Obli

Hi all, I've just downloaded, installed and tested your plug-in. Thanks for your efforts, works great. What bitrate does ML_Sony encode the OMA (ATRAC) files in? Is it possible to change the bitrate? Thanks!

You can in SonicStage CP 4.0 - I just did. I selected two tracks, went to properties and changed the artist name. I could have changed other fields too.

I still haven't sorted out my library (apart from delete duplicate tracks from albums - it's in a right mess). Please does anyone have any ideas?

I asked pretty much the same question, in this thread about 10 days ago. No responses whatsoever. I have tried copying all contents from my NW-A1000 (in Connect) to the library, with varying results (in short, it doesn't seem to work - see the above thread) Seems ridiculous that I haven't been able to copy everything from the NW-A in to the Connect library.

No, thanks for the reply jrhughs, it's nice to hear comments from someone who actually owns both models. I haven't actually tried the PX-200s *gasp!* but after hearing your informative opinion, I may try them! What I should have said is "the Sennheiser PX-200s do (isolate outide noise) but I read on a random website review that sound quality suffers as a result (in comparison with the PX-100s)". Sorry about that This may be of interest (if you don't know this already); if you look at the links I supplied in my previous post, the frequency responses are quite different for both models.

Why do people use these 'buds'? Well, OK, so they're small, well hidden and light... but they all sound rubbish in comparison to bigger 'phones. I was very impressed with the Sennheiser PX-100s. They're larger, head-band style headphones but they sound great (fantastic through my hifi, great with the NW-A1000), they're comfortable, light, compact (they fold up in to a case) and are decent value for their performance. I picked up a pair for £29.99 (found them available in Argos) which appears cheaper than the RRP of the Sony MDR-EX71s. Only drawback of these headphones is that they don't isolate outside sound - the Sennheiser PX-200s do but sound quality suffers as a result. Sennheiser PX100s Sennheiser PX200s

Hi, The full sync option in Connect works fine and the device is updated accordingly whenever the Library is updated / changed. However, I've recently been using another PC with Connect. I've transferred extra tracks from the second Library (on the other PC) to my device and now I'd like my Library (on my PC) to be updated accordingly. Can this be done? I've messed up my Library as a result of experimentation - I selected all albums / tracks on my device and pasted in to my Library. I let it take it's time (overnight) and it appears to have messed up a few things: - Some duplicate tracks have been added. So one album for one artist has two of every track. - In the Library list (always sorted by Album Artist / Album), the Album Artist has been ignored, and some of the extra albums have been added to the top of the list with an Album Artist called "n Albums" (say '50'), although a few have correctly been sorted by Album Artist and Album (new Album Artist / Album entries have been made in the Library list). - Some albums that were part of the selection haven't appeared in the Library - no idea why they weren't copied, I gave the action enough time - overnight (6 hours) and my PC's hard drive has more than enough free space to cater for them. Good job my NW-A1000 hasn't been affected at all - I was worried that many albums would be removed from the device (as they weren't in the Library) as it was set to Full Sync. My library is now in a right mess! Full sync'ing the device with the Library works, but not vice versa - is that correct or have I just used the wrong method? Can I delete my entire Library in Connect (with 'manual sync' set on) and then copy all contents from my NW-A back in to the Library to start afresh? Any help or advice would be appreciated! Thanks! Regards, Obli

Nice work! This is useful information, thanks for sharing... I can't believe you're talking to yourself about this! I too have been ripping CDs in ATRAC format - it sounds better than MP3 at half the size and I don't have the luxury of masses of space (I have the NW-A1000 - 6Gb). In a way, I've been assuming other players such as WinAmp will play ATRAC files (or plugins will be available) and I'm hoping Sony don't decide to kill off ATRAC? Sony should be encouraging more 3rd party use of ATRAC. To me, ATRAC seems almost exclusive to Sony hardware and software. Are there any non-Sony portable music players that support ATRAC? I can't think of any. From what I know, ATRAC has been around for the same amount of time as MP3. Recent incarnations of ATRAC (ATRAC3plus), according to my own ears using a good hifi (yes, a real hifi, not 'midi' system!), using lineout with decent interconnects, sound superior to equivalent MP3 tracks at the lower bit-rates (64 / 96 / 128kbps). I've also seen the ATRAC vs MP3 'independant tests' and they back up my personal opinion. On the other hand, from what I gather (NW-A1000 is the first 'digital music player' I have owned), Sony had been forcing their ATRAC format on to users of their older hardware - now their hardware / software supports other digital music formats, this can only be a step in the right direction. However, I bet this isn't down to the 'generosity' of Sony but more to do with them conceededing and admitting they'd lost the battle. Sorry, going off topic here! On topic: I shall try WinAmp soon with .OMA / .OMG. Pleae keep us updated as I and I'm sure many others would find this information useful and/or interesting. As for the tags and video / audio WinAmp recognition thing, I haven't a clue, sorry!

