navsimpson

Yeah, I think Weaves is right - announcement at the end of the month at the IFA. I just hope it's more than this Rolly thing, which seems like another Mylo - cool, but ultimately too niche. -Nav

Hm. I wonder if that's a good sign (i.e. something new on the way) or a bad one (i.e. they're just done).

All bluetooth?! What about the 90 or 95% of people who don't have bluetooth on their PCs? I'm intrigued, but hesitant - like when a friend gets up on stage. You're optimistic, but you're really worried they're going to embarass themseleves...

I can't make head or tails of anything - are we sure that this Rolly is an MP3 player?

Then maybe the 808 transfers WAV's as AAL files rather than ATRAC3plus? That would explain the space discrepancy at least. -Nav

Personally, I think the reason the a800 isn't getting released in the US is because of it becoming obsolete when they transition from Sonicstage to Media Manager. I think Sony USA have made all sorts of mistakes, - perhaps they're trying to release a player with some longevity now. Btw - I finally got to see the a800 at a Sony Store and I was really impressed. It feels really well made and it's tiny. Luckily, my HD3 still works and my 2 new computers have left me totally broke, so I couldn't succumb to temptation If they do replace Sonicstage, simply re-jiggering the a800 to work with UMS and Media Manager would make a lot of sense. -Nav

The cheapest way to do it would be to convert FLAC --> WAV using some piece of freeware and then WAV --> AAL using Sonicstage. Don't quote me on this, but I don't think there's a way to convert directly from FLAC to AAL. -Nav

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.pht...MP3.phtml\ Nothing concrete, but we might get some news. First we got the Bean, now we get an Egg. I hope this isn't as lame as this sounds. -Nav

If you're player supports AAL(s7, a800 series), then it transfers in AAL, so yours is playing in AAL. -Nav

This is around the forums, but - AAL stores both a lossless and lossy copy of the file so as to maintain compatibility with devices that don't support AAL (i.e. it'll transfer the lossy file). The bitrate refers to the bitrate of the lossy part. AAL will sound better than ATRAC3plus as it should be exactly the same as the source. -Nav

I thought the Bravia line was doing really well? Aren't Sony back on top in TVs? Also, I meant Sony should deliberately make at least one of their new DAPs expensive - cram it with features and ultra-high build/sound quality in order to actually make Sony players desirable again. -Nav

1) Separate, tactile volume control - minor thing, but something I like about my current player, particularly when it's winter with gloves etc etc. 2) Built-in Wi-Fi with support for podcast rss/xml feeds. Nerdy, but I'd find it very useful. 3) Neutral, powerful sound. Unless Sony pull out all the stops soon, I think when my NWHD3 dies, I'll go with an iPod or a Cowon (the former for its universality, the latter for sound quality - without SS!).

Sonicstage allows you to convert any ATRAC file to .wav now, which is then easy enough to convert to MP3.

Since even Sony themselves have admitted they're no longer competing with the iPod, why not go high-end? i.e. high-end DACs, lossless support, Bluetooth, metal casing and some other features that I haven't thought of. It seems at least that way Sony might recoup some of the brand recognition they've lost, particularly if they make the software part of the high-end experience. -Nav

My guess would be that there Xing-encoded MP3's... Sonicstage just doesn't like them. Are they?

It's louder because it's artificially boosting the volume at the quiet parts - and vice versa. All the dynamic range of the track is lost, though the volume stays constant.

Turn dynamic normailser off - not only does it make things sound off, it will kill volume and dynamic range. -Nav

Shinji, can't you convert any non-DRM'ed ATRAC file to a WAV now? I think you can - and then you can use LAME to convert to MP3. This is especially useful with ATRAC Lossless, since there's no transcoding going on. -Nav

Yeah, it doesn't seem it was a time to announce anything new regarding Sony DAPs. Just curious as to what's happening re: Sonicstage, Media Manager and ATRAC. -Nav

Gizmodo had a link about two new Sony iPod dock/clock radios coming out of the holiday show. I wonder if there will be any DAP announcements...? Anyone know anything? -Nav

Maybe they're keen to say Connect is still up and about because its replacement isn't ready, and they still want it to be a *cough* selling point for current Walkmans? Wouldn't be the first company to try and squeeze out the last bit of juice.

Thanks for the updates - this clarifies. But to me it's sorta' disappointing - I was hoping Sony were getting the message and were going revamp things entirely. I really hope they work to further consolidation and inter-departmental collaboration. I do also think that Connect is subpar - in selection, speed/ease of use and sound quality. There's no way on earth it's either generating a profit or driving sales of Walkmans - I can't say I understand why they're keeping it around. When music does come to the PSN, I really hope they either ditch ATRAC entirely or at least move to ATRAC3plus 256kbs or higher. Many people will have their PS3's connected to stereos where 132kbs ATRAC3 just won't cut it. -Nav

Mods, I hope it's okay to post an ebay auction here. If not, please let me know/delete post. ************************************************************************** Brand-New in Box Playstation 3 for sale. Starting bid CDN$425, No Reserve. Will only ship to Canada, deliver w/in GTA (within reason). If you're looking for one, you probably know it retails for CDN$699 plus tax. This was a machine that was purchased by one of those annoying people looking to make a fast buck on the launch hype - he never sold it or opened it. My bro bought it from him, and realised that he can't afford it even at that price. Looking to recover cash basically. It's still sealed in the box and, therefore, still eligible for a full Sony Warranty. PM me here or send questions through the auction. Link follows: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...p;rd=1&rd=1 -Nav

I think Media Manager does currently support ATRAC files for the PSP - perhaps it will continue to. Now, this might sound crazy - but I'm not quite sure Media Manager is better than Sonicstage. It is a essentially a drag 'n drop program, but I don't know if it's anywhere near as intuitive as a jukebox as WMP11 or iTunes. It does look organised well, with tabs at the top and a menu structure on the left. Hopefully Sony will tweak it to cater more to Walkman users and then release it w/ new models later this year. -Nav

Finally - a sorta' smart move by Sony. Connect was slow, relied on a subpar codec (why not at least use ATRAC3plus?), was DRM'ed to hell and had a marketing budget of, I'm guessing, $100 a year... So why attach great players to a lacklustre service? But overall, I think this is good news. What it means is that Sony will refocus their efforts on integrating the Playstation and Walkman ecosystems, which will greatly increase their demographic awareness. It will also give them a chance to start over. I think there's even a possibility they might rely on a redesigned PSP to replace a high-capacity Walkman. I also think there's actually a good chance that EMI's DRM-free tracks may show up on the PSN. Sony stands to lose nothing by selling unprotected tracks from a competing label while matching features with iTunes. And I think pata2001 is dead-on in saying that Sony will be moving over to AAC. Unfortunately, I think one of the reasons that they will is AAC's capacity for DRM. The only downside is that I'm not sure if Media Manager is good enough as a standalone jukebox/podcatcher software yet, and I've read that it's also slow and clunky. Still - SS 4.2 showed some performance increases, so perhaps they can do the same to Media Manager. -Nav