Jump to content
  • 0

RE. Firmware upgrade...SONY U.K

Rate this question

aob9

Asked by aob9,

 Share

Question

aob9 Newbie

aob9

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

After my last negative reply from Sony ( re. firmware upgrade for NW-A80*), I decided to push it a little further and query them about some people being told there WOULD be an upgrade.................this is the reply!!!!!!!

NOTE:I have now decided to accept that there will be no upgrade.

Dear Mr O'Brien

Thank you for your recent response.

With regards to this, unfortunately I am unable to confirm the origins of opinions posted on forums. However I can confirm that only our new series of MP3 Walkmans will be able to be synced with Windows Media Player, and that our current Walkmans will remain exactly the same.

I hope that you will find this information useful. If you require any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Adam Callow

For and on behalf of

Sony United Kingdom Limited

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
p0rkch0p2007 Newbie

p0rkch0p2007

Posted
Posted

no firmware = no more money from me :sad: . im sorry but sont HAD to know that they were gonna pull this trick well before it happened. the a808 is only a few months old and sony have stitched up a lot of people, i understand some people are happy using sonicstage but for the people who wanted the drag and drop they should have released the firmware if only for the a808 series and nothing else. although i suppose they get out of this by saying that sonicstage will be kept up to date with new releases, so in a sense they have a get out clause because it isnt like they have completely abandoned ss and made the player completely unusable. (however it will be interesting imo if sonicstage EVER receives an update, my money says that it wont)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
Shinji Ikeda Newbie

Shinji Ikeda

Posted
Posted

I do not recall that Sony had made an official announcement about a firmware upgrade, to allow drag-and-drop for the NW-A800 series. Sony has given Europe and North American a player that these markets have been demanding for a long time. There were constant hints that Sony would be changing something relating to their media players.

First, I do not know the differences and or the similarities between the hardware of NW-A800 series and the NWZ-A810 series. The is no possibility that Sony could release a firmware update as quickly as some people seem to be requesting. This is not the changing of a couple lines of code and releasing the upgrade. The methods for transferring music to the players of the NW-A800 and the NWZ-A810 series is significantly different. To the average computer user it may seem simple.

I do not know how poorly the NW-A800 series was doing in other regions, but it was doing poorly enough that Sony US never released the product. The are many user of the NW-A800 series that are happy with SonicStage.

Sony has never announced that they would be abandoning SonicStage or ATRAC. The media came to that conclusion when the NWZ-B100 was announced. Sony seems as though they will continue to sell their Network Walkmans in Japan with SonicStage, as presented by the fact that there are no NWZ models being sold in Japan.

Sony may release a firmware upgrade and they may not. I understand how those people feel after they purchased an NW-A800 series Walkman to later discover that the NWZ-A810 series will be released. However, if Sony does it will take time to design and test. Additional, Sony will have to resolve the issue related to those that want to extract tracks out of SonicStage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
aob9 Newbie

aob9

Posted
  • Author
Posted

......and as author of this thread I thought you might be interested in this sound bite from www.advancedmp3players.co.uk weekly e-newsletter............

.........The NWA-800 series has been a great seller and was universally praised on launch, for it's build and sound quality - not to mention the fact that it was aimed fairly and squarely at the non-video iPod Nano and had great quality video playback. Sony are in the process of updating this player to rid it of the need to sync with SonicStage. It's going to become a full MTP player, capable of synching with Windows Media Player and renamed NWZ-A810. Sony have also promised a firmware patch for existing NWA-800 owners who wish to drop SonicStage. More news the minute we get first stocks!

:excl: :excl: :excl: :excl:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
juli_ Newbie

juli_

Posted
Posted

......and as author of this thread I thought you might be interested in this sound bite from www.advancedmp3players.co.uk weekly e-newsletter............

.........The NWA-800 series has been a great seller and was universally praised on launch, for it's build and sound quality - not to mention the fact that it was aimed fairly and squarely at the non-video iPod Nano and had great quality video playback. Sony are in the process of updating this player to rid it of the need to sync with SonicStage. It's going to become a full MTP player, capable of synching with Windows Media Player and renamed NWZ-A810. Sony have also promised a firmware patch for existing NWA-800 owners who wish to drop SonicStage. More news the minute we get first stocks!

:excl: :excl: :excl: :excl:

Well, if advancedmp3 players are quoting this information on their website, I'd have to assume they got it straight from the horse's mouth. . . except which horses mouth? We've heard as many confirmations of an upgrade, as we have denials of an upgrade. My guess is there'll be a retraction of this quote very soon. . . :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
LuLu Newbie

LuLu

Posted
Posted

I do not know how poorly the NW-A800 series was doing in other regions, but it was doing poorly enough that Sony US never released the product. The are many user of the NW-A800 series that are happy with SonicStage.

I'm not so sure the lack of US release was because it was doing poorly elsewhere. I think Sony was just waiting until the SS free version was ready (although I can't imagine how hard it would have been to create that given the otherwise similarity with the A800 series). Who knows what they are thinking. We can conjecture forever but I doubt we'll ever figure Sony out!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
matty84 Newbie

matty84

Posted
Posted

I guess (once again) we all need to have some patience and wait and see. I still stand by the fact that a Sony rep called me and another member on this board specifically to confirm a firmware upgrade for the device. I sincerely doubt this would ever happen unless it was 100%. Put all the negative responses down to the fact sony's inside communications network is shot or the fact they just don;t know where to go for answers....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
pupdawg Newbie

pupdawg

Posted
Posted

The very least Sony could do is release the specs for the database and dir. structure on these players so someone can write a wrapper or plugin for use in other software without having to release a new firmware... I bought the NW-A806 and love the player but sonic stage is bugging BIG TIME.

