NW407, SS3.1 & 818/808

[bobman]

Hi everyone, could really use some advice please...

I have a 407 which I use SS3.1 with. I'm still using this for the train to work, but am planning to buy a new MP3 player to use at home (to broadcast to some wireless speakers around the house http://www.withandwithoutwires.com/wireles...ls-(ces20).html - anyone tried them?).

The issue is whether I need the 808 or 818.

I understand that the former uses SS4.3 and the latter just drags and drops with Windows Explorer, but I'm a bit confused about the best way to run both the 407 and a new 818/808...

- Firstly, would I need to upgrade to SS4.3 to use the 808?

- Would the 407 still work with SS4.3?

- Is there any great benefit of using SS4.3 over 3.1?

- Is the upgrade smooth and easy (part of my library is ATRAC3, part MP3)?

Having said all that... I'm not that attached to using SS at all with the new player, so could I get the 818, and then just continue using SS3.1 as I am now - i.e. for transfering CDs to MP3, and for transfer to the 407?

That would certainly be the simplest option - I presume there's no great benefit of using the 808 with SS as opposed to the 818 with Explorer i.e. you don't lose any functionality through not using SS?

As you can see, I'm not that techy, so have no idea about the subtle upsides and downsides of all this! Hope all this makes sense. Thanks a lot.

[bobman]

hang on a minute, I think I've just read that the 818 does NOT play ATRAC - so that scuppers it for me, half my library is ATRAC (until I realised that they wed me to Sony players, so started creating MP3s instead!).

looks like I should stick with SS and get the 808. So I'd be even more keen to get answers to my questions about running the 407, 808 and SS4.3

thanks again.

[Debbie]

I can't answer all your questions as I've never used the 407 so I don't know what it's features are but I've just bought an 808 instead of an 818 as I wanted to keep the features I'm used to with my A3000.

From what I read before making my decision, the 818 doesn't allow you to bookmark (create playlists) tracks on the player. I like to set up playlists while I'm listening so didn't want to have to go back to my PC to do that. Another feature missing from the 818 is the Trash Bin. I like to put entire albums on my player, then decide which tracks I want to keep. The 808 allows you to mark tracks for the Trash Bin, and when you reconnect to SS, these tracks are deleted from the player. With the 818, I'd have to make a written note of which tracks to delete, then do it from my PC.

The 818 doesn't support gapless playback either but that isn't important to me.

I think you would have to upgrade to SS4.3. I was using 4.2 and had problems with deleting tracks via the Trash Bin. I upgraded to 4.3 yesterday and it was OK on the first test, but as it was an intermittent problem before, I'll need to try a few more times before I'm convinced the problem's gone away! I don't think I ever used SS3.1 (I used Connect) so I don't know how much of a difference there is, but 4.2 was great for me. The Sony website says 4.3 is compatible with all E-series so you should be OK - look:-

SS4.3 help

Every upgrade I've done has been fine. I have mainly MP3 with just a few ATRAC.

Hope that helps a bit - sorry if it sounds a bit disjointed - my brain and fingers don't always work in sync! The only thing I would say is act quick if you want an 808 - I had real trouble getting one in the shops. Online should be easier but I always worry about warranty problem with online purchases.

[Debbie]

Oh Bobman - you beat me to it while I was constructing my lengthy reply! The ATRAC thing wouldn't have been a big deal to me as I've backed them up as music CD's anyway so I can always rip them to MP3 if I need to.

[Debbie]

Bobman - just stumbled across this while looking for some support of my own.

ATRAC converter

Seems like you could use the 818 if you convert your ATRAC files to MP3. I don't know how well it works but I thought I'd point it out in case you find it helpful.

[bobman]

wow, thanks Debbie - in fact, my 808 arrived this morning (and is charging as we speak!), so it's less of an issue. I wish I'd known about this sooner - although I wonder if quality would be an issue with a converter like this; going from my low-bitrate ATRACs (64kps) to 128kps MP3s must be lower quality that from CD direct to 128kps MP3, right?

anyway, I'm sticking with SS for now. Maybe I'll give the converter a go and see how I get on, otherwise I can just re-rip (is rip the right term?) to MP3 the CDs I originally converted to ATRAC.

In the meantime, my main worry is this -

My old laptop has my music library on it (running SS3.1) and I'm planning to back-up my library to the desktop and then load up SS4.3 to use my 808. The issue is that I'm planning to get a new PC after xmas, so am I likely to have any problems around reloading SS4.3 and my players (808 and 407) not working with the new laptop as they've been 'registered' to the old one.

sorry if this is a silly question, not sure if it's a DRM issue, or some other anti-piracy measure, but I'm a bit paranoid about the players working only with the PCs they were first used with (presumably to stop me giving my player to a mate so he can dowload all my music for free?).

am I being daft?

[juli_]

In the meantime, my main worry is this -

My old laptop has my music library on it (running SS3.1) and I'm planning to back-up my library to the desktop and then load up SS4.3 to use my 808. The issue is that I'm planning to get a new PC after xmas, so am I likely to have any problems around reloading SS4.3 and my players (808 and 407) not working with the new laptop as they've been 'registered' to the old one.

am I being daft?

Hi there, no you're not being daft at all. I had the same concerns recently when I bought a new desktop PC. I have SS 4.3 on my laptop and my entire library is in Atrac. So this is how I made the (surprisingly painless) transition.

1. Back up your existing library FIRST on your laptop via the SS backup tool (very important). I backed mine up to an external hard drive, but you can use other methods which will be available when you start the back up.

2. Do NOT try and restore the back up to your new PC until you have FIRST downloaded SonicStage on to the new PC. So download SS first.

3. Next, have your back up ready, whether it's on disc or an external hard drive.

4. Then open SonicStage and select 'Tools'. Select 'Back Up My Library' (don't worry, the 'restore' feature will come after) You'll be asked if you want to quit SS and start the back up tool. Say yes.

5. Once you've said 'yes' - SS will close down and the back up tool will open. There will be 2 options available: 'Back up my library' and 'Restore my library on this computer'. Choose 'restore' and once authentication takes place, everything should go through smoothly. I had absolutely no problems with the transition to my new PC at all, but make sure you follow the sequence carefully, and if there are any other questions, ask away

[bobman]

thanks Juli and Debbie, new laptop arrived, so I'm ready to go...

one last concern before I dive into backing up my ATRAC/MP3 library in SS3.1 on my old laptop, ready for the move to SS4.3 on my new one.

your advice on the the back up tool sounds as though it's all fairly straightforward (fingers crossed!), but the issue is this -

a while ago, at the point when I stopped ripping to ATRAC and started ripping to MP3, I (somehow) switched my library's location. So half my library is found in one place on my hard disk, the other half in another. I have tried cut n' pasting the library into one place, but then SS couldn't locate the moved files (I presume the file location is part of each track's name, so changing the location means that the name and location don't match?).

Anyway, in order to get a single location library on the new laptop, would the best way be to do two back-ups, and restore both (I presume I get asked to specify this?) to the same location?

does that all make sense?

thanks a lot