pata2001

Depends on what you use the DAP for. For music only, 20GB is probably more than enough for most people. Some may need ~30GB, but only a small number of people have music collection more than that. I still haven't filled up my 20GB DellDJ 2nd gen, although I know if I really put ALL my music collection, I probably need more than that. Once you add pictures and videos though, you'll want the largest possible size (40GB+), since videos are quite large.

Hmm, I find my D-NE20 to have much better media compatibility than my old D-NE9. So far, I don't have much media reading problem. The only thing is, at certain points, the unit seems to choke in trying to fill up its buffer, resulting a quite lengthy "skip/pause" as the unit spins up and read the CD. This doesn't happen all the time though. Weird. Yes, the "search" feature is useless when combined with a 1 line only display of the 53EL. Too bad that the navi function on the 40ELK doesn't work either.

Yes, out of the box, it seems that Sony hardware is fine. The problem is the software (sonicstage). However, other manufactures provide firmware upgrades/fixes more frequently than Sony ever will. eg. Creative fixed their Zen Micros battery drain via firmware upgrade. Of course, on the other side, there is the not-going-to-be-fixed-ever Lame --aps bug with iPods. Screen protectors. Invisible shield. Anyway, the trend seems to go to glossy surfaces, which is prone to scratches/smudges. Eg. Sony E4xx/5xx network walkmans, RH10, NW-Axxxx. I missed the time when high end units had brushed metal surfaces. Atrac doesn't even have VBR mode. Lame MP3 has improved significantly throughout the years, while improvements in Atrac are not known. Even WMA has VBR and lossless. Sure, Atrac also has lossless now, but it is useless with current devices. Hardware wise, Sony is doing fine. Many people like the HD1/3/5, and various Sony network walkmans. Even CNet likes the HD5. The biggest turnoff is the software (sonicstage). We have high hopes with the new connect software, but it seems to be a let down. Hopefully Sony can put more effort in improving stability, put unicode support, and bring compatibility with all previous Sony devices.

Looks neat, reminds me of MacOS X and iTunes. So the new players will use a different files structure than current players, which explains the incompatibility with older hardware. But why? Not only has Sony alienated consumers thanks to DRM and restrictions, now they alienated current Sony supporters (us) by making our current hardware incompatible with the new software. And how about AtracCD? Seems that sony just cannot focus anymore. Now the products are more scattered than before, especially with this software compatibility issue. Oh, BTW, is the new connect software unicode? Or are we still going to be forced to do registry edits and using applocale just to enable Kanji?

You can check benchmarks at anandtech.com. Note that you probably also need a good power supply (maybe 500W). My concern with these new video cards are their power requirements and heat dissipation. Things are getting more power hungry and hotter.

If you order iPods online, they are shipped directly from Shanghai. What important is quality control and support. This is where the brand comes into play, as brand manufactures would be concerned about their status in the eye of consumers, so they would try to keep good quality control so consumers won't associate their brand with junk. Of course, there are always exceptions. This also brings into question Sony's so called G-protection. If the hard-drive is just Toshiba hard-drives used in many HDD DAPs, how can Sony claim the G-protection feature? Would'nt the feature need to be built in into the hard-drive? Which means if Toshiba indeed has that technology, wouldn't the same technology apply to any other DAPs that use that hard-drive? Or maybe the feature is a "lie"? (just like the G-protection in PCDPs = compression of music)

OK, you use a pirated windows, and blame Sony? If you're not savvy enough to get SP2 working on a pirated winXP, then go buy the original version. OEM versions are cheaper than retail. If you don't like Sony, than why did you buy Sony products? There are plenty of flash players on the market that don't need additional software to transfer music.

Eurobeat.

Big profits from the sales of XBOX 360 accessories and games? That will be a good birthday and christmas presents for him.

That article is OLD, 2003! Lame MP3 has significantly improved throughout the years. ABX tests at hydrogenaudio will give you better comparisons between codecs (although the big blind study that compares LP2 with various other audio codecs is old also, and people over there has significant bias against Atrac). Best thing is to ABX yourself. From various results from various forums, IMO OGG holds the cup for best quality. However, since storage and file size are becoming less on an issue, I would stick with Lame MP3 --preset fast standard for non gapless music. At high bitrates, the quality differences won't be noticable.

Hold on... is that price for 2 units? If that's the case, that is not that bad!

It takes time because sonicstage has to transcode the compressed version to the new bitrate. Which losless bitrate did you pick? Lossless 256kbps? If that's the case, what you hear is just a transcoded 256kbps Atrac3+ file. The good thing is, 256kbps is good enough, and not many people can tell the difference when transcoded. BAD thing is, this is NOT ideal. Sony should program sonicstage to transcode from THE lossless version, not the compressed version. For now, Atrac lossless is useless.

