am seeing more and more young people switching to cell phones for on the go audio consumption. Mobile phones, even the really good ones, can be bought for as little as 1 Euro with a subsidised contract. Usually, cell phone prices begin to drop sharply after 6 months so by then every phone becomes affordable to a huge crowd. Also sd cards are going dirt cheap already 2gig will soon come for free with a case of beer Also, the vast majority do not care for sq so even right now the cell phone is a great proposition. IMO dedicated high cost daps will be marginalized and cater soley to a shrinking customer base such as afacionados, geeks and so forth.

although most people tend to dislike monitors in a home cinema setup I think nothing can match them on the desktop. the lowliest 150 Euro/USD retail pair will annihilate everything that logitech and creative can muster. You´ll have to sacrifice some desktop real estate, however. As far as creative goes: I used to like what I got for 70 Dollars with the xfi music in xp but now in vista creative is a farce. I have reverted back to onboard hda bitstream to my av receiver. I hooked up a pair of logitech z10 to the -anal- log out of the xfi and hiss/cracking/popping kills me.

Sony is losing ground quickly in the gaming market so we are likely to see major price cuts for the holiday season. On the other hand PS3 in conjuntion with FW 1.8 is starting to build one hell of a record as a premium hd player. Can´t have it all for cheap, I guess. At the same time MS is continuing to have serious problems with hardware quality. In fact, the extent of 360 hardware mischief is staggering. 360 is still selling mainly in the US, lackluster in Europe and nonexistant in Asia. At least in the struggle against the other hd machine Sony should be on top in a years time. That 360 thing is louder than my vacuum cleaner.

you don´t have to use the wihite ear buds and getting the black version was a mistake imo. you´ll notice minor fissures after only sliding the pod in and out of the case. Those fissures will quickly add up. Anyway, I have owned many iPods myself and don´t rule out future purchases. It was a good experience.

play the song in ss or on your walkman? in any case, make sure that album art is written into the tag. i assume that the album listing uses a ss internal cache to display art rather than the mp3 tag. check out www.mp3tag.de for a nice tagging solution.