Naurd NW-E00X Mp3 File Manager

[Sling]

Patrick,

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your continued development of this program. I listen to many wonderful tunes thanks to your software everyday... Sure it has niggles but it offers so much more useful functionality than Sony's effort. Keep up the great work.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Sling

[Neil Wallace]

Hi Patrick,

I am delighted to report that I have this running on my NW-S703F player.

On my desktop I have Ubuntu 7.04, and have installed Sun Java 1.5 from the repositories.

I have also installed FFMPG.

I am truly thankful to you that I don't have to resort to Windoze and Sonicstage to use this device.

I love the Sony hardware (I chose it for the built in noise reducing capability, which is great in the gym or whilst lawn-mowing etc..)

I use it simply for podcasts and uploading the MP3 I have ripped from CDs I own. I don't wish to download music from the net, and I don't want Sony to try and flog me stuff everytime I connect my device.

So many,many thanks.

Incidentally, I am having a few issues with some podcasts with obscure bitrates and sampling frequencies.

The podcasts I refer to are in a series called Python411, and it is not all editions. the later ones are fine, but some of the 32kbps at 22,000 have the distortion mentioned earlier in the thread. I have also noticed that the timer functions eratically with some of these files... even some of the files that have OK sound!

I know this isn't down to this software, and is simply a limitation of the MP3 playing capability of my device.

I'll experiment with the FFMPEG options and find one which works, but wonder if anyone could point me to a link showing which MP3 settings run natively on these Sony devices. I can't find any decent documentation anywhere.

Neil.

(Inverness - Scotland)

[Tim Elliott]

I love this program! I just got my NW-E003F from Circuit City fpr $40 (is this series discontinued?). If I were forced to use SonicStage, I'd be returning the player in a heartbeat!

I got this to replace my first gen, iPod Shuffle. I use it to play podcasts. I download podcasts using iTunes. I found an app that will let me synch iTunea playlists to a folder. This makes downloading to the player easier. I did realize that the folder in Windows becomes a playlist on the player. I hope you impliment playlist editing shortly. I'm also anxious to see the search/browse working correctly.

The podcast tab is interesting but I'm not about to search each feed and select files to download myself. I have a long list of podcasts. I hope this player can be supported by a true podcast "catcher" like HappyFish. Version 3 of MediaMonkey will support podcasts (it's only in alpha now). MediaMonkye is the best alternative to iTunes for Windows IMHO.

I'm also dissapointed that this player doesn't support as wide a range of bitrates as the Shuffle. I am glad this program has a built in transcoder but I'm hoping you can make it automatic for unsupported bitrates, choosing the next higher supported bitrate.

Thanks for your hard work! I'm putting the player through it's paces now so I can decide whether to keep it or return it while I have a chance. For the price, it's almost worth it to keep it for the FM tuner alone. Also, the battery charge time and play time is amazing!

Tim

EDIT: This player has too many problems (podcast bitrates, etc). The biggest problem for me, that can't be fixed in software, is that the display is almost invisible outdoors. May as well keep using my Shuffle, which plays all podcasts fine. I'm taking it back while I still can and using the money to buy better headphones. I rarely listen to the radio anyway.

Edited May 10, 2007 by Tim Elliott

[teh jhey]

Evidently, this program is a godsend, but I'm having problems getting it to work

I'm running Ubuntu 7.04, and I just got a NW-S705F. I just tried it on Windows XP, and it works fine.

However, when I go through the steps in Linux, and click the write button, nothing happens. The button works, but I click it and wait, and nothing happens.

What could the problem be?

[Neil Wallace]

teh jhey,

I'm using Ubuntu 7.04 also, and have experienced the same problem when I've tried to launch this using the graphic interface and mouse.

Try launching the program using the terminal.

Navigate to your player with this comand (I'm assuming it has mounted as "usbdisk" in this example - and you don't type the $ of course)

$ cd /media/usbdisk

then type in

$ java -jar NW-E00X_MP3_File_Manager-0.12.jar

Provided you have Java >=1.5 and this version is your default it'll work just fine now.

If you are still on the Java that comes with Ubuntu 7.04 (approx v 1.4) you'll get an error message, and need to install a newer version and set it as your default.

ie.

