MDX-400

There's nothing "splodgy" about ATRAC3/3plus; whatever that means anyway, lol. But transcoding to another format is definitely not good. But yes the A1000 does play MP3 natively. Sony players have been able to do that since the HD3, where have you been? LOL. In fact the HD1 with firmware upgrade can also do it (the HD1 was not user upgradeable though and the offer for the firmware update has expired). But the A-series? Of course they can play MP3s!

Ahh, like mass-tagging? Yeah that would be nice. If you're using MP3 files, there's lots of programs that can do that, but for ATRAC3/3plus and SS, you're out of luck at the moment. Sony should definitely add that feature. They should also allow you to change genre for an entire group/album on the player... You can do that for files on your PC, but if you want to change genre for stuff already on your player you can't do the entire album at once, you're stuck doing each file, one at a time

LOL. The only way any of you are going to see any "compensation" of any kind is if users in each country/jurisdiction launch class-action lawsuits against Sony to seek compensation. Otherwise Sony is happy to laugh all the way to the bank with your money. It's how all big corporations are really. They aren't going to ever admit they did anything wrong on their part (with the exception of government regulation enforced product safety recalls) and they certainly aren't going to do it in the form of any kind of offered goodwill (which would entail that they did do something wrong). Instead they just keep on truckin' until they get slapped with a lawsuit. Even then, they'll spend hundreds of thousands in legal fees just to keep from having to pay out millions in damages/compensation. Makes sense from the shareholders point of view, regarless of what the customers think.

I see what you mean but consider the cost of these things, lol. Buying another dock for your HD1 and a mini-dock for it as well will probably cost you just as much as buying an HD3 with all the accessories, lol. In that case you could probably just get an HD3 and use the minidock on either. You wouldn't get another cradle but you'd have an HD3 as well... What's absolutely retarded about the connector on both the HD1 and HD3, however, is the fact that it is nearly useless. It can't do anything other than DC input and USB connectivity. Meaning there is no audio through that connector. Had Sony actually done something smart, audio would have been in that connector as well (there are actually enough pins to carry L, R and GND but they are just unused); and they would have included docks with both players with line audio output. But Sony couldn't do something like that because that would require thinking, LOL. Since all you get is USB and DC in, why not just put those connectors right on the unit? (I already made a thread about this, lol). They only thought about that at the HD5 and then they only thought of putting a real dock connector on a unit with the A-series only they messed that up as well because the separately available dock connector for the A-series doesn't include USB connectivity unless you use the original cable. WHEN SONY? When will you get it right? It's quite simple. Make a connector at the bottom of the unit. It must provide three things. 1. USB; 2. LINE audio output at all times; 3. DC/charging input. On the dock include three things 1. USB mini-B STANDARD connection for USB connectivity, not some dumbass proprietary cable; 2. RCA or minijack analog and/or optical digital LINE level output jacks; 3. DC input for the AC adapter. Is that so hard? End Rant. Sorry but the dock connectors on the HD1/3 are fairly useless, on the A-series they did better but it's still stupid. It's highly annoying they can't get this right.

^That's interesting that they only have the A1000 listed there now... I'm betting the A1000 sells better. However, in Canada, if that's the case, Sony brought that on themselves. The retards at Sony Canada decided not to sell the A3000 in stores but only on SonyStyle.ca. Therefore anyone walking into Best Lie or Futile Shop might not even know that there was an A3000; only the 6GB A1000. Good one Sony. Hey let's not sell this through any retail outlets and then when it doesn't sell well, let's discontinue it and cite poor sales

Wow I guess that might mean it is "curtains" for the A3000 then eh? Probably not going to be US release then I'd imagine. I guess Sony must have a replacement ready to launch?

