Sony Connect Player fiasco

I never thought that there could be a bigger piece of junk then Sonicstage. Trust Sony to add another to the hall of shame. The Connect player has a 300 MB footprint, takes more than a minute to scroll a page, and adds the wrong files to playlists. All I am waiting for is to find out that Sony has also supplied a free rootkit which is going to get my machine hacked.

well i'm really surprised by people's experiences with the new walkman software- i nearly didnt buy one, based on the comments here...but thought, "hey, what the heck!, i love the player, so i'll just use sonic stage if need be". Took the NWA1000 home last night (silver is just unreal- what a machine!!- makes the ipods look like cheap chinese plastic toys!), loaded the software (connect version 1.0) onto my dell laptop- took 10 minutes. It asked to search my pc for music- which it did, 15 minutes later- 900 songs transferred to 'connect' from sonic stage and elsewhere on my hard drive. Next, plugged in the player- recognised as a hard drive device. Went into connect, pressed the transfer button, and hey presto, it starts preparing the songs for transfer. 30 minutes later, 900 songs transferred, all correctly titled etc, to my player. not one hiccup.

Only one problem- it doesnt play very loud, even with AVLS turned off- does anyone know the trick of getting into the service menus like you could with the NWHD-5?? I assume the nwa1000 has a volume limiter imposed by the EU,- if not, yikes, that's the main flaw, since it really isnt loud enough!
everything else works well, even if the buttons are a tad small!

I literally cant believe how poor sony connect. I bought the NWA 1000. Love it but wish there was an alternative to connect. V dissappointed. At the moment I actually use itunes to input music into connect as that is easier!!!

stupid piece of sh*t connect player cant even erase the entire library. you go select all press delete doesnt work, right click remove doesnt work, edit remove, doesnt work! wtf!! i have songs in another language so i am trying to organize them into the right artists and stuff but now i cant change it! i do want to return it to where i bought it but then i already registered it under my name! stupid me! the program is crap but the player itself is great.

i had the sony HD-1 for a year, and recently upgraded it to the NW-A3000. i'm very happy with the player...it's a beautiful machine. i managed to get by with sonicstage for the past year...kinda figured out how to use it with minimal freezes and fuck-ups, and have to say that i had reasonable success with it. however, the new sony software really does take the shit-biscuit. It freezes, it switches songs from one album to other albums for no apparant reason, takes literally 5-10 minutes to even open up (and i have pretty new computer). overall, i am fairly shocked. wish i could go back to sonicstage now....

Kinda wish I'd seen this blog before I popped to Dixons and spent £200 on a NW-A3000. Not supprising that it's number 3 on Google!

As most people seem to agree, the NW-A3000 is a great machine, easy to navigate through and looks kewl too. The problem comes with the connect software, I now only seem able to use the walkman with one PC, with Connect installed on both. Maybe this is just a way to stop walkmans being shared between PC's???? Connect hangs each time I try and rip and CD, and is only fixed with a reboot.

Needless to say I'm buying an iPod.....

Having such horrendous problems with the Connect software for my new gorgeous NW-A3000. Googled it to try and find help, but all I've found is hundreds of people in the same boat! What the hell is this shit? This is my first MP3 player, so I have nothing to compare it to. I chose the Sony model becuase of the great battery life. Am off travelling at Xmas and thought it the best job. But after a week of rebooting, removing and reinstalling etc etc have only managed to transfer 3 and a half of my 900 albums from my hard drive onto the player. And don't even know how I did that!
Can anyone help me or should I just send the bloody thing back and buy an iPod???

Brought the NW-A3000 for £200 from Dixons on Saturday morning, returned it to Dixons on the Monday for a full refund... the reason? you guessed it! the Connect Software.

Installed first time fine, tried to transfer tracks across, PC froze and the connect software never worked again despite unistalling and reinstalling it. And the update didn't work from the Sony web site either. I had the same problems as everyone else so no need to list them.

Despite this, I'm not going to purchase another player just yet as I want the NW-A3000 but I will give it a couple of months for Sony to sort it or I'll buy another make.

I wonder how many people will be angry on Christmas day when they open their new Player and find the software doesn't work?

I hope sony are reading these problems!

Hi to all,
I'm writing from Croatia, and you know why I'm here; How does it came that I found this site?
It's cames just like any other of you.
I bought like they say "Network Player" (The big one A3000), but when I installed the software I get really disapointed.
It's not just this software that's trash.
It's also they Pixela software for digicams (I have V3) and I even didn't install this software, because it wasn't needed.
This one is needed and it's useless.
First night when I bought this NetworkPlayer it's takes me 4 houres to import some songs on it, and it was the friday/sathurday night.
The rest of my weekend was horrible, I have to re-install it for a few houndred time before it's work.
Only think that was a happy for me at that week was that we (CROATIA) won Davis Cup.
And just for the end.
Some of you says that best thing will be to return this Walkman to store and maybe they finally will realize, but maybe in your countries you can do that, but for me it's a final thing.

Similar probs here. Software works semi-ok, but it's even ropier than Sonic Stage. Main prob is I scan the dir where files imported for Sonic Stage are kept and it doesn't pick them all up....

Love the actual player though!

Despite my earlier hopefulness my software instance has gone back to freezing all the time - totally unresponsive through continuous TinyHttp.exe errors. Sony you're rubbish. I wouldn't want anyone else to go through the pain I've had to endure since I foolishly bought my NWA-1000 on release date in the UK.

I can only hope the Sony 'software developers' use this oportunity to refocus their career plans - can a suggest a career in caravaning?! If I wrote software this bad I'd fire myself.

Time for an update Sony, a VERY MAJOR one - wake up and smell the coffee. Switch on to reality, you're a joke - laughing stock.

Got a sony NWA-1000 last week. Awesome machine, best looking on the market by far, and easily one of the most practical. Enough of bumming it, the software is a total pile of shite. Connect player 1.0 does all the things that everyone else on here has said. However, when I borrowed a friend's laptop to see if there was any difference, pleasantly surprised to see that it was actually possible to add tracks to the mp3 player. Then decided to put on one extra album from my own PC, whereupon Connect player decided to delete my entire library on the player. GOOD WORK SONY!!!!!!
WANKERS.

Similar problems with my NWA-3000 this week. It's my Xmas present from my parents. I own and love my 1GB NWE-507 with Sonicstage software that I've had for the past few months. It's great and Sonicstage has worked flawlessly.

Now I find that this Connect software is absolutely f*cking awful! I'm so disappointed with this. It constantly complains about Tinyhttp.exe not responding whilst trying to transfer songs. So far I've managed to get 700 songs onto it with only 3 errors that I need to re-rip the damaged tracks.

It's frustrated me for days now. The software is using 100% CPU most of the time and never tells you what it's actually doing. I'm unable to return it to Amazon.co.uk so I'll either have to live with it or sell it on Ebay.

What really really pisses me off is that I've bought my Fiancee the Pink NWA-1000 for her Xmas and she'll be mega disappointed if I'm unable to get her cds uploaded to it.

Get this sorted asap Sony!

Bought the nwa1000 in Canada, coolest looking mp3 available.
F*cking CONNECT wont even start!!!
WTF mp3 software needs you to log on as ADMIN to install it? WTF rootkit are the installing with this one?
The Walkman shows up as an E: drive, so I copy some mp3's over to it and it doesnt not even acknowledge that it has them. They are there on its HD, but it doesnt show them in its menus and thus I cant play them.
Terrible terrible terrible.

Hi, if you want to disable the volume limiter on the NWA-1000/3000, check this site:
http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html

once again, how can SONY call this "Software" a release!! it has more bugs than any other betas on the internet!
by the way, thanks for the tip to use itunes as input for the beautiful looking SONY CONNECT PLAYER

ok, try having 20000 songs and trying to open CONNECT, most insects don't live as long as i've been waiting. Tried re-installing the cunt and still the same problem. Does anyone know where CUNTECT puts its library index file as i'm worried without deleating it i may never get back into the worthless piece of junk they call sftware.

GAY.

Ok, so we all know it doesnt work. Does anyone actually know how to get around this problem?? Other software that works one way or another?
Uppdates from Sony (have version 1. myself)?
Any other clues??
Thank you.

Yes, frustrated, irritated and bla bla bla.

Hey, I'm writing from Sweden. I'm having very much of the same problem, my Connect worked without any problems the first time. Since then I haven't been able to start the cunt-fucking software. I have unistalled and re-intalled over and over again but it wont start! Any ideas?

Hi again,
I sent a post here in forum a few days ago.
And after that I've returned this piece of shit to seller and I recommend to you all to make a same thing.
I've bought a Philips MP3 Player and I sure you that you don't know what are you missing.
This Sony shit can't even compare with this PHILIPS monster.
Bye

Hi again,
I sent a post here in forum a few days ago.
And after that I've returned this piece of shit to seller and I recommend to you all to make a same thing.
I've bought a Philips MP3 Player and I sure you that you don't know what are you missing.
This Sony shit can't even compare with this PHILIPS monster.
Bye

Hey all i'm up the same shit creek as all u fellow Connect software victims. I absolutely love everything about the actual player it self but the software that you have to use is just beyond disappointing. I've noticed that the process tinyhttp.exe uses a crap load of process power. I was wondering if anyone has tried just ending the tinyhttp.exe process?

I don't think i'll return the NWA3000 coz I'm a huge fan of Sony and i hope that eventually (half an ice age probably) Sony will finally sort out their software problems.

Kidd//

Hey

Yes, I have tried that, when you do connect shuts down. So that's no use. And if you remove if from your hardrive, connect won't even try to start. So that's no idea trying that. But I have emailed Sony about "tinyhttp"..

//
Pjär, Sweden

Hey people. I bought the nwa1000 and i have tried connect and i agree it is REALLY CRAP

I work at a Sony Central Store and am recommending to customers to download sonicstage 3.2 or 3.3 as they both work!! They also have minimal bugs.
If you think i am bonkers
i refer you to JUKE BOX and sonic stage pre V3 UTTER CRAP.. I am sony through and through. But something will need to be done about the software. Until then as i said USE SS3.3 I do and am REALLY happy. Take advantage of the new bit rates :D

Hi all,

I had the problem of the connect & sonicstage software not starting (I was getting the omgjbox.exe error with Sonicstage). I installed windows hotfix 887811
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887811) and both pieces of software now work fine. Well, when I say fine, I mean they are clunky and awkward, suck your system resources away and generally take ages, but at least I'm getting tracks onto my NW-A3000 now!

Well, don't want to gloat but it seems to working ok for me. Got some silly error message at install (in really poor english!) but seems fine. I agree with all above though really poor software but I'll live with it for the superb looking hardware.
PS - anyone know what the port is on the top next to the headphone socket? Can't see any reference to it in any manuals, pdfs etc.

Well, I'm not quite sure but i guess the port is for the optional remote..(I'm not sure I got that sentence right since I'm from Sweden, but I hope you'll understand what I mean).

//
Pjär

Yea, sonic stage works but I cant say I am all that happy with the functionality of the program. Better than nothing though. Untill something is done I guess this is the only solution.

Yes, the port next to the headphone socket is for the remote, which has prongs to fit there. I have gotton Connect to work for me also, even though it is still poor software. After I got use to its quirks and tried not to get impatient when when I had to wait for the player to load up, I got less stressed, so I'll be keeping the NW3000 because I really do like the hardware.

This has to be the worst software ever..... Installed ok transferred ONE album and now it closes itself down every time i try to open it.......... Absolute GASH!!!!!!

Installed CONNECT software on my laptop and my desktop (stupid me). Maybe it's a horrible coincidence, but MS WORD now won't work on my laptop (closes itself down) and Internet Explorer won't work on my desktop (closes down everytime you try to do a 'save as' or browse for a file to attach to an email). Uninstalling the CONNECT software and doing a system restore hasn't helped. Has anyone else had problems with other programmes since they installed the Sony software?
The player looks fab but what's the point if they continue to sell it with this necessary piece of shit.
Not impressed Sony...

Hi, I was looking to buy on of these very tasty things as my ipod has been driving me up the wall as i can't load any new tunes on to it at all and the battery only lasts 45mins!

I thought that all my prayers would be answered by the new Sony walkman, i was on the verge of ordering one and was doing some last minute web searching and BAMM i have completely reversed my decision - i think i am now forced back to Apple.

It seems that Sony have done the equivalent of Mercedes creating a beautiful fast,economical car which you can't use because the doors wont open.

It's remarkable that a company being beaten hands down in a market they used to own don't seem to want to compete.

I just want to say thank you to all of the posts and especially to Gen for helping avoid a very costly mistake.

Cheers

I really want to buy this product - does anyone know if it will work with any other software? Has anyone tried "iWalkman"? Is the device recognised as a drive when you connect it to your PC?

i purchased a 6gb model 2 weeks ago and imho it is a very cool player.

the software IS pretty buggy but nothing too serious. using the latest version which installed without issue through autoupdate. it's a memory hungry application and not as intuitive as it could be but if your computer isn't an old 486 and has a decent amount of ram it runs fine.

that said the software does need refinement, the scrolling is my biggest complaint. i use it for transfering music to the player and would never consider it as my primary media player.

hardware is rock solid, design and build quality are superb. it senses if you drop it and protects the drive from damage, which is my favorite feature :)

my computer is less than 1 year old with lots of RAM but this software is truly bad. I managed to put 5 CDs on my a3000 yesterday, with 5 restarts, 2 errors sent to MicroSoft, although I don't think its their fault, and today I managed one CD, before 'connect' froze and now it won't even start. It looks like reboot time ...

The beast that cannot die: since my previous message I have re-installed the software twice, switched my default browser to Internet Explorer as recommended by Sony, updated everything I can update, all to absolutely no effect. The 'tinyhttp.exe' -- a misnomer if ever there was one -- uses up 106 MB of memory and simply refuses to die. I have sent another 4 error reports to MicroSoft because of it. I cannot kill it except by re-booting. I can manage to rip one CD, then I need to re-boot before trying another. I will operate a policy of one CD-per-reboot until Sony manage to fix this utter piece of garbage. I will be recommending to anyone I know not to buy this drive, nice though the hardware is.

Bought The New Nw A3000 and found no problems with it when i first put connect on my system. Second time i used it.. Nothing. System hangs for an age before finally exiting Connect. I finally used Sonic Stage 2.1 from an older MP3 player I had. Works fine. Got a full 20 gb of music on my player But cant use artist link or some of the other functions. Sort It Out!

Hey folks,

Had that Connect Player problem and found this site:
http://www.sonydigital-link.com/DNA/ConnectPlayer/Update/Update.asp?l=en&ul=

Haven't tried it yet but it says it works...

i just purchased the A1000, while it took an AGE to put my music onto the player, the next time i used it my cpu went to 100 percent and stayed there, it wasnt until i noticed that the hdd my music is on was almost full that i saw it had been copying files from my player (now converted to .oma) to my hdd, thus making a copy of every song i owned. Since i changed my option to manual syncing its been fine and hasnt hung at all. Maybe this is whats causing some of you problems.

**************************************************

I was having really really bad problems with the connect player software. Many of which are mentioned above.

I realised I was using a USB 1.1 port I have switched to USB 2 and the latest version of the connect player software is finally useable.

The box does not say that USB 2 is a necessity. DO NOT TRY AND USE THIS PRODUCT WITH USB 1.1 IT IS HELL. 30 mins to transfer an album using USB 1.1 > 5 mins to transfer 480 songs using USB 2.

**************************************************

Bought 2 days ago a NW-A1000.
Returned it to reseller after several system lockups.

There are many problems with this Connectsoftware, sometimes it runs o.k. but a day later it's not working anymore.

Advice: dont buy this Sony stuff because it gives you nothing but troubles.

Pure and utter sh*te software. Its corrupted my player once - and now its corrupting more tunes I'm uploading to the player. How could Sony get it so wrong ????

Just trying to download to the player bought for my daughter for Xmas. Complete failure with connect. We have 2x Iriver and 1xCreative Zen - all fantastic, good s/w easy to use, fast etc. Sony - rubbish!

a week of hell, trying to get 5000 tracks onto a 20gb player, i work in It and never get annoyed in the last week have kicked furniture, shouted abuse and had a nightmare..... im temptted to take it back..............
this forum has made me happier :)

why did i not find it a week ago!!!! :(

God I feel so much better after reading this. I bought the 3000 model yesterday and boy does that software suck ! some albums i can rip from a cd first time, some it just gives a cd read error ! then half hour later decides to work again ! goddam it, what the fcuk is this !!!
amnyone offer any advice re: the sonic stage 3.3 and whether this is better, also does this allow track listing to be displayed on the hardware etc ?

Just got a NWA1000, and daugther sat for 8 hours with Connect program populating the library with 1000 songs from iTunes collection and from CD's with NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER!!!!

Program didn't crash and transfers were quick (USB 1). She didn't try and transfer everything at once and didn't do anything else while CD's ripped. Perhaps patience is a virtue after all!

What's all the fuss about?

I think the point is that anyone with an extensive music collection will have problems. I had problems the second Connect found more than 1000 songs. And the first patch released by Sony was one that helped stop the program crashing when the library went over 1000 songs.

I still think the program is really badly designed, and it's slightly reassuring to know that there are people out there for whom the software works 100%, but for the rest of us, we'll have to sit and wait for something better to come along...

I just read a manual for these and it said that the minimum system requirements states you need at least 256mb of ram (512 recommended). My pc's a few years old and only has 192mb, does this mean I totally won't be able to use the player/software or what? I hope not.

I have no problem being patient but I have around 3500 tracks and really need them on an mp3 player so if it completely refuses to work I'll be very annoyed.

Is there gonna be another connect player update soon?

I couldnt even install it! The install window was for some reason sized too small to fit all the options in, so the "Accept agreement" option was completely hidden!

Good work Sony! Idiots...

the software is a pile of shit. i bought the mp3 player, and i can't put any songs on it. wtf is the point? wtf is sony doing?

biggest piece of shit i ever bought.

Hahaha, i'll join in the fun!! Bought this as a xmas pressie for myself with my nice bonus from work, well chuffed with the looks etc but can't believe they let something got to market without the software to back it up. It's even taken ages to read this forum as the frickin sw is sapping my pc's life out of it! Please please please please please please please please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please pleaseplease please please please please sony sort it out.

I received my 6gig sony player today from amazon and the software is terrible. I have so far not managed to get any complete songs onto it.

My advise to Sony would be fire everyone who had any input in the development of this device and offer customers compensation before someone files a class action law suit.

I would also appreciate it if sony would get with the times and provide 64bit driver support for all their digital cameras, specially the DSC-T3. Sony is really going down hill as a company and I expect microsoft will destroy their console market. The end is near

My first attempt at installing the software was a total failure: as mentioned a few post earlier, the "accept" button of the EULA did not fit in the installer window, making it impossible to agree.

I had more luck with my second Windows machine: I could get the thing installed and I managed to transfer 8 Gb of MP3s to the player. However, the Connect software crashes when I try to manipulate or create playlists.

In the spirit of scientific enquiry I installed the thing on my third (and final) Windows machine. Again, the program crashes as soon as I try anything related to playlists.

I am amazed; what made Sony think they could get away with releasing this product?

Hi again!

I've just posted a comment on the other "Sony thread" ..... but I've thought about something else ......

Why the need to release a "new software" called ConnectPlayer (with that weird tinyhttp!!) ??! .... Why can't they just update SonicStage to version 4 or whatever, and make it support the NWA series?!?! .......

They really have found the best way to scratch their name!! ....... and PS3 is getting beaten by the X-box! ....... Really, I agree, someone must be fired immediately!!!

Ken

Just got the Sony NW A3000 and couldn't get the software to work. I can't believe how bad the software is. It leaves me lost for words and VERY frustrated. SHOCKING!!!!!

Sony have a feedback page for the UK. I sent my comments to them!!
http://www2.sony.co.uk/feedback/feedbackform.asp

I have to be honest I haven't found anything wrong with CONNECT yet apart from the fact that it's rather sluggish and the Import Directory function doesn't work particularly well. I'm used to shoddy programming from SonicStage 1.5 and 2.2 and I think the interface of CONNECT is an improvement on that so really I have nothing to complain about.
I hope that remains the case, and I'm sorry for all the people who are having a poor experience.

Just bought the NW-A3000 for my sister as a christmas present... Guess what? The Connect player doesn't even start on my computer. I have to install the software on another computer, then transfer all my mp3s there for her to enjoy her new player...

Hey guys,

After having millions of problems using the connect software I decided to try SonicStage 3.3 and it all seems to work wonderfully. Its still not perfect but SonicStage is 100 times better than connect.

I got this player as a christmas gift. The player is awesome and sexy ;). But the software is totally joke. I managed to put about 255 songs on it, but then the software fell down. After that it's been nothing beetween me and Connect player. Is there any alternative software for this Connect player?

Another problem I am yet to actually put any music on the player and it says the memory is full!!! how can this be. Sony have the worst customer support service ever has anyone got any suggestions on how i could possibly overcome this problem cos at the moment it looks like its going back to where it came from!

Hey again

As someone mentioned above, patience is important, I mean, it shouldn't be that way, but now it is. When I browse my library I type in the bands name in the "search" box. Last night, for example, I wanted to change the genre and track order on some Alkaline Trio songs. So I typed "Alkaline Trio", and the, working with ONLY Alkaline Trio CPlayer was kind of quick, It didn't take for ever. And when I'm about to transfer songs, take one band at a time, then it doesen't lag or locks. But of course, It's still a damn shame that you have to do this just to get it to work..but so long no new update is released..

//SWEDEN

Guys i double click the Connect icon and it just refuses to even work, I can open it on another computer. But that doesn't mean much when all your music is on another computer. We all agree the actual players look sexy, i've got the 6gb NW-A1000. Looks mint, but what is the point when it stresses you out because it's a real effort just to get some songs on it. (Yes tried disabling anti-virus and firewall)
I'm trying to stick it out, don't wanna be a gimp and go buy a bloody ipod. But maybe i'd be listening to music now lol.
Dan UK

I have the same problem with the software in that I can't click the user agreement bit, the window is too small and you can't scroll down to click the I Agree bit. Got it for Christmas today and was really looking forward to playing with my new toy, but now after reading all this we will be whizzing back to Dixon's tomorrow for a refund, a real shame as it looks a lovely piece of kit.

hey, just got the NW-A3000 for christmas! awsome, first mp3 player, and it look s awsome. Software.....CRAP. ive been on my computer since 3 pm and its now 23:45 and i have managed to get 1 album on it! just ended christmas badly. I mean christ(mas)! although i have found an alternative. Use windows media player to transphere all mp3 files and if they are wma. then use an audio converter to convert to mp3. looses some quality bt its worth it. jus convert the albums to mp3 at 2 media library and synchronize in media player. Sorted.

thanks. Bravo

Connect sucks... used SS 3.3 - works fine. Cant believe i spent most of Crimbo day tryin to get the bloody thing workin..

Got my shiny new sony nwa3000 for christmas. So far my computer has crashed three times and i haven't been able to get a single song on it! I can't believe they released software like this its utterly ridicolous, its the most pathetic piece of **** i've ever seen!!

Soooo mad right now, how hard can it be to make a bloody software that puts songs on an mp3?!?! Thats meant to be its job and it can't even do it!! PATHETIC!

Either Sony has improved the software out of all recognition - or i am one of the flukes.
Loaded connect player and downloaded updates in 3mins flat. It works without a hitch ripping and transfering faster than itunes!!!!!!! Now thats saying something. Havn't got a clue why i am one of the lucky ones but there appears hope on the horizon for the many people for whom life is a bitch.
By the way hardware is awesome paired with a mid range pair of headphones

Hey Bravo,

How were you able to transfer songs with Windows Media Player? I heard that the only way is to use the Connect player or SonicStage. Does anyone else know if Media Player can be used to transfer songs?

Cheers

Och it's not too bad, got the player for Xmas, 20gig version and loaded the software full of doubt. Agree that the hardware is cute and cuddly, the software is memory hungry but seems to do its job; I even claimed my free album after registering, which I thought was bound not to work - but it did - err and I went for Van Morrison - Magic Time (who knows why?). But I so far can't grumble about the connect software.....pity the hardware doesn't receive radio though!! Eh??

*** EVERYONE - YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE ***

After a long time seraching, it looks as if I've found a Sony page where updates for software and firmware will be added.

http://www.sonydigital-link.com/DNA/WM/NWH/NWH.asp?l=en&m=NW-A3000

I recommend that you bookmark it. If you're model isn't the A3000, simply click 'Change Model'. Note that there seems to be a firmware update now. I'm going to keep checking this page regularly.

Heck thats a pain upgrading the firmware, you've got to remove all the songs and I'm up to 2000 now!!! Mind you its says it'll support WMA, which would improve options!!!

Hi again

Does anyone know why my FIFA 06 stoped working after connecting the NWA device to my USB? I mean, I'm pretty sure it's the drivers but why do they disable a EA game? wierd.

Hi all,

I think I have broke my 3000 altogether. Another christmas present and managed to transfer the small number of tracks that I have (around 900 or so) and that worked ok (suprisingly). Put my new CD on the computer this morning and connected the player for the second time and ..."TinyHttp.exe" error and closed the Connect Player whilst transfferring. This was the small part of the problem- it had broken the Walkman- now my little Walkman tells me "No database found, Please connect Complient Software" so it managed to wipe everything off as well. Now nothing works and I appluad sony on a complete cock up. They better had do something or there will be trouble!

^^
Try to uninstall/install connect player. Then launch connect player and connect the a3000. Connect player may repair the a3000 s database.

Does anyone know what the new firmware update do exactly?

Do I really need it?

"Heck thats a pain upgrading the firmware, you've got to remove all the songs and I'm up to 2000 now!!! Mind you its says it'll support WMA, which would improve options!!!"

Performing the firmware upgrade to 2.01 doesn't do anything to your tunes on the player. It takes about 50 secondes and works fine.

