fugusushi

thanks for the feedback… i've got everything in wav and having worked out how to get wma320 that's what i'm going for… wma appears to be 'better' than mp3 - or at least according to the Wiki. entry info... i haven't tested mp3 against wma - i'm getting kinda bored with the hassle or trying to get this all sorted - but when i tested the wma320 against the same track on atrac352 on my 818, it was quite noticeably cleaner (same settings on each player)... i can't speak to videos, but playlists have proved pretty painless (aside from having to re-set them up). which music player are you using? i got excited when i just read a review on these guys: http://www.musicgiants.com/ they offer WMA Lossless downloads 'as standard' - cheaper than iTunes too - but, their site crashed my browser twice (when i had tracks in my cart!) plus music selection is not so great - but if they get it together, they'll be a v.good resource... still, it might work for some folks…

thanks for the feedback guys - i'll have to test out what you've both commented on... yeah, i've put everything across right now in mp3 320 - although i've got a ways to go - 4 playlists out of about 10 - i have to put in track details/cover art on the rest... i've not started using it yet - still using my 818 - which is no real hardship... BTW, you guys might be interested in this - if you haven't already seen it: http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/01/video-h...with-bluetooth/ here's the g-sat dongle mentioned - i haven't decided if i'm gonna get one yet - seems like a good way to stroll off and leave your Walkman behind...! http://www.easydevices.co.uk/pp/Bluetooth_...O_FOR_IPOD.html here's a review: http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/globalsat-bth820.php

i've got some super-fi 5s, but i found them a little troublesome - i kept needing to readjust them to keep them in my ears... i picked up some shure se 530’s and they're incredibly comfortable to wear... the triple-fi's are the metallic blue ones, no? how are they? have you looked at the pro 11's - 4 speakers!! i don't use the equalizer or VPT, but i do have DSEE, Clear Stereo and Dyn. Norm. 'on' --- from what you've said maybe i need to check playback without them too - hadn’t occurred to me to try... have you put 'everything' across in WAV?

barney - juli would you mind me asking what vaious sound settings you've got your 829's on?

OK, so for one reason or another i've been reading up a fair bit recently about codecs. It seems there are pluses and minuses to each of them and as such individuals will have their own preferences for one reason or another... the question/s is this; since many of these codecs are open source and free to use, why hasn't Sony (and indeed other makers) offered more options on it's players? and why don't the various music players out there include more of these encoding options?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapless this maybe useful...?

that's a neat idea - using iTunes like that... someone on here recommended MediaMonkey and after also checking out Winamp, I went with MM, taking my WAV and putting them accross in MP3 320 - although my preference was for WMA, i couldn't get it to work at 320... don't much bother with vids on these things...

if possible, it's worth spending the time to re-rip the CD's via SS. Bring them in as WAV (as I do) if you've got the space - or ATRAC lossless if not. then via SS you can transfer them to the player as ATRAC/lossless with the desired bit rate (up to 352)... frankly, believe it or not, i'm missing SS right now (hardly believe i'm saying that myself!) since the newer players don't support ATRAC... and yes, SS seems to always put some kind of compression on the files - the 'exception' is using the ATRAC lossless... although re-coding from mp3 to ATRAC doesn't necessarily mean compression - someone else might correct me...

yeah, 'silicon', that's the word...nice case (Sony) but sure, no real protection... but i just ordered a plastic one - thanks for the tip...

you can certainly take WMA past 192. Plus there are variants to WMA too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Audio

when you say 'you got it' you mean it's arrived - or you've bought it? in other words, this seller is OK? (seems so from the ratings) - i don't like shopping on ebay - avoid it as much as possible - but i might have to go for one of these.... (right now i've got a 'rubber' cover - it's not bad - but these plastic ones are good) thanks

yeah, i'm kinda puzzled... WMA it seems is quite a broad ranging potentially high quality encoder - and yet M$ have not included these options within their media player and i'm not aware of any plugins - at least i checked and couldn't find any... i means, would it really be a big deal for M$ to have given a broader range of transfer options? At least to include their own proprietary encoder! ceres ''You only have to deactivate automatic re-encoding for your Walkman device. (hidden somewhere in the clunky menus).'' dude, if you can point me towards this, that would be great! but i've searched my menus and there ain't such an option. Right now this 829 - or at least Sony's set up of it - is proving a real pain in my ***! So, whilst i know the player can handle at least 320kbps on ACC - 'cause i've transferred tracks at that rate already - if i set transfer to WMA (accepted by the player) @ 320 Constant - it won't accept it. If I choose 320 Variable, wait for it... I get 4689kbps (according to > 'Detailed Information' for each track)! WTF is going on here!!??

