JustAnUnCoolCat

Well, what's most important here is.. 1. You get the polarity right. You can NEVER rely on a device to have, by default, any kind of reverse polarity protection unless it's already specified to the devices design (usually a diode employed.., in old-school terms, so that the diode gets ferked in a reverse polarity sit rather than a more expensive component). 2. You pick a PSU with a regulated output, that's within +/- .5V DV of what you need. In other words anything from about 4.8-5.5V DV should technically be suitable, at a push 6V should be possible, but 4.8-5.5V regulated output should be within the nominal range a device designed to take a 5.2v input can withstand without hassles. It tends to follow the principle of, using a 4xAA's power example, what would be the safe range of DC input to use to power such a device. In the 4xAA's substiution case, the nominal range of full-cell voltages runs from 4.8V-6V DC (4.8V full charge output from 4xAA ni-cads, through 6V from a fresh set of 4xAA Alkalines). In that instance (the 4xAA substitution example), your nominal centre/average there would be 5V - and if you happen to check such equipment powered by that 4xAA combination, the DC input for charging/power tends to be around 5V maybe as high as 6V with in-equipment regulation pulling the 6V down a bit. So as long as you figure out what's the nominal range for an application, and stick with the nominal average of what's be figured out as min/max voltages, and use the RIGHT POLARITY, it's unlikely to be a case of smoking yer device. Worse case, by applying that kinda caution is.. 1. If the voltage is way too low, you'll get neither charging nor the ability to power the device whilst charging (example playback whilst charging). 2. You'll get one or the the other (charging alone, or charging during playback) if you get the nominal average right. Very worst case, you'll be resigned to charging only when on ext DC.. and have to rely on the eventually charge internal cell pack for playback. I had this dilemma when i had to figure out a safe voltage for making a heavy duty external batt pack for my S7000 camera (it's a 4xAA's scenario). To test the nominal average i figured out (5V) i simply borrowed the 5V supply intended for an H300 DAP (regulated and around 2A rated) and plugged that in (it was already, as wired, suitably plugged and polarity correct). Camera worked fine off that, meaning there was sufficent current and voltage to met demand. From that, and figuring out what the effective range of current requirement was across the range of use of the camera (the 2A supplied available current on the test setup was way in excess of demand) using any of it's AA cell combinations, i quickly figured out that an available HD cell pack (premade, with DC input for charging, with a 5V output) was totally safe and given the capacity of the pack (i forget now, the original since i have upgraded the unit multiple times to make it demand-capable for many low and high-current demand 5V devices) it would supply adequately and reliably for a suitably useful continous time span for the worse case i'd ever want to run the S7000 for when not using a DC adaptor for. Ok, none of this specifically answers your query, i admit - but i am sure that if you read the outline principles from above and give it due serious consideration, you will be able to apply the method to figuring out a solution to your scenario. In your shoes, i'd give it a 5V supply and simply use an available regulated it of not less than 500mA (1A min would be a better starting point since the pocket vaio is, if i recall, HDD based) - given plenty of current available to compensate for a tiny voltage drop (.2V is ferk all). Where to get a plug etc (wire is easy to find and source).. well, that depends on the DC connector on the deck itself, of which i have no idea what's needed. Hope it helps 'Tom Kat'

Can't recall what's on my ATRAC devices offhand.. Stored 400 tracks on NW-A1000/500 on MD's/500 on ATRAC CD's/35000 analogue restorations and radio log recordings in SS Library (many many combinations of formats.. a hell of a lot more yet to be added) Currently listening to a compilation of Joe Brown and His Bruvvers.. Current Track - The Darkstrutters' Ball *strums away on a virtual air GLP and a tower PA sized virtual air effects stack... wishing that someone would create a virtual air string instrument to Guitar Rig 2 link ) * 'Tom Kat'

Well, it's pretty much all been covered in prev replies. At the end of the day, it's your ears... if you feel that it's easier/quicker/lazy man solution to transcode your existing 256K down to a more compact size - let your ears decide, chances are you'll think 'omigod...ferk listening to that' and realise that you can only be making better use of time by reripping to the format/bit-rate combo you want from the original source. ATRAC3 @ 132K is indeed a nice all-rounder balance between quality and compact file size results. And as outlined and hinted at in a prev reply, it's also (ATRAC3 codec in particular) a globally supported 'Net Walkman' device series ATRAC combination you can use with just about ANY Sony/Awia 'Net Walkman' device and also play back in WMP for times when SS isn't available via a plugin. In fact, it would have been a more sane solution if Sony had chosen ATRAC3 132K as ther defacto Connect Store release compression combo - otherwise, as CS users know and most ATRAC users know, 105K (which was the downloads combo CS used last i saw) is a little too edgy and gives not a lot of overall compactness solution for some material.. and for arguments sake, 132K would have been a way better 'nominal' lossy combo. For keeping archive copies to reuse, why not simply rip (if you intend to use ATRAC primarily as the common use codec type) to ATRAC Lossless..?? The ATRAC Lossless mode also allows you to select a 'quick transfer' option of about three lossy combos (i think it was 256k, 64K and 48K ATRAC3Plus.. but my memory is not overly reliable). That, for an ATRAC user who wants to archive and take advantage of 64K ATRAC3Plus, would make much more sense. Simply set SS to Lossless encoding with say the 64K quick transfer option set - rip to this, and you will then be able to generate as part of transfer to player or burning to ATRAC CD , the lossless content in ATRAC3Plus 64k which i suspect is what you want. Is certainly quicker than inter-code transcodings and lossy->lossy ATRAC transcoding. Quicker, in fact, than the next best lossless code supported in SS (aka WMA9 LSL). Clearly, if you want to archive in a way that's universally usable in damn near any OS for sharing/reuse purposes - then the use of WAV and a damned good organisation stragegy for file names and storage arrangement, is sound advice from a prev replier. WAV, if not directly supported by some OS's, can always be imported in almost any OS with 44Khz audio playback support by setting an uncompressed PCM supporting editor/converter to ignore the headers and simply manually tell the soft what the recorded parameters were when the WAV's were generated.. same as you would for importing a RAW encoding (PCM uncompressed with no header in essense) into a conversion util to generate new alternative output. As for the prev comment about ATRAC->ATRAC transcodes generating non-seamless results on playback of the resulting transfer to ATRAC CD - never actually did the transcode bit in relation to making ATRAC CD's (always ripped, in pre ATRAC Lossless days) direct from WMA9LSL or from original source to the required ATRAC lossy combo. Guess i'll have to add that test to the old ever growing cat test list. CAT ADVICE 101 - Do what works for you, but just remember.. 2nd gen transcoded clones of a 1st gen lossy encoding is not a HQ quick-win direction to head in, just a quick way out of doing what really takes less time in practise (aka it's got no real advantage timewise over re-ripping). CAT ADVICE 101 PT II - If a quick win lazy man solution is chosen and the result stinks, then if the sane and rational cat spirit within is at all caring for what it puts up with when it comes to playback, then you learn to discard quick-win lazy solutions unless they are your only available option. By hey, after all my years in this game.. what would i know about it...?? ;o) *ducks to avoiding incoming virtual nukes, dungballs and other flamer weapons of choice that are often aimeed at my poor male feline avatar*

