pata2001

Figures. Sony USA thinks that kanji is the source of all evil. With the recent declaration of english as the US' official language by the US senate, Sony USA will probably ban kanji display capability altogether on all US units. Just think about it, why SS is not unicode. Very ironic considering Sony is a Japanese company (vs Apple/Dell. My iPod and DellDJ can display kanji perfectly without having to resort to registry edits/applocale).

I don't really see the need of calendar in a DAP. I mean, pretty much every cell phones now have calendars already. I'd rather Sony focus on/fix the the audio features than adding irrelevant stuff.

How many CDs did you expect? The E505 is only 512MB. If you want more music in your device, you have to rip/encode your music to lower bitrate (lower quality).

I just organize them by albums, even if they are singles, the tracks are put in their respective "album" folder. Folder name: Artist - Album File name: Album - Track# - Title If you have a player that use ID3 for browsing, all of these don't matter anymore. As long as you have the files tagged properly, there shouldn't be any problem. In fact, in iPods, itunes rename all the MP3s into random garbage, and put them in random folders in the iPod.

Cheap move by Creative, but it's valid . Also bad for Apple, the 5G is released AFTER the patent is granted to creative, so let's get ready to rumble.

By next year, we will probably have iPhone, real video iPod with touch screen, and 10GB nano. Can Sony compete with those? I don't think so.

We'll see about that. Sony USA still thinks kanji is the source of all evil, so I doubt it.

Looks like you want folder-based browsing instead of ID3 based browsing. You cannot do that with the HD1 since Sonicstage controls how the music is stored. iPods are worse, since iTunes will change all the filenames into garbage and put tracks in random folders. Get an iAudio X5 instead.

Well, Sonicstage is not unicode compliant. If you use winXP, download Applocale from microsoft. This allow you to run non-unicode programs under the language you specified without having to change the current windows regional setting.

The downside of the VP is that it seems that it doesn't have a deep sleep mode, meaning even if you turn it off, it will still drain the battery significantly. Even in the "off" position, it would not last longer than 2 days. Of course, having the LCD in alwys on will drain out battery significantly. Even though the VP's battery is removable, I don't see it as freely available for sale. You might have to contact Sony for a spare, and IMO it won't be cheap.

After looking at the screenshots of Tag&Rename, it looks a lot like a souped up version of the MP3bookhelper. For basic tagging, IMO MP3bookhelper is powerful enough for a freeware. It can also look up tags form freedb, tag from/to filename, etc. Another freeware alternative is MP3Tag. I uses this one mainly to convert non-unicode ID3 tags to unicode. For attaching album art to the MP3s, I find iTunes works really well. When you assign an album art within iTunes, it will integrate the album art into the MP3s. Even Sonicstage will recognize the album art from the MP3s.

I thought all Network Walkmans have always been gapless with atrac. I have an old Network walkman NW-E3 from 2001, and it is gapless. My E99 is gapless also.

Ohh, so what? This is just a plain simple prediction that anybody can come up with. On the other news, market analysts say we are eventually going to die.

Mt favorite program is MP3bookhelper. It can definitely apply tags from filenames. You just need to tell the program the formatting.

Here's a legal option, go to your local CD store and buy the actual AudioCD. If you cannot find your favorite artist, there are many online stores selling CDs. Not so legal option, but free: MIRC, Bittorrent. I leave it to you to figure them out. Note that none of the legal online download stores use MP3. iTunes uses DRMed AAC. Napster and Yahoo use DRMed WMA. All of them are not compatible with any Sony devices.

Sorry, but the E808 is just a typical cheap stock bud, and has crap sound quality at the same level as iPod stock bud. An E838 with earbud foam simply sounds much better. If you need replacement, and like bass, get the MDR-E10. They should be pretty cheap. Another good and cheap option is Sennheiser MX400/500.