Use Synaptic to install "Sun Java".

then open a terminal and type

$ sudo update-alternatives --config java

choose the most recent version.

BTW - if you want to transfer low-bitrate stuff (eg spoken podcasts) to the device, it's worth installing FFmpeg with synaptic also.

NW-E00X will then give you an option to convert these to 64kbps. Failure to use this means everyone sounds like mickey mouse!

Good Luck.

Neil.

[teh jhey]

Thanks Neil, but I am actually doing it from the terminal.

It seems like it's not quite doing nothing. When I hit the write button, I see the progress bars on the bottom zoom through as if the file was really small (even though it's not). After that, nothing happens.

I also checked my Java, and it is, in fact, 1.5.

Any other suggestions?

[teh jhey]

ARGH I am an idiot. Turns out the file I was trying to test with was a partial download.

Commence pointing and laughing.

Anyway, this program is GREAT! Thanks Patrick!

[MindVision]

Would this one work with the NW-A8xx players as well?

[Neil Wallace]

Hi Patrick,

I been doing some research into the specific problem of the distortion with low-bit rate transfers. My player can play 32kbps mp3s transferred by Sonicstage, but not by your file manager.

My interpretation of the reasoning (after examining a test file transferred onto a clean machine by both systems) is as follows.

My "test.mp3" file was 15021 bytes long.

transferred using Sonicstage 4.1 (yeuch!) the file generated 10000001.oma is only 14832 bytes long.

transferred using NW-Eoox file manager (without using FFmpeg) 10000001.oma is 17095 bytes.

There appears to be an issue with your code for removing the ID3 tags from MP3 files. They are left in situ after your reverse engineered Sony-compatible bytes are added, consequently, when the player accesses the file from startpoint 0x0c60, this is right in the middle of the old ID3V2 tag and the data packets are consequently out of sync and sound nasty.

I am not a Java programmer, but I did have a look at your code, and the problematic section appears to be lines 413...451 of the OMAFile.java

BTW - FFMpeg seems to remove any tags, so it works.

I do hope this is helpful. If I can be of assistance please do not hesitate to ask. I only wish I knew how to build from Source code, I would have gladly tried to tweak the code and come to you with a solution rather than a problem.

Are you using Eclipse as the IDE?

Regards

Neil.

BTW - I've attached the 3 relevant files in a compressed folder as test1.mp3 nw-e00x.oma and sonicstage.oma I trust this makes sense!

winzip_icon.doc

[Neil Wallace]

Ah... IDE is Netbeans.

[Patrick Balleux]

Hi Neil,

Effectively, the player does not support all the bitrates that you can find in podcasts.

That's why the support of FFMEG was implemented to convert on the fly those podcasts.

FFMPEG command line option would be : ffmpeg -i FILE.mp3 -ab 128 -ar 44100 -ac 2 FILEConverted.mp3

Hi Patrick,

I am delighted to report that I have this running on my NW-S703F player.

On my desktop I have Ubuntu 7.04, and have installed Sun Java 1.5 from the repositories.

I have also installed FFMPG.

I am truly thankful to you that I don't have to resort to Windoze and Sonicstage to use this device.

I love the Sony hardware (I chose it for the built in noise reducing capability, which is great in the gym or whilst lawn-mowing etc..)

I use it simply for podcasts and uploading the MP3 I have ripped from CDs I own. I don't wish to download music from the net, and I don't want Sony to try and flog me stuff everytime I connect my device.

So many,many thanks.

Incidentally, I am having a few issues with some podcasts with obscure bitrates and sampling frequencies.

The podcasts I refer to are in a series called Python411, and it is not all editions. the later ones are fine, but some of the 32kbps at 22,000 have the distortion mentioned earlier in the thread. I have also noticed that the timer functions eratically with some of these files... even some of the files that have OK sound!

I know this isn't down to this software, and is simply a limitation of the MP3 playing capability of my device.

I'll experiment with the FFMPEG options and find one which works, but wonder if anyone could point me to a link showing which MP3 settings run natively on these Sony devices. I can't find any decent documentation anywhere.

Neil.