Agree totally there about the numbers bit about BT. It's only when stuff gets diverse spread and more available (aka more people have obtained and made available further, via BT) that BT works well and then also reduces the chance of any one contributor getting their machine and bandwidth hammered. A friend of mine suffered that, a friend i worked with at a past radio station.. way way back before 'podcasting' existed. He had gone to the effort of taking all his past shows log recordings.. edited them for legal compliancy, and tried making them available by BT (originally he used to do limited quantity releases by NNTP til he got hassles about that) - which if fair play had been honoured, would have worked. However, about 90% of those who downloaded his stuff, never remade the stuff available.. so guess who became the main source (the few who did make their local copies available... were online so infrequently, they contributed bugger all to the distro side) and guess who's valuable bandwidth got hammered to infinity..?? The only thing he could do, after trying all the tricks like bandwidth limiting uploads.. which had a negative effect on stuff he was collecting himself, was to give in and go back to the old fashioned method - aka he used to burn CD-ROM collections on request instead. At least he could rely on the people who requested burnt copies to play fair - 'harvesting freeloaders' aint interested in spending money on paying postage costs I believe, if i recall right, on one of the MD related forums, some people were sharing MD content on a disc swap basis.. and from what i recall, that kept fair play in check on one level anyway. 'Tom Kat'

Kinda depends on the situation, as it goes. If you don't mind retagging the end results (now talking conversion to any other taggable format), the simple 'free' method is indeed the suggested convert to wav approach. It costs nothing but time, and is faster than 1x.. Alternatively, and would still require tagging the end result, if you can obtain a copy of Total Recorder, you can do a direct API capture - which bypasses any mixer tweaks and quirks by capturing the output data being sent to a virtual sound card by the playback app. Haven't tried this one for accelerated capture mind. Where this one is more of interest, i guess, is when you have protected content (assuming the protected OMG/OMA's are say from Connect Store or are protected self-produced encodings) - as often (and untested personally re SS) the 'convert to' function in your average 'supports DRM content' app won't let you directly convert protected content. However, TR and API capture, does allow you to capture the content and encode to whatever format. I used that workaround (which is better than the analog loop approach) when i worked with protected content and wanted to compare random entries in the station's library - TR gave me a good method of capturing an image of a protected track at 1:1 of sample rate and runnin time and fingerprint the resulting WAV file. Then i could compare the library versions' FP vs my reference log (since i used to do the official station library maintenance) - if the decode/capture differed in fingerprint vs my log of the correct FP, then the item in question in the library was suspect (aka it could be an unauthorised replacement or suchlike). Ok, *slaps own paws*, that last bit was off-topic, but it shows another extreme of API capture methods for getting a pure decode of content without having to do p*ss-about methods to dup content. 'Tom Kat'

Well, if my experience of trying to interest bands in letting me release demo's to ATRAC users is anything to go by, i would favour quitting whilst i am ahead.. With 'harvest and exploit for cash' freeloaders not keeping the faith (as literally is the case in almost any P2P network.., and the NNTP sources) and grab.. grab..grabbing and putting nothing in to the chain, i guess i can't blame the more enlightened musicians who shy away from promoing their works via P2P.. The kind of freeloaders who exploit commercially, are as guilty in my eyes of keeping commericially released audio downloads favoured to DRM protected form as those who make the 'protecting thy ass' decision to release in DRM'ed form. Well, i gotta see it from the creative's point of view too .. kinda two-faced to help them on the level i can, then con them into playing into the P2P-harvester commercial freeloaders hands. That is one thing the cat spirit will never do... 'Tom Kat'

