hp1975

Hi, All been a while since I posted. Anyway I have reverted back to 3.4 because 4.0 was painful, I also upgraded to latest version of firmware. However, everytime I connect the device to SS or just charge it from the USB it gets stuck on the building library screen and always after the 4th cube has appeared. If i press the reset button it will restart and then says 'repairing library', this sorts the problem. What can I do to sort this. Will a disk initialize help, is it a bug in the firmware? I dont want to have to reset my device everytime i have connected it to my PC! Thanks HP

Thanks guys. Stuge, you're right, I think what happens is that when it is updating the database (i guess with all the intelligent features) it hangs and then if you just leave it for a while it finally produces an error, and then the database is corrupted on the device, it shows no songs what soever. Very strange. Anwyay I think I'm gonna stick with 3.4 until an update for 4.0 is released.

I mean it, I thought 3.4 was spot on apart from the intelligent features not working. Now all I get i sproblems with 4.0 It keeps deleting the database Huge chunks of albums have just vanished when you connect it it just hangs amd then deletes the entire database...again....it sux Please can someone point me in the direction of 3.4, I dont really want to go back to a system restore point unless I have to. cheers HP

Ok problem solved, somehow....its trust level in zone Alarm had changed, I upped the trust level to the highest setting, and its fine. What I dont understand is why it would cause SS to be a resource hog and run slow? Ah well It works agains so I'm not gooing to argue...can install ss 4.0 CP with confidence now

Ummm only some Video editing software, dont think its related tho... i never run the programs at the same time. And I have had software from that company (ULEAD) on my pC for months and not been a problem before? Suppose I can try uninstall of both and then reload SS. Might be a good idea to sort ot before 4.0 comes out soon otherwise problem might persist.

No. I made sure it was just SS that was the problem so I run it by itself. Thats why I'm so confused, it was fine...now it isnt. I cant even connect my player because it takes about 10 minutes just to read the hard drive where before it took about a second! H

Hello, I have been quite smug since I got my A3000 because SS3.4 has been running so sweet, that was until FRiday. I booted it up as normal and it loads up just as quick but then it just uses all the CPU resource for minutes and minutes and the Memory usage just keeps going up! I think the highest it has been is over 200Meg of RAM which is of course rediculous. I have uninstalled and reinstalled twice and the second time I made sure I deleted the Son y registry keys as well as I have seen elsewhere in the forum. NO luck. I phoned Sony, they were no help, they said they had not come across this before. They said they would refer ot to there tech dep and drop me and email with some instructions. Nothing yet. I thought there might be somebody here who has experienced this? It appears to be only this software that makes the PC hang. My PC is home built: Athlon XP 2800 ASUS A700 -MX Mobo 512 Kingston RAM XP Pro SP2 Zone Alarm, Ad Aware etc Cant remember what Harddrives I have? Appreciate any ideas, advice etc Cheers HP

Mmm well I sent the first one back cos i thought it was a fault with the player. The second also does it so I'm assuming its justa characterisrtic of an HDD player which I have heard also effects other players. I am using Shure e2cs and ATRAC3+ 128kbps a combination that should not produce hiss, (and as iundertsand it speakers/headphones cannot generate their own hiss, only reproduce what the amplifier feeds them?) Anyway its only really noticeable at low volumes (<8) and in really quiet pieces of music, like quiet passages in classical music. HP

As I undertsand it features such as favourites and artist link wont work with SS but rumours are abound that SOny are producing a new version of SS that has all teh functionality of Connect. To be honest the these features dont bother me so I dont care that they dont work. SS 3.4 is quick and stable (10 albums takes me about 30 -40 mins to RIP at 128kbps and mere seconds to transfer to the device) soI'm sticking with it. The only thing I dont like about the a3000 is the annoying background hiss you can hear at low volumes. H

I dont understand all these 'problems' and re-formats with sonic stage? I have used 3.4 with my A3000 from day one and have not had one single problem. Its great, loads quickly, rips cds in a couple of minutes etc. OK I only use ATRAC and dont have an existing library of MP3 but so what? I also would rather see artist link etc added to SS than another update to the dodgy CP. Even if they dont I will stick with SS cos it works and who needs top 100 and artist link anyway..they're gimmikz! For what its worth. HP

You can download your songs from the connect store again by going into your profile and looking for 'my downloads' or something like that. There is an option to download again. I had to do this when I installed 3.3 for the first time and lost all the licences for my tracks. Tho when I upgraded to 3.4 I did not have the same problem.

NoOneHOme: I think you're list is spot on, particulalry the shuffle album, I rarely listen to just the odd song here and there, I like to listen to an album in its entirety. Surely some of these options must be possible with another firmware upgrade?

