The Real Player worked even with mp3lib enabled in ffdshow, at least for me. However, Real Player doesn't support group function. In order to create groups, you have to transfer the files on real player and then use SonicStage's group function to bundle the files into groups. In this case, SonicStage (both 2.0 and 3.1)worked without problems. Another thing is that Real Player only supports LP2 and LP4 file transferring but not SP. SP is necessary for playing files in MD players that don't have the MDLP function. What I did in this case, in case you're interested, was the following: Select the files you want to record in SP and transfer them through Real Player in LP2 (132 kbps bit rate). After, open SonicStage and use the software's upload function to transfer the files to the computer. If you're going to use the same disc to record the files in SP mode, erase the disc after finishing the file upload. Otherwise, insert a new disc. Then, select the files you uploaded previously from My Library (they are in ATRAC 3 format). Go to Transfers and click on Settings. Select SP mode. Then you just have to start the transfer, sit back and wait 'til it's finished. It's a little time consuming, but a simple way to work around the issue in order to get good sound (sound quality change practically went unnoticed).