Wish list for next NW-A1000/3000 Firmware

[Daryl Rowland]

This latest firmware is definitely a huge improvement - loving the speed of access improvements - no more waiting for that damn disc to spin!

But... there's still room for improvement, so I figure if Sony read these forums it might be a good idea for us to list the kinds of features we'd like to see in the next firmware version.

My main feature 'wishes' are:

- A "bass boost" option - most players seem to have this, and it would be really cool

- Cross fading between tracks - this will probably never happen but would make the player quite distinct from iPods and would be a really neat feature

- More preset sound modes

- An "Add to now playing" option, so if you're listening to tracks you can add a track to the now playing list and it will get played

- It would be really neat if the sound setting would change depending on the genre of the track being played, i.e. Indie tracks would automatically play with an Indie sound/eq setting, and Dance tracks would play with a Dance eq/setting

Anyway, they're just my feelings. What's everyone else want?

[Olz]

I was surprised when I heard that Sony had released firmware version 3.00, as I suspected 2.01 to be the last (based on how many updates the HD-5 got). I think three was mainly released to increase the overall ease of use and link between the player and the new Sonic Stage. I would be surprised if the NWA's got any more updates, but one can hope. Anything to increase speed and add new features is good in my book.

You mention a 'Bass Boost' feature. It would be nice, but can't you do that already? Go to one of the custom equalizers, and drag the first few sliders up one or two notches. Admittedly this does distort the sound slightly, but sometimes its ok. They certainly could make a Bass Boost that can be turned on on top of one of the preset equalizers. It also depends on how good your (ear/head)phones are. Unless you've already got a good pair, then I would suggest buying some better ones.

[MiG]

i think a custom firmware willl be possible on the NW-A3000 i think that it would just take time for the initial modding, depeneding on how the firmware is stored.

i might have a play.

[Ascariss]

the A3000 and A1000 are capable of more than just what you see in these units.

[Daryl Rowland]

It'd be awesome if it was possible to make a custom firmware. I'd volunteer to help with something like that if you wanted to start it as a project. Don't know how much help I'd be though

[bogon07]

the A3000 and A1000 are capable of more than just what you see in these units.

Ascariss,

What sort of extra capability do you envisage ?

[Ascariss]

think ipod video but better.

[bogon07]

think ipod video but better.

Sort of like the colour OLED display on the CE-P13/5/7.

[dem1980]

change the backlight color from white to orange.

the orange backlight in artist link is very nice, it would be great to put it in normal mode because i never go in artisit link :/

[chriswyatt]

Yeah, that would be cool. How does OLED work anyway?

[Ascariss]

Sort of like the colour OLED display on the CE-P13/5/7.

a bit more than just a colour screen, hopefully some news will appear soon or by late summer at least.

[Channy]

Hey! the things i would like in the next firmware are

-definately a speed boost in loading times

-also to change the shuffle option, so that when selected, it continues to play to the end of the current track before shuffling all tracks or my favourites, etc...

-lyrics viewer?

-browsing between months in the calendar

-option for quick play, like the minidisc, so that the startup is skipped and directly plays music

-option for continuous play thorugh albums

-ability to add tracks to a playlists thats currently playing

Yeah, thats all i can think now

Will add when ideas shoot into my head.

[Beethovenian]

I agree with the posts here. Ability to add to "now playing" would be a great function. At minimum, it should let you add a whole album to a bookmark, when pressing option while looking at the album list.

It could also add remaining or total time to the main screen.

[bogon07]

a bit more than just a colour screen, hopefully some news will appear soon or by late summer at least.

Is that the hinted at walkman to combat the video ipod ?

The CE-P13/5/7 could have been another of Sony's regional beta tester trials for it under guide of a proper retail product. How well accepted were these anyway ?

I'd like to see firmware update to have an option for continuous play thorugh an artists albums (as Channy said previously).

Wouldn't mind seeing total time for a song displayed as well as time elapsed.

They've given us a calendar so un update to allow us to add events/appointments to it and view it for a reasonable time too.

[djorzgul]

it will be very hard for Sony to beat iPod. why??

I was in the shop 3 weeks ago and I choose a1000 instead of iPod.

And it wasn't because of money but because I liked it more...

BUT

SHAME ON YOU SONY, I am so pissssed because after a 3 weeks I have so much dust under the front cover and back one cracking more and more.

for 200 Euro... well it is lame to make such a thing.

If want to clean it I have to open it and loose warranty, If I send it to be cleaned... phuh... I bought it to listen it not to clean it every 3-4 weeks...

And this back cover thing... I think this is the only player with that problem...

SHAME

So better firmware is useless when hardware is junk.

Edited June 1, 2006 by djorzgul

[MiG]

Well basically, a Custom Firmware could be possible, but somehow the firmware needs extracting.

The firmware update can be extracted, and by doing this u will reveal 2 files that are used in the update Process..

NW_A3000.BIN - Looks like the Firmware but im not too sure on this.

NW_A3000.UPG - Less Likely to be the firmware but once the updater is run the file resides on the device until it is updated, i know this from not unplugging the device after update and checking what files are added.

The device will obviously check for any updates on boot, and because of this i think it wud be very easy to install a custom firmware..

I think if we can get some people together to try and figure how the files are stored in the firmware, we'll be able to mod it.

Edited June 1, 2006 by MiG

[djorzgul]

and if this come true... apple will rule the world:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Gallery_of_Video_iPod_Mockups

http://www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2006/Ge...idPodMockUp.htm

and it looks like it is

Edited June 1, 2006 by djorzgul

[chriswyatt]

NW_A3000.BIN - Looks like the Firmware but im not too sure on this.

NW_A3000.UPG - Less Likely to be the firmware but once the updater is run the file resides on the device until it is updated, i know this from not unplugging the device after update and checking what files are added.

Do both the files reside on the device or is i just NW_A3000.UPG?

[MiG]

Do both the files reside on the device or is i just NW_A3000.UPG?

Both files reside on the device. they are both needed for the firmware update... i found out this by doing the following.

Extract the Installer, inside the installer you will find a file called NW_A3000.ini

This contains:

[PAC_FWUpdater]

Target=NW-A3000

Comment=NW-A3000 Firmware Update

[DEVICE01]

DeviceName=NW-A3000

ProductInfo=HDD WALKMAN

ClassifyType=4

DevicePropertyProductInfo=NW-A3000

SubIdentification=00000000

CommandType=1

Version00=3.00

FWPackage00=ver3.00

FWPackageWriteFolderName=\

RemainingBatteryLevel=60

StorageMediaFormatType=0

PBRFile=NW_A3000.PBR

Timer=1:30

This is obviously code to tell the updater what is what.

Changing the string FWPackageWriteFolderName=\ to something like FWPackageWriteFolderName=\TEST will mean that the updater copies all required files to that folder.

There is also a PBR file that i cant figure out what it does, and this is the contents of NW_A3000.PBR:

ëX?SONYPrF @ ø ? ÿ ? ±?F4 )xV4NO NAME FAT32 rƒë:f¡|&f;&ŠWüu€ÊˆV€Ãsë3ÉŠF˜÷fFVFÑ‹v`‰Fü‰Vþ¸ ÷æ‹^ÃH÷óFüNþa¿ èæ r9&8-t`±¾¡}ó¦at2Nt ƒÇ ;ûræëÜ û}´}‹ð¬˜@tHt´» Íëï ý}ëæ ü}ëáÍÍ&‹UR°» è; rè[ŠV$¾|‹üÇFð=}ÇFô)}ŒÙ‰Nò‰NöÆ–}Ëê ¶Èf‹FøfFf‹ÐfÁêë^¶ÈJJŠF

2ä÷âFüVþëJRPSjj‘‹F–’3Ò÷ö‘÷öB‡Ê÷vŠòŠèÀÌ

̸€~u´B‹ôŠV$Íaar@uB^IuøÃA» `fj ë°NTLDR

NTLDR is missing þÿ? ±?FPress any key to restart

¬¿ÌUª

Somethings can be made out from this, and will probably determine certain drive characteristics, but i dont understand what "NTLDR is missing" is used for, because mainly this is associated with Boot Loaders, so this file may determine the boot information of the device.

[chriswyatt]

Do you think that you could find the splash screen in NWA3000.bin, it would be quite fun to change that. I guess there will probably be a point where there are a bunch of repeated characters representing black.