Meh, what's the use of announcing product that is not even going to be out by next year? When is it going to be released? 2007? Rumor is Apple is planning to cut price and release 6-10GB nano by this fall, and the touch sensitive real video iPod this year. Again, big talk by Sony but no result. Sony should just shut up about competing with Apple, and promote the RH1 instead.

Yes, finally my package from Italy arrived. Dave Rodgers - Blow Your Mind in LP2 01. Above The Light 02. All Around The Wrold 03. Just Another Brick on My Wall 04. I Believe 05. Miles Away 06. Blow Your Mind 07. Easy to Remember 08. Little Cowboy 09. My Uniform 10. I Wanna Shake It 11. Rise & Fall 12. Diamond Love Dave Rodgers (real name Giancarlo Pasquini), probably the godfather of Eurobeat. This is his latest album, and is NOT Eurobeat. It is self released in Italy, not from Avex Japan. The music is pretty much in the rock genre, not really surprising since he infused a little bit of rock here and there in many of his Eurobeat songs. The CD is dual-disc, 1 side is regular AudioCD, the other side is DVD-video, containing 2 music videos, making of, and recording session in LA.

The re-initialize issue happens when you upgrade SS, or try to use your device on a different PC.

Nitpicks: 1. The YP-Z5 is MTP device, not UMS. Meaning that it is only compatible with winXP. Also, it would require WMP10. Not really true drag-n-drop UMS style. The iPod, although requires iTunes to transfer music, is still a UMS device, so you can use it with any OS for data storage. 2. Price. Most stores are selling the Samsung at the same price point as the nano. In the past, Samsung used to include additional features like FM and recording, but not this time. So, Samsung is confident that it will compete with the nano. But, they forget 1 thing, iTunes. iTunes is what makes iPods so desirable. Without any additional features, the iPod is still a better buy for most people, plus the fact you can get educational discount from Apple. 3. iPod has rockbox option. I don't see rockbox going to any Samsung DAP. What I like about the YP-Z5 is the dedicated volume buttons. Something that seems to be forgotten with the onslaught of nipple-style and touch-sensitive controls.

With more and more MP3 DAPs becoming MTP devices, it would be a relief if iAudio can keep their devices as UMS. However, with more and more flash based DAPs reaching 4GB and more, 4GB HADD based DAP is not interesting anymore, especially at that price point. If they can sell it for $150 or less, then it might be more attractive. Rumor is apple is going to slash the nano price, and introducing 6GB-10GB nano. We'll see if the competitors can keep up.

Yes, the EQ distortion is very obvious, even on MP3s that have been MP3gained. 1st, I would use MP3gain to reduce clipping on all your MP3s. Although some EQs can still distort, some of them would become acceptable. If they're still distorted, well, simply don't use the EQ. If you don't "like" the sound, buy a better headphone. I like the 5G iPod sound without EQ just fine, and I use Sennheiser HD555.

Yes. The regular Joes would return the Sony, and stop by Apple store to get an iPod. Unfortunately, the iPod is not completely fool proof either (blame it on iTunes+quicktime), so regular Joe will return that too, and get a cheap sandisk/samsung player, which are MTP, and don't require additional software with WinXP+WMP10. And Sony execs are confused why they're loosing in portable audio business.

That pretty much rules out all DAPs out there except for Sony + Atrac. At least with iPods, you can put Rockbox to have gapless. That's not the case with other DAPs (creative, etc). As for money and the features you get, the iPods are now actually on-par/better than the competitors. stevester162000: As for 5G iPod distortion, simply don't use the EQ. If you need bass, buy better headphones/earbuds.

I would not consider the iPod stock bud as "high" quality. It is just a generic stock bud, the same level as Sony E808, hyped with the iPod brand. It seems there are 2 distinct features that people consider as "high" quality. Some people will attribute boomy bass as "high" quality, while other will look more for a well-balanced sound as "high" quality. If you like bass, you can get Sony MDR-E10. They're cheap, and has boomy bass, although the overall SQ is not as good/well-balanced as other buds like the E838. Next step is Sony EX51/71, again if you like phones that are tuned for bass and treble.