Good that you figured out the concept of the harvesting from the temp dir/folder bit - kinda hard to explain, and to be honest i was speculating over it's potential - lost interest personally in experimenting on that side. The ATP files are, indeed, the compressed audio files. The rest are indexing and CD-TEXT type (but not literally) DB files the player uses to get info from.. I'll have a go, out of curiosity, in harvesting the temp generated ATP's and try dumping them to a CD-RW and see if either the D-NE1 or D-NE20 can read the disc content without the index etc files. Good to hear of an in-car ATRAC CD user appearing here (virtually noone using a ATRAC CD compatible car deck has shown up around this forum before, and likewise for owners of the ATRAC CD boomboxes either...). But what i will say now, is as long as you use sane and rational bit-rate/codec combos ( i prefer to stick with ATRAC3 132.. which, for ATRAC CD, is worth in the region of 8 audio discs+ to a 700Mb CD-R/CD-RW), i highly doubt you'll be dissapointed with audio off an ATRAC CD in the car deck. At the end of the day, ATRAC encodings sound as good as what you hear them through.. and as good as you find the best bit-rate/codec combo for the tracks on a track by track basis. Do not be afraid to mix and match - if you find a track seems to audition best in ATRAC3Plus 256K and most do likewise at ATRAC3 105K, feel free to build the disc up in whatever way (combinations wise) that gives the best results in practical audio terms. One of my tricks, for when i dump my radio progs on ATRAC (aka i record the shows i do, now and then, and assign one recording to a ATRAC group), is to split the audio (one long continous recording) into talk/voice sections and music sections.., voice sections can often happily exist at 48k or 64K ATRAC3plus (which is a space saver) and i encode the music sections according to the audio itself. Then i just assemble the sections (encoded) in SS and dump to MD or ATRAC CD (mostly MD these days, when i aint using the NWA..) Its not commonly advice or a method most ATRAC users will discuss or approach, mind, but it's an effective legacy method i used outside of ATRAC to max out the scope of mp3 and WMA CD-ROM's.. and works well (as it would do) for ATRAC too. After all, the object of compiling a collection of stuff to ATRAC CD (or compressed audio CD-ROM in other circles) is to make it all practical and save on having lots of discs floating around ) Double check the manual for your car deck - most later (2nd gen onwards) ATRAC CD decks had a Seamless option in the user adjustments that when engaged (not as standard usually) that was the gapless play support. Note, it's seamless 'gapless' on MD and ATRAC CD, not gap-removal or cross-faded 'gapless' fudges like most a.n.other brand decks employ ) Seamless type 'gapless' is, to compressed audio, what DAO-Cut 'no 2 sec pause between tracks' audio CDs are to the CD world. Good luck, and if i get time, i'll try to hunt through the manual for your deck in case the seamless option is hidden away somewhere. ATP's are the proprietry form of OMA/OMG's, in effect, that's almost exclusive to ATRAC CD - think of them as copy protected and encrypted OMG/OMA files, as that's more or less about the nearest thing i can describe them too. Take a track, in OMA or OMG form from your library, open it up in a hex edit.. then open it's ATP counterpart harvested from a CD Burn, and you'll find the content (in displayed data terms) highly different.. like they are probably encrypted. 'Tom Kat'

Ok, fair enough - was just checking you were trying to be sane and rational :oD Well, whilst i had few personal probs with burning ATRAC CD's (sadly, i cheat.. i burn to RW @ 4x using known good ancient spec RW's, and then clone the RW content to an image i can then burn with a reliable app... aka Nero, at high speed and to decent grade one-time media), and most of the ATRAC CD burning experience using SonicStage directly was with the early 1.0 AE version that came with the D-NE1. After that experience, i stuck to the tried and tested method i mentioned in brackets, and use SS (aint burnt with 4.0 CP yet, but did with 2.x and 3.2) for making up the RW version for later imaging and high-speed cloning. But what i did recall was, SS (back then in the 1.0AE days) tended to get very funny about burning to media that i knew damn well was in good shape and almost any respectable software would write cleanly to. Hell, if an ancient 1st gen arcam could read 4x (max media rating) burnt with almost any lousy or top-notch bit of soft, it kinda put me on a downer that that early (and then, the only bit of ATRAC CD software officially) used to dump badly over the same media. For ref, it was pro-spec Maxell 4x RW media i used.. and still do ) (by the way, those 'ancient' spec RW's, are literally buddies to ATRAC CD kit, never complains and fails to read them - likewise, very silver or very gold discs that are really opaque tend to work better in general in my experience). But i did notice 1.0AE totally stunk when it came to multi-sessioning. Part of SS's handling, is it don't (unless you override it) close the disc (aka it dont burn DAO) so you can add more content at a later date to CD-R and CD-RW. It sure never liked multi-sessioning for me - and since then, i stuck to DAO one-session burning for ATRAC CD's. So, having outliined that set of experiences with SS and ATRAC CD's - i guess we ought to consider one of two media related scenarios here.. Do you have any probs burning Audio CD's or CD-ROM's to your preferred media in other packages..?? If so, then some media issues could be in question re SS's burning tolerences. You could have simply had the odd duff blank in a batch, had it happen to me outside of ATRAC CD production so i know that the odd mysterious hiccup can happen due to a duffish new blank disc. If another disc, however, out of the batch has been ok.. using the same content as it appears you suceeded in doing, that could point to the 'odd duff blank' scenario. I'd suggest getting some half-decent RW's, burn to those for the time being and once you get a decent outcome of a burn, you can do a one-to-one copy to CD-R via something else other than SS, and maybe save a lot of headaches. Then again, you may have already figured out for yourself what was happening and got a working solution - which it sounds a bit like now. And yes, Stuge is dead on the mark over ATP files - there is no known way of extracting them directly back to OMA/OMG for reuse in SS - if you ever need to get the content off an ATP for audio extract/conversion.. you'll need to use a line-in or optical link to a soundcard or MD or digital recorder to get the content out of. You can clone an ATRAC CD, 1:1, using any good burning software or image it wholesale and burn from the whole disc image - but decoding ATP files is a mystery as yet unsolved. 'Tom Kat'

