Jerex

Hi Keith, To try and answer your query, the current generation of Sony players (NWZ series) does not feature gapless playback with any compressed music encoded as individual tracks, that means MP3, AAC, WMA etc. There will always be a 1-2 second gap between each track, and possibly some compression artifacts (i.e. pops and clicks). I'm not sure if different codecs/encoders are able to reduce or eliminate the artifacts, so it would just be a short gap. Thanks to Juli for bringing to our attention the fact that the 829 does play WAV files gaplessly, which I was unaware of previously. I'm guessing all the NWZ players can do the same? So basically, the only way for you to get gapless playback on a NWZ player, including yours, would be either to encode the music as WAV files, which as you have pointed out would take too much space in most cases. The other option which you have also discovered would be to encode the album as one continuous file, so it is played back without any pauses/gaps, the obvious disadvantage being no track marks in the single big file. I guess your best option for now would be to use the second method, of encoding gapless albums as one continuous file, and 'non-gapless' music normally, as individual tracks. I would recommend using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) rather than WMP11 for all your music, as most people agree it is the best, most accurate ripping program and may help to eliminate or at least reduce artifacts. Have you tried using the LAME MP3 encoder? It's included in EAC and is one of the best lossy codecs (at bitrates above 160kpbs). Give these two a go and let us know your findings. I know how frustrating it is listening to an album which is supposed to have no gaps with unwanted pauses and pops/clicks. One of the reasons I am currently sticking with my ATRAC gear. ATRAC achieves gapless by creating a Table Of Contents (TOC) log, with time codes for all the tracks, so during playback it is able to string them all together as they were in the source material. I believe the iPod and Zune use a different method where after ripping/encoding, the software (iTunes etc.) analyses the tracks and tags each file with metadata for the removal of gaps when the file is played. Anyway, hope some of the stuff above is helpful!

Welcome marcusc! Like you and Stuge, I also felt disappointed that Sony has dropped ATRAC... But I think it's the right decision for them in business/marketing terms. ATRAC and SonicStage were holding back the Walkman brand from effectively competing with everyone else. But now with their players open and unrestricted, it really seems like more people are willing to try them and realising what great devices they are and what benefits they possess compared to most rivals, primarily in terms of sound quality and battery life. However, I do wish they kept ATRAC as a supported codec, but I guess they wanted a clean break. But I am glad that the Japanese models still support ATRAC and probably will for the foreseeable future. As for ATRAC sounding better than MP3, I tend to agree, but have to admit I haven't recently done a proper ABX test to find out for sure. But, my impression is that ATRAC3Plus 256k (Hi-SP), the codec I use primarily, is generally better than MP3 at the same bitrate. The sound is more musical, full bodied with greater depth, whereas I generally find MP3 to be a bit flat and harsh sounding at times. These are all just opinions though. I also require gapless playback, although this can be had using MP3 with some other players now. Currently, most of my music library is in ATRAC, and my music devices (RH1 and VAIO Pocket) both fully support ATRAC. So I will continue to use ATRAC for the foreseeable future as it works for me and I'm very happy with it. I guess the main thing is just use what you're happy with. I don't think ATRAC will die out completely for quite a while, not as long as the Japanese network walkmans still support it. Happy listening! =)

Hi guys, Many thanks to you both for your friendly and informative replies! I'm loving my VAIO Pocket, but haven't got round to buying the PDAir leather case yet, so it's current relegated to home/desktop listening duty haha. Still using my RH1 for when I go out, but I look forward to rotating between the two units once I get the case. So far I've mostly been using my Grado SR-80s to listen to the VAIO and it's quite a nice combination I think. The sound quality is great, very detailed, clear, but most of all, very musical and enjoyable. I haven't done a proper comparison between the VAIO and RH1, but I get the feeling the VAIO has a slightly warmer, fuller sound, while the RH1 is a bit more analytical. Both are excellent, just not sure if one is better. I've been wondering how the sound quality between ATRAC3Plus and MP3 compare on the VAIO Pocket. Again I haven't had a chance to test this, although MP3s sound very decent on it, I'm primarily an ATRAC (Hi-SP) man. I have to say the newest network walkmans look great, and seem to have awesome features and sound quality. But for me it seems the VAIO Pocket is still arguably the best high capacity player Sony has made (I love the colour screen, album art features, versatility, unique controls and style and the solid build quality!). I would love for Sony to make a new high capacity player in the near future though. Preferably with extra features such as Wi-Fi and web browsing hehe. But I'm very happy and not looking to change players for the time being.

