Zizone_

I am sorry but are you trying to convert ATRAC3plus to ATRAC Advanced Lossess or from CD to ATRAC Advanced Lossless? Beause there is no point in trying to convert ATRAC3plus to ATRAC Advanced Lossess since only there will be no sound quality improvement and bigger size; this is because ATRAC3plus is lossy format while ATRAC Advanced Lossless is not lossy. If you are trying to convert files from CD to ATRAC Advanced Lossless then yeah you will have CD sound quality with smaller file size. But, it is important to note that ATRAC Advanced Lossless play back is only supported by NW-S700 and NW-A800 series only (oh and computer). Is this where you get error message?

Did you delete a song under a folder from a playlist or did you delete the folder? Because you may have an empty folder without songs that may be displaying on your Walkman from a playlist menu.

Wasn't there an interview in France last year or early this year regarding a new software? The answer you got shows that there will be some software but doesn't specify it will be the SonicStage.

Oh, Ok. I was just wondering.

By the way, why do you wish to convert MP3? Since few years back, Walkmans play MP3 natively.

Hmm... no legal way huh? orz Anyways, thanks for your replies.

Hi guys. I currently own many DVDs from different countries: Japan, Korea and United States. So I have three different DVD players for my TV since these countries fall under different regions: 2, 3 and 1, respectively. Fortunately, these three countries fall under same region for Blu-ray (region A). So there is no need for more than one Blu-ray player. I was wondering, is there any "legal" way to play different regions on my computer (my computer's region is locked as region 2, Japan and Europe, I think). Thanks.

Hey, good to hear the Firmware fixed your problem; now you can enjoy your music

I advise to carefully read Backing up my library under SonicStage help. I believe they have all the information you need includng FAQ.

Thing about Sony in U.S. is that... they never promote their products... yet they manage to sell a lot of their key products (e.g. TVs, digital cameras). But promoting their products surely can't hurt their sale.

Just like Juli commented, I believe latest firmware (1.02) upgrade for NW-A800 series will fix this sound issue.

It is very disturbing that Sony USA haven't introduced NW-A800 series yet, which had clear advantage over Nano in many ways: video playback, design, the sound quality and great supplied headphones. I bet Sony USA knows more about Ipods than their Walkman line-ups.

Ahh, yes. In order to access Playlist on NW-S700 series, it is required to enter playlist mode where few icons are absent from the menu compared to normal play mode. It seems like some people get confused... especially if users do not know much about the difference between playlist mode and normal play mode, and not knowing how to enter normal mode. I hope next generation S series will make this more user friendly.

NW-A600 series looks exactly like NW-E400/500 series. The differences are that NW-A600 comes with larger capacity (2GB) and supports intelligent shuffle. It was release at the same time as NW-A1000/3000 series.

The various bit-rates are there so that should you want to transfer lossy part, it will do so without converting lossless into lossy which saves a lot of time; where other lossless formats converts lossless into lossy. ATRAC Advanced Lossless is supported by NW-S700 and NW-A800 series. Here you may choose your ATRAC Advanced Lossless to be transferred as Lossless or Lossy. If you choose to transfer "as is" then the ATRAC Advanced Lossless will be transferred as Lossless and you can check this play-back by viewing property while playing songs in your Walkman (e.g. NW-S700 series will show you as ATRAC-Lossless under property). However if you choose to transfer lossy one, then set transfer mode to your pre-specified bit-rate (one you chose when you transferred from CD to ATRAC Advanced Lossless, e.g. 352kpbs) then it will transfer lossy portion without converting, thus much faster compared to other lossless formats. ATRAC Advanced Lossless contains additional music data that would have been lost otherwise from ATRAC3plus. In other words, you can think ATRAC Advanced Lossless contains both ATRAC3plus and additional data so that it will not lose any data, if at all, from CD. This is reason why you can set various bit-rates when you import from CD, and the option to transfer Lossless or lossy without coverting from Lossless to lossy is the main advantage of ATRAC Advanced Lossless compared to other competing lossless formats. Note: As of 2007/8/1 (yyyy/m/d), ATRAC Lossless play-back is supported by NW-S700/600 and NW-A800 series only. Thus, all other Walkmans cannot play ATRAC Lossless even you set transfer mode "as is" and only the lossy part will be transferred. Summary: e.g. WALKMAN that supports ATRAC Advanced Lossless playback: (SS4.3) ATRAC Advanced Lossless (352kbps)--> transfer mode: "As is"--> (NW-S700/NW-A800 series) ATRAC-Lossless. (SS4.3) ATRAC Advanced Lossless (352kbps)-->transfer mode: ATRAC3plus 352kbps--> (NW-S700/NW-A800 series) ATRAC3plus 352kbps. NO converting time. (SS4.3) ATRAC Advanced Lossless (352kbps)-->transfer mode: ATRAC3plus 256kbps--> (NW-S700/NW-A800 series) ATRAC3plus 256 kbps. WITH convering time. WALKMAN that does not support ATRAC Advanced Lossless playback: (SS4.3) ATRAC Advanced Lossless (352kbps)--> transfer mode: "As is"--> (Walkman with no AAL support) ATRAC3plus 352kbps. NO convering time. (SS4.3) ATRAC Advanced Lossless (352kbps)--> transfer mode: "ATRAC3plus 352kbps"--> (Walkman with no AAL support) ATRAC3plus 352kbps. NO convering time. (SS4.3) ATRAC Advanced Lossless (352kbps)--> transfer mode: "ATRAC3plus 256kbps"--> (Walkman with no AAL support) ATRAC3plus 256kbps. WITH convering time.

Hmm... Having created Playlist, I find it easy to find songs by using Jog-Shuttle. I believe NW-A800 series interface is similar to NW-A1000/3000 series. Both players are different in finding songs, but I find NW-A700 series is more convenient and faster, at least for me. It is probably I became used to search with Jog-Shuttle from MD players remote (though remotes didn't have one but is similar searching method) and NW-E400 and S series; in fact, I personally like Sony's stick shaped Walkmans and prefer over bigger screen players since I use Walkmans for music only.

I wrote this earlier in few posts before: In order to create playlist, which functions much like a "folder," (or "group") click a playlist box located in upper right corner from your SonicStage 4.3 (right next to the bar indicating amount of memory left in your computer). Once you click, you will have two sections, much like having list of songs in your computer on the left hand side and songs in your Walkman on the right hand side; only difference now is that right hand side is a playlist while the left hand side remains the same, songs in your computer. Now, you may move songs from your left hand song list into the right hand side, the playlist. Here, you many create folder and move songs with unrelated artists into that folder in any way as you please, including any song order. After you are done creating your playlist (or folder), close the right hand side list (the playlist) by clicking the box, which you clicked to open the right hand list (one that is next to the bar indicating amount of memory left in your computer). Now, you probably want to transfer this particular playlist (folder) to your Walkman. To do this, click a box found in your far left hand side saying displaying mode, e.g. Album/songs, into Playlist. After this step, you will see the playlists (folders) you created previously. Then simply transfer this playlist into your Walkman like you would normally do. Now, you have songs in a way you wish. try this link. playlist By the way, does the NW-A600 series support Playlist? I don't own one so... just want to make sure. Thanks.

Oh yeah right. But that's when you make Audio CD though... I don't think you can do that to Walkman directly...

I don't think SonicStage allows to change format of ATRAC into other formats. If you want to transfer MP3, then you must import CD or from other source as MP3 into SonicStage and transfer that file "as is" to Walkman. Then the Walkman will be playing MP3 natively without transcoding. ATRAC Lossless can be transferred in two ways: let's say when you imported a song from CD with setting of 352kbps ATRAC Advanced Lossless. The bit-rate of ATRAC Lossless is set for future convenience. If you transfer this file (352kbps ATRAC Advanced Lossless) "as is", then you will be playing ATRAC Lossless in your NW-S700 or NW-A800 series. But if you set transfer file NOT "as is" instead you set your transfer setting as ATRAC 352kbps, then you will be playing ATRAC3plus 352kbps. So the reason for setting bit-rate when you import from CD to ATRAC Advanced Lossless is when you want to transfer a song with ATRAC3plus but not ATRAC Advanced Lossless, it will be done without any delay, unlike other lossless formats where they need to convert lossless back to lower bit-rate files. *note that play back of ATRAC Lossless is supported by NW-S700/600 and NW-A800 series only, as of 2007-7-30 (yyyy/m/dd).

This applies not only to potential HDD based Walkman in future but also to future flash players. Umm... standard blue-tooth on Walkmans(?) It will be really nice to have blue-tooth ear-plug phones with Noise Cancel feature.

Don't mention it. I also have all my music in CDs. When you import CDs to your computer in ATRAC Lossless may take some time though... Remember, if you want to playback ATRAC Lossless on your Walkman, set transferring mode "as is".

As far as I know, NW-S700 series support: MP3, AAC, WMA, Linear PCM, ATRAC, and ATRAC Lossless NW-A800 series support: all of above but Linear PCM. Both players support WMA but I don't think they support WMA Lossless, but only ATRAC Lossless. If you own those music in CD, import songs to your computer in ATRAC Lossless and transfer them "as is" to your NW-S700 or NW-A800 series, since these two players support ATRAC Lossless only and not other lossless formats (but they support all other formats that don't belong in lossless family, natively). Once the songs are in the player, you can see that you are playing ATRAC Lossless by viewing property via Walkman. It is unfortunate that they only support ATRAC Lossless and no other lossless, e.g. flac, Apple lossless and WMA lossless, but from my experience, ATRAC Lossless works quite well, in terms of sound.

I can't agree with you more on how great design it is, NW-S700 series is one of the best looking DAP. I have some wishes for the future S series though: brighter and higher resolution OLED (Sony's recent OLED TV just blew me away with their brightness and contrast), much better SNR and ofcourse keep up with great design.

I agree on points from everyone. So like I said before, providing all the options, whether to use software (something new and good) or simple drag-and-drop, will suffice everyone's need (hopefully).

I am sure NW-S700 series will be replaced with new S. Hopefully, they will improve on SNR then the player will be perfect for me.