juli_

Markey, I just got off the phone to Lorraine at Sonystyle UK and she said they are not stocking the new series until SEPTEMBER!! Not only that, but she said it wasn't available on the Sony US site yet either. I told her we'd seen the photos etc and assumed that the release date was close, so she asked me to send her any links of Sony sites claiming to have it in stock - and she also said this info was supposed to be secret, (about the Sony, not the conversation!!) So seven months to wait?? I am a balloon that has just been pricked

I just looked at SonyStyle Europe (to pre-order) and it doesn't show up at all. I searched for it in the search function but it returned no results, and when I checked out 'what's new' - it wasn't listed there either. It's as if the 82x doesn't exist? Has anyone got a link to be able to pre-order it? Thanks

Well, as you all know, I was bemoaning the lack of gapless like a nagging old crone - when I suddenly had an epiphany!!. . . ok, not an epiphany exactly, but a bloody good idea all the same. I only have around 20 gapless albums, so if I copy them as one continuous track on a standalone CD recorder - and then rip the CD, it will be gapless. I'll have 'gapless' playback Of course, it won't be so easy for someone with a really large collecion of gapless albums, but for me, the amount is no problem. I can't believe I didn't think of this idea before. I am soooooooooooooooooooooo happy now! Where is it, when can I buy it, how much is it, what does it sound like. . .

And there's no price for them on the Sony site either.

Did the front page used to be for announcing new players, firmware upgrades etc? I ask because I don't know. But surely the release of the new model should have been on the front page shouldn't it??

Wow!! That was fast. Yesterday we found out (from engadget!) more about the new models - and today they're on the Sony site??

Sorry to sound like a broken record - but do we know, or will we know if these new models might just might play gapless???? I know there's no Atrac - but still wonder if gapless might be one of the features as it's quite a different model (visually anyway) to the 8xx series, so I thought maybe, just maybe - it might have slightly different specs as well. I have to say it looks exactly like the A919, which I thought nobody liked!! I don't need bluetooth or n/c either, but I really do need gapless - and from all the research I've done, the only other player with sq on par with the Sony, ( and gapless, crossfade. on-the-fly playlists etc) seems to be the Trekstor Vibez. But it has the tiniest screen and I've been spoiled by the bigger. clearer easy-to-read Sony screen. And of course battery life. The Vibez doesn't even have half of the Sony battery life.

Let us know more when you know more. This has become like a mystery thriller now!! If it's like the 919, then the shape wouldn't be like the 808 as the 919 is bigger and chunkier. It sounds silly, but it looked like the 808/818 from the specs on the back. And if the new screen is 1/2 inch bigger, how come the unit is not 1/2 inch bigger. The specs show only about 2mm maximum difference in length (I will go back and check in case I've got the measurements wrong). Will it have the same sound chip as the previous series? Or will it have the 919 sound chip. . . questions questions. . . and no Sony to answer us! Did I read correctly that this new model won't be released to the EU or to the US??????

I know, it's sad isn't it to read about it in that horrible Sony-bashing site. Why no announcements here? THIS is the site where we should find out everything first. It's crazy. Who wants to find out stuff from engadget? And how come they know everything first? Atraclife is dead but for the wonderful and knowledgeable members on here. It's them that keeps it alive. Thank God for everyone on here - at least we share the news that we find out from other strange alien sites!

Duplicated

Yeah, you're right. I think 16GB should be fine for the majority of people. I only have around 11GB of music on the Zune (that's not all my music, it's just what I wanted on the player) - so I'm 3GB over capacity for the 808. But 11GB = 1200 songs which is a HUGE amount for me. Another 5GB on top of that would be about another 500 songs, making 1600 in total. Any more than that would be way too much for me to keep in 'touch' with. And I like to be really selective about what gets on the player. That way I never have to 'skip'!! Re: the iPod Touch. I was at the hairdressers a couple of weeks ago and the guy sitting next to me was using one and I really wanted to say: "Can I touch your Touch?" but he didn't look very friendly so I didn't But it looked absolutely beautiful. The colours were so vivid and the screen was like something out of a fairy tale. Soooo pretty. Anyway, I consoled myself with the thought that it (apparently) doesn't have great sound quality - and it's not a Sony!

I know. It seems Atrac members have to find out all the news!! I think it will look a tiny bit bigger than the 800/818 series because it's got a bigger screen. I found more info here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/2/prweb707084.htm I don't care about Bluetooth, I'd rather have gapless - but still. . . a 16GB player is just what I need!!