Hey! where'd you get your case! I got one of those clear cases for my 818 and it was/is great. I wanted to get one when i got my 829 and AdvancedMP3/Sony/Amazon didn't have 'em - i 'assumed' it was 'cause it was such a new player --- but... let me know your resource! (thanks)

hmm, i didn't know that! so how did SonicStage, iTunes etc. manage to add cover art? I mean i don't care if the 'tag' 'holds' the cover art, or what ever, just so long as it gets on to my player... Winamp has some unfathomable way of treating cover art, MediaMonkey seems to do it the same as SS, but the transfer options are poor... i asked this in another thread too, but how come the Japanese versions of these models are still supporting ATRAC - in fact more options under ATRAC - ? and why would it have been such a big deal for Sony to offer that option to EU too?!

yes, that's true, once it's done, it's done and that's why i'm persisting... but, i tried a couple of tag editors that did support WAV and when i ameneded them they were no longer readable by WMP or Winamp! - WMP said someth. about not accepting compressed tag info - or someth. anyway, it's kinda shyed me away from the whole retagging idea. i'm still mulling over what else to do...! ''damn you Sony! damn you all to hell!'' did anyone come up with a reasonable explanation as to how come the Japanese versions of these models still support ATRAC??

juli - i really appreciate the assistance, but it won't read WAV files!! I checked - ran it on my whole disc and it did find a host of files in other formats - but not no matter what, no WAV! it probably wasn't the smartest thing for me to bring in all my files as WAV - but i'd picked up a 300gb drive and 'it seemed like a good idea at the time'...! i did find a tag editor that can retag WAV files. it's not as good as Mp3tag and not sure it's really solving my issues anyway - or at least it doesn't seem to play happy with Winamp... i'm glad to hear you're enjoying your 829, 'cause i gotta say right now, i'm regretting getting it!! i did even look at the Japanese vs. that does support ATRAC - but the menus are only in Japanese so i didn't go for it...hmmm....

i think i agree completely - that's a good assessment of the situ. fact is Sony can't do software - the only exception is the Playstation division which to my understanding is a completely autonomous div. - it's widely believed that without this div. Sony would have died or been bought long ago - at one point they were supplying almost all Sony's profits!! on the above cover art point, i don't quite follow what you're getting at. i'm keen to try and use mp3tag to sort out my cover art, but it doesn't recognise WAV files (can't find a tag editor that does), which is what my tracks are stored in. what's you're point about using WMP too? (WMP right now gives me 'no' track editing options!! (I hate to accept it, but Old Skool P's suggestion of re-ripping everything is not looking so crazy - only catch is i've got many converted tracks from iTunes which wouldn't be covered by such drastic action!!) thanks

actually, it doesn't seem to support WAV files - which is what all my tracks on are in my hard disk! not sure i'm gonna be able to make use of it after all...!

juli - thanks for the heads-up, i appreciate that. i've downloaded and installed Mp3tag. i've used Winamp to load tracks as it seemed to the offering the best conversion options - but i've got no cover art so this is sure to help me out. would you mind giving me a quick steer as to how you went about using it to get your art on there... what's the MO? many thanks

this sounds like just what i need! will it work on my 829? many thanks

this suggested new programme sounds spot on! but for the time being, i've just started using Winamp too. But I can't fathom how to add cover art - so if you can do it, i'd certainly appreciate a quick guide as to 'how to' many thanks

yeah, the 818 is great - i've been testing different encoders on this 829 using Winamp and then benchmarking against the 818 - so far the 818 is noticably on top! Winamp is letting me get up to 320kbps with certain encoders - i can't figure out what the difference between them is though... on the player they're all saying 'AAC' even though via winamp i'm putting them accross in different formats - perhaps the player is only accepting AAC up to 320?... one reason i sure don't like WMP is once i've imported all my stored files (WAV) it won't let me access file info to update track info...fine if you rip the cd via it, but not it seems for pre-existing files. plus it was only giving me 192 or someth. on file transfers... anyway, if you've got an 818, i'd recommend sticking with it - i think i've been taken for a sap buying this 829!!!

Sony wasting money?! yes - what you say is 100% correct - or at least i agree with you. But given that Sony had their lunch eaten by Apple - gave the world SS in the first place (don't mention Connect!) - then didn't bother to develop it properly - then dumped their proprietory music codec - how much money did they loose??!! they 'invented' the Walkman - lest we forget... Whilst Sony's move has some eventuality about it, believe me, i'm sure when you yourself pick up one of these 'new' Walkmans you're gonna be cursing Sony too. WMP is a piece of trash and the least Sony could have done is supply M$ some Sony Walkman specific plugins, or something. WMP is offering 192kbps - on the highest 'quality' setting vs. 352kbps i've got on my 818 (Media Manager for Walkman - Sony's new piece of god awful trash is offering 256, but it's unusable!!) - this is not a step forward for Sony, this is v.deffinately a step back and i would not have bought it had i known this beforehand... seriously, anyone considering one of these has to really think hard - aside from bluetooth, extra space, bigger screen - well, that's all the pros - the cons are far more!!! unless you consider iPod level music quality a pro!!!! I'm sure this forum is gonna fill up with folks and their 829 'gripes' once they start pickin' 'em up...

you make a good point (although someone else mentioned '800 CDs') - and i'm not interested in much of that stuff either. but the main issue is since this new walkman with no ATRAC support, it seems you can choose between AAC at about 250 or mp3 at something less than that or PCM at 1400 - and no space on your player - i was used to ATRAC at 352 and why am i buying Sony players and Shure earphones if i'm effectively back to 250 or something... I don't like compromise and Sony seems to be 'forcing' me in to it! Sony have really screwed the pooch on this one!

yeah, i can see that it's 'straight forward' to just transfer them in MP3 or AAC (after ****in' around reentering track details and no cover art) - however, in ATRAC (SS) i was able to put them accross with 352kbps - my options now don't seem to go past 256 - not the end of the world, but could do better, surely... i can put them on as PCM @ 1411 - great, but 110 tracks are coming in @ 8GBs. Hense my original question; given the situation, what is the best lossless codec i can use to achieve best sound quality - and how do i do this??? any further suggestions much appreciated...