[MiG]

well the NW-A3000.BIN file maybe scrambled or encrypted, as finding anything in the file of any use is looking slim.

All the image programs i have tried wont recognise the image as any type of disk image.

Im still going to play with it though, see if any fun can be had.

[Daryl Rowland]

Just a thought but wouldn't it be good if they did away with artist link and made the artist link button an "Add to Now Playing List" button...

[chriswyatt]

Yeah, I don't use that stupid artist link button anyway. A now playing list would be a nice feature, you could just select a song or album and press the artist link button .

[ssasha]

true Linear PCM playback

[yaroukh]

Just a thought but wouldn't it be good if they did away with artist link and made the artist link button an "Add to Now Playing List" button...

I do agree ...

- "add to now playing" is my #1 wish

- replace Genre field in "Now Playing" with Comment (like "Ozgur Can vs. Yilmaz RMX")

- release FW source-code

(I don't think anything of above listed will happen)

- fix some more bugs in FW (sometimes the player won't wake up untill I reset it; fortunatelly the player doesn't get reset, it just starts to response to buttons so I can wake it up)

Edited June 13, 2006 by yaroukh

[markey]

and support mp3 file manager.

[maggior]

I don't own an A series player (I have an HD-3), but the features I'd like to see are missing from both. My wish is that these features show up in the next player Sony comes out with:

- Support for a lossless format (preferably FLAC, but I would settle for ATRAC lossless). This format must be played GAPLESS, just like our beloved ATRAC.

- Ability to add albums to the "now playing" list. That would be awesome!! Being able to do this as the player is playing would be awesome, but I would settle for having to set it up and then play.

- Larger hard drive - 60 GB would be nice :-).

- Faster upload times for ATRAC files.

- Faster deletion of files from unit (why this has to take so long is beyond me).

- User replacable battery.

The "now playing" feature would be analagous to going to your CD collection and selecting some titles to put in your CD changer. This is something I used to do all of the time and I miss being able to do it.

Rich

[yaroukh]

+ HOLD selectable from menu

[Ascariss]

Hold from menu? why? it's a button on the side of the player, no need to have it in the menu. I've yet to see a player i've owned with hold in the menu options. All my MDs and CD players had it on the outside of the player, a physical hold button. easiest and fastest method of using hold.

the battery can be replaced by yourself in these units, but its not like the hd-5 battery.

Deletion of files takes seconds when doing it in CP, and selecting the file to the garbage bin on the device will remove it from the hard drive next time you reconnect it. but i've yet have to delete a file that I have transferred since I only transfer stuff I listen to.

faster upload of atrac files> what? a 20 meg 320 mp3 takes about a second or so to be transferred using usb2, and as far as I know atrac files are smaller than 320 mp3s. unless you are using the higher bitrate atrac, so should take about the same time as the 320 mp3.

reasons for the 20 gig drive was already discussed here, if you wish to find out the info, please search the forums.

[Beethovenian]

Ascariss, you're the luckiest Sony user around. Everything seems to work fine for you. No way transfer of Atrac files is as fast for me as an MP3 is for you. Using SonicStage CP, sending 1GB to the player takes like one full hour, if not more. Connect Player is faster, but not much. Both take a long time just preparing the files, and do it in a way that makes you wonder if it hadn't crashed.

As for the hold button, I wished it was just a switch that didn't depend on the player being on.

[Ascariss]

A switch would be better than a button definetely, but well that's a mistake sony hopefully will learn from.

I am not sure why your transfer of atrac is slower than for me? I decided to test out gapless because I once somehow got it working on my MD and then couldn't figure out why it didn't work again, that was then this is now. lol. any chance you are not using USB2? stupud question i know.

so I ripped a cd I have into atrac3+ 320, 9 songs, ripping took less than 10 minutes most likely, not sure how long, went to the john after I started ripping it. anwyays, when I got back 10 minutes later, it was all ripped.

then I imported the files into the library 4 seconds, then hooked up the A1000 and transferred the files over, maybe 20 seconds tops for 175 megs of songs. Unplugged and playing the files now and yes gapless does work, not sure why I thoguht it didn't. Anyways. I have my own requests for future FW options for the new HDD units

-faster firmware

-playlists on the go and replacing the artist link button to add the file to a now playing playlist

-plenty of codecs to be supported, I posted which ones the units can support in this forum

-larger hdd if wav becomes supported or FLAC

anyways, hopefully sony will release something better this fall.

[MiG]

A switch would be better than a button definetely, but well that's a mistake sony hopefully will learn from.

I am not sure why your transfer of atrac is slower than for me? I decided to test out gapless because I once somehow got it working on my MD and then couldn't figure out why it didn't work again, that was then this is now. lol. any chance you are not using USB2? stupud question i know.

so I ripped a cd I have into atrac3+ 320, 9 songs, ripping took less than 10 minutes most likely, not sure how long, went to the john after I started ripping it. anwyays, when I got back 10 minutes later, it was all ripped.

then I imported the files into the library 4 seconds, then hooked up the A1000 and transferred the files over, maybe 20 seconds tops for 175 megs of songs. Unplugged and playing the files now and yes gapless does work, not sure why I thoguht it didn't. Anyways. I have my own requests for future FW options for the new HDD units

-faster firmware

-playlists on the go and replacing the artist link button to add the file to a now playing playlist

-plenty of codecs to be supported, I posted which ones the units can support in this forum

-larger hdd if wav becomes supported or FLAC

anyways, hopefully sony will release something better this fall.

I'm with you on this one. i dont know what it is, but Connect Player is awesome for me, and i might have 2 record a video and upload just how much it flies on my machine...

The new update has made the player just like so i'll get a video up for later 2day.

ofc it could be faster at ripping cd's, because in comparison with other software its slooowww, but not that slow if u get what i mean.

I have a NW-A3000 with the Latest connect player and i converted and transfered over 1gig of music in around 20min.

[ssasha]

If there will be function in display mode called "allways on" - thats gonna be great!

sometimes i need allways see which song next and time line

and charge indicator can be more informative, what problem if i want to see status while it's chargin (if i connect player to usb - stoopid show me that is just charge - ewrybody knew that fact)

Edited June 20, 2006 by ssasha

[Channy]

just one little thing: will any sony personnel see this thread? i like all the things mentioned for the next firmware, but i want it to go into actual production, so that we all could use these fantastic features in the next update.

we shoud all create some kind of proposal for the next firmware and send it to sony about all the possible features that sony could consider.

Edited June 17, 2006 by Channy

[MiG]

i dont think sony read these forums tbh, but there is always the chance that they will..

This is a popular site for sony's hardware so i wouldnt be suprised if they didnt.

[yaroukh]

Hold from menu? why? it's a button on the side of the player, no need to have it in the menu. I've yet to see a player i've owned with hold in the menu options. All my MDs and CD players had it on the outside of the player, a physical hold button. easiest and fastest method of using hold.

Because that way I wouldn't have to change way I hold the player in my hand. It is not quite comfortable for me to press the hold button after I use the three rounded ones ni the bottom of the front side of the player. Having the option in menu I would definetely make use of it.

[jporcas]

"ADD TO NOW PLAYING" please!!!!!!!!!!!!

Used to have it on my old zen micro, so useful and cant be hard to do sony.....

[b0ng0]

Some way to have the clock as a screen saver or something.

The option to browse artists by one single letter instead of A-E or whatever others have.

I must say i'm suprised to see so many people complaining about the NW-A series. I have the 3000 and it works fine for me, has not a single piece of dust in it, transferred 3500 songs in about 2 hours, all mp3. But I guess if you don't have any problems - there's no need to post, so you only read about the problem cases.

Am I right? Or am I missing something? B

[Nononono]

"ADD TO NOW PLAYING" please!!!!!!!!!!!!

Used to have it on my old zen micro, so useful and cant be hard to do sony.....

"Add to Now Playing"? Can't you just hit the play button to start play the song? :/

[Beethovenian]

"Add to Now Playing"? Can't you just hit the play button to start play the song? :/

What he means is having the ability to add a track or album to your currently playing list, so you don't need to go browse your albums again when the current one finishes playing. I think that's almost a must requirement now for MP3 players.

[Nononono]

What he means is having the ability to add a track or album to your currently playing list, so you don't need to go browse your albums again when the current one finishes playing. I think that's almost a must requirement now for MP3 players.

Ahh, I see. That would be useful indeed