Fyda

Hi. I am having the same issue (symptom: many empty folders created when "Copy All Tracks" is attempted), except that some of my files will transfer correctly to the computer (to be precise: 13 of them, out of the 375 on the device), and my device is a NW-A608. I am running GYM 1.12 (the non-beta), in Windows XP Pro, and have already followed the instructions on the GYM site. After reading this thread, I also installed Windows Media Player 10 with no problems, but it did not solve the issue. After googling the problem, I also installed version 2.01 of the firmware from Sony Japan (although that was not prescribed in any way as a solution to this problem -- only incidental). I have found that those same 13 files which successfully transfer in GYM can be played normally as local files, but cannot be played from the device in SonicStage CP (error: "Cannot load the rights information for the selected tracks. The file format may not be supported by SonicStage. (0000010d)"). All the other files, which GYM fails to transfer, can be played from the device in SonicStage CP. GYM cannot play any file at all -- there is activity on the device when I press "Play" but nothing plays, not even after several minutes. The program does not hang when doing this -- pressing "Stop" works. There are no DRMed files on the device. I ran FILEMON (from sysinternals.com), with the log filter set to only include "GYM", in order to try and pinpoint the problem. I have uploaded the relevant log excerpts HERE (with comments), to prevent this post from being bloated with large chunks of code. Since there are no error messages, I'm at a loss as to what could be the problem. Have I overlooked anything that I should have done/installed on my system? Also significant is that the NW-A608 has "Intelligent Features" (Intelligent Shuffle, Artist Link), which means that SonicStage CP writes extra data to the database on the device. Since GYM was made for older NW devices, it's also possible that it cannot read a database with these new features. If there is nothing I can do to solve this, I hope that GYM (or a new project) will be developed for full compatibility with the newer NW devices -- unless this issue can be solved for the current version through a workaround or patch. Thank you for your time. - Fyda

I own an NW-E407 and have been quite enthusiastic about 1) exploring the software potentials (watching for mods/hacks), and 2) seeing the GUI improvements in the NW-A608. Last night my friend got his hands on the latter (2GB player) and of course I proceeded to make a guinea pig out of his shiny new MP3 player... My findings so far: 1) MP3 File Manager software:- I sent him the .EXE to install it onto his player. Unfortunately he got a 'Function Limited' warning. We did not know what this meant until he finished loading some songs onto the player and unplugged it from the computer - the "Intelligent Shuffle" option was greyed out on the GUI. I am assuming this is due to MP3FM not being compatible with the newer database features of the NW-A608 (which the CONNECT Player probably taps into). Of course, MP3FM is intended for the E400/500-series, not the A600... what else can one expect? 2) Additional Display Screen:- The E400/500s had that firmware update (from version 1.00 to 2.00), which allowed the user to create a directory '\NWWM-SCR' on the player (manually, through accessing it as a UMS drive), into which he could copy an .NWM file (Display Screen - Sony offered 2 such files for download). As far as I know, there is no documentation for this feature on the A600, but we tried it anyway. It worked! The A600 is the same as the E400/500 with firmware 2.00: it accepts up to ONE .NWM file. 3) Just the new GUI in general:- I am sure there are already good reviews of the A608 which cover this area. I find it interesting that in the new player, you can access 'Display Screen' and 'Date-Time' from the main menu DURING PLAYBACK, whereas in the E400/500, you have to STOP playback in order to access those (along with 'Advanced Menu' and 'Repeat Mode'). Also, there are more built-in Display Screens included with the original firmware. Interesting. I don't suppose there's any point to offering the same functionality to E400/500 users? (As in, someone could mod an E400/500-series player to behave like an A600? But is that legal?) Anyway, just my thoughts... I am wondering what others have found about the player?