JustAnUnCoolCat

There is indeed a price premium issue. I am fully aware there are differing costs between flash memory and hdd storage, which affect prices, but that was NOT the premium i meant. The premiums come in a number of levels, all applicable here. 1. You pay as much for under 10Gb of flash memory as you can get 20Gb+ for, that is a premium price factor. Sure it's related to differing costs, but it's not a premium that's irrelevent. That's why back when i worked in the industry, i was never unaware of the price premium the different storage methods added to some devices. 2. Both Sony and Apple have a price premium on their products, not all Sony items are loaded disproportionally upwards to the extent that Apple do with their range, in fact - there have been some absolute bargains in the Sony range, where Apple stuff always seems to carry the premium on the high side. The N*no, Sh*ffle and iP*d all demonstrate that one nicely. antd have done consistently since day one they appeared. The NW-A series, at least they sit vaguely on a similar parallel of 'premium price for premium goods' to the saner premium priced goods. 3. Larger screen, sure.. the A800 series may have a 'large' screen vs most of the competition - but hell, the premium you pay for the screen and video on the move (in almost all video enabled players) is silly - it's like paying for downsized capacity when it comes to storage vs what is the norm for storage in the price range of the premium stuff. Then you pay silly money for a relatively tiny screen (and it is small really) that makes me think back to early casio pocket tv's in size terms (and premium prices they had too). Trust me on this, if a product is seriously worth every penny of what you pay out for it, i'm there giving such things the recognition they deserve, but i'm seriously not about to give any of those tiny screen pocket decks any recognition of value yet a while, because simply stink in value terms. If i was gonna lay out money on a pocket video enabled deck, i'd buy a PSP and add the optional HDD and extra battery capacity and mem sticks be damned. The PSP aint that wonderful value for money, in basic form, but at least the screen is vaguely on the right side of sanely scaled and you get a hell of a lot more for your money. But since my tolerence for tiny screens and frankly crap imagery which goes with a lot of the personal video players (the pocket ones anyway, and the cheapo bargain bucket DVD units) makes them a no-interest when it comes to my spending money on them, there's zero danger of me jumping on the pocket video enabled player bandwagon. And being housebound means such things would literally be gadget scale toys in my life. A PSP, if i had the inclination and was ready to spend a bit more on the expansion to give it decent capacity and battery life, would be my first port of call for Sony pocket video devices. But if i really have the desire to have a limited scope device, then i'd probably vote with something with a decent sized screen and 20+gB of HDD - at least the eye fatigue would be way down by comparision and i could actually have a decent sized collection on the storage. If you rate gadget value as value for money then i guess some would say those pocket video devices are good value - but when you do the sums and see what you get for the money, they aint that good value. In fact, they are pretty close to similar value proportionally that 1st gen HDD DAP's were vs multi-codec CD devices. For the price diff, back then, you could buy a crap load of CD-RW's for the diff in price between the two varieties of decks. Likewise, today, you can buy quite a quantity of mem cards of a decent size for the price diff between the HDD and Flash based video enabled players. 'Tom Kat'

Never ceases to amaze me how often such questions come up, when it's very well documented officially and unofficially that you use one of the transfer managers to load content on most Sony decks. And that amazement is coming from an old techy support veteran too Ah well... guess some things never change 'Tom Kat'

Ok, let's be honest here, Sony users are probably as determined in their choice as typically iPod users are sheep-driven in their choice. But hey, we made our choices..., so let's respect choices made. My only real comment that separates the difference between Sony obsession and Apple obsession is simple - Typically Sony kit is bought by people who want quality, Apple DAP's are heavily chosen by trend and fashion/coolness influences. If you are gonna pay on the high side, and in honesty .. both brands are high-sided on prices for what you get, at least you know where the money went to with the Sony What stops me buying an A800 to replace the A3000 is simple logic and value. I dont really need video support (but if it came in the package and wasn't the usual postage stamp low-qual joke, i'd use video now and then) so any premium proportion to the asking price due to video is totally not acceptable for a feature i'd hardly use. But the prices are pretty much in line with Sony HDD units and the iP*d/N*no market, so that premium issue is kinda settled. What kills it off for me, is value. Like i said, dont really need video... and would i trade off 50% or more of storage for a feature i dont really need..?? I may be mad, borderline insane some may say, but i aint stupid... so unless the A800 drops into a proportional price reflecting it's storage capacity, then it's a case of A3000 having a long secure place in the virtual cat basket. If you want Sony, video and the idea of insane money for Sony portable DVD unit dont figure into common sense, then i guess the A800 series is a good move. But like i said earlier in the reply, let's respect choices made 'Tom Kat'

