pata2001

Cowon A3. Let's face it, even Apple (let alone Sony) and other manufactures still have not caught up with the Cowon A2 for a PMP, which was released 2 years ago.

Yep, welcome to Sony. Sonicstage is not unicode. And yeah, so you cannot have both French and Japanese to be displayed correctly at once. One or the other.

Nah, that's the low-end/cheap low capacity version. This is the real deal 100GB version, incorporating a touch screen controls. Unfortunately, no "Hyper clock up" accessory available (that accessory is exclusive for the 2010 model). However, to allow extended playtime on the go, this version has a feature called "Start up." At the top on the unit near the Sony logo, there is a small wheel inside. You can spin this wheel to charge internal battery. Spinning the wheel for 2 minutes will give you 20 minutes of video playback.* *Disclaimer: Spinning the wheel and shouting "Start up!" will not transform you into Boukenger.

Sony is already prepared for a 2nd gen video walkman, estimated release date in 2010. Here's another prototype photo, somewhat similar to a competitor's product. Sony has been plaqued by slow delivery of announced products, so this 2nd gen walkman will be equipped with a "Hyper clock up" accessory, enabling the user to fast forward through time if they are not patient enough to wait for future Sony products. * *Sony is not responsible for any side effects due to time travel.

Man, Apple didn't say anything, and people came up with all sorts of photoshopped iPods, and we don't even have any pictures for Sony's new video walkman? Well, I managed to find 1 top secret prototype photo of this rumored new video walkman. Behold! Sony was even kind enough to show my favorite new series, Kamen Rider Den-O.

Dunno if anybody notice this, but the D-DNE830 is listed at Sony UK. http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.act...=PAW+CD+Walkman So at least the D-NE830 is not JP exclusive anymore. With the focus on DAP, nobody will care anyway...

I don't think it's a good idea to block outside noise while walking outside. Anyway, you can purchase a standalone ear/headphones with noise cancelling circuitry. Probably cheaper than buying the NW-S7xx just for that specific purpose.

1. Install Service pack 2 (SP2) for winXP for security sake. 2. What kind of music you're importing? SS can be finicky on certain types of badly encoded MP3s. 1 thing you can try is to decode the problematic file to WAV, and import the WAV file to SS.

Sony already has a PMP with great potential, the PSP. Yet, Sony neutered its video resolution support for non-UMD videos, and restrict the codec support for specific video/audio bitrate. What a waste, considering the PSP has better and larger screen than the competitors, especially during its release. Cowon A3 (rumored to support APE losless, OGM/MKV containers) will mop the floor with whatever video walkman Sony can announce. Even the Cowon A2 will probably beat whatever Sony had in mind in terms of codec support.

That's probably the best way to go. At least HiSP (Atrac3+ 256kbps) is supported in all Atrac3+ supporting devices (AtracCD, HiMD, etc). It is one of the first Atrac3+ bitrates to be released, so support for it is better than other bitrates. If you want broader compatibility with other Atrac devices (NetMD, older Network Walkmen), then use Atrac3 132kbps (LP2).

No help from the fanboys? Try using Sonicstage to initialize the player. Never format the player under windows explorer or any formatting utility. Also, you have to use Sonicstage to transfer music to be playable on sony Network Walkman. you cannot just drag-n-drop.

The least Sony can do is to allow their Atrac players to at least support the same bitrates. Talk about confusion, one can rip to Atrac using Sonicstage to various bitrate, but later find out their Atrac players can only support specific bitrates. Example: AtracCD (only support HiSP, HiLP, and 48kbps for Atrac3+), HiMD, some older network walkman, etc. Imagine if you buy an MP3 player, but it can only play 160kbps and 256kbps MP3 CBR, nothing else. Sony doesn't even want to enable all Atrac3+ bitrates for AtracCD, although it is highly probable that current AtracCD units support other bitrates of Atrac3+ (example, 1st gen AtracCD PCDP play HiSP tracks just fine). I mean, isn't it sad that Sony cannot even create a uniform/standardized support of their own propietary format? Let alone expectations on their software, other codec support, etc. Sony Ericsson is smart enough to stay away from Atrac and sonicstage (there are more favorable opinions for SE phones vs Sony audio only walkmen). Oh well, at least Sony is embracing HE-AAC, although I wish Sony is more quick and firm in releasing HE-AAC supporting devices.

bcass: Your problem is hiss. In order to minimize that, you need to find an earbud that has a little bit higher impedance, but not so high that your HD3 cannot drive it. The EX90 and Shure E2C have 16ohm impedance, which means they might exhibit the hiss the you describe, simply because they are very efficient. You might want to get something with higher impedance like the Shure E3c or Ety Er4P. Unfortunately, many earbuds have low impedance, because most portables have weak output. Another thing is maybe the HD3 output itself is noisy. I don't have the HD3, so I cannot verify this.

:D Welcome to the world of Sony. Read my sig. Until Sony embraces unicode and get rid all the silly regioning codes on their devices (in registry and firmware), nothing will change. Funny that there is not much help on this from those that claim there is no problem with Sonicstage, or those that claim Sony is the best. SkyInTheSea: Please describe in more detail how it "doesn't work." Does the unit only shows question marks "???"? Or does it show garbage characters?

Why did you format it in the first place? all the music is gone now from the player.

Did sony even had any interest in Walkman Video? They don't even care about their portable audio products anymore (lack of accessories, many accessories only available in Japan). Sony probably thinks they can get more profit from other stuff other than portable audio/video. The main goal for sir Howard right now is profit, period, not pleasing the users. I think they are trying to get profit form PS3 and bluray first as top priority.

Nope, you cannot just "chip" a plain DVD player to play Divx. It's not that simple, unless you're an advance engineer having access to the electronics components. Sony does have many Divx supporting DVD players, alebit none of them are released in the US. (see my sig). Compatibility remains a big hurdle for stand-alone DVD players. There is simply no device yet out there that can play ANY divx/Xvid files. Many of them have restrictions in bitrates, no QPEL/GMC support, problems with VBR MP3, etc. Best bet is to just buy a small/mini PC and connect it to your TV.

Welcome to the world of Sony.

1. I doubt it. Most video converter software cannot rip directly from commercial protected DVDs because it's illegal. You have to use other software ripper like DVDdecrypter. 2. Most official downloadable PSP games are demos, not full version of the games. As far as I know, although there are some ISO dumps of UMD games, I haven't seen anybody manage to pirate PSP games.

For ripping, my vote is for EAC. Here is the complete guide to configure Lame with EAC: http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=EAC_and_Lame

It's called impedance. Low impedance ear/headphones mean efficient headphones that don't need a lot of power to drive them (eg. portable players). However, getting a high-impedance ear/headphone means you have to give more power (increase volume) to drive them. Some portable players have problem with this if the headphone output is not powerful enough.

With the shrinking marketshare of PCDPs, I don't think Sony will release anymore PCDPs. Maybe only some plastic low-enders, but Sony didn't even release any NE930/NE30 other than the NE830 in Japan.

It is not uncommon for Sony to post wrong specs/info on their websites.

Lame MP3. All you need to know is here.

Why? Even though you see higher CPU usage, do you see any slowdowns? If not, the CPU can still handle the job just fine. Personally, I'm not wasting money on new PC just because I see my CPU usage jumps.