uri75

For editing I use excellent fast and free tool called mp3directCut (http://www.mpesch3.de).

same thing I noticed with my NH700. I laso have smart charger with 4 spots (AAA, AA, C/D, 9V) which does the job well and I would recommend it if you buy extra NiMh for use with MD and not charge it inside the MD unit.

writing movie reviews and internet related articles...

I think a friend, who got me into MD, told me about MD.org back in 1997. After extensive research on the site I got my MZ-R50 and got me so excited I just had to get MDS-JE510. After that I checked it out from time to time, but never really got into forum, which came handy recently, when I got MZ-NH700 and SS problems started. :-I

Actually I've seen some similar problems (if not exact same thing) posted here already. Try the search...

...was thinking/remembering the same thing about Nike.

I have to agree here. Both suprized me in a good way. Especially Batman, because I wasn't sure what to expect and I've been disappointed before (Daredevil, Elektra, Hulk). Hulk was actually ok, not nearly as bad as other two, but still not as enjoyable as it could be. Catwoman was just dreadful. Sin City already looked very promising through trailers and then it delivered. Very unique and first true comic2film adaptation.

Holly crap, this actually works! I was a bit sceptic, but hey, Windows is a very strange beast, so I gave it go and it worked exactly as you said. I almost gave up on 3.1, so thanx a lot for this workaround/solution!

That's actually helpful to know since at this point I'm not dealing with my own recordings or any kind of transfering MD->PC. BTW, what's the timeline for SS version updates? I guess 2.0 came out about a year ago and 3.0 year after that... How fresh is 3.1 and is there any explanation why Sony drops all older versions from their site (only FAQ remains), like this would be the most stable software around and you really don't need anyting but the latest release?

Maybe try updating MDAC version through Windows Update...

Is there a batch converter to do this (mp3->ATRAC3+)?

I'm posting this here since it mostly concerns about the VBR problem in SonicStage. Let me start with a side note: At the moment I have continous problems with PC1 (after couple of reinstalls SS3.1 doesn't recognize my MZ-NH700, but it works fine as external USB drive), while everything works smoothly (albeit slowly) on PC2. Before upgrading to SS3.1 on PC2 I wanted to do some testing, which made me even more reluctant to do the upgrade. Here's my config: PC1 ==== SS3.1 (final install from full EXE from this forum - I will do fresh install from the net in the next test) PIV/2.8GHz 1GB RAM WinXP SP1 PC2 ==== SS2.0 (installed from bundled CD) PII/333 384RAM Win98SE I tested with couple of MP3s imported to SS: x1 (192kbit, 44100Hz Stereo) x2 (190kbit VBR, 44100 Stereo) x3 (320kbit, 44100 Stereo) x4 (128kbit, 44100 Joint Stereo) SS3.1 x1 - doesn't play (plays after manual conversion to 256kbps ATRAC3+) x2 - doesn't play (plays after manual conversion to 256kbps ATRAC3+) x3 - plays x4 - doesn't play (plays after manual conversion to 256kbps ATRAC3+) I haven't tried other ATRAC bitrates. BTW, one way to make it play manually converted file is to right click it and remove/delete the MP3 version from properties, since both MP3 and ATRAC are listed. Don't forget to first make a backup of the original MP3 before you remove it with SS. If you simply remove MP3 (for example with Explorer), SS will report a problem with non existing file, even though the path to the ATRAC version has not been changed. SS2.0 x1 - plays and can be transfered to MD x2 - plays and can be transfered to MD x3 - plays and can be transfered to MD x4 - plays and can be transfered to MD So my question is how come SS2.0 works without a glitch if it's so inferior to SS3.1 as stated by couple of ppl in this forum?

any news about IP2SS?

I have the same problem with podcasts not working in SS, so hopefully this will be resolved in the future with some nice and simple one step software/converter.

tnx, I'll do that. Hopefully the most pesky issues with this will be resolved in future versions of SS or some other software will come out. UPDATE: Luckily I have another rearly used PC (PII/333) with Win98 where I installed SS2.0 from bundled CD and everything works like a charm on the first try! It seems there's some WinXP issues (my main PC is Pentium IV / 2.8GHz) with SS software and MD recognition within SS. I might try updating SS2 to SS3.1 on Win98, but I'm reluctant doing that - why fix if it ain't broken. At least I solved problem with transfering music files to MD.