I don't think the HD5 supports 128kbps, so if you rip your music to 128kbps Atrac3+, you would have to transcode to a supported bitrate, resulting in worsening quality. Besides, the HD5 supports MP3, so I would just transfer the MP3s as is. Why bother transcoding to Atrac?

Although I like that they'll have a brushed aluminum back, even if the price is $300 US, it would still be too expensive, unless it is 4GB.

WTF? $20? Give me a break Sony. Give the software for free, and have it replace Sonicstage (add support for MD/HiMD, Network walkmans, etc), and Sony might have an iTunes killer. It supports podcast, video blog, RSS, drag-n-drop transfer, has video support with AVC/AAC encoding, picture support... definitely a possible excellent contender for iTunes. Too bad it is only for the PSP, and $20. The PSP is not a true media jukebox due to its limited storage capacity, making a software like this not really worth the money. Still, a good one for those that are easily confused on where to put files on the memory stick.

I tested SS3.3 using my E99. I ripped 1 track to lossless+64kbps, and to stand-alone 256kbps. Then I transfer both tracks to my E99, forcing 256kbps. SS transcode the lossless+64kbps to 256kbps. Question is, does SS use the lossless version (meaning minimal loss of quality, just like you rip to 256kbps directly) or simply transcode the 64kbps version? Well, it's like fake SP all over again. STUPID SONY! GRRRR! As I feared, for transcoding, SS does NOT use the lossless file, but uses the pre-compressed version. Meaning, if you rip your CDs to lossless+64kbps, whenever you want to transfer your music to another device to any other bitrate, SS will transcode using the 64kbps version, NOT the lossless version, resulting in crappy quality. What's the point of having lossless then? Why can't Sony set SS to transcode from the lossless version? STUPID! I can't believe I was so happy about this. So lossless is pretty much useless in application. Might as well rip your tracks to 256kbps only.

For an on the go portable audio player -> HD5 For an in home jukebox -> Vaio Pocket (line out, dock, 40GB)

OMG. I didn't check the board for a couple of days, now Atrac lossless! Good job Sony. This is one of my wish list. However, let's say if we pick Lossless 128kbps. If then I want to transfer to a device using 96kps, will SS transcode the lossless version, or the 128kbps prepared version? Hopefully it's from the lossless, but we never know (based on our experience of fake SP). Hopefully somebody can verify (ie. by ripping to lossless 64kbps, and transferring to 256kbps).

Awesome!

The PSP has pretty good battery life by default, but this is definitely welcomed. Hopefully Sony will make this as the standard battery in future versions of PSP. I'll probably get one.

IMO, brushed metal is more durable. Shiny/glossy surfaces get scratches/fingerprints easily.

From what I read in headfi, it seemd the NE10/900 has more powerful amp than the NE20/920's digital amp. However, some users have problems with noise with the NE10/900, while that's not the case with the NE20/920, thanks to their digital amp. IMO, I would rather get an NE920, because its LCD is backlit. That is not the case with the NE900. SQ wise, I doubt you could notice any differences betweem both under normal use unless you use a really sensitive equipment in a quiet room.

That is a thumbnail for album arts that you assigned to each group in Sonicstage. When transferring these groups with album arts to the Vaio pocket, Sonicstage will transfer the album art also. Unfortunately, it won't show album arts that you assigned yourself on the unit from pictures in the user folder.

Why do you want to convert your MP3s? The HD5 is perfectly capable in playing MP3s natively. Going to Atrac only gives you less quality due to transcoding. If you still want to convert them to Atrac, go to the transfer setting screen, and set SS to transfer everything to the Atrac3/3+ bitrate you selected. If you select the first option (standard transfer mode), SS will transfer supported files as is, and since the HD5 can play MP3s, SS won't transcode them.

I would rip your CDs using EAC secure rip first instead of directly ripping using SS. This will avoid skips/pops/crackles due to bad rip (not due to bad encoding). Using EAC, you can rip to WAV, then have SS encode the WAV file. What you loose is gapless, not important since Sony AtracCD car decks cannot play AtracCD gaplessly anyway. IMO, use MP3. AtracCD is a dead end format. The CD is not playable in any devices except AtracCD players, and you cannot copy back the tracks. MP3 Lame 3.97b1 --preset standard will give you good result. For listening in the car, I can even use the setting -V 5 in Lame without noticing any differences.