I still quite firmly believe this is the exact reason these players have not yet been released by Sony USA. Sony USA knows people are going to be complaining like crazy, returning products, possible lawsuits, etc... However I think SS is fine--everyone can use that. CP on the other hand has waay more many problems/complaints. Sony USA has released lots of units that used SS, from NetMD to the HD5 and flash players. As soon as CP and the A series came a long, guess what? Sony USA refused, lol.

Yeah I think you're right, but just for that one picture... The rest it all looks like Left = Real; Right = Fake. The only thing I can think of is the engraved writing on the first picture you just can't see (because it is engraved) but the one on the right might be printed so that's how you see it in the pic? I dunno but it's only that picture that seems like it might be incorrect, all the rest you can clearly see the samsung chip on the left and the no-name fake chip on the right.

Both the HD1 and HD3 use an industry-standard A to mini-B USB cable which are available cheaply through any computer store. However both the HD1 and HD3 also have a proprietary connector on the unit themselves meaning you can't just plug the cable in directly. The HD1 requires the BCA-NWHD1 dock/cradle which a standard mini-B USB cable then plugs into. The HD3 requires a silly little "mini-dock", the BCA-NWHD3, to plug the cable into. Both of these are rather expensive from Sony as replacement parts. The HD3s connector is over $50 US and the HD1s dock is more expensive than that I believe. The HD3s mini-dock will fit the HD1, however the HD3 will not fit in the HD1s dock/cradle (without modification to the dock) as it is slightly thicker than the HD1. Even on eBay both of these parts (BCA-NWHD1 and BCA-NWHD3) are usually bid up to high levels (usually found only from UK sellers as well). It isn't really worth the trouble to get another one unless yours is lost/stolen or you don't have one for some reason. The cost is fairly prohibitive.

Yeah his fake (above) didn't seem that bad, but there are lots of horror stories about fakes, particularly like them not working at all after a short time period, data loss, etc. As for why the bootleggers/counterfeitters don't just start a rival firm is (for one thing) because of the royalties... You can't just produce MS cards and start selling them without paying the licensing fees, obviously these companies/people that are producing the fakes don't want to pay that--it is probably cheaper to just copy the Sony packaging and sell them as if they were real, to unsuspecting ppl. IIRC they are pretty good at making fake holograms now too, so the hologram isn't a good way of knowing either. Definitely stay away from eBay for Memory Sticks. Just buy them at your local, Sony Authorised computer or electronics stores--Future Shop, Staples (for Canada at least), known good local computer shops, etc. They have dropped in price quite a bit these days, it definitely isn't worth taking a chance to save a few bucks on eBay.

LOL. Funny stuff. Apple makes me cry anytime I have to use any of their software. It's actually sad for me to know they are even still in business, lol. It's no surprise Steve Jobs is a jerk--he always has been.

Armband eh? Do you really need an armband for those things? They're pretty tiny, no? You might be better off getting some earphones with a "neckstrap" (designed to carry a small player like that around your neck).

Car or automotive waxes and polishes which are "safe for clear coats" (pretty much all of them today) are good ideas too. It will not do any damage and will remove minor scratching like you describe, to some degree. Also wax adds a tiny bit of protection as well. If the scratches are really light/fine wax should be good enough, if they are a little worse I use a "cleaner wax" or polish first and then follow up with a coat of wax. It doesn't remove scratches entirely (particularly deeper ones) but it will make a night and day difference. It might not be as effective as some purpose-designed plastic scratch remover or other such solutions, but it is more gentle and generally has good results. In the future, a good idea is to use those screen protector films on your devices, however. Also never use a dry cloth to clean anything that will be susceptible to scratching or have the scratches become annoying or noticeable. Always use a dampened cloth (using special tissue for "delicate surfaces" like Kimberly Clark's "Kimwipes" is best); use a small amount of soap to remove oily fingerprints, etc. Be very careful that water doesn't seep into "cracks", joints, or places where different parts meet or buttons are. Even then, some surface water even in button and joint areas is fine 99% of the time because you're just wiping it off in a second anyway. Dry with the same type of tissue or use a soft, clean cotton cloth or similar. I always see people wiping displays of different devices with their hands, dry cloths, etc. and I just shudder at how they can do that. If I get anything like fingerprints on a display I leave them there and later clean as described above (unless it's been previously waxed, then I sometimes breathe on the plastic to create a fog and wipe with cotton from a shirt like a T-shirt). Wiping dry things (including your hands) across screens at any time makes things worse, not better.

