Petition to sony asking for WMP update firmware for walkman users!

[veggiemusician]

Connect Music store is closing which means we dont have a legal way of downloading music to play on our Sony Walkmans. This is a petition for all sony walkman users to ask for a Windows Media Player update firmware so that we can download music. If this is not possible then it means sony have failed to deliever a service which we payed for when we bought the walkman. Hopefully Sony will send update firmware so that all walkman users can use the new downloading software from Napster and WMP.

Please can you put your name down, what model you have and where you live. It prob would be helpfull if to give serial number too but I dont know if thats safe to do on a forum.

I will send this page to sony once I get loads of responces

[Steve-]

I'm going to contact them tomorrow, I don't have any hope that I'll find anything out, but I need to be proactive!! I'm simply going to ask about my 'rights' as a consumer to be able to use my dap in the way it was intended to be used. If they stop supporting SS, it means the product is no longer suitable for my use. So Sony has broken the contract. I'll report back if I hear anything remotely useful.

You are right, we should be active. I'm very interested in the progress that you will make.

I myself bought the NW-A808 a couple of months ago and before that I had the NW A1000. I have a lot of ATRAC DRM track that I've bought with Connect.

I'm just wondering what to do next, and much depends on the question what Sony will do for people like me with NW-A808s and bought ATRAC DRM tracks. Can I switch to Windows Media Player 11 or not? Will the DRM tracks be freed in some way (or can they be converted tot WMV DRM?). Shall I stick with the NW-A808 or will I buy another player (Sony? Apple? Other?). Where will I get new music from that I can use now with my NW-A808 and later with the player that I will use then? Should I start looking for an alternative for SS?

Just a lot of questions, and I hope that Sony will soon answer some...

[rocklegend_]

Well guys I admire your stance on Sonicstage but really come on are Sony gonna listen to ya.Nope not a chance.When have Sony ever listened to anybody.

What annoys me is that Sony are getting into bed with MS which is very bad news imo.WMP11 is far from Buggy but MS are more obsessed with DRM that Sony.

I guess it´s time now to move on...those new iPods look promising.

[ceres]

You are right, we should be active. I'm very interested in the progress that you will make.

I myself bought the NW-A808 a couple of months ago and before that I had the NW A1000. I have a lot of ATRAC DRM track that I've bought with Connect.

I'm just wondering what to do next, and much depends on the question what Sony will do for people like me with NW-A808s and bought ATRAC DRM tracks. Can I switch to Windows Media Player 11 or not? Will the DRM tracks be freed in some way (or can they be converted tot WMV DRM?). Shall I stick with the NW-A808 or will I buy another player (Sony? Apple? Other?). Where will I get new music from that I can use now with my NW-A808 and later with the player that I will use then? Should I start looking for an alternative for SS?

Just a lot of questions, and I hope that Sony will soon answer some...

Well, Sony did answer some of those questions albeit not in a satisfactory manner. Big S proposed you burn your atrac drm files and re-rip the cds to your preferred format.

Obviously this would incur transcoding losses. As far as the 808 is concerned, I have come to the conclusion that the transition to mtp and ums was a long time in the making, at least from may on. The 808 was not released in the US exactly for that reason. Sony didn´t want to bother the American audience with Sonic Stage as this piece of software has been notoriously ill received in the US. Sony wanted to avoid another smack in the face. The buyers in Asia and Europe that took to the 808 were in a sense hardware testers and easy prey for big S. Easy prey because Chronicstage has been considered a nuisance in these regions not a deal breaker. As hardware was at least on par with everything else on the market Sony decided to go for the quick buck disregarding how buyers will feel in a few months.

@rocklegend

nobody forces you to buy drm tracks from wma vendors as nobody forces you down the "fair play" itunes route. It is simply a matter of having more choice as far as syncing and music management is concerned. With UMS you have total choice.

BTW, WMP11 is much more stable on Vista (surprise) than itunes, especially since the decrepit 7.3 version which crashes a lot and destroys my library files randomly. With 7.4 I am greeted with itunes didn´t install correctly / no burning possible every time I open the program. Why do I have to install qt? Why is all the apple hardware bloat integrated (even if dormant) in itunes? There have been so many bug fixes since itunes7 that its reputation as being the best music management tool is seriously impaired.

Edited September 7, 2007 by ceres

[matty84]

BTW, WMP11 is much more stable on Vista (surprise) than itunes, especially since the decrepit 7.3 version which crashes a lot and destroys my library files randomly. With 7.4 I am greeted with itunes didn´t install correctly / no burning possible every time I open the program. Why do I have to install qt? Why is all the apple hardware bloat integrated (even if dormant) in itunes? There have been so many bug fixes since itunes7 that its reputation as being the best music management tool is seriously impaired.

I echo your sentiment. i run Itunes on Vista and it has destroyed my library once losing all my ratings can't say I was best please especially as I had smart playlists I would regularly export into sonicstage to get the music I wanted onto my A808!

[aob9]

I emailed Sony ireland Support a week ago requesting info on a possible firmware upgrade. I have been greeted with silence, not even an acknowledgment email. So, lets face it, their customer service is crap and at the end of the day their respect for the individual customer is crap. There will be no firmware upgrade from big corporate SONY. But I think we were a bit too optimistic to believe otherwise.

But, I like their DAPs and the SQ and what more can I say without repeating myself over and over.

As for APPLE, I just don't know how they get away with it, I mean 'The Ipod shuffle is now available in RED'. Mother of GOD.........IS THIS NEWS?????????? and iTunes????????????, I know people that have have their mental stability tested with Itunes software.

So, Sony are crap but Apple are worse, they just do a good job of making us believe otherwise....

Rant and outburst over, sorry about that!!!!!!

Edited September 7, 2007 by aob9

[cswallow]

Just FYI...

I don't know how many people here care for RealNetworks, but IF YOU DO WANT another DRM provider, beyond FairPlay, Windows Media DRM and OpenMG, there is always Rhapsody DNA (Helix DRM) from RealNetworks.

The Sansa e200R series from Sandisk works with both Windows Media DRM 10 (PlayForSure) and Rhapsody DNA, so you have best of both worlds. Also both DRM's are subscription capable. And the e200R series supports both RealAudio 10 (AAC) and M4A (AAC).

That's the path I went, since Sony dropped the ball on CONNECT. I get 2 subscription/purchase DRM's to choose from and AAC. Not bad in my opinion.

All of my 163 CONNECT purchases have been converted to WMA and AAC and archived WAV.

(As far as I know, Real Rhapsody & the e200R series are only sold in the U.S. via Best Buy or Real.com only.)

I'm not going back to iPods & and am tired of Sony changing connectors on their Walkmans. I'm just... Done!

So long MagicGate & OpenMG DRM!!!