Well, talking from the point of view that i do, still.. now and then, do some studio production for some small (unsigned) bands, yes i would consider a BT type distribution to be a nice idead for legitamate sharing of materials you are legally and contractually entitled to share. For certain, a lot of ATRAC users could potentially use such a method and the lossless choice of sharing is equally ok since we can produced non-protected ATRAC Lossless content if you target the file sharing specifically aimed at ATRAC users (but that does not discount use by non-ATRAC users, since they can convert the LSL's to WAV or burn to Audio CD and image/extract from there to a preferred format). Personally, i'd suggest FSing using a more general (if you are not narrowing down to ATRAC users only participating) lossless format that SS can import and convert - which really, would point the choice to WMA LSL since all legit stable and proper SS installs (aka ones working within spec equip and OS) can handle WMA LSL with the install of WMA9 runtime codec install (i know some people dont want WMP9/10 installed on their kit). But either can work. But in fairness to both the people who will be FSing, or BT users relaying via their BT setup, LSL's are a big old bandwidth hog and damn ferking painful slow to get hold of if people end up limiting bandwidth to transfers to stop their overall bandwidth being stuffed up by BT demand. I'd say we'd be better off in fairness to all, to produce multiple copies of any content we want to share in SS transfer ready formats. It takes not long to produce five sets of files, covering the main supported ATRAC variations from 48K through 132K - and then people can obtain via BT transfer ready copies of the content at whatever transfer ready rate format is offered. That'll keep the bandwidth issues under control, and it's still feasible (if a provider gets a request) to make LSL's available if desired. I was going to put some of the demo's i cut for the bands i deal with, out on ATRAC, if i could get their blessing - but they weren't interested.. words to the effective of.. 'ATRAC, oh you mean the sad gits who own MD players.. not the kinda people we target at' That, by the way, was a polite interpretation of a quote - i'd be kicked off this forum for good if i posted the literally untainted version. Hell, little shocks this old cat spirit, but the literal version was so out of order.. and so offensive, even i had to resist the temptation to put the poor offensive git out his sorry miserable existence. Well, i had a right to be offended.. being still an MD user when i need to be Keep the BT, and DCC and other FSing routes, in mind - who knows, maybe we can work some deal out to get the unsigned and indie bands involved, release with their blessing... After all, we aint talking mega mass pirating potential here if we target ATRAC users specifically, and given that ATRAC users tend to favour their permanent encoding source material as being from commercial media or maybe lossless encodings such as SHN (popular for the live performance recordings sharing) after conversion - there is a damn sight better chance that after getting a good sample demo recording from a band via whatever source in lossy form, that a user interested will go obtain the legit commericial item and everyone wins :oD When noone is losing, everyone who shells out money to make it possible (be it at the recording/production level, the distribution level, the royalties levels) gets a return on their effort (break-even works for me, when i talk about a commercial involvement - since i dont really produce to make money re unsigned bands) - then i am happily interested to take part. Freeloaders who contribute and add ferk all, and mass 'harvest and flog at xxxxx% profit' downloaders who shared ferk all - those kinda people and their schemes for file sharing and abuse of recorded works, i never deal with nor have anything to do with their 'scams'. Sadly, despite the fact i know the current breed (who are fairly veteran in their time of being involved) of ATRAC users who get their FS'ed lossless content (often live material) do tend to play fair and put back into what they take out - we need to remember that a lot more less fair-minded people have swelled the ATRAC community lately (now there is much more choice of decks of many forms) and whilst they aint mp3 user masses of size, enough unfairness from the expanded community could end up rendering a goodwill FS venture being a 'contribution by the few, raped by the selfish many'. Sad really. But hey, keep talking this over folks.. will be happy to talk seriously if the interest is there and people are ready to do the right thing over fair play. If i was into blanket fashion sharing, with no regard to rights and wrongs and fair play, i'd have started the ball rolling back when SS 3.2/3.3 came along and made my entire analog-restored HQ collection available (and a lot of it, you cannot get commercially these days in digital form). Be Cool Always 'Tom Kat'

All you literally need do is take the files and folders that contain the content you have (noting the fact that, as you say, the files in question are not stored in SonicStage's self-generated optimised files location) and copy them lock stock and barrel to the external drive. This works for any format that SS can read, and i talk specifically only about files that are not copy-protected when we talk ATRAC items too, and all you do is point SS to look at the new storage location and reimport the files after removing the entries out of the existing library listings in SS. Tends to be quicker, i find, that using the backup util. For portable storage of my library, with the laptop, i keep my MP3/WMA/ATRAC encodings on a partition on my old H300 HDD DAP and have the laptop's SS install look there for it's library content. Likewise, i have a choice for the stationary installs of copying the H300 stored content back to the stationary HDD for proper permanent localised location for the stationary installs of SS - or add the content to SS by drag and drop when the drive is connected. A more permanent solution, but bear in mind that the transfer speed from SS to player action will be slower and likewise so will importing and updating library content, would be a NAS type HDD .. which is my main location preferred for keeping my ATRAC files. In this case, and worth considering since a 200Gb NAS type HDD unit can cost not much more than a 200-300Gb quality external HDD, you can also make the files then more accessible remotely or between multiple machines - since all that's needed is to make your machines see the NAS device and the associated root folder/shared drive holding your centralised content as a network drive. The files/folders can (once you can access from the desktop, the shared drive instance/network location) be drag and dropped to add to the SS library on a given installation.. or assign (on a Win installation) a drive letter to the network drive/shared folder instance that would be the NAS and use the import facility on SS by point it to the network drive/shared folder driver letter instance. This method, however, does not tackle importing/duping playlists generated in SS - never needed to, so never tackled it.. since i use .m3u playlists to store playlists of my external stored files and drag those into SS when i want to add them to the library. 'Tom Kat'

Can we assume you are using XP32 (Professional or Home) or XP-64, if that's one of the Intels with 64-bit support..?? If so, will try to figure out what could be causing it... I know it might seem strange to ask to clarify the OS in use, but you'd be suprised how many people try to run SS (any version) under things like the WINE emu environment under a *nix type OS and wonder why not all works smoothly and all all the time.. If it happens to be the case that you are trying to run SS CP under an emu, i'll back right away and leave it to someone else to try to help - got enough complications without tackling emu-related probs.. 'Tom Kat'