Sorry to drag this one up again! I got my player about 2 weeks ago and straight away noticed the hiss in quiet environements, i assumed it was a fault and sent it back receiving a replacement from Amazon withn 24 hours (nice one amazon), guess what....2nd player also has hiss, of course i'm using IEM headphones which will almost certainly exaggerate the hiss but its still annoying when listening to a quiet piece of classical in a quiet environment. Its frustrating after the beautiful silence of my old HIMD player ( HP

Thats just it! I dont think you can, the way the firmware in the player interprets the tags and builds the database will always be this way until they Sony change it. I dont think it matters how CP displays it.

Thanks Ishi, I had a play with CP over the weekend (not impressed), couldnt even connect to the support section of te Sony website to download latest update. Anyway regardless of what software is used as far as I can tell neither CP or SS will actually effect how mix CDs are displayed on the player itself i.e. when viewing by Artist it is still going to display all the individual artists or list it as Various Artists, neither of which are useful when searching for Gatecrasher, Sasha/Digweed, Dave Clarke etc because theese are the Artists I want to display. I think I will just have to put up with this unless future updates of SS remedy. HP

No they aren't marked clealry in the options screen when ripping but if you look at a tracks properties and click on the 'file info' tab the left hand bos shows exactly what codec has been used.

Thanks for the feedback Jamie, the PX200's are no slouches so i suspect it was fair comparison as they are good enough to notice any differences. I am going to try the same thing with my Shure IEMs this weekend. Will let you know. H

MMmm.... I googled this and came across a few reviews that also reported backgorund hiss so I am obvioulsy not alone, I'm just worried that a replacement will exactly the same problem.

Hi, Sorry for the new topic, I searched and found nothing relevant. I have a brand new A3000 and I have noticed there is a constant background hiss when you switch it on. This is not so noticeable at high volumes but if I'm in bed listening to ambient it's really noticeable in quiet sections at low volumes. I'm really dissappointed with this because my HIMD player was silent. I hope this not a 'feature' of the 3000. I am using Shure E2c which block out backgorund noise but I still think there should be no hiss on a digital player. Has anyone else had this problem, can it be remedied or is my player faulty and needs returned? Cheers HP

Thanks Ascariss, So my next obvious question would be, what is the best way to transfer from Sonic Stage to CP or do you just let CP scan your folders? Also, can youCP be used with HIMD or is it just for the A Series because my girlfriend inherited my NHZ-700 so will be using teh same library or can both bits of software be used with the same library though of course not at the same time! Cheers H

No, all the CDs have been ripped and transferred using SS3.4. I dont really want to have to use connect until its been 'sorted' but I will give it a go this weekend as I'm intrigued as to how it will run on my PC. I'm just cautious about connecting the a3000 for fear of screwing up its database!

Jamie, I thin I'm going to do the same and see which bitrate offers the best compromise of space vs eq. I have a pair of Shure's E2c headphones. They are the In ear Monitor types and are absolutley fantastic at cutting out background noise. I find they offer quite a level response, maybe just a touch bright at the top end. The bass is notioceable but certainly not bloated like the Sony ERX 7 (whatever the number is) in ear plugs. I like them and you do start to notice bits of songs you have never noticed before. H

So Stuge what you're saying is that if you have an A3000 then Atrac 3 Plus 192 is the best bit rate to got for if you are not worried about space? I have all my CDs ripped at 128 which I assumed was in Atrac3 plus format though when I look at the track details on the player it just says atrac not atrac 3plus? So..is Atrac3 plus 192 noticeably better quality than Atrac 3 plus 128 and; How do you verify what codec you have used to encode the track (after it has been ripped and transferred) Cheers HP

Ishi! Many Thanks for going to all the effort of screeen shots etc. I think i did not explain my problem properly in the first post. It is not in 'My Library' that i have the problem (mine looks as yours does in the shots) it is when the NWA300 is connected and its contents are displayed in the right hand (transfer) panel that pops up in Sonic Stage. It is in THIS view that ALL the artists are displayed (rather than the CD creator) and hence the same on the player. It means that say I wanted to search on artist for Sasha (as in your shots) on the player I would not be able to because for some reason it only picks up the tags of the individual track artists.... Mmm unfortunately I can only access my home PC at the weekend so I cant even grab a screenshot of what I mean. Anyway I hope this second explanation helps. Thanks Again

Mmm...The Compliation check boxes are always checked so there doesn't appear to be anything more I can do. I just thought there might be an option to display by the 'Album Artist' i.e. John Digweed in the right hand panel of SS and hence the player. The only other way of doing it would be to change the Artist on all the individual tracks to the same as the CD Artist which would be annoying! YOu said you had success with your Digweed CD, does that mean that it shows up as John Digweed when you diplay Artists on your player?