Bewarethefoxxx Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Hi,I'm stumped!I have been using SS since buying my NWA3000 purely because I had windows ME so CP was not compatible.I have been gradually putting CDs on and mp3s, in fact we have 2 NWA3000s in my house so there's two of us using it and we currently have SS3.4Now I've just bought a lovely new laptop that has windows XP Pro and is a sony virgin!!!I was about to put CP on and give it a go for the first time and have now seen there is a release of SS4-CP. So what do I do? Which software should I use?The issue I have at the moment, is that all the stuff I have on both walkmans don't have the extra features like artist link or shuffles. Can I transfer the songs from the walkmans onto my new laptop into either SS4-CP or CP?Are we better off wiping both walkmans and starting again? Trouble is, I didn't keep all the cds I ripped to atrac so that would be annoying! All my mp3s are easy to re-do because I have them on disc and can move them on to my laptop.Are we better off trying CP because of the synchronisation? Are they going to scrap CP?Argh I confused!Advice please!!!! I just want to finally get some proper use out of these two walkmans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beethovenian Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 Difficult situation. Are your Atrac files free of copy protection? If not, the first thing I'd do is remove the protection. (Convert them to the same bitrate just unselecting the add copy protection option. All 'converted' files will appear in the Optimized Files folder. Back these up.) That will help you if for some reason you run into problems when restoring SonicStage's backup in the new computer. (I'd both backup the unprotected files as they are and use Sony's Backup Tool, just to be safe.)Now, the question of SS4 or CP. I think SS is a better software, but in my experience it doesn't optimize the database in the Walkmans, making navigation extremely slow. Changing pages in the Artist, Album or Song menu takes 2 or 3 seconds. CP makes navigation much faster. The problem is that the software is much more unstable. In my case, it, for instance, updated ArtistLink information for half of my tracks and now it just hangs when it tries to update the rest. Also, there's no possibility to edit the links, as in SS4. Still, I use CP to transfer tracks to the player, simply because I can't stand the slow navigation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewarethefoxxx Posted June 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2006 Thanks for advice...ok, here's an update and a couple more questions!I decided to try CP, purely because I wanted to be able to synchronize the library with the Walkman and editing in SS is so slow. (Not so bothered about editting artist links at this stage).All seemed to install and work fine...I plugged in both mine and my boyfriends NWA3000s and copied all the .oma files on the walkmans into a back-up folder on my new pc. I'm guessing that the walkman stores all files as .omaI then imported all the omas into the CP library and had all my songs present and correct.I then went through and spent hours editing the library, basically to put in missing years and change all the genres to make it a bit better to play genre shuffles, as gracenote tends to make genres far to narrow and I wanted it more general.I plugged in my NWA3000 and asked it to sync. It did something for a while, according to the toolbar it transferred some tracks, deleted some tracks, updated some tracks. But when it had finished, it hadn't updated the genres (not sure about years) and hadn't changed any spelling edits I had made. I'm hoping this isn't something wrong with sync, just the fact that the tracks on my walkman had been put there by Sonic Stage???So I decided to initialise my walkman and start again. So I wiped it using the initialise disc. I transferred my library, which currently is only 1000 songs. It only transferred 540 of them and the rest transferred in black saying it was not a supported file format.Having looked through, there seems to be a pattern. All the files that had originally come from a cd and was converted to ATRAC3plus, had transferred onto the walkman with the new genres etc. However, all the files that had originally been MP3s hadn't. (I had put MP3s on my walkman from SS, rather than convert mp3s to ATRAC).Can someone confirm if this is just due to me extracting the mp3 files from the walkman onto my new pc???If this is the case, should I be able to delete all the black unsupported files from both the walkman and the library, and then import all my mp3s (I have them burnt on discs) straight into the library?? Edit the years and genres (again!) and transfer them without problems??Also, can someone tell me if the sync function works?? Having not used CP before, I want to clarify, if I edit something in the library, like the year and genre or a spelling mistake in the title, artist, album, will the sync update the file on the walkman???? (I'm not sure if the first sync I did didn't work due to the fact that it contained files transferred from SS rather than CP). Final question...has anyone else used CP sync with 2 walkmans?? Not sure what will happen with ratings, play history etc! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beethovenian Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 One thing not clear to me is: Did you actually copy your music directly from the Walkman to the new PC? Supposedly, that's not the way it should work, since the Walkmans are made not to allow you to re-import files to a different PC than the one that originated them. In any case, if it worked, better. I assume the change that SS made to the MP3s during transfer, wrapping them in the .oma container, made them unworkable now, so you should import them again from your discs.But then comes the next strange thing. Did Connect Player accept your SonicStage-loaded Walkman? To me, if I load the player via SonicStage, connecting it to CP will produce an error message, saying the player is not compatible and has to be initialised.In any case, Connect Player and SonicStage use different transfer methods and databases, so CP shouldn't be able to sync anything transferred by SS. As for the syncrhonisation itself, theoretically, any change that you make in CP is updated in the Walkman when you connect it. It works for me, unless I delete the file from the library and re-import it. (I do it, ironically, because I think SS is much better to edit information than CP, so to have updated files in CP I delete them and import then again, so they reflect changes made in SS.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrain Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 SS4.0 has artist link & alll that, CP is now obselete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewarethefoxxx Posted June 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 One thing not clear to me is: Did you actually copy your music directly from the Walkman to the new PC? Supposedly, that's not the way it should work, since the Walkmans are made not to allow you to re-import files to a different PC than the one that originated them. In any case, if it worked, better. I assume the change that SS made to the MP3s during transfer, wrapping them in the .oma container, made them unworkable now, so you should import them again from your discs.But then comes the next strange thing. Did Connect Player accept your SonicStage-loaded Walkman? To me, if I load the player via SonicStage, connecting it to CP will produce an error message, saying the player is not compatible and has to be initialised.In any case, Connect Player and SonicStage use different transfer methods and databases, so CP shouldn't be able to sync anything transferred by SS. As for the syncrhonisation itself, theoretically, any change that you make in CP is updated in the Walkman when you connect it. It works for me, unless I delete the file from the library and re-import it. (I do it, ironically, because I think SS is much better to edit information than CP, so to have updated files in CP I delete them and import then again, so they reflect changes made in SS.)Yes I copied my all my music directly from the both our walkmans to my new pc! I'd heard this couldn't be done but I thought I'd try it and it worked! I literally plugged my walkman in to the usb without CP or SS loaded, and just navigated to the drive and highlighted the .oma files that showed up in windows explorer. (well in 'my computer') and copied them into a new folder on my hard drive. The was only .oma files on the walkmans.I then, opened CP and imported all the files I'd saved in the folder on my hard drive into CP and then after editing some, connected my walkman and told it to sync. I didn't get any error messages when I first connected my walkman to CP full of SS files! As we know, the sync didn't work properly (prob due to the files on the walkman being from SS originally as you explained), so I initialised my walkman. Starting with a clean slate I transferred all the files in CP to my walkman, but it only accepted the files that had originally been atrac files. What you say above, makes sense to why it went wrong. I read the CP FAQ thread on this forum and it states that you can transfer oma files with an ATRAC codec, or MP3 files with a MPEG (MP3) codec. I'm guessing my issue was I had oma files with MP3 codecs, hence not a supported format. This could be clearly seen when I added a 'format' and 'codec' column to my library. (Although strangely the oma mp3s play and sound fine in CP!) So, last night I imported all my MP3s into my library and got rid of the ones that didn't work and sync'd my walkman and it worked!! The MP3s transferred this time and some of the other files that I'd amended did get updated on the Walkman. Horrah!!!!! Apart from 1 file, which is a track on an album from a CD I own. No idea why this one didn't transfer, it just says error and gives no explanation. I will re-import the album and try again.Strange though, that you're not supposed to be able to move files off your walkman onto a new pc. If it is any help or has anything to do with it, all the cds I had put on my walkman originally through SS, I had removed copy protection. Could this be the reason why it worked?SS4.0 has artist link & alll that, CP is now obselete.Is this true that CP is obsolete? Have Sony officially announced that they are getting rid of CP?? I hope not, I've just got it working!!!! I realise that SS4 has the artist link and intelligent shuffles, however, for me I wanted to have the synchronisation. And I also find CP much quicker to edit. Although, it is a pain to change one at a time, it is still quicker than in SS. I would highlight an album in SS and change one thing e.g. genre or album name and it would take absolutely ages to do it. It seemed to take forever to update the original files on the pc. Whereas CP does it instantly.Fingers crossed that CP doesn't break on me as I start to import more music. I have about 600 CDs that I'm going to start to import!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stuge Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 Is this true that CP is obsolete?I think Yes .I hope SOny will add Sync & other features in SonicStage in near future . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beethovenian Posted June 6, 2006 Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 Wow, that's a very strange case that defies all notions of how these things should work. At least you proved that unprotected Atrac files can be salvaged directly from the player, if for some reason you have to do it. GYM should take care of the MP3s.CP is obsolete, and SonicStage makes the player too slow to navigate. We're really well served here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewarethefoxxx Posted June 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2006 Wow, that's a very strange case that defies all notions of how these things should work. At least you proved that unprotected Atrac files can be salvaged directly from the player, if for some reason you have to do it. GYM should take care of the MP3s.CP is obsolete, and SonicStage makes the player too slow to navigate. We're really well served here...No way!!! Having just got CP!!! LOL!!! So my next question is....when they bring out a new version of SS that does have sync and is quick to edit, will I be able to move all my files that are now in CP to SS?? Will I have to take everything off my walkman again and transfer the SS files back on????? Will it ever be straight forward??!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 Ummmmm.....No....rofl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beethovenian Posted June 8, 2006 Report Share Posted June 8, 2006 No way!!! Having just got CP!!! LOL!!! So my next question is....when they bring out a new version of SS that does have sync and is quick to edit, will I be able to move all my files that are now in CP to SS?? Will I have to take everything off my walkman again and transfer the SS files back on????? Will it ever be straight forward??!!I think Gaz's response is likely to be true. Considering Sony's history in this department, I doubt they'll let you have such an easy time and just upgrade to a new program... After all, where's the fun in having something that just works? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewarethefoxxx Posted June 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2006 I think Gaz's response is likely to be true. Considering Sony's history in this department, I doubt they'll let you have such an easy time and just upgrade to a new program... After all, where's the fun in having something that just works? Well, if I can't move all my atrac and mp3 files (by the time SS is properly updated and CP is no more it'll be about 600-700CDs) then I will demand a full refund from SONY for wasting my time and buy an IPOD. I'd have to re-rip everything again anyway because atracs won't play on IPODs but it's the principle of the thing. SONY can't expect to give us the run around like this. It's just not on. I bought 2 NWA3000s in good faith and have had nothing but hassle. Other people I know have bought 20-30GB mp3 players of various makes and within a few hours have it all up and running by simply dragging and dropping. I'm starting to wonder if battery life and shuffles are really worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beethovenian Posted June 8, 2006 Report Share Posted June 8, 2006 (edited) Ops, I assumed Gaz's reply referred to the "will it ever be straight" part. I'm (almost) sure you'll be able to move all your atrac and mp3 files, though I'm not so sure you'll be able to do it without reformatting the player, since Connect Player and SonicStage use different types of databasing.But to be honest, the only reason I'm sticking with Sony is for gapless playback (I listen to too much classical music to be without it). Otherwise I'd buy the new Toshiba Gigabeat S, which is the sexiest player around, in my opinion. Edited June 8, 2006 by Beethovenian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Posted June 8, 2006 Report Share Posted June 8, 2006 it was to the straight forward bit i was "nooooooo" ing at.......dont buy a mugme pod....they so common ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewarethefoxxx Posted June 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2006 Oh, thank goodness for that!!!!! Reformatting the player isn't such a big deal. Yeah, I know, I don't really want an ipod as everyone has them, but when you have all these probs and everyone I know with an ipod is up and running in no time and have all their tracks on the ipod (plus all the accessories and support available etc), you start getting annoyed with SONY! I choose SONY because I like the quality, I thought it would have better sound than an ipod, it has excellent shuffle features and searching with initials and the battery life is excellent. Shame about the software really. Fingers crossed, I've finally got it sorted now and can enjoy my walkman at last. It has nearly got thrown out the window a few times!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimKill Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Don't know what sony is capable of doing in the software section, but they sure have the capability to make people cross their fingers. You know feel a sense of acheivement for anything accomplished.The best thing is that it couldn't get worse for us.Just think about it, one day if some Apple programmer screws up iTunes then imagine what an uproar it would cause...people returning their ipods or something of that sort. All of 'em white sheep. While we here are so used to things...these are the things that separate a sheep from a music buff. We'll go to any lengths to get our music playing...OMG, I'm almost praising sony!!!Like.No.Other Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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