Myth and Facts about Atrac Walkman (Japan only model)

[antiipod]

Recently thanks to the review from a NW-E023F owner, he clarified upon the OS and SS myths for Japan only Walkman. Many people who wanted to import Walkman were afraid that Japan only Walkman may or would not run on any other version of SS, this is false, since Japan only Walkman runs nicely with at least the tested Asia version of SS (Chinese version), so therefore it will be safe to say that it should not have any other problem with any other English version of SS. Also Japanese version of SS can be installed and ran on any version of OS beside of japanese OS, for example you can install Japanese SS on English OS or Asia OS, it will run, that turned out to be the same case with Japanese PC video games which can be installed and played on any other OS. Also for NW-E023F, it displays full amount of Chinese (both simplified and traditional), it's a shock since it only displayed limited amount of Chinese back on NW-91X series, therefore it could hint maybe it displays other language alright too? uncertain on that but it will be good if other people can test on that

user installed asia version of SS (chinese), instead of using the given Japanese SS

displaying english

displaying Chinese

So japan only model can be used on any version of SS on any language OS, the only thing user needs to understand is the menu, which is the 3*3 layout that Walkman has used for a while now (different layout for E series), the display will be fine in Asian languages and English

Edited April 13, 2008 by antiipod

[Guest Stuge]

Here also I'm unable to see any pictures.

[juli_]

I can't see any here either. Are they very small???

[aafuss]

I get a 403 Forbidden error-antiipod, can you reupload the images?

[cauldron]

Japanese Walkmans have ALWAYS been able to work with non-Japanese SonicStage. This is not a "myth". Large Japanese stores will put up a sign and say "this walkman will not work outside Japan" because Japanese Walkmans only come with Japanese SonicStage, and they don't want to deal with foreign customers asking for return and support. I've seen these signs multiple times at Bic and Yodobashi. But if you install your own SonicStage, that's not an issue.

However, I've got something else I'd like to mention. so-mo.net (Japanese) has a photo of the settings menu of the A829. It no longer has the "languages" setting available on the Japanese A800:

http://so-mo.net/archives/2008/04/bluetootha8202.html

I think it's safe to say Sony removed the "multiple language" capability from the Japanese A910 and A820 players.

Technically we shouldn't say the A910 "only displays some chinese characters", because it doesn't do Chinese at all. It only has the Japanese Kanji characters. The Chinese and Japanese share a lot of characters, BUT there are also a lot of differences - say the Chinese "you" is missing from Kanji.

Edited April 8, 2008 by cauldron

[aafuss]

Can now view the photos if I right-click and copy the image address.

[pata2001]

As long as the drivers are there, I believe the hardware is fine. The problem is Sonicstage, which is not unicode.

[antiipod]

Japanese Walkmans have ALWAYS been able to work with non-Japanese SonicStage. This is not a "myth". Large Japanese stores will put up a sign and say "this walkman will not work outside Japan" because Japanese Walkmans only come with Japanese SonicStage, and they don't want to deal with foreign customers asking for return and support. I've seen these signs multiple times at Bic and Yodobashi. But if you install your own SonicStage, that's not an issue.

However, I've got something else I'd like to mention. so-mo.net (Japanese) has a photo of the settings menu of the A829. It no longer has the "languages" setting available on the Japanese A800:

http://so-mo.net/archives/2008/04/bluetootha8202.html

I think it's safe to say Sony removed the "multiple language" capability from the Japanese A910 and A820 players.

Technically we shouldn't say the A910 "only displays some chinese characters", because it doesn't do Chinese at all. It only has the Japanese Kanji characters. The Chinese and Japanese share a lot of characters, BUT there are also a lot of differences - say the Chinese "you" is missing from Kanji.

To be honest, I have never thought that as myth, but there are many posts doubting about this fact, that's why I made the post, on other forums such simple fact is not believed and many fans don't want to import because they believe japan only model will not work with any other version of ss, plus they further believe japanese ss can't be installed on non japanese os, which is also a false belief. These kind of doubts were even evident in atraclife past posts.

