Bewarethefoxxx

Besides, you wouldn't want to delete them surely? They are really useful for creating a playlist on your device without having to connect the device to the connect player software. I often use the bookmarks on the move, if there are certain songs I want to listen to I quickly add them to a bookmark list and play them in the order I specified.

Hi, When I bought my new laptop and had Windows XP for the first time (XP Pro), I installed CP for the first time. I let it install to where it defaulted. I set up a new account for my partner as a limited user as don't want to give them administrator rights! He tried to open CP from his account and couldn't as he didn't have the rights to run the program. I logged back into my account and had a look at the program and the help says to move it to the sharded folder. So I dragged the 'Sony' folder which contains CP and CP autoupdates etc and it went mental and started trying to install something and do things, couldn't really work it out, so I can't really explain what it was doing but it was scarey! Then I couldn't open connect player at all and kept getting tinyhttp.exe errors. I then tried to move it all back and it didn't like that either. Eventually I managed to get it back to how it was. I think the problem may have been something to do with the connect autoupdate as I guess this was running in the background and maybe because I'd had CP open that day so soemthing was still running but that's a guess. Can anyone advise what I need to do to make this program shared? Do I just need to log on to my pc, close down the auto update by exiting it from the task tray and then move the program to the shared area? Should this work? Will I need to update shorctuts and stuff? Or is it a case of uninstalling CP and reinstalling it to the shared area? I'd rather not do that as I have everything right in my library and both our players synchronized etc! Cheers

Well I managed to and I was told you couldn't! I bought a new laptop which had no music on it at all. I connected both mine and my partners NWA3000 walkmans one at a time to the laptop and dragged and dropped all the files I had on the walkmans onto the pc. (The files had been put on the walkmans with SS). I then transported these into CP and intialised the walkmans, and put the files back on. The only thing that I had to sort out were all the files that had originally been mp3s. All the atrac files were fine, but the mp3s has become oma files with mp3 codecs which the player doesn't support. So I just imported the mp3s again which I had burnt onto cd from my old pc.

It's such a good looking walkman, I have a black one, but i'm scared of scratching it, so I bought the official SONY silicon cover for it. Annoyingly, you don't get any screen protectors which completely defeats the object, so I had to buy some (can buy in camera shops for LCD screen protection). Secondly, annoyingly the silicon case only comes in white. So the player now looks crap but is protected from knocks and scraps in my bag. The next 'stupid design' award goes to SONY for designing a silicon case that has cut outs for the volume, usb lead etc, only the charger/usb lead is too big for the gap left. So I have to take the cover off everytime I need to put the lead in it's bum!!!! I don't understand how such an idiotic mistake could be made. Did they not think to test it? Anyways, just seen on ebay can buy fake black silicon cases which come with screen protectors. So I think I'll fork out and get this so at least it will all be black and not black and white. If the hole isn't big enough, stanley knife time it is!

Oh, thank goodness for that!!!!! Reformatting the player isn't such a big deal. Yeah, I know, I don't really want an ipod as everyone has them, but when you have all these probs and everyone I know with an ipod is up and running in no time and have all their tracks on the ipod (plus all the accessories and support available etc), you start getting annoyed with SONY! I choose SONY because I like the quality, I thought it would have better sound than an ipod, it has excellent shuffle features and searching with initials and the battery life is excellent. Shame about the software really. Fingers crossed, I've finally got it sorted now and can enjoy my walkman at last. It has nearly got thrown out the window a few times!!!

Well, if I can't move all my atrac and mp3 files (by the time SS is properly updated and CP is no more it'll be about 600-700CDs) then I will demand a full refund from SONY for wasting my time and buy an IPOD. I'd have to re-rip everything again anyway because atracs won't play on IPODs but it's the principle of the thing. SONY can't expect to give us the run around like this. It's just not on. I bought 2 NWA3000s in good faith and have had nothing but hassle. Other people I know have bought 20-30GB mp3 players of various makes and within a few hours have it all up and running by simply dragging and dropping. I'm starting to wonder if battery life and shuffles are really worth it!

Show off! Actually not true! I just asked a load of people in my office what 5.89MB was in kilobytes and they said 5890kb! So Mr Joe Public doesn't know this. Hence there being help forums! Also if you divide 6038KB by 1024 (KB per MB) you don't get 5.89MB. You get 5.90MB because you'd have to round up (and the reverse, if you multiply 5.89 by 1024 you get 6032 kb). If Sony want to make statements about checking the file size is correct they should specify it in both kb and MB to save confusion and calls to their helpline! Anyways just posting this on here so others can read it if they had the same issue.