Ok, i missed a posting that relates to this ... see :- http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2178>

That's a headache in it's own right. Havent actually tested SS under WINE or other Win Emus (ok, i know the official line is they aint emu's, but we know that's pretty much what they are). But i'm pretty sure there are things that are installed into a Windows environment (by Windows, by the Sony software, or both) that are not present or handleable 'yet' under Wine and suchlike. Could very well be a driver issue that's simply not substitutable at this time. That said, it was a good while since i read anything on people's attempts to get SS running in Linux, so maybe my recollections are wrong. *prepares self's virtual furry ass for the incoming kicking/flaming ... if info given is inaccurate* Shame really, if it simple aint happening, being able to run SS under Linux, as that would be one simple gesture (to get it WINE friendly and some Linux device drivers) - as the no. of Sony users who do run Dual OS systems is not infinately tiny, and i'm sure there are plenty of long term users who (especially in the MD circles) who would love to simply run SS under WINE and add appropriate driver/handlers to their Nix installation for device use. Sounds like a classic Dual Bootable OS setup to me, Windows for Sony and other non-Nix compliant soft, Nix for what you can get reproduced on the Nix side of life. 'Tom Kat'

Well, it's not a flag that Windows Media uses to define DRM-protected vs non-protected. DRM protection of content is implemented in WMA/WMV/ASF by encrypting the content during file creation. So to all intents and purposes, you need the license or some way of recreating the key to the encryption to be able to do bugger all with the encrypted/protected files. Also, converters and players need to be built to handle encrypted/protected media to be able to play em back or convert the files if they are protected. That's why many cheap and non-compliant decks cannot handle DRM protected files, because they aint programmed (in the handling/decode side) to deal with the encryption. Likewise, that's why a lot of audio playback software cannot handle DRM protected content, because they dont know how to handle the encryption. And hence why each time the DRM method is altered substantially, usually substantially rather than a minor change, the non-destructive DRM workarounds need to be modded and/or rebuilt if DRM methods change. Anyway, that's the short outline of how DRM works in WM formats... and other formats too (i suspect that something along the same lines is the case with ATRAC and OpenMagicGate - but i aint swearing to say i know for sure re Sony formats). So in essence.. You pretty much can't to bugger all with copy protected WM format files, without having the license there and available so that the software which (assuming it supports DRM) can interact with it according to license. If it can't, the file is considered unusable/corrupt/....... (fill in appropriate term, since not all WM format utils report the right version of the case). So assuming you cannot use the files due to licenses gone AWOL (that's why you have a license backup facility... to allow you to backup licenses so you can transport files and licenses between machines... within the migration scope the licenses allow for), then it's pretty much end game, give up and obtain the content another way from another source. Funnily enough, ATRAC users who inadvertently applied copy protection to their content and migrated files without migrating licenses (can't recall how it's done in OpenMG and SonicStage software) face the same prob. The reasons why it's end game, really, for DRM protected files and no licenses available, is :- 1. Without the license associated to the file, the player/converter etc wont do anything with it... til it gets the right credentials/authoristation from the migrated or present license. 2. If you cannot get the file to demux/decode, which requires that it can be decrypted and decoded, then it's pretty much end game as far as even trying to transcode it via 'analog loop' or API methods goes too. 3. Likewise, no chance of playing it back via the soundcard output and recording via a real analog loop to recreate the content. All the methods out there that work, 'analog loop' or non-destructive DRM removal based methods, all require that you have the license for the content so the player/converter/decrypting util can authentically decode/decrypt the content. End game, sadly. I highly doubt the original (otherwise useless now) DRM hack that worked with windows media 7/8 encodings that were DRM protected (and the DRM now aint the same hence why the old hacks dont work) will help here if you could locate it. As again, it would require a license being current to the content as i recall. Definately end game. Your only real option, to get past the non-usable DRM barrier, assuming it is due to DRM not something else entirely, is to resource the content from alternative sources. I learnt the hard way, many many moons ago... back when WMA and DRMed WMA was still a new thing 'Tom Kat'

