marcusc Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Hi all,I'm new here, but I just wanted to ask a question. Is it just me that will miss atrac3?I have a network walkman and when listening to CDs ripped straight to atrac3, the sound quality is awesome.Listening to the same track on the player in mp3 just sounds flat in comparison to atrac3.Anybody else noticed that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stuge Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Welcome to AtracLife !I can understand what you are feeling right now .I also felt the same when Sony announced to leave Atrac.As far as sound comparison between both the format ,there is difference but not much .Few songs sounded good in Atrac .while few in Mp3 and few had no difference .thing is they(Sony ) decided to go with the masses as many people were refraining themselves from buying Walkman because of Sonic StageWalkmans released in Japan still have Atrac supported . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerex Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Welcome marcusc!Like you and Stuge, I also felt disappointed that Sony has dropped ATRAC... But I think it's the right decision for them in business/marketing terms. ATRAC and SonicStage were holding back the Walkman brand from effectively competing with everyone else. But now with their players open and unrestricted, it really seems like more people are willing to try them and realising what great devices they are and what benefits they possess compared to most rivals, primarily in terms of sound quality and battery life.However, I do wish they kept ATRAC as a supported codec, but I guess they wanted a clean break. But I am glad that the Japanese models still support ATRAC and probably will for the foreseeable future.As for ATRAC sounding better than MP3, I tend to agree, but have to admit I haven't recently done a proper ABX test to find out for sure. But, my impression is that ATRAC3Plus 256k (Hi-SP), the codec I use primarily, is generally better than MP3 at the same bitrate. The sound is more musical, full bodied with greater depth, whereas I generally find MP3 to be a bit flat and harsh sounding at times. These are all just opinions though.I also require gapless playback, although this can be had using MP3 with some other players now.Currently, most of my music library is in ATRAC, and my music devices (RH1 and VAIO Pocket) both fully support ATRAC. So I will continue to use ATRAC for the foreseeable future as it works for me and I'm very happy with it. I guess the main thing is just use what you're happy with. I don't think ATRAC will die out completely for quite a while, not as long as the Japanese network walkmans still support it.Happy listening! =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcusc Posted March 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2008 Hi jerex,"The sound is more musical, full bodied with greater depth, whereas I generally find MP3 to be a bit flat and harsh sounding at times"I'm glad that it's not just me that notices how much more enjoyable the music is with the atrac codec. I've been trying to convince myself that MP3 sounds just as good, but it just isn't as nice to listen to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trondis Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Hi!I am still confused whether the new Walkman models support gapless playback or not. Some say they do, others that they don't. I think gapless playback was the most important feature of Atrac3, not the sound quality. So, if they don't support gapless, I would never buy a Sony again when my current players collapse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiipod Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Hi!I am still confused whether the new Walkman models support gapless playback or not. Some say they do, others that they don't. I think gapless playback was the most important feature of Atrac3, not the sound quality. So, if they don't support gapless, I would never buy a Sony again when my current players collapse.So far all of these Non Atrac Walkmans do not support gapless playback. It's indeed one of the impressive features, what a pity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmp64 Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 I'm really not sure that it is ATRAC so much as it is Sony's hardware. Listening to MP3s on my newest Sony, the NWZ-A816, is very similar to listening to ATRAC on my MD and Sony HD units. Listening to MP3s on other, non-Sony DAPs is not. For many years I was convinced that ATRAC was a superior Codec. Now I'm just not so sure. (I use LAME VBR Preset 3 for MP3s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imagine_ Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 Just wondering, how much longer will atrac3 be supported in japanese walkman models? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kino170878 Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 (edited) Just wondering, how much longer will atrac3 be supported in japanese walkman models?I think for a long time to come. Sony will naturally trust their Japanese customers more that they will not abuse the technology and software. Edited June 22, 2008 by kino170878 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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