darkangel Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 So far, every review I've read for a sony DAP (md or hdd) has said how aweful SS is, and the reviews always suffer greatly becuase of this IMHO. personally, I never thought SS sucked, I thought it rocked all the way from v 1.5!I guess it's because ppl can't be bothered to learn how to use a new piece of software? I mean I hate iTunes because it's too easy and simplistic...i like options! If people just took their time and sat down w/ SS 3.xx, I'm sure they'll be singing a different tune...what do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 So far, every review I've read for a sony DAP (md or hdd) has said how aweful SS is, and the reviews always suffer greatly becuase of this IMHO. personally, I never thought SS sucked, I thought it rocked all the way from v 1.5!I guess it's because ppl can't be bothered to learn how to use a new piece of software? I mean I hate iTunes because it's too easy and simplistic...i like options! If people just took their time and sat down w/ SS 3.xx, I'm sure they'll be singing a different tune...what do you guys think? I tend to agree that people just love to bash SS without really putting any time in. I've have used it from 2.1 thorugh 3.3 and never had any issues. A lot of questions can be answered by going through the online help, or just going through the options screen. It has evolved into a pretty mature piece of software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrain Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 some of the older versions were horrific. random crashes, poor interface, arcane repair procedures. since 2.x it's been getting better, gradually, but better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazzyBananas Posted December 2, 2005 Report Share Posted December 2, 2005 I agree. I haven't had any real problems with SS in terms of installing and crashes etc etc. After getting used to using it, it's not all that bad... especially now that I have all my tracks properly labelled/tagged! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yfyfyf Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Hi, I am new , but i have been using SS for god knows how long, (since OPEN MG jukebox and the early years of MP3 players) my first was the SONY MS9 (i think it was called )Getting to the point, i 'll just state some of the main reasons why i hate sonic stage: (notes that the following are my opinion)- it eats RAM- it takes ages to start- it's ugly- it's got lots of useless crap, eg. animated menus, connect/Mora shop- it don't support unicode (didn't for me anyways)- it does't like multi-language titles- Have to add to the library crap firstReasons why i am still using sonic stage:- There aren't many good alternatives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananatree Posted December 4, 2005 Report Share Posted December 4, 2005 I've never even used Sonicstage to be honest. I never really thought OpenMG was any good for my needs, and I exclusively used the NetMD Burner, or whatever that was called. That worked very well, imho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrain Posted December 5, 2005 Report Share Posted December 5, 2005 netMD simple burner B? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercury_in_flames Posted December 5, 2005 Report Share Posted December 5, 2005 i'd assume so, most people either used that or the image thing with nero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
not worth asking Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 because SS shouldn't even exist! Hi-MD should just record straight to .wav or atrac files, drag and drop over usb.Or at the very most it should just be one simple small program that converts the .hma files / HMDHIFI directory into the separate tracks of audio, maybe including a file conversion feature for atrac from other formats.The whole media library bullshit should be a different program all together! I don't want to categorise or import songs, all i want to do is convert my recordings to CD, and SS is the most convoluted way of doing so. but unfortunatley, the only way so far.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 (edited) Sonicstage runs real well on my PC and pretty much has since v2.x -- it really depends on how you take care of your system. More than half the problems that people experience are not a direct result of Sonicstage, but rather another component that was not up to date or something along those lines. Plus there's the random variable that a virus can induce, and I would say more than half the people who visit these forums have a virus in one form or another. Edited December 6, 2005 by kurisu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 (edited) I'll second what Chris says and as has already been mentioned, people only generally write about SS on forums if there is something that doesn't work. If everything is working fine they have got nothing to write about. The silent majority and all that... Edited December 6, 2005 by richyhu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zerodB Posted December 7, 2005 Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 I've never had a problem with SonicStage. It's relativley straightforward to use too. The only gripe I have with this program is that it takes ages to load up and hoggs memory like crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted December 7, 2005 Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 Personally I've had no issues with 3.2/3.3 I think its a very ungainly piece of UI design, and really its very limited. Its like something a decent programmer would knock up as a beta. I'd have expect something 10 times better from Sony. iTunes has it limitations certainly but its very good at doing what its intended to. Getting music on/off an iPod. Its also very slick. If you've never had a problem with SS then its a bit naive to dismiss the problems others have had. From what I have read, the majority of problems are not ease of use issues, (though they certainly exist) but major crashes and bugs in the software. Memory leaks, and terrible performance. These are the worst kind of bugs and crashes since they lock the data and libraries from being recovered. They also leave behind lots of debris on the system, preventing a clean re-installation of the software, in some case damaging the OS itself.They all symptoms of very poor coding of the application, and very poor development practise. Basically its a shoddy piece of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewdude Posted December 7, 2005 Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 See, all the old problems with SonicStage is why i abandoned MD.I've now got a PSP..i'm using SonicStage 3.3 (heh....3.3..anyone..anyone..Bueler...Bueler....