Hi Ceres .. For sure, it would indeed be a logical step. No arguments from me in that department. But as history is proving as it's written/recorded/rememebered, 'logical' never seems to figure into the overall Sony philosophy. In that respect, the corp are almost mirroring teenagers and the teenager 'iPod is the cool only choice' irrational non-thinking with the dogged devotion to ATRAC as their primary focus. No way would i back any pressure group movement to force Sony to scrap ATRAC mind, the horrors of the Ogg Vorbis hollering at iRiver/Reigncom and the irrationality that went with the screaming is something i never want to envision being repeated over ATRAC and it's demise in favour of something else. But i'd support any rational move to look at the best of what exists universally in the existing products, and ensures that core support of what legacy users need as well as the best integration of more flexible codec support is also nicely surgically put into the support mix. Definately, low-bit-rate AAC-HE would be the non open-source choice of low-rate codec support to supercede 48/64K ATRAC3Plus. Ogg Vorbis would be the open source counterpart - but if the move went in that direction, you can bet that as sure as bears crap in the woods, that the extremist part of the advocates of open-source codecs would kick up hell as usual, so Ogg Vorbis would also have to considered too to keep that lot quiet. Of course, no matter what is potentially up for grabs, adoption wise, noone will settle for a part-adoption, because these days those with the loudest voices and the ability to create the virtiual wagon train of bandwagon jumpers, simply wont settle for anything less than perfect (aka their preferred clean-build open license code choice with total past/present/future/infinate support scope). Which is kinda remarkable given the fact that the majority of users of the products, simply get on with using the damn things... not obsessing over the purity and perfection of what code is used to get the support in the device. I would happily agree with any rational moves, provided choice remained in the outcome of a rational move on on the part of Sony/Awia. But i aint holding my breath on that one. And yes, i would agree that a battery efficient implement of codec support (any codec support, in my way of thinking) is a must. After all, the improvement curve of practical battery technology performance improvements is a shallow one, so where we aint really gonna see massive improvements in battery capacity and power output potential and i pretty much feel that (for the most part) that power consumption on the hardware side is not gonna improve in leaps and bounds yet a while (again talking practical, not lab-rat technologies), then it's gotta be down to getting efficiency in discrete terms (such as more efficient codecs, more efficient handling etc, more efficient code overall) that's our only real hope of battery-efficient improvements. Ok, Sony did pull a bit of a rabbit out of the hat with the VME approach which kinda caught attention notably with the first gen of ATRAC CD Walkmans. That was one of the clever approachs to some kind of efficiency move, since it did indeed deliver results. In fact, I experienced 'beating the specs' battery endurance on the D-NE1, the D-NE20 never seemed to quite hit the same OTTness of battery efficiency... but that was a single battery deck vs the D-NE1's twin battery source. If they could learn from that VME sucess, and apply it to whatever is the equiv to VME these days and make it work for an integrated batch of codec support that reflects the future/recent present such as AAC support, then that would be a parallel step in the right direction along with more intelligent and rational mix of codec support. But we come back to the thick-skinned barrier that seems to keep the corporate philosophy operating in a reality the rest of us dont live in. Seen that too many times working in broadcasting and working in the DAP industry, so am amazed on one paw that Sony still survive the way they do... and on the other paw, i know that it's not unlike the broadcasting world where adoption of new and existing logical progressions are a bit like childbirth... long, slow and painful..., and with (referring to the corporate philosophy and attitude) and totally unforgiving and inward thinking mother bearing the new born. It's no fun being the 'nice guy' when you gotta keep one paw in the corporate philosophy and one paw in the side that's arguing for rational thinking. It just takes years off your life in terms of stress related damage. Hopefully sense will prevail on many accounts. 'Tom Kat'