Really? The A-series HDDs can't use MP3FM??? I never knew that. I'm guessing it is just because MP3FM hasn't been updated in a while?

LOL. He just said you can't use GYM to do that. It only allows you to play and pull tracks in the MP3 format which are on the device.

Is it all MP3 files that won't play or just certain ones? Short of turning off the internal battery when the player is powered on (but not playing or accessing the drive) there isn't anything you can do to "reset" the player. So try that first. If that fails the only other thing you could try would be to do a scandisk on the HDD see if that finds anything; and failing that then format/initialise the device (again) and try to re-transfer to it, to see if that works. If all of that fails to fix the problem, I'm afraid you will have to either get it repaired (recommended if it is still under warranty) or replace it (recommended if it is no longer under warranty).

I'm curious as to this comment because out of all the complaints about SS, I've heard this one a few times. What is so slow about SS? I can't really find anything slow at all. Seems to start up pretty darn quick for me, it rips ATRAC3plus at even 352kbps fast enough--it is certainly not noticeably slower than using EAC + LAME to rip MP3s with --alt preset insane (320kbps CBR) so I'm just kinda curious as to why people say it is slow... I'm using a P4 @ ~3.2Ghz which seems about the average (or even below average) PC these days; but I'm still quite confident I could be using it on a PIII without much to worry about (now obviously it would be a good bit slower at encoding but that's expected/obvious given a slower PC). Anyway seems to work fine for me. :shrug: Perhaps ppl are referring to the speed to transfer to the Network Walkman? I suppose that could be maybe a little faster but I woudn't really call it "slow" either--it's not like I'm ever in some kind of crazy rush to get stuff loaded onto the player (if I was in a rush for anything I'd definitely not be trying to load songs onto an MP3 player, lol).

One way to avoid this MP3 crashing is to not use MP3s in SS. I don't. I only use SS for fiddling around with folders on the device and ripping to ATRAC3plus. For MP3s it is much easier to just use MP3FM instead. Unfortunately MP3FM is a little functionless so I have to make the appropriate group folder in SS first but other than that I still use MP3FM to transfer MP3s. If you do that I doubt you'll ever run into crashing problems like this with SS.

Yeah I think so... Should have a 1yr warranty no? Amazon.co.uk likely won't replace/repair it themselves but they are a Sony authorised dealer to my knowledge so you will be able to send it to Sony as per the warranty information you have (or can look up on the website). I'd send it in ASAP because if it is a 1yr warranty you only have a couple months left to do it.

This isn't particularly related to this plugin itself but it's always interesting seeing the ignorance of some people... Just looking at that thread above, look a few responses down and you see this: Uh, right. Stay away from Sony products because they use ATRAC3 and it is a really protected format by Sony. Right, will do. Nevermind that (if I'm not mistaken) Sony actually makes it easier to put MP3s on their devices (with MP3FM) than do many manufacturers. You aren't exactly limited to SS. Plus the majority of ppl using iPods use iTunes for example, it isn't like there isn't proprietary software for other manufacturers' players. Using ATRAC3/3plus is optional and SonicStage is not that bad either. But it's definitely interesting to see that people don't have a clue about Sony DAPs but talk about them and tell people to avoid them anyway! Well that's OT anyway... Getting back on topic, I'm not really a WinAmp fan myself, but I was just wondering if this allows you to play ATRAC3/3plus files and see the tags as well (Artist/Track Name/etc.)? Or does it just play ATRAC3/3plus without tagging info (as you can do with WMP)?

