MDX-400

If you "format" the HD3, just make sure you do it from the player and not in Windows. If you do it on the player then SS should not have any problems recognising it...

Might sound stupid but did you guys try changing the USB cable? Another idea is to clean the contacts on the mini-dock connector. You'll notice that the little black part slides down to reveal the contacts--clean those with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol. You can also clean the contacts on the HD3 itself in a similar manner as you'll see one part of the connector actually pushes in when the dock connects to it.

^What on earth??? How can they make a device in 2006 that is only USB 1.1 speed? That can't be right?

Nice to hear you got a new one and the battery life has improved. After the battery is charged the first few times, the battery life will get a little better as well, most of the time. I think with WMA the battery life will definitely suffer a bit, but 3-4 hours does seem low. How new is the unit? Have you tried with ATRAC3plus files or MP3 files instead? If the battery life continues to be poor, and you're still in warranty, by all means contact Sony for service/battery replacement.

Also be sure the MP3s are 44.1kHz--that might be a source of difficulty as well.

If you don't use the PSP for gaming or videos at all, and don't think you will in the future, you may as well get rid of it.

Check your PM!

Lenmar one should be good to use, provided it's the right one. Check with Lenmar's site to make sure they make a battery for the HD5 and you should be good to go with the Lenmar battery. Seems a bit cheap, but if it's the right part you'll have no problems using Lenmar replacement batteries--they are a fairly reputable battery company

If the errors are occuring due to bad sectors the best thing to do is perform an in-depth HDD scan by a program other than the standard Windows one. Have it go through and mark all the bad sectors as bad and then they won't be used again. Hopefully there aren't too many as to significantly reduce the size of the HDD in any way.

Common problem on the VP, the battery running down over time. The best thing to do is leave it on the charge cradle... I dunno about the settings getting erased though (is it supposed to have a backup battery?). If rhere's supposed to be a backup, it could be that it has drained and needs tobe replaced. If there isn't any backup, it's just because the battery is running down which happens with the VP if it isn't in use, unfortunately.

^Beer??? Beer was not a choice!?!? Anyway I choose Gran Turismo. (BTW, above Damage said the Audi "is a fancy GM". What on Earth??? Audi and GM are not closely related and the A8 is definitely not a GM car AFAIK... VW AG companies consist of Audi, VW, SEAT, Skoda, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Bugatti. GM companies consist of GMC, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Hummer, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall, and Saab. You could also associate GM with some other companies: Daewoo cars, as they own about 51% of that; Suzuki which they now only own 3%; Subaru, but I don't think GM owns any of them anymore but there are platform collaborations I believe; maybe even Toyota because of the Vibe/Matrix combo; but certainly not Audi.) Oh oops here's my this v. that... Memory Stick v. SD ?

You can but I don't think it will work other than a USB [mass-storage] drive after that--i.e. the firmware on the A3000 will not recognise the drive I don't think and you won't be able to use the A3000 independently.

Red Sox (but I don't follow baseball, lol). For some reason this [very old] video game title came to mind immediately when thinking of "this vs. that": Gretzky vs. Hull

^Why not? Almost every other similar Sony device has a service mode, I don't see why the NE900 would not...

Nice review! Particularly with the test measurements Side note: I'm always curious as to why people blank out serial numbers on pictures of such products. Personally I've even posted some serial numbers for comparison to other ppls devices. It isn't like you're posing your Social Insurance/Social Security number or anything. No one is going to take over or ruin your life because they have the serial number to your Walkman, LOL.

No, it can play MP3s natively, it just can't use MP3FM. They really need to get an updated version of MP3FM out!

WOW impressive I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before. However one issue. No blue HD3???

I think what you're referring to here is that programs may request to run in one of 6 thread/application priority modes. The lowest being "Low" (where other programs will take CPU time over that program) and the highest being "Realtime" (where that program will take precedence for CPU time over all other programs regardless of what is going on). Almost every program uses "Normal" priority, where Windows manages CPU allocation to the various programs automatically and based on what the user is doing. Priority can be changed in a program however, or it can be changed manually in the task manager for pretty much any program, by right clicking on the "image name" and going to "Set Priority -->". I'm certain you'll find omgbox.exe to be using Normal priority if you check it out. (With Hyper-Threaded or multi-core systems you can also set CPU affinity so the application has more affinity to use one CPU or both as regulated again by Windows.) Unfortunately, however, that doesn't mean that you can't get a program running to 100% and bogging the system (why I'm not sure, but it can still happen). I've had this happen with SS, but only once and it was because I was reading a severely scratched CD which SS didn't like to read.

