maxthrusters

I would be extremely surprised to see a firmware update for a long discontinued product like our MS70D players.

Here's my story regarding this topic! Description: Some mp3 files would not convert to ATRAC3plus with Sonic Stage CP for transfer to device. The songs would transfer "as is" with no conversion. The songs were not ripped by myself from CDs. The songs are usually VBR but some might have been CBR. The songs have id3 tags. The songs are without DRM. The songs are mp3 and supported by SonicStage. The songs are where they are suposed to be according to SonicStage. Problem: The id3 tags are not being correctly read by SonicStage. Possible reasons include invalid bits inserted by CD ripper/encoder programs, invalid characters, conflicting id3v1 id3v2 information, or some other non-obvious tag problem. Solution: Delete the song from SonicStage library, but do not delete from hard drive (leave box UNCHECKED). Use a file tagging program (I use MP3 Tag Tools v1.2, freeware. Google it) to load the folder containing the specified song. Remove all non-tag data from file. Remove all tag data. Fill in the fields again (Artist, Album, Date, Genre, etc). Synchronize the tag data if you use older devices (id3 v1 and v2). Reimport the song into SonicStage. You may now convert the mp3 to ATRAC3plus, problem solved. This has worked for me 100% of the time. Good luck! Update: File names or id3 tags with special characters also can present a problem. Example: ä, as in the Kraftwerk song "Wellenlänge". Renaming the file name and tag to be "a" instead of "ä" solved this.

They still sell the 128mb Memory Stick Duo (the blue ones) at the Sony Store here in Canada, which are the ones you'd want for a MS70D. The 64mb ones I haven't seen in quite some time, probably discontinued. Perhaps they have them at a Sony Store near you.

I'm using my MS70D as a "shuffle" player! Dynamic Playlist, Transfer Count 0, Random, 256mb (and 128mb on card). All in ATRAC3 132 (LP). I 've got my AW3000 loaded up with every Rap/Hip Hop album I have, and selected Rock albums to fill up the rest of the space. Transferred as is, so most mp3. My A608 is loaded up with most of my compilation albums, all in ATRAC3 132. Mostly rock, motown/R&B, and electronic.

I like my MS70D so much I just paid $137CAN to get the memory stick duo latch door fixed! To answer your question, the MS70D can only use the white (old, now discontinued) or dark blue (current) Memory Stick Duo cards. The dark blue one comes in capacities of 64mb and 128mb. There might be such a creature as Memory Stick Duo Select, which would have a capacity of 256mb, but it's really a 2-in-1 card with an A-B switch ( two 128mb areas on one card: cannot access both areas at once). I've never seen the Duo in the Select format. The black Memory Stick Duo PRO cards do NOT work, in any capacity. The black/red "high speed" Memory Stick Duo PRO cards also do NOT work in any capacity. In either case you get the error message "Format Error" when inserted. The above was the case until the release of the PSP. Apparantly the 32mb Memory Stick PRO card that came bundled with the PSP does work with the MS70D. Don't let that fool you into thinking the other black sticks will work, because they won't....I've tried. One might ask why. The answer, I would imagine, relates to letting lawyers from Sony Entertainment into the Sony Electronics design meetings. They came to their senses for the release of the PSP (which allow ATRAC3plus OR mp3 on Memory Stick duo PRO), but since they don't do firmware updates for older products (MS70D, Cliés, whatever) we are expected to buy a newer product instead. Hope this helps.

I doubt we'll be seeing the eReader here in Canada anytime soon, since Sony seems to be making no moves to set up a Connect Store here. Hopefully I am wrong, because I would certainly buy one.

I have both of these items. I must be cool! lol The EX-71s are definitely my favourite phones. If I had to complain about anything, it would be that they are a bit bass heavy...although many would find that an advantage. I'm not a fan of the "long right, short left" cord, if you know what I mean. Where you wrap the right side behind your neck to your right ear. I wish phones would go back to having equal length for both sides.

