Is Sonicstage compatible with Windows 10?

[Sonny2]

Sonicstage worked fine with Windows XP.

Sonicstage was a bit hit and miss with Windows 7.

Does it work with Windows 10?

I have a NW - A808 player which I would like to continue using.

Is there any version of Sonicstage other than 4.3 (which I have), that I could download and be successful with?

Or is there any other software that I could use?

Or do I need to bin the player?

[sfbp]

No change. If it didn't work with 7, something bad happened on your end. The only real changes are:

A. Everyone runs 64 bits, so the 64 bit driver which was never part of the original distribution must be run if you are relying on the NetMD interface. I honestly am ignorant of whether this is the case for the A808. Any such player (without MD) from the HiMD era doesn't even need the driver to make Sonic Stage work with it.
B. Assuming A, there is the additional problem that MSFT tightened up on unsigned drivers, and we cannot afford the $400  to get ourselves a signed one, since we had to modify the configuration file to make it work with all the different units. It's easy to override the no-unsigned-driver restriction but you have to read up on it and know and understand a little bit about what you're doing. Sorry to say but I have a hunch you didn't do that......

Oh yes, if you are running the ORIGINAL 4.3 SS there are some improvements we posted to make Avrin's ULTIMATE version of 4.3. Don't bother to uninstall, simply do a fresh install over the top and all should be well. If you have a large library, make sure it is unprotected first (the File Conversion Tool available on the Tools menu inside Sonic Stage).

[Sonny2]

sfbp,

Thanks for response.

Not sure I understood all your comments - but I think Ill give up on this one.

Cheers

[Sonny2]

sfbp,

Further to my last post - I have not quite given up yet.

Not having tried to install on Windows 10 Home(64bit) before, I thought I would give it a try.

It installed OK  and appears to be working OK?

Does this surprise you or would you expect it to not work on occasion?

[sfbp]

I would expect it to work - period.

[Sonny2]

sfbp,

Thanks for that.

I'll see how it goes.

If it starts playing up I'll probably uninstall and forget about it.

By the way, how/where can I download Sonicstage Ultimate Release 2 for Windows, if required?

[Sonny2]

sfbp,

Further to my last post.

I imported 2015 tracks into Sonicstage.

Transferred all tracks to player, only to find no sound via headphones??

All functions of player are working except for sound on playback.

Any suggestions that I can try - I have reset the player, but that made no difference.

[sfbp]

1. What player? (Hi-MD and NetMD behave differently, the former will play back through the PC, the latter will not)
2. Have you any other way of independently verifying that the transfers worked?
3. Have you set the hold switch on the remote so that volume control is inoperable?

Stephen

[Sonny2]

Stephen,

Model No. is Sony NW-A808.

When I connect player to PC, all the tracks are shown on right side of screen and when I click on tracks they play through PC speakers.

The transfer of tracks definitely worked. When I press play on the player it's as if the tracks are playing, only without sound.

No remote control with this model.

 

[sfbp]

Yeah, my smartphone has recently developed a similar-seeming fault - when I put it on speaker, the microphones don't work any more during phone calls (not a Sony device, I should add). I'm lucky because the main place I need speaker functionality is in the car where bluetooth calls work just fine. However in this case I am thinking that the head unit (Sony) has the microphone, which would account for all of the above if you assume there's something either stuck in the mike OR there's a wire (or capacitor or resistor) busted.

All I can think of is that the socket got broken (in your case). But it seems just as likely that there's some sort of software reset needed (as I have suspected in my case). You said you did a reset but I wonder what it was. Maybe you need service mode to fiddle with parameters. I recall that many of these units, not specifically your model, were hacked to fiddle with the volume cap. So is it possible that somehow that same level has to be adjusted, rather than a hardware problem?

Apart from that I've no clue. It certainly isn't worth paying Sony to fix it as they disclaim all knowledge of older devices like this.

If you want a flash-memory-only (non-MD) device, may I suggest the NW-S75x series (x=5,6,7). Note that the NWZ-S75x series will not accept ATRAC but only play MP3 files. So to get the ATRAC player you want it will be necessary to go to Japan. For example here:

https://buyee.jp/item/search/query/NW-S755?translationType=1

I think any money you might spend is better deployed here than on repair. What's nice is that you get noise cancelling built in to the supplied headphones, so make sure you get one WITH phones included (there's a special jack with a fourth ring on the connector).

[Sonny2]

Stephen,

I really appreciate all your efforts, but I think I'll have to give up on this one.

There is obviously something wrong with the output of the player.

It is certainly not worth going down the road of trying to get it repaired.

Once again sincere thanks.

[Duckhunter]

On my pc it does work, no problems, W10 64 bit, the only thing you have to do is turn off the signed driver option, then it works, I have Sharp NETMD, portable. Used the driver from this site to install. Work flawlessly, considering  SonicStage is buggy software.