Well, strictly speaking, SS does not image an ISO (or any other known disk imaging format) as such when it burns an ATRAC CD .. What it does do, however, in a temp folder (and since it's been a while, i forget which folder), it stores temporary copies of the ATP files (aka the ATRAC music files) and eventually the indexing and other aux files it puts onto the CD media. So, assuming maybe that a simulate then burn option is available (aka allowing you to do a write simulation, not actually burning a disc.. but otherwise the system goes under actual writing and data throughput load as for a real operation), you could gather the temporary files as they finish writing in the temp folder. How i would try this, if i were so inclined to attempt it (not, as it goes, happy enough to burn to an RW, and do ultra-speed burns to CD-R using an NRG/BIN/ISO rip taken from the intemediate RW) :- 1. Burn the content to an RW for reference. 2. Whilst the RW is burning (select the slowest burn speed, to give you time to act), start gathering the data files written in the temp folder. 3. Compare all the temps with the file content of the ATRAC CD burnt to RW. If you have all the files harvested from the temp folder equal to that on the RW, then from the RW version you will be able to figure out how to set out the data layout (files and folder layout). Then, technically, assuming all was equal and things worked out, you can potentially then assemble an ATRAC CD rom simply by creating the appropriate content using harvested files from the temp... just keep using an RW as outlined above to give SS something to write to whilst it goes through the motions. The actual content, in disc terms, of an ATRAC CD rom is nothing more than a common ISO Data CD (aka nothing proprietry) acting as a container for the simulated 'Hi-MD style' manner of arranging proprietry format+exts files that is where ATRAC CD differs from all the rest of the ATRAC3/ATRAC3Plus native devices in terms of how the audio content and indexs etc are stored. Take any good data extractor or imager soft for CD/DVD data/video media, and try imaging a file from an actual burnt ATRAC CD and you'll see it's the files themselves that are proprietry content (aka they need the right decode handlers etc, the right hardware/software decode/player) and apart from simulating what is essentially the common base folder and files layout to most Hi-MD and ATRAC3Plus devices, it's over and above that.. simply an ISO CD.. Roll on the day a software player that implements reading ATRAC CD roms, or even DVD equiv (no reason why the theme cannot be expanded to DVD in both media written terms and also a future DVD unit or later implement by firmware to a firmware upgradable Sony DVD unit). Then, i suspect, ATRAC CD users will be doubly happy cat spirits..., as it would sure be nice to be able to drop the ATRAC CD into a ROM drive and play the lil beggar back without having to have (by necessity) an ATRAC CD hardware deck around. Remember, folks, whilst many of us do have the freedom to listen to a portable/personal audio player on cans at work, a heck of a lot dont.. but for those who can't due to work regs and policies.. they often get away with playing back audio on PC's and Mac's - so whilst they may have to leave their ATRAC CDP with their bags and coats, if they had the luxury of a software player, they could still carry the ATRAC CD media to their PC's and Mac's to listen with). 'Tom Kat'

Well, i aint too suprised that at least one person finds their own-generated from-source ATRAC's better sounding that the corporate site downloads. I highly doubt, in fact, the Connect Store downloads are source-generated ATRAC files judging by the ones i have heard (a friend buys from that source) - in other words, i suspect they are transcodes from one or more common licensable libraries and knowing that nearly all the licensable common libraries open to corporate sites to provide use low-medium Q lossy distribution libraries.. that could explain the lacking of life in the downloads i have heard. I guess if you want to test the principle - take a CD in your collection and rip it to saw WMA 128K CBR (or Q50 if you prefer, as some downloads on commercial libraries are moving towards Q50 VBR WMA's) - then import the WMA lossy files to SS and generate ATRAC files to ATRAC3 105K (which i seem to recall is what's used by Connect store) and also to your preferred ATRAC combo and see if they also sound a little lifeless or however you feel the downloads from Connect Store sound. The more i think of the downloads i have heard, the transcoding conspiracy theory begins to feel more and more likely.. I could be totally wrong mind... 'Tom Kat'

The bit about not being able to read Nero generated discs on the CDP's. Like i said before, not done any discs with SS 4 yet, but back in the days when all we had was the dreaded SS Simple Burner 1.0 AE ... *shudders at the memory of...* Back then, and i was using a D-NE1 CDP, i used to burn my ATRAC CD's using SS SB to a CD-RW and image the RW's contents to an ISO or NRG for long term storage on a network drive. Then i used to, as frequently as needed, simply burn the ISO or Nero image to a CD-R whenever i needed a new fresh ATRAC CD copy to use (always ended up losing one somewhere at work). So it's certain, in my experience, that you can indeed burn a copy of the content of a ATRAC CD using Nero and the disc be readable in an ATRAC CD Walkman. Note, mind, i used HQ media.. never sh*tty cheapo stuff.. the D-NE series aint too tolerent (in my experience) of junk-grade CD-R media, they also can be temperamental handlers of ultra-speed rated CD-RW's. 'Tom Kat'

Yep, you sure can get the files off the player back to your PC. On the A3000, simply use the search facility in Windows to search the drive instance that is the A3000 (it has a UMS existence too) and look for .OMA files. Then, when the list is complete from the search, select all and copy to your P'C's HDD or other storage device/media. Then the files as copied then be imported into SS. This works (used it myself) for files that were not copy protected (aka you didn't copy protect when you made the files in SS). I wrote a how-to on this, look for it under the Software section of the forum. 'Tom Kat'