Good enough....although not all of us know to divide by 1024!!! They should put it in their instructions and make it clear for us non techy people, but Sony don't like to be helpful!!!!!!

Don't know if anyone else had this issue..... I downloaded the firmware v3 and the file size was not 6,038KB as stated. It was 5.89MB. I tried several times and the file size was never 6,038KB. The instructions tell you to try again if the file size isn't as stated. I tried from a different pc and the download file was still 5.89MB. So I thought, what the heck and installed it, and it all seems to have worked. Have Sony got this wrong (seems to be a theme here!) because try as I might the file is NOT 6,038KB!!!!!! Just wondered if anyone has had this?

No way!!! Having just got CP!!! LOL!!! So my next question is....when they bring out a new version of SS that does have sync and is quick to edit, will I be able to move all my files that are now in CP to SS?? Will I have to take everything off my walkman again and transfer the SS files back on????? Will it ever be straight forward??!!

Yes I copied my all my music directly from the both our walkmans to my new pc! I'd heard this couldn't be done but I thought I'd try it and it worked! I literally plugged my walkman in to the usb without CP or SS loaded, and just navigated to the drive and highlighted the .oma files that showed up in windows explorer. (well in 'my computer') and copied them into a new folder on my hard drive. The was only .oma files on the walkmans. I then, opened CP and imported all the files I'd saved in the folder on my hard drive into CP and then after editing some, connected my walkman and told it to sync. I didn't get any error messages when I first connected my walkman to CP full of SS files! As we know, the sync didn't work properly (prob due to the files on the walkman being from SS originally as you explained), so I initialised my walkman. Starting with a clean slate I transferred all the files in CP to my walkman, but it only accepted the files that had originally been atrac files. What you say above, makes sense to why it went wrong. I read the CP FAQ thread on this forum and it states that you can transfer oma files with an ATRAC codec, or MP3 files with a MPEG (MP3) codec. I'm guessing my issue was I had oma files with MP3 codecs, hence not a supported format. This could be clearly seen when I added a 'format' and 'codec' column to my library. (Although strangely the oma mp3s play and sound fine in CP!) So, last night I imported all my MP3s into my library and got rid of the ones that didn't work and sync'd my walkman and it worked!! The MP3s transferred this time and some of the other files that I'd amended did get updated on the Walkman. Horrah!!!!! Apart from 1 file, which is a track on an album from a CD I own. No idea why this one didn't transfer, it just says error and gives no explanation. I will re-import the album and try again. Strange though, that you're not supposed to be able to move files off your walkman onto a new pc. If it is any help or has anything to do with it, all the cds I had put on my walkman originally through SS, I had removed copy protection. Could this be the reason why it worked? Is this true that CP is obsolete? Have Sony officially announced that they are getting rid of CP?? I hope not, I've just got it working!!!! I realise that SS4 has the artist link and intelligent shuffles, however, for me I wanted to have the synchronisation. And I also find CP much quicker to edit. Although, it is a pain to change one at a time, it is still quicker than in SS. I would highlight an album in SS and change one thing e.g. genre or album name and it would take absolutely ages to do it. It seemed to take forever to update the original files on the pc. Whereas CP does it instantly. Fingers crossed that CP doesn't break on me as I start to import more music. I have about 600 CDs that I'm going to start to import!!

Thanks for advice... ok, here's an update and a couple more questions! I decided to try CP, purely because I wanted to be able to synchronize the library with the Walkman and editing in SS is so slow. (Not so bothered about editting artist links at this stage). All seemed to install and work fine... I plugged in both mine and my boyfriends NWA3000s and copied all the .oma files on the walkmans into a back-up folder on my new pc. I'm guessing that the walkman stores all files as .oma I then imported all the omas into the CP library and had all my songs present and correct. I then went through and spent hours editing the library, basically to put in missing years and change all the genres to make it a bit better to play genre shuffles, as gracenote tends to make genres far to narrow and I wanted it more general. I plugged in my NWA3000 and asked it to sync. It did something for a while, according to the toolbar it transferred some tracks, deleted some tracks, updated some tracks. But when it had finished, it hadn't updated the genres (not sure about years) and hadn't changed any spelling edits I had made. I'm hoping this isn't something wrong with sync, just the fact that the tracks on my walkman had been put there by Sonic Stage??? So I decided to initialise my walkman and start again. So I wiped it using the initialise disc. I transferred my library, which currently is only 1000 songs. It only transferred 540 of them and the rest transferred in black saying it was not a supported file format. Having looked through, there seems to be a pattern. All the files that had originally come from a cd and was converted to ATRAC3plus, had transferred onto the walkman with the new genres etc. However, all the files that had originally been MP3s hadn't. (I had put MP3s on my walkman from SS, rather than convert mp3s to ATRAC). Can someone confirm if this is just due to me extracting the mp3 files from the walkman onto my new pc??? If this is the case, should I be able to delete all the black unsupported files from both the walkman and the library, and then import all my mp3s (I have them burnt on discs) straight into the library?? Edit the years and genres (again!) and transfer them without problems?? Also, can someone tell me if the sync function works?? Having not used CP before, I want to clarify, if I edit something in the library, like the year and genre or a spelling mistake in the title, artist, album, will the sync update the file on the walkman???? (I'm not sure if the first sync I did didn't work due to the fact that it contained files transferred from SS rather than CP). Final question...has anyone else used CP sync with 2 walkmans?? Not sure what will happen with ratings, play history etc! Thanks

