auvi_joe

A few shots from my poor little cellphone today:

Where was this at? Are there places(I mean facilities) in India for Snow Skiing(Alpine Skiing)? Remember now... I am still in San Francisco, right next door to Holland.

Barnum, I like your yellow flower (lily?) pic. Ground up angle gives good back-lighting and brought out the textures with the glow. You motivated me to re-crop my white tulip posted earlier to bring out more textures. As for HDR, I use just photoshop to blend exposure. I find it quicker in photoshop sometimes.

Nice... More than two people then it is a party. Taken a few months back in San Francisco - a few shots of Chin artists hard at work to save some remote villages at Mizoram(Chin) Mautam Famine Relief Concert.

Thanks Abhinav! Just testing the waters here. Surely there are others who take photos every now and then around here as well? One more shot...

Mind if I play too? Windmill - Taken today at Golden Gate Park(San Francisco)

Sure Alarm clock Main Menu>Settings>Clock Settings>Timer Setting>Playback Start Poweroff Timer Main Menu>Settings>Clock Settings>Power Off Timer put me to sleep and wake me up very nicely.....

Hey TBR, I can't beat u in terms of no. of Vaio Pockets but I've got two......(one is still brand spanking new in box). It makes lovely hotel room alarm clock/timer-sleep music box, I sometimes wish my red HD5 also could. Go VGF-AP1L!

Are you experiencing this problem with wire remote in use(plugged in)? Remote button in press-and-hold position will switch off the VaioPocket. Possible that remote plugged into the player is not seated properly(therefore remote pins are shorting out)? Possible that one of your your remote button is becoming sticky? I had a Sony MD remote that took up(soak up) too much sweat while running with it for some time. Started to do all sort of things while MD is in operation. If I remove the remote and plug in the headphone directly to the unit then all problems went away. As soon as defective remote is plugged back in, then back to its mysterious ways. Ended up replacing that remote. From then on I learn to keep my remotes nice and clean(and dry). Just a thought.

Yup. I noticed this as well when very very quiet and powered down and placed the unit next to the ear. I believe this is also the same source of hum heard through the headphones after VP has been powered down. Not too bothersome to me but I acknowledge that it is there. I usually have the VP in the cradle when not in use so small powerdrain is not a big issue for me either.

I have been looking into USBOTG capable music containers (ever since they started to come on the market) to use with my Canon cameras and it is a fairly well known fact that the Canons are not made to be USB mass storage compliant and therefore will not connect with USBOTG devices directly. I am also able to use a cheap USB 1.1 CF reader(SIIG) and VP(Vaio Pocket) can copy from my CF type I and II memory cards/micro drives through the reader. But keep in mind that USBOTG standard will allow data transfer rates only within the spec. of USB 1.1, even if you were to successfully connect your VP to a USB 2.0 reader. I also have a few Sony cameras(some USB2.0, some USB1.1) and all connect fine to the VP but only transfer at USB1.1 spec. max through-put. I also have 4gig microdrive CF cards that I would not dare to empty out to the VP when filled to the max 4 gig capacity even though it is connectable, while on the road. Maximum of about 1Gig of data from CF(or camera) is all that I care to transfer to Vaio Pocket at one given time, I may end up doing this a few time through out the day if I've been out for a long day. Any more than 1gig will really test the limits of the Li-ion battery in the VP or your patience, which ever runs out first. Whenever I try to transfer 1gig of data to my VP through my camera or card-reader is the time for a nice 20-30 min coffee break.

It is doing a trickle charge which is a safety mechanism that prevents batteries from being overcharged(signs of a well designed battery charger). It should do absolutely no harm to your battery.

Well on their web page, it says this at this very moment: Part #: VGF-AP1L-40 Warranty: 1 Year Factory Condition: New Packaging: Retail Package Ship Weight: 2.5 lbs Manufacturer: Sony MFG Part #: VGF-AP1L Supported By: Sony Availability: In Stock And Ready To Ship!

Computer geek(on the list above) is the cheapest at $237.99 + Tax + Shipping.

I use it when on the go as I rather not fumble with the main unit as it is tucked away in a protective neoprene pouch. I find the remote a little bulky but very informative and responsive. I would rather not use another remote if all nevigation options and information displayed are not fully available on it even if it is more streamlined.

