theblueraja

Sony's marketing & planning team are like a chicken with its head cut off. People always ask me why I buy multiple units, etc... maybe because the "here today, gone tomorrow" concept never rang more true than with Sony. My greatest concern is, will Sonic Stage still trigger Gracenote when I pop in a CD to rip years from now?

Well I did the backup procedure from Sonic Stage to my MyBook external HD successfully. I see it created/saved some additional files than a typcal copy+paste backup of the Sonic Stage folders (what I did in the past). However I'm just a bit nervous to do the real TEST. In other words, deleting all of my media, or uninstalling & reinstalling SS after all the reorganizing I had to do with some artist names, the artwork replacements, etc.... what should I do? Try it on my second computer or will that mess up my licenses somehow? I'm not TOO concerned about the stuff I have purchased via Connect (not very much at all), so maybe that won't be an issue... but I don't want to ruin any computer authority issues by trying it on the other machine. Thoughts?

Well then I'm a hypocrite because I know clearly that minidisc sounds the BEST, but I have given it up for some convenience... maybe there's a fine line between quality and practicality in today's age??

My Vaio Pocket has the option to search music by GROUP... so sometimes I like to have certain GROUPS together, but when dealing with a 40 GB player, dragging the bottom group up to the top in Sonic Stage can take like 3 minutes of holding that mouse button down and watching everything scroll by very slowly. I have a top form PC, but it is a limitation of the software. I don't think we'll find a "solution" here talking about it... it seems to be a major limitation of the software. And unless the techs at Sony are reading this form, we're just out of luck.

New Walkman eh? Must be that 4gig HiMD minidisc line they've been holding back!

I completely agree. iTunes, like iPod, is beautiful in LOOK and FUNCTION... Sonic Stage & Sony players SOUND best... and what are we all here for? Audio. I have some hang ups about Sonic Stage, but the ATRAC signature sound (especially at lower bitrates, since I use 132kb) is so worth it.

This seems very helpful... I'll check out that FAQ link, and give this procedure a shot. Thanks!

Do you mean the same thing that Richyu said? When you say your cover import folder "which I can always re-import"... do you mean manually import one cover at a time, or is there a way to mass-import all the cover data?? And as far as the SS backup utility... hmm.. anyone know if that works?

I'm a little tired of the "left minidisc behind" guilt on my shoulders, so I thought since I love ATRAC, I'd try out this spot. So.. can anyone answer my question?

I had no doubts iTunes has it down, as I have iTunes for the iPods in my family... but I like ATRAC, so I'm just wondering if there's a way around this issue.

I'm running Sonic Stage 4.3 I believe, and I recently bought a 500gb "My Book" so I can back up my music. I have discovered, however, that if I reinstall Sonic Stage and re-import all of my media (albums in the Packages section) that more than half of the album art ends up MISSING. When I search the folder that contains all of the art (I forget what its called but it starts with an "F" I believe), the art is actually THERE, but in the import process the connection (or link) is lost. Is there a more sure way of backing up my ATRAC library and retain the assigned artwork?? I also find it annoying that it somehow doesn't keep all the manual tag changes I've made... for instance, if an artist has a few tracks where the artist name is theirs, but "featuring Joe Smith" etc, I manually deleted the "featuring" part so in my Artist search there won't be so many entries, etc... but when re-importing, it goes back to the original tags that came when the CD was first ripped to Sonic Stage. Can anyone help? I thought of just duplicating the entire Sonic Stage directory, or even installing Sonic Stage ON to the back up hard drive, but I have a feeling Sony has a lot of tag/ID info stuff for copyright issues, plus Windows issues, etc...

I'm running Sonic Stage 4.3 I believe, and I recently bought a 500gb "My Book" so I can back up my music. I have discovered, however, that if I reinstall Sonic Stage and re-import all of my media (albums in the Packages section) that more than half of the album art ends up MISSING. When I search the folder that contains all of the art (I forget what its called but it starts with an "F" I believe), the art is actually THERE, but in the import process the connection (or link) is lost. Is there a more sure way of backing up my ATRAC library and retain the assigned artwork?? I also find it annoying that it somehow doesn't keep all the manual tag changes I've made... for instance, if an artist has a few tracks where the artist name is theirs, but "featuring Joe Smith" etc, I manually deleted the "featuring" part so in my Artist search there won't be so many entries, etc... but when re-importing, it goes back to the original tags that came when the CD was first ripped to Sonic Stage. Can anyone help? I thought of just duplicating the entire Sonic Stage directory, or even installing Sonic Stage ON to the back up hard drive, but I have a feeling Sony has a lot of tag/ID info stuff for copyright issues, plus Windows issues, etc...

Gee... no mention in that article of the advanced format of ATRAC?! I guess I'm in the minority, as I prefer the ATRAC signature over any other compression.