Hi, I'm stumped! I have been using SS since buying my NWA3000 purely because I had windows ME so CP was not compatible. I have been gradually putting CDs on and mp3s, in fact we have 2 NWA3000s in my house so there's two of us using it and we currently have SS3.4 Now I've just bought a lovely new laptop that has windows XP Pro and is a sony virgin!!! I was about to put CP on and give it a go for the first time and have now seen there is a release of SS4-CP. So what do I do? Which software should I use? The issue I have at the moment, is that all the stuff I have on both walkmans don't have the extra features like artist link or shuffles. Can I transfer the songs from the walkmans onto my new laptop into either SS4-CP or CP? Are we better off wiping both walkmans and starting again? Trouble is, I didn't keep all the cds I ripped to atrac so that would be annoying! All my mp3s are easy to re-do because I have them on disc and can move them on to my laptop. Are we better off trying CP because of the synchronisation? Are they going to scrap CP? Argh I confused! Advice please!!!! I just want to finally get some proper use out of these two walkmans.

Hi, Apologies if this has been asked before, search didn't really find anything! I currently have Windows ME and have been using SS3.4 (and previous versions) to put mp3s and atracs onto my NWA3000. I am about to buy a new laptop with Windows XP Pro on it. I have the following questions. 1. Should I go ahead and start using Connect? I couldn't on Windows ME but I can now. 2. All my files currently on my NWA3000, is it possible for me to transfer these into Connect from the walkman? (I've not kept all my cds in atrac format on my pc due to hard disc space, so this would save me re ripping them to atrac again). 3. Assuming I can transfer files from NWA3000 to connect, can I then edit the details so that I can put year and rating in (all the details that can't be used in SS3.4), then move these back onto my NWA3000 and be able to use the functions that didn't work like artist link and the shuffles?? Just want a heads up before I get this laptop.

Problem solved!!! In case anyone else searches for this issue, I'll post my solution.... For some reason the full installer won't work full-stop due to this issue with it not recognising that WMP version 9 is newer than version 7.1 still no idea why, but hey-ho! So I tried to download again from Sony and still couldn't get it to work. I then got rid of real download and was then able to save the file into the folder Sony tell you to create. However, I was still getting the same issue that when I double clicked it, it hangs trying to connect to sony server and then crashes my internet so I have to reboot to get internet to work again. So.....I disconnected my firewall (Zonealarm) and it worked!!!! So after all this, is was purely as issue with Sony Server Vs a firewall. Funny thing is, I had rang sony about my problem, and they did not once suggest to disable my firewall. Their download page didn't say to either. And for some reason my firewall didn't tell me they was a problem with a pop up of something trying to connect and giving me the choice to allow or disallow!! All strange, but I do at last have SS3.4!! Funnily enough, Sony are ringing me back within 48 hrs to help. Fat lot of use they were!! All they told me was to get rid of Real download, and that there must be a problem with Windows ME!

Can't have WMP 10. I have windows ME as I said at the top. You both got me all excited then, thinking I could, but it's only for WMP XP!! So what next?? I have the latest allowed version of WMP which is 9 for Windows ME. I need SS3.4!!!! HELP!

You'll have to bear with me, but I'm not a techy so I don't know your acronymns!! SP?? DAP?? I have already updated windows recently so it's not that. Everything is already uninstalled relating to SS. Cheers, will try updating WMP tonight, but I don't see how this will make a difference because version 9 is newer than 7.1 but SS3.4 installation keeps stopping saying I need version 7.1 or newer! This makes no sense to me at all!

