pata2001

Based on the pics, I would assume that they are E931. Sony sell this seperately, so I doubt that you can get them for free.

This is old news. The rumor was for the PS3. Sony has said they won't use this.

Me, and probably most people. Ther is no replacement for DVDs yet. Blu-ray and HD-DVD are not out. If you're talking about Divx, there is no device that is fully 100% compatible with Divx/Xvid/MP4 out there, unless it's a PC.

Until hell freeze over. Why? Because Sony USA thinks kanji is the source of all evil. Even without unicode, Sony USA still went above and beyond to disable kanji capability on US version of Sony devices by applying region settings in firmware, windows registry, or modify the firmware directly (NE20). Also the lack of availability of ELK remotes in the US.

Well, get a pencil lead or paper clip to press it then.

Just bought PoPoLoCrois. I can't believe it is so hard to find this game. This game was released some time ago, and my local BB just stock about 2 of them a couple days ago. Forget other retailers, they never have the game in stock, ever. Another sucky thing about PSP in the US, games availability. With UMD movies going south, the least Sony can do is to take care of the games, but no. Anyway, just starting up to level 10. The annoying thing about PoPoLoCrois is the loading time. I just can't stand hearing the lens noise of the PSP going back and forth, even for simple things like going to the map screen.

Damage's point only applies to PCDPs. I have US DH10P, and the 35ELK and 40ELK work just fine.

The idea is to protect ticket sale at the movies, since a movie might have come out in DVD in country A, but yet reach the theaters in country B. However, most blockbusters today enjoy simultaneous worldwide release, making the excuse above invalid. IMO, regioning only creates piracy in the country where the DVD has not been released. Regioning games doesn't make sense either, but companies are doing it anyway.

The biggest downfall of UMD movies is the price. Why would people want a movie that has less quality and can only be watched on 1 device for more $$$ than the actual DVD? Again, stupidity on Sony (maybe more due to Sony entertainment). If they sell UMDs at a price cheaper than DVD, then it might be a different story. Note that there are plenty of DVDs for under $10 now, while movie UMDs are at least $15, some even as high as $25. The least Sony can do is make other devices supporting the format, but no, that would be too logical.

I know. The HD5 is pretty close for being the better DAP from Sony. Removable batter, standard USB jack, slim and metal casing. IMO the Axxxx is actually a step back. Just re-do the HD5 with color screen and add support for all Atrac bitrates. Even better, why not improve on the versatile Vaio pocket. Oh well, we're talking Sony here.

The ED21 is actually an old design. Sony used to use this design in the late 90s, even for stock buds. It was called "groove." I have the cousin on this model, the ED238, that has been discontinued. Yes, this model is best/worst of both worlds. The extended canal gives more bass, but there's no isolation. I actually find the groove design very comfortable.

Seems that your DVD player is not "really" region 2, but region 0 or no region, which allow it to play all region. Unfortunately, the movie industry caught up on this, and now some DVDs have a region check protection, meaning they check if the DVD player has the EXACT same region as the disc or not. So to play region 2, you MUST have region 2 player. Region 0, no region, even all region won't work. Easy way to get rid of this crap, if you have a PC with a DVD drive and DVD burner, find and download DVDdecrypter. Use DVD decrypter to rip the DVD and remove any copy protection. Even if the region of your DVD-drive doesn't match the DVD disc, DVD decrypter will use brute force method. I have ripped plenty of region 2 and 3 DVDs, and my DVD drive is firmware locked as region 1. After that, burn/transcode the movie to a DVD blank, and voila, a region free copy. I have to do this many times since I live in the US (region 1), and there are many things I have/want that are only available in region 2 or 3.

Sorry, the only way to transfer music to your Vaio pocket from another PC is to re-initialize it. This is the problem most people with Network walkmans are facing. You can try using a Japanese version of sonicstage.

Just arrived today. Still listening in audioCD format. 奥井雅美 - God Speed 1. wild cat 2. SUBLIMINAL 3. God Speed 4. 蜜-mitsu- 5. Red 6. Last Sun 7. Timeliness 8. Paradise Lost 9. PRIDE 10. Gift 11. 燃えよ!Generation 12. TRUST～Session Mix～ She's my #1 favorite female artist. You can sample this album on her website: http://www.evolution-m.com/masami_okui/godspeed/index.html Even cooler, the sample songs are in streaming 160kbps MP3 format! No DRM, WMA, Real audio crap.

