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SonicStage CP 4.0

Christopher

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takuhii Newbie

takuhii

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Hi,

I don't know if anyone else has been having the same problem, but I cannot get the web installer version of SonicStage 4.0 to install properly. It seems to have a problem with the actual SonicStage installtion bit, everything else install fine, it terminates the installation JUST before the add-on is installed, if I re-start the installtion it re-installs SonicStage and the Add-on, but doesn't generate ANY start menu options, and if I try to execute SonicStage from Windows Explorer it just sits there and doesn't open. I also had this problem with SonicStage 3.4 and gave up in the end. I have the latest version of DirectX and all necessary drivers for my PC, can anyone help???

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Stuge Newbie

Stuge

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Hi,

I don't know if anyone else has been having the same problem, but I cannot get the web installer version of SonicStage 4.0 to install properly. It seems to have a problem with the actual SonicStage installtion bit, everything else install fine, it terminates the installation JUST before the add-on is installed, if I re-start the installtion it re-installs SonicStage and the Add-on, but doesn't generate ANY start menu options, and if I try to execute SonicStage from Windows Explorer it just sits there and doesn't open. I also had this problem with SonicStage 3.4 and gave up in the end. I have the latest version of DirectX and all necessary drivers for my PC, can anyone help???

Welcome to MiniDisc !

from which region are you trying to download SonicStage ?

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takuhii Newbie

takuhii

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Welcome to MiniDisc !

from which region are you trying to download SonicStage ?

Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm trying to download the European version. Problem is I had exactly the same problem with the 3.4 version of SonicStage...

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danielbb90 Newbie

danielbb90

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Hi,

I don't know if anyone else has been having the same problem, but I cannot get the web installer version of SonicStage 4.0 to install properly. It seems to have a problem with the actual SonicStage installtion bit, everything else install fine, it terminates the installation JUST before the add-on is installed, if I re-start the installtion it re-installs SonicStage and the Add-on, but doesn't generate ANY start menu options, and if I try to execute SonicStage from Windows Explorer it just sits there and doesn't open. I also had this problem with SonicStage 3.4 and gave up in the end. I have the latest version of DirectX and all necessary drivers for my PC, can anyone help???

All I can say is post this in the Software help board.

You have more chance of getting answers! :ok:

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Hironiemus Newbie

Hironiemus

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Welcome to MiniDisc !

wait for sometime ..MFDC full installer will be available soon

How about putting the Installer that comes with the Player off it's CD and then online?

Hi,

I don't know if anyone else has been having the same problem, but I cannot get the web installer version of SonicStage 4.0 to install properly. It seems to have a problem with the actual SonicStage installtion bit, everything else install fine, it terminates the installation JUST before the add-on is installed, if I re-start the installtion it re-installs SonicStage and the Add-on, but doesn't generate ANY start menu options, and if I try to execute SonicStage from Windows Explorer it just sits there and doesn't open. I also had this problem with SonicStage 3.4 and gave up in the end. I have the latest version of DirectX and all necessary drivers for my PC, can anyone help???

Once I also had a problem installing SonicStage (It might have even been OpenMG Jukebox).

I believe it was when I wanted to update my Computer crashed during installation.

When I rebooted my Computer I could neither install anymore nor uninstall.

The problem remained until I went to the registry deleting all entries referring to Sony/Sonicstage manually. (It took my about 2 or 3 hours :wacko: )

But after that procedure the installation worked flawlessly.

So this is what you could do:

- Uninstall via System Settings \ Software

- Searching for Remaining Folders/Files of Sonicstage

(Program Files\Sony, Settings and Documents\All Users\Application Data\SonicStage, Settings and Documents\"your username"\Application Data\SonicStage;

the folder "Application Data" is usually hidden.

There might be some other folders, these are just the ones that came to my mind;

use the search function in Windows Explorer)

- Go to the registry ( "Start" -> "Run" -> "regedit")

and search for remaining entries/subgroups containing the word Sony (use the search function "Ctrl" + "F").

But be aware: You could damage your Windows Installation if you delete the false entries.

But if you have no other Sony Hardware/Software installed nor do you own a Sony Computer you should have no problem finding the right registry keys to delete.

I'm sorry If not all the commands and folder names are right but my Windows Installation is German therefore I could only guess them.

I hope I this helps you anyway if not someone comes up with an easier solution.

Good Luck ;)

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Avrin Newbie

Avrin

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It cannot happen until Sony upgrade the firmwares of Hi-MD walkman but i think they will never do that :(

Did we need firmware upgrades for 352 or 192, when these were introduced? No!