(Inverness - Scotland)

[Patrick Balleux]

Hi Neil,

Thanks for your support...

Removing the ID Tags is not working as expected on some files but I did not had the time to look into it...

We are currently redoing the work in another project that will be better designed to support more version of Sony players...

Patrick

Hi Patrick,

I been doing some research into the specific problem of the distortion with low-bit rate transfers. My player can play 32kbps mp3s transferred by Sonicstage, but not by your file manager.

My interpretation of the reasoning (after examining a test file transferred onto a clean machine by both systems) is as follows.

My "test.mp3" file was 15021 bytes long.

transferred using Sonicstage 4.1 (yeuch!) the file generated 10000001.oma is only 14832 bytes long.

transferred using NW-Eoox file manager (without using FFmpeg) 10000001.oma is 17095 bytes.

There appears to be an issue with your code for removing the ID3 tags from MP3 files. They are left in situ after your reverse engineered Sony-compatible bytes are added, consequently, when the player accesses the file from startpoint 0x0c60, this is right in the middle of the old ID3V2 tag and the data packets are consequently out of sync and sound nasty.

I am not a Java programmer, but I did have a look at your code, and the problematic section appears to be lines 413...451 of the OMAFile.java

BTW - FFMpeg seems to remove any tags, so it works.

I do hope this is helpful. If I can be of assistance please do not hesitate to ask. I only wish I knew how to build from Source code, I would have gladly tried to tweak the code and come to you with a solution rather than a problem.

Are you using Eclipse as the IDE?

Regards

Neil.

BTW - I've attached the 3 relevant files in a compressed folder as test1.mp3 nw-e00x.oma and sonicstage.oma I trust this makes sense!

winzip_icon.doc

[Neil Wallace]

Hi Patrick,

I think I've sorted the ID3 tag removal for you.

The problem seems to occur when a JPEG image is embedded in the header. (JPEG starts 1111 1111 111 I think...)

Anyway, the code I added looks for 7 compatible MP3 frame headers. And it seems to work well.

I've attached the code. (had to add an extension .txt to allow upload)

I've never contributed to an open source project before, and I do apologise if I've gone about this incorrectly. Perhaps you could mail me a rowinggolferAThotmailDOTcom if you wish to discuss.

Incidentally, as I'm sure you are aware correcting the tags alone does not remove the issue of Mickey Mouse voice for these podcasts.

Consequently I've done some further experiments, and I am now convinced that my player can play these streams, but only when Sonicstage has passed some further info to the player (a codec??).

I think this is included in the OMA header. Specifically at address 0xc15. (You'll note I've also attached a plain text file showing the differences in the headers transferred by Sonicstage 3.1 and by NW-E00x when I transfer my 'testmp3' file.)

BTW - My player is a NW-S703, which may be relevant in it's capacity to play <44.1hz files.

BTW2 - You are absolutely correct that FFMpeg works. However, it takes additional time and increases the file size.

I am going to continue modifying the project. I'll let you know if I have any further success. Perhaps I could do this off-list?

BTW - your project is extremely well documented, and your code very clear.

Neil.

Hi Neil,

Thanks for your support...

Removing the ID Tags is not working as expected on some files but I did not had the time to look into it...

We are currently redoing the work in another project that will be better designed to support more version of Sony players...

Patrick

[Patrick Balleux]

Hi Neil.

I tried your code, but it failed on some podcasts while downloading.

Anyway, you gave me some hint and I finally used the JavaZoom library to skip the header. This is the library I use to play the mp3 directly in the application.

Patrick!

Hi Patrick,

I think I've sorted the ID3 tag removal for you.

The problem seems to occur when a JPEG image is embedded in the header. (JPEG starts 1111 1111 111 I think...)

Anyway, the code I added looks for 7 compatible MP3 frame headers. And it seems to work well.

I've attached the code. (had to add an extension .txt to allow upload)

I've never contributed to an open source project before, and I do apologise if I've gone about this incorrectly. Perhaps you could mail me a rowinggolferAThotmailDOTcom if you wish to discuss.

Incidentally, as I'm sure you are aware correcting the tags alone does not remove the issue of Mickey Mouse voice for these podcasts.