Well just an update to this^ ... I've run the cabling up through the A-Pillar and permanently installed my XA-300 Aux in adapter in my car (had this thing for years but barely ever used it, and never did a permanent install). If I get enough use out of the HD3 in-car I'll be buying the Connects2 adapter and finding a way/someone to mod the player for permanent line out. Anyway as for the mounting, I ran into one small snag, lol. Velcro (self-adhesive stuff) won't stick to the silicone that those player skins are made of I was thinking it might have problems doing that and today when I tried it sure enough it comes off as if the backing weren't even peeled off LOL! So I guess I'm going to have to go down to one strip of (1/2") velcro, instead of two; and, I'm going to have to place it on the player itself, and then cut a hole in the skin to allow the velcro to be exposed. But I'm not going to stick velcro right to the player until I get the blue one (hasn't come in the mail yet) which will be the one I'm going to dedicate to car useage. But it looks quite nice (just holding it with my hand for positioning) on the sun visor--simply flip the visor down and there's your player. Not in the way at all--no cupholders to take up, no unsightly mounts, no visibly indiciative "I-use-an-MP3-player-in-my-car" wiring or looks... Instead it's quick and easy access to the player just flipping down the visor and it's easy to read and navigate it seems. Anyway once I have the blue HD3 and get that going, I'll try to take some pics

Yeah it is not just Sony that does this. Most HDD manufacturers do this as well. In fact it is probably more because the Toshiba HDD in the Sony player is called a "20GB" drive that Sony states it is 20GB, rather than it being Sony that is being misleading themselves. They define 1MB as 1,000,000 bytes instead of 1,024 bytes^2 (a real MB is 1,048,576 bytes calculated by squaring 1024). Examples: My Maxtor 6B200S0 "200GB" SATA drive is really 189GB. Another PATA WD "200GB" drive I have comes up as an actual 186GB. My older WD "20GB" drive is actually 18.9GB, similar to the Sony HD1/3/5 etc. I think to get 1GB you have to square that true MB number as well (multiplying by 10/100/1000 etc. does not work with bits/bytes/megs/gigs as it does with metric units--computer storage is not really a true metric measure I don't think though it still uses metric prefixes).

As Stuge said, people are entitled to their opinions. Though I haven't really read the comments to know how bad they are, lol. Opinions based on ignorance (i.e. those made by people who've never used Sony gear of any sort and just assume things about them) should just be taken with a grain of salt--those people have no idea what they're talking about and who knows why they bother to post. Some people are mad at Sony otherwise, and that's understandable to a degree--everyone is going to have their own opinion. But if they are simply Apple "fanboys" trash-talking it, the joke is on them because Apple makes some of the worst computer products in the world lol. If they're using iPods that's one thing but I just hope they aren't using Mac computers because, well, that's their own pain and suffering hahaha.

Hmm, I'm still seeing the pics on this thread... As for the stand, I'm still intent on mounting mine on the sunvisor instead of using a bulky stand. Just seems a lot easier and neater to me. I'll get around to it as soon as it gets a little warmer, LOL. Today might not be a bad day--got the day off and it is 8C outside but I'd like it to be a little warmer already

I would really, really recommend against transcoding one lossy format to another. You're taking a hit in sonic quality for minimal (IMO) "benefits" in other areas. This is especially true if you're going from MP3 at one bitrate to an even lower bitrate on ATRAC3/3plus--that really isn't a good idea, space savings or not. But just my opinion. If you can really live with the quality reduction I guess that's your suffering, lol. I'm unsure about using the MP3 converter though, as I never have (I didn't even know that existed!) so perhaps someone else might answer. Out of curiousity, how fast is your PC? What CPU do you have and what clock speed is it running. A faster computer will definitely speed things up in the encoding and transcoding depts. though if you're running a fast machine already, you're probably best off looking for a simpler way to convert, as you mention.