Getting really frustrated now! So I totally uninstalled SS3.3 using the sony instructions. Then downloaded full SS3.4 from the link above. Tried to install and it keeps stopping saying I need windows media player v7.1 or newer. I have version 9!!!! Why can't I install this god damn program!!?? How hard can it be. Incidently the link to the sister forum was also causing probs. Everytime I tried to load a page, it kept trying to download something which I don't know what it is! It's called xpladv598.wmf and a pop up box appears on my screen with loads of ????????????????????????????????? in it. What's that all about? Help, I now have no version of SS.

Hi, I have SS3.3 and tried to upgrade to SS3.4 however I can't get it to download at all. The instruction on the Sony europe site says: 1.Connect to the Internet. 2.Create the following folder on your C drive: ss34_dl. 3.Click Accept at the bottom of this page to start download. 4.Click Save, and select the following folder: c:\ss34_dl. 5.After the download is completed, go to c:\ss34_dl and check that the downloaded file (SonicStageInstaller.exe) is 788 Kb. If the file size is different, download the file again. So I create the folder but when I 'accept' and download the file I don't get the option to save it, just 'run' it (real download). So I went into 'my downloads' and tried to move the exe file into ss34_dl but it won't let me! If I copy it, it lets me, but the file changes to 787Kb. If I double click on the file stored in 'my downloads', it starts to do something but just hangs and doesn't connect to sony. If I double click on the file I moved to ss34_dl, nothing happens. Anyone know how the hell I can download SS3.4??? I have Windows ME for my sins! Which is compatible. SS3.3 downloaded and worked for me.

Ascariss & Stuge Thank you both for all your help. Having taken your advice and changed the codec found in SYSTEM not SYSTEM32 on my pc (for anyone else who has this problem) and sacked off Sony's suggestion, it has worked. I've so far tried a few mp3s that I know sounded really bad, and they sound spot on now. I can't believe such a tiny thing as three letters in an extension could cause so much hassle! Does the sony team read this forum?? Perhaps they should take this advice to offer future customers who have this problem! Out of interest, do you know how or why this happened? Did downloading SS3.3 change the codec name?

Would you believe it! I just got a reply from Sony. Interestingly they suggest something different: "To try and resolve the problem you are experiencing with the SonicStage software please can you do the following; *** Please note that these steps will create a new SonicStage database, which will mean that any existing tracks will be deleted from the Sonic Stage database. Therefore you may wish to backup your existing database using the SonicStage backup tool before proceeding. *** * Uninstall the SonicStage components, ([sonicStage], [OpenMG Limited Patch] and [OpenMG Secure Module]), using the [Add/Remove Programs] utility in the [Control Panel]. * Start [Windows Explorer] * Click on the [Tools] menu and select [Folder Options]. Click on the [View] tab. * In the [Advanced settings:] section select the option to [show hidden files and folders] or [show all files and folders]. * Click on the [Apply] and [Ok] buttons. * Delete the following folders; * C:\Program Files\Sony\SonicStage. * C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\OpenMG. * C:\Windows\Application data\Sony corporation\SonicStage and/or OpenMG Jukebox. * C:\Windows\SonicStage. Depending on previous installation options this folder may not have been created. * Close [Windows Explorer]. * Please note the following steps contain information about editing your registry. Editing the registry improperly can cause damage to the operating system. We would therefore recommended that the registry is backed up prior to making any modifications. For more information on backing up your registry please go to the following link, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/EN-US/ *** * Click on the [start] button and select [Run...]. In the dialog box type regedit and click on [Ok]. * Delete the following folders; * HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Sony Corporation/SonicStage. * HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Sony Corporation/OpenMG. * HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Sony Corporation/OpenMG Jukebox. * Close the [Regedit] window. * Restart your computer. * Download and install the latest version of the SonicStage software from www.connect-europe.com. * Import an MP3 file into [My Library] and transfer it out to your NW-E107. * If the track plays without distortion, restore your database backup, if necessary. If you have any queries please let us know." Ok, now I'm not sure what to do first!!! Codec Vs Sony suggestion? Can anyone tell me if what sony has suggested is just a fancy way of removing everything to do with their software from my pc then basically starting a fresh? I don't understand all the system registry side of things. Reason I ask is that when I download SS again, if it's a codec issue, it might just happen again. Perhaps I should try the codec renaming first?? Also, they suggest I download from connect-europe. Is this a different version of SonicStage? I initially got SS3.3 from sonydigital-link.