Yes. When connected, my NW-A1000 shows up as a 'Removable Disk' in My Computer and I get the USB 'chime' when it's connected / disconnected. I often drag and drop files (documents / zips / rars) on to my NW-A1000, using My Computer, for use on other PCs. However, this doesn't work for music...

Dammit! I missed out ATRAC3plus 48kbps! Just say so if you use this =)

I'm interested to know what formats other NW-A series users use when ripping CD's - sorry to alienate owners of other players from the poll... The choice of format is based on the CD ripping options the Connect software offers (and Connect happens to be what I use, for convenience). As the NW-A series support WMA now, I've also included that although Connect cannot rip CDs in WMA format. I've included a choice of NW-A model. Users of the larger NW-A3000 may not feel they have to compromise the bit rate as they have the luxury of owning a player with three times the capacity. I own an NW-A1000 and as it's the smaller sibling, I rip CD's in ATRAC3plus 64kbps as I'm concerned about 'filling up' the NW-A1000 (I wanted the smaller model yet I don't want to run out of space!) and like the fact that it (ATRAC3plus @ 64kbps) sounds pretty decent to me (equivalent to MP3 @ 128kbps, so Sony's independent tests have proven). However, I'm worried about using a format that is supported only (?) by Sony products themselves. Thanks for your time. Please leave comments

I'm not entirely sure but doesn't Gracenote 'operate' (read this as 'change tags') on all files in the library (existing MP3's etc.) and not just on music ripped from a CD...? I'm pretty sure it does (and has to various tracks in my library) - any idea how I can fetch data for any album in my library, regardless of whether I've just ripped it from CD (or not) ? Also, what is 'metadata writes'? Is it making changes to the music file data (tags) ?

mrbdamien: Just out of interest, are you talking about the option Write metadata changes into files automatically (enabled / ticked by default), found in the 'Preference Window' Under the 'Library' tab? If so, changes to the library don't affect what's on the player, you say? Hmmm. SONY should give us an option so we can manually use Gracenote as and when we (the user) see fit. Just giving us the (vague) options that disable gracenotes automatic activities so that it doesn't mess our explicitly labelled tags up is just silly. So, what exactly do the following options do (found in the 'Preference Window' Under the 'Internet' tab) ? 1) 'Enable network features' 2) 'Enable Artist Link background service' I feel more confused than ever - it'd be nice if the software had tooltips to explain, or more detail within Connect's help...

You can change the layout / view of tracks both in the library and the library on the player.

Software development needs to be planned and designed carefully before any coding begins. In fact, the first step is analysing the user requirements before ensuring those requirements are nailed in the design of the software - even the first step hasn't been completed, as far as I am concerned (you'd have thought that 'drag & drop' functionality, and editing details of multiple tracks would be a basic customer requirement! In an iterative software development life-cycle, designs should be regularly challenged, improved and updated - they obviously screwed up / rushed some basic design principles with Connect and then attempted to implement (code) the flawed design. It pays to get the design right before starting coding, as otherwise you can spend far more time nd money scrapping and rewriting code afterwards, which it appears is what Sony will be doing - Connect sounds like it's in a right mess! If Sony believe it's quicker to bolt on NW-A features in to SS, the Connect software must need a massive overhaul. Such a program like Connect and SonicStage will be programmed in an object orientated manor and will consist of 'modules' (chunks of code that handle certain parts of the program). The code in Connect that handles ArtistLink / Top 100 etc. might be working 'OK-ish' - they might need to make some minor changes before integrating with SonicStage. It must be other aspects of the whole Connect program that require a rethink / re-writing, and that will take longer than adding NW-A1000 / 3000 features to SonicStage... and the main problems with Connect are not with the ArtistLink & other exclusive NW-A1000 / 3000 features, as far as I know. Forget fixing the minor issues first, what about the critical issues, such as the massive resourse usage which will bring even make a powerful PC grind to it's knees! I think Sony need to revise their software development practices!

You dropped a hard disk based device on to concrete twice, and only the buttons packed up (plus a few scratches, but that's what I'd realisticly expect - you should invest in a pouch / case) ? If the buttons still worked, would the player function as normal? If so, I'd say that was pretty good. I guess the 3rd drop on to carpet was the final straw that snapped the camel's back. Yeah, the Creative sounds solid, but it is a bit of brick and maybe you got lucky / unlucky with the Creative / Sony.

