You're listening to Atrac (even if your device is playing an MP3)

[The Mule]

Was reading a review of the MW-A3000 and found this bit of technical info

The audio quality is even more stunning when you learn that the NWA-3000 isn't natively compatible with MP3, instead it holds MP3 files in their raw format on the 20gb hard disk and converts them to ATRAC3 on replay. This seems like a strange decision especially considering other Sony models have started to use MP3 codecs, the only downside we could find of this method is a drop off in battery performance when playing MP3's compared to ATRAC3 files.

Never knew that when playing a track the machine converts the MP3 signal to ATRAC before amplifying it. Don't really see the point in doing that. It just means more work for the processor to do and that is why the battery runs out faster with MP3's.

So no matter whether you listen to MP3's or Atrac3, it will be an Atrac signal you hear in your headphones.

I'm sure the newer models won't do this, since it seems to be a measure taken by Sony when they still had ambitions for Atrac.

[markey]

Was reading a review of the MW-A3000 and found this bit of technical info

Never knew that when playing a track the machine converts the MP3 signal to ATRAC before amplifying it. Don't really see the point in doing that. It just means more work for the processor to do and that is why the battery runs out faster with MP3's.

So no matter whether you listen to MP3's or Atrac3, it will be an Atrac signal you hear in your headphones.

I'm sure the newer models won't do this, since it seems to be a measure taken by Sony when they still had ambitions for Atrac.

[Guest Stuge]

Hmm ,What are you trying to prove here ?

[pata2001]

Err, who is that "reviewer?" I doubt that this is true. Sony already have chips that can decode both Atrac and MP3 natively long before the A3000 is released. If the A3000 is doing transcoding on the fly, SQ and battery life would suffer a LOT, not just a little. Nothing to see here.

[The Mule]

Strange that a reviewer would come out with information that wasn't true.

[Zizone_]

So, is the reviewer saying that NW-A3000 series is trans-coding MP3 into ATRAC3 in real-time, that is as the music is being played?

Consiering even PC takes some time to transcode, it's highly unlikely that the NW-A3000 is doing that (or is the NW-A3000 faster than PC?????).

Who is the reviewer anyway? Plus, where is the evidence to back this?

Also, just as pata above mentioned, battery life difference between MP3 and ATRAC3 would be great, if that were true.

In other words, I don't believe that's true.

Edited February 17, 2008 by Zizone

[navsimpson]

Before drag 'n drop, Sony players would put MP3/WMA/AAC into at .oma container, the same way that an Xvid/DivX file is in an .avi container. There's no transcoding go on, only Sony's DRM.

[markey]

Strange that a reviewer would come out with information that wasn't true.

Probably didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about.

[The Mule]

Yeah, it seems to be misleading. Looks like the reviewer made the mistake of thinking there was some form of transcoding going on during playback when in actual fact its simply a case of DRM/MP3's in an omg container.

[Heman]

So, is the reviewer saying that NW-A3000 series is trans-coding MP3 into ATRAC3 in real-time, that is as the music is being played?

Consiering even PC takes some time to transcode, it's highly unlikely that the NW-A3000 is doing that (or is the NW-A3000 faster than PC?????).

Who is the reviewer anyway? Plus, where is the evidence to back this?

Also, just as pata above mentioned, battery life difference between MP3 and ATRAC3 would be great, if that were true.

In other words, I don't believe that's true.

7th paragraph: http://www.lordpercy.com/sony_nwa3000_review.htm

Sony NWZ-A818 Review http://www.lordpercy.com/sony_nwza818_review.htm

Edited February 18, 2008 by Heman

[dura_]

Seems rubbish to me; in order to play a compressed file it has to be decompressed, to WAV or PCM or whatever. in order to convert from one compressionstandard to another it has to be decompressed too.

So why re-compress it again and then decompress it for the second time?

[markey]

This Lord Percy fella, I would like to know where he gets his information from. His site looks like like a blog.

[Zizone_]

7th paragraph: http://www.lordpercy.com/sony_nwa3000_review.htm

Sony NWZ-A818 Review http://www.lordpercy.com/sony_nwza818_review.htm

They only made a statement, but failed to provided how they came to that conclusion; no supporting evidence provided. I would like to see how they found this out, if it were really the case.

Edited February 18, 2008 by Zizone

[imagine_]

I don't think we should be debating this any further, it is complete nonsense... I am quite sure what they are referring to is the .oma/.omg container which someone mentioned earlier.