Here you have got a NW-E020 owner who has brought the player in japan and tested on his laptop, if you can read japanese or chinese, u'd notice that on the NW-E020 interface it shows many chinese characters that don't appear in japanese, both in traditional and simplified forms and the user had no trouble viewing it, therefore it made a surprise to many other import fans who read and viewed his review and pics, cause NW-E020 showed more than what was expected for Chinese. on NW-A919 it's true that only Japanese Kanji characters are shown, cause it was a minor complaint from the Chinese import users. On NW-A280 it could be the same case with NW-A919, I couldn't test it myself, I have only the NWZ version.

A note on the Kanji characters technically and historically these are just Chinese characters. These characters got to japan very much during Tang Dynasty, since japan had a frequent cultural contact with china during Tang dynasty, that was recorded as a period in history which to bring heavy influence to the literature, kanji development and poetry of japanese culture. These characters meaning though vary bewteen china and japan.

[cauldron]

I just think it's important to make the distinction that the A910 was NEVER meant to support "Chinese" characters. It just happens that the historical developments you mentioned resulted in the overlap between the characters different people chose to use. I wouldn't ***expect*** the A910 to have full Chinese-language support just because it fully supports the Japanese Kanji set.

The Japanese also, by nature of historical development, misuse the term "Chinese" sometimes. The Ramen is usually translated as "Chinese noodles" by the Japanese, but it's something they have evolved. It's not Chinese food anymore.

I can read Chinese (which is my native language) and I can read Japanese, but I certainly wouldn't want to confuse the two.

Edited April 8, 2008 by cauldron

[antiipod]

From Sony japan perspective they have never intended to do a japan only walkman that supports Chinese, but from a user perspective it supports Chinese because users see Chinese on that (people who can read Chinese). So I am only talking about it from the user side. Both Chinese and Japanese are not my native language, but I am very interested in them and that's actually the research thesis for my graduation on the over view of Chinese and Japanese literature and culture interaction, development and dynamics. So I definitely take an interest for any native Chinese or Japanese thoughts, cause that can be useful to my topic So far I have a principal supervisor (Chinese) and a secondary supervisor (Japanese) from Asian Language Department in my uni at Sydney, so I get two sides of the story.

My understanding from Western references and supervisors is that Chinese gave a very needed fundation for Japanese culture and literature (more than just Chinese characters), but Japanese during the early 1900 influenced many great Chinese writers and intellectuals such as Lu Xun, shen congwen, etc, thus many writers actually came back from japan after study and brought many new thoughts to China, which sadly it failed to exert any effective impact on China, it didn't bring any reality driven changes to the country, was it fate or was it just the culture itself starting to show its negative restriction consequences and the missing of future driven actions and ideas. Also Japan is known well for modifying existing ideas from other thinkers or countries and making something new out of it, whereas the Chinese back in Dynasty times had great inventions but failed to pursue the potentials due to cultural self restrictions. These are two extremely similar yet different countries, depending on the timeframe, context and content that we want to explore. They share things therefore sometimes there is no clear cut for whichever the topic maybe.

I don't mean to go off the track, but you mentioned something interesting, I don't mind talking about this at all, especially when a native person talks about it from how he or she sees it, that's what this culture is all about. Through my undergraduate study that's where I learnt my Chinese, enough to grasp a general understanding, but I never got around to Japanese yet, I can still figure out the menu though......

Edited April 8, 2008 by antiipod

[intellidryad]

... Through my undergraduate study that's where I learnt my Chinese, enough to grasp a general understanding, but I never got around to Japanese yet, I can still figure out the menu though......

As a Taiwanese who understands Chinese & English, I can tell you that once you learn the kana and basic grammar of Japanese (which only takes an half a year undergrad course), it's pretty easy from then on and you can practically start learning it on your own, if you know Chinese & English. A large part of Japanese is borrowed words from English and a little French; which many of the kanji still retains a similar meaning to that in Chinese.

[antiipod]

what a relief for all these cultures and languages to be related and known in many similar aspects, though I am aware that differences for them do co-exist as well, it is easier for people at least to learn the language part, hopefully I get the time in the future to pick some up