topic MP3 Playback in PCs & Accessories

MP3 Playback

richstock — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 14:30:13 GMT

Is it actually possible with the new update installed to copy across MP3 directly as MP3??

I have the new update installed and it is working but I can't work out how to get MP3 on it as MP3s rather than them being renamed as oma files?

Re: MP3 Playback

ivan-d — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 16:45:47 GMT

i was wondering the same thing...

Re: MP3 Playback

kadafi — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 18:27:20 GMT

yes u can

use the vaio transfer software.. make sure your files are tagged properly (this can be done fronm within vaio transfer, after copying to vaio pocket, but it's slower ).

it doesn't associate the mp3s with the embedded album art, so you'd have to ciopy album art to vaio pocket and link to your mp3 albums from there..

any other problems? search the forums, there are quite a few threads on this

Re: MP3 Playback

rikyman — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 02:28:37 GMT

If you copy the MP3 from Sonic Stage 2.3 it will associate the mp3s with the embedded album art, only with vaio music transfer it doesen't...

Re: MP3 Playback

ivan-d — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 10:33:36 GMT

but am i the only one whose mp3 file extensions are changed to oma??

Re: MP3 Playback

@4967457401015621 — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 11:38:38 GMT

i've realised something about the vaio pocket: it doesn't actually support real mp3s. it takes a long time and lots of processor to transfer files because it is actually converting them or adding some information to the file. why? sony is a record label as well as an electronics firm. with the ipod you can navigate into the file structure to find the mp3s then copy them straight off (i know, i've done this). by adding some extra data and changing the file extension to .oma you can't copy them directly across, there has to be some conversion, which only sonic stage can perform. and it won't convert files that didn't originate on the computer you're trying to copy them back to. if you want to check what i'm saying about them not being genuine mp3s, try changing the file extension of a .oma file to .mp3 or vice versa. they aren't compatible. so sony's been quite crafty on this one. i don't particularly object to them trying to stop people copying music a lot, but it's a portable hard drive so it's not a huge problem to copy mp3s to someone else's computer, but what i do find very frustrating is the (very significant) increase in time to copy because of the conversion, and that the conversion means i can't use my pc for anything else at the same time. oh well, hope that helps

Re: MP3 Playback

Taffersim — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 20:15:07 GMT

Sony said the firmware update would:-

"MP3 playback feature which will allow MP3 transfer and playback without transfer to ATRAC"

I do believe we have been misled by Sony as I thought that it would mean we could transfer mp3s by dragging them in to the hard drive directly and maintain the file names etc. Do you think Sony we give us this "feature" in another firmware update soon?

Re: MP3 Playback

@4967457401015621 — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 21:25:47 GMT

  Do you think Sony we give us this "feature" in another firmware update soon?

nah, they won't is my prediction. my best guess, and it is only a guess, is that transferring to the vp with the sony software adds a key to the track, which identifies the origin of the track (i.e. which pc it came from) and tells the vp that it can play the track. if they ever planned to enable true mp3 playback then why bother with this stage, which must have required more development than jsut the mp3 playback. personally i'm disappointed by it, cos a) it's pointless, if i want to transfer mp3s to another computer i'll use the thing as a portable hd and b) it uses up more resources and time to transfer tracks. and yes, i do feel slightly misled, and am also disappointed by the quality of the pc software. sony has been making sonicstage for longer than apple has been making itunes (ss was used for the netmd range as well) but it wont be replacing itunes as my mp3 sftware

Re: MP3 Playback

Taffersim — Mon, 27 Dec 2004 22:33:50 GMT

At least the quality of the playback is very impressive and the ability to have our own picture slideshow, showing, while playing music is cool, but again why oh why did Sony have to make us use the silly Directory names of USER_001, USER_002 etc, It would have been much better to have been able to use our own directory naming.

As a long time RealPlayer user I am struggling with the Sonic Stage way of doing things but the more you use it the better it does appear to be getting.