RichM

I have a Singapore NH1, and it works fine with SonicStage 2.1 from the US Connect site (i.e. not the SonicStage that it was bundled with).

Amazon.co.uk have very keen prices when it comes to consumer electronics. Somebody else points it out here. It could be that Amazon could be trying to undercut rivals, or that their supplier has dropped their prices and the other retailers will eventually mirror this.

I'm glad it helped. It only takes one file it prevent SonicStage from working, I learned this the hard way also. I suspect 'System Restore' had a hand in my strife since I had installed updated DAO components after a restore point, and when I restored back to that point it must not have restored all the older component files. I've had other files go missing because of 'System Restore' so I now never use 'System Restore', unplumbing installed software using backed up registry hives as references is far more predictable if it is more hard work.

SonicStage and Simple Burner share quite a lot files including the OpenMG Secure Module (which contains the DRM / encryption stuff). What I recommend is: Back up your SonicStage 'library' using the SonicStage backup tool, put it somewhere safe. I'm assuming here that there's nothing wrong with the SonicStage DB that you're backing up. [*]Uninstall SonicStage, Simple Burner and their shared components, instructions here [*]Reinstall SonicStage and components, but from a single source (i.e. no mixing and matching components, use 2.1 from the outset from Connect.com perhaps). [*]Before you restore your library, run SonicStage, import some stuff, see if you can get it to act up again. [*]Restore your library using the same backup tool. Run SonicStage see if it's happens again. I am assuming there's something wrong with your SonicStage installation rather than your Windows installation, since you installed SP2 and that should restore any missing files theoretically and that appears to have made no difference.

An addendum to my previous post. Generally the larger a company gets the less important an individual customer is to that company. However your configuration isn't officially supported (i.e. you cannot use Sony Support for help) so that's why they won't or can't help.

Officially in order to have CD writing in SonicStage you have a Vaio (there may be some other requirements aswell). However there was a SS build floating around that allowed CD writing on any PC, but I think that has vanished for good. But still this link may be of use if you don't mind messing in the registry: http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showthread....&threadid=21690

Don't you need other parts of the SonicStage suite such as the driver and the OpenMG secure module to run SimpleBurner. I know this is definitely true of Simple Burner 1 and I would assume it is also true of Simple Burner 2. Buddie, this link might be useful to you: http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showthread....?threadid=19305

If anybody is having trouble starting SonicStage (or anything else for that matter) and you suspect it to be because of a missing file. I recommend giving Microsoft's 'Dependency Walker' a shot, which I mentioned in previous post. You'll find the executable at this site: http://www.dependencywalker.com/ Edit: May be a little overawing for some initially.

No, I've never had any problems installing any version of SonicStage (various builds of 1.5 and 2.0, and the Connect.com 2.1) on Windows XP or Windows 2000. It's just one of those PC things, due to an infinite number of software/hardware configurations, it'll always screw up for somebody out there if they install or run something, even if it doesn't for most other people.

Well yes and no. I had this problem with my N10 a few weeks after I received it (April '03). Anyway there's nothing you can do other than to send off to Sony for fixing it under warrenty, while you're still under it. I've come across this N10 fault quite ofter on various forums that touch on the topic of NetMD players.

If the file was at fault it would be missing, if you get my drift. There's a number of files in System32 that relate to Jet which appear in a cluster in file listing of that directory. These are the ones I can see: msjdbc10.dll msjet40.dll msjetoledb40.dll msjint40.dll msjter40.dll msjtes40.dll msjter40.dll is the one I was missing I think, but it might different for you. Also there might be other files. Anyway I'll try to point you towards depends.exe. I have a Windows XP Professional retail upgrade CD, and I can find depends.exe in Support.cab in d:supporttools where d: is the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive letter. It's about 600k plus a 125k help file.

Sorry, my mistake.

It's not a fault with SonicStage or any Sony software. It's actually a missing Windows file (a DLL to be precise) relating to the Jet Database Engine included in Windows and used by programs such as SonicStage. I was pulling my hair out for about 3 or 4 weeks trying to find this fault. I ultimately used the profiling in the 'Dependency Walker' program included with the Windows XP support tools. I do not recall which file it was but there are a number of DLLs usually beginning with "MS" with "JET" in there somewhere in the 'System32' directory and it was one of these that was missing. Oddly WFP never even noticed. If you use the application profiling in 'Dependency Walker' it will highlight the files that are missing. The support tools I mentioned are usually included on the Windows XP CD and the program you're looking for is called 'depends.exe'. I hope this helps.