Can't blame anyone wanting to take advantage of HE-AAC especially for generating really compact audio files - if the A3000 supported low bitrate HE-AAC i'd use it instead of 48 & 64K ATRAC3Plus any day. Using Q .35 (approx 100kps VBR) AAC-HE files with my NAS & Streaming Audio standable receiver/media player these days, and for sure, there's definately a lot of the stuff that would translate to 48K & 64K HE-AAC equivs nicely (on the SQ and compact accounts). My most listened to radio station (internet only) uses low-mid rate VBR HE-AAC and it sounds nice regardless of what i listen via, cans or the hifi. Sure was an opportunity missed there by Sony with their more quality audio products, but they didn't miss it on some of their 'toy' audio products.. such as phones with media players.. Then again, they also did likewise with ATRAC3Plus, and DVD Players - if they had such overwhelming confidence in the ATRAC3Plus codec and the low end of the encoding rates, why didn't they add the support to their later DVD units and the integrated audio player mode..?? Well, i guess history proves itself reliable, that Sony never seem to do what's blindingly obvious... Ok they fixed some issues on SonicStage, and god knows they could choke to death on the written and unwritten comments and complaints of SS (which is, as most would admit, way overdue for replacement.. or rebuilding from the ground up). But that's another example of how the philosophy at Sony works, it's way too obvious to consider... Oh well, i guess it's a damn miracle they bothered to even release AAC supporting firmware, let alone the tool that could manage the transfers of AAC to supporting devices. I can see so vividly, an alternative parallel scenario where they add support to firmware, but give no means to transfer AAC to the devices... Frightening thought, but that's corporate philosophy for you.. best never entered into on a bad day 'Tom Kat'

Nah, you are gonna have to bit the old bullet there.. Assuming the content of those discs is still available in other original forms, reconstruct ATRAC files from source and keep em archived somewhere (remember, DO NOT COPY PROTECT). Otherwise, it's grab em (non-ATRAC) copies from whereever... , or connect the output of your ATRAC CD player (assuming you still possess one) and record (destructively, sadly) back to PC and import the cut recording segments to SS and make suitable ATRAC's out of them. If you possess the means to defeat the SCMS on the ATRAC CD deck, use a optical --> optical link... if the deck possessed an optical output. Better still, however you get the audo back into SS, maybe it's worth using WMA LSL for keeping your original library copies stored in (remember, don't copy protect). That's suggested as whilst you use DRM-free encodings in WMA LSL, there's zero issue importing on a whim any time to SS at a later date. You aint alone, believe me, i'd bet everyone who possessed or used an ATRAC CD Wallkman fell foul of the one-way only nature of the .ATP files used on the ATRAC CD discs. I did, sadly, and it was my demo disc of audio restorations that ended up there, after i had a serious mishap and lost my remastered/restored analogue transfers kept on Audio CD. Add countless lost hours due to ferked up Audio CD's (a fire destroyed em and the original recordings), on top of the prob you are facing, and you sure feel like doing something drastic... *looks for a suitable victim, and spots an iP*d owner....passing by* Good luck, and here's hoping you sort some alternative to the destructive recording route. Be Cool, or at least don't let the inner demons steer your choices 'Tom Kat'