It aint advertised or specced as being water-resistant, therefore you naturally should assume it IS NOT.. If it has ANY kind of vaguest degree of water/splash resistance by default, that's purely the fact the fitting of the casing is pretty tight by design, but that does not make it reliably and properly water-tight. I once had, back in the days when they were like 'omigod.. that's a ferking kings ransom price' alphanumeric radio pager that had a case fitting so tight.. you couldn't squeeze a ciggy paper between the two halves of the case so giving the impression of being water-tight/water-resistant by nature. And by the sheer fact it was so tight-fitting it's casing, it did indeed survive a few soakings (it actually fell out of my pocket one day into a bucket of water when washing the bike and survived after i got the battery out and got it force dried rapidly). However, one day it got dropped onto concrete and whilst there was little visable damage, the next time it got wet (rain soaked through my coat), i ended up with a pager that displayed gobbledogook not visable legible text. The drop on the concrete had opened up the tight seal of the casing a fraction (enough to get a ciggy paper edge into) and hence water managed to get in. So dont rely on a super-duper tight fitting equipment casing to save the kit from water/damp/condensation - get a bloody case and don't drop it :oD Never assume, with such things, unless you are assuming the worst. Assumming the worst is always the safe ground, as paranoia tends to make you damn careful ) Be Cool Always. 'Tom Kat'

Well, since you have found an AAC encoder that is giving you the results you wanted (haven't tried the QT7 encoder, but have heard good stuff said elsewhere..., but since i dont use AAC... dont really have the motivation to test) i guess it's a matter of you really deciding which combination of kit (assuming a fairly equal audio result with each) is more practical. Then either stick with what you most want to be carrying, which i'm guessing maybe the W950i would be the practical choice), or more practically.. Get a bluetooth headset adaptor like say a Music Angel (i use one of those) to connect between the phones out of your preferred performing non-phone DAP and your headphones - then associate the BT adaptor to turn the adaptor/phones combo into a BT setup for the phone. Then, you have it all..., no piece of kit goes gathering dust, and no choice needed between whatever grade of audio output on the W950i vs the other owned choices. For mp3 (rarely), WMA (occassionaly), and ATRAC3/3Plus, i do what i outlined above with my preferred cans.. the music angel and a NW-A3000 or NW-NH1 (whichever i happen to take out the door) for audio playback - and a Blackberry 7100V for phone. Ticks all the boxed, solves the prob for me.. Be Cool Always 'Tom Kat'

I think, in practise, your best shot at working this out .. without getting into audiophile'esque 'looking for flaws for looking sake' type testing (and yes, there are those who have been hammering the NW-A series on that basis out there in the world), is to simply.. Take a reference file, maybe pick one of the test files used for reference testing for ReplayGain volume levelling scheme (there are WAV and mp3 versions of the file as i recall, try Google for where to get them). Then, and it's only a rough approach mind, connect the deck's output (in phones out setting) to the line-in of a soundcard and sample/measure/asses after getting a reference level, and try the eq's mentioned. Then, and if you've done the adjust to soundcard input right, then compare the suspected 'coloured' setting from a 'line out' setting on the deck through the sound card and compare. You'll need to adjust the deck and line-in levels (aka the vol output on the deck and mixer level on the soundcard) to try to get a near levelled comparision and it'll be imperfect at best, but since technically the EQ is not-enabled out the line-out mode, this should equate to a no-EQ bypass tonal output (aka flat) when the audio is passed via line-out mode. If the phones out audio, in 'normal' or 'custom' (and eq zeroed as you described) differs, it could be due to many things not just artificial discrete EQing, but it could be partly artificial discrete EQing going on. Clearly the method is a little flawed, but it's good enough for a basic idea. When i say artificial discrete EQing may be going on, i am talking about a basic factory-applied eqing that may be preset and the manual adjust is over and above this - a lot of decks suffer this 'quirk' on their phones output mode. Also, make allowances for (particularly if your normal ref on DAP's is based on older gens of misc mp3 units) that there is often a sense of sound often being a touch more distinct (hard to say quite how, as it's subjective) out of the later Sony units - a bit like the diff between the output of a pretty ordinary high-street brand CD player vs say a 1st-2nd gen audiophile grade CDP. It's hard one to describe, but it's noticable when do you hear it. I noticed it, the apparently perceived more-detailed sounding output of the D-NE20 and D-NE1 (haven't got around to comparing line-out of audio on the NW-A yet) and NW-NH1 of HQ encodings sort of sounding (in lossy audio terms) vs a ref of a pretty typically popular item (iRiver H300) using similarly equal sound ref encodings - it was a little like hearing audio played from an 1st-gen Arcam Alpha CD deck vs a pretty a.nother generic high-street brand Audio CDP. Now anyone will tell you that even though a 1st-gen Arcam Alpha is 'low tech' by CDP standards, it certain reproduces audio more distinctly than a lot of non-AP grade CDP's, and it's in that sense i kinda though that the lossy audio output of the later Sony units felt a bit vs a.nother generic DAP's. Ok, that's a hard one to follow - disregard it if you please, as it's kinda subjective, but the point of the comparision is... When i listen to most generic high street brand CDP's, they sound 'coloured' vs the output of the Arcam (and remember, when talking line-out this shouldn't be the case unless the decode is doctored somehow) - so i can see where the OP is coming from with the 'is it coloured' question. Maybe, maybe not - it could simply be a perception thing due to the digital amp in the Sony unit doing things a bit like the oversampling etc in the Arcam is. This can, sometimes, have a discrete effect on the tonal output that can sound a bit like what you may describe as slight-coloured output - it can also, more so sometimes, account for what sometimes can sound (on one deck) a brighter (ambiently brighter, clearer.. or cleaner seemingly rather than discrete eq lifted) output like i probably hear on the Arcam. Will be interested to see what you lot find and determine by your own tests. Sadly, i have way too much on my plate these days taking up too much time - to get back into the testing process. The restoration backlog is growing.... Be Cool Always 'Tom Kat'