I know there was a thread about the new Sony's coming out - and I wanted to put this in there, but could I find the thread? NO! And I did search for it, but I'm not very good at getting results. Anyway, if this can be moved to the other thread, it would be better!! This was posted at head-fi: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/sonys-n...ding-to-europe/ I'm assuming (sadly) that there will still be no gapless facility which is a real shame. But I like the idea of a bigger screen (even though it's only a small increase) - and even longer battery life

Hi there - did you try uninstalling the updates from the 'Windows Update' page? I'm running SS 4.3 with Vista and I have all the updates, but I haven't had any problems with SS. You could try uninstalling the latest updates, whichever once you installed before the problems with SS. I wouldn't advise going messing around with the registry (unless you back the registry up first) but you shouldn't have to resort to such drastic measures just to uninstall SS. Are you trying to remove it via 'add/remove programs' or from the SS program itself?

Yes - when hell freezes over!

In a world where pigs can fly through a hell that's frozen over and Sony tech support actually 'support'

By dropping Atrac, they've dropped gapless - and while there are loads of people who would rather sacrifice gapless for drag and drop - I'm not one of them. I don't why Sony always seem to add something useful - and then take something away useful. So I vote for Atrac, or at least some way of implementing gapless as standard in any future daps.

But I'm sure if you actually had Elton John in your library - the Zune would insist it was The Eagles. The criteria seems to be that if an artist is NOT in your library - the Zune will decide you should have an Elton John title in there somewhere, and rename it as such!! I didn't understand what was going on till I re-ripped the CD in the Zune s/w and saw that the artist came up as Elton John! It would have been laughable if I hadn't wanted to cry. Sure, if you can perservere with Satan's software, and don't rip anything in the Zune software, there's more chance it will behave better. But to be honest - 90 minutes to transfer one album? And the fact the Zune s/w allows you to fill in all the 'unknown tracks' it couldn't name when the CD was inserted - and then once it's ripped, they're all unknown again and Elton John is the artist once more? It's that kind of illogical rubbish that really annoys me. I know there are people here who are fantastic with all sorts of software - but I defy anyone to use the Zune s/w and not cry, scream - kill someone! Why on earth MS didn't make it compatible with WMP is beyond belief.

A few regrets as I just got a customs bill in today for nearly £50. So on top of the £170 it cost me to get someone to order it from Amazon.com and ship it via Fedex - it's cost me £220 - twice the real price. That part does not sit well with me!! Or the stupidly expensive headphones that I'm trying with it!! I would say that the Zune is a good option for an HD player alongside a Sony flash player. Like I said, the sound is very nice and clean - and similar to the Sony with no EQ on and no enhancements at all. With the 'silly' headphones - it begins to sound more like the Sony. But I'm still waiting for the new Sony to come out, because I like the fact the players are designed to get where you want to get FAST. No click click click to play a song - and there's no 'now playing' feature (which I like) - and the volume control is part of the touch pad so it's easy to accidentally whack the sound up without realising what you've done until it's too late. Anyway, it's nice to have 80GB even though I will be dead long before it ever gets filled up!! The 16GB Sony would be the perfect capacity. My only concern with flash players is their lifespan, so I don't know if it's 'safer' to have an HD player as back up? aob9 I really wasn't impressed with the Creative Vision: M and my b'f/s Zen Touch sounds horrible. I guess everything has to live up to the Sony sound and that's a hard thing to do. If you'd never listened to a Sony, you'd never know know what you were missing, but we know what it sounds like! At this stage I am going to keep the Zune till the new Sony comes out, and then wait for someone to review it!!

I'm glad you agree about the software. I can only imagine that the guys who were too inexperienced to work on SS were allowed to work on the Zune software instead!! There is a way to view the Zune as a hard drive but it involves a patch. Best to wait till the new Sony comes out.