Consequently I've done some further experiments, and I am now convinced that my player can play these streams, but only when Sonicstage has passed some further info to the player (a codec??).

I think this is included in the OMA header. Specifically at address 0xc15. (You'll note I've also attached a plain text file showing the differences in the headers transferred by Sonicstage 3.1 and by NW-E00x when I transfer my 'testmp3' file.)

BTW - My player is a NW-S703, which may be relevant in it's capacity to play <44.1hz files.

BTW2 - You are absolutely correct that FFMpeg works. However, it takes additional time and increases the file size.

I am going to continue modifying the project. I'll let you know if I have any further success. Perhaps I could do this off-list?

BTW - your project is extremely well documented, and your code very clear.

Neil.

[Patrick Balleux]

Hi all!

Ok, it's been 6 months, so I had to do something... v0.13 is out!

There are no big changes except the now it needs Java 6.

What was done:

- Better handling of mp3s (Thanks to Neil Wallace for his hints)

- Better podcast compatibility

- Removed the "Shoutcast" tab, nobody talk about it, so surely is was not used.

- Language supported : English, French, Deutch and Swedish

- Other small modifications.

It this version is good, the it will be the last... We are working on a totally new version that will handle more features and more players (Look for Symphonic...)

Have fun!

Patrick Balleux

[petrus]

- Removed the "Shoutcast" tab, nobody talk about it, so surely is was not used.

Patrick Balleux

I just bought a Sony NW-E003F and had problems with the Sonic Stage Software and after some searching I found your wonderful software. I am disappointed however that you have removed the Shoutcast feature from your most recent release.. I downloaded version .12 so I could use the Shoutcast option. Keep up the great work. I would have returned the Sony player if I had not found your software. Great work!!!

[veggiemusician]

Does your programme suport atrac yet? would be really usefull if it could so I can sometimes have a lot music on my s700 (atrac3+ 64bps).

Edited June 22, 2007 by veggiemusician

[whtvr]

hello there,

i downloaded version 0.13 some time ago but haven't got the time to test it yet; i just have quick question though - is album/artist search supported yet? afair there was an issue with that in previous versions...

keep up the good work and thanks

greetings,

maciej

[astatine]

Hi, I just downloaded this software and it works very well. I'm curious about the ID3 tags - do you copy the album/song title information to the database and then strip the ID3 tags?

One other question, are you intending to support playlists in this new application you're developing? I hope so! Cheers.

Edited July 4, 2007 by astatine

[tes]

Hello guys, I am using the NW E01X series mp3 player. May I know if I can use this Mp3 file manager for song transfer or not. If not, can anyone recommand me other software that supports file transfer into my player other than sonicstage, thankyou.

[asadasad22]

Do this works with A608?

[bigrice]

Oh, my God. Pat, I'm a Chinese girl. Your software is amazing! although it cost me some time to find out how to make it work. Luckily, I succeeded after I tried OMGAUDIO.ZIP. Thank you so much!

Now I'm listening to TRANSFORMERS! Thx again~~~

[Neil Wallace]

Dear asadasad22

you ask about the A608.

I've just got an NW-A806 ( it was free with a sony remote speaker system!) to complement my NW-S703f

If that's the series twhat you mean, then no, the current version of this program does not appear to work.

There are subtle differences in the way the program uses the folder hierarchy, and so the player reports there is no music on the device.

regards

Neil.

[Lunks]

Sorry if I sound like it's a competition, but I really do like the way ML_Sony handles tags. Right now, it works fine with my MP3 player. Problem is that I'm now on Linux, and really would like to reboot fewer times to Windows. I know Naurd works on Linux as it's Java, but the last time I used it, you had to create a new database from scratch or db values would mess up. Doing this would also do search function stop working, and I really like Artist - Album sorting most.

I know I could create a Artist - Album sorting myself using folder names, but it's that my MP3 files are well tagged and I'd like to make use of it (like I said before, ML_Sony does it perfectly).

Do you plan on supporting tag reading like ML_Sony does?

Thanks in advance.

[lsdig]

Hello friends.

I have a NW-E005F and use a Intel-Mac with Mac OS X 10.4.10 and can't use the manager.