Err, the iPod can play MP3s just fine, thank you. If Apple withdrew iTMS, no problem. Of course, this could mean encouraging people to go P2P for their music source. Apple's problem is, Steve Jobs refuses to license iTMS' fairplay DRM. If it is not licensable, then nobody can make other player to support it. Of course, if Apple did, then the iPod might not be as popular as it is now. Remember, iTMS is NOT greatly profitable for Apple (much of the money is for the RIAA). The profit is on the hardware. So it is critical for Apple to lock iTMS to their iPods in order to keep selling the hardware for profit. I agree for cables though. Manufactures need to use standard jacks. Even Creative is going propietary now, so that they can make those profitable docking accessories.

Did you actually read the rest of my post? I never said anything about installing games. Hard-drives are useful to store cached data, as this would greatly reduce loading time that plaque today's consoles. With today and future games requiring more memory for textures, level size, music, sound effects with surround, etc, it will take longer to read those every time from the disc. Caching those data to the hard-drive will improve loading time. Also, you can save money by not having to buy memory cards if Sony allow you to save games yo the hard-drive. Or are you content watching the loading screen as the unit tries to load gigabytes of data from the disc everytime you change level or go to a different screen? Yeah, you put a disc in, grab the control and wait 10 minutes in loading time before playing play MGS 4.

Because HD access time is much faster than optical media. Hopefully Sony and game developers will actually use it (eg. for game caching/saving, new level downloads, etc), not like the ill-fated PS2 HD. BIG concern is, like the XBOX, game developers become lazy in terms of beta testing their software since they could just "patch" the game if the console has a hard-drive. PC gaming anyone? Just like the PS2, I would wait for the games. If I like the games, then I would wait until the 1st/2nd price drop. By that time, the bugs would have been fixed and maybe the "greatest hits" lineup would have started, so cheaper games. I still have tons of PS2 RPGs that need to be finished anyway. Oh and Sony, I hope you remove game regioning. It doesn't make sense, even less logical than movie regioning. But of course, it's Sony. Next thing you know they really implemented the games being locked into 1 console thing..

I you meant by drag-n-drop = USB mass storage (UMS) compliant, then only Creative flash players do this. Creative's HDD DAPs still require driver to be installed. To satisfy DRM (especially WMA DRM), less and less DAPs are UMS. Even worse, many of them are MTP compliant, which make them only compatible with winXP, and not other OS.

Yeah, the D-EJ2000 is very nice, and its body is all metal. too bad it's audioCD only. The D-NE20 is close though, but I do miss the brushed metal feel.

I think Sony radio Tuner remotes are specific to the MD unit they are bundled with. Although technically they have same pin, even assuming they work with the Vaio pocket, it won't do you any good since the LCD won't display anything.

In order to support MP3, you HAVE TO update your VAIO pocket to the latest firmware. Without it, the Vaio Pocket can only play Atrac. You can organize your MP3s by genres and assign album arts to each albums using Sonicstage. Once each albums have their assigned cover arts, they will be automatically transferred and displayed on the Vaio pocket. You can also assign any pictures to a specific album on the Vaio pocket itself.

Yes, the D-NE9 has a seperate optical out, just like the NE1.

In order to achieve gapless with Atrac, the source has to be gapless (ie. the original audioCD). If the source is MP3, it won't be gapless since MP3 is not gapless in the first place. Some people has described having problems achieving gapless when encoding from WAV, or ripping from AudioCD 1 track at a time. For best result, rip the whole AudioCD in 1 go. Of course, the music itself has to be gapless.

Are you sure that it is SS that takes the RAM? Look at your system tray, and how many programs/icons in there. Many manufactures install a lot of juck on new PCs, so even if you "restore" your system to its original state, it's not helping much. 1. Scan your PC for virus, spyware, etc. 2. Stop programs from starting up automatically or stay in memory when you don't need them. Check each programs' settings. 3. Last resort, assuming you have an actual Windows installation CD (not restore CD/DVD), you can do a clean install of windows from scratch.

Or the flash based Axxx series. Funny that my local Bestbuy already has the placeholder for the Axxx on their shelves for a couple months now, but no product.