Superstar - Thanks for finding this, you have no idea how much I have been searching for help on this matter and coming up with ziltch! For your info, I did already try your suggestion of isolating some songs and used SS to convert to an atrac. But when importing these atrac files into SS3.3 the distorted sound was in the ATRAC file. I tried searching for a program outside of Sonicstage that would convert mp3 to ATRAC so I could do that and import the converted files into SS, but I couldn't find any programmes that convert mp3s to ATRAC other than SS!! (I guess this is due to Sony and their copyrighting). Anyhow, I went to the other forum and found the thread you had found me and reading the issue that person had, it was exactly the same! I am not alone!!!! "I was using SS3.0 without any problems and i just go with SS3.3 When I play songs in it a horrible noisy song keep playing over the bass of the music. Even if the volume is down. I have no problems listen to my mp3 with iTunes,winamp,wmp. And the noisy sounds keep staying on the music when it is convert in ATRAC...I really do not understand." So I will try finding this codec and renaming it as it suggests. I assume that's all I have to do? Rename it. Do you think it will be the same for me as I'm a Windows ME user and he was a Windows XP user? Fingers crossed, I can't try this till later tonight as I'm at work and it's my home pc doing all this. I'll update on it so others will know if this works or not.

Ok, I really appreciate everyone trying to help me here but I think wires are getting crossed and the point is being missed! The E107 is the 1gb model, the ATRAC 48 sound absolutely great on it. The NWA3000 in order to fit a lot of songs on the ATRAC 64 sounds fine. Of course the higher bitrates sound better, but the 64 sounds good enough for the purposes of a walkman, the loss in quality is not really noticable. In saying this, this is totally irrelevent to the problem I am having. The problem I am having is nothing to do with converting mp3s to ATRAC. Or the quality of ATRACs To answer your questions above.. 1) I already have SS3.3 on my pc at the moment 2) My library currently has ATRAC files in it and these all play fine on my pc and transfer fine to my player and sound great. These have all been directly compressed to ATRAC directly from CDs in sonicstage. I don't see the point in deleting these as this is not the issue. 3) I already have the setting that says my files won't get changed to anything when transferred to my device. That's not what I'm trying to do. 4) I try to import mp3s from my hard drive into Sonic Stage using the 'import files' option. My settings are to import them as they are. Whether I choose to put them onto my device as mp3s or compress them is irrelevant. They import into my sonic stage library and once imported, playback really badly. These are mp3s NOT ATRACs, I haven't compressed them. So, I now have a bad sounding file in my Sonicstage library, which transfers onto my player badly and if I do compress it to ATRAC, it compresses it with the sound faults. These are the facts 1) I bought an E107 and installed my first ever sony software onto my pc which was sonicstage 3.0 2) I imported using the sonicstage 'import files' some mp3s into the sonicstage library. I listened to them as mp3s, all great. I converted the mp3s to ATRAC3plus and they still sounded great. They transferred onto my E107 without any probs and played fine 3) I upgraded my sonic stage 3.0 to 3.3 I cleared the library from all the old files I used to have (and deleted them off the pc forever). 4) I imported using the sonicstage 'import files' some mp3s into the sonicstage library. I played them in sonicstage, and they sounded terrible. These are normal 128 or 192 mp3 files which play absolutely spot on in WMP. 5) If I try to convert the mp3s to ATRAC is takes the bad sound with it. Therefore if I transfer the file onto my player, it also sounds awful when I listen to it on the player. 6) No matter how many times I've unistalled SS3.3 and reinstalled 3.0 or 3.3, each time I import mp3s into SS, they sound bad. Something has happened when I upgraded to SS3.3 because this is the root of where it all started and I need to fix this problem. My issue it not to do with sound quality of ATRACs, although I appeciate your opinion on which compression sounds best. Does anyone have any idea what I need to do?? Sony have still not got back to me! btw - I absolutely agree about Windows ME!! I am going to get a new pc in the new year with XP, but I need to get this pc running properly so I can put my mp3s onto my player. To do that, I have to be able to import them into SS without SS making them sound bad! Bad = distorted bass, popping, clicking, jumping, skipping, drum levels altered so too much in the foreground. Cowbell like drums. I hope this makes sense and perhaps you have some other suggestions?

well ok, but I did already try that and when I reinstalled version 3.0 from disc, the mp3s sounded bad in version 3.0. I can try this again as you've said but I fear it won't work again. Someone at work mentioned it might be something to do with dll files that version 3.3 put on my pc. Does this mean anything to you? He said that even though I did a system restore the dll files or things that SS3.3 put in my system registry wouldn't restore. I have no clue what I'd need to do about this. Any further ideas? I'm still waiting for Sony to get back to me, is it normal for them to keep customers waiting for ages Thanks for your replies btw

So what is the problem? I seem to be back to square one! Why can't I import mp3s into SS without them sounding awful??? Its the mp3 that sound awful, before they're converted to ATRAC. The mp3s play fine outside of SS. I can't put my mp3s (or converted MP3s) on my player as I have to go through SS. Help!