navsimpson

Hi, Are you talking about on your a3000 or in Sonicstage? -Nav

Yeah, I still think I like it - in person I imagine it will look quite good, especially in black. It's all a bit moot for me - I'm not in the market for a flash player, or any player really. Still - even though I was initially disappointed with the announcement, I guess I've just found it odd that the reaction to this has been muted to say the least, when, to my mind, it definitely seems like a step in the right direction for Sony. Given that this will do things that the Nano can't - play video and record to PCM and ATRAC (and MP3/AAC according to another site) - depending on what they do with the software, it might actually be a real competitor. Since they'll have to find a way to put video on there, perhaps it's finally time for 'much-improved-but-still-crappy' Sonicstage to kick the bucket. -Nav

This is according to a blog entry on sonyfanboy.wordpress.com/ - that Sony is selling ATRAC Lossless files on Connect in Germany. Here's the link, which is in German. http://store.connect-europe.com/promotion....mp;locale=de_DE -Nav

So... thoughts? I kinda' like it - but everyone seems to disagree with me. I was initially disappointed, but having now seen it, I think it looks slick. If it has the same crazy 30 or 40 hour battery life that the s6/700 series does, then I dunno - seems like it'd be a step in the right direction. -Nav

I believe that the newest versions of Sonicstage do include full A-series support now. Can anyone verify that? -Nav

Thanks for the feedback folks... I was just curious. My guess is that Connect is going to transitioned over to the Playstation Store soon. What will be interesting is whether they stick with ATRAC or move to AAC. cheers, -Nav

DSP, If you could, tell us about the sound quality too - I've always heard that Creative DAP's have really good sound quality. -Nav

I've searched for this, but haven't found any answers - does the PS3 support copy-protected ATRAC files from Connect? I'm a ways off from actually purchasing a PS3, but I can't help but be curious. -Nav

You mean to say that when it states that the player's "GUI is still the 3×3 menu layout similiar to the A3000", it won't have the XMB?! Man - you'd think being a graduate student, I would have learned to read by now... Whoops again... -Nav

bob123 - Yeah, I agree, I think Sony has had to hold off on marketing until their software is bug free. While SS has continued to get better and better, we know that it still has all sorts of problems. Maybe this is the end of Sonicstage? Maybe it will have the XMB after all - if biozet's info is correct, then perhaps the home button and d-pad will lead to the XMB menu system? -Nav

Ah - didn't read that part. Just thinking - or typing - out loud. Still really curious about software. Is it just me, or is integrating video support into SS just asking for trouble? Wow. I am *way* too into this. -Nav

I was thinking - could 'smaller than the Nano' actually mean thinner than the Nano? That little teaser countdown on the German site - http://www.sony.de/view/View.action?site=odw_de_DE - made me think that it might actually be full size with a huge screen... Dunno' really, just guessing. But maybe it'll be that thin through the use of an OLED screen? Just ramblin'... -Nav

DAP plans eh? I had never thought of that - but hey, an excuse to save and spend is still and excuse to save and spend... My plans rest on two things: 1) If Sony release a PSP-esque walkman minus the gaming features, I'll be very very tempted. 2) If Sony drop the price of the PS3, then my money will go towards that and another DAP will have to wait until my current one breaks. -Nav

Hmmm... I just tried playing some gapless tracks on my NWHD3 and it worked fine - no hiccoughs at all. I don't really know what to tell you. Are the CDs originals? And also, is SS converting the tracks to another bitrate when you transfer? Other than that, I'm not at all sure why it would be doing that. -Nav

Done and done. Sorry - I guess the impulse is to go and discuss things with other Sony nerds

Whoops! I always do that... Sorry Chris! -Nav

Thanks for posting the news Ishiyoshi Was wondering generally though - am I the only one a little underwhelmed? I guess I was expecting more of a revolutionary rather than evolutionary step. As I posted on the blog, it seems strange to have a device that plays video but that is also so small. Since it's almost certain that the touch screen on the iPhone will be transported to the iPod - i.e. a device with a screen almost as big as the PSP's - won't Sony be coming to the table with too little and too late? It's not like they can afford to rest on their laurels, right? -Nav

Slow down folks! It's still Friday in some parts of the world

I think that would be amazing, and perhaps the first really 'new-media-friendly' move that Sony would make. People have been clamouring for an easy way to get things you traditionally watch on a TV onto a portable device. If these portable movie files work with the Video Walkman as well as the PSP, I think Sony would really offer something people want. Also, my prediction for tomorrow's news? Larger flash players, perhaps with larger colour screens. I think the Vid Walkman news will come out later, timed for the release of the updated Playstation Store that will have movies and games and be accessible from the PSP. Any takers on bets?

Okay, since this is a predictions post... I say that the 'other route' is XMB rather than a touch screen - I think that's pretty much guaranteed. I really really hope that the new HDD walkman is basically a PSP minus a UMD drive, so that it keeps the wi-fi and the other media functions. I'm just curious if they'll change anything on the software/service side of things - whether they'll stick with Sonicstage and Connect or come up with something totally new, possibly something linked to the Playstation Store. But, for now, I guess we'll keep waiting... At least we get Sonicstage 4.3 in the meantime -Nav EDIT: looks like Sonicstage 4.3 won't have anything new - aah well, back to dreaming

When you convert an MP3 to ATRAC, it's called 'transcoding' - you're taking an already compressed file and compressing it again, kinda' like making a VHS copy of a VHS copy. I would guess you're taking 128kbs mp3s and then converting them to ATRAC files - that would sound sorta' like AM radio. Do you have the CDs to import as ATRAC? And, is there a specific reason you have to convert to ATRAC? -Nav

Yeah, it's probably the headphone jack itself. Cleaning may help, but it's likely it'll need repair. Since it'll probably require some simply soldiering, you may wanna' try a small repair place first to see if they'll take it on, and use Sony Repair as a last resort. -Nav

Football! Liverpool or Chelsea?

False alarm folks - kinda'. Once I removed the ID3 v2 tags, the files were then recognised, played and transferred by Sonicstage. Thought I'd post the solution in case anyone else had that problem. -Nav

Hey folks, I am trying to transfer an album that is composed half of LAME mp3s and half of Guess (FHG) mp3s. Sonicstage doesn't want to seem to recognise or transfer the ones that are FHG, which is enormously frustrating, because this track by Guitar is my favourite at the moment. Anyone have any ideas as to what I might do? I don't have any codec packs installed, but did have a similar problem with MP3s ripped using Xing. Any help would be much appreciated. -Nav