pata2001

Simple, conflict of interest. If Sony uncap the resolution cap, then there will be less and less incentive for people to buy the already not selling UMD videos (plus the fact flash memory, including memory sticks are getting cheaper and cheaper). Sony Pictures execs would start whinning to the Playstation team, and can potentially ruin the PSP, just like what the music industry execs did to Walkman.

Nope, no crossfading. It's true gapless, at least with Lame MP3 and iTunes7's AAC. How do I know? Because I have a 5G iPod, and I have tested gapless playback on it. I have to disagree. Sony's implementation of Atrac loss/useless is completely flawed. The idea of losless is to keep the original quality at less space, and then you can transcode it to any bitrate you want. With Atrac useless, you cannot do this. Everytime you transcode to another bitrate, instead of using the lossless file, Sonicstage transcode the lossy file, which doesn't make any sense at all. So if you ripped your CDs to Atrac lossless+64kbps, you're screwed, since any transcoding you do will always be 64kbps quality or worse.

As I've said many times, until Sony cut their music industry arm off, there will be no real competing DAP from Sony anytime soon. For high capacity players, yeah, I think sony is pretty much out. Other manufactures are moving to flash memory, and Sony still stuck with HDD even for their 8GB player. Sony does still compete in the small cheap flash players with the E00x. The 2GB E005 is still cheaper than 2GB nano2. Not only hardware, Sony is way behind in the software department. Sure, SS CP4.0 is much better than previous Sonicstages, but simple things like unicode is not even there. As for iRiver, IMO they're dead too. Their latest smallest DAP only has a battery life of 8 hour. iRiver will be just like other Asian DAP menufactures, flashy device, but lack real usability. Zune? Nah, they're just re-branded Toshiba Gigabeat. Late in the market? Yes. Useful features? No. The only way it can sell is if MS sells it really cheap. See the trend? Most Asian companies now are just making small flash-based players. None of them (including iRiver) seems to design a new high capacity DAP. The least they can do is to pay attention to battery life and gapless, but some of them still missed those. Even worse, more and more are becoming MTP device, which only work with WinXP. We'll see.

Sonicstage doesn't support monkey audio. There are reports that it support WMA lossless, so if you need a lossless codec, that's 1 to consider. However, doing that might break gapless, ie. transcoded tracks might not be gapless anymore. Before, Sony+Atrac is the only option for gapless. Today, new iPods support gapless playback with plain MP3s. Something to consider if you're tired of dealing with Sony and Sonicstage.

Well, that is due to EU regulation, so you can't really blame sony for it. Blame your government. Sony is just following the regulation to sell their players legally. I think it will be dangerous if you jog and cannot hear your surroundings. If you're really concerned with outside noise, get canalphones instead since they block outside noise better than regular earbuds.

Doesn't it scroll automatically?

Well, you are lucky enough to miss the transition from OpenMG jukebox through SS1.x, 2.x, and 3.x. Many people that has been put through misery by older version of SS won't be as trustful with SS. Wait till you need upgrade SS, and see if it forces you to intialize your device or not.

1. Sonicstage will transcode the lossy version, which is in this case, the 352kbps one, not the lossless part. This is why I consider Atrac losless as Atrac useless. It is only usable within Sonicstage. Might as well just rip your music to the desired transfer bitrate. 2. As long as you disable copy protection on the tracks you rip, this should be doable. Just to save you from any potential problems, unless you need gapless on Sony devices, I would stick with MP3, and not use Atrac.

Pricing also depends on taxes and import duties. Compared to some countries, US taxation on imported goods are quite relaxed, and this also applies to overseas companies trying to sell their products in the country.

As far as I know, none of my tracks are changed in any way. It definitely won't combine tracks randomly in any way. Personally, I think it just updating its own database since there is now a new checkbox (part of gapless album) in the track properties. Gapless playback in iTunes works even with Lame encoded MP3s without the --no-gap switch, so it doesn't care if there is a Lame tag for gapless or not.

Yes, it's not all that. You forgot iTunes. Unicode+smart playlist+gapless. Any other manufacture can do the same thing? Nope.

I can vouch that my 5G iPod is now gapless prefectly (no crossfade junk) with firmware 1.2. If you don't know how to rip/encode your CDs properly to get gapless, just let iTunes7 rip it to AAC. Lame MP3 -V2 --vbr-new is gapless also. Zune is dead before it even comes out. Sorry MS, maybe you should just focus in releasing a secure OS instead of trying to do a DAP half-heartedly.

