pata2001

hidagu: have you considered installing SS3.4 instead? 3.4 is the latest version.

I thought RH1 comes with SS3.4, so one can just download it anyway from connect web site, right? Unless the SS3.4 bundled with the RH1 is a special version.

Do you own an iPod? iPod and MD are not in the same category. First, one is a hard-drive DAP, while the other one is a removable media. I use both iPod and MD. For organizing hundreds/thousands of albums and songs, nothing can beat iTunes + iPod combo, especially with smart playlist.

Also, if your CDs already have CD-TEXT info in them, you can use CD-TEXT manager to export the CD info from the CD-TEXT to Sonicstage's database. Do this before running sonicstage. Very useful if you have many custom/self-made mix CDs with CD-TEXT.

Well, consider the DH10P. Its MSRP is $499, and online retailers are selling it for around $250. If $250 still turns out profit, you'll get the idea of the markup. Plus now most units are outsourced to Malaysia and China, meaning the profit margin would be greater for Sony. How would those Sony execs pay for their suits and cars?

Would be more helpful if you describe the problem more. What verison of windows are you using? What version of Sonicstage? What device are you using? What is displayed on your 40ELK? The 40ELK is designed with only the Japanese language in mind, so it will only display Japanese. You can display Chinese characters, but not all. Forget about Korean. If you want a DAP that can display Chinese + Japanese + Korean flawlessly, I would get a Creative DAP or Apple iPod.

The 38EL, which if I'm not mistaken is the same as the 33EL, is only a 1 line remote. I don't think the HiMD units even show 2 lines with the 35ELK, which can support 2 line if used with the right units, like the E720. For multi-line, best bet is to get the 40ELK, which works with 1st gen units very well.

iTunes. This is the reason that iPod is still better than most DAPs. With iTunes smart playlist and live update, you can easily organize and cycle through all your songs without much effort. Plus, live update works on the iPod itself, so it can self-update a playlist if you set it up properly. For example, I only set up 1 playlist in my 5G iPod, and it will regularly cycle my songs without any intervention from me. Sony does put the right stuff for the walkman phones. It won't be an iPod killer in general, but definitely a strong competitor against flash DAPs. The downside is cost and avilability.

That means it's a "truer" random. Just think about it, for a "truer" randomizer, ALL tracks, even the ones you've listened to, have the same chance to be picked. So it might just pick the same track again, even before playing all available tracks. I wished Sony can implement a "smart" shuffle, like what Apple did with iTunes and iPods. In iTunse, there is an option to adjust the degree of the shuffle's choice in picking songs from same artist/album or not.

RH910 cannot display kanji on its LCD. Period. You still can use any ELK remote (35ELK, 40ELK) to display kanji, but those remotes are designed with Japanese in mind, so not all kanji will be displayed, only those that have the same kanji in Japanese. DH10P, on the other hand, can display Japanese and Chinese perfectly on its LCD. Dunno about the RH10, but I think it could also.

Yes, that is the case, which makes Atrac lossless as useless as it is. 1kyle: If you really have to store your music losslessly, use WMA lossless. SS can read and transcode WMA lossless just fine.

Japan units have been shipping with universal AC adaptor since at least last year. US units still ship with 110V adaptors only.

SP mode is for the sake of compatibility with non-MDLP units. Unfortunately, Sonicstage itself cannot encode to SP, so it encodes to LP2, and then transcoded by the unit to regular SP. Bitrate is 292kbps, but quality is LP2.

Don't forget to change the registry region setting. Sony put a region code in the registry for HiMD and Network walkmans. US code will result in ???, even if you use applocale for sonicstage. I tell you, Sony USA sees Kanji as the root of all evil.

Now that we have many articles and opinions about what/how Sony should have done, have we ever heard any response from Sony? (except for releasing the dream machine RH1). If Sony now open up MD/HiMD's DRM, but only release 1 new unit, I wonder if they are actually withdrawing out from MD/HiMD.

Hmm, if that's the case, then how come there's no such option when you choose LP2/Atrac3 compression? Weird huh? Sony doesn't really explain the otion either.

Nice job. I bet if Sony USA PR saw this, they'll be like "Huh? We made that thing?", and the next thing they say "look, that guy used our logo without consent, where's our lawyer?" And Sony entertainment would say "Hmm, that music gotta be one of ours, where's our lawyer?" Yeah, sad isn't it? But I think I'm not too far off on what things Sony execs are thinking. Good work on the video though.

I have 4 NEC DVD writers. All work like a charm for cheap price. The latest NEC seems to be not that good in writing quality though. Ben-Q based Sonys seem to be the favorite now. Previous lite-on based Sonys are not good.

The current recommended Lame version is 3.97beta. http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME If you want something listenable at 64kbps, use AAC or Atrac3+. For Lame MP3, just stick to --preset standard.

The remote that comes with US RH10 is not even an LCD model, let alone display chinese characters. It's a basic remote, no LCD, just volume, stop, play, pause, next, prev, controls. Even worse, there is a region setting in the unit's firmware, and US RH10 cannot display any kanji characters on its OLED display, unless you hack it.

A car unit is a must, especially Sony refusing to implement seamless/gapless in AtracCD car decks. Wait the minute, they released an iPod adapter already...

Hopefully this works for PS and PS2 games also. No more waiting for crappy dubbed/localized US version.

I wonder if the 2nd one is a spectrum analyzer. Would be really cool! Oh, and line-out is back! The only thing Sony can do now is for Sony USA to screw up the US version of the unit. Let me guess: no remote/non-LCD remote.

Just watched Lord of war a couple days ago. Awesome movie. Definitely tells you the dirty little secret on why we have wars, and the people behind them. Watched Full metal Alchemist conquerer of Shambala yesterday. I haven't watched the actual series, but this movie is very good with great story and great characters.

"Hyper compression in CDs" Agreed. "iPOD & MP3 Players" "MP3 compression will cause loss of soundstage and stereo separation and diminished dynamics" Complete rubbish. The writer of the article is the "dumb" one. Try to ABX the latest Lame --preset fast standard + MP3gain with AudioCD, and then write the article. Yeah, 128kbps sounds like crap, but does that mean MP3 is bad? Lame's joint stereo has been proven to be lossless at hydrogenaudio. Don't blame MP3 if you only use Xing encoder. The writer should have just stopped at the first point, which is the most important problem, since AudioCDs are often the source.