grenert

Hi. I'm sorry to hear your tale. I absolutely could not get SS 3.4 or 4.0 (or some really old version whose number I forget) to work on my home PC (Windows 2K, SP4 plus rollup). Against my better judgment, I tried installing them on my work computer (also W2K, SP4). 4.0 would work but not burn CDs. 3.4 works very well - go figure. Anyway, I like the sound of my ATRAC CD players at 256 kbps ATRAC3+ so much that (again, against my better judgment) I bought an NW-HD1! I don't anticipate getting a new work PC for at least 2-3 years, so I'm probably set for a while. So now I use my home PC for my iPods and other MP3 devices, and I use my work PC for classical music that I listen to on my ATRAC players (much classical music really requires gapless playback). Do you have an alternative PC that you can try installing SS on? I have no idea why it works on some PCs and not others, but that is how it appears to work! Good luck. -J. P.

Here you go: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/arti.../060605fa_fact1

Browsing through the service manuals for the NW-HD1, 3 and 5, I see that all three share the same main IC (system, DA converter) as well as the same headphone amp IC. Thus, they probably sound the same. I am wondering if it is possible to find out similar information for other ATRAC devices. It could be a good guide to which devices should have comparable sound quality. I've been very curious if the low and high end players are the same on an electronic level. It is very interesting to me that the NW-E4xx/5xx flash players appear to have the same DAC as the older HD players, while the NW-A1000 uses a different chip. I see that the D-NE20 manual and a few others are available from this website. Are there others? We could start a list of what each device uses. I'll start here: HDD players: NW-HD1, NW-HD3, NW-HD5 Main system/DAC- CXR704060-201GA Headphone amp- AN17020A-VB - ?Panasonic analog amp NW-A1000 DAC- PCM1772 Headphone amp- AN17020A-VB CD players: D-NE20 Main system/DAC- CASINO1 board (IC designation not given) Headphone amp- NJU8713V-TE2 - New Japan Radio Corp digital amp D-NE300, D-EJ360, D-EJ361 Main system/DAC-CXD3048R Headphone amp-TA2120FN(EL) - Toshiba analog amp Flash players: NW-E405/407/507 Main system/DAC- CXR704060-202GA Headphone amp- TB2173FTG - Toshiba analog amp FM Radio (NW-E507)- T5767HN Cheers. -J. P.

Looks like the upgrade offer has been extended to March 31, 2007. Thanks, Sony! http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl...&news_id=63 Maybe this should be pinned?

So, now that we are well into June and there is still no "D-NE30" or "D-NE930", is there any hope left that Sony will produce a high-end portable CD player? I know that Sony is phasing out unprofitable (or not-very-profitable) lines. With the world going to flash and HD players, I find it hard to believe these pricey CD players are selling too well. Anyone hear any rumors about an upcoming device??? Does any other manufacturer make a comparable PCDP? -J. P.

I have had zero problems with my D-NF430. It is really a nice player (with a very good tuner for a portable). I only use CDs and CDRs, not CD-RW. It definitely has enough volume for me (Koss Portapros, Sennheiser PX-200, Alessandro MS-1). Cheers. -J. P.

I plugged in my RM-MC33EL remote into my D-NF430 (which doesn't have an LCD on its own remote), and it works fine. Song titles, etc are all displayed. It's also nice in that the remote is backlit, while the player's own display is not. You can even work the radio; unfortunately, it doesn't give a frequency readout. Probably the D-NE330 will work as well, since the two players are very similar. So, some of the LCD-remote-less players can use the LCD remotes. Cheers. -J. P.

OT, but the current issue of the New Yorker has a long article about Stringer, talking quite a bit about the "silo" system there and its influence on Sony. Cheers. -J. P.

Hello. I have a couple of Sony CD players which will play Atrac3 in addition to MP3 and CD. As an audio geek, I am curious to hear how Atrac3 sounds in comparison to WAV and MP3. In particular, I'd like to find out if I can hear a difference between 256kbps and WAV. I tried installing Sonicstage 3.4 a few weeks ago, and all it did was crash. I'd rather not try installing it again. Is there any way I can convert WAV files to Atrac3 without SS? I don't need any burning capability or file transfer function, just file conversion. I figure I can use Nero to make the actual Atrac3 CD once the files are done. Thanks for any help. -J. P.

One more recommendation for Tag & Rename. You may feel a little put off paying for tagging software, since there are many free programs out there, but this program is VERY versatile. Also, it has some "smart" functions, such as how it "knows" you are only editing one particular field. So, when you hit "save and go to next file", it goes to the same field you just edited. Little things like that will make your life much easier if you have a lot of files to tag. Cheers. -J. P.