Yeah it is silly alright, like I don't even see what the big deal is, lol. The author should have signed "Captain Obvious" LOL. On a somewhat related note, I remember when the Video iPod came out and my friend bought one I was like "hey does that mean you can put porn on there?" LOL. Then I suggested Apple could offer an "iPorn" service to run alongside its iTunes service hahaha.

LOL I linked to that thread in my first post on this one! Anyway this project has finally ended for me. It took a while because I had to get a replacement piece of mirror cut for my sunvisor as the old one was broken. I figured that instead of replacing the mirror entirely I'd replace only a fraction of it (1/3rd of it) and then setup the HD3 inside the sunvisor... Started this procedure, dismatling the entire visor (fabric off, plastic apart, etc.) and dremelling in certain areas to run the cord, etc. I ran into a snag which required me to cut into the flip cover on the visor mirror in order to run the miniplug into the HD3 without putting undue stress on the plug and the phones port on the HD3. So at that point I decided against going inside the sunvisor. With the only visible flaw a slight notch cut in the frame around the mirror under the cover, I "cancelled the project" and installed a full size piece of mirror. All the other cutting was done inside the visor insides, completely not visible after re-assembly. I figured cutting into the cover would look bad and I also realised the cover wouldn't completely close after the installation, leaving it resting on the HD3 if it were inside. Anyway once that project was cancelled, I went back to my original idea. AUX wire still running up the A-pillar and velcroed the HD3 to the visor cover with the wire visible on the sunvisor where it comes down from the headliner along the visor arm and to the player, but otherwise out-of-sight. It looks pretty nice and allows for fingertip/eye-view control of the HD3 just by flipping down the sunvisor No additional space taken up in the car whatsoever, and the visor is easily flipped up to hide the HD3 altogether. If I end up using the HD3 enough in-car, it will be on to the purchase of the Connects2 adapter as well as getting around to hardware modding to permanently set the AUX input. I'm going to try to take some pictures to post up later so ppl can see what I'm talking about... Stay tuned

I see that Archos is calling their Gmini XS 202 the "smallest music player that offers 20GB capacity"? Well let's test that claim out: HD1 = 89mm x 62.1mm x 13.8mm Footprint = 5526.9mm^2 Total volume = 76271.22mm^3 Archos Gmini XS 202 = 76mm x 59mm x 19mm Footprint = 4484mm^2 Total volume = 85196mm^3 So the Gmini XS 202 does have a smaller footprint but in overall total volume that the player occupies/displaces, the HD1 is definitely smaller by a bit. Depends on how you look at it I guess. The XS 202 is not as wide/long but it is definitely thicker than the HD1. Out of the HD1 and the A1000, I would easily pick the HD1 given the HD1 has had it's f/w updated for MP3 capability. Otherwise, I'd pick the HD3 (which I know isn't a consideration of yours) as it is only 1mm wider and 1mm thicker than the HD1; looks better IMO; available in more colours than the HD1; and is otherwise the same as the HD1. Just my $0.02

Well not if you have your device in a tight or out of the way pocket, or bag or purse, etc... In that case you could have the remote easily accessible somewhere in the open with the player tucked away. I can see how some people do not like to use remotes or find them pointless; but at the same time I can also see how they can be quite useful. It's all up to your personal taste and how you carry your player, I think.

Yeah this has been the way it's always been with Sony products way back to Discmans back in the day. Pause + FFW/RWD is much faster than standard FFW/RWD.

I'd recommend a program called "Tag & Rename". It is pretty comprehensive. You can rename tags in a variety of ways, and with whole albums you can look up the titles from Amazon.com (or Amazon.uk and also another Amazon, can't remember which one now) as well as from freedb. You can also rename files from tag names in any way you want or even go the other way around. As I said it is quite comprehensive in what you can do.

Yeah but this doesn't work for tracks on the player it seems. Well at least not on the HD3 it doesn't. You can do it fine for files/albums in your library, but I can't seem to get that to happen for files on the device already.