marftarf

Does anyone know if this software will work for rss mp3 transfer to the older HDD walkmans like the nw-hd5?

Yeah the error when there is nothing new to import from the folder is ridiculous, and its been like that as long as i can remember. I'm sure that if something like that cropped up in itunes they would fire the guy responsible. Or fire the whole team.

have a look here: http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3341 it's a workaround for a sort of folder monitoring. whatever folders you scanned on the previous scan are automatically scanned and imported when you start sonicstage using this script. You can't touch anything while it does it, the sonicstage window has to remain active and you can't tap any keys or anything while its running.

That is crazy that they have built in support for video podcasting already when sonicstage still doesn't have support for audio podcasting. Unless I am missing something...

Hi, i would be interested to know how/whether this worked for others who downloaded it.

Using a free tool called "AutoHotKey" (http://www.autohotkey.com/) I have come up with a very short script (which I converted into an .exe so you can use it whether or not you have the "AutoHotKey" software installed on your computer) that when it is clicked it launches SonicStage and immediately automatically executes the File-Import-ScanFolder function. If, before using this script, you have already set the specific folders you want SonicStage to scan on import (through the settings dialog from File-Import-Scanfolder-Settings) then this small executable is, in effect, is a way of hacking a kind of folder monitoring into SonicStage. Where this is especially useful is if you separately use Juice or something to automatically download Podcasts to a given folder. Set that folder in the scanning checkbox in Sonicstage, and any podcasts downloaded by Juice will be automatically imported each time you launch SonicStage (if you use this little executable instead of the normal SonicStage shortcut). Notes: -this probably works only on the english language version of SonicStage because it looks for certain strings in the windows in order to know what to do next. If you need other language versions let me know and I can adapt it, if you tell me what word replaces the word "files" with whatever is the equivalent in the dialogues in your language version. -I have no idea whether this works for versions other than 4.3 -For some reason, Sonicstage has always been programmed to give a nasty "error" dialogue if there are no new files to be imported from the folders you select for scanning. This invokes the terrible "critical stop" sound from windows. I don't know why the Sony programmers left this so unpleasant but it eventually forced me to change the sound in XP for "critical stop" to something less abrasive. -if for some reason your Sonicstage is not installed in Program Files\Sony\SonicStage this probably won't work without customization. -this works for me but i have no technical expertise so let me know whether it is useful and works for you. -personally, i put this .exe in the /sony folder and then make a new shortcut for it which i place next to the normal SonicStage shortcut so I can choose whether to autoscan on a particular occasion. -let's hope Sony includes proper podcast support in the next version of Sonicstage!

After upgrade to SS 4.3, mp3s on the NWHD5 no longer play in SS. Instead, SS just freezes. thoughts?!? still play ok in GYM

thanks for that link. it contains the best advice I have ever read about how to deal with the various frustrations of SonicStage: "Recently, when unskillfulness it does, it is lighter than iTunes, is, die."

if this is true (i haven't tested it), it makes it even more ridiculous that you can't simply do this within sonicstage, even on your own computer, if you have deleted from your own drive / reinstalled windows. I still can't do that and it makes nw-hd5 useless as a backup device.

I would like to see podcast support, similar to that in itunes.

another bonus of using groups view: because the recently transferred stuff appears at the end, it is easier to locate and delete podcasts etc. which are only on the player for a short time, rather than having to guess what the "artist" tag was and find it in a long alphabetical list. yet another bonus: with my hd5, i am often frustrated that after deleting a track from the player in SS the whole list disappears and then i have to wait while "loading xx%" displays for 10 seconds or so. Using group view this does not seem to happen. .xml question: i have a NWHD5 and like being able to choose between "albums (by artist" and "group view" - each is useful in different situations. My girlfriend has an NWHD3, though and it seems only to give her the option to have "group" view, not "albums by artist". Is there an equivalent .xml hack to give her the ability to browse her NWHD3 by "albums by artist" view? great work on this. a real pity we have to hack all this stuff into shape ourselves rather than sony just doing its job properly.