I had the bright idea to reinstall Connect Player again. After patching and letting it run overnight importing "only" my SonicStage folder (8099 tracks, took all night and then some) I enabled ArtistLink. "tinyhttp has enountered an error and needs to close" and "C++ Error, tinyhttp.exe, abnormal program termination" would greet me after ArtistLinking about 10 songs. I restarted the program each time, and got about 100 tracks ArtistLinked after 2 days lol. A friend came over yesterday with his iPod and wanted to download some tracks (he doesn't have a computer, got a Nano as a gift). I installed iTunes for him and it was done importing 11,000 mp3 files in under 5 min, and the transfers were done in seconds. I'm not an iPod fan but that was pretty amazing. After he left I went back to trying to ArtistLink more songs, and you know what? I couldn't help but wonder why Sony can't get it right with Connect Player or SonicStage. I ended up uninstalling Connect Player again, so I am back to using SonicStage CP with my A3000 and A608. This suits me fine as I use SonicStage for MiniDisc too. If I was a Mac user I am sure I would go for an iPod.

I'd like to suggest an addition to the forum! How about an area for VAIO computer users? After all, Sony VAIO computers are the only ones that come with ATRAC3/ATRAC3plus ability right out of the box. The reason I suggest it is that I have a suspicion that there are quite a few VAIO users here among us. VAIO Village seems to have become quite out of date, and the "official" European and Asian VAIO boards are now only for people in those markets. I myself have a VAIO notebook, and just bought a VAIO desktop (hopefully here by this Friday). Opinions?

I recently bought a DNE920. The choice was between that and a DNE20, because I required the optical-out feature. I chose the 920 because it has a backlit LCD right on the unit. I'm pleased with the sound, weight, appearance, battery life. I am not pleased with the results making ATRAC CDs, as the process has either failed or the completed compilation had sound quality issues. No such problems with MP3 or store-bought CDs.

After enduring Connect Player until the release of SonicStage CP I can heartily recommend that you uninstall Connect Player immedately and use SonicStage CP. All of the A-series functions are supported with SonicStage CP. Good luck, and welcome to AtracLife

I'm loving my A3000 too, even though it's the violet one. I would have preferred a black one, but they never had it here in Canada. Mind you, the violet looks much better than depicted in photos. I have 4589 songs on mine, all ripped from my own CDs at ATRAC3 132kbbs. I tried 64kbbs at first but while I found the sound acceptable with earphones it was too "thin" when connected to stereo or even the speaker dock accessory. For classical tracks I ripped at 256kbbs and transferred as-is, but I later took them off the player. The only slow-down I've experienced is when searching and advancing through the lists by artist or song name. When playing (even randomly) there's not been any obvious slow-down for me. Nifty things I've discovered when using the player are that you can press and hold the buttons for various purposes. The Option button when pressed and held shuts the unit off, the Back button when pressed and held goes to the main menu instantly, and the Play button when pressed and held plays whatever is currently selected on the menu (ie all songs by artist, genre, album, etc). Yes, all this is mentioned in the manual however it's something very useful that's easy to miss! I also like the optional icons for the player's default bookmark lists, symbols that could represent time of day, activity, exercise, commuting, whatever.

I just finished tag tool-ing (lol) 11,000 tracks to fix lots of problems. I noticed, using tag tools, that some files that I always had problems transferring were not 44100hz (or whatever), so I deleted those. I suppose I could have converted but I didn't like them much anyway. Also, I noticed a few songs that I had problems with had filenames such as "1-Song Name.mp3" or "1 Song Name.mp3", and files that I've never had a problem with were all "1 - Song Name.mp3". I don't see why that made a difference, but now they transfer no problem. Oh I also made sure to copy the tag info from ID3v2.x to ID3v1.1 for all the files. Something of note: I am amazed SonicStage ever transferred any of my Mp3 files at all, given the amount of garbage that was in the headers prior to removing it all with tag tools.

I'm quite happy with my A3000 player. I got it near the end of May 2006, from the local Sony Store. In fact, I liked it so much I later bought the neoprene pouch, the cradle, and the speaker dock! I'm disappointed that Sony isn't making them anymore, but not surprised. As a company they never seem to stick to a product design for very long, particularily when in a highly competitive sector like digital audio players. Perhaps they feel that this is the right way to do business, since nothing so far in the Walkman line has unseated Apple's iPod. Sony appears to be trying to market on brand-name rather than a particular product, such as the iconic iPod. Example: put the last five Walkmans and iPods on a table in front of a typical buyer, but with no brand name visible. The iPods are instantly recognized as such, but the Sony walkmans? They all look so different I doubt the average person would even know they were all Sony. I think they need to brand a device as "The Walkman", and improve on it over time, as opposed to jumping ship every few months with a totally new device.

