pata2001

... while the rumor is Apple is going to release a larger screen iPod (4" screen) in March/April. Probably also full length movies being sold in iTMS. Wow, does Sony even care about their portable audio business anymore? Unless they sell the Axxx dirt cheap ($200 for the A3000), nobody is going to care. Businessweek might be confused with the PS3, which is supposed to be released in Spring.

So far US only got the NE330, and it is not even listed in Sonystyle USA. I doubt US will get the NE830/NE730, since that is the case last year. It is surprising to me that the sucky CJ001 is selling at all. I've seen a few people carrying these cheap plastic crap. This fact made it even less likely for any better PCDP models to come into the US.

Although I'm excited for rockbox, it doesn't even have audio yet for 5G iPods, so it is not something to be recommended yet. Hardware wise, yeah, many excellent DAPs out there. However, if you have a large library of music, iTunes is still the winner. That's one of the selling point of iPod.

I wouldn't throw away the HD5 yet. IMO, it is still a better unit than the NW-A3000. If you don't want a long cable connecting your HD5 to your stereo, then maybe you can consider a full size headphone for home use. Most speakers for iPod are just so-so quality. Click wheel is good for browsing large library. However, with tactile buttons, you can operate your player in your pocket without having to pull it out. No rumors for new player from Sony, but rumors for a touch screen video iPod is all over the place. Choosing between Sony or Apple, IMO, would come down to 1 thing, gapless. If you need gapless, go with Sony. Other than that, the iPod + iTunes combo is extremely powerful in organizing your music library.

Sony actually sells the E10 seperately. I managed to get one when Target had it on sale for US$5 (regular retail is US$10). It has a Y style cord, not neckchain. Sound quality wise, I would say it's a poorman's EX71. The sound is tuned for more bass and treble, similar to the EX71. Compared to Apple's iPod stock bud, it's better in the sense you'll get more bass and treble. However, when compared to the E838, the E10, again has more bass and treble, but the actual sound is clearer with the E838, including the high frequencies. Listening music with the E10 is not as enjoyable as the E838. Sure, you have better bass, but overall clarity is definitely lacking. If you are looking for bass from a stock bud, like the Apple iPod stockbud or sony E808, then the E10 is a cheap decent upgrade. If you're looking for an actual better earbud in sound quality, the E10 might not cut it, unless you think more bass = better sound quality. IMO, the E838 is still superior. As for comfort, the E931 stock bud are "not comfortable" because Sony doesn't include any earbud foams. The retail E10 luckily comes with earbud foams, so it is as comfortable as any earbud with the foam.

Bummer.

I've been reading several threads at MDCF, and it seems that by modifying a region setting in the unit's service mode, it enables US RH10/DH10P to display kanji on the screen. This got me thinking about the NE20. Sony USA disables kanji capability directly on the firmware (using ELK remote doesn't help). Is there a way to go to a "service mode" on the NE20? The service manual for the NE300 on the download section only describe how to dismantle the unit with no reference in entering a service/test mode at all.

Why don't you just buy more HiMD disks? That's the beauty of MD/HiMD, removable "unlmited" storage medium. For a music player, the 5G iPod is more than competent. Its SQ is better than previous gens, all the MP3 skipping and hissing from the previous gens are fixed, larger screen, thinner profile, and better battery life. The video playback is just a bonus, and actually pretty decent. The only redeeming thing about Sony players is gapless. IMO the A series is a step down from the HD5. Plus it is not available everywhere yet. Another competing unit is the Creative Zen Vision:m. It's been getting good reviews. If you really looking into video, then wait, since newer and better units from various manufactures are coming out (eg, the new Toshiba DAPs). For a music player, all the untis above are good. Don't ditch your HiMD yet (gapless). Also, watch for the rockbox for iPod.

Super Eurobeat 055 Extended Version 1.Veronica Sales - Season 2.K.L. Jones - Gotta Have You Baby 3.Dr. Money - Roppongi Nights 4.Helena - Night Girl 5.Samantha Gilles - I'm The One (Maxi Single Version) 6.Disco Vega - Love Shock 7.Victoria - Hi-Dee-Ho 8.Macho Gang - Got To Move 9.J. Corraine - Danger Danger 10.Marlene - Can't Stop Loving You 11.Mike Freeman - Kamikaze For Love 12.Ric Fellini - Dance Across The Nations 13.Valentina - I'm In Love With You

"Groups" was introduced in MDLP. before ID3-based searching becomes mainstream. With MDLP, user can store many music in 1 MD, but how do you organize them? Classic MD doesn't have any "ID3" info other than the track title. With "Groups," a user can put tracks from different albums into their own albums within the group. That's the idea. Yeah, now we have ID3-based searching, and group seems redundant because we have album tags. My guess Sony is keeping "groups" in Sonicstage to maintain compatibility with NEtMD/classic MD. And yes, as an MD user, I DO use group, for HiMD, MD, and my E99, since all of them utilize group for quick album skipping.