I guess i am doing all right (dropping the .jar file and downloaded OMGAUDIO folder to player's root), and when I open the manager, i can't do anything, i can't update any file to the player, all the buttons appears to be innactive. When i left the original OMGAUDIO (the folder with my musics), the manager read the albums and the songs, but i still can't do anything, as delete or transfer any file.

What am i doing wrong?

I am dropping both the ffmpegwin32 and the ffmpegX (for Mac OS) to the player root.

Any idea?

Thankss!!! And congrats for your job... its helping a lot of people!!

[dankec]

Does it work with NW-S70x series (703, 705...)?

[SarahM]

Hi

I have an NW-E507 player and Mac-OSX. I've been trying to install the file manager but haven't managed to get it to work.

The player appears as an "external device". I've deleted the files off it and put the .jar file, OMG-Audio file and ffmpeg-win32 files onto it. THen I've run the .jar file from the player. It gets to the stage of "scanning" and no further.

I must be doing something wrong... either that or the file manager just isn't compatible with my player and mac.

Could someone write a simple step-by-step guide for helping me to install the file manager and get it working?

Thanks

Sarah

[abominable]

Hi to All..

@ Patrick great thanx to you and to all who have helped with this file manager..

Well I just bought the nw-s705f and the sonic-stage is indeed very annoying!! I have linux and happily I found about this file manager.

Unfortunately while trying to run the .jar, there were a lot of exceptions thrown and the procedure was not working properly.

I tried it through windows and worked perfectly.

In next post I'll write down the exceptions been thrown, in case you can help me fix this.

I notice that I can rename a folder but I can't move a song from one folder to another. Is there a way or it has to be fixed?

Anyway I'm studying computer engineering and software. So I would be glad to help. Mail me, if there is some way I can help. I would be glad to.

[dizzy_fingers]

Hello.

I'm using Ubuntu 7.04 and I have a problem with my NW-E002 mp3 player.

When I try to write a file to the player, it says below "/OMGAUDIO/03GINFO03.DAT (Read-only file system)".

How can I fix this?

[dizzy_fingers]

Forget my previous question.

I fixed it by formatting the player in my Windows.

Now I have another error.

Although everything seems to work fine (transfer songs, everything OK), when I try to play music, it shows me a "Format Error" message.

[2tough]

i have the NW-E005 2gb and have updated the firmwire to 2.01 and put the folder OMGAUDIO in the root of the player... and the jar file works a treat..

BUT

the albums and files come up UNKNOWN on the mp3 player..

how do i correct this?

[cornelyus]

Hi all!

Ok, it's been 6 months, so I had to do something... v0.13 is out!

There are no big changes except the now it needs Java 6.

What was done:

- Better handling of mp3s (Thanks to Neil Wallace for his hints)

- Better podcast compatibility

- Removed the "Shoutcast" tab, nobody talk about it, so surely is was not used.

- Language supported : English, French, Deutch and Swedish

- Other small modifications.

It this version is good, the it will be the last... We are working on a totally new version that will handle more features and more players (Look for Symphonic...)

Have fun!

Patrick Balleux

Hello Patrick..

i have a sony nw-e005 and i wanted something different from voidmp3fm because it was always crashing while uploading songs...

i formated the reader on windows, extracted the OMGAUDIO folder.. and ran the software... he says to me i uploaded correctly.. and when i disconect the reader from the USB port it says the there is NO DATA in it...

am i doing something wrong???

thanks in advance, and awesome work with the software

edit: don't know what i just did, but it's working...thanks this is great!!

Edited November 2, 2007 by cornelyus

[Skiro'n_]

Hi everybody !!

As you may know, development of "NW-E00X Mp3 File Manager" is now over. Symphonic is a project which replace it. I'm a developper in that project, and as Patrick is taking a break, I will introduce it to you !

Symphonic is a project around Sony device working with ML_sony to provide a library to communicate with Sony device. Symphonic has two main goal for the moment :

• JSymphonic (replacing NW-E00X Mp3 File Manager)
• an amaroK plugin (amaroK is powerful linux jukebox)

I've released yesterday the first beta version of JSymphonic. Please note that some features from NW-E00X Mp3 File Manager are not yet implemented in JSymphonic.

