aob9

I use the Seinheisser CX-300's(ear canal buds)with all my players except for the NW-S703 when I need NC. I find the SQ from the CX-300's the best out of all my phones incl. the MDR-EX71's, which are good but a bit too dull overall.

I'm afraid it sounds as if you have an expensive problem. The only way around this is a repair by a service agent. Unless you are good at DIY electronics I can't see another way around this. I use to own an NW-MS70D, lovely unit, how about a second hand from ebay........?they turn up on occasion.

I've been looking at this phone on SE's website, looks very interesting and if the SQ is that good it may be worth a try. I really like the idea of no SS ( disc2phone is nice and simple) sorry guys.

Okay, I have taken stock of the number of toys I have and I think I am bordering on ''CLUTTER''. You will see by my profile how many Atrac devices I have. Add to that an SE mobile phone and a Dell Axim PDA . I think the time may be ripe to merge everything and go for a good 'ALL in One' device. It looks the new SE Walkman range may finally be up to the excellent sound quality I demand,they also have an organiser,internet access and a decent camera. Anybody thinking along the same lines or am I temporarily losing the plot??????

Who has greatest influence on design etc. on SE phones?

Probably because you re-installed 3.4 after installing 4.3. As i said before, SS doesn't like going backwards. Somewhere within the program ( and registry) traces of the 4.3 installation are lurking to mess with you, and all of this IS to do with DRM. Sony spend more time and money securing Digital Rights than they do on making the software usable to the average person. It is proving to be instrumental in their undoing........as you have discovered. I may be wrong ( help from anyone please!!!) but you will probably have to start again. What about this ...... a/ Leave the player as it is and continue listening to your music. b/ Start re-ripping your tracks to your PC( You will have to this at some stage anyway ) in your own time. c/ You don't trust SonicStage so use your favourite ripping software ( eg WMP) and rip to your default music folder in MP3 ( my suggestion ). d/ Have a look at the download section of this site, I think there is a tool to do a descent job of mopping up SS and then do a re-install of 4.3. e/ Using the import tool on SS, import your music.SS only creates an index of your music files, they will remain intact in their original drive if anything goes wrong ( trust me on this) f/ Now, format your DAP ( using SS, not Windows) and transfer. A

........and it is all down to DRM, something SONY really need to get a handle on if they are to remain in the DAP market. However, on balance DRM'd WMA and AAC files will give anybody the same grief, but SONY have ATRAC files protected beyond all sensibility.There is only one simple solution to your problem no matter what manufacturer of DAP you are using.... a/ Don't download DRM protected music, buy the CD instead ( it will always be yours to do whatever you like+ you get the cover art and lyrics). b/ Rip in MP3 to your Windows music folder, so your music is there for any media player (Current and future) to use. c/ Backup regularly ( check out Microsoft Synctoy) d/ Don't be too annoyed, DRM is the nightmare of us all, you too have learned the hard way BTW Don't ditch the HD5 in anger, it is an excellent DAP, and it's MP3 compatible unlike earlier Sony Players. Good Luck.

When you upgrade to 4.3 do you still have all your music within the SS library? When you originally ripped your CD collection to your PC did you rip to the default SS folder or choose your own and what format did you use? The point here is if you still have your music on the PC then you should be able to initialise your hard disk on the HD5 and just transfer the whole lot again. There is still the issue of why you had transfer problems to begin with; your data on the HD5 may be corrupt which would require a format anyway!!!!!!!!!!!

Upgrading form 3.4 to 4.3 should not cause such an error. During installation the software may offer you the choice to retain or remove your existing database. If you want to keep your existing music files you obviously choose to retain.If you have accidentally chosen to overwite then you may be in trouble even if you go back to 3.4. ( It's not easy to go backwards with SS so that may also be part of your problem). You are not specific about your original issue which led you to upgrade. This may be the real cause of your problems.Can you elaborate a liitle?

I kid you not, a friend of mine made SONY boxer shorts for me using an iron on transfer for my Birthday last year...................he too thinks I am stark raving mad, I didn't wear them though.......they were a little too tight.

Juli, I see from your profile that you are you are female......a female gadget lover.........this is truly unique in my experience. You could be 'the one' to convince millions of women everywhere that they too can marvel at technology................ My wife thinks I am MAD.