Just launch install of the firmware : http://www.sonydigital-link.com/DNA/Downloads/downloads.asp?c=WM&sc=NWH&f=FRM_NW_A1000&l=en

Then the install ask you to unpluge the player safely(windows way in sys tray). Your a1000 will works for about 50 secondes and wooow play the first song on the drive =)

THIS is really a good job for this part Sony dudz =)

Hello fellow strugglers, here are some comments which I hope may help some. As I found a few days back, I simply can't rip more than a CD or two without connect player hanging, but for me at least it seems to be able to transfer tracks to the player as well (my commiserations to all those for whom even this is a step too far). Therefore I now rip CDs using windows media player, do all editing of albums with WMP (unless anyone can tell me how to change the album name with CP -- e.g. I want to merge CDs of multi-CD albums -- seems completely impossible), then import the results with CP and transfer to the player. So far this has worked OK, although it is clearly unsatisfactory.

Good luck all and don't blow away your entire holiday

Another Christmas sob story here as well.

Brought my son A3000 for Christmas, we've spent all Christmas and Boxing Day trying to sort out the Connect software.

Problems started when we tried to get software and firmware aligned for transferring WMA files. My son has loads of wma files and the ATRAC conversion kept failing and screwing up his album library.

Well we've given up on Connect now, you install it/delete/re-install/delete/re-re-install and all you get is the Connect logo for a period no less than 30 mins. Complete waste of Boxing Day

But the firmware works and what worked for us was the following:

- get the firmware
- get SonicStage 3.3
- ignore Connect

Happy bunnies.

I cant believe i didnt hear about all the software problems before i bought this NW3000 . I now have installed connect on 2 pcs and neither can open it up any more, it has wiped what was once on the mp3 player and its just crap.
Do i have the right to return this heap of shit til sony sort it out, might have to join the throng and get a ipod ,

Never had worse software in my life. When u connect the player via USB, the software tells u that half the songs on the player have errors. This is if they arent originally on the computer. So i used to delete the ones with errors, thinking i was saving space. Only now have i copped on that the "error" files are actually fine. They are still on the device when disconnected from comp. What a load of s**t. I bought this last week and im still working at it. What are sony doin like?!!!!

Bought my daughter a nw a1000 great peice of kit but and this is the biggest butt ever the connect software is a bag of sh*t. took 3 hrs to get it loaded then a further 20 minutes clearing all the crap files it loaded into to it's self. If sony dont get thier act to gether by the end of Jan then it's of to get money back. under the sale of good act fit for purpose

what a load of f....... crap spent xmas day trying to get it to load no chance.took it back to sony they told me it was my resolution settings, so changed them but still no luck. tried to down load but one hour later still don't f........ work. after reading these messages think i'll take the load of shite back to f..sony, as any one thought of sending these messages to the sony headquarters PLEASE.........

At least you guys are getting somewhere!

Once installing CONNECT it doesn't even run for me, not at all. I try to install SS 3.3 and it terminates at installing an OMG part.

Therefore i can't do *anything* with this most gorgeous of pebbles.

Any hints? none of the patches manage anything, at all.

I Just can't believe that Sony created a piece of software even worse than Sonic Station!! I bought a HD-5 this autumn unavare of the softwareissue, and have been waiting for a replacement for SS since that. I can't believe how it's possible to write such a sloooow piece of software! It physically hurts using that shitty piece of software. AND TO THE LUCKY SOUL reading this before you are stuck with a SONY mp3 player, move on, never mind great reviews for the hardware-thingy, you will hate using it because of the CRAPPY software.

Seem to have been lucky and managed with connect just.

However, when ever connect is open my floppy disk drive keeps sounding as if it's being checked or trying to run. Any ideas why this is?

Well got two of these for my daughters(both tenagers)for crimbo,loaded connect up,updated it and all worked fine,oldest daughter had transfered 1000 songs well pleased!
Got another update saying that there was a new update on the firmware so upgraded it,quick and easy....Daughter tries putting more songs on it today and guess what?ALL the songs have been wiped off and now the connect programme won`t even start up!!!WHAT A PILE OF FOOKIN SHITE THIS SOFTWARE IS!
I `ll stick to my HD3 walkman,over 10000 songs on it and I find sonicstage a pleasure after trying this software.

I've now lost everything from my hardware and it won't do anything.

Is this going to get better or should i return and get an ipod

after uninstalling connect, reseting player and changing usb ports the player has flipped into action.

This is far to much hassel to put music on to a mp3 player

I have also spent over 5 hours this Chrimas trying to get Connect to work, unfortunately NO DICE.

The firmware for the NW-A1000 works fine.

SonicStage 3.3 THANK GOD als works now without any problems, although not at first. Wat worked for me was formatting the HD on the unit through it's own menu. (Settings>Initialize Disk) After doing this SonicStage was finally able to access the HD and *transferring* of files wasn't a problem after that.

* one thing I don't understand is why all my mp3's have been converted/renamed to .oma. Completely useless and timeconsuming. I copied on .oma file and renamed it to .mp3 and it played back fine but all the tag info was gone... WTF??? Why Sony Why?

If you know nothing about computers DO NOT BUY A SONY MP3 PLAYER. If you know something about computers DO NOT BUY A SONY MP3 PLAYER. If you know a lot about computers DO NOT BUY A SONY MP3 PLAYER.

The software conflicts throughout the USB. Go to 'Control Panel' - 'Admin Tools' - 'Computer Management' - 'Disk Management - 'Removable Storage'. Then click on the + sign for 'Physical Locations'. Any little "X" marks saying your software has not been recognised? Any names of your known flash drives stuck amongst the Sony software HDD drives? Oooh bloody er.

Yes, if you ignore all of this and still try to use your £ 150 new toy you might be able to get some music up on it. Your 'Connect' programme will make up names for your artists - put them in folders or genres that are totally inappropriate which will give you the pleasure of hours to unravel. Oh yes, then if you have perfect hearing you will be frustrated at the low sound level. If you are hard of hearing you will hear very little.

Cambers

why did my post go?

It came back

i bought the NW-A3000 on the 26th and CONNECT player is horrible. i went to the store i boguht it from and they told me what i already tried. ive reinstalled,uninstalled and rebooted at leas 15 times now. Might have to go back to Apple.

later

What a complete pile of wank "CONNECT" player truly is. The NW-A3000 looks far better than an ipod thats why i purchased it. It took me a whole morning to put on 1 silly album, thats a F**kin joke and after payin £200 for it you think you would get your money's worth. i cant even put on the firmware! So ive just installed SonicStage, if its anything like connect iam in for a treat!

I got a NW-A3000 for Christmas and I agree that the connect software is sluggish and annoying. However, it really isnt as bad as people are making out. I've got about 10Gb of music onto my player no problem. The most irritating thing about Connect is that is takes so long to load, literally about 4-5mins.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has got the artist link feature to work? Whenever i press it, it always comes up with 'Cannot find linked artists'. Other than not being able to use this feature, my NW-A3000 is fine and I love it

me too!. Got connect working ok on chritsmas day and has worked since... except tried to connect to music store to get free album - 9 minutes to bring up a web page... 15 seconds for the cursor to acknowlegde it's on a search box... searching acros our wireless network for the 30,000 songs loaded onto the house server - forget it. Mys on has to manually drag across albums one at a time..
Absolute shit. The upgrade? Website says version 1170 but the downloaded file says 1180, dare I load it? Not going to in case it f**ks up what is just about working now. So now theres a huge opportunity for Real to make realplayer compatible and then we would be away.

Advice to prospective purchasers DO NOT BUT SONY until software issue resolved. Bought my wife a Nano and we were done and dusted inside 30 minutes.

The Connect software is truly hideous. I wish I could get some music on the player to even experience the volume restrictions, let alone turn them off! I've tried calling Sony's hinderline and they don't answer it, the tossers. Furthermore, try calling the Sony shop you bought it from (if you did buy it from a Sony shop). They refuse to give refunds if they can get a single track onto your player, when everyone knows that it's large-volume track transfers, wma transfers (which are supported if non-drm) and so on that are not going across. I doubt they stand there whilst I tried to transfer 1500 wmas using their PC... But that's exactly the problem I have! Bastards bastards bastards.... Don't buy one of these things!! They's sure pretty, but don't do much thinkin', no sirrr...

The Connect software is truly hideous. I wish I could get some music on the player to even experience the volume restrictions, let alone turn them off! I've tried calling Sony's hinderline and they don't answer it, the tossers. Furthermore, try calling the Sony shop you bought it from (if you did buy it from a Sony shop). They refuse to give refunds if they can get a single track onto your player on the instore PC, when everyone knows that it's large-volume track transfers, wma transfers (which are supported if non-drm) and so on that are not going across. I doubt they stand there whilst I tried to transfer 1500 wmas using their PC... But that's exactly the problem I have! Bastards bastards bastards.... Don't buy one of these things!! They's sure pretty, but don't do much thinkin', no sirrr...

** FOR ANYONE UNABLE TO SEE THE TICK BOX TO ACCEPT THE LICENSE AGREEMENT**

Just got this mail back from Sony and it appears to work OK for me!! It's the bit at the end which advises you to TAB then hit the LEFT KEY that worked!! Good luck!!!

-------------------------------------------------

Thank you for your e-mail.

In order to try and resolve the problem you are experiencing with the Connect
Player software please can you do the following;

* Insert the Connect Player CD into your CD\DVD drive
* When the Connect Player installation screen is shown, please close it.
* Click on the [Start] button and select [Run...]. In the dialog box type
explorer and click on [Ok].
* Click on the [Tools] menu and select [Folder Options]. Click on the [View]
tab.
* In the [Advanced Settings] section, remove the tick next to the option to
[Hide extensions for known file types]. Click on [Apply] [Ok].
* Click on the [+] next to [My Computer].
* Click on your CD\DVD drive.
* Double click on the [Files] folder.
* Double click on the [SetupCP] folder.
* Double click on [SetupCP.exe]
* Follow the onscreen prompts until you reach the [License Agreement] screen.
* On the [License Agreement] screen, if the radio buttons to select whether you
agree or disagree with the license have not been created, press the [Tab] button
four times, The [Next] button should no longer be greyed out, please click on
it.
* Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation.
* If the [next] button is still greyed out when following the above steps please
can you restart your computer, follow the steps above but this time when you
reach the License Agreement screen press the [Tab] key once and then the [left
arrow] key once. If the [next] button is now active please click on it and
follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation.

With Regards

Miss Amy Brind,
CIC - Convergence Team
Sony United Kingdom Limited

If your calling Sony "Customer Services" in the UK try using this number 01635869500, it bypasses the queing system of the 0870 number, good luck!!

CONNECT SOFTWARE UTTER SHITE. I didn't think people were still writing software like this. It's like something from the early 80's. Get an ipod folks.

Hey guys/gals.., Ive been using Sonic Stage 3.3.., and it works just fine.., Deleted Connect (and sent it to hell), I was just wonderin if anyone had tried upgrading the firmware to play .wma? do i have to delete everything on the walkman first? or can it be installed straight away?

Connect is so bad that i have resorted to Sonic Stage 3.3 but it wont let me use the features of favourite 100, intelligent shuffle or play history as well as rating the music. It comes up with the message 'please connect compliant software'. Does anybody have a solution to this? I have around 200 tracks on there now but i can't use half of the features.

All I have to say is pants, not only has the software been rubbish but the hardware has internally combusted. While I finally got the songs on to the NW-A3000. I was listening, happy as you could expect, when what happens? It dies.

I got an error, " Sorry, there is a ststem error, 20." Now the device is totally scrap.

Sony have mentioned this problem in the manual but the only advice is to "Contact your Sony dealer". So, following this advice I contacted my local store but to no avail. They hadnt got a clue and were no help at all. Best thing they said was yes when I asked for a refund.

Havnt seen any other posts about this problem, so any feedback is very appreciated.
Thanks.

I gt d NW-1000 for xmas. I love the player to bits quality.

What a fcuking shame, connect player is fcuking shit and useless. takes bout 3 hours to put on 600 songs, takes bout 20mins to load and it crashes evcery 2 minutes and i have a brand new computer basically. they need a propa update. daylight robbery! sonicstage wz beta den dis piece of useless shite

Does Realplayer10 work with the connect ? I know it does with my net minidisc. Although i hate real networks, i hate them less than the Sony software.

Good Luck

Bought the Sony NW A 1000 as a xmas present for my girlfriend. So disappointed to find the software crashes a hangs my PC time and time again. I have reloaded the software 4 times now with various problems each time. This software is USELESS.
Im returning the unit tomorrow, to get her the Ipod she wanted in the first place.

i got a nw-a1000 for christmas. i tried installing the connect player software but we experienced a few problems. we took it to the sony store and they told us to change our resolution on the computer. we tried this but the installation was stil unsuccessful. i tried downloadin the software but that didn't work either. i then tried following the instructions given earlier on this page. it still doesnt work. the instructions were for getting past the license agreement, but you cant even get past selecting the region and language, never mind the license agreement. i love the player but the software that goes with it is useless. ive spent 4 days tryin to sort it out. beginning to wonder if i should take it back and get an ipod.

Matty,

I am using connect and upgraded my nwa-1000 to ver 2.01 for wma support, downloaded firmware into c :\frmup, connected nwa-1000, file was copied, dis-connected and nwa-1000 displayed message that firmware was being upgraded, when finished unit re-booted and all was ok, library was intact. But alas i am using Connect, so when i next attached my nwa-1000 it spent the next two hours doing something, no messages, expect 'do not dis-connenct' and PC running at 100%. When completed all was still intact, presume it re-sync all the tracks because of the firmware change.

Good Luck

Dave

hi ive had the NW A3000 since release date in the uk, early november.I have checked this web page every day since.The only time i could run connect player was today when i REFORMATED MY HARD DRIVE it took me 2 hours to go through the motions, RE INSTALLING virus software and all the other s!&t that comes with it but my advice is persist with it. It will work one day.I did have a volume delimiter free on ebay but ebay have pulled the plug on it stating rules and regs sorry happy going , bye

I managed to install the software with no problems at all and even put my whole collection of about 900 songs into the library. Problems started when I connected my beautiful NA-1000 to the PC and 11 (yes eleven) hours later was actually allowed to disconnect it after all songs had been transferred over. Was slightly annoyed that the manual doesn't mention it might take this long. The next day found that when i tried to open CONNECT, and after rebooting several times, saw that my whole library had gone! I can't even put new music into it - either directly from a CD or via Media Player. Looks like I'm stuck with the songs i have until Sony sort something out.

It's such a shame because the device itself is gorgeous and I really love it. Wish I'd asked Santa for an iPod now!

Its true - CONNECT is a joke!

well thank you Miss Amy Brind. The email that somebody else posted on a blog as a reply to their individual problems is very helpful. Such a shame that Sony cannot write some software in the first place that works. MP3 players and associated software are not an exercise in computer geekiness to see if you can somehow get it to work - especially if the vendor is a (till now) respected player in the world of audio. Luckily my retailer was aware of your problems Ms Brind and offered a full refund. I did stay with them and went for a different manufacturer. Guess what? It does what it says on the box.

Connect? Havent bothered, it was too slow. Not too impressed with the Sonic 3.3 that Sony rather handily told me I should install. Ive had no end of problems trying to organise this bloody thing. It has a tendency to somehow "revert" ID3 tags back to the original despite me renaming an entire album. You can do it in SS3.3 and it will display quite happily that your album/playlist is all labled correctly and then upload it to the player and HEY presto! All the tags have reverted to their original ID3 tags. REALLLY REALLY frustrating when trying to create your own compilations / chop shop album...

Even *spit* ITunes is better than this shite. And I REALLY cant stand ITunes. Oh what ever happened to drag and drop..... *whistfully*

Hi all,
I have the NWA100 & loath the Connect software.
I use the SonicStage software (now 3.3) with no problems, I've used this satisfactory ever since I purchased a NetMD a couple of years ago.
Also try this link for the volume limiter hack
http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html
I've done it and it works,but do it at your own risk.

Thanks to everyone for putting up their suggestions. I bought an A1000 at Stansted airport yesterday and could not install the software until I saw Carzy's post above. I could not agree to the license agreement and changing screen resolution did not work. Thankfully pressing tab and the left arrow key a few times cracked it.

Once I got the software installed I did the firmware upgrade and was able to transfer about 200 of my files relatively easily (took about 5 mins) as they had been stored in wma format.

I was ready to send the whole thing back but as I now have most of my songs transferred I'll stick with it and hope that faster and more stable software come out soon. I installed iTunes over christmas on the same laptop computer for a friend who had an iPod video and that was all a lot more straightforward. I will say that the Connect software did find and import the various wma files on my hard drive very easily and this feature makes it better than the iPod which had to convert each file before adding it to a playlist (and hence was slower!).

Good luck everyone.

J

Maybe watchdog may want to hear some of our stories - if Sony dont give a monkeys maybe they need a kick up the a$$ in the right direction- watchdog here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/contact/

OK, pretty much the same story here - my player (A3000, 20Gb) is great. I installed the 2.2 firmware with no problems, and can turn volume limiting on or off from the preferences page... With it switched off the player can get up to volume levels that are pretty deafening.

Connect player is however possibly the worst piece of software I have ever had the misfortune to use. It is slow, clunky, it doesn't update it's 'watch folders' when I add new audio files, it occasionally imports albums without the track numbers... What else... It REFUSES to connect to Gracenote, even with firewall totally disabled, despite the fact that all my other media software will connect to it with no problems.

I've tried syncing it the player with Windows Media Player, but Media Player crashed - if anyone has any more information on how to do this, please post it.

I also tried to install SonicStage 3.3, but the install refuse to find my internet connection, and terminates (again with the firewall disabled).

I really hope Sony do something about this quickly, as I love the player. Unfortunately I get the feeling I'm going to end up returning it due to the software.

>Matt

same problems as everyone else. i emailed watchdog and hopefully i wont be the only one! sony are an absolute joke, i cannot believe they released the software in such shoddy condition, especially when they refuse to let us use any other programs to transfer our music across.

anyone else getting crap battery life once you get some music on the player? im getting around 12 hours, not bad but nowhere near the claimed 35 hours.

think i will just refund and get an ipod.

I'm (fingers crossed) getting somewhere.

Simple patience seems to be the key so far.
open isp
attached hardware
then open connect and leave for 5 mins and just wait till connect stops doing anything before you do anything

last time i said things were going well i lost everything so i should have kept quiet

I bought a Sony Walkman NW-A1000 ( 6GB) player for my daughter for Xmas. What a huge disappointment.!! After dozens of installs and uninstalls, the Connect Player software simply will not work! . It says its installed - and all the files seem to be there - but when you doubleclick the shortcut - nothing happens at all !! Software is absolutely useless!. I think I will not waste any more time and get a refund from the Sony Centre where i bought it !

Problem after problem really. All of the software seems to be fine now, good speed transfers and stuff. BUT, can someone please tell me how to sort out the 'no database found/ no songs.' Is this something corrupt? I wiped everything off the player then put some songs back on, but the problem is still there? I feel like i'm at the final hurdle, and its the biggest.

I have had no problems at all. I first of all closed ALL open programms then downloaded ther firmware update.

Installation of the Connect Software ws easy and straight forward. I have so far transferred 2,000+ songs and the only problem is that I sync'd by comps HDD twice in some cases so have to delete some tracks.

Whats the problem??

I got the NWA 1000 for Christmas and really like it. I had problems with the Connect software I only managed to transfer 4 albums, which I hate anyway, so at the suggestion of this page downloaded sonicstage 3.3 which worked brilliantly and I transferred 800 songs. However, now, sonicstage won't transfer anything it has an error message of

"sonicstage (00000452-9094)The connected ATRAC audio device cannot be used with the currently installed sonicStage. to use with the currently installed sonicstage, you must delete all the tracks in the ATRAC audio device or initialize the hard disk of the ATRAC audio device. (Error code: 000066a3)"

Has this happened to anyone? Any suggestions please. Am desperate really don't want to send it back.

bought the new NWA-1000(such a beautiful player)put the connect software on. then put all my music in the libary, connected the NWA-1000 started transfering my songs and then connect CRASHED!!!!. And havnt been able to use it since.
(I have managed to get my songs on to the player using sonicstage.)

Regarding volume limiter.
This setting can be on/off, set on the player.
But some things like audio books still seemed too quiet, this site lets you bypass the volume limiter completely giving more volume.
http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html

Regarding volume limiter

Would using this hack void the warranty??

I'm just concerned with all the problems and if it does need to go back i may be stuck with it.

should I install the firmware update for my nwa 1000? I've come to a brick wall and can no longer transfer any tracks (managed 800) in connect (worst program ever) or sonicstage 3.3 Would this help? Don't want it to wipe everything that I have transferred to the player as I won't be able to retransfer everything.

should I install the firmware update for my nwa 1000? I've come to a brick wall and can no longer transfer any tracks (managed 800) in connect (worst program ever) or sonicstage 3.3 Would this help? Don't want it to wipe everything that I have transferred to the player as I won't be able to retransfer anything.

See earlier post- will someone please tell me if REALPLAYER 10 works with this or not. ??
It would help my buying decision
thx

volume limiter.
I'm sure the hack would void the warranty, so don't do it if you may return the player or if you are unsure about doing it. I did it with no problem, but this is no recommendation.

I installed the NWA1000 firmware update with no problem, but I'm not sure it is necessary as I think it only enables you to store a different type of file? (I hope this is correct)

Got my NWA3000 mid December... the worst part for me is adding songs to the library, im above 3k songs in the library now and i've given up on adding more! it just takes forever... sux alot!

im fully aware that any new v1.0 software has bugs, even serious ones, but they are usually taken care of soon after! so pretty pls mr.SONY do something asap and get some new code levels on the street before i kill somebody

I've just bought a NW-A608 with CONNECT Player and I just have one thing to say about that piece of software: It sucks! My first advice is not to use the library because it can't handle a fair amount of files before it slowes down a LOT! Next it is imposible to use the sort functions. Some intuitive "drag and drop" would be just fine.

MY NWA3000 WONT EVEN TURN ON!!!!!!!!!

....(and yes it is charged!) it wont even turn on when plugged into the computer!

Having just got the NW A3000 for christmas i was totally thrilled, but the first reaction to the software was to say the least an effing HUGE headache. I cant believe that sony would release an awesome player like that without the software to back it up, despite that, finding any other software that works with it is impossible! Maybe all other music software doesnt work with it because they knew sony would mess up...well quite simply CONNECT DOES NOT WORK! Am hoping as its only version 1.0 that the next one works a hell of a lot better and FAST!

Another person who cant use the connect software - also had to use sonic 3.3, but as previously mentioned some features are unavaliable.

The volume hack wont affect the warranty as all you are doing is adjusting an inbuilt setting.

Here is my 2p worth!

Bought my wife Sony NW-A3000 for Xmas but struggled to exasperation with software. Such was the struggle it ruined our Xmas!!

Finally resorted to using Sonic Stage with reasonable success.

I love the hardware but hate the software. I cannot believe Sony have actually made such a blunder! A blunder that is tantamount to being litigatious!

My own experience is as follows -

- Software loaded over 4 individual high spec machines.

- Software grinds each machine to a hault - 100% CPU usage, mem usage etc

- After considerable time 2 days loading MP3s through Sonic Stage onto player. I decided to give Connect another chance. Loaded Connect as per guidelines, brought Media Files into Connect (over 3 days to complete!). Connected player into Connect, after considerable time, MP3 player files load into Connect. Unfortunatley, despite Player data base loading into Connect 100% CPU usage was consumed with computer effectively hung! Using Windows task Bar, freed myself from Connect resulting in complete Player database being renedered useless! Had to erase and re-initialise player! Back to scratch and facing a now depressing 2 day re-load of files through Sonic Stage!

In conclusion, the software inadequacies renders the player unmerchandisable quality. It is in breach of acceptable consumer trading standards. In essence, Sony has sadly created a monster that with legal determintation could land them in deep shit! Hardware is excellent but useless with out supporting software.

Why is this Software so CPU hungry? After all, it is basically a data base management tool! I smell something far more controlling at the heart of this, being copyright control! Perhaps, instead of being discreet and seemless it has been arrogantly allowed to pass to the consumer in this form as the acceptable price to pay for control! I cannot believe that in the depths of Sony the software shortfalls are not known and have been known from the out set - I speculate to say that someone in Sony has made a clear decision to run with the software and it's inadequacies as the price to pay to retain proprietory control of Copyright and other commercial interests!

To Sony - I believe I represent the voice of many consumers. You have created a product that has successfully derailed Xmas in, time, frustration, and money with no end in site! You have not even had the decency to make a definitive statement on your web site that you intend to fix this problem! Your support team never answer by phone or reply to e-mail! You have alienated your customers! Get your act together and start showing respect to the very essence of your existence - your customers!

Got my A1000 for xmas, and must be one of the more lucky ones. Connect software installed ok first time and has worked ok since. Only problem I have is I cant connect to the connect store. Just end up looking at a blank page. Have registered but can't find the login page anywhere to claim my free album. Any one know the URL ??

Guys and Gals

After battling with this monumental piece of crap, that is Sony software, I've succeeded in transferring wma files to my nwa3000 almost trouble-free. Do it through SonicStage 3.3 and simply sort by file type, select all your wmas you want to transfer, and drag into the transfer window (with ATRAC drive selected as the device). You should find it works fine.

Still, 3.3 is bad software, hangs, crashes etc, but at least it appears to do the basic transfer.

Good luck! - M

I got the NWA 1000 for christmas and I love it, its beautiful and engineered much better than the ipod.

But lets face it, sony have fucked up and this CONNECT software is terrible. I spent all of christmas day, boxing day and the day after trying to get this thing to work. 10 crashes, reinstalled it and it hangs forever. It tells me its transcoding, connecting, uploading - really its doing fuck all but giving me a headache until it hangs and tells me not to disconnect it when all I really can do is unplug it and consequently lose my entire library. Somehow it put 60 songs on the player then deleted them whilst saying I had all the songs on the player which i certainly did not.
So then i told it to put all my music on again, and it crashed and said tinyhttp.exe has encountered an error. Great. I tried to use soncstage but I had to do a whole bunch of stuff with .oma and .omg - tottally didnt understand and couldnt be arsed. I tried for the last time to put music on it and it all went well and got to Q in my music library before crashing, so now i have enough music to survive on and i darent try anymore in case the software deletes all the music again. I am now just going to wait for the next update so I can try again.
I pray that they sort this out soon as it is clear so many people are angry over the fact that they cant even put any music on the player itself, and what is the point in that?

