Obli

I'll quote myself, as according to the following, a normal 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable didn't work on my head unit (a 2 year old Pioneer, DEH-P5530MP) I guess it's worth a try. I'll give the cheap alternative a whirl, but in my case, I don't hold out much hope if the above quote is anything to go by. When I get around to it, I'll post my findings.

Yeah, it appears that manufacturers are cottoning on to our needs. I saw a new headunit with front mounted aux socket the other day... if only mine had one...!

nebs, have a look at this link - should be a cable there for your particular head unit: Car Audio Direct After calling my local Pioneer car audio dealer (well, the one a Pioneer site suggested), I was given a price of £69.99 for a Pioneer CD-RB10. I said "70 quid for a cable?!!"... "No Sir, it's not just a cable, it has a box"... wow, must be an amazing box of tricks... Anyway, sarcasm aside, the cable for £19.99 at the above site is still quite expensive (and strangely doesn't have the box) but does exactly the same thing as the £70 one. I also read a forum post somewhere random where a guy had attempted to plug his mp3 player in to a Pioneer head unit without one of these special cables (Pioneer use some special socket / plug - IP-BUS or something - for their head units) and he had sound, albeit only from the rear speakers, quiet and no amount of messing with the audio settings could resolve it. If you have a Pioneer, it sounds like you need one of these cables, and I would imagine the other big manufacturers (Sony, Kenwood, Alpine, JVC etc) need specific cables. The site above shows pictures of cables for all major head units and they all seem to have individual plugs one end of the cable for the socket on the back of a head unit. Hope this helps you.

Every time I start CONNECT, I get the following error (see link below to image): ***CONNECT startup error JPEG link*** It makes no difference if there's a disc in the drive (music or data) or not. I also get the same problem if there's no disc in the drive, whether or not the drive door is open or closed. Basically, the error message isn't making sense regardless of the situation. The software is up to date, firmware is up to date, I've never had a problem with my LG DVD-RW drive (it's only 2 - 3 months old), I've never had such an error like this before (apart from when starting CONNECT, of course), my PC exceeds requirements. I only have the one drive (the LG DVD-RW), no other virtual drives such as Daemon Tools etc. are installed. Any-one else get this? Any idea for a remedy to this problem? I just click cancel / continue to get rid of the error dialogue box, but it's annoying me!

It's done it again! Grrr! 20 tracks all given random albums (I wanted them to remain blank for their albums) I've reluctantly disabled Artist Link now... surely, the Artist Link feature should work regardless, and whether or not you want Connect to 'fiddle' with your music's data should be a seperate option - the two seem to be clumsily merged as one feature. SONY, WAKE UP!!!

Is there any software available that will convert Ogg Vorbis (.ogg) to MP3, ATRAC3/ATRAC3+ or even WMA? I have an old album in .ogg and Connect doesn't seem to like it! =D

Thanks for the rapid response! Must be designed that way then... =\ BTW, how come you have a 1000 & a 3000?

The PDF manual for my NW-A1000 states that the battery does not have a 'memory effect'... basically, it's lifespan / capacity isn't affected if you charge the battery when it's not empty. Therefore, I don't follow a charging ritual as such - if I'm going to be away from a mains socket for some time and the player is going to get a lot of use, I'll make sure the battery is topped up. I do prefer to charge the player with the mains adaptor plug... I think Sony have exagerated their battery life span quite a lot... notice how their tests are with the lowest quality ATRAC3+ (which I guess is hardly ever used and happens to be more efficient)... it'd be nice to know other test conditions, such as the volume Sony tested at, display option etc. Sorry, I don't think I helped!

The end of the USB cable that plugs in to the bottom my NW-A1000 feels very wonky. There's an awful lot of play 'up & down', but not side to side. It doesn't feel like it's going to come out and the release buttons need to be depressed to release it but the wobble is concerning me... it's as if I'd broken some connector mounts / joints internally... Anyone else have this movement with the plug when connected to your unit? Thanks for your time.

mrbdamien, AVLS is a different volume limiter. Even with AVLS off, some of us found the maximum volume (30) too quiet with certain tracks or certain headphones (larger 'phones are harder to drive). The volume hack (SP Set) allows you to further boost the maximum volume.