I honesty don't think whether the cradle has an USB port or not is that a big a deal to most people. I personally have a desk covered in various cradles for various products that need to be close to my PC. You appear to be arguing that Sony misinformed the consumer by proxy (the retailer) about the USB port on the cradle, no? If you can prove this I will concede this argument to you, however I think it's poor communication to retailers and to the SonyStyle direct sales division, rather than dishonesty. They really don't have anything to gain, but this based on my opinon from the first paragraph. Then again it all comes down to how much of an issue or a selling point the cradle USB port is. If that port is a big deal to a large proportion of the target purchasers as you argue then your dishonesty argument certainly holds more water, but a few tech-savvy users on a forum doesn't sound like this to me.

A few points - Surely information on retailers websites is the responsiblity of the respective retailers, including SonyStyle. I've seen a few copy and paste jobs where a retailer has just copied the spec of the N10 or another MD unit onto the spec of the NH1. This is perhaps laziness, or poor communication between Sony and the retailers. The battery case is indeed a small semi-transparent plastic case for storing a Li-ion battery in, rather than an (ugly) attaching case for an auxillery AA battery like the N10, there's no screw hole to attach one either. You can quickly and easily swap the Li-ion battery unlike the N10 though. I know you're very disappointed, but don't you think you're blowing this out of proportion. Instead of dropping it in the cradle, you just plug the USB connecter in and it'll 'leach' power off your PC. It also means the cradle doesn't need to be near the PC. So it's a rather inelegant solution, but it's not that bad either. 'Sony promises' - that's the thing about prototypes, they aren't the final version, and are subject to change until the design has been finalized.

Get ready to sell an organ if you want to buy directly from Sony. :smile: This is very true, I was trying to guess at Sony's reasoning for dropping the pouch in favour of the bag.

I apologize for my poor assumption, I'm feeling very opinionated today. In that case it should sound... dare I say it... awesome... theoretically anyway if Sony use the finest components they can (i.e. throwing cost restraints to the wind). Still has anybody actually heard a Q017, who has golden ears and no axe to grind?

Sorry to be critical but did you expect SonicStage 2.1 to overcome the NetMD hardware limitation of one way audio transfers, where SonicStage 1.5 or it's predecessors could not. A limitation that Hi-MD is marketed to overcome and largely does. I know some people have been mislead by Sony's dubious marketing into believing transfers were possible in both directions with SonicStage, but prudence is called for when subjecting possibly irreplaceable music to a possibly destructive process.

Many, many, many moons ago when I bought an R35 that came with a similar bag. They have perhaps reverted to these bags so you can carry the accessories (such as the USB cable) around in comfort as well.

My N10 spins down rapidly like you describe, I thinks it's because there's a very limited amount of time after you press stop where the disk is still spinning where you can press play again and it will start playing straight away. I absolutely always let it spin down first, since the spindle and the disk are rotating at a reasonably high velocity and I don't think it's wise to risk damage, plus it only takes a few seconds after pressing stop for the disk to stop spinning. I haven't tried it with my NH1, and I probably won't.

Nah, Bentley's are good, this is just an over priced E10 machined out of lump of brass. Now if Sony had really worked hard on the sound quality for this I would perhaps change my opinion. How much extra to the price would it have added if Sony had added Hi-MD playback capablities?

Rumz, I really don't think it's a memory problem, if it was you'd have more problems than with SonicStage. I thinks it's something broken in your SonicStage suite installation, Windows installation, or something installed that is interfering with the SonicStage suite. If you have Windows installed for a while and if you regularly install and uninstall different programs, it is my experience that you can encounter some pretty odd problems caused by registry remnants. So a reformat and a reinstall may be necessary in the end.

I use leather case from my N10, still the leather case tends to let in the dust a bit. Edit: Sorry leather effect or "pleather" not actual leather.

Just had a thought, are you refering to the "Data Execution Prevention" feature of the Athlon64, if you have Windows XP SP2 it (DEP) knobbles programs that try to run areas of memory that shouldn't be executable. I've only got software DEP (courtesy of SP2) on my machine (only a Athlon 2500+ here, nothing to see) because my processor pre-dates this feature, so I couldn't tell you myself.

Hmmm... well the N10 uses the Li-ion first actually, but doesn't completely drain it, then it uses the AA, only using that little bit energy in the Li-ion for firing up the N10 from it's off state, hence the N10 not starting with a full AA and a flat Li-ion. Sorry thread digression and excessively long sentence.