Well i started off with the same problems but i finally managed to get the software running. Not as i hoped to but at least i can use it.

At first i loaded in a hugh library but u should do the opposite keep the library as small as possible.

I unistalled the application. In
C:\Document and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sony Corporation\CONNECT Player\Library
are the library files.

Mine where over 250mb :/ U can delete it all.

Reinstall the application. And run it. If done correct the library is now empty. What i want to put on the nwa3000 i put in the library so i can transfer it. And remove it afterwards.

Application seems to run ok now with large file libraries it just uses 100% cpu loads of loadtime and memory etcet. Its not capable to run large media libraries; so im going to keep it small.

some more info about this is at :
http://www.atraclife.com/index.php?showtopic=650
the troubleshooting part

Hmm, my Connect worked - slowly though, and with a coupla hang ups. I just bought the thing home 2 hours ago, and I've gotten about 2 Gb on it.

What I really need is being able to put music onto it, without converting it. WMP wants to do this as well, and, remarkably, it's even slower than Connect.
So, what format do I need to rip in, to transfer without the timeconsuming conversion?
For gods sake, it's takes a lot longer than it ought to, transferring.

Hmm...
And it seems that the NW-A3000 won't read what WMP puts onto it

Had the NW-A3000 for xmas. Great piece of kit, I didn't know whether to go for the Ipod or this but glad I went for the Sony.

Saying that, I have the same problem as everybody else her. I never seen a more Sh***y piece of software than Connect, I think somebody described it rightly as Cant-Connect. What an absolutely piece of useless junk. I have had so many crashes, re-boots file deletions, file corruptions. The Library on the player is completely F****d up now but i'm not going through the hours of endless nightmares trying to re-install everything.

Let's hope Sony take note and do something about this piece of C**p soon otherwise i can see it damaging the player itself. It makes me laugh, well cry, when the damn program crashes when it tells you DO NOT DISCONNECT as if I have a choice.

FWIW I read this thread, and a load of other stuff slating the connect software. I did still buy a NW-A3000 a couple of days ago, and it works albeit with some quirks. Below is exactly what I did, hopefully it will assist someone.

First of all fully charge your new walkman with the mains cable supplied.

Then install the software it comes with on your computer, then go to Sony's site and download the latest firmware update (mines 2.01). Install that.

Initialize the disc on the walkman (thereby removing the sample tracks)

Next make sure all your music is in the right format .mp3, atrac etc. (NB it doesn't read .m4a)

Next I moved all my music to one directory, then transferred all my music ~13GB by using the "File>Import Directory" command.

Click on "Tools>Preferences.." Click on "internet" Un tick "Enable ArtistLink background service".

Close every other program on your computer.

Plug in the walkman, then wait for it to autosync. After a while it shows progress, as to tracks queued and tracks on device.

Don't worry about it using all the processor or appearing to freeze.

Obvious, but when it says " Do Not Disconnect " don't. Transfer is completed when the status of all tracks are "on device".

Next exit Connect software - "File>Exit", then use the "safely remove hardware" icon on the desktop toolbar. Remove USB cable, hopefully the walkman's display will show some building blocks and say "creating library".

Success !

It certainly took a while 2 hours maybe, and showed an error on 6 tracks out of ~2300.

Worth the hassle, as the player sounds as good as it looks.

Just wasted a Christmas holiday pissing about with the NW-A3OOO to get it to work properly and I have just decided enough is enough even if they bring out a patch or an up date to get the thing to work I am no longer mentally stable enough to install it UP YOURS SONY Im off to get a refund and buy something that works looking sexy is not all that matter MR SONY. Good Luck to the rest of you.

Got nwa3000 for christmas.. great meachine, crappy software, i use sonicstage right now but it does'nt support every aspect of a player.. :/

sony made beautiful but rather rough piece of equipement :/

yep sony's nw-a1000 looks good but thats about it
how can it be so difficult to transfer music crap software crap sony !!!!!!!!! should have bought the i-pod

i had to have a replacement mp3 player as previous one crashed sso i thought i would have the nw a3000, got it home and found out i could carry on using sonic stage so that was ace. until.... had a new pc for xmas and though id put connect on see what its like, imported a load of new cds and cant get the fricken thing to transfer to player!!!!! it just wont work!

so have tryed downloading sonicstage again but now i cant get it to find all the cds on CONNECT! what the hell do i do now? i imported 25 cds ! please help me im in a furniture destroying mood!

1 - Apple and their baby Ipod know about computers - that is how they cut their teeth.

2 - Creative Audio and their babies know about computers - that is how they cut their teeth.

3 - Sony are an audio/visual outfit who know nothing about computers. They are years behind the game. Is it any wonder they do not work?

The answer is don't buy an Apple Mac or Creative Audio TV and don't buy a Sony MP3 player. We must all remember Daewoo who were OK at cars who then tried Audio. Would you buy a car from Sony?

Just to clarify -

Don't but a TV from Apple or Creative Audio - Their game is computers. Buy their computer stuff instead - including Mp3/etc players.

Similarly - don't buy any computer stuff from Sony - they know about visual and audio - and the audio is not PC based.

Get that pretty bit of tat is out of your house and have something that works. Return your machines.

Let Sony swirl in their own complacency

I think that the problem is a lot of people got the players for Christmas, didn't read the prior posts in their excitement, and therefore didn't download the software patch/update. Try doing this before writing and complaining.

Well I have installed the update and it makes no difference......I have a seriously fast PC with 2GB ram, and still it grinds to a halt. Come on Sony, I trusted your brand !!

Ha Ha, Experience the new Walkman. LIKE NO OTHER...At least they got their slogan right. Dopes.

Well I upgraded to Sonics Stage 3.3 and now my NWHD1 is unable to connect to my computer. Version 2.3 has vanished so great work Sony - only option to initialize ATRAC Device. Haven't a clue where my original SonicStage disk might be.

Was really impressed with the player itself, but the software is a completely different story. I find it hard to believe that they are made by the same company, especially as its Sony

I got the NW-A1000 as a Christmas present. I installed and reinstalled the software over and over again, each time 'successful' however the programme simply doesn't open even though my pc meets the system requirements. I'm currently using Sonic Stage - at least I can get my music onto the player but I can't use all the special functions this otherwise superb piece of kit has meaning I'm not getting what my parents so generously paid for. GIVE US SOME DECENT SOFTWARE SONY!

The connect software is so rubbish! It takes ages to load and is very unresponsive.
Oh - and its automatic ID3 tagging is so crap it even alters the tags of music downloaded from SONY'S OWN CONNECT STORE with incorrect tag information (getting the artist wrong)!

Hey all....same comments here - great device - bad software.

Simple question (maybe) - I just upgraded to Sonicstage 3.3 and like some others here, am getting an error when I try and attach device. Telling me I must delete all tracks (I have over 3000 loaded) or initialize.

Initialize? Should I reload the 3.3 software with the unit attached? Do I have to delete everything just because I upgraded to 3.3 or is there more firmware upgrade for the device somewhere?

help.

thanks..........

sony connect player SHIT.

I get no track information displayed in libary.
SONY U SUCK EGGS.

The Sony Connect software is a shambles of shit. I'm glad i'm not the only one who is in complete disbelief that such a brilliant device can have such a useless excuse for software shipped with it.

This morning was the final straw, after it took 2 and a half minutes to start up, felt the need to modify all of my ID3 tags to mumbo jumbo, then crash halfway through transferring music to the device.

I will now embark on a quest to find a person more annoyed than myself (and with more programming skill and patience) who would have been kind enough to write their own software - Software to put Connect out of its misery like a decrepit racehorse.

All the same problems; the connect software doesn't work!

I installed connect player and downloaded all the updates. It appeared to work ok at first and I transferred 3 albums, but the next day the software won't even load! I've reinstalled the software a few times and nothing!

A temporary solution that worked for me:

I've managed to get some music on my A3000 buy downloading sonic stage 3.3. This allows me to transfer tracks onto the player (at least for the time being). Unfortunately, some of the functions on the player require the connect software, but hopefully these will work when sony release a working version of the software.

I hope this helps someone. I can't beleive such a big company could release such a badly written piece of software. They must have known it doesn't work and just released it for christmas anyway, hoping that most people would wouldn't mind using their player as a paper weight for a few months!

Got the NW-A1000 for Christmas, had no problems with the software and have managed to get loads of albums on it but I just can't get the artist link feature to work or the rating feature and a few others are not lit up. I keep geting the message "please connect compliant software", the ratings feature did work once but now it won't work at all, I don't know if I should take it back or not.
I have upgraded to the new firmware but this hasn't made any difference.

Well further to my previous post, took mine back to the shop for a refund, and bought a Creative Zen instead. Yes, it's bigger and heavier and doesn't look as smart, but it's so easy to use, absolutely no faffing about, everything worked first time. I'm not highly skilled in these things, but I'd definitely recommend it if you want something easy to use.

hey,
I've found that you can use the Link function even if you're using sonicstage.
Just do all the transferring of songs in sonicstage, then when youve done that load up the connect software with your walkman connected. It's a total ball ache but at least it makes the link function work and stops all those error messages about using the wrong software.
However, from experience the link function tends not to come up with what I would class as "related" artists even though I have split my music into genres, has anybody else found this?

The Sony Walkman looks good - I bought one for my girlfriend this Christmas - bad idea, wish i had gone for the Ipod now.

I have the same problems with the connect software - tinyhttp just maxes my PC out!!

The software occasionally transfers music onto the player, oh that is of course after I've waited 10 minutes or so for Connect to start up :(

Before some of you shout about checking firmware - I'm on 2.01 and my PC is adequately fast.

Stick to what you're good at Sony - you know the Sony walkman cassette player you first produced in the 20th Century!

I got my A1000 for Christmas, it's brilliant, i've loaded on the V2 firmware and had WMA's working on it, i've implemented the volume hack which means i can hear it over background noise finally.... connect... hmmm. well it's been installed and uninstalled possibly about 15 times on my pc which has 2.5GB RAM and an AMD 32BIT 2.16GHZ cpu... It's just buggy and awful, about time Sony released an update, surely they should have a team working day and night to resolve this by now, they clearly know they have problems.

is there anyway of using my new NW A1000 through my apple mac?
there must be a way round the incompatibility! i dont want to take it back and i dont want an i-pod. sony i hate you, ive had it since xmas day and cant put any music on it. help me:
cerealkiller_17@hotmail.com

*************************************************
If you CAN'T GET THE PROGRAM TO EVEN OPEN go to C:\Program Files\Sony\CONNECT Player and try clicking on the application

tinyhttp
CONNECT Player
Sony Corporation

rather than the option for the actual player or any of the shortcuts from the desktop or start menu. I don't know if this is a fairly obvious point but i know nothing about computers and discovered, by clicking on it by accident, that for some reason this method works. I had previously reinstalled connect player about a million times and downloaded sonicstage 3.3 a few times and could get neither of them to open. connect player is now working fine, i've had no problems with it since i worked out how to actually open it.
hope this is useful for anyone having the same problem

Natalie

And i thought it was just me until i stumbled here! All sentiments re. the software are echoed it is beyond awful. 2 weeks and i have no songs on it also the auto update that is being sent either does nothing or crashes my pc.

i got a sony nw a1000 for christmas have managed to put 152 songs on it but now connect player wont even open. I am going to take my mp3 player back and get an i pod nano see if i have any luck with that. SONY IS SHIT.

It's fair to say that Sony have fcuked up. Both Connect and SonicStage are a discrace to Sony and hopefully by now the developers have been sacked or assasinated. I wonder how many other people have noticed that there are some CD's out there that theres players don't like and therefore refuse to transfer... I have a library of 952 MP3 tracks, Connect player only detects 763 and will only transfer 615. If Sony don't offer a resonable replacement they will crash along with their already tarnished reputation. I reccomend the NWA 1000 to showoff's,because that's all it's worth,if you want any use out of it you're fcuked just like Sony.

Got my AV3000 this morning, lovely machine, and just like everyone here im having nothing but trouble with the Connect player, very tempted to send this back and get a Creative Zen because I know the software works great.

Sony this this Connect player rubbish out its pathetic!

What can i say,that hasn't been said already, I love my NW-A1000!! But Connect player is a joke, I've used minidiscs and the Sonicstage software without any grief for years. I bought the A1000 before Christmas to try to be different from all the ipod lot and to show loyalty to Sony.
After loading and updating Connect, Sonicstage and the firmware I still can't get all the track info (years to get time machine shuffle to work properly). Also it seems to duplicate files on my harddrive, so at the moment I have 900 tracks saved in Sonicstage and then my Connect player ate a 900 track hole in my PC harddrive too, Come on Sony were we all mugs to back you?!?!?!?!?

i got a purple nwa-1000 looks amazing but the shitty software they supply with it is driving me crazyy one minute it will open the next its gone then all my tracks will disapear its a load of crap.
SORT THIS SHIT OUT

i got the NW-A1000 and it think it is ace looks nice handles great sounds gorgous there is a way around the EU sound limiter it was mentioned above but incase any1 missed that the link it is http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html
connect will be solved soon with any hope but untill then dont buy an ipod!! itunes may be a dream but i dont know any1 who hasnt had a problem with thier ipod, i think mine melted inside lol i burnt my hand picking it up and it wasnt even playing a song.
every moment has its music
keep the faith!!!

Hi again

So here is some news (a few days old, but I haven't seem them in this thread)

CPlayer is SHIT! BUT, Sony has now actually hired a man from the old Mac software development, so maybe theres gonna be some great updates on this shity software soon, I hope so..

Same views as every one, nice NW-A3000, but garbage software.

The Connect software just doesn't work. It does just about everything wrong.

I fails to find music that I have (200 plus albums in WMA format in one directory 'my music')

It then fails to import the missing albums.

When I then dig out the original cd and rip it using conect, I can get it to the player, but the pc library knows nothing about it.

Every time I conect the player to the pc I have to wait 15 minutes while the conect software detects what is on the player.

It also gets album artist information confused. It turned Iommi by Tommy Iommi into twelve artist/albums. And this seems impossible to correct. It also did this with my Roger Waters the Wall live in Berlin.

why cant I delete an entire album from the device, and get rid of it from the device without connecting to the pc.

As well as the above, it crashes, freezes, and hogs 100% of my cpu.

Things have got to get better quickly, as I'm getting ready to return the item to amazon.

Does anyone have a link where I can download the Connect Player software?

I've lost my CD and don't want to revert back to SonicStage. That's where all the links direct me. Not now that I've managed to get 3000 tracks across to my NWA3000.
Post here or email me at jonny.oliver@gmail.com

Cheers

o Nick - been there, done that. SonicStage doesn't copy over any date info so even if u did what i do and use CONNECT just to get favourite 100 to work time machine won't.
o The best way to get CONNECT working is to wrap yourself in a wolfskin, paint your mouse with red stripes and sacrifice an small Ipod shuffle.
o I use SS 3.3. It ain't fab but it works. Oh, an I found a charming lady at Sony who sent me the following email. Shes called Hayley. Don't be too mean..I know her spelling isn't great :-)

"
Dear Mr R*********

Thank you for your recply.

As you are aware it is possible to use the SonicStage software with the NW-A1000, however this will limit which functions you are able to use on the Walkman itself. At this current time we are not planning to launch a patch for the SonicStage software to make it 100% compatible, though we are working on upgrades for the Connect Player Software.

Currently we are aware that there is a problem with the software build version 1.0.00.10183, and these issues are being looked to be resolves as soon as possible. You can download a patch that will update the software to build version 1.0.02.11170 by clicking on the following link: .

This should then solve the problem you are having, however if this does not assist please do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to investigate further.

Finally, if you need to reply to this e-mail, please quote reference ********** in the subject field of your e-mail.

With Regards

Hayley Marks
For and on behalf of
Sony United Kingdom Limited

SUK.generalCIC@eu.sony.com
"

If you do send anything make it constructive please people. I'll post the next one, I asked whether SS will support .wma copying and if not what are Sony gunna do about it? Exciting eh?
o The volume hack is fantastic.
o The firware update DOES NOT mean the machine needs reloading - is more likely CONNECT k.o'ed the database.
o SS orders songs with numbered 1st on the players list and CONNECT with alphabetical 1st - i.e on mine 13 stitches is first with SS, Achilles Heel 1st with CONNECT
o And one final thing. My girlfriend has a nano. Its battery lasts an hour. Sooner or later there will be a winamp plugin/WMP plugin/Realplayer plugin. You can patch crap software. You can't patch crap hardware.
o and don't get nerdy with me about firmware, that doesn't really count.

Blutack,
I'll support your comments about the Nano. Two guys at work have them, one a 4gig the other a 2gig. Neither of them get more than about 1hr play time if they have the volume up to full and they play higher-bitrate (> 128) mp3 files. They need the volume on full because the nanos are not powerful enough to drive decent buds.
The Sony software may be shite, but as you say, that can be fixed and there are workarounds. The guys at work are stuck with their nanos' batteries - 1hr playtime even though they are less than a few months old - what will they be like in a year's time?
The Sony hardware is the best that money can buy in terms of audio quality, battery life, build quality, ergonomics, usability and overall aesthetic design.
Sony have just appointed a new Vice President of Software Development, hopefully he will sort out the mess quickly and we can all look forward to DAP nirvana!

Oh my good god. I thought sonic stage was bad I now take it all back, sonic stage is wicked. I think that Sony have done this all as an elaborate way of making you and I remember Sonic Stage through rose tinted spectacles. Well for me its worked. I remember those heady days when I could turn on my computer, insert a cd and with relatively little effort, transfer music to my portable device. I might even have a browse on the internet while I waited, oooh bliss. Now All I have is a purple pebble that looks nice, spoilt my Christmas and would skim beautifully if launched across a lake. I plan to drill a hole in the top put some string through it and give it to my girlfriend for Valentines day. At least that way I might get something passionate back maybe that will quell my ever increasing passionate hate of all shit that is sony.

Thanks for the e mail address, Blutack. I have just sent the following:

"I bought a Sony NW-A3000 in part because I had faith in the Sony brand. I am not disappointed in the player itself, which seems to be excellent. However, in common with most people, I am having a terrible time with the Connect Player software. As you will know, without this, it is impossible to load tracks onto the machine. I have succeeded in getting some tracks onto the machine - it took a very long time, but we got there in the end; but now I can't load up any new tracks.

I am on the verge of taking the machine back to the shop to ask for a refund.

Is there any prospect of a patch for Connect Player which is going to fix these problems in the near future - I can't wait too long or the shop will tell me that I have "accepted" the device and can no longer return it?

I have always had good experiences with Sony in the past - but £200 is a lot of money for a device which is at present largely useless to me."

Sigh .... I can't even download the SonicStage software since every time I do the install it gets to the reboot part and a message crops up asking where it can find some information on a disk - what bloody disk would that be then?

I saved up for ages for this thing. Ive never had alot of money and i got a job especially for this. Imagine how gutted i was after a months working around exams at school that the software didnt work.

Fuck you sony, i hope you all die in car fires.

Want to open CONNECT software?
Want full usage of all functions of device using Sonic 3.3 to laod?
The following worked for me with many thanks to the contributers of this site.

1.Download latest firmware update 2.01(from Sony web site)
2.Re install latest version of Sonic 3.3(Sony web)more to follow

Want to open CONNECT software?
Want full usage of all functions of device using Sonic 3.3 to laod?
The following worked for me with many thanks to the contributers of this site.

1.Download latest firmware update 2.01(from Sony web site)
2.Re install latest version of Sonic 3.3(Sony web)more to follow

After step 1+2 it is possible to transfer files to sonic in many formats(wma,mp3 etc)
When tracks are loaded on Sonic 3.3 library transfer to device manually.Enjoy!
3.TO GET USAGE OF ALL FUNCTIONS ON DEVICE
A.Re-install latest version of CONNECT software
(IGNORE STEP A. IF LATEST VERSION INSTALLED,even if presented with Tiny http error)
more to follow.

3. continued, To open CONNECT software
B.Go to C:\Program Files\Sony\CONNECT Player
double click on tiny http file.
CONNECT THEN OPENED AND WAS OPERATIONAL FROM DESK TOP ALSO
C.connect device to USB with CONNECT running(remember to close down Sonic when doing this)
D.Re move device safely from USB and enjoy all those extra features!!!
more to follow

Continued,
Steps 3.C+ 3D REQUIRE TO BE REPEATED AFTER ANY NEW TRACKS ARE ADDED TO THE DEVICE THROUGH SONIC 3.3
i.e. to regain those features have to run CONNECT and attach device to USB again.

N.B. My CONNECT library was empty during all the above.
Good luck all you fellow sufferers.

I have the Sony Vaio Pocket 40GB MP3 player (, and have had similar complaints with the functions (or lack thereof) of teh software, however, it has never crashed and has always transferred all my music (300 CDs so far).

GO TO THIS LINK
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000309ZLW/qid=1136431246/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl23/104-8721840-5683930?n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance

....at Amazon and read the "spotlight review". A guy posts what you need to do to get it to work.
It gives all the links to software and firmware that Sony does not post! (Japan sites with the english version) I asked Sony Why this is, and they had no answers. Why is it that there are TWO OTHER VERSIONS of updates to this software available and Sony does not even know about them?????

I did this and I have been o.k for about 9 month now.

However, I just found out about Sonic Stage 3.3 a few days ago.
If you download this newest version of Sonic Stage 3.3, which gives you more options (ratings, etc.) beware - Sony has told me that you have to REFORMAT THE DRIVE before you can connect the player and transfer again. This isn't a big deal for the music, since after the upgrade, all my music is still there in "My Library". It's just scary....I'll repost if I am successful.

i bought the nw3000 on the 28th of december. i installed it, put my music on it and it seemed to work good at first. i transfered 10 gig of music t on it. i went to rename and delete some stuff the next day and it would delete a a different song than what i clicked
so i uninstalled it and installed it again.now...fuc**in connect wount even load.i took it back to the retailer and said the software was shit. i even printed out some of these forums and showed them what people are putting up with. i ordered the 30 gig ipod video and it kicks sonys a*s

sonys website says i cant get the newest software version 2.01 as i have to have version 1.01 and i have 1.0 ...what happens if i do it anyway...and what does version 2.01 do...

i meant to say firmware version...my bad

Update.

I spotted a link in Amazon that recommended using sonic stage for loading music into my NW-A3000, so tried this last night.

1) Downloaded sonic stage 3.3 fro Sony
2) Imported my music into the sonic library
3) Correct the problems with albums splitting into.
4) Turned on the MP3 player and reformatted the drive.
5) connect the MP3 player to the pc
6) Loaded my entire collection onto the MP3 player.

All this was painless, and very quick.

Only one problem, it refused to transfer about 30% of my music, either full albums or parts of. These are all in WMA format, ripped from my own CD collection.

Any ideas ???

Thanks

o You do not need to reformat to use SS. I managed to load about half my player with CONNECT, then added the rest with SS. It works fine, though slower than when loaded with SS alone.
o OOOOOH! look what I just got. I hope you too can take the time to fill it in...

"


Dear Mr./Ms. ******,

Thank you for registering your new Sony product.

We hope you are pleased with your experience of Sony so far. As we value our customers and are always looking for ways to improve our products and services, we would very much like to hear your views.

http://www.millwardbrown.nl/sony/27689/default.asp?id=0894786700004065&rd=13090505&c=gb&l=en&g=1&pr=272358

Many thanks in advance for taking a little time to help us serve you better.

Best wishes,
Your Sony Team

o Yep
o To turn on hold when the player is off, turn it on, pause a song and then put hold on. It turns off after 15s with hold on.
o Sam, firmware 1.1 sorts out some Japanese character id3 tag issues from what I understand. You don't need 1.1 to put on 2.1 - I didn't. 2.1 allows the player to play .wma natively...if you are a chosen one who can get CONNECT to work. SS won't import I guess.
o Its still worth installing 2.1, as it speeds up player loading times a bit.
o I was like Jimdaslim at first. But SS is still crap. How many of you guys would use it over Winamp or whatever jukebox you use normally? Its just more stable.
o Andrew and others - you don't need to sort out the mess SS makes of albums. The player itself sorts it out.
o Eric - thanks but does the transfer thing work with A series? Its just an update, not a program.
o Lets get as many reviews done as possible people. Mess up their bar charts enough that someone with some power notices.

I'm using the Connect software and it's working fine.

Initially I had some problems with it when I was trying to do too much at once. Now I'm just transferring 30 albums at a time and it takes about 5 minutes to do that.

It hangs rarely, but for the mostpart it's doing its job. It's not perfect by any means, but I'm not having the epic problems people on here seem to be experiencing.

Ummm. Got my NWA3000 today and it works fine. Software updated by itself and is ripping and transferring no problem (except it keeps telling me it would be faster if I used USB 2). Its a little slow and it occasionally hangs for a short time but overall works adequately. This is my first MP3 player so I don't have much to compare it ot except my old minidisc player which used Sonic Stage (which crashed all the time so I actually PREFER Connect!)

An e-mail reply to Sony UK after asking to fill out a questionaire on my PC set-up as they were not aware of the problems i was experiencing.

Hi

I'm sorry but I've decided enough is enough. The software just will not work at all now after installing & re-installing several times, upgrading to the latest versions etc, I'm not a computer newcomer, I have a vast amount of knowledge about computers. You get about 1 cd onto the player and the program crashes again, then it takes another 10 - 15 minutes to re-loaded the software and retrieve the info off the player etc.

I am not prepared to spend any further time with this, life is just too short, I'm returning the player to where I purchased it for a refund & will purchase an Ipod instead, something I really did not want to do as I think the player itself looks, acts and sounds brilliant, when you can get anything onto it. My computer has now started hanging and crashing even when the connect player software isn't running so it looks like it's screwed my PC up too and will have to sort that out.

Oh yes! One further thing. After registering my player online I received an e-mail voucher for a free album from the connect store. I can't access connect store from my main PC, yet another thing in the software that doesn't work, so I used my Laptop to access the store, which worked. I chose an album and entered the voucher code sent and was told that the voucher was invalid as it was out of date or had already been used, how can this be when I only used it on the day I received it.

All in all I have wasted a vast amount of my time over my xmas holiday trying to use the software etc and have got nothing in return. After being a Sony customer for many years, having had Minidisc, original walkmans etc as well as most other electrical items wearing the Sony badge, I feel it's time to move on.