Wow! Return of the EGGOs! I have a bad feeling that none of these would come to the US though. Maybe the earbuds, but no SL cords. Oh, and the EX85SL doesn't look like a canal phone. The D333 looks interesting. Of course, time for Sony USA to shaft US customers once again if none/only a few of these come to the US.

The OP of that thread is using Nero AAC, which has some compatibility problems with iPod+iTunes in the past (they ARE gapless with foobar). I use Lame MP3, perfect gapless. I know it is hard to believe, I even let myself listen to the whole album, just in case there is 1 blip somewhere. Nope, no blip whatsoever. Also important note is firmware has to be updated to 1.2.

Now that new iPods are gapless (5G with firmware 1.2) with MP3 and AAC (no propietary codec), what do you think of Atrac? In the past, the only thing that hold me from ditching Atrac is gapless. I have been painfully patient with sony's incompetence in making software (openMG jukebox - SS4.0), making them non-unicode, forcing me to use MSApplocale and registry edits, all just for the sake of gapless. Now, an iPod can play MP3 gaplessly. Sony devices cannot even play MP3 gaplessly. In my mind, Atrac is dead. The advantage is gone. Currently, I'm listening to a gapless album on my 5G iPod, MP3 format, all tracks are played gaplessly. Perfect. It's been great enjoying gapless music with Atrac. MD, HiMD, AtracCD, Network walkman, I have all those. However, Sony just does not move forward. Time to move on. Bye-bye Atrac. Bye-bye Sony. This is still a great forum! I'll still hang around, but there will be no more Atrac/Sony recommendation from me. If you want a DAP, get an iPod, period.

OMG!! OOMG!! Apple just released a firmware upgrade for 5G iPods, version 1.2. I updated my 5G, ripped a gapless CD with Lame -V 2, transfer it to iTunes, checked the "part of gapless album," synced them to my iPod, and... and... They are played gaplessly on my 5G iPod! Bye-bye Atrac. Bye-bye Sony. I'll still hang around at this board though.

Unless I want gapless, I'll stick with MP3. Lame MP3 keeps improving, while Sony's development of Atrac is questionable. For the sake of codec discussion, try 48kbps of HE-AAC. You'll be surprised of the sound quality. Atrac3+ 48kbps is crap, but HE-AAC 48kbps is surprisingly still listenable. I just wish there are more support for the format outside cell-phones.

Again, the marketing morons/kanji police at Sony USA at work. Japan gets multiple colors, but not US? Maybe because those colored units can display kanji. http://www.ecat.sony.co.jp/audio/walkman/i...F&PCT=23842 Yeah, Sony USA must protect Americans from the evil of Kanji.

2nd that. That's the ONLY thing I want right now. Oh well (read sig).

I have the E99, but I don't think I will offer it for sale. It's almost perfect, with the only downsides are capacity and USB1.1. Best bet is to keep looking for it in auction sites, or if there's a Sony outlet in your country, check with them. If you want to upgrade, I definitely recommend the NW-E00x, while their price is still decent (before sandisk/Apple release higher capacity flash players). I have predicted that the flimsy rubber for the USB cover would probably the 1st one to go. http://www.audiotstation.com/forum/showthr...p;highlight=E99 http://img76.exs.cx/img76/2387/NWE9909.jpg

You know what, you're right about iRiver, and I don't have to work for them to see it. iRiver was great when they were doing PCDPs, and released an actual valid competitor for the iPod (H1xx series). Back then, they were the underdog. After H3xx, they went downhill, making empty promises to customers (non-exixstant firmware upgrades), etc. The H10 series was bug-ridden, even after firmware upgrades. Now, they have no up-to-date current DAPs except the clix. Even Samsung have more DAP models now.

Where did you buy it? If you bought it from any EU countries, than it is probably EU version.

Stop worrying about it. Just put the player in your pocket, turn it off during landing/takeoff, use it however you like during flight.

The US version includes a non-LCD clip remote (not the regular stick style remote). It should be compatible with other Sony remotes.

I never see an airline preventing portable audio players to be used on-board. Probably only during take-off/landing. Of course, with today's paranoia that a hair-gel can blow up a plane, I don't know. Funny that a hair-gel is considered more dangerous than a drunk pilot.