Playing ATRAC disks on newer Sony products

[Beeper]

I am a technical ingenue, and know little of these formats. I have teenage children with Sony Discman players that read ATRAC disks they burn using Sonic Stage software downloaded from Sony's website. I'm buying a new stereo/CD deck for the car, and thought I would buy a Sony system that reads these ATRAC disks. But it appears that Sony's newest models (at least those available at my local Circuit City) do not play ATRAC. This year's models seems to have abandoned ATRAC for AAC (the format newly-available on Sony systems). Does this mean that the ATRAC disks my kids burn won't play on the new Sony systems? Or will Sony's later-generation players still play ATRAC?

I understand that AAC is an Apple format. Does that mean that my daughter's large iTunes library can be burned onto disks and played on one of these new Sony car stereos? What options do I have for the Sonic Stage collection? Should we reburn new discs in regular MP3 format, or is there some other way to get the ATRAC disks to play on the car stereo. Any advice anyone can give would be appreciated!

[pata2001]

This year's models seems to have abandoned ATRAC for AAC (the format newly-available on Sony systems). Does this mean that the ATRAC disks my kids burn won't play on the new Sony systems? Or will Sony's later-generation players still play ATRAC?

I understand that AAC is an Apple format. Does that mean that my daughter's large iTunes library can be burned onto disks and played on one of these new Sony car stereos? What options do I have for the Sonic Stage collection? Should we reburn new discs in regular MP3 format, or is there some other way to get the ATRAC disks to play on the car stereo. Any advice anyone can give would be appreciated!

Maybe you can find older models on sale that supports AtracCD? AtracCD is a dead-end format anyway, and yeah, Sony is ditching Atrac, no surprise there. This is what happen when you pick a propietary format, and the sole supporter of the format is ditching it.

Again, misconception regarding AAC. AAC is a standard, part of MPEG4 standard, and also was co-developed by Sony, Nokia, etc. Apple just happened to popularize the format by choosing it for iTMS. Best bet is to just use MP3 which is compatible with anything. You cannot play AtracCD on non-AtracCD players.

[Heman]

In Hong Kong some latest series of Sony products [come with Bluetooth(for wireless headphone ...) + HD] do support AtracCD.

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MP3 for everything.

.. There isn't a single modern device that doesn't support it and is therefore the only way to go...

Yes, but the encoding/decoding standard is not the same.

Edited October 16, 2007 by Heman

[aob9]

MP3 for everything.

I have heard MP3 being described as the 'SLUT' ( I don't intend to offend anyone) of the digital audio formats. There isn't a single modern device that doesn't support it and is therefore the only way to go. I made the costly and time consuming mistake of singularly supporting proprietary formats in the past.......never again.

[pata2001]

Yes, but the encoding/decoding standard is not the same.

Regardless, most MP3 compliant players can play any kind of MP3. Only few really really old or cheapo DAPs that have compatibility problems. Decoding is pretty much standardized (having to get a license from Fraunhofer).