Sorry!! I wonder if you at Sony are.

I got the NW30000 for christmas, boy what a mistake that was. The player was great but the software just kept failing. I tried it on two computers and spent hours ripping my albums onto the hard drive. The software kept crashing on both computers. It is a total waste of time. I cannot get it off the computer now, the remove file was corrupted when it crashed! I have deleted all the files but it is still in the system registry and I cannot tamper with that! I have phoned Sony UK, they charge a premium rate phone call to speak to someone. Their customer service sucks! They deny there is problem!! They say it is all to do with my computer. I have phoned several newspapers to tell them about this fiasco. The more people that do the same the quicker it will become headlines (like the Nano) and then maybe Sony will get its butt in gear. Anyway, i have sent it back to where I bought it to get a full refund. I will by an ipod insted and will never touch a Sony product again. They have wasted days of my time.

Its amazing that they DARE to ship this software. I have had my nw1000 for a week now and now im returning it. The root kit was bad, but compared to connect.. No more sony for me.

has anybody had a sensible reply, or the decency of a reply (even a default one) from Sony. 5 emails and 1 phone call and not even an acknowledgement. Useless.

BTW player and connect were working a treat until last weekend when connect decided to wipe the data on the player....

.... and another thing - we actually managed to get our free album but it took nine - yes nine minutes - (on a 2mb broadband service) for connect to find the tracks and pull it up as a web page.

Huh - free bloody album my arse.
I have a Vaio pocket music player so I registered with CONNECT to try to get the free album. I had the same problem as above, the code was out of date. Bastards.
Now my daughter, who also uses the same computer, cannot register her nwa1000 because the simpleton arseholes won't let more than one registration through PER COMPUTER!
What are these people on?

RAMPANT TWATTERY FROM SONY AGAIN.

How about spamming the BBC's Watchdog????

http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/

Some prime time -ve publicity for Sony might speed things up???

I've had the same problems as most & I'm running a top line Athlon teamed up with 1 gig ramm & SATA and I never known software hang like this....
Its messed up my Bios & Raid drivers on top of the "standard" errors reported with the connect software..

am i the only one who get ......... cannot locate the files required to open the database file. exiting sonic stage.
and i downloaded 3.3 over and over i just bought the nwe307 for my daughter for christmas and thats all i get when i download software please if anyone can help me send message to ivoryhayes@hotmail.com

********* MY NWA-3000 IS WORKING!!! *********

Sorry to rub it in everyone's faces, but the secret to the Connect software working is a high spec computer. You probably already know that.

Here's the deal. I just bought a new PC from Dell. 3.0GHz processor, 1GB RAM. We all know that the software just loves to eat RAM, but with the update, I have had no problems with it. It must have taken just over an hour to import almost 3000 songs, and it didn't crash. Then I left it overnight to transfer, and in the morning, voila! All my music was on it.

So please don't give up on the software; I'm sure Sony are now very well aware that it's pants. But the player itself is awesome so I advise you to stick with it and BE PATIENT!! I'm guessing a USB 2.0 connection sped up the file transfer aswell.

Be persistent. Don't give up on the little fella.

Jonny

Update,

Seems that my latest problem is with music that is copy protected. My music is all rippped in as wma files. An example album is Aerosmith "get a grip", which according to windows media player has a license, but I can do anything I want with it, everything is unlimited.

Does anyone know how to remove the copy protection from albums in a diretory.

Thanks

o Firmware 1.1 sorts out some japanese id3 tag issues. 2.1 plays .wma (if you get CONNECT working). You don't need 1.1 to install 2.1
o If sony havvn't asked you to help them help you yet, here is a link to the questionairre.
http://www.millwardbrown.nl/sony/27689/default.asp?id=0894786700004065&rd=13090505&c=gb&l=en&g=1&pr=272358

"

Dear Mr./Ms. ***********,

Thank you for registering your new Sony product.

We hope you are pleased with your experience of Sony so far. As we value our customers and are always looking for ways to improve our products and services, we would very much like to hear your views.

Many thanks in advance for taking a little time to help us serve you better.

Best wishes,
Your Sony Team

"

As a user of this device since early November I'm wondering how long it will be until Jonny stumbles accross all the other problems that I and lots of other people have been experiencing since an apparent glitch free first installation and transferal of choonage.
I have now lost faith and won't be purchasing anything Sony again.

In response to Jonny's comment. How powerful a computer do you need? Mine is a Pentium 4 2.7Ghz with 512mb Ram.

I have upgraded the Connect Player to the latest version. The program starts working o.k when transfering music files but gets slower and slower until it finally stops working. It uses nearly 100% ram.

Sony specifies a minimum of 256mb ram but recommends 512mb. It is the most abysmal piece of software I have ever encountered.

I would advise everybody to send a email to the following guy at Sony Europe detailing their problems / displeasure: UK.GeneralCIC@eu.sony.com

I run an Apple suite of computers for a living - wanted something different for my leisure time. My xmas present to myself was going to be an mp3 player. Bought A3000 and asked Sony guy if it was Mac and PC compatible. Slightly shocked at PC only, but went ahead as I have both at home. Love the player - audio so much better than wife's iPod and looks way more attractive. Connect software worked for 2 days... long story short is I have to use Windows Media Player to Gracenote the tracks and Sonic Stage to load them. At least it doesn't crash the machine any more. Spoke to Sony helpline. They say they're under seige. Can't believe that not only is it not iTunes compatible, but it doesn't even try to import existing iTunes files... big mistake Sony... but I'm holding on for the software fiasco to be resolved as the player is so good.

I tried to get an email to UK.GeneralCIC@eu.sony.com but they seem to have closed it down - anybody got another contact

Can anyone help? I got the black NW-A3000 for x-mas and as of yet have experienced no problems with the new 'Connect' software. However, my battery life seems to last nowhere near the claimed 35hrs (it seems more like six). Is this a common problem or something that I could have brought on myself e.g leaving the player charging overnight? All tracks have been encoded into MP3 format at 192kbps using itunes. Additionally I am using the 'jazz' equalizer, could this dramatically reduce battery life iwhen in used in conjunction with the bit rate of the tracks and 'scrolling time'? Any reassurance on this subject could help me sleep a little easier. Thanks in advance!

I HATE SONY AS MUCH AS I HATE JUDO AND I HATE JUDO SO MUCH THAT IF IT COMES ON THE TELLY DURING THE OLYMPICS I'D RATHER WATCH THE NEWS!

You just need an unbelievably high-spec machine!

However, whenever I try to use Connect Software on my other computer, it takes about 30 minutes to load up, and eventually crashes... Completely and utterly useless. And overly frustrating.

But on the 'good' PC, software loads straight away, it ripped and transferred a dozen albums in a row, and then onto transfer 1000+ songs from the music folder to the player. Verrry happy. Best MP3 player around by far.....such a shame hardly anyone will get along with Connect!

A wonderful MP3 player that is ruined by software which appears to be an afterthought by Sony. Like "lets make an Ipod beating MP3 player that looks and sounds fantastic". Then "Oh yeah the software, give 'em this Connect shit and hope no-one notices"
By the way, that volume hack works a treat. Thanks guys!

Well all hail sony !

Just a little something for you guys suffering with major problems with the connect software . The connect software for my a-3000 wouldn't even work on my computer at all and i had to ring sony twice for advice . The first guy was useless and promised me an instructional email on steps to take to try makle the software work - did i ever recieve the email ? No !

Second time i rang i actually got a very helpful guy and he told me how to totally bypass using the connect software all together . So for all you poor people that are pulling your hair out , here is the answer to your prayers .

Download the old software that sony used to use called 'sonic stage' avaliable at the following resource ,

http://www.connect-europe.com

Ok there are no drag and drop features but you can mass select files in a folder by right clicking , selecting all tracks and choosing the select option . It works fine , bit slow on converting wma files but thats all . I have successfully downloaded a full 20 gib onto my
a-3000 and the transfers were all relatively fast . No technical hitches , the software runs fine and is compatible with both the new machines .

Everybody i hope that this stops your screams

Enjoy .

Cyberjunkee .

Tada, follow up to my comment above

I got a reply from Sony support yesterday. Here it is:

Dear Mr ***

Thank you for your recent enquiry.

I was sorry to read about the problems you are experiencing with the Connect software, I can understand this must be disappointing and frustrating. I can also assure you that the best is being done at the moment to get the software to the best working order possible so you are able to enjoy the using the product to its best potential.

Currently we are aware of issues with the software build version 1.0.00.10183, and these issues are being looked to be resolves as soon as possible. You can download a patch that will update the software to build version 1.0.02.11170 by clicking on the following link: .
However if you already have this version or after updating it, you are still having problems please fill in the below questionnaire so we can investigate the issue further.

Product Information

· Model Number:
Serial Number.
Connect Player Version:
To find this please use the following steps;
· Launch the Connect Player software
· Click on the [HELP] menu
· Select the [About Connect Player] option
· A window will be displayed containing the relevant information.

Computer Information

· Manufacturer and Model:
· Operating System:
Service Pack Version:
· Is the PC Factory or Home Built?
· Was the current Operating System factory installed?
· Has the PC been upgraded in any way. If so, How?

Software Information

· Which software was supplied?
· Have you had the software working previously?
· Have you downloaded any other Versions? If so, from which URL (website address)?

Installation Problems

· Was there an error message? If so, what was the EXACT text of the error message?
· Did the computer freeze?
· Did you stop the installation at anytime? If, so, how long had it been running?

Operational problems

· Please describe the problem and the exact moment it occurs?
· Was there an error message? If so, what was the EXACT text of the error message?
· Has anything changed on the PC, since the software last worked? For example downloads, moved, installed/removed programs?
· Has computer been re-booted since problems occurred?
· What audio source are you using and what format is the audio file?
· If the audio file is not from a CD, where did it come from?

Finally, if you need to reply to this e-mail, please quote reference 16*****44 in the subject field of your e-mail.

With Regards

Hayley Marks
For and on behalf of
Sony United Kingdom Limited

Feel free to copy the questionnaire and send a copy back to Hayley, the email address is SUK.generalCIC@eu.sony.com

Somone earlier commented on battery life being rather less than 35 hours. Sony say that if the player is used below 5°C (41°F) the battery life is shorter. This is apparently a characteristic of the battery which they forgot to document in the adverts.

Hi

Ref to the copy of the e-mail above from Sony UK. This is a standard e-mail that Sony are sending to anybody who contacts them regarding the Connect Player software.

I completed this questionaire and returned to them. I received a reply saying my comments had been passed to the technical department, as of yet i have heard nothing more back, that was several weeks ago now.

EUREKA! MY A1000 NOW WORKS PERFECTLY!!
Thank you Andrew McKenna post on 5th Jan. I followed your steps and now EVERY FUNCTION on my A1000 works like a dream. All of my tracks are saved and transferred with SS 3.3, Connect player library is empty and I guess is used just to verify the data.
At least we can all now get every function to work without relying on Connect Player. P.S. I DON'T HAVE A FLASH PC Just a bog standard one. There's hope for us all, you never Know Sony may catch up soon!?!?!?

Hello,
How many very disappointed kids are there around just now and how many frustrated parents wasting their time because Sony have apparently callously put a product on the market that doesn't seem to work at all?Only the most basic Anglo-Saxon terminology can express what i think about Sony at present.Just rake in the money and to hell with the customers...and i thought dealing junk was illegal.
Bob Spinks and daughter.

I can`t believe what some people write on here,`my player works fine but then it is built like Richard Priors supercomputer off Superman3.
Try installing connect then uninstall super duper sonicstage3.3 then stand in a bowl of water and put your finger in a light socket,then reinstall Connect and it will transfer 35songs in 2 hours.
Sony want a good stiffing off the trade description act!

Reply to NICK posted 8th Jan.
I am glad the info. you read from my post 5TH JAN
was helpful and your anknowledgement was most appreciated.
At this stage of the development of Connect software I can see no reason to use it other than to link those extra features after loading through Sonic 3.3 .That way it is not necessary to convert all files to Sony`s restictive (ATRAC,omg ) format which is neither helpful,useful or compatible with other software(wma,mp3,etc) and life is too short to wait for all those conversions!!!!

P.S. I hope all the readers of this site enjoy the twelve days of Christmas in 2006 in place of the twelve days of CONNECT hell they have had this year.
A message for Sony.
I have bought many products from your company over the years,from the original WALKMAN DD WITH ADDITIONAL GRAPH EQ to a number of TRINITRON TV`s,CD players,cassette decks(TC-FX150 + others)and lately digital TV receivers.I have been pleased with all of these products but cannot understand why you have ruined the SONY brand by bringing this CONNECT software to market clearly untried,untested and unoperational for the use it was intended!!!

I was bought the 1000 for crimbo by my boyf after after asking for an ipod, but he pursuaded me that the sony 1000 was better.... what a load of horse shit.I agree that the hardware is a pretty sexy thing but after 3 bottles of wine 60 fags and trying all night to get some fucking songs on the bastard thing me and my boyf are over. I really wish I could listen to something other than bloody hypnotize or paperface. This morning I tried again failing and throwing the mouse at the wall. Im so glad I found this site as now I know its not me!!!PLEASE HELP!!!!!! or the walkman gets it!!!!

After reading everybody else's tales of woe i thought i'd add my bit of fuel to the fire.
Bought my black A1000 at the beginning of December, took one look at it and had to have it, superb quality piece of kit with brilliant sound quality (made better with the volume 'hack') i even bought the remote control as well although i think it should already come bundled with it as a lot of other Minidiscs etc. have it as standard. The ear buds aren't brilliant but get yourself some EX-71's and you'll be more than happy.
This is my second unit, the first one i returned after speaking to Sony tech support, yes, i actually got through !!!!!
Connect installed fine and updated ok (.11170) but after ripping a load of cd's in Atrac3plus (very slow it is too!!!) it kept corrupting music files on transfer, unfortunately the replacement unit did exactly the same thing.
Lost count of the number of times i reinstalled it in the hope it might work.
The Connect takes AGES to load up, constantly irritates you by 'rattling' your floppy drive and takes too long to detect the drives on your PC........... and thats just for starters, the 'scrolling' doesn't, it jumps, it's a Ram glutton, uses way too much processor power and is too reliant on internet, god help you if you don't have broadband !!!
According to Sony the minimum spec for running this is a Pentium III 450 or higher and 512MB or RAM......... anyone round here got a P III with half a gig of RAM as standard ???? i doubt it very much.
Anyway, i digress, i got round the problem by using a PCI USB2 card (Belkin) i think there is a compatibility issue with my onboard ports although all drivers are up to date.
Eureka !!! i now get a good connection every time i connect my unit to PC.
Managed to get some albums onto my unit and was very happy, then an update came out (.11180) and a firmware update (2.01) installed the firmware no problem but the Connect update was a nightmare.
It corruted half of the files in my library and on the player and refused to fix itself, the files played fine in WMP10 and also SonicStage 3.3 but Connect was having none of it, tried a reinstall, no good whatsoever.
Time to use SonicStage, i know half the features don't work if you use it but it boots up quicker, lets face it, EVERYTHING boots quicker than Connect, and transfers music fine.
At least now i can use my player.
Sony, you need putting against a wall and shooting for dumping this steaming turd of a piece of software on us !!!!......... i was very interested to read that Sony have announced that the A series MP3 players won't be released into the USA yet because of issues with software not being ready.......... maybe us EU beta testers havn't been doing our jobs properly, then again, law suits in USA tend to be very expensive....... or am i just being cynical ?

im working with a 6 year old homemade pc...at this point ive got a P3 933Mh with 512RAM and a 200GB HDD...ive got thousands of music files and the only way to easily get them over is SonicStage 3.3...you dont get all the features but at least you get the music...i had my library ready after having a mini disc and after leaving the walkman alone with the computer for about 24 hours i managed to move about 5000 files...with connect i get about 10 in that time...anybody readin this thread do not use connect..it is frustrating and a waste of time...if you really want those extra features open connect after your walkman has all the music you want on it...UNTILL SONY RELEASES A WORKING VERSION OF CONNECT DONT EVEN OPEN IT...save yourself the trouble

It should be pointed out that Sony will NOT offer tech support to anyone using a home made (or hand made as they describe it) PC that doesn't have a factory installed operating system, so regardless of the quality of your system, if you put it together yourself you'll get sweet FA help from them.

Having said that there is also this disclaimer on the packaging :-
"We do not ensure trouble free operation on all computers that satisfy the system requirements"

Maybe they should change that to "We do not ensure trouble free operation of Connect player"

So there you have it, it really doesn't matter what PC you use, if it doesn't work then tough shit, it's really not their problem....... way to go Sony!

I wanna congratulate sony on their kickass new walkman, I really do, but I CANT because the software that they provided with it is the most useless piece of junk on the market! what's the deal sony?

I'm relieved to hear I'm not alone. Having fought with both SonicStage and Connect player (My GF and myself, gave each other an NWA-1000 and a Bean, to each other) over Christmas, I was beginning to think that I had missed something fundamental when installing both pieces of software. Sonic stage however is a dream compared with Connect, what a useless was of code! It also consumes my entire system resource...fails to recognise allocatd file types and persistantly hangs mid operation.

I am also deply concerned that on first sight, what should be a relatively simple set up (the software) seems to struggle to perform even the most basic functions. Microsoft can get Media player to work..what's Sony's excuse?

The deeply troubling issue with both Sonic Stage and Connect are that they require an Administrators account to run, more than that the installation instructions specifically request that the Anti-virus software be switched off during installation. (Needles to say it makes no difference) I installed the software on two seperate machines on as per instructions the other my way...no difference similar bugs, identical,, long, laoding up times and cluncky opertion.

As I type, I am trying out Sonic 3.3 and fingers crossed it's working well..still have to build the database though!

Has anybody taken this direct to the Man atop the Sony Pile? Me thinks he would be interested in sorting the faithful out with a package that works before the voices become to many and to loud! or is He too late??

Regards

Another of the Duped

Well, it's loaded, Database converted..and I am please to say (through gritted teeth) that Sonicstage 3.3 seems to be a viable piece of software. I tried the above plus a search on the Sony site, without success, however good ol' Download.com came through.

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tag=srch&qt=Sonicstage+3.3&tg=dl-20&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=+Go%21

Good luck folks.

I'm still not happy about the whole situation though, Sony should apologise for this Cock up!
How about some free music!

Regards

Finlay

Like most I have given up on Connect and I am using SonicStage. Had to find some way to get it to work cos my local Comet store won't refund me. Their policy is to send it back to Sony, and I think we all know how much good that will do. Does anybody really know if Sony are trying to correct this software problem? Their helplines are absolutely useless. They asked me if I was logged on as an administrator and if I had service pack 2 installed. Can a duck swim?

Well atleast im not the only one!

NW-A3000 brought just before x-mas. Couldnt wait, a whole 20gb of pure pleasure. Opened box, player on charge and left over night. Woke early the next morning excited about transfering my music to the device.

Installed software and after going through a stage of not even loading (would hang on the loading screen and not even open the software) it wouldnt transfer any music.

After being convinced there was a problem it got sent back to currys and they were all too happy to replace it with a new device. Once again, ive loaded the software and now the player wont even get past the "Sony connect player version 1.0" screen. Its a joke. Call me crazy but im not that happy with spending £200 on a product which i have had no use of what so ever.

My life ive been devoted to sony products, the design style etc beats the crap out of anything else out there but i can honestly say my love of sony ends here.

The helplines are helpful, the staff know fuck all about the products and what does it take to program a simple "drag and drop" function to transfer music from the comp to the device?!

From crying as i cant get it to work to the player almost being thrown out the window, ive tried everything to find nothing works.

The solution? Pack it all up and its going back to currys. Id love to walk around with the A3000, showing it off but whats the point when the only music on there is the 2 songs it came with!

Like everybody else could not get Connect Player software to operate on several high spec machines, ended up resorting to Sonic Stage with reasonable success.

I am extremely suspicious of the underlying reasons why Connect Player software is not performing in the manner one would expect, especially given the excellent hardware in the NW-A3000 etc. The stakes are just too high to make such a blunder but at the same time the software is just too blatantly faulty for someone at Sony to have not noticed they have a serious problem on their hands before they launched the software.

Looking into the library section of the Connect Software folders, it appears that each music file is proprietarily encoded in terms of file name and file contents, suggesting a high level of Sony unique encrypting going on. This perhaps suggests why, if one has a large music library, the software eventually grinds memory and CPU usage to a hault, as the level of individual file encrypting, encoding and reading consumes system resources. I successfuly loaded Connect Player onto my computer, but problems ensued as soon as I attempted to load my library into software, eventually hanging machine. After numerous attempts to trace the problem on several computers, I decided to pace the software with a fresh install and 20 file batches, observing resource usage. No question, that the software is involved in some kind of sophisticated encodong of files, the bigger the library got, the larger demand on resources until machine hanged. The question then begs why such a level of sophisticated encoding? Copyright control? Sony has a track record of defying consumer satisfaction by insisting upon insidious copyright controls? Is this why the software was allowed to circulate, as the price to pay for control, but as we are all writing here, it has seriously backfired on Sony? I notice that the USA market has been held back from these woes? Are we the guinea pigs?

I also find it very suspicious that certain users are stating that they have complete success with the software, not understanding other's complaints! I have now tested the Connect Software over 12 MACHINES, several of them high end Sony Computers - OK, some did perform better than others but eventually the software ground each machine to a hault! I speculate that, those success stories are none other than disinformation moles working to diffuse an utterly useless piece of software, buying time until the magic fix is available.

I also find it unbelievable that Sony have not responded with a clear message on their web site that they are dealing with this problem as a matter of urgency. I certainly would find comfort in such announcement as I am sure others would. The NW-A3000 player and sister products deserve such clear support! What are Sony doing? It just does not make business sense to go underground on this or not give it maximum decisive and clear support. There are plenty of examples, where large name software companies have got a release seriously wrong but they gain consumer tolerance and forgiveness by providing clear and informative support! Senior Sony executives should be sacked for such a complete lack of customer care and support - smacks of arrogance and a cover up - I wonder how much the man at the top of Sony knows of this problem? I hazard a guess that a lot of senior Sony executives are scrambling around to protect their hides!

Anyway, just to say that Sonic Stage 3.3 got files onto NW-a3000 with reasonable success. Do not try to load large batches on though as this causes this software to get stuck at a 99% transfer message! Also before I used Sonic Stage I organised all my library with i-tunes (great piece of software!), coverting where appropriate into MP3 format, into one folder. Sonic Stage picked up this folder and brought files in with out time lags.

Surely someone will come up with Media Player plugin for NW-A3000? Sony wake up, we are hanging on by the saving grace of a great piece of hardware!

The solution to the problems we are all having.

1. Do not use connect, uninstall it

2. Down load sonic 3.3

3. I you have used windows media player to rip you cd's, then any one with copy protection, or a license, will not transfer. so dig out the cd, delete the entry in sonic 3.3, re-rip it, then transfer it.

Pain in the ass, but the actual player is perfect.

God knows what state my pc is now in though, with a connect library, sonic 3.3 library, and the wm library.

I agree with Max (see just above). I think he has "hit the nail on the head" to coin a phrase. Sony are well known for their paranoia with regard to sharing music. Makes me wonder why this Connect thing uses so much memory. I think we are right to be suspicious. Well said Max!

The 'solution' to the problem is NOT to use SonicStage, that is just a work-around, the solution to the problem is for Sony to gives us a Connect Player that works properly and reliably !!!.......... imagine the trouble Sony would be in if SonicStage didn't work, it doesn't bear thinking about !!!!
As for Sony making a statement on their website about this situation, that would be an admission of them supplying goods not fit for purpose, i can't see that happening somehow can you ????.... they will continue to hide behind their system spec. disclaimers until they actually feel like doing something about it. Anyone who used the first versions of SonicStage (i was one of them) will know just how long it took them to get that somewhere near right, don't hold your breath hoping that Connect will be fixed in a few weeks !!!!
I can't help feeling that a lot of the problems come down to Sony integrating the Connect store into the software and also their apparent paranoia about DRM.

I got the NW-A1000 way back in October (remember 2005...) and once I got it working it was great. The software seemed okay and the player was a breeze to use. After about a week or so, nthe hard drive was blanked and CONNECT hadn't saved my playlist so I had to reselect 1000 songs (it made me do them 1 BY 1!!) to put back on the player. Then it came up with a corker: TRANSCODE ERROR. "WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN" I thought. This really confused me. I wouldn't let me transfer the songs that were once on the player! Then comes the best bit. I had registered it and recieved an E-mail saying I was entitled to a free album on CONNECT. At first I was concerned because of all this stuff about Sony and dodgy CD's, but I thought, what the hell, and did it. I got Demon Days by Gorillaz. No complaints with the music but then the hard drive deleted itself again! IT WOULDN'T LET ME TRANSFER DEMON DAYS TO THE PLAYER AGAIN! What are Sony doing releasing software that seems like a first draft!

All in all...
Good Player
Crap Software

I got the NW-A1000 way back in October (remember 2005...) and once I got it working it was great. The software seemed okay and the player was a breeze to use. After about a week or so, nthe hard drive was blanked and CONNECT hadn't saved my playlist so I had to reselect 1000 songs (it made me do them 1 BY 1!!) to put back on the player. Then it came up with a corker: TRANSCODE ERROR. "WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN" I thought. This really confused me. I wouldn't let me transfer the songs that were once on the player! Then comes the best bit. I had registered it and recieved an E-mail saying I was entitled to a free album on CONNECT. At first I was concerned because of all this stuff about Sony and dodgy CD's, but I thought, what the hell, and did it. I got Demon Days by Gorillaz. No complaints with the music but then the hard drive deleted itself again! IT WOULDN'T LET ME TRANSFER DEMON DAYS TO THE PLAYER AGAIN! What are Sony doing releasing software that seems like a first draft!

All in all...
Good Player
Naff Software

Max - If you check my blog you'll see that I have business ties to Sony in the UK and Europe. There's no way I can believe that Sony employs 'disinformation moles'.

My personal take on this is that the software has some serious flaws and that a large proportion of users are having problems with it. However, many users have no problems at all. The ones with no problems are less likely to enthuse about a working product (why would they expect it not to work?) and so the people with problems are a lot more visible.