re: AudioCatalyst... Aint heard that name in years, if i am right and the old cat memory aint going on the blink (and that's questionable on a good day these days), i think that used the early Xing MP3 encoder (aka the first one of the few mp3 encoders that had actual VBR encoding by design, back then.. there was on one of the early FhG encoders VBR but it was not formal.. more a facility but unsupported as i recall). Well, you could try one of the utils such as mp3fixer (i think it was called that) or MP3Doctor.. or one of a few others (sorry, names escape at the mo) that scan and rewrite the headers to correct sync faults etc due to bad headers... as this can sometimes cause probs that prevents importing. The funniest bit about all this is, the lack of consistency relating to these cropping up. Some people seem to have a flawless smooth experience (well, as flawless an experience as SS allows for), others have intermittent headaches from SS issues, and some seem to have aggro on tap often. What's even more weird is, the issues that cause the most aggro (in general) which on the surface can seem to be resource related on one level, aint always suffered by people using near-rated systems - some of the hell-on-earth aggro happens to people with systems with mega-resources too. So i'd suspect the mp3 importing maybe a dual issue - partly maybe due to dodgy headers/bad encoding.. and partly and intolerence. To be blunt about it, i wouldn't (for a D-NE series deck) even bother importing/transcoding to ATRAC.. or even use SS to build MP3 CD's with to use with a D-NE Walkman. Ok i can understand there's a good practical reason why CreepyD wants to (and fair play to the reason), but in practise.., since the deck is mp3 native decode capable - i'd stick to mp3 mode of use (aka mp3 cd's) for MP3 storage/playback on the decks. But hey, CreepyD, it's your life.. your deck.. your files.. so good luck, hopefully you'll find a medium solution that gets you out of trouble. 'Tom Kat'

Funny this one keeps cropping up.. I never had the prob, but since most of my mp3's (very old collection) and mp3pro (almost as old) were encoded using the CT/FHG encoder (aka the one that is MP3PRO encode enabled) - i wonder if there is something maybe in SS's handling which is slighty intolerent of certain encodings. Well, i'm stabbing a paw in the dark there - the files i used successfully were all VBR's (aint used CBR's in many years now). For ref, they were MP3PRO VBR's HQ settting encoding at Q100 or MP3 HQ setting Q100 (referring to the selection settings in MMJB).

Interesting, will have to try this out on SS 4.0, since i still occassionally have to burn ATRAC CD's when i do have to use the old D-NE's. *edited, since Sturge has already pointed out the source at MDCF*

Hi.. Well, you and i will both be interested to see if it works out with the HD1 too. Maybe some others with the E series FP's can also test the method out. I made a point of posting the find, as it's often believed that the content once written to the device is content-locked during transfer (so you may have ripped copy-protected disabled, but could find the OMA's locked during transfer). Well, non-CP'd ATRAC files definately aint content locked on the NW-A series. Just to clarify - it's the OMA files stored on the HDD unit (in folders within the OMGAUDIO folder on the NW-A series, can't recall if the same layout is used on the HD1/3/5 series). You dont need to recover all those indexing dat files etc, in the case i'm describing, just the OMA's Good luck, hope it works out for the older HD series decks too, and likewise hopefully someone will test with the E series. When i get time later, will try this out on the NW-NH1 Hi-MD unit too - i can't recall the storage arrangement on Hi-MD, so it may not go with that. If the Hi-MD setup stores similarly to (which i suspect it does) the seemingly universal method the NW-A uses (seems to be how it's being done on Sony decks now) then content-lock during transfer permitting, it may translate there too. Claws crossed.... 'Tom Kat'

Well, i'm sure some of us at least have been at the point where we 'accidently' (or someone did for you) wiped out your SS library and the locally stored ATRAC files - and hit the 'oh ferk, i can't recover the copies on my NW deck' prob..?? I have at least, and i know i aint alone.. Well, taking a huge chance (vs the concept of a big rip-fest) i noticed i still had my ATRAC3-132K content copies on the NWA-3000. Well, if i could recover them, that'd save mucho ripping.. as that's the same format/rate combo i'd want the transfer-ready copies in anyway. Well, provided you ripped and encoded (or transcoded from other formats, or simply encoded straight from WAV) your on-player flies without copy-protection - yes you can painlessly recover them from an NW-A series :oD 1) Plug your NW-A series into your PC. 2) Cancel any instance of SS that may start up. 3) Use the search facility in Windows to find .OMA's on the drive instance that is your NW-A series. 4) Select the files, and cut/paste them to your PC's HDD. It's that simple :oP Sure the files have numeric filenames, but if you import the copies into a fresh SS installation, they import with tags intact, and hey hey hey... your inner cat spirit is purring against... and not having to indulge on a catnip-fuelled mega ripfest again to get you outa trouble.. I did this with a fresh SS installation on a fresh Win XP installation, so i guess it's fair to say that if you wipe out your SS install and all associated registry entries relating to.., you'll be in the same situation over avoiding legacy headaches of old bad data causing grief. Well, it should work for anyone who needs it.. it worked for me, and hopefully it's a last-ditch answer for the desperate. Hell, it might work for the FP's too - definately a no go to copy the ATP's from a ATRAC-CD though, but it may work for Hi-MD too (have to test that out sometimes). Keep on purring, and remember - it aint over til the cat spirit within stops purring ;o) Be Cool Always 'Tom Kat'

Well, then i would suggest that anyone requesting stuff for this project.. and is intending to compile info to work a solution such getting a RockBox (or other known project group) solution, mentions it from the outset. Call me crazy if you will, but given some inspired reason to believe this is more than a simple 'hey, that's cool idea.. i'll post an outline request for help' request and there is intention to go forth with it (and the fact the poster is sourcing a second deck is a good indicator of some serious intent at some personal level), people are often more open to doing stuff to help. With Rockbox, and particularly the iRiver implementation side, the initial public response of donations etc was pretty poor (well, we had seem lots of prospective 'i want to build a firmware, but aint got a clue where to start' projects request for info etc.. and disappeared rapidly) - but as the contributors picked up in numbers and the development started to get documented and publicly viewable (even back in the initial device sniffing and device ID stages), people outside the project got more inspired. So if it is an associated developmet, aka a Rockbox fork intent for the NW-HD5 deck, then for gods sake mention it.., kinda nail your 'Rockbox for the HD5' colours to the wall and let it be known it's a serious credible project That way, you can be sure of people taking interest and those who are interested, getting off their backsides to do what they can to help Have seen it happen, so i kinda know how it works this stuff Be Cool Always 'Tom Kat'

