pata2001

Well, the Audio T-board was originally Minidisc T-board, so maybe Atraclife will become codeclife? Or AAClife?

Simpler is about usability and user friendliness, because most people want to actually use the product they just bought.

Talk about smudges and scratches!

First of all, you cannot just copy/paste your library to back it up. You have to use the backup tool within sonicstage. You cannot transfer back any music from Sony Network walkmen back to your PC either. The problem you're having is because your old library form SS2.3 is DRMed, so it won't be usable anymore, even if you re-install 2.3. Welcome to the world of Sony. Unfortunately at this point, you have to re-rip you music again (make sure you uncheck the copy protection checkbox if you rip to Atrac).

As long as Sony Pictures and Sony Music execs calling the shots, history will repeat itself, and Sony will highly likely to miss the boat again, just as they missed the MP3 boat.

1. this is a problem if you use US version of Sonicstage. Why? It seems that Sony USA is so paranoid that people will share music that they lock their Atrac Devices (excluding MD, PSP, and older network walkmen) to a single version of sonicstage. From user comments, Asia Pacific and Japan version of Sonicstage doesn't have this problem. Dunno about Europe. 2. You can try using Sonicstage Asia Pacific version, but you probably have to re-format your player anyway. So bite the bullet and re-rip your music. You cannot transfer music from your player to your PC. For future reference, NEVER use Sonicstage US version unless you must have Connect store. Asia Pacific version of Sonicstage doesn't seem to have this problem when you upgrade. If you have to use US version of Sonicstage, do NOT delete the music from your PC unless you already make a proper backup using the backup tool (not just copy and paste the library folder), and if you rip to Atrac, uncheck the copy protection checkbox. You may suck at computer stuff, but Sony sucks more in not being able to make a user friendly software.

Applocale is programmed for xp/2k3 server only in the first place, so don't expect it to just work under vista. There are conflicting comments whether it works under vista or not. First, make sure you have the right permission (as admin) in vista. 1 simple google search reveals 1 user's suggestion to install it under an elevated command prompt (running command prompt as administrator). I don't have vista so I cannot verify this, but if it works, then maybe the admin can add this info as part of the sticky-how-to-enable-kanji thread. Blame it on Sony that cannot even make SS unicode.

It is recommended to use the "safely remove hardware" feature for ANY USB mass storage devices. However, if you know that there are no data transfer going on (the E00x OLED screen will display the battery charging), then it should be OK to just hot-unplug it. And speaking of iPods, if you set the iPod NOT for disk use, it will automatically "eject" itself once you done syncing/transferring music in iTunes (you only see the "Do not disconnect" screen during music transfer/syncing).

Welcome to the world of Sony. Try using Asia Pacific version of Sonicstage, no guarantee though. You might have to bite the bullet and re-transfer all the tracks. Again, welcome to the world of Sony.

As Damage said (also indicated in the manual), when you're playing MP3/AtracCD, G-protection setting is ignored. G-protection is only used when you're playing standard AudioCD, and I find even at setting 1, my NE20 hardly ever skips, unless if you're running/jogging. There's no way to turn G-protection "off," but I assume setting number 1 is "off" in terms that it doesn't compress the music.

For PCDPs, it is very common for the battery indicator to display less charge when the CD is spinning, since it is drawing more power. On my NE20 and various other MP3 PCDPs, I notice that the battery meter sometimes increases later on when the unit stops spinning the CD and playing the tracks from its buffer.

I'm afraid there's not much you can do. I think the no-initialization "feature" in Asia Pacific versions of Sonicstage works IF the previous version of SS you use is Asia Pacific too. If you're going from a different region (eg: US), it might still ask for re-initialization. As a general advice, if you have a DAP that requires a software to transfer music, DO NOT delete your music on the PC. At least back them up somewhere.

Tracks from iTunes music store has been in protected AAC format since the beginning.

Buy a CD-RW, burn the iTunes track to AudioCD, re-rip the CD to MP3/Atrac, erase the CD-RW, repeat as neccessary. Sound quality is degraded, but most people won't hear the difference anyway. 2nd suggestion, get an iPod, and you'll enjoy better integration with iTunes, gapless playback (MP3 and AAC), and unicode.

LOL Movies encoded for PSP cannot be played? I dunno, but videos encoded for PSP are playable on 5G iPods, so it doesn't make sense, unless Sony is doing somekind of restriction again.

For AtracCD? The only other software that can burn AtracCD is the old SS simple burner, which was only bundled with the 1st gen AtracCD PCDPs, and didn't support HiSP.

If you think video playback on the A800 is WOW, maybe you haven't seen/used Cowon A2 yet (which was released in 2005, mind you). Cowon A2 has higher res screen (480x272), and support most divx/xvid playback without transcoding. Upcoming Cowon A3 will support .mkv files. Transcoding videos is a waste of time and definitely not user friendly.

Volume cap in Europe is a LAW. I don't think Sony is going to break the law.

Yes, they lied. If you check Sonystyle website frequently, you'll see errors in specifications very common. 1st line of tech support/customer service are usually not very knowledgable, and only depends on manuals/theiy own website for info.

Yeah, Cowon products are very nice in terms of features. Alas, they lack gapless playback capability. Good choice.

The E407 is USB 1.1 only, period. The word "compatible with USB2.0" just means that you can use a USB1.1 devices with USB2.0 ports, but the speed is still USB1.1.

With so many bruhaha on the new NW-A800, people seems to be forgetting the new NW-E01x. Even Atraclife doesn't post this one on the blog (yet). http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.act...Network+Walkman IMO, these are really sleek. 3 line OLED, clear bass & clear stereo, definitely an improvement from the E00x series. If Sony can sell these with the same pricing as the E00x series (cheaper than iPod nano), these might sell. Of course, there is still sonicstage, but these things are simply sleek. Unfortunately, Sony might push the A800 instead, and forget the sleeker "low-ender." Not only the A800 is expensive, it even copies the nano odd design choice of having the headphone port on the bottom.

PS3 recognizes USB mass storage devices. iPods ARE USB mass storage compliant, and unlike HiMD/MD, music are stored in iPods as plain MP3 files (albeit with randomized filenames and random folders). This means the PS3 can simply read the MP3s as is. I mean, the PS3 simply reads the iPod as a USB hard drive. Now, on HiMD/MD, MP3s and Atrac files are stored differently, not jsut as plain MP3s. So even though most Sony devices are USB mass storage compliant, the PS3 won't be able to read the music files since they are not stored as standard MP3s. navsimpson is right. MP3s on iPods are not "wrapped," unlike Sony's.

I have to say the E01x look really sleek. By their looks alone, they are definitely an iPod shuffle killer. Some people might see them as lipsticks though. Glad that clear stereo and clear bass now standard on the low ends. The A80x are meh. I mean c'mon, this is 2007, not 2005. Screen res is only 320x240, video support likely to be as limited as the PSP. Plus, there is still sonicstage (not unicode). I wonder how video transfer is going to be done. Let's see how long will these come to the US, and which color. My guess is the white+black only, released in July 07.

I guess I got the right prototype photo My mockup: