ATRAC Bit Rates for a NW-E005

[peter312]

Hi all

I'm new to this neck of the woods, altough I have been using Minidiscs for a number of years and occassionally post on that forum.

I've been using Atrac Lossless 352kbps, as it suits my needs admirably. I listen to the resultant 352KBPS on my Hi-MD players and am very happy with the results. I am thinking of getting an NW-E005 for occassional ultra-portable use and was wondering whether:

1. it is possible to play 352kbps atrac files on the NW-005
2. it would be worthwhile getting SonicStage to convert my lossless files to a lower bitrate for use on the NW-005
3. I should simply stick to lower bitrate MP3's on the NW-005. If so, is the playback of MP3s "crippled" like it is on the 2nd generation Hi-MD units?

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Cheers

Peter

[pata2001]

None of Sony's Network Walkmen are crippled, so if you already have your music in MP3s, just use the MP3s.

[mrhappyholiday]

I'm definitely with you on the 352kbps issue. Anything else sounds pretty appalling to me. Checking the Sony UK website shows that the E005 only supports a maximum of 256kbps in ATRACplus. I don't see why you couldn't use that though instead. The only problems that I think that you would have would be (obviously) not getting as much music on your E005 as you would with a lower bitrate and not getting the acclaimed battery life.

You wouldn't need to change the format of all of the files you already ripped. If you're using Sonicstage 4.2 you can specify the format that you want all music transfered as and it'll convert it directly on to your player as and when you transfer files without the need for re-formatting your entire library. Handy, eh? However I have just noticed that you can only specify it to transfer as a 256kbps ATRAC (as opposed to ATRACplus) so I'm not sure if this would work... Anyone?

Not sure what you mean by crippled MP3 performance though. Do you mean gaps between tracks. I'm using an NW-A1000 with latest firmware and Sonicstage 4.2 and the gaps with MP3 are almost imperceptible. ATRAC is seemless however so take your pick.

[Ishiyoshi]

However I have just noticed that you can only specify it to transfer as a 256kbps ATRAC (as opposed to ATRACplus) so I'm not sure if this would work... Anyone?

ATRAC 256kbps is indeed ATRAC3plus 256kbps.

Not sure what you mean by crippled MP3 performance though.

Regarding this issue, please read observations posted by members at our sister forum, MDCF: click here. Enjoy the read.

[peter312]

You wouldn't need to change the format of all of the files you already ripped. If you're using Sonicstage 4.2 you can specify the format that you want all music transfered as and it'll convert it directly on to your player as and when you transfer files without the need for re-formatting your entire library. Handy, eh? However I have just noticed that you can only specify it to transfer as a 256kbps ATRAC (as opposed to ATRACplus) so I'm not sure if this would work... Anyone?

If I want to put (say) 132kbps files onto the NW-E005, would SonicStage make these from the full lossless file or just the 352kbps bit of the file?

Not sure what you mean by crippled MP3 performance though. Do you mean gaps between tracks. I'm using an NW-A1000 with latest firmware and Sonicstage 4.2 and the gaps with MP3 are almost imperceptible. ATRAC is seemless however so take your pick.

On all but the latest Hi-MD player, MP3 playback has been "crippled" by having the high frequencies deliberately rolled off on playback.

Just downloaded the manual for the NW-E005 and it refers to playback times for 352kbps files, so I guess it does them.

Thanks everyone for the answers.

Peter

Edited December 21, 2006 by peter312

[Terence Kelly]

While answering questions about ATRAC 352, does anyone know if the new Sony players will handle the lower sampling rates common in MP3 voice files? I like my older Sony Atrac/MP3 player but it won't handle those files and it's time consuming to import them into SS for conversion to atrac.

TK