Much more 'Manly' =)

May I add (I have played them on my brother's PSP) Everybody's Golf / Hot Shots Golf, Virtua Tennis, World Championship Snooker and TOCA Race Driver, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Ridge Racers. OK, all sport / racing but good games and not scraping the barrel =) edit: added Need for Speed: Most Wanted

I have a NW-A1000 too (nowhere near full yet). So, does anyone know if this additional information can be removed, or can tracks be added without all / some of that stuff? 1GB of info? That sucks if it's true! Sounds ridiculously large - are you sure? Heck, source code for a few hundred line program only takes up a few KBs, let alone MBs or GBs!

1) In my experience the battery life for my NW-A1000 isn't as good as Sony claim. Search the forums though - tests have been done on battery life (might be the NW-A1000). ATRAC format apparently improves battery life. Battery life depends on file format playing, bit-rate, volume, screen / display settings (screensaver off etc). I have no idea what test parameters Sony have based their claims on, but I guess volume would be low and low bit-rate, ATRAC format a definite. I bet the unit is running under optimum environment temperatures etc. Don't let me put you off, I have no complaints about my battery life, but having listened usually at 70% volume, it doesn't seem like the claimed 20 hours in my case (I say seem as I haven't conducted tests of my own). I use a mixture of file formats, bit-rates etc. and I haven't adjusted display settings (so I have the screensaver on). However, battery life seems good enough imo, and the NW-A3000 has a battery life of nearly twice as much as the 1000. 2) You can choose to add a number of tracks, individually to 1 of 10 default bookmarks, on the fly (no idea of the capacity of one bookmark). Quite a number of preset icons can be chosen to represent tracks from a particular bookmark. I haven't tried adding whole albums / artists to a bookmark on the fly. I guess to rename a bookmark (if you can), you'd do that in the Connect software on your PC, unless bookmarks are just on-the-fly simple playlists that can't be changed (actually, this might be the case - in Connect, I have bookmarks and playlists as seperate categories under NW-A1000). I would imagine that firmware updates to change the bookmark system would be possible. 3) The player feels solid and weighty. The back is metal, I guess aluminium. I'm careful with my stuff so I don't intend on doing a drop-test! =D Only niggle for me is that between the right arrow on the pad and the option button, if I press the facia there, it creaks a little. No visible movement, no dust, no gaps. Not sure if these problems are related more commonly with 1000 or 3000. I'd recommend going to check out the player yourself, maybe at a Sony Centre. If you think the player's too quiet on max volume (30), there's a guide on this forum to unlock a built in volume limiter (governed by a French law that affects all European models) which gives the player that extra bit of volume you need at times! I'd avoid letting the Sony salesman know that though =) Overall, I'm really happy with the player. Sound quality is excellent, perhaps lacking a little bass even after equalizer adjustment (could be slightly down to my headphones though - Sennheiser PX100's, highly recommended!) and it's a nice player to use with some nice features. Quite often tasks I've wanted to do have been intuitive, a case of trying it. The software is poor, but for me it's stable and doesn't seem to slow (once it's started - takes 10 seconds to settle). I expect what with all the backlash Sony must be getting from customers, and now the media, they should be on the case to sort out the Connect software. Right now, for me, it's just usable, just little niggles like editing groups of tracks that can't be done bother me. Ripping, converting and transferring files to the player seem to work at a good speed in my opinion. Transfer speeds especially surprised me. I'd recommend a 1000 or 3000. Just be prepared to put up with the software for the time being or resort to using SonicStage and live without some of the (more 'gimmicky') features, like Artist Link. Let us know what you decide to do!

Hi, In the Connect software, go to 'Tools', then 'Preferences'. In the Preference Window, click on 'File Formats' (under NW-A1000). There's an option called 'Use preferred file format when' - set that to 'Only convert non-supported content'. I guess the problem you have is that this option is set to 'Convert all content to this format', which would convert all file formats to whatever format 'Preferred file format on device' is set to (ATRAC, in your case). Hope this helps (but I bet you've already sorted it yourself!)

nebs: What is your head unit? What do you mean by a front-mounted aux? Thanks for responding with the good news. I have a 2 year old pioneer with an 'aux' socket at the rear... although, I don't know what an 'aux' socket is (3.5mm socket?) !

I'm just guessing here and I'm not too experienced with my NW-A1000 or Connect yet... Maybe it gets slower (loading up Connect) etc. the more songd are on the device... in the background (artist link & network features), it must be checking your library, updating track data, updating top 100, artist link etc. and this would take longer the more data there is to go through... maybe

Sony had better be doing something to improve the Connect software (speed, stability, userability) - do they not value customer loyalty, because I may (and many others may) think twice about purchasing Sony products in the future!

I don't have the gap that you talk about, but on my NW-A1000, if a gently press the area between the > button and the option button (roughly about central on the front of the player), it makes a creaking sound... doesn't do it anywhere else - as a man who appreciates build quality, this is really annoying! =) Is this what you are talking about? Anyone else got this?