Sony Widescreen TV...... Sony NW ms7,HD1,S703,S805......Sony Handycam HC47........Sony Camera DSC-M1.......Sony Discman.....Sony Alarm clock.......Sony Photo printer ....Sony Memory Stick Reader........Sony Ericsson K750i Mobile Phone.......Numerous Sony Headphones incl DJ phones.........Sony DVD player. MY GOD!!!! I need help.........however,none of them have ever broken down;honestly.

SS 4.3 is fine. DRM is a pain and always will be, but the same applies to itunes and WMA downloads. Given that Sony DAPS are the best available ( IMO ) SS 4.3 is not a bad 'downside'. PS......... as anybody else noticed that a 'system restore' in Windows XP no longer renders downloaded ATRAC tracks unusable................I can barely contain myself!!!!!! Good start Sony, now ditch DRM altogether!!

And do you wash the Walkman when you've finished wiping ???????????

I wonder will this issue be relevant for much longer? The NW-B series is now on the market. I, for the life of me do not understand what Sony is up to here. They are either into 'drag and drop' without DRM or they continue to enforce DRM upon us via SS and ATRAC. Why have they not made it clear to the market ( and investors) what their intentions actually are. In certain types of business this lack of clarity would seriously affect investment from shareholders. Is it yet another case of the big corporation not fully understanding what they are doing themselves???? P.S I know this has been discussed on another thread but I thought it was in some way relevant here.

Sony suffers from 'Very Large Corporation Syndrome'. This phenomenon occurs when there are so many people employed by a company that useful communication almost breaks down. It is true to say that Sony makes some very strange decisions when it comes to geographical location. It is also true to say that they seem to be completely ignoring the serious issues that people have with SS and other software titles. They are simply too bogged down with bureaucracy and internal red tape to effect any reasonable change at a reasonable rate. They are also quite arrogant about people's opinions. When the NW Walkmans were first released earlier this decade Sony set up a forum to discuss the new technology. This was a very lively forum as you can imagine but it was soon shut down due to the devices and software (and ATRAC3) receiving more criticism than praise. It is now becoming increasingly evident that Sony are suffering as a result of not taking the end user seriously. Even my local Sony Centre manager is sometimes bewildered by what he calls ' a lack of joined-up thinking' when it comes to accessories and add-ons for hardware. I have stayed with Sony to date because they build excellent and reliable hardware. Personally SS works fine for me but then again, I understand computers and I'm prepared to work at a problem if faced with one. I am the exception rather than the rule though, and I personally know people that will not put up with Sony's 'quirkiness' and have simply moved to another provider.I refer particularly to Walkman v. Ipod ( Sonicstage v. iTunes)

Honestly guys, if I had half as much trouble with SS as some of you seem to have I would have ditched Sony a long time ago. However, I never have trouble with SS and I use it every day on any of my three NW walkmans. It seems I am the lucky one here. I do however spend a lot of time trying to work through a lot of crap software on my PC, thankfully SS isn't one of them aob

NOTE........MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE YOU DO THIS.When you uninstall, go to your system registry and remove any references to image converter 3. Goto Start>Run>type REGEDIT > under HKEY_Current User and HKEY Local Machine go to Software>Sony> and remove folders reffering to image conveter 3. NOTE........MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE YOU DO THIS.

There is clearly something wrong with this unit. Having the volume set at 30 is ear splittingly dangerous on the NW-80* series. Either the unit is faulty or the sound data has been ripped with poor normaliser settings.

This is very interesting actually, I own the NW-HD3 and the NW-A805. My HD3 plugs into a spare port on a USB 1 hub that I use for my mouse and keyboard. My A805 is connected directly to my P.C via a USB 2.0 port. however, files transfer to my HD3 quicker than to my A805 despite the difference in potential speed between USB 1 and 2. I reckon the restriction is in the flash memory speed on the A805. I wonder if I plugged my A805 into a USB 1 port would it ACTUALLY make any difference to transfer speeds............... I might check that out soon.

I agree, either there has been a dodgey format at some stage or the memory is faulty. Either way it's a job for the technical support people.

It hasn't done my mobile phone any harm. I always cradle it when I'm indoors and the battery is as good as new after 18months.

Thanks Rob A. Can anybody confirm this?

Does anybody know where I can source a genuine replacement battery for my beloved NW-HD3? It is down to about 2 hours on a full charge. I have searched the 'net and cannot find a single supplier of this battery. BTW......maybe I should wait for the next HD Walkman instead of wasting my money,any opinions?????

I think my vote would be the HD1 also, the cradle is a nice finishing touch. I also like the NW S70* series ( if I'm allowed to vote twice)