Just bought an NWA3000 - I need help! Any appreciated

[Muscovado]

hi,

I was just about to put my NWA3000 on ebay after having it two weeks then I found this forum. Its fantastic, some really helpful stuff here and has made me think maybe i may be able to turn things around after all.

Firstly, I cannot use connect so I'm stuck with sonicstage. Is that the best one to use? I'm completely exasperated with the software and its basic lack of functionality. for example how can I edit playlists?

Secondly, I understand my files are being transferred at at measly 64kb. how can I change that? also does this impact on the overall battery size and HDD volume?

Once again, great forum - very helpful. I'm really glad to see a bunch of knowledgeable people sharing ideas on a fantastic MP3 player with disasterous software.

[Dinko]

Hi, and welcome to the boards, glad you like it here.

In SonicStage, to create or edit a playlist:

(1) click the blue Library bar on top

(2) scroll your mouse cursor directly down about 2cm on the screen, then scroll right. There's an option there to open/creat playlists. Click on the square

(3) The right side of the screen will open a new section. Click the little icon which shows a page with a little star at the bottom of the new section. A playlist will be created. Rename it if you wish.

(4) Just take a file from the My Library section, and drag it into the new playlist.

(You need to add files the MyLibrary section first)

To change the transfer settings:

(1) Connect NW-A3000 to PC, wait for SonicStage to recognize it.

(2) Click the Transfer bar and select the NW-A3000.

(3) The right side of the screen will open a new section.

(4) You should have six buttons between the Library and Transfer sections. Click on the gray one that looks like a briefcase. Read the dialog box and follow the instructions.

Actually, creating and editing playlists in SonicStage is a breeze compared to the crap you have to go through with Windows Media Player or RealPlayer.

[Ascariss]

Is there no option to impot m3u files into sonicstage?

[Muscovado]

Thanks a lot for the reply. Very helpful.

If you're playing a playlist, is there any way of simply adding a track to now playing list if you're flicking through songs? (Not in Sonicstage, when you're 'on the move' as it were)

Also, I'm trying to add some files which are MP3 but sonicstage says it can read them even though its already imported them. whats up with that?

cheers

[Muscovado]

ok I seem to be having real problems now.

I have just transferred 10 albums at 192kb rate in the super quick time of 2 hours via Sonicstage, then I go to use my player and most of the features dont work - I'm just getting a "Please Connect Compliant software" message!!!???

I love the sound of this player and the aesthetics of it but this basic stuff is really just too much.

Edited May 1, 2006 by Muscovado

[hp1975]

As I undertsand it features such as favourites and artist link wont work with SS but rumours are abound that SOny are producing a new version of SS that has all teh functionality of Connect.

To be honest the these features dont bother me so I dont care that they dont work. SS 3.4 is quick and stable (10 albums takes me about 30 -40 mins to RIP at 128kbps and mere seconds to transfer to the device) soI'm sticking with it.

The only thing I dont like about the a3000 is the annoying background hiss you can hear at low volumes.

H

Edited May 3, 2006 by hp1975

[Olz]

I have just transferred 10 albums at 192kb rate in the super quick time of 2 hours via Sonicstage, then I go to use my player and most of the features dont work - I'm just getting a "Please Connect Compliant software" message!!!???

Two hours eh. Hmm. The chances are, either you have a slow computer (I doubt it), or SonicStage is actually converting the songs to some form of Atrac still. If it is doing this, then transferring 10 albums could take a needlessly long time. Dinko's list to change the transfer settings may not have been too helpful (no offence), so I will expand:

To change the transfer settings:

(1) Connect NW-A3000 to PC, wait for SonicStage to recognize it.

(2) Click the Transfer bar and select the NW-A3000.

(3) The right side of the screen will open a new section.

(4) You should have six buttons between the Library and Transfer sections. Click on the gray one that looks like a briefcase.

(5) The chances are that at this point, you clicked on the "Specified bit rate transfer mode" radio button and selected 192Kbps. You may think this will not convert the songs, but actually it will convert them to Atrac.

(6) The easy thing to do is to close this dialog box and select the songs you want to tranfer and then click on the hollow arrow below the briefcase. If you notice this will transfer the songs "as is" and save a lot of conversion time...thus making transferring 10 albums quick.

(7) The more complex way is to click on the briefcase, select "Standard Transfer Mode" and then click advanced.

(8) You now want to click the "Convert automatically and transfer" radio button and select the bitrate that you would like songs to be converted to if they are not a standard format. 192Kbps is good enough for most.

(9) Click "Ok" then "Ok" and select the songs to be transferred. Then click the red arrow pointing to the right.

As for the limited features on the player, this is indeed becuase you are using SonicStage instead of Connect. Features like Artist Link and Song History are things that only Connect can give to the player...for now anyway.

Hope this helps.

The only thing I dont like about the a3000 is the annoying background hiss you can hear at low volumes.

The chances are that that isn't the NWA making that noise. It may well the the ear/headphones you use or the format that the songs are in. For example at low bitrates you often get hissing or strange noises. Despite this, I think there was an issue with the HD5 hissing, so I wouldn't be surprised if you were right. All I know is that I haven't noticed this hissing on my NWA, but then maybe I don't listen hard enough.

[hp1975]

The chances are that that isn't the NWA making that noise. It may well the the ear/headphones you use or the format that the songs are in

Mmm well I sent the first one back cos i thought it was a fault with the player. The second also does it so I'm assuming its justa characterisrtic of an HDD player which I have heard also effects other players. I am using Shure e2cs and ATRAC3+ 128kbps a combination that should not produce hiss, (and as iundertsand it speakers/headphones cannot generate their own hiss, only reproduce what the amplifier feeds them?)

Anyway its only really noticeable at low volumes (<8) and in really quiet pieces of music, like quiet passages in classical music.

HP

Edited May 8, 2006 by hp1975