BandBPeterson

I've noticed recently that Sony has begun to move away from their hardcore stance on utilizing first-party software in their Vaio PC's. The new lineup of Vaios out this year come with MS Media Center 2005 (subsequent updates for the OS are still iffy) which essentially eliminates the need for Sony's proprietary Vaio Media software. I've also noticed that these same Media Center Vaios come equipped with Sonicstage. Does this mean that the Atrac codec has been incorporated into the Media Center OS software or is SS a standalone utility? In other words, can you access your Atrac media content imported onto the Vaio hard drive via Sonicstage with the Media Center software? With the new Xbox 360 touting itself as a Media Center Extender in addition to a gaming system, would it be possible to play atrac3plus files on the 360? Sorry all you PS3 fanboys, the lack of a cohesive online gaming experience has driven me to Xbox once and for all.

I've encountered a curious problem after updating to firmware 2.5. I'm no longer able to transfer music downloaded from the Connect online store to my psp. This was not an issue before I updated. All imported files from my personal CD collection work fine. Just not the downloaded tracks. Anyone else experienced this problem? I get the following error: "Error Report: These tracks cannot be transferred. Unable to transfer the following tracks using the original file format."

Interesting. That sounds a lot like their current Vaio Media Software, although this might be in preparation for the PS3 connectivity. Ever since it was unveiled at E3 last year they were talking about something along those lines.

I'm also a bit worried about it. Hopefully it will still allow older atrac3 devices to work. I wonder if it will be integrated into Sony's Vaio Media Software. One of the biggest problems I've had with the current Sonicstage is not being able to play music downloaded from Connect through Media products because of the copy protection incompatibility.

I see. I must not have seen those new regulations. I'm still basing my assumption on the Classical Music Listening Ordinance of 1974.

Yeah, there are a few reasons. iPods are far more expensive than Sony's HDD players. With iPod, you are still paying a lot for a name. For instance, I just bought an HD3 for $150 brand new. It's got a 20 GB HD and 20 or so hours of battery life. The only difference it doesn't have a color screen and or apple's nifty control pad. As for quality of sound, the ability to play atrac3 is of utmost importance in a player that I own, because atrac3 doesn't have gaps between the tracks like mp3. I listen to mainly classical music which, unlike popular albums, often has continuous streams of music with track labels added superficially. In opera, particularly, the music never stops. Yet with mp3 rips, there are horrible gaps between each of the tracks even if its in the middle of an aria. It might sound like a ticky-tack thing, but I assure you, it can be quite jarring to listen to repeatedly. Personally I also think that for softer recordings (i.e. opera, concertos) atrac3 is the superior codec. I've done side by side comparisons, and it certainly seems to me that atrac3 offers fewer transients and sustains the original stereo separation than mp3 for them at lower bitrates. I must confess that louder recordings (i.e. popular music, hard rock) the difference between the two is negligable. I do think that the bass levels for mp3 across the board are a bit weak, but that's not really a problem if you can compensate for it with hardware.

Sorry for taking so long for a response. Just reformatted. It's quiet on all bitrates. USA PSP with the Sony Fontopia Ear Buds (MDREX71SL).

I agree Calza. We've gotten an HD-3 because it's a nice deal right now and still there is haven't been any firmware upgrades that address things like the new bitrates offered in SS 3.2 or the ability to import playlists like you said. Hopefully they will do something soon.

Is it just me or do others think that the volume on the PSP doesn't go high enough? I mean, I have it all the way up listening to classical music in atrac3plus format and it's still sometimes hard to hear unless you are in a completely silent place. Listening to it on the subway or while in the mall is difficult. Does anyone know if there is an unlock volume hack like the European NW-HD5's?

Ah Sony, vague as usual. At Sonystyle they only claim two Vaio models are compatible with the second-gen Roomlink yet the spec sheet and their live chat support say that all Vaios with Media 4.1 and PVR are compatible. Can anyone offer any additional insight?

Interesting. Am I correct in thinking that the second gen roomlink got rid of the Live TV feature? All the adds I read are carefully worded to say that it plays "streams recorded content" from Vaio's that have PVR capabilities. That was a major selling point for this one (and the fact that I got it cheap on Ebay). Anyone have a link to the instruction manual for the VGP-MR100U? I'd like to see if my Vaio model (PCV-RS630G) is fully supported.

Yes, that's what I thought. Oh well. Thank you for your response.

Hello everyone. I doubt that very many of you use the PCNA-MR10 Roomlink in your homes as it is an older piece of hardware (and a pain to network wirelessly). My question concerns its compatibility with Sonicstage 2.x/3.2 through Vaio Media software 4.1. Everything works flawlessly except for my music menu. All the Roomlink shows is "All Folders" meaning that it displays every single album in my VAIO without any way to sort them via genre, artist, etc. So when I want to stream ATRACs over my home stereo system I have to scroll through every blessed album EVERY time which is a real pain in the tuckuss. I suspect this issue stems from the Roomlink being designed for use with Sonicstage 1.x software when albums were called "playlists." My question is how do I organize folders in a way that's compatible with the older Sonicstage software? Is this done via the "Edit My Library Folders" in the Sonicstage 2.x/3.2 options menu? I've tried creating new folders and sorting my music that way, but so far they've not shown up in the Roomlink menu. I apologize about posting in this forum but Sony Support really doesn't help with the Roomlink much and you all seem to be the most knowledgeable about the ins and outs of Sonicstage software.

Hello all! I'm a long time Sony devotee and Atrac lover and I'm ashamed I never found this forum before. At any rate, I switched to Atrac because it doesn't have the ugly pauses that MP3's do. This is particularly bad when listening to classical music like operas whose track breaks are aritifically placed on streaming music. Plus, Atrac has ALWAYS sounded better than MP3 in my opinion. I have a question about bitrates. It may have been answered already in this forum somewhere but I haven't seen it yet. And the search engine seems quite picky about word length which limits searching significantly. I have an HD3 and SS 3.2. What is the default conversion rate between the "NEW" Atrac3+ bitrates (160, 256, etc.) and HDD players that cannot as of yet play them? The reason I ask is that every time I try and change the SS transfer settings for my Atrac Device in the options message I get the dreaded OMJbox.exe error which shuts down my program.