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ATRAC to MP3 Conversion tool -- Track selection

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1kyle

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Hi everybody

Unless I've mis-read the instructions Sony have again produced a stupid problem out of what was really a good idea.

I finally succumbed and bougtt a Sony A818 8GB musical player -- the main reason for this is that it has a USB out that works with the USB in on my car readio. With the Minidisc I had to use the Audio in and changing tracks etc was a bit of a pain --however the USB interface allows simple track selection / playing etc.

The only problem is that of course I need to convert the files to MP3 format to load on to the device. Then AT LAST DRAG' 'N DROP WORKS !!!!.

The problem is that I have the equivalent to about 2000 entire CD's in my SONIC STAGE library which is a lot of tracks.

Of course the Sony software designers on the ATRAC conversion tool haven't allowed you to select what tracks to convert -- or at least I can't find any options. It just finds ALL the atrac tracks on your computer.

The only way round this I've found is to use NERO to mount a Virtual CD and then create an MP3 CD of the tracks I wish to copy to theA818 player. -- This is also a bit of a dog as you have to keep "Burning" virtual CD's.

Why on earth could't SONY just say in the conversion tool -- select Albums from the library (or even tracks) that you wish to convert.

Do the (usually highly paid) Software / I.T guys EVER speak to us poor users who actually have to work with the product.

(Sony is by no means alone in this -- I've come across loads of cases where the idae of a program was excellent but absolutely lousy implementation.

Cheers

(Oh and BTW whiilet the MP3 player is OK in the car on a decent high end system the MD sounds far far better - even if the MP3 is ebncoded at 352. The Atrac source is Atrac advanved Losless at 352).

Cheers

-K

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If the files are playable in Sonicstage then my HIMDRenderer program may be what you need. It will show your entire sonicstage library in an easy to use list view, allow you to select multiple tracks in one go (batch mode) and then convert to MP3 using conversion settings of your choice.

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Sony's MP3 conversion tool does allow you to convert an album folder at a time, though not individual tracks. On the second page, you select the option to "Convert all ATRAC files in tthe selected folders...", then you need to untick the Desktop box, and locate your album folders. I moved all mine to under C:\Sonicstage for ease, though you might still have the default wherever that is.

Marc's Hi-MD renderer is of course far more flexible though...

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Sony's MP3 conversion tool does allow you to convert an album folder at a time, though not individual tracks. On the second page, you select the option to "Convert all ATRAC files in tthe selected folders...", then you need to untick the Desktop box, and locate your album folders. I moved all mine to under C:\Sonicstage for ease, though you might still have the default wherever that is.

Marc's Hi-MD renderer is of course far more flexible though...

Thanks guys

Marc's renderer seems to be the best choice here by far.

Cheers

-k

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The good thing about Sony's MP3 converter is that it automatically embeds any album art you may have assigned in Sonicstage (although of course you can use MP3Tag or whatever afterwards yourself), and it is quite fast for a large number of files.

Sony's software converts to Joint stereo though, which I'm not convinced is as good as full stereo, whatever people say. At least with Hi-MD renderer you have the choice of varying all the parameters and much better choice over parameters. To be honest I've used both softwares and they're both good for their purpose.

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