I am 99% positive that all current Hi-MD players will be perfectly happy with any ATRAC3plus bitrate available in SonicStage, if only transfers were allowed. Maybe even with ATRAC Advanced Lossless.

Edited by Avrin
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Stuge Newbie

Stuge

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Posted (edited)

Did we need firmware upgrades for 352 or 192, when these were introduced? No!

I am 99% positive that all current Hi-MD players will be perfectly happy with any ATRAC3plus bitrate available in SonicStage, if only transfers were allowed. Maybe even with ATRAC Advanced Lossless.

Transfers are not allowed b`coz these players(Hi-Md) are not compatible with it .

Edited by stuge
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danielbb90 Newbie

danielbb90

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Maybe even with ATRAC Advanced Lossless.

If it is TRUE 'Atrac' lossless (uses the same compressing method as the lossy codec - besides the loosing quality part) you would think it should work as a high vbr atrac3(plus) file?

Edited by danielbb90
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Avrin Newbie

Avrin

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Transfers are not allowed b`coz these players(Hi-Md) are not compatible with it .

Then tell me please, why 192 and 352 were not allowed, and then suddenly became allowed? Without ANY firmware change!

Edited by Avrin
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Sparky191 Newbie

Sparky191

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Did we need firmware upgrades for 352 or 192, when these were introduced? No!

I am 99% positive that all current Hi-MD players will be perfectly happy with any ATRAC3plus bitrate available in SonicStage, if only transfers were allowed. Maybe even with ATRAC Advanced Lossless.

On reflection I see your point. The decoders obviously in firmware. As long as its not been hardcoded for only specific bitrates you'd thing any bitrate would be possible. While I don't see the need for a huge range of bitrates, its an added "feature" that theres no good reason not to take advantage of. While a player/recorder with cheap 2GB disks, lossless and gapless would great. I think they'd be better putting recording functionality on their HD players though.

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Avrin Newbie

Avrin

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Well, I know some things exactly (after having stared at the screen covered all over with HEX code). The bitrates ARE hard-coded in SS, SB, and drivers. I even know the HEX values for them. Not that I'm going to disclose all of them, but:

80 BB 00 00 - 48 kbps,

00 FA 00 00 - 64 kbps,

00 E8 03 00 - 256 kbps,

and there are others (such as 00 71 02 00).

If you perform a careful search in the registry of you computer, you will find (at least) some of these values (I still don't understand why they write them to the registry. No opportunities discovered yet. Though SS34 did behave somewhat indecently (from the SONY point of view) when controlled from the registry - means it reads from there, but is unable to fully comprehend what is commanded, and then overwrites the stuff again). The programs, and drivers, are really hackable, but due to the ([CENSORED]) way they are written, no decent hacker will spend their time on that. And do we have a decent hacker, who is also an MD addict?

SONY, please, don't pay attention to this.

Edited by Avrin
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robin726 Newbie

robin726

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Nothing against you, but your statement made me smile because it reminded me of when CD's first came out. People that preferred listening to vinyl would say things like "I can't stand listening to CD's because it sounds like a machine gun going off." They were referring to the pits that carry the music that the laser reads. I wonder what those people listen to now days since almost all music comes on CD?

Just a question: did you listen to CDs when they first came out? I did, and on some high-end gear too. It sounded like crap. Second-generation units sounded better, and third generation got to the point where I could actually imagine buying a CD. But still, many discs themselves were made very poorly (masters used same as for vinyl, etc.).

I saw a great demo where some error diagnostic equipment was hooked up to the output of a CD player. After each play the error rate went up. And that was on a Nakamichi (IIRC) deck, not one I could even remotely afford.

MP3 encoders too sounded very poor at first. I remember actually spending good money to buy one "back in the day". Today LAME blows it out of the water.

Not all sound is equal.

Sorry though, this is all OT. ;-)

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Avrin Newbie

Avrin

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Just a question: did you listen to CDs when they first came out? I did, and on some high-end gear too. It sounded like crap. Second-generation units sounded better, and third generation got to the point where I could actually imagine buying a CD. But still, many discs themselves were made very poorly (masters used same as for vinyl, etc.).

I saw a great demo where some error diagnostic equipment was hooked up to the output of a CD player. After each play the error rate went up. And that was on a Nakamichi (IIRC) deck, not one I could even remotely afford.

Now I like it. No, I mean, I realy do!!!

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The Low Volta Newbie

The Low Volta

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yes, but not necessarily on the unstable home-connection and at least there's no chance of timing-out while installing and thus ruining the installation (or even worse some registry stuff)

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anont Newbie

anont

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Nothing against you, but your statement made me smile because it reminded me of when CD's first came out. People that preferred listening to vinyl would say things like "I can't stand listening to CD's because it sounds like a machine gun going off." They were referring to the pits that carry the music that the laser reads. I wonder what those people listen to now days since almost all music comes on CD?

