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I'm afraid I like my 805 too much to give in so easily. Besides, I have invested in a cradle and mains charger which I am unlikely to recoup any money on. So, I will keep what I have and hope for a firmware upgrade. All in all, as I stated before my next Walkman will be an SE phone, I have considered this in the past but I am convinced now.

Me neither, my decision is made, my next Walkman will be an SE phone.

Cere's, I see you have the 808, are you tempted by the NWZ -81* at all. I have the 805 and as far as i can make out the 'drag and drop' audio feature is the only difference in the Z series.To be honest, I am kinda hoping against hope for a firmware upgrade to cover that.

Media Monkey is cluttered and crippleware. Why bother when Realplayer or WMP will do the same for free. SS is easier to work with than MM (IMO)

They won't take SS away, but there will be no more updates i.e SS4.4 or SS 5.0. Trouble is, if there are any compatibility issues in the future, (such as an incompatible Microsoft update) Sony will let us swing. This is what will really condemn the NW S70* and NW A80* to the museum, possibly within weeks.And this is why I feel I am entitled to a firmware upgrade, in fact I think I am entitled to this as part of my 12 month warranty and I am not giving up!!!!!!!

Actually, WMP 11 gives me a lot more trouble than SS 4.3. But it's UMS I am after.

When Sony released the HD3 they took a big step and added MP3 support, this was seen as major move forward at the time. They offered a firmware upgrade to owners of the recent HD1 model to make it MP3 compatible. So, they have taken these steps in the past. This also proves to me that a firmware upgrade for the NW-80* is possible, at least in theory and should be investigated. Another example is the NW-MS7( I own one and I still use it) way back in 200?. It was originally designed to work with Windows 98 and had to be 'Flashed' to allow it to work with XP. It's up to Sony and it all depends on how much they value their customers.

I should think so, they only developed it a few months ago, then again nothing would surprise me anymore!!!!!!!

Let's put it this way.......If they DON'T help us out here my decision is made( a reasonable fee is acceptable).............no more SONY Walkman for me. I know the decision to ditch ATRAC had to happen sooner or later. If I had bought a WALKMAN a year or two ago I would consider re-investing, but 2 months ago, COME ON, they owe us here!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT was that???????

In the hope of a response I have sent the following message to 'support' on 'Sony Irelands' website. Maybe we should put them under a little pressure. In the light of Sony's plans to ditch ATRAC, SonicStage and Connect music store I think it is only fair that they provide a firmware upgrade to allow the most recent Walkman products (e.g the NW-A80* series) to be compatible with Windows Media Player. I recently invested in this product including cradle and charger, only to find that it is already 'old technology'.I hope, like others, that Sony show respect for their customers and do the decent thing!!!! Regards, A hopeful Sony Customer.

You ARE joking. :lol: Yes, it would be nice to get a firmware upgrade for the recent DAPs and it would be the descent thing to do. But, Sony are not interested in items that they have already made their money on. I repeat what I have stated on other threads, if it wasn't for the fact that the sound and build quality of the Walkman is so good I would have ditched the NW brand a long time ago........In fact, on reflection, when I consider Sony's apparent loss of direction (it looks like they are still a long way off having a solid plan for the future), maybe my next DAP will be non Sony......( and non-Apple)..........

I don't like it, my NW-A805 looks much better!!!!

Let's hope it becomes as lively and informative as ATRACLIFE..........

Well, in the face of all this news from Sony the inevitable has to be asked................. IS ATRACLIFE soon to be a website of the past??????

Well, this is what we've been looking for. Personally, I knew this had to happen but I am kinda disappointed at the same time. I have invested heavily in ATRAC devices including the recent NW s703 and NW a805, although I haven't ripped in ATRAC for some time. There will be problems associated with this move..... e.g a/ Support for SS will go fairly quickly, therefore if a Microsoft update for XP or Vista has a compatibility issue with SS there is unlikely to be a patch or work-around. b/ SS always requires authentication after a System Restore ( on XP at least ). What happens when these servers are shut down? .........and there will probably be other issues. I urge Sony to do the descent thing now and help us to transfer to Windows Media Player with some type of Firmware upgrade, lets face it the NW A805* series is only a few months old and it's end is already signalled by this news.These devices are easily flashed with a new firmware. P.S Does this mean that Sony devices will 'talk' to other media players (such as Realplayer) P.P.S On the other side I would imagine that WM support staff will have a lot of work to do when people all over the world plug in a Sony product for the first time.

Is there any info from the inside here ...............IS ATRAC GONE FOR GOOD?????

WHAT!!!No Atrac, they could have at least left it for those who are upgrading from a previous Sony DAP (with all their music in Atrac format). Does that mean no SS. I don't believe it. No Atrac, then no Connect Music Store, what would be the point..........and more worrying, no more SS support in a very short time from now.....I take back a previous comment on this forum, maybe Sony ARE changing everything!!??!!??!!??

It doesn't sound like 'Sony changes everything' to me!!!!!!

Because I need something better to occupy my mind I have been trying to guess what Sony's next move in the DAP market will be. It now turns out that Sony Ericsson has ditched Disc2phone software in the new W960i Walkman phone and replaced it with Media Manager. Is this the same Media Manager as used for the PSP? If so, is this the way forward for the Walkman also? There is a lot of whispering about the demise of SS and this would certainly be a descent way of streamlining the way all Sony devices handle media.

Personally, I think I will shy away from the Walkman campaign going forward. I'm spending a bloody fortune on owning 'The Latest and Greatest' Walkman. It's complete madness considering my NW-HD3 is still as good as the day I bought it nearly 3 years ago and it is hardly used.

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Why Not??? Why bother to go trouble designing and building something different if it was intended to give it a short future??? Why do Sony spend a fortune constantly changing their hardware? They never give the public a chance to get familiar with a new product. How do they expect to make a real challenge to the ipod in this way???

I suppose the review of the product by Amazon customers should be a good indication of that. The only problem is peoples expectations. I gave my imitations to my sister and she thinks they are fine but they're crap. They are definitely fake, there is no comparison between them and the ones I bought in Heathrow Airport ( of all places). I would imagine that amazon are careful where they source their products. Make sure you buy from Amazon for real and not from an Amazon Market Place seller if you want to be really sure.

Be careful where you get the CX-300's. There are a lot of bogus retailers ( on ebay for instance) selling perfect imitations with awful SQ. I know; I got caught. There are so many cheapies around I would go to the High Street to be safe........Check this!!! http://homegadgets.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html