To download it directly, you can click here. To visit our page on SourceForge, click here.

French people, you can visit generationmp3.com.

I will not answer the last question you had here for two reason : 1) I advise you to use JSymphonic 2) I didn't code anything on NW-E00X Mp3 File Manager, so I can't really help you.

Enjoy !!

[Magnum]

Skiro'n,

Wow I am unsure who to thank. I had quite a bit of trouble getting this going, not sure why. I am running Feisty and for some reason the previous File manager would not work. I read through the first twelve pages and saw there were a few similiar problems but I was always getting the ????? ./OMGAUDIO ????? I could leave it open and click around and eventually I would get rid of the ?????... and it would scan, but the add files in lower right hand corner was grayed out and did not function.

After several hours I was finally going to try it on Windows as I went through the error code 00005e36 problems earlier but thought I would give it a try, then I go to the last post here about JSymphonic, I downloaded it and did not really read the read me, just glanced at it and already had the OMGAUDIO on the player so I replaced the jar files to the new JSymphonic and added the XML just to be safe and VIOLA in a split second was able to transfer files.

I am not sure why I had so much troubles with Patrick's version, I had tried it a few months back on a previous Feisty and it behaved the same way and I installed it correctly. However thanks a lot Patrick for without your great work on the NW-E00x there would not be this player.

Funny thing is, I had Gparted open and was going to try to format it however Gparted did not find the device, although it was found and identified by Ubuntu. I then plugged in a card reader and Gparted found my memory stick, unmounted and remounted my Sony and Gparted could not find it.

Anyways JSymphonic worked like a charm right out of the box and I did not have to revert back to Windows.

Thanks for the great program and I am still scratching my head as to why the other was not working, it seemed like it was trying because it would eventually find the OMGAUDIO folder after starting out with the ????/

Edited December 4, 2007 by Magnum

[frankcelis]

Hi pals iam newbie and i have a great pro with a nw-003 it says no data base whereever i hit the play button, but the first message problem it gave me was Format Error and then i read at anohter forum that i formatted in FAT32 and i should make in Fat i did everything i read here 2 try to play songs and even downloaded the Sonicstage and nothin´Happens Plase i need help.

[James23]

I've download this software last night and it works well with my nw-e002. but i would be better if we can create playlist through this software...anyway, thanx for that software...

[obi wan kenobi]

Hi Pat

I buy my NW-E005F a few days ago, and been thinking that i just wasted my money;

but have the luck to find your work in this thread and everything it's different now.

I just tell you THANK YOU for to take the work of make easy what looks like impossible.

1000 thanks for your work!!!!!!!

Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina (and sorry for my english)

[Skiro'n_]

Magnum, James23 & obi wan kenobi, thank you for using JSymphonic ! I'm glad you like it. Development is still on, and new features are coming !

frankcelis : the best thing to do is to format the walkman directly from the walkman itself (using the menu,... ...). Start by make it works with SonicStage, and once everything runs OK, try JSymphonic.

[obi wan kenobi]

Thank a lot to you too Skiro.

So, keep waiting patiently for new releases and features.

THANKS for your work and for to keep wonking on!

You really make all easy and saved aou money!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

[priti_32]

Hi,

I have found an interesting site on Software Development.It can deal with all sorts of Software Development.Their application services span a wide range of technologies, platforms and operating systems including Development and Integration, Web Solutions and Application Management Outsourcing.It deals with

Microsoft Technologies:

.Net, C#, VB, VC++/MFC/ATL, COM+, MTS/COM/DCOM, Visual InterDev/ASP, XML, DOM

Java and related technologies:

JDK, J2EE, EJB/JSP, CORBA, RMI, WAP, WML, Websphere, XML, Weblogic, iPlanet

Databases:

Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Informix, Sybase, MS Access, Borland Database Engine

Low level programming in C, C++

Palmtop/Handheld Computing using Palm OS, Windows CE platforms

Linux:

PHP/Perl, GNU C++, PostGreS, mySQL

ERP:

JD Edwards

Others:

Pro*C, Oracle/D-2K, ColdFusion