Hi Snoochie.. I'm not replying with outlook from a legal perspective, but simply to help you understand a little about the 'attitude' you may have faced.. Quite simply, air carriers.. be it passenger carriers or cargo carriers, do operate under agreement with certain rules that regard to safety. Some, however, do have staff that have been known to interpret this badly, some to silly extremes, and some have been known to interpret the agreed international safety guidelines to extremes that border on award winning sci-fi/fantasy writing type extremes But things you should keep in mind are :- 1. On an aircraft, you are bound and obliged to follow ANY safety instructions the airline staff on duty instigate, be it on the ground flightside (aka on the aircraft after boarding but on the ground) through the entire flight, and until you disembark and subsequently (whilst flightside) enter into the standing rules/regs in operation flightside and on the premises of the airport/airfield where the aircraft lands at. 2. Where air marshalls (which i believe all US carriers have present on flights these days, but i'm sure a US citizen can correct that bit if wrong) are present and they take issue with you formally over something, as you would be in the USA.. you would be obliged and bound to follow their instructions - when it comes to what they may consider to be a security and safety issue re behaviour and conduct .. you should in such circumstances treat them as you would any law enforcement personel on-duty in the USA and governed territories. 3. Where, on a flight or whilst on board an aircraft, if you act up and make a big issue in such a way where the person you raise the objection to feels threatened or feels you are intentionally compromising safety - you could potentially end up being banned from ANY and ALL flight routes with that carrier.. and depending on what happens in-flight (aka your behaviour), also potentially risk being in the hands of law enforcement and/or airport security on landing. It's the price, sadly, we pay for the idiots who go nuts on aircraft and commit acts of violence and disorder and otherwise put others at risk (and malicious intentional terror acts as some have commited.. only inflames the situation) where we now have to be ultra-well behaved on flights. All that said and done... They, the aircraft duty staff can ask/demand/enforce a no use of electronic equipment if it's carrier policy or they are following any safety guidelines.., or quite simply.. to enhance profit on the flight to force you to either be bored or use the on-board entertainment where it's there to be used. Admittedly, on a budget carrier, such on-board entertainment is damn near nil - so i can't blame a media player user who does want to kill the boredom by watching a movie/listening to music or whatever. At the end of the day, in the process of boarding/transit/disembarkation, they are effectively 'god' as far as your personal freedom to enjoy your personal music/movies/mobile phone etc are concerned.. what they say, at the time, is a bit like the ten commandments - aint no point arguing given the potential worst case (at the very least, getting kicked off the aircraft at the first available opportunity) - don't get into a slanging match or heated aggro session with the staff. least you wish to end up with your day really screwed up. Rule of thumb - carriers like to treat their aircraft like sovereign territory - aka on an El Al aircraft, consider yourself subject to Israel law when on board - and for ferk sake, remember if you use that carrier at all, they are very very hot on prevention of violence and threats and the supression/prevention of terror acts, so it's a pretty damn stupid person who causes a volatile situation on that carrier's aircraft - and this goes way back before the roll-out of international anti-terror enforcement on the rest of the carriers As for as wireless kit or wireless equipped kit goes, and it's a varied aspect depending on which country you are in, whilst you may be allowed (say in the USA for example) to use cellular or sat phones on inland and international flights... this 'right' under FCC and US aviation agency rules may be permissable, but the moment you are in the territorial airspace of another country, the use of that equipment (it's wireless capability) may in fact be illegal in an aircraft whilst in that foreign airspace. In the UK, for example, it's a total no-no to use unlicensed (as far as radio operation goes) radio comms on an aircraft whilst in the air (and definately not permitted when flightside on the ground). Also, according to UK law, any radio equipment (and this includes stuff with wireless radio RF emitting capability) must meet UK type approval for use on aircraft for it to be permissable to use within it's wireless operational capacity on the aircraft whilst in UK territoral airspace. And reflecting back to the carriers and their 'sovereign territory' view/attitude, consider it safer to assume the worst for the duration of the flight. Talking generally...., consider anyone who takes wireless equipment onto an aircraft and disregards all compulsory safety aspects (i.e. like the non-use of wireless equipment whilst flightside, and during take-off and landing and ANY other time instigated by the flight crew such as the flight deck team during storms etc) to be a trouble maker..., for that's what they are in effect if they do so and make an issue about their non-intent to follow enforced policies and compulsory safety requirements. Always shut off the wireless facility on a wireless device during take-off, landing and when flightside and when instructed to by the carrier's duty staff whilst on board. It may be a pain in the wotsits (aka the male dangly bits) but it's better to quit than face aggro or a volatile situation. And remember, when you are on board - you may be the least or greatest freedom advocate to walk the planet, but when there are others involved (aka other passengers and their equal right to safety and a peaceful flight), leave your freedom advocacy hat at home and simply be a passenger. It keeps you out of trouble, keeps the carrier staff sweet, and most of all.. is way less stressful. If you cannot instigate a recognised 'flight mode' on a wireless device (intended to supress or shut down wireless transceivers when in such a mode) - then simply disconnect the battery pack shortly before the flight (gives time for the circuitry to discharge), when you know it's permissable to use the equipment in flight, reinsert the battery pack where it's permitted to use the equipment. Clearly, if you cannot use a flight mode setting on the device due to a lack of a facility, then do not use the equipment in flight or during take-off or landing or whilst flightside. Hope that helps.. It's not a statement of law (excepting the UK stuff, which is current and applicable here) i'm giving you, but sane and rational 'avoiding problems and respecting policies' guidance. But that said, the last time i did - i got the second worst flaming i ever encountered on a forum.. *puts on the fireproof body armour and fire-suit* Be Cool Always 'Tom Kat'