Please don't think I'm trying to somehow abuse or pirate anything here. I format my PC on a regular basis (about every 6 months). Each time I do Sonic Stage thinks I'm adding a new computer to the 5-limit on my account. However, in ADDITION to that, if I get a power hit (like last night) and reboot, somehow it has to re-read my data base, and presto, I've maxed out my number of authorized computers yet again. The last time this happened I called Sony tech support and they simply cleared it up over the phone instantly and were nice about it. Well, it is Sunday, I can't call, and since this happens so frequently, I'm wondering if there is some REGEDIT function or way to 'hack' it to clear out the number of authorized computers. Thanks folks, any help would be appreciated. I can't simply transfer a track to a device because of this.

THAT DID THE TRICK!! Bless you and THANK YOU And Sonic Stage is great, I just messed up.

I had to reinstall Sonic Stage 4.3 since I reformatted my PC w/ a new HD. All was well... then for the first time I tried ripping from MD to the computer (in SS), some popup question came up, and I hit cancel by mistake, and now it won't let me rip anything from MD... when I click the left arrow button the right side flashes once, says "loading", then nothing happens, no transfer, no matter what my settings are (kb settings, or create .wav file, etc). Here's the kicker; I've removed & reinstalled SS 4.3 TWICE, once the version that came with a new walkman, and once the direct download. And before the 2nd time I reinstalled, I deleted all the root Sony folders that I saw were still on my HD. Yet, when I reinstall, somehow it has STILL kept MY default kbps setting.... AND, still can't rip from MD anymore. Help!!!

Ok, I know I've asked this before, but seem to recall getting mixed answers. With the current version of Sonic Stage we can rip tracks that we had on a minidisc (like that were originally from a CD rip to Sonic Stage then put to MD) and send it BACK to our PC in sonic stage at the same bitrate. If I do that then transfer the same file to another MD (same bitrate, no conversion), is there ANY audio quality loss?? I mean, is it the same principle as drag-and-dropping a FILE or is there still some audio coding taking place that could create issues in quality?? Thanks

Anyone notice you're entertaining a post by a new member who mentioned a RUMOR? I mean, I love the idea as much as any MD lover here, but I think we're in touch with people with good connections with Sony and I think we would have heard something... no? (no offense, Quicksilver)

Anyone got a Vaio that went bad or you lost or... I don't know, maybe you want to get rid of the whole thing, but at any rate, I could use an extra cradle and need the case that came with the Japanese release (VGP-CKP1). PM me, I use Paypal. Thanks. WANTED:

Who are you going to Fed X an MD to?? The majority of people receiving an MD in the mail would be like "is this an old floppy?"

Yeah, quite frankly to me the RH1 was a total step BACKWARDS as far as a 'new' model should be... at least as a PLAYER model, which it is not anyway. Die hard old MD users love the RH1 for the transfer ability, and professional audio recorder people love it for its LED and recording features... but people who use MD players as a PLAYER/WALKMAN device should realize the RH1 leaves little to be desired, especially with no track TITLES on the LCD (oled, whatever)... plus I heard that OLEDs don't last very long (don't know specifically what that means, but certainly a much shorter lifespan than traditional LCD)... how the screen on the DH10P fits the equation I have no idea, but I'm sure owning multiple units helps in that respect As for mp3 goes, I love the sound of ATRAC, so... not an issue.

Not that calculated. However since I recently read it is not good to have a battery sitting around at full charge for a long time, I've recently DIScharged a couple and put them away.

FUN note?? Every unit seems to have some weakspot... the RH10's battery door for instance... well the USB connector for the DH10P on the cradle end of the cable is incredibly fragile... which is why I suggest to people that if you wish to unhook the USB to use the cradle for powered playback only from time to time, unhook the cable from the PC end; the tiny gold teeth are very delicate. I'm sitting here looking at the black DH10P right now... it's a beautiful sight. Oh, and sounds incredible too Oh, and don't ever let snapshots make you think the screen looks this way... it's always much more vibrant and colorful in person.

I got a decent deal, privately. But the lowest price I've seen on Ebay now is $375 plus shipping. Still better than $550... the original price I paid for my first black one that I had to return. Good luck.

Congrats on the DH10P I know of no other way to charge these LIPs other than the units themselves. A great reason to have an EXTRA unit! I use both a spare DH10P and an EH1 for my battery charging. Plus if you have many of the LIP-4WM batteries (I think I have like 8 of them), it doesn't seem as bad to have them handy for swapping out. Suprisingly the DH10P battery door is pretty good compared to like the RH10 or NH900. As far as the plastic cases go, you may have to find your own solution. I did for the gumsticks (see pic below), but I somehow have aquired enough of the plastic cases that I always have enough for my LIPs... mabye because I buy so many units - lol And just to rub it in...