Hi there! Great to hear that the site is still alive and well and you guys are looking into moving it forward. I think I speak for everyone when I say this is a wonderful resource and community for all of us. Keep up the great work! I was wondering if you guys need some help keeping the blog updated with the latest news in the world of ATRAC, Walkman and Sony in general. Because I am sure some of us users (me included!) would be happy to help in that area! I remember when I first started using ATRACLife, it was one of the best sites for Sony specific news and I would love to help and contribute to see a return to that.

Hi Heman, Thanks for the reply! Good to know it's normal, although I would have liked to use 352kbps on a few albums... But 256kbps is great most of the time. Any other views on this and the VAIO Pocket in general? Would love to hear more opinions on users' experiences with the VAIO Pocket and tips on getting the best out of it etc. What codec/bitrates and headphones/earphones do you guys use? I'm thinking of buying the PDair leather flip case for my VGF-AP1L, anyone have any experience with this case? Is it any good? Is it a good idea to also get a screen protector? And finally, keeping in mind that the battery of the VAIO Pocket is constantly discharging even when off, is it a good idea to keep it plugged into the cradle when not it use? Or should I cycle the battery; i.e. wait until it's quite low before charging it and then taking it off charge when it's done. Many thanks for your help guys!

Hi Guys, Haven't posted here in ages! A belated Happy New Year to all! Hope you all had a great holiday season. I recently was delighted to find a 'new in box' VAIO Pocket VGF-AP1L on ebay and managed to get it at a great price, just over US$160. I've admired the VAIO for a long time and it is great I've finally managed to get one. I recently managed to start playing around with it, installed the firmware upgrade etc. and transferred some music over using SonicStage CP 4.2 and so far it has been excellent. But I have noticed something when playing back ATRAC3Plus files at the 352k bitrate. Basically the files play fine and sound great, but if I access and use the menu/GUI - scroll through the listings (tracks, albums, options etc.) it affects the sound of the playback with short intermittent pauses, kind of like a disc skipping. As soon as I stop accessing the menu, playback returns to normal and there are no problems. I initially was worried there might be something wrong with my unit... but it seems like this only happens with 352kbps files, there are no problems at all with ATRAC3Plus 256kbps files, playback is clean and unaffected by menu access and usage (I haven't tried other ATRAC bitrates or MP3s yet). Keeping in mind that when it was introduced, ATRAC3Plus 256kbps was the highest quality available, and they only enable 352kbps quite a while later, is this a minor design limitation on the VAIO Pocket for a bitrate that they thought they would never release to the public? Or...is there something wrong with my unit. Hope it's the former... I'm happy with 256kbps generally. 352kbps sounds amazing, and is still perfectly usable on the VAIO, just a minor annoyance when I need to access the menu! Look forward to hearing from you guys. Many thanks in advance.

Hi guys, I'm new here and just thought I'd ad a quick comment on the PS3 debate. I think a lot of the negative press of the PS3 is slightly undeserved. I recently bought a 60GB PS3. I live in Hong Kong and for some reason it is cheaper here than most places. The 60GB model is HK$3780 which works out to be about US$484. This is for just the machine without any games. I agree with all of you that for a console it seems really expensive, however, it also depends on how you look at it. Blu-Ray disc players have now hit the market from the major manufacturers (Sony, Pioneer, Samsung etc.) and the cheapest one at the moment is still nearly double the price of the PS3! In Hong Kong the cheapest Blu-Ray player is the Samsung, costing just under HK$8000 (US$1024). Taking into account that the PS3 can play Blu-Ray movies, it is currently the cheapest player on the market by far, half the price of pretty much all the dedicated players. And all the reviews of the Blu-Ray movie playback say it is as good as the best players out there (as good as the Pioneer and Sony players and better than the Samsung player). Then of course you have a state of the art next-gen games console with pretty much everything you could think of! After using it for the past few weeks, I am honestly amazed with how much technology Sony has managed to integrate into it. The very impressive CELL CPU and RSX GPU, Blu-Ray, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 60GB HDD, USB and memory card slots and more. It really is quite an amazing feat. You're getting a amazingly powerful games console, multimedia machine and Blu-Ray player for the price of a budget PC. Looking at it this way, you could even go as far as calling it a good deal! I bought it primarily as a games console, the Blu-Ray/media playback is secondary to me. On both counts so far I have been impressed. I only have two games at the moment, Ridge Racer 7 and Resistance, but both are excellent games in my opinion. I have been quite a long time fan of the Ridge Racer series, and RR7 is probably the best one. Resistance is truly a masterpiece, one of the best first person shooters of recent memory. The game library is very limited at the moment, but there is lots to look forward to and I am certain as developers learn the hardware more, the games will be even more impressive. I think this generation will be much tougher for Sony and they haven't done themselves any favours with all the delays/problems etc. However I think that at the end of the day they have delivered a very impressive piece of hardware with a lot of potential and lots of great games in the pipeline.