The only redeeming factor of Sony now is gapless. When rockbox for iPod is 100% done (it's already stable now), all bets are off. For Sony to win me back: 1. Flash player: return to E3/E99 design + AAA battery, with 2/4GB and USB2.0. 2. MD: Make an E10 like HiMD player only unit with big tactile buttons ala EH70 and MP3 playback. 3. HDD: Bring back the HD5 (it's almost ideal, especially with removable battery), add support for all Atrac3+ bitrates. 4. PMP: Bring back the vaio pocket, and combine it with PSP's GUI and capability 5. Car Audio: Gapless/seamless AtracCD (Really, how hard could this be?) 6. Software: Make SS unicode, allow all Atrac3+ bitrate to be transferref to all Atrac3+ capable device, including HiMD and AtracCD. 7. Sony USA: Use Japanese models. Don't waste money by re-designing units or re-programming firmwares just to eliminate kanji support. My predictions: 1-6:slim chance, but still probable. 7: till hell freezes over. Big OT, sorry. I see many flash players going down in price. Circuitcity is selling 512MB samsung flash player at $69, the same price point as the 512MB shuffle. Many 1GB flash players are already below $150 due to the pressure of the shuffle, so the redeeming factors of the 1GB nano are the iPod interface, picture capability, and iTunes, not price. IMO, the 1GB nano won't give too much pressure to the competitions, but the cheaper shuffles certainly will.

There is an easier way. EAC can backup your AudioCD into an image (1 big wav file and a CUE sheet). This truly preserve gapless (trackmarks are recorded in the CUE sheet), and 100% non propietary (it's a WAV file). To rip to Atrac, MP3, etc, all you need is Daemon tools (freeware) to mount the image (CUE sheet) as an audioCD. Backup is easy, just burn the wav file and cue sheet. DVD blanks are so cheap now, there's little reason to go lossless, especially a propietary format like Atrac.

My local BB finally put the Sony CDX-GT200 demo unit out. Armed with a HiSP AtracCD, I tested the unit. Alas, NOT gapless. At the beginning of each track, there is a definite gap where the unit is trying to read and buffer the next track. I don't know if the same applies to the higher-end units, but knowing Sony, all units will share the same hardware. Well, there you go, another point for Sony's stupidity. They added WMA support, but didn't even bother with their own codec. AtracCD PCDPs had gapless/seamless the generation after AtracCD was first introduced. We might have a CD deck supporting AAC and built-in iPod support out of the box, and still no gapless for AtracCD.

So my guess is the problems are with the codecs that are installed in your computer. Try playing the videos with Nero Showtime.

What do you think about the claimed 15mW output? Target now carries 2 models of this unit: a black regular one, and a silver one with FM radio.

For full length movies, I have converted star Wars 3, Fantastic 4, and War of the worlds. All with Nero Recode PSP/memory stick preset, 2pass encoding, best quality. Usually, off sync audio and video is caused by PAL to NTSC conversion, or vice versa, although it shouldn't matter with Nero Recode. Are you using the PSP reset? Did you use Nero showtime to play the video back?

Got to a local electronic store, and buy some earbud foams. These will increase the comfort. The earbud that comes with the unit is quite good for a stock bud.

Yeah, the HD5 is hard to find nowadays. Some Target stores might still have it. Also check Compusa. They may only have 1 or 2 in stock though, and forget about picking the color you want.

I've been using SS since 1.x-3.4 and mainly ripping and encoding non-stop mixes, and I've never experienced this problem. The only problem I know is the tracks might not be gapless if I rip the tracks one by one instead of ripping the whole CD in 1 go.

Yes. But you might have to re-format your Vaio pocket.

Money. It costs them money in labor and time to do those upgrades. Less support means less spending/more profit. It's called business. Same thing with Microsoft not providing support for old windows like win3.1 or win95.

Amazon.com sometimes has it for sale. I've never seen the E888 being used as a stock bud though, and they're not that easy to find at retailers, unless you go to ebay or import.

If it is that simple, it would have been done already. Till today, nobody can even hack through classic NetMD.

Ability to rip to MP3 has existed since SS3.3. The question is what MP3 encoder does Sony use in SS. I'll stick with EAC + Lame for MP3s.

There is the Zen Vision:M which has been the talk of many websites as the definite competitor for the 5G iPod. It's 30GB, color screen, photo and video capable. It's more expensive than the 30GB 5G iPod, but it includes an AC adaptor, which the iPod lacks. iAudio X5 is also a good contender. Color screen, pure USB mass storage (simple drag-n-drop for music transfer, no software), supports OGG and FLAC.