kino170878

http://www.engadget.com/tag/NAS-S55HDE/ http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hdd-audio/na...=TechnicalSpecs I have recently seen these Gigajuke units in the Sony stores. In the pdf online manual from the second link, it states that you can record audio into Linear PCM and MP3 formats and it doesn't specifically mention Atrac for recording purposes (even though it quotes recording capacity in Atrac 48kps). While you can import most formats onto the system, recording and transferring formats seems to be only to Linear PCM and MP3. But in the first link in the brochure it clearly states that it can record in Atrac! Does anybody know if this thing can record in Atrac, since Sony themselves don't even know? Thank you.

Just import one. Don't let Sony ruin your listening experience.

Try ebay

I think for a long time to come. Sony will naturally trust their Japanese customers more that they will not abuse the technology and software.

I would like to know the answer to this too. I suspect though that if such a tool is not within Sonicstage already, the program won't allow the export of track titles and information into other applications like Excel. Sonicstage wasn't designed to make life easier remember, it's prime purpose was to 'manage' your music.

...or to buy a non-french model

First rule of digital data: ALWAYS keep at least 1 backup of everything you have. Other people might be able to solve your Sonicstage problem, but really you should take more precautions in the future.

You can really hear the difference between 320kbps and WAV? Most people at that rate would find the music to be transparent. So how do you rate Atrac 352 then?

I'm making a mental note to buy everything now from the US or Japan. I won't be buying any more Sony portable products from the UK. I'm not going to risk buying sub-standard equipment, sorry.

If you had searched a little harder, you would have realised that in post 12 of this thread I did thank her. Anyways, as gapless fans I agree that we should all celebrate this feature on the new Sony players, and hopefully this will motivate even better implementation of gapless playback in the future.

Current Sony players will play gaplessly only with WAV. You have stated that this is not what you are after, but that you would still like to have gapless at compressed rates. Sony does not do gapless with compressed rates. Therefore decide whether or not your want to stick with Sony at WAV - the only way currently to hear gapless tracks. If the answer is yes, go for Sony. If the answer is no, go for the iPod. Edit - there are Japanese only Atrac players that can do gapless at atrac3plus format should you wish to go down that route.

Pata has a long standing distrust of Sony, that's all Anyways Juli thanks for the tip off. I will seriously consider purchasing one now.

That's interesting. I might consider getting it after hearing this confirmation. Edit - I can only seem to find the 8gb model on the Sony UK site.

None of Sony's current NWZ series players offer gapless playback. I believe only Atrac and WAV formats offerred gapless playback with the older NWA series and other variants such as the S70* series with noise cancelling. Basically you are better off getting an Ipod, as much as I hate to say it. I am also a minidisc user and find the omission of gapless playback unforgivable.

Just store all your 800 or so CDs at WAV capacity, leave it like that, and from time to time copy things over and be more selective in your listening. I wouldn't bother obsessing over which lossless format is superior to whatever else is out there, it's far easier to keep WAV as the standard because it is universal. Then whatever compression format seems to be the flavour of the month you now have the freedom to try it out and experiment. I don't care for tags and ratings and all that needless detail. I prefer to actually sit down, listen to my tracks and just enjoy them.

^ That Zune looks really interesting, but with no EQ I just can't see myself buying it as I place sound quality at the top of my list.

Vista = Sonicstage 4.3 Reinstall with that, but maybe you will need to clean your registry of previous traces of the program. Maybe just format your computer again since its new and start over this time with 4.3.

Sucks to be in France. You will need to import from Japan, UK, USA. On a side note, people ought to have the facts first before they make claims on a public forum. It can be confusing and disheartening for some of us who buy a product based on the posts here, only to find it doesn't perform as expected.

^ Let's hope the guy doesn't get too paranoid about those things. I do wonder though what his motivation was for doing it.

Yup without the lead it is useless. I think you can buy them for £20 if you look around.

No Atrac means no gapless?

I'm guessing, but I don't think these will work on my non-japanese windows computer...?

Market psychology. Keeps up interest for the company's future line of products I suppose.

Sonicstage is a nasty piece of work. You must remove all traces of it first of all, and since you are not that tech savvy (otherwise you could locate the directories and delete every single trace of the program) I think you will need to reformat your PC and start again from scratch. Then re-install Sonicstage version 4.2, not 4.3 which is specially made for Vista compatability. Then it should be ok.

If I remember correctly, before updating to a new Sonicstage version you should have used the backup tool. Sonicstage is the king of DRM protection, now its evil tentacles are all over your precious files. You're screwed basically. The only way out is to phone Sony support and tell them that if they don't play ball and unlock your files you are going to sue the hell out of them.