Funny. I am just about to go out for a 10k run with my MD, you can say I am about to cheat on my VP. Shhhhhhhh...... Don't tell her please

I don't know how many of you seen this but here is a guy who disected his 40gig VP and its cradle.... Those of you with a weak heart condition, please stay away from these photos. Photos are on a very slow link but very detailed. Here is the link.... dapreview article link to photos

Welcome to ALC Tamim. The Skins came with new firmware. They are nothing to really write home about, just gives additional color scheme to the screen and the background. As for customizing the screen, it may be possible but I don't recall seeing any documentation from sony regarding this possibility. There is a "VAIO_Skin" folder which was created by the player so this may be the place where custom skins will go. I have not played around with it much so afraid can't be too helpful yet on this. Take a look at this link to see a little more on what this added skin feature is like. Silicon Pop Culture link

Hot pocket... More like hot and heavy pocket.... That thing is solid like a brick(not too big, just heavy for it's size). I can feel every gig of its 40 gig when in the pocket, and that's before loading up with some heavy metal music...

Got my both hands up. Interested in this device since Ishi did a preview some time last year on T-board. Tried it in store. Was not sure about Photo USB-OTG capabilities plus Sony's commitment to its firmware and SS software developments. Plus too pricey at $400+ tag for untested product then. Now at 6+ months later, it is all looking better and took the plunge and been very happy with Photo and music capability of this little box. There are lots of room for improvement in photo and accessories (and software)dept. but it is a very capable package as is. I use it in the car (hooked to car stereo), at home(hooked to home stereo or with larger headphones), at the office desk, sometimes in the park, at the beach with more portable smaller headphones(KSC35, KSC75, MDR888, Sharp-heisers, Shure E2). I don't use it much in the gym and on the track for running, biking where impact is heavy. My Sharp MD players are very nice for those activities. I am also known to use my Dell Axim X50v for music at the office. I am using SS3.1 with latest firmware on a W2k desktop and a XP home notebook. Have some MP3 albums with various bit rates(VBR, CBR mixed) but mostly using ATRAC3+ @256kbps. I have it loaded with about 20+ albums so far and I have barely scratched its 40gig space capacity! I am sure certain white colored _pod's are very hip to be seen with and all but this little Vaio Pocket is a little known wonder that fits the bill for me. Big thumbs up!

Windows 2000 with latest service pack(sp4) also works very nicely with SonicStage 3.1 for me(and hopefully with 3.2). If you were to setup and use SS 3.1 on Windows ME machine, I would at least do a OS partition backup as a pre-caution before starting to lay down all the necessary components and SS3.1 itself. Worse case, you can revert back to old(previous) state and minimize downtime.

Sure thing. Muddy sounds too negative, EX71's are very good for certain type of music listening. Portable headphones with small footprint are full of compromises though. At about 50 bucks, Shure E2's are excellent isolation headphones. I would say E2's are definitely a step above EX71's. Better fit-and-finish, better isolation and sounds great with proper equalization. Sounds very nice on Vaio Pocket IMHO. And yeah.... I am still waiting to see chenfufur's pic with Vaio Pocket in her lovely tote. I think it will complement Ishi's Vaio Pocket pictorial great deal here.

Luke....... Learn to trust your ears...... You don't need others to tell you what should sound good to you...... or something along those lines is what I heard in some blockbuster movies

People have love-hate relations with these EX71's. I have a set of EX71 in black. EX71's are very bass heavy and suitable as a party headphone, if you want balance and accruacy EX71's are NOT it. They are very comfortable to wear once you find the right size gaskets(Sony gives you 3 sizes in the box) and provide some isolation. Isolation is not very tight in noisy situations like airplanes and subways trips, they may be ok in moderately noisy situation or like in quiet library where you don't want others to hear your music. They are not the most sensitive headphones either especially with portables with modest amp output(like man of today's MD players and small HD units such as Vaio Pocket), I usually have to push the volume 5-10 clicks higher than usual. In noisy situations, I find myself wanting more volume even after I have maxed out on the player. Not so with my other isolation cans like Shure E2. A few years back, Sony EX7x line was the only decent affordable isolation phones but today there are other alternatives from Sharp( Creative Labs), Panasonic and Shure. I personally would not spend more than $20-25 (new) for these EX71s but this may be just me.