*cough*DOS*cough*) to transfer ATRAC3 over to it, and, i will say, it's been a dream...it occasionaly does lock up and i have to unplug my USB cable and let it just..reset and plug it back up...and the fact i have to manually add album art to each track for it to work (PSP displays album art)....but..i can live with those.it does eat RAM (suggestion: get a gig of ram)it'll eat yourhard disk if you don't tell it not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrain Posted December 7, 2005 Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 ...and the fact i have to manually add album art to each track for it to work (PSP displays album art)....but..i can live with those.it comes up through the cddb most of the time though, the litte floating covers to be assigned with a drag is good i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewdude Posted December 7, 2005 Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 it comes up through the cddb most of the time though, the litte floating covers to be assigned with a drag is good i thinknot if you're importing from MP3/WMA or WAV files.MP3 and WMA files have provisions to allow you to add album art...which..that does work..no problem there...but i got stuff in odd formats (FLAC/AAC/MusePaCk) that i have to go to wav. it will only do CDDB on albums you import from audio CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrain Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 goto amazon drag the album pic into a folder on the desktop then onto the album in ss. not as quick i agree, but something to do while importing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daquirm Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 I hate it because of this message: Cannot locat the files required to open the database file. Exiting SS. Sofar i haven't found a way how to reinstall it so it works properly...it's impossible!!! i've cleaned the regs deleted everything i found and after reinstall the same problem occures...tell the name of antoher persoal audio product, which needs to install any software to let you play your tracks. The policy of sony is fuc*ed up!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell Letson Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 I'll second Sparky's one-word critique: shoddy. While many users have clearly experienced zero problems, it seems that once you get away from the vanilla XP setup specified in the system requirements, all the app's flaws are exposed: it's fragile, cranky, badly behaved, and badly documented. The install process is inflexible and opaque and just about impossible to trouble-shoot. If it weren't for the good folk on this forum and their willingness to re-package the install files, I doubt that I would ever have gotten any version to work. (And I've been a tech journalist and product tester for almost 20 years.)And that's just the implementation. The thinking *behind* the program represents the kind of proprietary paranoia that protects a product by making it dysfunctional: it encrypts *my* data, makes ordinary backup procedures difficult or useless, and puts arbitrary limits on how the device it serves can be used.I finally got SS 3.2 working on my main computer, and now I hesitate to upgrade to 3.3 because it's entirely possible that I will not be able to reproduce the steps I took to get a reasonably stable system--or that a new set of glitches will show up. Short answer: SS in any version is a design and implementation mess that is both a symptom and a cause of MD's problems in the US market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkangel Posted December 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 Short answer: SS in any version is a design and implementation mess that is both a symptom and a cause of MD's problems in the US market.I totally agree with you on that...but for different reasons.If Sony could make it a little bit easier, it could go a long way in making MD's succeed, there stll is time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hombre Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 I don't hate SS but I really don't like it!!! 1. It is soooo slow to start-up2. It eat-up memory.3. Even with Atrac files transfers take for ever on your intial transfer and then copies of the files are stored up on you hard drive See #2.I use Simple Burner before I use SS but sometimes I get mp3 files and have to use SS and it sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 You don't have to have it copy the files to your hard drive, this can be defeated in the options. As for the slow startup, there's alot of factors that can influence this but on most modern-age computers it will start up steadfast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaf Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 You don't have to have it copy the files to your hard drive, this can be defeated in the options. As for the slow startup, there's alot of factors that can influence this but on most modern-age computers it will start up steadfast.My only windows box is a 233mhz laptop running win98I've tried installing SS3.3 but to no avail (metallic.dll?)so I use openmg with daemon tools and an .nrg file.Aggrivating, but it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 How long does it take to convert atrac files on that beast? I don't know if I even have the patience for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akijikan Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 Leaf, at that point it be worth it to dual-boot XP on a better machine (from the way you worded your post, it sounded like you have better machines running something other than linux). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaf Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 Leaf, at that point it be worth it to dual-boot XP on a better machine (from the way you worded your post, it sounded like you have better machines running something other than linux).Hey, I liked your old hippo avatar, but switching to birdman is even better yes, I could dual boot, but no XP, only 2kpro.Is XP absolutely required? maybe that's why I couldnt get it to intstall on 98By the way kurisu, using open MG to burn to MD takes about 30 minutes for an album (that is already mounted on the drive) making open MG both read the disc AND convert to atrac and burn to MD... christ I let it go overnight. I dont like doing that though, it makes my 510 spin for almost an hour. (for the record, I've done that once. Never again) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akijikan Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 should work on '98• Microsoft® Windows® 98 SE, ME, 2000 or XP• Minimum of 500 Mhz processor• Minimum of 400 MB available hard disk space• Minimum of 128 MB RAM• Internet Explorer 5.5 or later • CD-ROM drive (for installation and import or playback from CD)• Supported CD-Recordable drive (for CD burning purposes) • Internet Connection (broadband suggested) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaf Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 Maybe I should try reinstalling from the internet version instead of the standalone? I've already installed it twice from the standalone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 Your processor speed (233 Mhz) is under the minimum required (500 Mhz). So all bets are off, but it can't hurt to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaf Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 well my other computer has 2 500mhz processors, it should be good.Dug up an old scsi drive with win2k already installed, updating, pray for the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomis3613 Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 Have had an old MZR501 for ages, and recently got the MZN-H600 basically to make transferring CDs easier by using the USB.Well, the player is awesome, I love the extra compression and everything to do with Hi-MD...but the software is dreadful.Why are there 2 programs (SonicStage and Simple Burner)? If just one of these programs was done properly, there'd be no need for two.Simple Burner:-Much better to use than SS, but very limited functions- Why the hell doesn't pressing tab switch the cursor between ALBUM and ARTIST. One of the MOST COMMON operations for copying to MD!!!Sonic Stage:-I don't want to store 12 copies of my music on the computer, I just wanna trasnfer it to the MD. Not only is simply transerring music a two stage step (and you can't even check the track names on one CD while you're transferring another), but deleting files from your PC brings up the dialog box which won't damn well remember your preferences. -When importing mp3s SS puts each import into seperate UNTITLED playlists. A real pain in the arse when you're putting in files from different directories-In fact the whole program, while at least having more functions, makes the simple operations much more difficult than they need to be.Sony Customer Support:For some reason, my MD shipped with SS 2.0. After experiencing problems (simple burner crashing, SS not transferring MD->PC), Sony suggested I download 3.3. Went to do this, but the internet connection isn't on the PC I will use for MDs. Told them this, and they said the only option was to BUY(!!!!) SonicStage 3.3 from Sony Spares (since they don't have a non-internet install version) to fix the bug in the software they supplied. After multiple calls, and even more telephone hold music, I stumbled on MDCF. If it wasn't for your standalone download, I'd be screwed.I was using the MD player yesterday and marvelling at how well everything works with the device, it is everything I could hope for. However Sony's software and customer support are pitiful and really let it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekdroid Posted January 10, 2006 Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 So far, every review I've read for a sony DAP (md or hdd) has said how aweful SS is, and the reviews always suffer greatly becuase of this IMHO. personally, I never thought SS sucked, I thought it rocked all the way from v 1.5!I guess it's because ppl can't be bothered to learn how to use a new piece of software? I mean I hate iTunes because it's too easy and simplistic...i like options! What useful options does SonicStage give you that iTunes doesn't?First use? Honestly I was confused outta my mind (and still am, to a large degree). I found it terribly non-intuitive despite reading about it for days (and using it for months) and I work with computers every day.The library, the rights info, the rest...I want to upload recordings simply. I want to download recordings simply. I don't want library management. I want a single settings screen that non-confoundingly tells me exactly what's gonna happen when I upload or download. I don't want rights restrictions, or to even think about them.If people just took their time and sat down w/ SS 3.xx, I'm sure they'll be singing a different tune...Yes, I suspect they will. It will be ATRAC-based and people will go "OMG" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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