I had real problems with Connect 1.0 and they didn't go away with the first update. On second update things seem to have stabilised and the software is now usable. Not brilliant, but I am not experiencing system overload from tinyhttp.

Even though my setup works I can easily believe that lots of other people are having problems, even with the latest update.

My take on the runaway tinyhttp process is that it may have something to do with the software trying to connect to GraceNote to get Artist Link info. Import a lot of tracks at once and net lag could cause problems.

As far as I am aware MP3 and WMA files aren't transcoded but they do get a DRM wrapper which I assumed was a quick 'top and tail' process rather than an encryption process. That's why since NW-HD3 file transfer has been quicker (NW-HD1 does transcode MP3 to ATRAC).

Just my opinion - and hopefully will be read without suspicion.

does anyone know of any way to delete the whole library in connect as i stupidly imported all my songs (which is about 3000) and now connect is so so slow i cant use it. The thought of having to delete every song individually is making wanna cry. It looks like you can select all on the menu but it just crashes when i try.

Claire

i finally got mine to put all my music on. The best thing is not to do a lot of music at once, probably about 1000 songs at a time.

1. start up the software
2. let it do its thing for a half hour
3. select synchronise
4. connect the player
5. go to work
6. come back after work a good 9 hours later and it should be all good

thats pretty much what i did and its all good except artist link wont work at all. It cant find any artists to link it to for some reason.

I got a sony walkman for christmas and CANNOT use it at all. It will not store ANY songs and the connect player is a complete DISGRACE to the sony industry.Now dont get me wrong,the mp3 player itself is fantastic but it's the software that really realy lets it down. Ive been looking through all of the comments on this site and found that Im not the only one who feels this way,please someone give me some advice AT ALL. It will be greatly appreciated,

Michelle.

if u want the battery life estended...buy the remote control for the player, it cuts ou the amount of the time the player is on....ive found it very useful, u can buy em on amazon.........also...are people aware the EU have a law making it illegal for player etc. to go above a certain loudness...meening, the player has a restricted volume....which can be overcome...e-mail me if u want to know how....
chris

(p.s. SOFTWARE IS CRAP!!! !$&£"*&^!)"&^!(*&%"!$%()

Bought the A3000 about a week ago .. I'm unable to install the (in)famous "Connect Player" correctly.

I'm running a newly installed win xp pro retail SP2.

For some reason at the stage in where you have to click yes to accept the license agreement, in order to proceed the actual install of the program.
the box is "hidden" beneath the "back" "next" (greyed out until you click the yes box) and "cancel" buttons. So I'm left with no option to continue ..

the step before that with region/country selection has the similar problem thou the selection box at the bottom is partial visible.

Obvious the upgrade/Patch only works if you have the connect player installed.

I've tried to work around the problem by manually installing the msi file (I actually got the program running but for some reason it wouldn't connect to the A3000)

Then I tried to apply the patch but it had the same problem as the CD version.

I've tried to extract the files from the exe patch and install the msi file like the CD version but at that point.
when I tried to run the program I just got a full screen of white nothing.

I have installed the sonicstage 3.3 but some of the features of the player dosn't work

I can't find anywhere to download a full connect player setup file, just the patch and the sonicstage program.

Any bright Ideas ???

Kim

Can anyone tell me how to put SonicStage onto a disc to load onto another computer which has no internet connection. I have downloaded it to my computer and thought I had saved it to disc but when I try to load it on the other computer I get an error message saying 'cannot locate files needed for Windows Media Format'. Any help would be much appreciated.

I have found that Connect Player appears to rip CDs OK onto the Sony Walkman. When I try to transfer MP3s already on my PC, the software craps out during ATRAC conversion.

I brought the Sony Walkman for my son's Christmas present. After 4 days he was nearly suffering from a nervous breakdown trying to transfer his music. I have now ordered him a Ipod and will keep the Sony for myself. I am sure Sony will resolve the software issue very shortly.

help me if you can, bought a ney a3000 player very sexy piece of kit.installed the connect software and it takes ages to work and stops me using outlook express.it also uses 100% of the cpu.question what do i do take it back and get an ipod !!!!!!!

So here it is, the official answer from Sony:

"Thank you for your reply.

On further investigation Sony is aware that some customers have experienced
similar issues due to the interaction of the software with their computer.
In the light of this, we recommend you use SonicStage 3.3 software. This can
be downloaded from www.connect-europe.com/sonicstage. Please ensure that
you uninstall the Connect Player software before download; instructions on
how to do this are attached.

I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you. "

Ho hum

Now even Sony are advising that you uninstall Connect and use SonicStage. I got this email from them when I complained (no mention of future fix though!)

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

I am sorry to read of the problems you have experienced with the Connect
Player software. Sony is aware that some customers have experienced similar
issues due to the interaction of the software with their computer. In the
light of this, we recommend you use SonicStage 3.3 software. This can be
downloaded from www.connect-europe.com/sonicstage. Please ensure that you
uninstall the Connect Player software before download; instructions on how
to do this are attached.

I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

With regards

Peter Shorney
For and on behalf of
Sony United Kingdom Limited

put about 900 songs on nwa1000 no problems, just slow. decided to delete all off and put them back on at a higher bit rate because it played too quiet. big fukin mistake now can't put shit on it.

In response to claires post (jan 10th) on how to remove all tracks from her library rather than delete them through the player - make sure you can see all files and folders (tools, folder options) and do the following:
Go to c:\documents and settings\application data\sony corporation\connect player\ and then delete the library folder.
Next time you load connect player, it should be a lot quicker (until you put your tunes back on of course) and have nothing showing in your library, ready for you to start the whole frustrating process all over again.

I actually managed to get 30 albums worth of music on my Player last night by carrying out the following:

Totally uninstalled and reinstalled Connect Player.

Reinitialised the Player.

Connected the Player to my PC and started Connect Player.

Left it alone for about 10 minutes (as advised by a previous post.

Made sure that Preferences were set to Eject CD on completion.

Placed CD in CD drive and waited until Connect Player found the CD.

After CD data had been found by Artist Link go to Preferences and disable Artist Link.

Transfered / ripped CD in ATRAC format onto Player.

Waited for CD to be automatically ejected.

Placed next CD into CD Drive. Turn on Artist Link from Preferences / Internet Settings. Turm off Artist Link once info has updated. Rip CD to Player.

After ripping 3 or 4 CDs, change view to Connect Library and delete contents.

Continue adding CDs in this manner.

Took about 3 hours to add 30 CDs to my Player using this method

The NWA1000 connects via USB in Windows XP as a removable hard drive without any additional software. Why is it you can only add data to it in explorer when connected like this? Even MP3's that are copied to the player will only be saved as data on the player and are not playable!! That's just nuts!!
Their TV advert said "..you won't want to go back.."
I'm on my way back alright ...to the place I bought it from for a refund. Gonna get a Creative Zen Neeon, just plug it in, drag and drop, play. That's the way to do it!!

In response to Iako's post.

I believe that the Sony Player creates its own Music database when you disconnect it from the PC. When we first tried using Connect Player to transfer music, it locked up after transfering about 100 tracks. When we disconnected the Player from the PC the Player reported that the Database could not be found. When we reconnected the Player to the PC and checked the Player HDD we could see the tracks. They were there but we could not play them due to the corrupted database.

Here is a link to a sony questionairre I was sent. It is not a one use link.

http://www.millwardbrown.nl/sony/27689/default.asp?id=0894786700004065&rd=13090505&c=gb&l=en&g=1&pr=272358

"
Dear customer,

You recently registered your Sony recent purchase . To help us continually improve our service to our customers, we would appreciate you answering some questions concerning your experience when buying your product.

The survey is completely anonymous and should take less than 10 minutes to complete. We value your input and would like to thank you in advance.

Best regards,
Sony Team
"

Maybe if we muck up the pie charts enough someone higher up will notice...

Has anyone got any news about any updates for the connect player?

i tried using sonic stage but only about 200 out of about 2500 songs transfered!
is this me being stupid or is their another reason why that wont transfer all my songs?

thx for your time,
Syk0

I received a NW-A1000 for Christmas and have tried to install Connect Player for the past 10 days. I've done a number of installs and un-installs and I'm slowly going crazy. I tried installing SonicStage as an alternative, but I can't install that either. I've been to the Sony store to ask them and they suggest that I restore my computer to factory settings. I've never heard such crap advice. Do they realise how much effort this would be to get all my other software re-installed? I've tried phoning Sony customer support but they are only open between the hours of 9am and 5pm Mon-Fri. This is a global company? My brother has phoned them on my behalf and the only thing they could suggest was wrong was that my PC was not running service pack 2 or that I haven't updated microsoft recently. B*ll*cks to that. If they employed monkeys to work for them they would have released software that works.

I've phoned PC World which is where the gift was purchased from. The first thing is that they charge £1.50 per minute for their expert opinion - only to suggest that the only thing I could do is copy the entire Connect player CD onto my C:\ drive and run it from there. Well tried that mate and it still doesn't open even though it says it has installed properly.

Waiting for my mum to post me the receipt and then I'm going to return it to PC World. The worst thing is that my mum checked with PC World today and they say that they won't refund the item if the software is faulty. Well, we'll see about that. Selling an item that isn't fit for its purpose...Watchdog here I come.

I found that sonic stage worked perfectly and transferred all the songs I wanted, my only problem now is that I want to use the "Top 100 Songs" etc, any ideas? Connect wont load at all on my computer, I just get a white screen for ages...

just out of interest, has anyone raised this with Trading Standards? Sony have shipped this with software which is not fit for purpose - by their own admission now as they are telling people to take it off their PC and use an other product (SonicStage)which does not give full functionality. This again is surely not fit for purpose. Maybe Trading Standards can force them to fix the software or recall the units. If anyone has followed this route I'd be interested to hear how they got on or if not I might look at this myself.

Hi peeps
I bought the wonderful SONY NW-A1000, i was so excited to finally own a the super sexy damn thing that i didn't even think to read these reviews first...oh boy i wish i had! After trying to install the 'software' 3 times to no avail i thought maybe i was doing something wrong!? It is all on the PC sitting there on my desk top looking at me but the shitting thing won't even open! After 3 distressing phonecalls to SUPER-SONY UK and many bored minutes spent 'on-hold' they told me there was nothing they could do as my computer is custom built....what a load of old bollox!
This is a joke right? How can SONY release this product with such crap software?? It is a beautiful mp3 player but i'm swapping it for an ipod tomorrow, sorry but what use is it to me? My CD player is more reliable....SONY should stick to what they know.

Firstly I must praise Sony for the outstanding battery life on the NW3000.

I've had mine for 20 days now and the battery is still going strong from the first charge!

UNFORTUNATELY

This is due to the fact that Connect Player is so useless, you can't get any tracks on your player to run the battery down !!!!!!!!!!!!

It Freezes whenever you try to do anything at all

And hey, reach for the tranquilisers if it freezes too many times, because it'll wipe your entire library and you'll have to re-install and re-import every track.

PATHETIC

can we collectively take them to court??

On the subject of Connect updates, this was posted by admin. on the ATRACLife Colloquium forum (very good Forums, well worth a look)

"The Connect Player team is one of the best divisions in Sony -- I know that it may seem like unusable software but they built this from the ground up. Most of the software engineers have worked 23 hour days trying to resolve the major issues that plague the software itself. Updates are coming just as they have before, and the software will continue to improve. There should be a pretty big update this month -- from what my sources have cited there will be a monthly update cycle."
I have no reason to disbelieve this statement, apart from the 23 hours a day bit.

One other thing bugs me and that is the subject of returning the player for refund, when the unit is purchased we pay for everything in the box, this includes the software, if the software is not fit for the purpose for which it is intended how can the vendor refuse refund ??? is this legal ???
When i returned my unit for exchange (at Currys) they said they would only exchange after trying the unit for themselves, that is their policy, fair enough i suppose, so you would think that they would have a PC available with the software loaded on it and someone in the shop with the necessary training to be able to do it, instead i got a cocky know-it-all who tried to drag and drop music files onto it only to discover that they couldn't then be played, didn't have the heart to tell him it didn't play WMA files! (even after i told him that he would need the software to do it). I got A1000 exchanged, he said it was faulty, i now know it wasn't. I also got 2 free albums because i registered both, just a shame Connect knackered one of them up before i could back it up.

If You have problems with Connect Player download SonicStage 3.3 from www.sonydigital-link.com
It works with NW-A1000, NW-A3000 and NW-E608.

WOHO! At last it works. Great sound. USE SONIC STAG! Burn Connect Player!

Hi there
I got the nw-a1000 for Xmas as it looks very cool, but when I stumbled on this forum, I was scare to death to even open the box and try to install the software. Before yesterday, I finally decided to install Connect...and it installed without trouble in 5 minutes with the update. Following this first success, I tried to rip some CDs (14). It worked fine. So far so good. I then transfered the tracks onto the player. It took 25 minutes but everything was on the player.
Yesterday I ripped another 15 CDs without trouble, then when I connected the player for transfer, Connect crashed (tinyhttp something error). I closed it and opened it again, all the tracks were still here. I tried to transfer the 15 albums and strangely it took less than 2 minutes.
So far (after only 2 days), I transfered 475 tracks into the player without any trouble (no more than a normal microsoft software). The only thing that I need to do is understand how to use the Link function as it's not working yet.

So, there is hope for everyone that Connect might work (I used it on my Packard Bell laptop running on windows XP SP2).

Interesting post Rob C, and I will await the fix with interest. However if the Connect team are the best Sony have then it it doesn't really look too promising.

I don't really care if they built the product up from scratch it blatently doesn't work! I also feel little sympathy them even if they actually are working 23 hours a day to resolve major issues. If they don't want that sort of pressure they should get it right before releasing it for sale. I worked pretty hard for the £199 I gave them and frankly wouldn't give them an hour off until it was fixed.

I just upgraded my wife's Creative Zen Touch firmware which involved backing up all the music and reloading it (14GB worth) and it was done in about 4 hours and I was able to work on the PC at the same time! If the Connect team read this -then this is the sort of performance I want not the hoops I have to jump through to get basic functionality out of a flash peice of Kit. Anyone can add buttons that add functionality if they don't have to make them work. So Sony if you bother to listen to your customers stop blaming users PC's (you mentioned only the basics in user requirements when you sold these devices) just fix you crap software or give us our money back!

I bought the NW 3000 last week from a online store in switzerland. great player but the software is a piece of shit. After 6 long hours I had half of the songs on the player, after that I decided to put one more album on the player. Connect Software deleted the harddisk on the player so I could start again...

Before I visited this site I thougt I'm the only one with these kind of problems ;-)
The best cure against this problems is patience. Maybe in one week I'll have all my songs on the player.

Just wanted to thank everyone for the posts on this site. I have a new A3000 and have had a complete nightmare (as everyone else has) with the connect software. Its the usual story, connect locks up after ripping each CD, have to reboot machine to fix each time, etc. etc.
I was on the brink of giving up before I found this site and am happy to report that after downloading and installing sonic stage 3.3 and using this for ripping, organising and transfering the music everything works fine. I can even get on with other tasks and search the internet at the same time. The sound quality of the A3000 is amazing, far better than any ipod I have heard on standard earphones, and the battery life is incredible. I can get all the way to Australia and still be listening to music whereas my girlfriend's ipod dies before we leave european air space!

I'll try to put up some songs with sonystage, hopefully it will work...
thanks for your help and good luck;-)

Please please please someone answer this.

How do you transfer cds with bonus video etc stuff on them? They come up as data rather than audio and refuse to recognise any tracks exist.

I've started having my first serious problems today (1300 songs in) and I thought using the latest update might solve it but it turns out I've already automatically got that so any other ideas?

When I first connect the player to the software it starts 'transferring' with takes forever and now putting files on seems to take a ridiculous amount of time whereas it was fairly quick before.

Also, can I delete the music files from my pc memory as they take up loads of space, or does the player need them as backup?

Any help would be very appreciated, thanks

Baz

Baz

>How do you transfer cds with bonus video etc >stuff on them? They come up as data rather than >audio and refuse to recognise any tracks exist.

I'd rip the tracks of as MP3 using a third party product like Winamp and then import the MP3's

>I've started having my first serious problems >today (1300 songs in) and I thought using the >latest update might solve it but it turns out >I've already automatically got that so any >other ideas?

I find that importing the tracks with SonicStage 3.3 works. I then close sonicstage detach the player from my PC and start up Connect it will build the database if I plug in my player (after connect has started) and leave it for about 20 mins or until the do not disconnect message goes away. It doesn't allow you to get any result from the artist link, but that never worked for me anyway. If you just use SonicStage you also lose most of the shuffles (other than shuffle all)so you need Connect to build a database.

>Also, can I delete the music files from my pc >memory as they take up loads of space, or does >the player need them as backup?

Not sure - I suspect you need them for backup and to create playlists however I am not certain

I have been told by someone at Sony Australia that no more nwa 1000 / 3000 units will be brought into the country.. it will be replaced in about couple of months. As for updates in the software. Not as yet. But hey.. As said before GREAT Hardware only let down by the Software.

As for
Cambers on December 31, 2005 08:28 AM

> - Apple and their baby Ipod know about computers - that is how they cut their teeth.

>2 - Creative Audio and their babies know about computers - that is how they cut their teeth.

>3 - Sony are an audio/visual outfit who know nothing about computers. They are years behind the game. Is it any wonder they do not work?

Sony make some of the best computers (notebooks) out there.

VAIO : Video Audio Integrated Operation

Love those sony acronyms.

I dont kow if anyone can answer this question. I have somehow managed to rip 50 CDs to my Player in ATRAC format using Connect Player. All the shuffles and artist links etc are working. When you disconnect the Player it creates a database. Is this database created on the HDD of the Player or within the OS of the Player? If it is created on the HDD would not copying the contents of the Player HDD be a good way of backing up all the music? I have copied the contents of my Player's HDD into a file on my PC. The file containing all the data / music on the Player HDD is 1.56GHz in size and the copied version is the same. I am assuming that in the likely event that Connect Player crashes during a transfer and screws up the contents on the Player all I will need to do is the following:

Reinitialise the Player.

Copy backup folder onto Player HDD.

I have been doing this after ripping every five CDs so that I have a fall back position.

Would this work?

Gazza09 - Interesting point - keep us posted if you have any success with backup strategy. It seems perfectly logical, so logical that why is Sony not giving this as a piece of useful advice? My suspicions are that there are hidden troll files unable to be copied and this will screw up your perfectly reasonable solution. At the moment I do not have the balls to try it as it took me weeks to build up my current database with Sonic Stage 3.3!

Keep us posted - I might do it just for the learning experience - MMMMMM - maybe not! - the sleepless nights getting my database to where it is now!

Here is another strange thing. The other night, I successfully transfered 30 CDs to my Player using Connect Player. I closed down Connect Player and disconnected my Player from my PC. The Player announced that it was creating a database and then promptly stated that no database was found. I checked the Player it it said no music found. After much swearing and cursing I rebooted Connect Player and reconnected the player. Connect reported loading contents do not disconnect. And hey presto, all songs reappeared. Can I contact the Vatican to report a miracle?

Vatican and Sony, one in the same? - that's maybe why their software is so mysterious!

Contact Sony and say WTF!

Same problem happened to me, you were lucky I never recovered the database - I wanted to contact more than the Vatican - AN EXORCIST!

God, I wish I'd seen these comments before spending the last few days addressing every possible cause of slow performance on my laptop. Dont you just love tinyhttp.exe???? Was considering taking my A3000 back to the shop for a refund (if they'll do that now I've had it for longer than 2 nano seconds...), but looking at the entries above, I may just give the Sonic Stage 3.3 as an alternative.

To be honest I have no problems with the Connect software other than the tag management is poor.
I've put 7500 tracks on my NWA-3000 without a problem - go figure!
Here's a clue - tinyhttp is a mini-webserver. If thing's aren't working then check your personal firewall (blackice, mcafee, zonealarm etc) as it probably is blocking it. I'm doing a web page right now on how to get around most problems - I'll let y'all know where it is when I'm done with it.

Tinyhttp.exe! - it's a swear word in our house!

You are nothing but a tinyhttp, the ultimate insult you can give someone!

Yep, get across to Sonicstage as soon as, it's not perfect, but it's not a "tinyhttp son of a b....!" like Connect!

Am ever so relieved to find it isn't just me and that there are workarounds for some of the problems I've been experiencing with the NWA1000 and the Connect software.

Has anyone else encountered problems with the Sony site and the Connect store? I use Mozilla Firefox for preference but can't get into the Connect store at all using that -- even when it's not running the Sony web stuff doesn't seem to work very well.

To Xerxes
I've got the same problem, or rather my daughter has.
It states on the packaging for the cradle that it cannot be used for line out and USB at the same time. I expected this as it is a common problem - it's not a cradle thing and it's not just with the NWA series, but with just about every mp3 player which has USB connectivity for charging as well as file transfer. My Sony Vaio pocket music player is exactly the same, the problem is caused by the rather dumb firmware in the players which cannot handle USB interaction and playing songs at the same time. I've had a Creative Zen micro and a Zen Nano which were exactly the same, my son has a Monolith which also cannot play tracks while it is connected to the USB.

The only solution is to disconnect the USB if you want to use line out, or even the headphone socket. My daughter is used to pulling the USB plug out when she wants to use the line out now, it's not too bad as the USB socket is on the front of her PC.

My main gripe about the line out is that it is very low level output - the volume on the amp needs to be turned up nearly to max before it gets to a reasonable level. Again, not a big problem until she plays music from another source, maybe a CD, and the speaker cones virtually jump out of the cabinets.

I have compared the line out on the NWA3000 to the Creative and Monolith kit and it is very low. It's also low even compared to the Sony Vaio music player. There is supposed to be a sort of standard for this, I believe it is about 100 mv peak-to-peak for line out.

Sony really did have their heads up their arses when they designed some of the features on this player, why couldn't we have had a mini usb port and a separate power socket like my NH900 MD ? surely there would have been room on it after removing the huge connection socket thats already there. I like to keep my USB cables permanently attached to my PC at the back of the unit out of the way, it's a nuisance when you want to use the mains charger and you have to unplug the cable from the PC every time. I'm damn sure i'm not going to buy another cable to make life a little simpler, replacement cables are about 60 quid !!!

i got a nwa 1000 2 weeks ago, now im in touch with trading standards about it.
Besides it being very slow clumsy and unreliable, ( downloading tracks twice, inability to delete tracks ... i could go on ) the software has finally locked altogher.
For some reason it deleted everything when i tried to add an album, however the device window showed 3gig used. I initialised the disk, still showed 3gig used, i reinstalled the software, still shows 3gig used. Now it crashes whenever i connect the device and crashes my PC.
The other thing is that certain copy protected tracks can only be transferred 3 or so times before there blocked. but ive had to initialise the disk no end of times, so many tracks cant be transferred now with atrack codecs, hopeless, i will never buy sony again. I must have spent 40 or so hours struggling with this shit and only used it a couple of times.

yes i forgot tinyhttp, what is it and why is it so persistantly awkward

adrian I too have involved my local trading standards. Don't know what it will do but...
I was prepared to accept that the 20gb player is actually 18GB, or that the battery is not as long lasting in very cold weather. However their solution to the crap software is to use SonicStage which reduces the features to the most basic - this was the final straw. Perhaps more people should involve Trading Standards or their overseas counterparts. Sony should be pulled up for this.

MASSIVE THANKS Y'ALL for 'voicing' your utter disgust at Sony.
My husband has just bought me the nwa3000 player for my birthday, and I have to be blunt, but it is an ABSOLUTE HEAP OF SHITE!!! The player is ultraviolet in colour, yeah ... beautiful ... but you know what they say ... BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP!' and with regards to this machine, I feel that is true. I am pc literate and can't even upload any albums properly, DESPITE following the straightforward instructions - even my hubby is having difficult and I just wanna take it back to the store as the software is abysmal. I have come to the conclusion that Sony have marketed this in a big hurry. My lil ole Atrac plus was no problem, but Sonicstage was getting to be a bit of a joke too, and this new player was a surprise.

Apart from that, (no offence here, I remember as a little girl, when my father had everything that was 'Sony' manufactured in Japan. Now, I see that most of their products are not. Perhaps they are spending less money too - cutting costs here and there.

In a post created much earlier, the person posting states that he is sure the founder of Sony would be disgusted. (sorry that may not be actual wording), but I am sure this is true.

'If it's not broken, don't try to fix it'. In Sony's case, they are SELLING BROKEN AND NOT TRYING TO FIX IT!!!

Thanks for allowing me 'air' my anger over this crappy, shitty product.

*grooves on out*

:-)

funkyasschick x

well, im glad you can all get songs on. my software will not even pick up the device (a3000) windows does. it used to work on and off but now has stopped alltogether. i havnt installed any software since so i know its not conflict. can anyone help?

hey got a sony vaio pocket mp3 player
problem is:sonicstage (00000452-9094)The connected ATRAC audio device cannot be used with the currently installed sonicStage. to use with the currently installed sonicstage, you must delete all the tracks in the ATRAC audio device or initialize the hard disk of the ATRAC audio device. (Error code: 000066a3)"
would be nice if you could help me

Any idea what's going on?
I had managed, with some difficulty, to load 129 CDs onto my wife's NWA-3000 and it was working well with great sound. This afternoon I was listening to an album then went to chose the next piece to listen to. The machine failed to respons and just said ''Rebuilding Library''. Eventually it began working again but was taking up to 30 secs to respond when I pressed the buttons. The little rotating accessing disc on the display eventually stopped spinning and froze.
I plugges the machine into my laptop and launched Connect player ... now it says there are ''no songs'' on the player. The Connect software just says Do Not Disconnect but there's no corresponding display on the player itself just ''connecting''.
Should I hit the Reset button or just give up - burning 129 CDs and transferring them one by one to the machine is not something I want to repeat.
Simon

To Patti
Which version of Sonicstage are you using?
Is the Vaio player new or second-hand, in other words has it been used before on a different version of Sonicstage?