People also said that cassette tapes don't sound very good - and were right. At some point audio quality does matter. If it didn't why would we be spending so much money on digital music players with only 1 GB storage?

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Avrin Newbie

Avrin

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Some more staring at HEX code, and performing comparative analysis revealed the following sad information:

Transferring files with different bitrates to HiMD requires different routines (not a single routine with the bit rate as a parameter). SS30 had routines for all bitrates it officially supported, and also for 192 and 352kbps. The latter two were implemented, but not enabled. It also had a routine for transferring 32 kbps ATRAC3plus files. This one was also disabled. And my RH10 revealed (under torture) that it knows that there exists such a thing as ATRAC3plus@32 kbps.

The 192 and 352 kbps routines were both enabled by the time SS34 came out (I did not check other versions). SS40 also has these two routines enabled, but no longer contains any traces of 32 kbps.

So it seems that SONY planned the introduction of 192 and 352 kbps for HiMD for some time. But now it no longer plans any new bitrates. Simply hacking the program will not make it possible to transfer 96, 128, 160, or 320 kbps, because of the lack of the corresponding routines.

What else may be of interest, is that there are traces of 11, 22, and 44 kbps in the code. And 48 kbps does not completely look like it belongs to the ATRAC3plus family (while 32 kbps did). Probably SONY initially planned 32 kbps, but the sound of it was so horrible, that they decided to use 48 kbps instead, thinking that it sounds better.

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danielbb90 Newbie

danielbb90

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Some more staring at HEX code, and performing comparative analysis revealed the following sad information:

Transferring files with different bitrates to HiMD requires different routines (not a single routine with the bit rate as a parameter). SS30 had routines for all bitrates it officially supported, and also for 192 and 352kbps. The latter two were implemented, but not enabled. It also had a routine for transferring 32 kbps ATRAC3plus files. This one was also disabled. And my RH10 revealed (under torture) that it knows that there exists such a thing as ATRAC3plus@32 kbps.

The 192 and 352 kbps routines were both enabled by the time SS34 came out (I did not check other versions). SS40 also has these two routines enabled, but no longer contains any traces of 32 kbps.

So it seems that SONY planned the introduction of 192 and 352 kbps for HiMD for some time. But now it no longer plans any new bitrates. Simply hacking the program will not make it possible to transfer 96, 128, 160, or 320 kbps, because of the lack of the corresponding routines.

What else may be of interest, is that there are traces of 11, 22, and 44 kbps in the code. And 48 kbps does not completely look like it belongs to the ATRAC3plus family (while 32 kbps did). Probably SONY initially planned 32 kbps, but the sound of it was so horrible, that they decided to use 48 kbps instead, thinking that it sounds better.

Great findings!

that 32kbps, I want for speach on my Hi-MD player...

Do you think they will ever allow it? :o

I've been wanting somethin like that for a while now!

Edited by danielbb90
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shione Newbie

shione

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<strike>Walkman -a Whats that? The early model mindiscs? </strike>

Nevermind. Just did some testing and it isn't what I was hoping it would be. oh well. the hardware limitation still stands. haha

Converted some mp3s to my himd and it feels like the conversion process is faster in this version than 3.3.

Does anyone know which .exe's can be disabled (read erased) and still have sonic stage functioning? All I use it for is to download + convert music to my walkman. ssaad.exe is one. anyone know any others?

Also the program stil has the annoying habit of adding ssaad.exe to your startup list even after you remove it. Cant wait till the bug in spybot is fixed so it cannot silently deny sonicstage access from adding itself back.

Edited by shione
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shione Newbie

shione

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Once SS40 is installed, can we uninstall Connect? The thought of that monstrosity still sitting on my hard drive deeply offends me for some reason.

look in add/remove programs. if its not there, you could uninstall the whole sonic stage package and then run the asia/pacific version of the online installer. I can vouch from first hand experience that the asia/pacific version does not have connect. It's 100% in English too.

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Tunster Newbie

Tunster

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well ive tried ss 4 on windows 2003 and i get transfer errors =[ hopefully a workaround will come about since 2003 is my fav os! <3 :fingers crossed:

Why on earth is Windows 2003 your fav OS!? It's a server OS, not for general use for public use. Thats probably why it doesn't work with SS4.0. I'd recommend you reinstall to XP. Can't see you getting any benefits from Windows Server 2003 :blink: .

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