So finally I have managed to come to a conclusion about the Zune 80 compared with the 808. First, sound: Even though I don't use all the enhancements on the Sony, I do use the normalizer and a notch of clear bass on all instrumental. I love the way Sony EQ etc is so efficient and actually does a good job. The Zune has no EQ. I think it's odd that Microsoft would assume we would all want to hear the music the way its engineers want us to hear it, instead of letting us choose for ourselves. To that end, I found the Zune lacking with my Denon C700. I needed more bass from the Zune and even the bassy Denons couldn't do it for me. The Zune has a much more neutral sound than the Sony - for those of you who are at all sensitive to hiss - the Zune has no hiss at all. Not even a whisper. It's perfectly silent. I was never bothered by the Sony hiss, but I know there were people who were irritated by it. Well, the Zune is 100% hissless! With the Sony set to no enhancements, no EQ and no normalizer, it still packed a fuller more dynamic punch than the Zune (a Sony trait?). But the Zune has a little more detail than the Sony. It's not enough of a difference to bother me - but as I was 'analysing' the sound differences, I thought I'd mention it. But the Sony has more than enough detail for my ears. The bass: Sony does bass best! It's present and correct on the Zune - but if you want the extra kick, you won't get it unless you pair it with the right headphones. The Zune headphones that come with it are pretty bassy (although I'm not using them because I don't care for the cloth cable that gets knotted up as soon as you look at it.) But I think most people would be happy with the supplied headphones because they do pack more of a punch. I guess that was deliberate so no one would notice the lack of bass. And when I say 'lack' - I mean from a Sony bass-loving point of view The Zune has an inoffensive sound quality, it's pretty and it's clean - but lacks excitement (for me with the Denons). Whereas the Sony always manages to sound exciting to me no matter what headphones I use with it. It's much more versatile in my opinion. Software: SonicStage wins this round hands down. I swear to God I have never come across such truly appalling software. I was so frustrated at one point I was ready to send the Zune back. My library is meticulously maintained (a lesson learned in my early days of SS) - but once I tried to sync the music with the Zune, it went crazy. Album art missing on 30 albums, albums missing entirely etc etc. And a painful 90 minutes transferring one album that Zune decided was Elton John. I don't even have any Elton John but the Zune insisted it was Elton John. I then decided to rip the CD in the Zune software. Big mistake, as 15 tracks came up 'unknown' and despite having the correct artist named - once it was ripped, it reverted back to Elton John. I fixed it in the end by perseverence - but it shouldn't be that hard and it really spoiled the entire process. It took 3 full days to figure it out and I almost had a breakdown. Honestly, why I ever complained about SS is beyond me. I can see Zune picking up 'worst software' award in the years to come, making everyone forget about the gripes they had with SS. The only way to 'control' it was to turn off all auto updating for album art - and manually drag music folders over to the software - and then sync it with the Zune. It's boring and time consuming but it was the only way I could keep track. And God forbid if you need to edit your tracks after you've ripped them. It is hell on earth to get the Zune to accept the changes. I had to delete the rogue albums from the software and re-transfer once I'd edited the tracks. Having said that, I can get it to 'work' my way now - but the journey was not pleasant, trust me!! Sound again: I'm currently trying out some outrageously overpriced Klipsch Image headphones with the Zune and the combination is wonderful. But it would have been nice if my perfectly capable Denons would have matched better. I can't see that I'll keep the Image. They're just too expensive but it's nice to know that the Zune responds positively to different headphones. The Image gives the Zune the Sony 'punch' that I felt was lacking. Ease of use: Sony wins that. It's easy to get back to the 'now playing' screen no matter where you are in the Sony - but it's 2 or 3 clicks to get back with the Zune. Also, you can keep scrolling once you get to the end of your album list in the Sony, so once it reaches the end - it will scroll to 'A' again. not so with the Zune - you have to scroll backwards??? Screen display: The Zune has a much bigger screen than the Sony, but the display is not as clear. So in 'brief'. . . if you're a Sony user who prefers no EQ, no normalizer and no enhancements at all - then you'll probably love the Zune with the supplied headphones as the combination almost mimics the Sony with flat EQ etc. I love the Zune with the Image but I can't see myself keeping them. It's been an enjoyable tryout anyway, and I hope this was of some use to someone! I'm still interested in the new Sony player as I can't fill up an 80GB player in my lifetime. It's complete overkill. Which player do I prefer? The Sony because I like the enhancements I use. I like to have the option of EQing a nasally singer, or adding a kick of bass if I want to. I like to tailor the sound to my own ears. But I know there are many who prefer not to use any enhancements. In that case, you will certainly like the Zune. Especially as it is 100% silent. The Zune + Klipsch Image is better than anything I've ever heard, and I don't yearn for EQ with that combination - but sadly, it's pretty much an unaffordable combination!

I think someone said it does play linear PCM which I think is the same as lossless in that it's not compressed. Maybe someone else can confirm?

I didn't have too much of a problem with it. It was quite quick and painless. But I didn't do this with the tracks that aren't on my hard drive, as there'd be no way of recovering them, so I leave them as they are. Also, I have never ever been able to transfer Atrac files back to the library - only mp3 and wma etc. With Atrac files I have to actually delete the music from the player (it stays in the library no it's not a problem.) At first, I thought I was deleting the music altogether, but thank goodness it was only from the player! If you only have a few albums to do, it shouldn't take long. I found it really fast to delete, edit, then transfer. Do you have many to do?

I have version 4.3 and the only thing I can change is the title - nothing else. If I need to edit the genre/year etc, I still have to transfer the music back to the library (or 'delete' from the player), re-edit it and transfer it back. Would be nice to be able to edit other information while it's on the player.