I can't transfer music in sonicstage 3.3 to my NWA 1000 as I get the following message:

The connected ATRAC audio device cannot be used with the currently installed sonicStage. To use with the currently installed sonicstage, you must delete all the tracks in the ATRAC audio device or initialize the hard disk of the ATRAC audio device. (Error code: 000066a3)

It seems others have had this prolem is there a solution? I'm too scared to delete my tracks as I've got 2Gb on there which is better than nothing. But am desperate to get it working.

Anyone out there that can help?

I cannot believe how crap this software is, i cannot even open connect, let alone tgransfer files. Waste of money. I am pissed off. This is/was the last sony product i will buy for some time if ever again.

I bought th nwa-1000. love the unit hate the programme. I bought this purely because it was a sony. I am going to return it purely because it is a peice of S**T. Sorry Sony you burned me.
Oh by the way when I finally spoke to customer srvices UK they said there was a major problem and it may or may not fix the problem by the upgrades they have released. Worst still they admit still selling the units with outdated and corrupt version 1 software and will not be recalling the product. when asked is this why? answer "the product is fine its just the software" ...dahhhhh software drives the product you moron!

firefox and connect, try it and you get the message:

We appreciate your interest in the Connect music store, but our store currently only works with Internet Explorer 5.5 and above. You don't seem to be using that particular browser at the moment, so, unfortunately, we'll have to part ways until we support the browser you're currently using or you upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer. Please click the Download link below if you'd like to upgrade now.

Thank your for your interest in the Connect music store!

So they are desperate for our business aren't they...

What utter shite. After a long period of contemplation i decided to go for the sony A-1000 over the ipod. Wrong decision. The unit itself is greatbut the software is another matter. connect played up from the moment i installed it. after reformatting my computer and reinstalling everything else plus a new usb 2.0 card, i eventually managed to transfer about 600 songs from my pc to device which then somehow seemed to dissappear when connect crashed. im left with a perfectly good mp3 player rendered usely by its shit software. way to go sony, thats the last i'm buying from you in the near future.

Below is a copy of a post I put on another discussion board about the nw-a3000/Connect fiasco.

Following this method has given me 3 weeks of problem free use with both the software and the hardware. Have now got 5000 tracks on the player and it works like a dream.

Hope it helps some of you.

*************************************************
CONNECT SOFTWARE - THE SIMPLETON'S GUIDE!

Like many of you I got the NW-A3000 from my wife for Xmas.

This is my first ever MP3 player and I am pretty much computer illiterate, but the Connect software DOES work if you take it slowly. This is my advice:

You MUST download all the software updates mentioned in previous posts. Connect will just hang/crash without them.

Remove any unwanted/unused programs from your computer - the speed of the Connect player improves.

The following method of ripping CDs works every time for me:

1) Attach your player to the computer via the USB at the start of your session, and do not disconnect at any time until you have finished everything you want to do. If you have got more than 6GBs of music already on the device leave everything to load up for 15-20 minutes or so before you start.

2) Insert the CD into computer

3) When the CD info is displayed DO NOT press the "rip CD" button. Instead press the "transfer to device" button, opening up the
device library.

4) Highlight all the tracks on the CD, then drag and drop them into the device library. The Connect software then rips the CD and transfers to the device track by track.

5) Only remove the CD from the computer when all the tracks have been successfully transferred and the "Do Not Disconnect" instruction has been off for at least 20 seconds

6) Wait for about a minute til all the previous CD info has disappeared then insert another CD and start the process again.

Using this method (found by trial and error after two days of massive frustration) I have successfully managed to import tracks into the player without too much hassle. I estimate it takes about 10-15 minutes to do one CD - not exactly quick but at least the method works.

My other piece of advice would be to regularly delete all the tracks in the library as this too slows the Connect software considerably.

Basically you have to be patient and don't rush the Connect programme. Let it finish doing one task before asking it to do another.

I am sure I-Tunes is quicker and better software (I can't judge having never used it), but once you have the tracks loaded onto the player it is an absolute joy and far far better sound quality than the I-Pod. Make sure also you also unlock the sound limiter (using the techlounge instructions detailed elsewhere on this forum) you won't believe how much crisper and louder the sound is.

Basically if someone as technologically imcompetent as me, with an old computer and a dial up connection, can get it to work ANYONE can.

It's all worth it in the end!!

************************************************

10 to 15 minutes to rip and transfer a CD........ you have got to be joking !!!

"Let it finish doing one task before asking it to do another"
This just goes to show how utterly crap this software is if you have to do that.
Old PC or not, the program still runs at a snails pace, its garbage and we need a proper fix for it NOW!!!!!!!

I have been looking around for absolutely ages to find a way of getting the connect software to work with limited user accounts. I found you can open the tinyhttp.exe file from the C:\ drive while not logged in as administrator and this loads the program correctly.

I have found if you launch the app this way without the player connected it will take 30 secs to start. I then used the import directory function to import my 3789 tracks into the database. This took about half an hour to 45 mins, which after reading many posts here i thought to be preety good. I then used the manual sync function to add all the tracks to my player. I put all the tracks on at 192Kbps. Granted this took ages and my computer was very slow but.....

I now have an A3000 with 18Mb of free space and many working tracks. Woooooo Hoooooo

Cant seem to get the artist link function to work though. If anyone know how this works could you email me please. cutting.chris@googlemail.com

Understand completely where you are coming from Rob C. The tips above are not supposed to be defending the software (far from it - it's rubbish) rather to try and explain a method of transferring music that does work, albeit very slowly.

From my point of view, once I've got most of my music on the player I won't have to do it again, just add the odd new CD/download here and there which isn't too much of a hassle.

Sure it's taken me the best part of three weeks to get 5000 tracks on the device but now they're on there I have got a brilliant player with sound quality and battery life ipod users can only dream of.

Not holding my breath for a "fix-all" update of Connect anytime soon so just trying to make the best of what is a pretty bad job by Sony.

No pain no gain etc....

Cheers

AztecLife

I spoke to Sony technical support this morning. He confirmed they are telling users of NWA players to uninstall Connect Player and download Sonicstage instead.
My player, which had been working fine with 1600 tracks from 129 cds, suddenly decided it was ''unable to find database'' and that there were ''no songs'' on the machine.
The technical support person admitted there are ''major problems'' with the Connect Player software and they do not advising its use.
He said the only way to get my machine working again is to re-initialize the drive, which erases all music and data from the player. He said there was no way around this.
This is a major time consuming hassle as not all of the 129 cd's I had on the player are still on my laptop.
Relevant points I've not seen mentioned before: the Sony guy claims that the player is designed to be used with one PC only. This is an aggravation for those who have more than one machine.
He claims that when the two devices are linked any tracks not in the Connect Player library will be deleted from the player during the updating process. I assume this is to prevent users downloading other peoples' libraries and getting the music for free.

As I have mentioned before this is all about copyright control!

A simple media data-basing tool would be easily fixed and we would have seen by now the appropriate update. Why the delay? Simple, I suspect the software is built around an encrypting engine, not just a simple top and tailing of library files, but a unique proprietary Sony engine to control Copyright! Unfortunately it has backfired big style! Sony cannot turn around a fix easily with out an intrinsic re-build of the heart of the software. Come on guys, think about it, we would have seen an update by now if this was a simple data-basing tool, as media software should be, Sony are not that incompetent! What is happening, is that they have got lost up their own backsides on their CPU hungry copyright controls. The bigger the library, the hungrier CPU demand becomes, as each file is going through an encrypting, writing and reading process. Check the files out that Sony creates in the library attached to Connect! It does not matter if you switch Artistlink info off, CPU demand is still there, as others have postulated as being the heart of the problem.

This is a major embarrassment to Sony and they have gone back to the drawing board. I believe that any “Crutch Use” of the Software is exactly that, and should not be basketed in the disinformation line “some users are finding no problems with Connect”! Successful use is not “by crutch” but by seamless and expedient integration with your computer spec, library and player, artislink info, and if desired multiple computer libraries (let’s face it, a lot of people have a laptop and a desktop at home or multiples off!). Why should Sony dictate how you use your hardware and your CD collection...this is exactly what they are trying to do and have attempted to do in the past……history is repeating itself!

Great shame, the hardware is Sony at it’s best! Can they shake this off? I suspect Sony are looking at something much more than just an update but a regrouping and a remarketing campaign! I would not be surprised that the plug is pulled on the current NWA’s and is repackaged with a software solution that works. A company like Sony will be taking this damn seriously and will be looking to trump this disaster with a major line of attack – we cannot see it yet, because I suspect it is a complete “back to the drawing board job”!

By the way, you can bet your bottom dollar that Sony will be reading this site! Such is the way of any consumer orientated branding – especially mega corporations! Marketing moles are working across the globe, hyping, distracting, disinforming, diffusing etc etc! If this sounds rather too cynical for some, then you are really not in touch with reality of big business with multi-million product stakes. The internet is the most efficient product propaganda machine man has ever invented – of course working for both equal and opposite parties, in our case, consumer and manufacturer.

got all my music onto my player. was listening to it the other day and i noticed the screen was dimmer than usual. then it went completely blank and i have to take it back

i am so close to getting an ipod its untrue.

Max, Would you mind dropping me an email at debrux(at)NOSPAMaol.com (dropping the (at) and NOSPAM). Thanks, Simon

Interesting comments Max. It would be nice to believe that Sony will care about its customers enough to offer some kind of recall and replacement if they do relaunch the player. I have alsways been a fan of Sony, having televisions, DVD player and hard disk recorder, video, camcorder etc etc over the years. This episode has shaken by belief in them being a premium brand worth paying that bit extra for. If they are reading this forum, why no response ?

I've also resorted to ditching Connect and using sonic stage. Works great, but was a bit disappointed that it doesn't support all the features. So after reading this forum, must pass on extreme thanx to Andrew Mckenna (post 5th Jan). I tried your suggestion and my A3000 now works perfectly. Didn't have to get the firmware update (tried, but couldn't get the download to work - typical!!!).

In answer to a previous post - yes, you can backup and restore the contents of the NWA1000 / NWA3000 simply by copying the folder structure from the player to your computer hard drive and then back again.

I've tried both players using this method and haven't come across any problems. On both players, I browsed for the player in My Computer, dragged the entire contents into a hard disk folder, disconnected and initialised the disk on the player, then dragged the entire contents back from the computer - no problems, everything seems to work. There was the obvious "Building Library" phase, then I'm happily playing the songs again.

I then tried the same thing using two computers. I used a a network connection to copy the contents from the original computer to my laptop and restored the player from there, again with no problems.

So now if I'm using Connect (which should carry a government health warning), at least I know that if the database gets screwed I can restore to a previous working state.

It would be interesting to see if the contents of one player could be moved to another using this method - I doubt whether that would work but if it did it would blow a huge hole in any ambitions Sony had for copy protection...

Anybody got two players of the same model to give this a shot? :-)

Got the NW-A608 a couple of days ago and it's been a struggle to get some music on the player. First of all I had to install the software 4-5 times since the installation hangs. Only by turning off the internet connection and all the anti-virus software and firewalls, am I able to get it to work. But I still have to be patient...

Now that I have around 350 songs on the A608, I can enjoy superb sound quality and an astonishing battery time. Too bad the software is not up to speed...

To John Dolan -

Many thanks for that info - very useful to now know that this can be done!

Why the hell does Sony not distribute this fact - surely not in their copyright interests!

Taking this further then. Is it possible to say back up the .oma files (these are your music files on the player) or part off and restore by dropping into the folder structure of the player?

Nice piece of info!

Pretty much the same as everyone else - a load of gick!

Is there any other software/firmware that can be used to transfer tracks. It just takes ages to load with the connect load page and goes nowher fast! :(

This software simply does not work. I cannot beleive the shit they are selling. Complaints to Sony fall on deaf ears! What is being done about this?!?!?

I have never been so disgusted with Sony.

To Peter,

I doubt whether backing up the .oma files on their own would do much good. The actual database indexes and structure are held in a load of .dat files on the player.

Interestingly, there is a user event log file in there too, which I presume captures keypresses and responses. Typically for Sony, this is encrypted, or at least in a non-text format.

I just tried restoring a backup from an NWA1000 to a NWA3000 and as expected it didn't work, saying database not found. There are probably machine type identifiers in there. A swift initialise and restore from it's own backup soon got the player going again.

I'd love to try from one player to another of the same type though, just so we can confirm that Sony can't see the wood for the trees.

To John Dolan

Thanks for the elaboration.

Keep us posted, if you have success with 2 same type players - that would be interesting. If proven that it works then it just makes Sony look absurd!

What pisses me off that Sony does not even direct the user to back up their players as a sensible security feature as you are doing. It just makes user friendly sense!

Don't hold your breath but.......

http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=956

We can only hope !!!!

I apologise for posting a link to another forum but i think its pretty relevant given the circumstances.

I have found the answer!!!!!

UK users please contact Radio 1 on 81199 by text headed up newsbeat followed by help or whatever you wish. They rang me back last week totally unaware of this issue. If they can do a feature on the scratches on an Ipod they certainly rip into a product that has doesn't work in the first place.

My opinion is this. Sony will only do something if people react.

So react lets use the net and raise the profile of this proucts failings.

This is a worldwide brand and a worldwide problem.

I ask you this. If a GM car had a software fault and wouldn't start using normal means they would recall it. If a Kenwood car stereo had a software problem theywould recall it.

So why are sony still selling this product when they know it doesn't work?

In my view they will keep selling it because no one is saying no.

Ps my problem was solved by dropping my nwa-1000 into dixons yesterday and demanded a full refund. I have owned this player since the 15th of november and have had a guts full of connect and all it's quirks.

Normally when you return something and expect a refund you try and look after the packaging, the product and al its bits and pieces.

Not this time!! I mada a point of dumping the whole lot on the counter at lunch time in a busy high street store. Reaction? As you would expect they were a little taken aback until I said the words "sony" "walkman" and "connect software"..."but it is outside or normal returns period"...then deal with it as a warranty claim. The product does not work as per it's description. Made enough of a scene and got my cash back.

It's not dixons fault or the poor staff but hopefully the message will spread back up the chain.

I will keep trying to get it through until someone sorts this out.

eventr

Nice one! Well said and done! Absolutely agree!

"For evil to previal is for good men to do nothing"!

Hi all,

Regarding the backing up of the OMGAUDIO File on the Player's HDD. I have been doing this for about a week now. What I have noticed is that this file contains a number of folders which contains OMA Files. If you use Sonic Stage 3.3 to import the contents of these folders you get all the song titles, artist info, genre etc appearing in the database. It looks as though a new folder is created on the Player' HDD each time you have a CD ripping session. So if you back up the content of the player's HDD you can at least salvage all the songs on there.

ive got a sony nw-a1000 but its really quiet!!!

how do u remove the volume limiter????

other than that my nw-a1000 is working fine.

can someone help????

Volume limiter link info -

http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html

Posted this email to Radio 1 this afternoon.
With my name and number.
I will back this 100%
Cmon please get involved and fight back.

Hi,
I spoke to someone last week regarding ths issue with sony walkman players.
If newsbeat can raise an issue about the scratches on an ipod then surely you can help by doing some research into the failings of an entire product.
Simple type sony connect software into google and rated second behind the own sony site is the issue of failed sofware.
Check on any site, yahoo, amazon, jukebox and the theme is the same love the player can't stand the software.
Please help as this is not some low level brand this is SONY!
They are selling products that simply don't work.
They admit they don't work.
They admit the software is flawed.
They admit the upgrades may fix the common problems.
In this day and age a company charging that kind of money for an MP3 player should back it up.
Better still it should be right in the first place.
If you at newsbeat can raise news item about something like scratches then this should be easy for you to help with.

Max said - "As I have mentioned before this is all about copyright control!.. ..A simple media data-basing tool would be easily fixed and we would have seen by now the appropriate update. ..I suspect the software is built around.. ..a unique proprietary Sony engine to control Copyright.."

I think you're off the mark Max. The encrypting/DRM technology has been a part of previous Sony software (SonicStage, MP3Manager, OMGJukebox, etc) for a long time. Indeed, in SonicStage 3.3 there is the ability to rip CDs to ATRAC with DRM disabled and there is no discernible improvement in ripping speed so I think the DRM management layer is pretty lightweight.

From what I understand of the situation the main cause of the problem is to do with database structure and the large amount of calls to Gracenote that the software performs.

Please note, I don't think that database structure is the only source of user problems.

I bought an NWA1000 for my son for Christmas. Player is fine. 'Connect' software seemed to work ok although a bit slow until a couple of days ago. It looks when enough Cds had been put in the database it just gave up, and it still won't run even after an uninstall and re-install. Got to be the worst software I've ever had the displeasure of putting on my PC and that includes Toy story that came with the box of cereals!
Luckily I got hold of a copy of SonicStage software and this works fine. I should have known better really, I used to work for Sony Pro and was involved in the Betacam SX launch in the early 90s. Yes, a product that didn't work and didn't do what Sony had said it would do when it was delivered to customers! Months of mods at customer sites followed.
I'm sure that a Connect fix / rewrite will be found eventually. But what are the paying customers supposed to do in the meantime?
Sony should give SonicStage free to all customers who have bought products with Connect.
The Sony brand name used to stand for quality of service has well as quality of product, they've still got time to save one of these!

Ok I have now listed the complaint against sony with good old uk tv programme watchdog.
Please if you are in the uk. Try this link and leave a message, email or even that old fashioned writing letter thing...
If anyone else knows official collective movements against this software pleaase let me know. I am trying all media possible.
I'll keep you posted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog

When ogdens nut wrote...
Feel free to copy the questionnaire and send a copy back to Hayley, the email address is SUK.generalCIC@eu.sony.com

Posted by: ogdens nut on January 7, 2006 05:59 PM

Oh the irony that sony UK is now SUK.
Ok off to try itv and channel 5.
As an aside if you look at BBC watchdogs product recall list there are all manor of product recalled because consumers have complained. Some are large some small. But people complained and the company had to answer to the public.

I strongly believe Sony should stop selling products that simple don't 100% work.

I will try.

Ok another post this time to channle five news.

email them at news@five.tv

Dear Channel five news,
Sony is a major brand...true?
Sony price their products at a premium accordingly...true?
Sony pride themselves on customer service...true?
Then ask why sony launches a product line with software that is corupt, slow, outdated, memory heavy, has a dramitic effect on the users PC and simply doesn't work.
Users encounter error messges, 15mins from double click load ups, systems crashes, music library memory wipes etc after loading the Connect software.
In brief the Sony NWA-1000/3000 MP3 player is being sold in stores right now.
Sony customer services admitted to me last week when I complained that the software "doesn't always work" "cannot read most music library files already on a users PC".
After recommending I go to their website to upgrade he added "that may not solve the problem"
When I asked if Sony is intending to recall the product?
Reply. Ther is no problem with the product just the software.
Logic would suggest that there is no product without the software.

How is this for a zen question...If your music player can't load music is it still a music player?..

I am not alone.
Type "sony connect software" into google and the third hit is a blog about this issue.
Google is huge correct?
To be third (behind two official sony sites) that must be some serious hit rates!!
The editor calls this the tip of the iceberg with due respect.
If I am the one person to contact you and complaint then I have the sharp point of the iceberg wedged between my buttcheeks.
Hopefully I am not.
Below me are those who have found the site and have not complained to you.
Below those are people are those who have seen the site and left a message.
Below those are those who have seen the site and not commented.
Below those are the people who haven't hit that site yet.
Now we are at the water line.
Below those are people who are having problems and for what ever reason, can't won't and don't complain.
Even more scary is the thousands who are still going to by this product blissfully unaware of the problem.
Someone has to make the world aware of the gross negligence Sony has releasing and still selling a faulty product.
There has been no press release from Sony.
There has been no recall from|Sony.
Innocent consumers are buying these things with the original software happily tucked inside.
Help the little guys ripped off by a major brand get their problems solved.
Do you want to know something that will crop up when you research this?
Almost all of the posting I have seen have a common thread. They love the player if only it worked.
Thats brand loyalty for you.
Loyalty that gets rewarded by a major pain in the a**e and I don't mean my metiphorical iceberg.
Kind regards

having read all the comments so far, i wouldn't be able to say more.
I have had the mp3 player in question for a while and i have experienced all the problems that you listed. The player itself as lots of people said is really good and plays well, the connect palyer software is unfortunately utter shite.
Having gone through numerous cycles of uninstalling and reinstaling the software, hoping i would get the software up and running, i finally gave up and got SonicStage. it works and it is much faster, but it still isnt perfect because now i can't use the playlist and artist link functions of the walkman, even though Sony suggeted switching into SonicStage, there is a message popping up saying 'Please Connect Compliant Software'. Isnt this a bit ironic?

well what a fantasic mp3 player, looks cool, feels good, menu is clear and easy to use, only problem i can't seem to make set list on the fly.

well the software if thats what it is is poor......piss poor.
i have over 9000 tracks on my pc and i tried full syncing the player with everything that connect had found and i ran out of memory thats 1GB of physical memory and at the time 3GB of virtual memory WHY WHY WHY. lets think on this maybe i have viruses..... nope, maybe my hardware is failing..... nope, oh i know what it is sony is paying its staff in peanuts because i'm sure the software is written by monkeys.
to take up so much CPU time AND STUPENDOUS AMOUNT OF MEMORY is basically lazy sloppy programming.

SONY PLEASE SORT THIS GIGANTICCALLY HUGE FLAW IN AN OTHERWISE BEAUTIFUL PLAYER.

LET ALL GO TO WATCH DOG SEE IF THEY CAN KICK SONY IT TO TOUCH

sry for the capitals but if your reading this you will understand

My E-Mails gone to watchdog!!!

My E-Mails gone to watchdog!!!

Make any emails attention of:

webproducer.watchdog@bbc.co.uk

The more hits they get the more chance we have.

My mother bought me the NWA 1000 for Christmas.
I know that she had to stretch the pennies to get it.
To know that a bunch of shysters in shiny suits at Sony are, even now, still selling this garbage to decent, hard working people, knowing full well, that it is a piece of rubbish - that makes me want to see every dishonest Sony bigwig put out of a job asap.
To sell an item that is unfit for the purpose for which it is intended is illegal.
I want to see these morons have to re-call every single unit and either replace them or issue a full re-fund.
There is no moral or legal reason why they should not be made to do so.

As suggested in various posts above, I am going to be contacting Trading Standards, BBC Watchdog, BBC Newsbeat etc.
Everybody else on here should do the same.
Life is too short to spend weeks in front of a bl**dy computer tryng to cure a piece of rubbish that shouldn't have been sold in the first place.
And money is too hard come by to allow major corporations to steal it from us under false pretences.

Hi all

After much hassle and absolutely no faith whatsoever in the Connect software, I downloaded sonicstage 3.3. I can't tell you what a 'dawdle' it is to transfer your tracks from the library. I transferred just under 1000 - left my nwa3000 connected to the pc and after around 4 hours, they are playing perfectly *fingers, legs, toes and everything else crossed!*
Here's the link - hope it's of help.
http://products.sony.co.uk/SonicStage2_3.asp

If it didn't work, then I was taking the unit back.

It's worth pointing out to consumers in Britain who have purchased the unit recently from a retailer and have their receipt/proof of purchase, that you are fully entitled to take this back to the retailer and obtain a full refund. Check with your local Trading Standards under 'Sale Of Goods Act' clause.

It's important that as a consumer we don't sit back and take cr4p from retailers just because they think that we are 'wee Joe public' (us!)and will take no further action. It's about standing up for your rights at the end of the day.

Thanks for all the advice from all 'out there'!

Best wishes and happy listening.

funkyasschick :-)

My complaint has gone to Watchdog too.
Come on submit yours!!

www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog

I have posted the following letter to:

Trading Standards.
BBC Watchdog.
BBC Newsbeat
The Times Technology section.
The Independent Newsdesk.

'Sony Walkman Scandal'

There is a major scandal brewing at Sony over their much lauded Digital Sony Walkman brand.

The Sony Walkman NWA 1000 & 3000 players sold hundreds of thousand over the Christmas period. And the general opinion is that they are excellent.

Sadly, most people also think that they are virtually useles.
Why ? Because the supplied Software; 'Sony Connect Player' does not work.

Websites all over the Internet have thousands of people complaining of. faults, bugs, failing computers, weeks just to get any music onto the Walkmans, then whole soundtracks being deleted. The list is endless.

Take a look at this website where there are some excellent and well informed posts.
Gen Kanai weblog: Sony Connect Player fiasco

Sony have 'sold a car without an engine'. Useless.

They are now admitting that there are major problems with the software.
Customers are being advised not to use it and to uninstall it from their computer.

Sony Australia are telling customers that they will not be importing any more of these units as they are being replaced.

Sony have also said that they will not be releasing them in the USA (yet) because of major software problems.

It looks as though the European public have been used as guinea pigs for a seriously flawed piece of software.
And yet Sony are refusing to re-call the Walkmans and are even still advertising them.

Somebody at Sony needs to stand up and offer an explanation to hundreds of thousands of cheated customers who have wasted their money on an item that does not work.

Perhaps this might be worth looking into.

To Silva

My problem is I do not see this in practice. Gracenote can be switched off in preferences and this makes no difference to CPU usage for a constant library size. The structure of the library files in Connect behave and look differently from previous sony library structures. There is a high demand on floating point calculations suggesting algorithmic encryption. This increases to overload once the library files reach a critical number. All my tests over several machines have involved pre-converted files thus not invoking any of Connects transcoding procedures yet CPU usage still burns out once library files reach critical numbers. May I say the software has also been tested on 3 top end Current Sony Machines, all eventually ground to a hault!

Yes I agree there are a number of other issues but these are minor. The kernel of the software is behaving in a rediculous labour intensive fashion for what should be a straight forward execution that any basically endowed software engineer could achieve. Sony has teams of them and beyond! Why the complication then? Copyright controls have been introduced unique to Connect at the expense of computer resources and software simplicity. For CPU usage to go off the scale in this fashion as the library files build up, gracenote turned off, pre-converted files negating transcoding, has all the hallmarks of a complex bit of software coding tasking the CPU into some form of mathematical encryption beyond the simplicity of the job in hand.

I still believe that this is the fundamental reason why Sony have not been able to provide an update quickly. If I was Sony I would be marching an update out the door. So why can't they? because of the sophistication of the Kernel unique to Connect - a sophistication too far - they out smarted themselves!