Note that even if you turn DRM off, you can't transfer ATRAC files back to the computer from the player. Unless they are already still on the computer (I do not understand the function of that!)

In prevous versions, it apparently WAS meant to since it did. So someone changed this moving from 3.4 to 4.0. My only point is I much preferred it the old way. Or perhaps they could give you the option to have it remember. It is really too bad that they keep everything so locked down in the UI etc. No plugins or anything. To me, building in podcast subscriptions should have been relative simple and wouldn've been a lot more useful than the whole artist link thing. It's frustrating that they are so close to producing something really great but they stop just short and seem satisfied with something that is merely adequate.

Yes, i really want to delete the files themselves. Because Sony doesn't build podcast support into SonicStage, I have to download those files with Juice, import them to sonicstage, transfer to the HD5, then delete from the library. to do this every day, the fact that this little box no longer stays ticked becomes disproportionately annoying! Of course, they could have built podcast support into 4.0. but they didn't. oh well. does anyone else find that this box doesnt remember its status?

New annoying problem in 4.0, never had it before: when deleting an album from the library, SS presents a window asking you to confirm you want to delete the underlying files from the computer. In previous versions, if you ticked the box to confirm that is what you want to do, SS would remember your choice the next time you went to delete another album. Now, you have to tick the box each and everytime. whether this was by design or not I don't know, but I really don't like the change!

is 1.2 beta still beta or is that what you guys use as your regular GYM now? if it isn't stable, what are the known issues? I am using 1.12 with a mix of mp3 and ATRAC. It sure would be nice to figure out how to have the same functionality with ATRAC files. Has everyone stopped development of GYM, or is anyone still working on making 1.2 no longer beta, addingATRAC support etc.? anyway, it is a great acheivement so far... further to my last message, all my ATRACs are obviously from my own CDs, and none have copy protection added to them.

I have done this from time to time without any obvious problems. However, one weird thing, I used to use itunes which kept all my files in nice orderly folders (by artist/album). then when i got a nw-hd5 i switched to a mix of Atrac and mp3 and using sonicstage. It, of course, does not keep files in very nice order, since it puts everything in albums rather than artist/albums. I set "my music/ATRAC" as the location to save everything. so it set up all the folders there. but one day i noticed that most of them were empty and there was now a "my music/ATRAC/ATRAC" folder where most of them had been moved again. so now they are even more disorganized and I can't figure out how to efficiently reorganize them without confusing sonicstage. I suspect this might be something that the 'optimizing" does. anyway, there is always some new discovery as to an inexplicably poorly-programmed aspect of Sonicstage!

A lot of stuff controlling the UI is set out in .xml files under "C:\Program Files\Sony\SonicStage\Data\XML". looking in those files with an xml editor might reveal where the image files come from. you can change the font, enable cleartype etc. in there too. It also makes me wonder how else the UI can be customized. For instance, I am using a 1600x1200 LCD on a laptop, which makes all the text very small. But increasing the font size doesn't scale the whole UI up and so the text just doesn't fit in the boxes any more. I don't know enough XML to know how to scale everything up to the larger screen, but I assume it is just a matter of hacking the XML files? Who knows what else someone else with XML knowledge could do...

That is cool, works well! Since MS UI Gothic is not a font installed by default on my Canadian Windows XP, though, I tried Tahoma or Verdana font instead. Works quite well. However, since I use sonicstage on a 1600x1200 notebook monitor, all the text, album covers get quite small. Anyone know XML well enough to know whether the UI can be scaled up so that font and everthing is bigger? thanks again!

After much wavering between ipod and old/new sony, I bought a nw-hd5 about a month ago, when a local store (in switzerland) was selling them for (equivalent to) $230 USD. At that price, there is no question it was the best deal around and I am extremely happy with the player. The SonicStage software is tough to accept after using itunes for a couple of years, but I am slowly adjusting and it is worth giving up itunes (however reluctantly) for the higher quality of the actual sony player. At this point, if you see one for $200 USD or less, I would say snap it up!