I can't really see what the big difference in the hardware could be that would make such a upgrade a problem for sony.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
Shinji Ikeda Newbie

Shinji Ikeda

Posted
Posted

The very least Sony could do is release the specs for the database and dir. structure on these players so someone can write a wrapper or plugin for use in other software without having to release a new firmware... I bought the NW-A806 and love the player but sonic stage is bugging BIG TIME.

I can't really see what the big difference in the hardware could be that would make such a upgrade a problem for Sony.

Welcome to ATRACLife.

Sony will not release this information. Companies do not release trade secrets about file structures, etc., unless it is required by the end user. Usually, it is up to ingenious users to determine how to access and manipulate the software on the device to allow the access to the files. Some users on this board have used Grab Your Music (GYM), ML_SONY or VoidMP3FM to get alternative access to their ATRAC audio life.

From the average user it may appear that a Firmware update many be simple. However, reading the experience that some owners of the NWZ series are having a different experience than the NW series. One issue is whether Sony wants to spend their resources on writing a firmware update.

There are two beliefs. One that Sony should and will release a firmware upgrade. The other is that Sony has no intension of writing a firmware upgrade, other than those that deal with functionality of the ATRAC player.

Sony has surprised us with the NWZ series, so ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
Shinji Ikeda Newbie

Shinji Ikeda

Posted
Posted

OFFTOPIC: Had to say this but the Zune must be going shit house as they arent going to be releasing it in Australia, even though a small market they should bring it here, for the people who like like kind of torture. Never no it could be good

But, the Zune has not been released in Japan. I do not know about Canada, but the Zune seems to be released to limited markets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
idahoski Newbie

idahoski

Posted
Posted

which is a pity bc I would really like to check it out.

I just bought one. Several places in the US are clearing out the 30 GB model for $99. I am looking forward to the firmware update in November to try wireless syncing. So far not bad, trying to get comfortable with the software. Frustrating jumping between SonicStage, iTunes, and Zune. I like the larger screen of the Zune, but like the capacity of my 160 GB iPod Classic and so far prefer iTunes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
badger42 Newbie

badger42

Posted
Posted

......and as author of this thread I thought you might be interested in this sound bite from www.advancedmp3players.co.uk weekly e-newsletter............

.........The NWA-800 series has been a great seller and was universally praised on launch, for it's build and sound quality - not to mention the fact that it was aimed fairly and squarely at the non-video iPod Nano and had great quality video playback. Sony are in the process of updating this player to rid it of the need to sync with SonicStage. It's going to become a full MTP player, capable of synching with Windows Media Player and renamed NWZ-A810. Sony have also promised a firmware patch for existing NWA-800 owners who wish to drop SonicStage. More news the minute we get first stocks!

:excl: :excl: :excl: :excl:

the nwz-a810 looks identical to the nwa-800 to me. In my mind it should be made possible to load the firmware for the nwz model to the nwa model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
pupdawg Newbie

pupdawg

Posted
Posted

You mean this cryptic messy file system on the NWA series is a trade secret... I've been looking at the endless directories on the player and can't imagine why some of the album art is repeated 100 times spread over multiple directories, does not look very efficient. I also noticed all the dat files needed to manage just 4-8 GB of MP3s and only a few MB of ID Tag data. I'm crossing my finger for a firmware update and although I love the hardware it's crippled by it's software and will be the last sony player I buy just because I want to make sure I do my part and not let companies like sony make all there money without doing a little something for there existing customers state of mind. I love companies that use upgradeable firmware to make there customers feel secure by keeping them in the loop for at least a year or so after there initial purchase.

Welcome to ATRACLife.

Sony will not release this information. Companies do not release trade secrets about file structures, etc., unless it is required by the end user. Usually, it is up to ingenious users to determine how to access and manipulate the software on the device to allow the access to the files. Some users on this board have used Grab Your Music (GYM), ML_SONY or VoidMP3FM to get alternative access to their ATRAC audio life.

From the average user it may appear that a Firmware update many be simple. However, reading the experience that some owners of the NWZ series are having a different experience than the NW series. One issue is whether Sony wants to spend their resources on writing a firmware update.

There are two beliefs. One that Sony should and will release a firmware upgrade. The other is that Sony has no intension of writing a firmware upgrade, other than those that deal with functionality of the ATRAC player.

Sony has surprised us with the NWZ series, so ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
ander182 Newbie

ander182

Posted
Posted

OFFTOPIC:

I was looking for sonicstage alternative programs found this interesting forum!

I dont acctually know if its the right place to post it but this may help a little some of you!

http://sourceforge.net/projects/symphonic/

While searching I found this program above (still ALPHA version but worked fine for me).

It runs over java plataform direct from the player (I have a NW-A805) that allow you to copy files HD<->WALKMAN

There is no drag and drop yet... i dont know if the developers will finish their software.

I'm a brand new menber, so if the post is bad placed transfere it to its right place or someone share the link!

Thanks a lot!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 0
High Contrast Newbie

High Contrast

Posted
Posted (edited)

OFFTOPIC:

I was looking for sonicstage alternative programs found this interesting forum!

I dont acctually know if its the right place to post it but this may help a little some of you!

http://sourceforge.net/projects/symphonic/

While searching I found this program above (still ALPHA version but worked fine for me).

It runs over java plataform direct from the player (I have a NW-A805) that allow you to copy files HD<->WALKMAN

There is no drag and drop yet... i dont know if the developers will finish their software.

I'm a brand new menber, so if the post is bad placed transfere it to its right place or someone share the link!

Thanks a lot!!

Great, it woul be good to tranfer musics in any pc!

And keep us posted!

thank s

Edited by High Contrast
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...
×
 Share
Go to question listing
×
×
  • Create New...