I want them to succeed. They have a great piece of hardware but rendered impotent by their inability to support it by their Connect Software. Everything else is a medicinal solution certainly not befitting of a reputable brand! They have handled this affair in a completely contemptious and arrogant manner belittling the intellect of the consumer. Sony will be taking this damn seriously, but they cannot afford to make themselves known in a high profile manner because of the potential of mass litigation and brand damage. They are hiding behind a veil of disinformation, disclaimers, evasion and avoidance to try and diffuse the financial impact of the current level of user dissatisfaction awaiting what will be probably an "appeasing fix" with a full blown re-marketing campaign to follow.

No point in me saying all the same shite that has already been said. I really want a representative of Sony to punch in the face! This problem has received enough attention that they should have released a flawless replacement by now. I'm sure that Sony are reading this crap and if they are they would need to be shitting themselves. last year, for the first time ever the made a loss and me thinks worse time ly ahead.
Does anyone else find that when they use Sonicstage all the music info is fucked? Has anyone any ideas for a quick fix for this?

Me again, I like the rest love the mp3 player and hate the software. In reading some of what has been said, would I be right in assuming that the najority are thinking that Sony plan to drop this without replacing the Connect Software and release a new and improved unit leaving all of us who payed for this unit out of pocket?

"would I be right in assuming that the najority are thinking that Sony plan to drop this without replacing the Connect Software and release a new and improved unit leaving all of us who payed for this unit out of pocket?"
A frightening thought indeed but i don't think even Sony would dare do this.
The one thing that we should all be doing is making sure that we have registered our devices with Sony because in the unlikely event that they do decide to do something like this it's the only link they have with the customer.
I was interested to compare the system requirements for Connect and SonicStage seeing as they both do 'basically' the same job i.e. rip/transfer music files to and from a device.
The usual bullshit disclaimers are there, factory installed windows, doesn't support home made PC's etc and the "we don't care if it doesn't work" disclaimer....... Operability is not guaranteed with every computer that fulfills the required performance conditions........ basically they are telling you it might not work before you have even opened the box and there's nothing you can do about it.
Anyway, they still want a PIII 450 or higher chip but it requires a LOT less RAM for SS, 128MB recommended......... so why does Connect need half a Gig ?????
As for the PC specs, i've run SS3.3 on 3 different home built systems without problem so their home built argument is bollox, in the majority of cases home built systems are probably better specc'd than ready made ones.
I'll wait until the next upgrade comes out for Connect, hopefully the end of the month, if it still doesn't work then it's going back to Currys for a refund.

You are right in saying they are getting rid of the player in replacement. As for the software, i have been told it will be patched :D lol.. great!!

I'm taking both of my kids' players back anyway because through years of bitter past experience with Sonicstage I know they will never be viable. Besides, I think the trouble with Connect has masked some of the shortcomings of the player - yes it is nice looking and has decent sound quality, but:-

Display is hopeless in daylight even at maximum brightness - even in the middle of a UK winter
Inadequate volume, even with the EU volume hack applied, it's just not loud enough with their preferred buds
Proprietary USB cable which costs £60 to replace and just isn't long enough
Battery is not user-changeable and will be dead in two years
Battery life is nowhere near what Sony says it should be
Line-out on player cradle cannot be used while it is charging
Disk access is sluggish compared to other HD DAPs, e.g. Creative Zen Micro, Archos Gmini, iriver H10
No track-time-remaining display
No clock
No file management on player - cannot delete files? All other hard-disk DAPs that I have used can at least delete files, not this one. I know some of the above can be fixed with firmware updates, but I'm not going to rely on Sony for that.

And the killer punch for me is that they will ALWAYS need Sony software to work - and Sony just don't do software.
I'm getting my kids players which use Explorer drag & drop and don't need any software, probably Zen 20Gb.

Sorry Sony, you've spoiled one Christmas for my kids, I'm not going to let you do that again.

Hi,
I am doing a story on the Sony Walkman fiasco for The Times. If anyone cares to email me I would be delighted to get some first hand accounts of the frustrations people are suffering, particularly those who may have received the player as a Christmas present.
My email address is debrux@NOJUNKaol.com (removing NOJUNK of course). Please let me have a name and a daytime phone number so I can contact you if necessary.
Thanks,
Simon
Simon de Bruxelles
The Times

Ok next one. Now spending my own money on this to raise its profile.
I have just listed the following on EBAY.
Nothing new just more publicity I hope
The description reads...

DO NOT BID!!!!

You are not bidding on anything. There is nothing here to sell. Just good advice.

DO NOT BUY THIS MP3 PLAYER!!

What sony is not telling you is there is a major fault with the Sony connect software.

If you do buy it expect software crashes, music library memory wipes, screen freezes, excessive CPU usage, slow up load, slow downloads..and in my case a 15min load time from double clicking the icon.

When you an get through to Sony (a joke in itself!! they said...

Sony UK customer services admitted to me that...

"there is sofware faults they cannot fix"

"they are still selling the machines and won't stop"

"version one the corrupt version is still being distributed with the machines"

"the upgrades may fix some of the problems"

Don't take my word for it do some research yourself. Simply type... Sony Connect software.... into google and there they all are. Try the Gen Kanai weblog and make your mind up after that...or Amazon or Yahoo ete etc etc

They player itself is great but the software simply does not work. You will be wasting your money. Even worse if you buy one on ebay. You can't send back a second hand product.

I HAVE SPENT MY OWN MONEY TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEMS ARE. I AM ALSO TRYING VERY HARD TO ALERT MEDIA AND AM TALKING TO A REPORTER AT THE TIMES.

IF YOU HAVE ALREADY ENCOUNTERED PROBLEMS THEN GET THE MACHINE BACK TO YOUR RETAILER AND LOG YOUR COMPLAINT ON ANY WEBSITE OR MEDIA.

CONTACT RADIO 1 BY TEXTING NEWSBEAT THEN YOUR EXPERIENCE TO 81199

I HAVE LONG SINCE RETURNED MINE TO DIXONS AND ASKED THAT THEY MAKE A COMPLAINT. THE COUNTER STAFF SAID THIS WAS NOT THE FIRST AND WOULD NOT BE THE LAST RETURN.

You would expect like me that the name sony was a trusty and reliable alternative to the mighty apple. Think again.

DO NOT BUY A SONY WALKMAN!

PS IF ANYONE IS STUPID ENOUGH TO BID ON THIS I WILL HONOUR THE DEAL WITH BUY SENDING YOU A COFFEE MATE WITH A PHOTO OF A WALKMAN ON THE FRONT.

I've had two emails from Sony. One apologises for the problems with Connect, and advises me to download Sonic Stage from their (IE only) website. When I queried this, and said that a major part of my complaint was that Connect doesn't work with Mozilla Firefox, I got an email telling me that "Unfortunately, it is necessary to use Internet Explorer as the NWA1000 is an internet compatible device."

Nonsense!

I have only ever encountered one other site (Odeon.uk) that doesn't work with Mozilla, and I wrote *them* a stroppy email too.

I've just contacted Amazon to ask if I can send the item back as defective -- I'm using it, and it's certainly been opened, but it doesn't behave as they describe (and they certainly never mentioned that the NWA1000 relied on Windows, and IE, to work at all!)

.. oh, and my second email from Sony also advises me to contact Connect directly for problems with the site:
"With regards to you not being able to load the Connect site, this is a problem that some customers are experiencing. The problem with this is that the reasons are individual to your PC. I understand that you have attempted to contact Connect directly for support but have not received a reply. Regrettably, I can only advise that you try this again as we cannot provide the support you require on their behalf."

But hang on -- isn't Connect part of Sony???

Good idea to list something like that on Ebay, i wonder how long it will take Ebay to pull it like they did with the listing that showed how to enable full volume on the players ( i suspect that the dodgy gits who were charging for this complained).
When you ask a seller a question on Ebay does it automatically get shown on the listing page??.... if it does then maybe a better idea would be to send a message to all A series vendors on Ebay asking them if they will be advising any bidders/buyers that the supplied software doesn't work.

Unfortuanetly it's up to the ebay message recipient whether the message is publicly displayed. Shame, it's a good idea.

Follow up on Ebay...
I will display all questions hopefully they will ask.
Up to 9 hits so far this morning. Not brilliant but better than nothing.
listed under Sony Walkman nwa 1000 mp3
If you are serious about raising the profile of this and can spare the time please contact Simon.
His email is listed on a posting above.
He is very serious about this problem and will be publishing an article in the times soon.

Idea for ebay.
Can we email through ebay to people who are bidding on or have bought either the NWA 1000, NWA 3000, Unlock codes, accesories etc?

Better still...safety in numbers spend 15p and list an "educational listing" showing your experiences with the Walkman.

I'm still just trying to find any way possible to get this off the net and into the main stream media to get some reaction from Sony.
Do they think we will just go away packing our useless players up and writing off the money?
If you own one then take it back and make the retailer aware how annoyed you are.
They are soon going to get sick of customers returning the players.
Profit margins and increased costs will force retailers to stand up to sony if enough products are returned.

hi about the abay listing. it was me who had the volume delimiter on for free. Ebay pulled it off and threatened to close my account if i did anything like that again so just watch what you put on, because they get pissed off fast

Just gotta say thanks, asatyler, you're a hero.
I was about to pay for the delimiter - much against my principles - when I found your listing. I pisses me off to see that eBay allow rip-off gits to sell it on their site, but dissed you when you offered it for free. Another case of Sonyesque corporate greed.

Bastards.

Volume Delimiter info link -

http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html

What about bringing the star rating down on Amazon - I am going to join and put in a review into them - they seem to be selling the things and some prat has said that software is fine

Just a quick point, when I checked this site out at the beginning of January there were 20 odd pages of comments, if you wanted to print them out.I now see there are 68 pages. This shows that this weblog is growing by the day because the vast majority of customers can't get this software to work. How long will it be before something is done about it?

Bought walkman for my wife for Christmas - spent a week trying to get it to work - eventually after disappointment with Connect and sonic stage bombing as well, I took it back to Dixons (I was the only one they said who'd been back). Bought an ipod video 30 gb - fantastic, no problems.

so when did Sony decide that we should all be running mini web servers (tinyhttp.exe) considering it chews up almost all processor and memory, what, exactly are our computers hosting??

Hi all,

I have just been reading the reviews on Amazon for the Sony Player. There are quite a lot of negative comments about the softwave. There are also some suspicious reviews from people claiming that the software is brilliant. Skotski from London states the following:

`Amazing product with brilliant software. I think that all the rubbish that has been written here (on the Amazon Website) about the software is from people who are not using Windows'

Ummm. Sounds like someone with a vested interest in the product.

There is also a review from `A Electronics and Photo fan from Kendal that sings the praises of the Player and software.

Gazza09 -

To qualify my statement - my agency performs a lot of work for Sony UK & Europe so you may accuse me of having a vested interest. However, I bought my NW-A3000 on the day it came out from a local Sony Centre with my own cash. I had a nightmare getting Connect to work with the first version of the software.

After installing the updates it now works perfectly. I have about 2,500 songs on it that I ripped in either Connect or SonicStage 3.3 (I also have an NW-HD3).

All we know for certain is that the software runs on some setups and not others.

Given the numbers of people posting here and elsewhere I'd guess that the number of people with problems is significantly higher than you would reasonably expect from a consumer electronics product.

To Silva

I agree with Gazza09!

Any overwhelming positive review of the software is just unbelievable! Works on some setups and not others? There are pages of users above who statistically alone will have Computer Setups that will represent 99% of most likely found setups available. So if they are all having problems, so what are these mythical setups that runs Connect perfectly well?

I see nothing but complaints against a backdrop of one or two suspicious praises across the internet. Some very bright and technically minded people are ripping this software to shreds as blatantly flawed!

Users are trying every intelligent trick in the book to get this software to work! Statistically someone, for example, from the above users would have shouted "hey guys I have found if you do this the software will work fine" thus exposing the heart of the problem! No one has found, depsite them deep-trawling for it, this Eureka Moment! If the software had such a glimmer of hope there are enough bright users on this site alone to have exposed it by now!

I am totally not convinced that there are such positive reviews - it just does not stack up statistically, as per my arguments above!

Look at the reviews in here -

http://www.shopireland.ie/electronics/detail/B000BBQQRE/Sony-NWA3000S-20-GB-HDD/

Makes interesting reading!

Peter -

It works on my setup (after latest update). Perhaps its not to do with machine spex but the amount of music in the Library and the file formats they are encoded in.

Of the approx 2,500 tracks I have on my NW-A3000 the vast majority are ATRAC3 encoded at 160kbps. There are a few MP3 podcasts, probably less than 50 files.

Because I ripped all of the tracks into Connect (or via SonicStage) I didn't do a single large import of tracks. Perhaps this drip feeding of data, a CD at a time, doesn't trigger the runaway tinyhttp process that other people experience.

If you read the reviews on Amazon a lot of the happy users say that this is their first MP3 player. It's quite conceivable that these people have not yet digitised a lot of music and so they are not experiencing performance issues.

I'm not denying there is something very wrong with the software - it's obvious that this is the case.

But I do think it's possible for some users not to experience problems. These same users may start to experience problems as their music library gets bigger.

To finish. I am not a Sony apologist. I think that releasing the software in the state they did was plain stupid and has massively tarnished their reputation for anyone who has experienced problems.

Silva - fair and interesting comments, particularily about the drip feed of library.

It must be incredibly frustrating for Sony affiliates dealing with this problem, as Sony Hardware has an excellent track record!

I 'drip fed' Connect my entire collection of CDs, one at a time. That's about 200-300CDs. I experience all the problems with Connect that are described here.

I use MP3, as horrible as it is, Sony don't wish to support any other open encoding and I'd prefer to be able to 'transport' my tunes, rather than be a corporate bunny.

It's crap software, compare it to iTunes which is incredibly intuitive.
Connect is also dire as playback software, I found it would stop after playing 1 song. Then realised that I would have to setup playlists. Why not just be able to play the entire library like you can with iTunes.

I only use this Connect rubbish to transfer to my walkman, which is horrible coz tinyhttp.exe chews all my processor. The library jumps around at it's own will when I'm trying to select tracks.
And again, if tinyhttp.exe is a web server what are we hosting?
http://www.atraclife.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t484.html
what do u know, another web site hailing the merits of Connect ;-)

My boyfriend and I both got a NWA-1000 for Christmas and so far so good. He has about 500 songs on his and I've got about 300. I find Connect a bit slow - its taking about a minute per track but on the whole its been ok, although I've never had a MP3 before so I'm not sure how other players perform. I'm using my laptop to put the music onto both players and everything is working (although slowly) at the moment. The only thing I've found is that some CD's aren't coming up as CD's but Data ( I assume that this happens when there's a video on the CD??) so I don't know how to transfer them across yet. I also found that sometimes when you put a CD in the PC the software picks up that there are no tracks. After a bit of messing around by right clicking on the CD to get refresh or submit CD infomation, I've found that if you select all the tracks using Ctrl and untick the album box (I'm trying to remember how I did it now after reading all these reviews here at work!) it seems to be ok. Overall I'm very happy with how its working but I am aware that problems may arise. I transferred some CD's for my boyfriend last weekend and he said they won't play and he can't get Connect to work on his PC at home so maybe I'm just being lucky at the moment?

My boyfriend and I both got a NWA-1000 for Christmas and so far so good. He has about 500 songs on his and I've got about 300.

I find Connect a bit slow - its taking about a minute per track but on the whole its been ok, although I've never had a MP3 before so I'm not sure how other players perform. I'm using my laptop to put the music onto both players and everything is working (although slowly) at the moment.

The only thing I've found is that some CD's aren't coming up as CD's but Data ( I assume that this happens when there's a video on the CD??) so I don't know how to transfer them across yet.

I also found that sometimes when you put a CD in the PC the software picks up that there are no tracks. After a bit of messing around by right clicking on the CD to get refresh or submit CD infomation, I've found that if you select all the tracks using Ctrl and untick the album box (I'm trying to remember how I did it now after reading all these reviews here at work!) it seems to be ok.

Overall I'm very happy with how its working but I am aware that problems may arise. I transferred some CD's for my boyfriend last weekend and he said some tracks from his singles won't play. He can't get Connect to work on his PC at home so maybe I'm just being lucky at the moment with my PC?

He has also said that it's now loud enough (and I probably agree). I've seen the sites to get rid of the volume restriction and people are selling the "secret" to turning the restriction off on Ebay for 99p but I'm reluctant to go that route whilst the machine is new and under warranty - especially given that I may experience problems in future - maybe I'll try it once it's a year old.

Volume delimiter remove procedure -

http://www.techlounge.co.uk/96/sony-nwa3000-volume-limiter-hack.html

I'm sure several people on here have mentioned that they have taken their Walkman back to Curry's for a refund and Curry's have admitted that there is a problem.

Well Curry's are advertising the Walkman in this mornings national press. (Thursday.)
Can anyone confirm that Curry's know there is a problem. If that is so and they are still advertising - knowing there to be a problem, that is surely a case for the courts.
EVENTR - I believe you are in touch with Simon de Bruxelles from the Times - perhaps he should know about this !

NB: Curry's - Dixons - PC World & The Link are all owned by the same company;
DSG International.
Maybe we should all send them an e.mail complaint and force them to take this thing off their shelves.
See Sony jump into action then.

DSG Addresses;

Hamish Thompson = Director of Media Relations
hamish.thompson@dsgiplc.com

Ruth Adams = PR Manager UK & Ireland
ruth.adams@dsgiplc.com

Press Office = 0845 6090 805

I have to say - I'm puzzled by the problems many people are having with the volume.
That is one of the few things that I'm ok with.
I can't have mine on full - too loud !

However - Since loading the damnable Connect Software, I reckon my computer (256 mgb SD RAM)
is running about 30% slower than it should - with various applications now taking forever or hanging completely.
And the more CDs I put in the library - the slower things get.
(Opening Connect takes 5 minutes !)
I suppose the answer is to delete the library once the songs are on the Player - but my Player has been wiped clean twice so far and I really don't fancy having to rip all those CDs again.
Sony - you bunch of amateurs - you owe us all big time. You cannot just walk away from this.
What are you going to offer us by way of compensation ?

I STILL THINK THE BEST COUSE OF ACTION FOR US UK CUSTOMERS IS TO CONTACT WATCHDOG. WATCH DOG HAS SOME CLOUT AND THIS IS JUST THE TYPE OF THING THAT NICKY CAMBELL LIKES. SO PLEASE CONTACT WATCHDOG AS WELL AS TIMES AND REACH MORE PEOPLE

sorry for the capitals just furious with this inept software.

DRAG & DROP.

If it helps at all - I seem to have found a ripping & burning technique that works pretty smoothly for me - and I don't even touch that god-awful 'Transfer To Device' button or anything in that right hand window. That has caused me too many problems.

1. Rip CD.
2. When ripping is finished - Click 'Library' up in the top left hand corner of the screen.
3. Once in 'Library' your CDs are all grouped by album or artist etc. (Iincluding the one you've just ripped.)
4. Highlight the one you've just done. (Or anyone you want.)
5. Right click the mouse and choose 'Add to new playlist'.
6. That CD goes into the playlist in the top left hand window.
7. It appears with the title 'Playlist 1.' Just retitle it.
8. With the player connected - just drag and drop the new playlist title onto the NWA 1000/6000 name just above the Playlist.
9. You can do this several at a time if you want. So far I have found this works well for me... touch wood.
10. You can drag & drop straight from the Library too. I just prefer to do it from the playlist.
Good luck.

the sony mv-3000 is beautiful, slick and is great. however, the software is unreal but all you need to do is download sonicstage. not the upgrade. even though the software sucks i would still buy it again

I've been following the comments on this site with great interest for the last month since I bought my A3000. Like most, despite the numerous negative software reviews, the lure of the sexy hardware overrode my common sense... and boy did I curse as I spent most of my Christmas holiday trying in vain to get the blasted 'Connect' software to do what it said on the tin and load on more than a few albums without corrupting the database for the umpteenth time. I was resorting to Sonic Stage for the interim but this really p**sed me off seeing as many of the cool extra features are not available in this software. Only now after a thorough reading of the comments on this site and a deep breath as I uninstalled Sonic, wiped my current Sony Databases and reloaded Connect have I finally managed to get the damn thing running the way it should be! I'm not promising this will work for all, but the following points definitely sorted me out and may help you get you a workable Connect until the main update comes out in a few weeks (fingers crossed).

1) It goes without saying that you must install ALL the available updates for Connect before trying to use it.

2) I'm using XP service pack 2 - Joe's comments regards 'Windows 2000 Compatibility' mode for the Cplayer.exe paid dividends. The software loads much quicker, uses less CPU, is infinitely more stable and actually RESPONSIVE. Suggest you give it a go if you haven't already.

3) It may sound silly, but check which USB port on your PC you are using. For ages my transfers were hanging in limbo for ages and then failing. I then found that this was due to me using the front panel USB slots on my home build PC - maybe there wasn't enough power getting to the front USB panel or something, but they were clearly not up to the task of providing data to the A3000 in a consistent manner. As soon as I swapped the USB connector to a main USB slot on the back of the PC itself all my transfers worked a charm. And if you have a USB 2.0 hub, the transfer speed is infinitely better!

4) After you have finshed updating the device and before undocking the device, check that there is no update info in the status bar at the bottom right of the Connect screen (i.e. where it says if it is transferring / deleting songs etc). The update info there is so small and insignificant it was ages before I realised that what seemed to be an unresponsive Connect Player software package was actually a very busy one updating my hardware and telling me how much it had left to go. Undoubtedly in my impatience I was unplugging the player before updates were completing to the hardware, leading to the corrupted databases I was getting! Basically, pay attention to these messages - undocking mid-update is a big no no!

5) Only undock using the 'Unplug/Eject Hardware' link bottom right of your task bar. Unless anyone knows how to do this within Connect 'Itunes' style, this is the safest way to get the device off the PC.

6) Don't have Sonic and Connect installed simultaneously, this is just asking for trouble.

7) I started with a CLEAN Connect Library. By that I mean that I removed the folder Application Data\Sony Corporation completely and ran Crap Cleaner for good measure across the PC to make sure. Currently, I have imported 2000 songs into the new library and they have all auto-synced to the hardware just fine. I'm using an Athlon 2500+ and it still seems responsive (but only after loading in Windows 2000 compatible mode and with the updates).

Doing the above, applying the wma firmware update and volume hack and 6 weeks later I can finally use the player as I assumed I could on day 1. Whilst I agree that the software out of the box is needlessly bug ridden, with immense patience it DOES work. I'm hoping that the future updates bring about a user friendlyness that will finally come close to doing the hardware justice. Good luck guys!

Please contact simon directly on his email address with anything to help the cause.
From the conversation I had with him he is preparing an article "shortly".
I respect what he is doing and would leave any decision to publish up to him.

Hi all,

I just got a call from The Times Newspaper. Apparently, they are running a story on the `Sony Fiasco' on Saturday.

I know that I've have posted regarding this before. As I can't transfer music in sonicstage 3.3 to my NWA 1000 as I get the following message:

The connected ATRAC audio device cannot be used with the currently installed sonicStage. To use with the currently installed sonicstage, you must delete all the tracks in the ATRAC audio device or initialize the hard disk of the ATRAC audio device. (Error code: 000066a3)

Does anyone know what to do? I'm too scared to delete my tracks as I've got 2Gb on there which is better than nothing. What is initialising the device I don't actually know. Deleting all the tracks wouldn't be so bad I'm just worried that I won't be able to get the software to work and then I'll be left with a totally useless player.

Anyone out there that can help?

I wander if Simon has managed to extract a definitive statement from Sony? I suspect any statement made by Sony will fall in the category "they would say that wouldn't they!"

Hi Wei-Lin,

Initialising the device is accessed from the Setup menu on the Player. If you do this, you will totally wipe all the music from your player.

If you are planning to use Sonic Stage 3.3 in place of the defective Connect Player try the following.

Start Sonic Stage and plug in your Player.

Go to the file menu on Sonic Stage and find transfer folders. Browse to find the Players Drive (it show as an external drive). There will be a folder on the Players drive called OMGAUDIO or something simular. Try clicking on this to transfer the music from your Player into Sonic Stage.

Alternatively, you could just plug your player into your PC without any of the software running. Then locate the Players drive via My Computer or Explorer and then right click on the OMGAUDIO folder, click copy and then paste the folder onto your Desktop. Open up Sonic Stage and transfer the contents of this folder to the library.

Only initiase the Player after you have done this.

If all goes well, you should then be able to use Sonic Stage to transfer all your music back onto the player

For anyone following this issue. This should be interesting. Quote from the atrac site...

..."Finally, I found a booth displaying the NW-A3000 and NW-A1000 with an unspoken promise of release in the United States (”It will be ready when we decide that the software is ready — there are no hardware problems.” one executive said). I was surprised that they weren’t actually going to debut the NW-A1200, which I will speak of more authoritively when allowed"...

Don't you just love the "when the software is ready"

Oi Sony!!!! If the software "is not ready" why the hell are we fighting you.
Show some honour recall and refund europe users.

What arrogant bastards!!! this really pisses me off. Until now I have been quite and understated. I will now stand as the point of contact for anyone who wants to take on Sony.

God I hope Simons article gives a rather violent upward knee movement into the soft under-regions of Sony and brings the corporate arrogance into line.

To Gazza09

Thanks for the advice and clear instructions. All is going well.

Cheers,

Wei-Lin

To eventr

"When the software is ready" - if that's the official line in America, then that is an admission of guilt that the software in it's current state was never fit for purpose. It essentially is stating that the UK marketing hype about the player and supporting software is in breach of trading standards! The USA has already successfully brought class action litigation against Sony, with settlements being dished out as we speak, over it's copy restriction software. They just wouldn't dare launch anything like Connect in it's current state into USA - attorney's would have a field day!

What pisses me off, is that Sony could choose to be much more directional about this whole affair. Instead they have left us guessing, hunting around for answers in a sea of disinformation, with our expectations of what is a great player rendered impotent by Connect. OK we can all hobble along with Sonic or limited use of Connect but for how long? and what confidence do we have that they are going to get it right, given their track record with Sonic?