It'd be dead simple if you just wanted to create lossy ATRAC files for transfer, then it'd be hello to something like MediaCoder - last time i looked, it featured FLAC AND ATRAC3 conversions. Just mentioned that in case a similar case, but wanting lossy ATRAC files, occurs to someone else. Next option, assuming it still exists.... :- Highly expensive and overkill, for this purpose, and that'd be Sound Forge (or whatever Sony, since grabbing it, have called it). There's a free plugin for ATRAC handling (inc Lossless) and i vaguely recall FLAC supported (dont quote me on that, i dont think the virtual scorched fur can take much more flaming these days). Somewhere in between, for simple file conversion, there used to be (available standalone and for use with SF) a product called Batch Converter from Sonic Foundy and i assume it carried over to the Sony side of the buyout too. A lot cheaper than SF, and it should (all things being equal) support the ATRAC plugin mentioned earlier. Alternatively, and now we are at least three paws into piecemeal conversion :- 1. Burn Audio CD's to RW's, from FLAC remembering to use CD-TEXT (which SonicStage reads on CD-TEXT enabled discs) and reuse to discs (aka burn, import to ATRAC LSL using SS, wipe/reuse RW). 2. Alternatively, use any good convertor (i tend to favour dBPowerAmp, but MediaCoder is there and a nice do-all alternative) to :- i) Arrange copies of the FLAC files, arranged nested by the tag info (so you can fill in missing info based on where the files ended up on the hard drive), but ensure the filenames read something like [artist]-[track] (leave out the [ and ], those just are field representations for example, if using dBPowerAmp to define layout using 'Arrange Files' plugin). ii) Batch convert the FLAC copies, again assuming the use of dBPowerAMP for consistency, to WAV (generating same filenames in .WAV) - writing these to same location as source file and deleting the conversion copy FLAC's (not the original set), so you end up with .WAV's with the equiv filenames. iii) Import these one album/disc worth at a time and use SS's facility (i forget what it's called) to lookup track info based on the filename (this is why i suggested the filenaming arrangement i did) - and what it can't ID or gets wrong, you can correct in SS's Db and when that's done, set SS to batch convert the whole damn lot (and it'll take time) to ATRAC Lossless where it'll write the dB held tag info to the resulting ATRAC LSL files. 3) The simplest option short of reripping or doing all the previous conversion mess mention above in my post, is to bit the bullet and convert to a LSL format that is importable directly (WMA Lossless for sure, maybe Apple Lossless.. but i wont swear to that one). In your shoes, i'd go with option 3, as typically i find people with a desire to import/transfer FLAC collections have a huge personal library and a direct LSL-->LSL conversion and import to library is often the least painless option short of native re-ripping in SS. Time isn't an issue for me, these days, so i would personally use whatever version suited my needs if i had to do a non-supported import. But like i say, i can go for unwieldy options, as i have lots of time to kill (literally). Be Cool Always, and dont let it get yer down. 'Tom Kat'

Well, i think Lyssnare hinted at an important point. It highly depends on what you encode, as to what works well with a bit rate/sample rate combo. Ok, so you dont have the sample rate choice with ATRAC, just encoding choice of bit-rate. But definately, some of the more taxing examples of music (from across the board) definately (in my experience) test the limitations of 64K encoding (in any codec) let alone 48K. But if you are trying to get n amounts of tracks into the balancing act of SQ vs size, then almost certainly the SQ is effectively gonna be down in the interests of keeping the audio file size compact. But it also matters where you listen. ATRAC3 105/132 is where i would (general purpose) go for simplicity (all ATRAC units can handle those) unless the audio content dictates differently and then i make a rational choice between listening comfort and compact file sizes. Clearly it also depends, the balancing act, on how much you are trying to eek out max use of battery endurance and/or storage. Even though i dont do a lot of outdoor recording using MD, got way better kit for that purpose where the recording is seriously important, now and then i still need to use a MD recorder. In which case, even if it means a disc change now and then , my lossy choice is generally ATRAC3 132 (i forget which mode that is, LP2 or something like that i guess). But that's only because i prefer to err on the side of caution and have a better recording than i need for the end result. After all, if the recording is overly HQ (relatively speaking), that helps when it comes to any mastering and editing and audio processing. Makes all the diffference, in my mind, when it comes to spoken word.... I'd rather have something overly sharp and precise to take away and process/edit/remaster to a more compact end form than risk super low recording bit rates and find the result is barely good enough by the time i get indoors back to the edit suite. Two very different sides of the bitrate dilemma.

In most respects, if you use a good set of phones that fairly proportional respond across the range, then most music translates pretty well without EQ. Clearly, use EQ to make the audio a bit more prominent where you are used to hearing it in a certain way (VeggieMonster cited a good one, orchestral pieces... especially if you are used to hearing live performances, then having the right feel is kinda important). Or use the EQ to compensate for phone deficiencies and/or hearing deficiences, if needed. Clearly, listing to audio where there is quite a bit of background ambient noise/sound, almost certainly will have you EQing or raising vol, unless your phones are pretty good at attenuting outside sources. But working on the principle of a quiet indoor use, i tended to test with classical orchestral (so many subtle and dramatic parts, it makes sense to include in a test) and really HQ live performance recordings. Examples i would cite, of live stuff, was my legally legit recording of the Everly Brothers (a year or two old) when they performed at the Royal Albert Hall, and recordings of Joe Brown and The Bruvvers, Marty Wilde and The Wildcats, and same again on a different show combining the talents of all. Definately no EQ required on the indoor setup, when playing back, definately no compelling reason to use EQ on my preferred cans - about the only examples of phones i'd eq with would be the MDR-EX71's or MDR-E818s. But since i dont use em no more for listening (the 71's sometimes get used as discrete monitoring items when i do outdoor stuff.. where 'cans' aint exactly subtle or discreet). Generally speaking, without EQ, on the indoor setup or the decent cans, it's as close to being there as you can get (sure, there's a difference, there always will be, but good enough for me). But no doubt, as i get older (bordering on 40 at the moment), my hearing will deteroriate and lose senstivity in some areas, so maybe in twenty years it'll be the reverse for me.. needing some EQ most of the time, but for now... well, it's not the case. As i said before somewhere, go with what works