An example of Connect screwing up my editing: I have a CD: The Prodigy - Experience Expanded. The first CD is the original album Experience, the second CD a bunch of remixes. I renamed everything in Connect. For CD 1, I named the album 'Experience' for every track, and artist 'The Prodigy' for every track. For CD 2, I named the album 'Experience Expanded' for every track and artist 'The Prodigy' for every track. Connect has automatically altered what should be two albums under Album Artist 'The Prodigy' in my library. I named them Experience (12 tracks) and Experience Expanded (11 tracks). Instead of Album Artist > Album being The Prodigy > Experience and The Prodigy > Experience Expanded, I now have 4 albums under Album Artist The Prodigy: Experience (11 tracks), Experience: Expanded [disc 2] (10 tracks), Their Law (The Singles 1990 - 2005) [disc 1] (1 track) and The Prodigy Experience (1 track). Basically, it's taken one track from each of the two albums and found an alternative album name for them. I've manually changed the details for these tracks and they've returned to their correct, relevant album. I wonder if Connect will change them again... Is this just a case of turning off 'artist link'. Basically, I need to stop Connect from making alterations to albums / tracks details that I edit through properties myself. The Gracenote thing is fine for ripping from CDs, I'm referring to importing existing music from my HDD into the Library, spending ages editing all the track details so they're perfect for the player then having Connect rename some of the details that I have already explicity stated in Connect! Grr!

magmo, your link isn't working right for me =)

I have a fast, well maintained PC and I've never had it crash. It takes about 10-20 seconds to 'settle' when booted up (I mean, to become responsive and finish doing what it's got to do), probably double that if my NW-A1000 is plugged in. The program closes almost instantly for me but then I 'only' have about 325 songs in my library so far. The songs transfer from the library (once imported, takes milliseconds to import a track) to the player via USB very quickly (IMO) - about 1 second a song @ 192kbps. The Connect download store seems quite sluggish. For example, just scrolling the window can cause the display to freeze for a second or two (and this machine runs Quake 4 on high settings at 60FPS?! Heh). Also, there appears to be problems for me when I try to register for the Connect store. There are a few niggles. If you want to edit song details, for example change the album name on 12 tracks, you have to do each one individually! You can't select all relevant tracks and edit their properties (silly, hopefully to be addressed). I've also has Connect interfere and change the track details / names etc. without asking me although I suspect it's just a case of disabling one of the many options in preferences. Summary: Seems fast to transfer from PC to the player, bareable wait after launching Connect, ripping CDs was approx as fast as Windows Media Player (yes, I know - eurgh!) but that will depend on your CPU. Some usability aspects need changing which I'm sure will be dealt with. My experience with Connect wasn't quite as bad as all the backlash across the internet suggests, but the software does need improving (could be quicker, need to edit multiple tracks and clearer explanation as what all the options in preferences do because not all are self explanatory). I'm prepared to bare with the software atm as the player itself is fantastic - hooked it up to about £1000 of British hi-fi kit and it sounded brilliant.

Use RegSupreme.. only once did a registry clean-up have an after-affect (Visual Studio.NEt would not start) so I simply restored the last registry clean and all worked well again. I'd recommend RegSupreme.

The whole system is a mess! BTW, I live in the U.K. I got my purple registration card, went to the site (http://www.walkman.sony-europe.com/registration), entered the code... then it tells me that I must register with Sony first after submiting my serial no. I register with Sony then try to register my NW-A1000 but it says the code has already been used. On the Sony site, under my products is the NW-A1000 so some how it appears I've registered. I haven't received an email from Sony (my free Connect album download voucher). I can't even register myself for Connect in the (latest version of) the Connect software - the up-to-date CD version (.11170). When I click the 'register new user' button, nothing happens. I've tried using IE to register at this site too: http://www.connect-europe.com. Again, nothing happens! I'm starting to lose my patience with Sony... I have two questions (for Sony): Where's my email? Why can't I register with Connect?

Hi all, I'm new to the forums. Happy New Year to everyone! If you can't be bothered to read my babble, the question is right at the bottom, in a one line paragrapgh... =D I received a NW-A1000 for Christmas. Initially I was a little disappointed, mainly by the lack of volume (that's been fixed - thanks AtracLife - perfect!) and awkward Connect software - for these reasons, my NW-A1000 nearly went back to the shop... (I wonder how many did following Christmas?) Having fiddled about with Connect, it's starting to become more usable - I don't find it as slow as some people obviously do (I have a fairly well maintained, high-end PC though), and transferring music is very fast - approx. 1 track per second @192kbps doesn't seem slow to me guys, especially as it's via USB! To my problem: I've spent ages editing tracks in the way I would like them to be named, etc. It takes even longer when you can only edit one track at a time, rather than edit metafiles (is this the right terminology?) in groups (this sucks Sony, please sort this out). Now, Connect has interferred, tried to be clever and edited 50% of my tracks, what seems quite randomly (why it's edited some and not others, I don't know) changing artist names, albums, genres etc. How can I stop Connect from changing track / album details that I have already explicitly stated?