Jump to content
  • 0

Think before you buy!

Rate this question


scaramouche

Question

Having just bought an NW-A1200 as an upgrade from a previous Sony Flash Memory NW it is interesting to note that if you stay loyal to the brand as I have it doesnt do you any good . I have 2 Sony Vaio's (a notebook and a desktop) both have Sonicstage 4.2 with the desktop having 5500 Atrac3 music files in . I cannot swap files between the desktop and the laptop because Sony is so worried about me making illegal copies . All 5500 files came from my own CD collection . I can upload the files to the A1200 OK but not my new Sony Ericsson K750! as it just dont work with Atrac3 files. MP3 no worry but try and use a proprietory system developed by Sony ,you must be joking . So all this marketing by SE to boost sales of phones by using the Walkman brand is frankly disengenious.If you ring SE and say you have an A1200 and a K750I and that they will not talk to each other through your Sony Vaio guess what advise you are given !!!!!!

"Oh just download iTunes and refeed the cd's which will save them as MP3 files."

Fantastic !!!! Nice one Sony, sounds like you and the SE boys havnt been having any discussions about convergent technologies or maybe SE has which is why it is staying away from ATRAC ..............................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

Hey scaramouche,

Welcome to ATRACLife Colloquium, I hope you enjoy your stay here

I think the more appropriate title for this posting would have been “Research before you buy!” instead of “Think before you buy!”

Anyway, just because it does have the Walkman® branding on the phone, one should never assume that it will have all the features that are in a typical walkman. A “Walkman,” in its most basic form, plays music (nevermind the codecs, special features, etc..)

In 2001, Sony went into a joint venture with Ericsson to make the Sony Ericsson brand, which incorporated Ericsson’s mobile phone know-how with some of Sony’s consumer electronics expertise.

So yeah, knowing that ATRAC3(/plus) format is one that is not only proprietary but not very popular, it made sense for Sony Ericsson to not force the format down the throats of their consumers. HOWEVER, it WOULD have made sense to allow users to opt for ATRAC3(/plus), if they wanted to on their own free will, but that was at the sole discretion of Sony Ericsson. I’m guessing that it was the Ericsson part of it did not want to get involved with Sony’s DRM mess and just opt for support of the major/popular/non restrictive music codecs.

You can argue that non-Walkman® devices such as the Mylo, the PSP, and the PS3 have ATRAC3(/plus) support, but those are all in-house Sony products, not something in which they only have 50% control over.

I personally have a Sony Ericsson W600i and I really enjoy it. I researched about it BEFORE I purchased it, and I was fully aware that ATRAC3(plus) was not supported when I bought it. It wasn’t an issue to me, as I rip twice anyway (64kbps ATRAC3plus for all my Walkmans & 320kbps at MP3 for “archiving”, but I convert to 192kbps for when I transfer over to my W600i and other non-atrac devices)

Regarding the other problem, as others have said, in the future, uncheck the box for "add copy protection" before you rip. That will produce ATRAC files that aren't DRMed. And you can even select your codec of choice, whether it be WMA, ATRAC, MP3, or AAC.... though keep in mind that ATRAC is the only one that will play gapless on Walkmans, i think... I never tried AAC or WMA so I can't be sure for sure, but MP3 for sure isn't gapless on the Walkman...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

damn aznbro85,

it seems like you do a lot of ripping and converting.

I also think you have to research the product you´re going to buy before you actually buy it.

It involves a lot of money and its a shame if that goes wasted.

I´ve bought a lot (maybe too much) electronics in the past years, from PDAs to phones to DAP´s and everything. But I´ve been searching for infor on that thing I was going to buy months before I bought it.

greetz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

damn aznbro85,

it seems like you do a lot of ripping and converting.

Yep DSP, I do do a lot of ripping and converting. I don't find it tedious though, it's not like I'm doing all the work -- the computer does! :lol: haha, kidding..

While on the subject of ripping, one of my gripes with some people are those who constantly complain about the time it takes to rip a cd into ATRAC... it takes the same amount of time it would have if you were to rip a CD into MP3. I'm not pointing fingers at any particular person in the forums or anything, but even in my own group of friends there are those who do this, stating that "oh, it's so much easier to transfer MP3s to my iPod."

Yet it's funny though, as I know they don't own any CDs (or at least very few of them), so no wonder MP3's seem so 'easy' to mess with...

I also think you have to research the product you´re going to buy before you actually buy it.

It involves a lot of money and its a shame if that goes wasted.

ditto. I know when I go to the local Best Buy or Circuit City, I'm like a freggin kid in the candy store. :wave: However, I never buy anything without doing a little product researching. For most of my items, I've gone in store to check it out, and after I find that I like it I might hop online to find the best deal on it.

I´ve bought a lot (maybe too much) electronics in the past years, from PDAs to phones to DAP´s and everything. But I´ve been searching for infor on that thing I was going to buy months before I bought it.

ditto, again.. haha.. so bad as right before christmas I got myself an iPod shuffle, then the day after christmas I bought myself a NW-S705F while on vacation, then *just* yesterday I finally broke down and bought myself a NW-S205F

my new year's resolutions should be for no more purchases for the next 3 months! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

Yep DSP, I do do a lot of ripping and converting. I don't find it tedious though, it's not like I'm doing all the work -- the computer does! :lol: haha, kidding..

While on the subject of ripping, one of my gripes with some people are those who constantly complain about the time it takes to rip a cd into ATRAC... it takes the same amount of time it would have if you were to rip a CD into MP3. I'm not pointing fingers at any particular person in the forums or anything, but even in my own group of friends there are those who do this, stating that "oh, it's so much easier to transfer MP3s to my iPod."

Yet it's funny though, as I know they don't own any CDs (or at least very few of them), so no wonder MP3's seem so 'easy' to mess with...

ditto. I know when I go to the local Best Buy or Circuit City, I'm like a freggin kid in the candy store. :wave: However, I never buy anything without doing a little product researching. For most of my items, I've gone in store to check it out, and after I find that I like it I might hop online to find the best deal on it.

ditto, again.. haha.. so bad as right before christmas I got myself an iPod shuffle, then the day after christmas I bought myself a NW-S705F while on vacation, then *just* yesterday I finally broke down and bought myself a NW-S205F

my new year's resolutions should be for no more purchases for the next 3 months! :lol:

I totally agree with you on that MP3 issue.

And as for you to somehow restrict on your purchasing new gadgets... Good luck when the new Walkman comes out :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I totally agree with you on that MP3 issue.

And as for you to somehow restrict on your purchasing new gadgets... Good luck when the new Walkman comes out :lol:

thanks... i'll need all the luck i can get :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

I have a prolem too...

every time something news from sony comes out (or other manufacturers I like) I have to get it....

When I´m n the local mediamarkt (electronics giant) I also am a kid in the candy store... I can wander there for hours. testing and playing with every DAP, pda, game console, phones, camera etc.

I bought myself a NW-A1200 last summer, a NW-S703FB last christmas and I managed to pick up a brand new sharp 902SH (mobile phone) just the other day and boy was that a good deal! But my pont: I have to control myself when the new (video) walkman comes out.

I want it allready.

And aznbro85: I totally agree with that MP3 issue

greetz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 0

The least Sony can do is to allow their Atrac players to at least support the same bitrates. Talk about confusion, one can rip to Atrac using Sonicstage to various bitrate, but later find out their Atrac players can only support specific bitrates. Example: AtracCD (only support HiSP, HiLP, and 48kbps for Atrac3+), HiMD, some older network walkman, etc. Imagine if you buy an MP3 player, but it can only play 160kbps and 256kbps MP3 CBR, nothing else. Sony doesn't even want to enable all Atrac3+ bitrates for AtracCD, although it is highly probable that current AtracCD units support other bitrates of Atrac3+ (example, 1st gen AtracCD PCDP play HiSP tracks just fine). I mean, isn't it sad that Sony cannot even create a uniform/standardized support of their own propietary format? Let alone expectations on their software, other codec support, etc. Sony Ericsson is smart enough to stay away from Atrac and sonicstage (there are more favorable opinions for SE phones vs Sony audio only walkmen).

Oh well, at least Sony is embracing HE-AAC, although I wish Sony is more quick and firm in releasing HE-AAC supporting devices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Answer this question...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...