Use whatever works for you, given the phones you have and what you are used to. Me, it's whatever (on a given deck) translated to neutral/flat all the way The cans i use do a pretty damn good job of taking neutal/flat EQ and reproducing just fine. Guess it's definately a subjective thing this. 'Tom Kat'

I can agree with the observation that it may not have been smart (from a public 'gotta have cool toys' perception) to have required SS as the transfer app.. and likewise i doubt the average 'cool toy' junkie would have wanted ATRAC as the (as is usually the case with Sony kit) native format supported.. let along supported at all. Shame mind, i'm sure there are people who may have loved the idea of a W series phone and ATRAC support .. particularly if they were say ex-NetMD users who already had a ready ATRAC library. Oh well, and thanks for pointing out the non-ATRAC support, that writes of the W series if i do look for a new phone. *considers the wisdom of sending a virtual demonic hellcat hit squad to Sony HQ to show one virtual cat spirit's opinion of their inspired decision to not support ATRAC in W series phones* Be Cool 'Tom Kat'

Recommendations eh..?? 1. Total waste of space, those domestic VHF FM transmitters, if the idea of having a quality bit of kit linking a quality audio deck to an quality car deck's VHF FM radio is concerned. Ok, if it's the only way you can link up - fair play, but the nicest 'fair on all' method (aka causes least RFI) is what's commonly referred to as a 'modulator' solution. I can't recall any product examples to quote, offhand, but what a modulator variation does is plug between the antenna lead coming into the car deck and the antenna (so it's in-line) and the second input is the audio input (usually either line-level or intended for phones aka pre-amped level). The output from the 'modulator' (it's an RF output) goes into the antenna input of the car deck. Then it's a matter of tuning the radio into the output freq of the modulator, and to tune to any other radio service in the band, tune appropriately. If you are stuck with a radio solution, this is the nice-guy method as it's a really localised transmitter and provided the whole coax run is good and not leaking, the amount of residula RF leakage to the outside world is so low that in the common instance of cars with metal bodies, bugger all of any really measurable level of RF will leak beyond the car itself. Remember, folks, just because using an untethered transmitter proper may not cause interference to surrounding buildings, it sure can create unnecessary and not-desirable interference to other nearby vehicles re their in-car VHF sets. So if you must go VHF FM link, go with a cabled modulator - dont consider inductive types (these use a coil that takes the RF output and induces the signal into the cable run via the coil, as the actual output level you need to overcome inductive losses makes em pretty damn ropey performers). 2. If it costs you something for an MBUS adaptor or whatever equiv it needs to allow you to adaptor a phones out/line-level into the (assuming it's present) CD Changer input (intended for input from a sep mount multi-changer unit) - then that's a way better option. In general.. Go with the least interference solution if going with VHF FM linkups. In preference, adapt the AF (audio) output of the portable deck to suit an available aux or cd/line level input on the car deck. For the benefit of those thinking of buying a new in-car deck - look for something with a CD-changer input and an available adaptor.. and budget for that instead (cleaner and way better quality), or for simplicity, go with a in-car unit with a front-panel aux input... It costs nothing to research and find simple options, a lot cheaper than retrofitting Hope this all helps, and i make no apologies for crapping over the utterly dire quality of domestic VHF FM transmitters - i've done a lot of (under workshop test-bed conditions that were fully legal to do, unlike acutal in-car use, in the UK.. and they all stink big time.. to a serious radio user's POV) . Be Cool .. 'Tom Kat'