I've had this problem too, and cleaning the id3 tags solved the problem. I found a freeware tag editor called Mp3 Tag Tools, google it. Not too hard to learn how to do, it's feature "Remove Non-id3 Tags", and removing "comments" did the trick.

I agree with bobt, rip from CD to ATRAC if you have the CD. That being said, I routinely convert Mp3s to ATRAC3 132kbbs all the time. Some sound better than others, mostly I think because some Mp3 files themselves were poorly encoded in the first place (older encoders, low bitrates, whatever). My ears can't usually tell a difference between ATRAC3 converted from an Mp3 encoded with LAME alt preset standard and the mp3 itself, even when played on my stereo. Some songs sound "different", but not "better" or "worse", and even then I only would notice in an A-B test. Since I routinely plug in my players into a stereo receiver ATRAC 132kbbs is as low as I will go to acheive reasonable quality. I do notice "muddiness" with ATRAC3plus 64kbbs this way. You need to find what works best for your own ears. Good luck!

I haven't yet bought an RH1, but I do have an NH1 and DH10P. For playback I quite enjoy using my DH10P over the NH1. The remote for the NH1 is great for playback too, and works with the DH10P. The DH10P dropped in price quite a lot since it was discontinued, however I still see it for sale. Perhaps you would want to look into it's pros and cons for yourself.

It's true, the battery life in really great. I've been unable to completely drain the battery even after all this time. Of course since I change the music every couple of weeks it gets a charge. I think rated life is 50 hours or something.

Great icons! I'm a bit confused though. What is the point of the icons for D-NE920? I have one and as far as I can tell it doesn't connect to a PC...and atrac CD don't play on computers either. Is it just for mp3 Cd or have I missed something?

It's been awhile now since I reviewed my silver A608, and I thought I would follow up with some additional commentary. I'm still quite pleased with it. Using the A608 with neck-strap headphones makes it very convenient to use. I wear it everyday when walking my dog or going somewhere on the bus. Friends are quite impressed with it's appearance, small size, and design. I've loaded it with about 900 songs at ATRAC3plus 64kbbs, converted from Mp3 of various bitrates (mostly lame alt preset standard) and ATRAC3 132kbbs. Given that I'm using the player in noisy environments the sound is entirely acceptable in quality, even with transcoding. Since I bought the A608 I've also bought an A3000. Comparing the two I have to say that I like the 'intelligent' features as implemented on the A3000 better. I do like how the player uses a standard USB-to-Mini USB cable (unlike the A3000). Not being able to delete or mark songs for deletion on the A608 is inconvenient. Viewing the display outdoors in daylight is difficult to impossible. The small rubbery latch that covers the mini USB port shows wear from use. SonicStage CP has worked just fine with my A608, with the exception of some songs that would not transfer due to improper tags. Overall I would say that I'm quite pleased with the A608. Update: I decided to try the included headphones and clip, having stripped the wiring on my neckband phones. They aren't painful at all, like older "included" headphones, and actually sound remarkably good for 'free' phones.

I've had this happen to me too. The program doesn't really inform the user as to why this happens unfortunately. One instance that comes to mind were improperly tagged Mp3 files: too many characters in one of the fields, being an example. I fixed those that I discovered and the files then worked. Of course this isn't a solution for all these errors, I have had the problem with perfectly tagged Mp3 files too.

Simple way is to pop open the UMD door before turning on the PSP. More complicated way is to enable parental ratings in options, and assign a rating to UMD games. Then you need to password to start game, or cancel to skip. I just pop open door.

People have been saying "Minidisc is dead" for 14 years now. MD, of course, records/plays ATRAC. I think ATRAC will continue to evolve and find a place in Sony products for many years to come. Not being popular in North America doesn't mean it's dead, failed, or whatever.

I just bought a D-NE920 today. I like having a backlit LCD right on the unit, and the optical out feature.

Since we live in Canada there is no Connect Store service. That means we can't authorize, which in turn means we are stuck using the players with only one PC. Of course I'm sure there are ways around this, but I wouldn't know how.