The truth is, Sony need a kick right up the corporate ass, as they have arrogantly abused their UK customer base, again, with such crap Software development and support. Our voice has to humble them into a necessary realisation that they need to seriously shake the software division down and get it working in synchronisation with their hardware divisions!

wasted so much time on my NW-A1000 at least 5 functions not working,sonicstage version 3.3 (xmas present).Returned it to Dixons. Of course they said there had been no trouble with the sony mp3 and they would not give me a refund only an exchange.After a heated exchange they said they only give refunds within 28 days, even if it is faulty.Fortunately it was the 28th day.I'am still going to write to Watchdog.

This is what the Times have printed;

The Times January 21, 2006

MP3 comes down with a crash
By Simon de Bruxelles
Software glitch has left users unable to transfer tunes to new player

SONY is advising consumers not to use software supplied with its new range of digital music players after hundreds of users complained that it caused their computers to crash.
The new Sony MP3 Walkman was billed as the company’s long-awaited answer to the iPod and became one of the biggest-selling electrical items for Christmas.

But Sony admitted that the software sold with the player has “major problems”, which has left many owners unable to use the players. The Connect Player programme is designed to transfer music from the user’s computer to the player and to connect them to Sony’s music sales website. But distraught buyers have been posting messages on websites cursing Sony. Others have returned their £199 players for a refund.

A woman called Amy wrote that her boyfriend bought her the Sony player for Christmas after she asked for an iPod. She said: “After three bottles of wine, 60 fags and trying all night to get some songs on the thing, me and my boyfriend are over. This morning I tried again, failing and throwing the mouse at the wall. Help!” John Dolan, a software designer from Cambridge, bought the players as presents for his 12-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son. He spent the two weeks before Christmas trying, without success, to get them to work properly.

He said: “They have caused me a lot of stress and have completely spoiled my kids’ Christmas as they were not able to use their presents.”

Sony, the company that began the portable music revolution with the cassette tape-playing Walkman in 1979, was a late entrant in the race to take on the iPod. It finally produced its new Walkman range in Europe and Japan in early November. The top specification machine is smaller than a pack of playing cards and can hold more than 10,000 songs. It has a concealed screen and an iPod-shaming battery life of 35 hours.

The players were an instant success. Both the 6gb NW-A1000 and the 20gb NW-A3000 flew off the shelves despite costing £149 and £199 respectively.

Unfortunately for a significant number of purchasers, the bundled software refused to work. Users complained that they were unable to get the Connect Player programme to load on to their computers. Others found their machines crashing or got bored waiting hours for signs of life.

Six weeks after the launch Sony released a software update designed to solve the most obvious problems. Sony conceded this week that there are “major problems” with the Connect Player software. The company is advising owners to uninstall Connect Player and download an earlier programme called SonicStage, which means that some of the newest features are unusable.

Sony, which sold products worth £36.6 billion worldwide last year, is unique in that it not only manufactures the players but owns much of the music. Some users suspect that the root cause of their problems is digital rights management (DRM) and the complex layers of protection Sony builds into its software to prevent users copying music without paying.

Gregory Kukolj, Sony’s general manager for Europe, admitted that there had been a higher than usual number of returns for a new product but told The Times that many of the initial problems had been corrected by the software upgrade last month.

He said that “certain people” had failed to download the upgrade, which was why they were still experiencing problems. The problems in Europe have delayed the launch date of the players in the US market, which was originally this month, but is now unknown

Simeone - I would throw the book at dixons if I were you - they are no position to give you that kind of grief at all. There are laws out there to protect the consumer.

I live in Ireland & the applicable laws here are Sales of Goods Act 1980. It deems that "A Good must be fit for the purpose it is intended for" Is this product fit for teh job it is intended to do - NO !!! YOU CANT EVEN LOAD TRACKS ONTO IT.

There are similar laws in th UK as probably with a year or so of the issue of the ROI. The Irish laws are generally the same as the UK ones and are agreed a yr or to later. So I am sure that you can source that law out in years of say 1978/79.

So are sony going to re-imburse people for stress?!!!! There is protection there (so long as you can prove it! - Very difficult)

I am persevering with mine with Sonicstage but it gaules me that I loose some functionality.

So if anyone is returning a product bear all of this in mind - dont let senselesss corporations bully you!!!

Simone,
More than happy to help you.
Dixons accepted mine on the 16th of Jan. I purchased it on the 15th of November.
The main issue is that it doesn't work as described.
Clear and simple.
Having to invlove secondary software (sonic stage) which deems certain functions useless make the product not function as per the desciption.
They have to accept it back.
The standard has already been set by taking mine back.
More than happy to back you up.
I will do some research and post again.
Bruce

Simone,
Just lifted this off the Consumer direct website...

Electrical goods - your rights
If you have bought electrical goods - such as toasters, washing machines, microwaves, stereos and televisions - they must be:

Of satisfactory quality.
Fit for their purpose.
As described.
When an item doesn’t meet some or all of these conditions:
If you have only used them a few times or haven’t had a reasonable opportunity to check them, you are probably entitled to a refund for a fault or poor description, or alternatively you may request a replacement.

If the fault is only minor and can easily be put right, it is reasonable to accept a repair. This won’t stop you claiming a replacement or refund if the repair turns out to be unsatisfactory.

If you have used them more than a few times or have had a reasonable opportunity to check them, you are probably still entitled to a repair or replacement. A repair should be carried out within a reasonable period of time and without causing you significant inconvenience. Any repair should restore goods to a satisfactory condition. If this does not happen, you are entitled to a replacement or compensation. This could be a sum of money or the cost of hiring a temporary replacement, or perhaps the loan of a replacement.

If the goods cannot be replaced or repaired economically, you are entitled to a refund. The trader may make a reduction from the price you paid to allow for the use you have had from the goods.

If the goods have damaged anything else or you are out of pocket in any other way, you may be entitled to compensation over and above the price of the goods.

Remember, if you are entitled to a refund, replacement, repair or compensation, it is the trader who must sort out your problem. The trader cannot tell you to go back to the manufacturer.

Important points to bear in mind:
If you bought on credit you may be able to claim against the finance company. For further information, refer to the factsheet Your rights - bought on credit?
You have seven working days to cancel a contract for goods ordered by telephone, mail order, internet or fax, except for those goods which are made to order. For further information, refer to the factsheet Shopping from home - returning or cancelling your order.
All electrical goods need to be used and looked after in line with any instructions.
Fair wear and tear is not a fault.
Top

If things go wrong
If you determine that there is a problem with the electrical goods you have purchased, do the following.

If you can, stop using the goods at once.
Check there really is a fault - read the instructions carefully.
Be certain that the fault was not caused by misuse, an accident or by not following the instructions.
If you can, collect together any instructions, leaflets, packaging etc which came with the goods. Pack them all up with the goods.
Locate your proof of purchase. If you haven’t got a receipt, you can use a credit card voucher or cheque stub. Own-brand goods, something exclusive to one shop (such as a customised carrier bag) or the packaging may prove where you bought the item. If someone was with you when you bought it, they can back you up. Remember - it is up to you to show where and when you bought the goods.
You will now need to contact the trader straight away and report the problem. If you bought the goods locally, visit the trader. Take the item, the packaging (if possible) and any proof of purchase with you. If you cannot take the goods back to the shop, either phone or write to the trader.

...Quite clearly the NWA1000 and 3000 are not...
..."Of satisfactory quality"
..."Fit for their purpose" (they don't play music as exactly described in the owners manual)
..."As described" (you cannot use connect software supplier in the package as instructed)

The product therefore is faulty and you are entited to a refund.

try

Simone,
Just lifted this off the Consumer direct website...

Electrical goods - your rights
If you have bought electrical goods - such as toasters, washing machines, microwaves, stereos and televisions - they must be:

Of satisfactory quality.
Fit for their purpose.
As described.
When an item doesn’t meet some or all of these conditions:
If you have only used them a few times or haven’t had a reasonable opportunity to check them, you are probably entitled to a refund for a fault or poor description, or alternatively you may request a replacement.

If the fault is only minor and can easily be put right, it is reasonable to accept a repair. This won’t stop you claiming a replacement or refund if the repair turns out to be unsatisfactory.

If you have used them more than a few times or have had a reasonable opportunity to check them, you are probably still entitled to a repair or replacement. A repair should be carried out within a reasonable period of time and without causing you significant inconvenience. Any repair should restore goods to a satisfactory condition. If this does not happen, you are entitled to a replacement or compensation. This could be a sum of money or the cost of hiring a temporary replacement, or perhaps the loan of a replacement.

If the goods cannot be replaced or repaired economically, you are entitled to a refund. The trader may make a reduction from the price you paid to allow for the use you have had from the goods.

If the goods have damaged anything else or you are out of pocket in any other way, you may be entitled to compensation over and above the price of the goods.

Remember, if you are entitled to a refund, replacement, repair or compensation, it is the trader who must sort out your problem. The trader cannot tell you to go back to the manufacturer.

Important points to bear in mind:
If you bought on credit you may be able to claim against the finance company. For further information, refer to the factsheet Your rights - bought on credit?
You have seven working days to cancel a contract for goods ordered by telephone, mail order, internet or fax, except for those goods which are made to order. For further information, refer to the factsheet Shopping from home - returning or cancelling your order.
All electrical goods need to be used and looked after in line with any instructions.
Fair wear and tear is not a fault.
Top

If things go wrong
If you determine that there is a problem with the electrical goods you have purchased, do the following.

If you can, stop using the goods at once.
Check there really is a fault - read the instructions carefully.
Be certain that the fault was not caused by misuse, an accident or by not following the instructions.
If you can, collect together any instructions, leaflets, packaging etc which came with the goods. Pack them all up with the goods.
Locate your proof of purchase. If you haven’t got a receipt, you can use a credit card voucher or cheque stub. Own-brand goods, something exclusive to one shop (such as a customised carrier bag) or the packaging may prove where you bought the item. If someone was with you when you bought it, they can back you up. Remember - it is up to you to show where and when you bought the goods.
You will now need to contact the trader straight away and report the problem. If you bought the goods locally, visit the trader. Take the item, the packaging (if possible) and any proof of purchase with you. If you cannot take the goods back to the shop, either phone or write to the trader.

...Quite clearly the NWA1000 and 3000 are not...
..."Of satisfactory quality"
..."Fit for their purpose" (they don't play music as exactly described in the owners manual)
..."As described" (you cannot use connect software supplier in the package as instructed)

The product therefore is faulty and you are entited to a refund.

try

Thanks .... and an apology!!
Thank you to all those who contacted me about their experiences with the new Sony Walkman for my article in The Times, it was a tremendous help even if you didn't make the final cut.
However, a huge apology to all who noticed that the paper printed a picture of the wrong MP3 player! I can't tell you how peed off I was, though I suspect Sony will be secretly delighted.
Regards, Simon

Hi Simon,

I read your article in The Times.

It gave very good coverage of the subject.

It was interesting to see that Sony have still not fully admitted that there is still problems with the software. Making a statement that some people are experiencing problems because they have not upgraded their software is a load of old bull. I believe most of us have and are still experiencing problems.

It was also good to see one of my comments in The Times. Fame at last lol.

Excellent article, but how can Sony be persuaded to do something, or if they are working behind the scenes, tell us about it!
I've fired an email off to Watchdog, lets see if we get any reaction

There is a software update due at the end of the month.

See the Silva Bokis blog for details - http://silvabokis.typepad.com/silva_bokis/2006/01/sony_connect_pl.html

After further conversations with contacts at Sony I can say that the January update is an interim release that is not expected to fully resolve the speed issues but has fixes for a number of other problems including better on-screen messaging so that users can tell that the software is actually doing something and has not hung.

There is also a version 1.1 on the way but no firm release date has been set.

I hope to receive more information from Sony that I can pass on to the community in the coming week.

Nice article, but as I suspected, Sony fell into the category of "disinformation" and "they would say that wouldn't they"!

Sony are just not letting on to how big a disaster this really is!

TO SONY - Upgrading Software has not made a hoots worth of difference - AND YOU KNOW IT - STOP BULLSHITTING!

Cheeky Bastards saying "certain people" had failed to download the upgrade, which was why they were still experiencing problems. The reason we are sill experiencing problems is because we trusted Sony to produce a solid, robust product which would be fully tested before being released. Gregory Kukolj Why don't you do the job properly, stick a mask on and ask us to "stand and deliver"!!
Goodness knows how long we are going to be stuck with this shit - Silva's contact indicates we are getting status messages in the next release. Just what we need! What I want is performance or perhaps one of the 450MHz processor PC's using 256MB RAM that Gregory Kukolj and his merry men got the software running on.

"one of the 450MHz processor PC's using 256MB RAM that Gregory Kukolj and his merry men got the software running on."

I want one of these 'super computers' too !!!!
I hope Sony will see fit to give one to everyone who has invested in their quality software...... lets face it, it's just about impossible to buy such a high spec. machine in the High street these days.

Just for a laugh i went into the Sony Centre in a well known east midlands city today......... sure enough there was a customer in there complaining about something they had bought there, i don't have to tell you what it was but he kept mentioning the 'C' word (can't even say it these days it makes me physically sick), i didn't know whether to laugh or cry !!!!

Hi...Have read the site with interest and glad to see I was/am not alone !. My wife gave me an NW-A3000 for xmas and I wanted to contribute my experiences in case they helped anyone, since after trial and error I am having success in ripping and loading my player. Apologies if they duplicate with other posts....

First off I fully agree that the Connect software is rubbish and not fit for purpose. However, I love the player, especially the sound quality, and don’t really want to take it back.

I did go back to the local Sony Centre were it was bought, and predictably their reaction was “we have sold loads sir, your the first person who has come in with a problem” - despite my insistence that there was a huge amount of reported problems about the Connect software (eg this site). I wanted them to contact Sony via their dealer routes and see what help they could obtain. Response was to give me a telephone number for Sony help and tell me they would take a look at the net. I haven't been back as yet...

Initial first few days over Xmas were not good. Software installed itself OK, but would only rip 1 or 2 CDs and would then hang – only response was to re-boot since couldn’t seem to kill tinyhttp via Task Manager and then re-start. If hadn’t lucked on the following method would undoubtedly been returning it for a refund….

I have a newish Dell PC, 3Ghz with 1Gb RAM (don’t know if this helping me ?) running Win XP Home Edition and SP2. My CDs weren’t ripped previously to another format. So far I have managed to rip and transfer 2200 tracks (c180 albums), I have about another 100 to 150 albums to go. Am cutting to ATRAC3Plus and 128k.

For me the following process appears to be working :

1. Do in relatively small batches at a time eg today been working thru c25 cds (can’t bear anymore than that sitting in front of the PC !)
2. Have set Autoplay function when put CD in to Take No Action. Previously this popped up a list of options and this ‘appeared’ to impact Connect Player finding & registering that I had loaded an Audio CD.
3. Within the Preferences section of Connect, under CD Ripping have only selected the “Eject CD when ripping is complete” option so that I let the Player dictate when its finished – not me jumping in too early. The 2 getting/show CD info boxes I have left unchecked since I drive this action manually when the CD has been found and number of tracks listed.
4. On the Internet section of Preferences I have unchecked the Network Features and Artist background service but checked the 'Use proxy setting of your default browser'.
5. In Norton Internet Security 2005 Firewall settings I have set Connect Player and the Connect Player Autoupdate applications to Permit All.
6. In Preferences I have the Player set to ’Full Sync’
7. Once put in CD I let the Connect Player detect it and wait until I see Audio CD, and in the Rip pane that it has found the CD and listed the number of tracks, but all details are Unknown.
8. Then click on ‘Get CD Info’ button. The Gracenote logo flashes up at the top left and it finds the Album artist, Album, Genre and Year info. The actual track details don’t seem to appear at this stage.
9. I then press the ‘Start ripping Tracks from CD’ button and the track names and details get filled in. CD rips and when done is ejected.
10. Put in next CD and start process again.
11. On some occasions the CD name etc doesn’t seem to appear, but this is mainly when Gracenote has found more than one match. Originally thought the player had hung but learnt to look for a ‘Match’ dialogue box. Select correct match and details fill in.
12. Once have finished ripping a batch of CDs I then connect up the player itself and let it sync itself up, taking care not to disconnect it until the “Do Not Disconnect” message appears to well and truly gone. Seems to sync up the new CDs over a matter of mins (5 to 10 maybe).
13. Disconnect from PC (just by unplugging cable from player) and it then seems to build the Database with no issue (and then switch itself off if left for a few mins).

The above method seems to have served me very well at the moment. Am hoping don’t hit some sort of glass wall in terms of numbers of tracks with the software and that can get all my CDs on !

Main issues for me (apart from software is crap and I shouldn’t have to find a work around after my wife spend c£200 !) are :

1. Some CDs appear as Data. This totally hangs the PC and requires a reboot. Pile of around 12 so far to deal with later.
2. Plan for these (untried as yet) is to load into Windows Media Player and import from there.
3. ArtistLink feature doesn’t seem to work. Any thoughts anyone ?
4. Have yet to apply the firmware upgrade available for the Player – am too frightened to given experience of Software to date ! – Is general consensus that firmware U/g works Ok ?

Don’t know if the above helps anyone ? if it does great ! Will keep reading site with interest.

That's the first time I've bought a Times in my life. Cost a bloody pound too! Mind you it was worth it to see that finally something is happening.
Although, like Gman, I was boiling when I read that all my problems were down to me failing to download the upgrade. What do they think we've been doing since Christmas, sitting on our arses waiting for a miracle to happen.
Never mind I have great faith in Sony, that when it is all sorted out we will all be compensated for the frustrating hours we've spent with this software,the phone calls we've made and maybe the pound for the Times![Sorry Simon,maybe become a convert after I've read the whole paper]

Check this link out -

Sony's intentions for the year. Of course it was launched with a "wet fart" called Connect Player. I wonder if they will have a follow through later on in the year!

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117935459?categoryId=2112&cs=1&s=h&p=0

I think this quote from the link in Peter's post above tells us Walkman owners where to get off.

"Rather than becoming yet another digital media service for PCs, Sony is designing Connect to work best with the PSP and PlayStation 3."

After 3 years of frustration with the Sonicstage debacle, I've finally given up hope of ever getting anything workable out of Sony. I've taken my kids' Walkmans back and got them 20Gb Creative Zens. The guy behind the counter started arguing that we've had them for two months but gave up when he saw the look in my eyes.

The Zens are just as good in sound quality and they're much louder. They're smaller and tougher than the NWA1000 and we can just drag music files into them using Explorer or synch them with Windows Media Player. They use a standard USB cable and we can see the displays in sunlight. The battery lasts just as long and is user-changeable and cheap to replace. They have FM radio and voice recording - and they're 50 quid cheaper than the Walkmans.

No more stupid paranoid proprietary file formats. No more struggling for hours with shit software. No more patronising, supercilious Sony execs spouting shite like "Certain people haven't upgraded and that's why they have got problems" (Times article). It's like having a breath of fresh air in the house.

SONY - YOU SPOILED MY KIDS' CHRISTMAS, YOU GREEDY, ARROGANT BASTARDS.

I HOPE YOU DISAPPEAR UP YOUR OWN ARSEHOLES AND GO DOWN THE TUBES BECAUSE YOU DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING BETTER.

Just been to John Lewis Electrical Equipment Dpt., shopping trip with wife, no specific item in mind when -

I noticed on display with marked down pricing misc customer returns being sold as used equipment. Comes as no surprise when I see that the most abundant return was NW-A3000s and NW-A1000s!

This must be a huge disaster for Sony - they are just not letting on!

I think this quote from the link in Peter's post on http://www.kanai.net/weblog/archive/2005/11/22/21h17m54s
tells us Walkman owners where to get off.

"Rather than becoming yet another digital media service for PCs, Sony is designing Connect to work best with the PSP and PlayStation 3."

After 3 years of frustration with the Sonicstage debacle, I've finally given up hope of ever getting anything workable out of Sony. I've taken my kids' Walkmans back and got them 20Gb Creative Zens. The guy behind the counter started arguing that we've had them for two months but gave up when he saw the look in my eyes.

The Zens are just as good in sound quality and they're much louder. They're smaller and tougher than the NWA1000 and we can just drag music files into them using Explorer or synch them with Windows Media Player. They use a standard USB cable and we can see the displays in sunlight. The battery lasts just as long and is user-changeable and cheap to replace. They have FM radio, voice recording and they're 50 quid cheaper than the Walkmans.

No more stupid paranoid proprietary file formats. No more struggling for hours with shit software. No more patronising, supercilious Sony execs spouting shite like "Certain people haven't upgraded and that's why they have got problems". It's like having a breath of fresh air in the house.

SONY - YOU SPOILED MY KIDS' CHRISTMAS, YOU GREEDY, ARROGANT BASTARDS.

I HOPE YOU DISAPPEAR UP YOUR OWN ARSEHOLES AND GO DOWN THE TUBES BECAUSE YOU DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING BETTER.

Sad that such a great brand should now be heading for the toilet. Opinion formers bought the Sony MP3 hardware, discovered that SonicStage is useless. I've just ruined my Sunday trying to get music onto my NW HD5 using SonicStage 3.3. I too have worked with Sony and frankly if anyone from SCEE saw what Sony have done with this software, they'd despair. Phil Harrison - read this, find out who's responsible, and get them sacked.

I think this quote from the link in Peter's post on http://www.kanai.net/weblog/archive/2005/11/22/21h17m54s
tells us Walkman owners where to get off.

"Rather than becoming yet another digital media service for PCs, Sony is designing Connect to work best with the PSP and PlayStation 3."

After 3 years of frustration with the Sonicstage debacle, I've finally given up hope of ever getting anything workable out of Sony. I've taken my kids' Walkmans back and got them 20Gb Creative Zens. The guy behind the counter started arguing that we've had them for two months but gave up when he saw the look in my eyes.

The Zens are just as good in sound quality and they're much louder. They're smaller and tougher than the NWA1000 and we can just drag music files into them using Explorer or synch them with Windows Media Player. They use a standard USB cable and we can see the displays in sunlight. The battery lasts just as long and is user-changeable and cheap to replace. They have FM radio, voice recording and they're 50 quid cheaper than the Walkmans.

No more stupid paranoid proprietary file formats. No more struggling for hours with shit software. No more patronising, supercilious Sony execs spouting shite like "Certain people haven't upgraded and that's why they have got problems". It's like having a breath of fresh air in the house.

SONY - YOU SPOILED MY KIDS' CHRISTMAS, YOU GREEDY, ARROGANT TWATS.

I HOPE YOU DISAPPEAR UP YOUR OWN ARSEHOLES AND GO DOWN THE TUBES BECAUSE YOU DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING BETTER.

Got the NW-A1000 for Xmas managed to transfer all my music from WMP....all 400 albums, took ages and kept crashing. Takes ages to transfer albums from libary to player and whats worse my connect store is all in french! Anyone know how to change this? Saying all that the player sounds fantastic and is a doddle to use. Ripping music with Connect is a nightmare, use WMP and then transfer it across.
If sony dont sought out these software problems I will ditch the player and buy a ipod. It will be a shame as the player is great, better sound than the ipod and better looking as well.

I think this quote from the link in Peter's post on http://www.kanai.net/weblog/archive/2005/11/22/21h17m54s
tells us Walkman owners where to get off.

"Rather than becoming yet another digital media service for PCs, Sony is designing Connect to work best with the PSP and PlayStation 3."

After 3 years of frustration with the Sonicstage debacle, I've finally given up hope of ever getting anything workable out of Sony. I've taken my kids' Walkmans back and got them 20Gb Creative Zens. The guy behind the counter started arguing that we've had them for two months but gave up when he saw the look in my eyes.

The Zens are just as good in sound quality and they're much louder. They're smaller and tougher than the NWA1000 and we can just drag music files into them using Explorer or synch them with Windows Media Player. They use a standard USB cable and we can see the displays in sunlight. The battery lasts just as long and is user-changeable and cheap to replace. They have FM radio, voice recording and they're 50 quid cheaper than the Walkmans.

No more stupid paranoid proprietary file formats. No more struggling for hours with shit software. No more patronising, supercilious Sony execs spouting shite like "Certain people haven't upgraded and that's why they have got problems". It's like having a breath of fresh air in the house.

*sighs with disgust*.
I can't tell you everyone how sad I feel reading all your comments when I come in here, as I TRULY understand how you all feel with having your Sony machines. I was SO happy, but that soon turned to anger, frustration and TOTAL unhappiness, and my nwa-3000 is now packed up, ready to take back to the store tonight. I have been looking at so many other players, but to be honest, 200 quid is a lot of money, and I am not sure whether I want to go through this hassle again with any other player which I may buy. It is the principle of the thing isn't it? I mean, if some sites can sell this online at around £140 or thereabouts, it makes you wonder just how much Sony distribute this for, then we are the idiots that pay 200 smacks for it only to be let down IMMENSELY by the junk software that they give along with it. I will just be glad to get my money back and put this down to *bad error* and will take great care when investing with Sony products again. It just goes to show you ... 'we DON'T always get what we pay for!* huh?

Thanks for all the problems which you've highlighted. This swayed me into making a final decision in taking it back along with my *uncomfortableness* (if there is such a word!) of owning the nwa-3000.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PRODUCT IF YOU'RE THINKING OF BUYING IT.

Best wishes

funkyasschick

As posted by the admin of this site -

Sony Connect Business Division.
You know that there are changes that are either yet-to-come or that there are things unmentioned when you see a one-line press release:

"Connect Company has been renamed Connect Business Division."

In Sony speak, this means that a stand-alone unit has now been moved underneath another unit. Where I come from, this is not a good thing.

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200601/06-004E/index.html

A prophetic statement of Sony perhaps preparing for the worse or kicking ass to re-group!?

There's a new story on Sony Digital Link website that acknowledged problems with Sony Connect Player.

http://support.sony-europe.com/DNA/Hotnews/hotnews.asp?l=en&f=ConSon

Reading between the lines Sony has been hiring and firing over the Connect fiasco!

Interesting post that Silva, looks as though they have admitted defeat for the time being with Connect as they are releasing an update to Sonicstage, presumably to enable the features on the player that don't work when using it. Hopefully this will buy them the time they need to get Connect working properly, i suspect that is what they are hoping !
Its good to see that they might actually be moving in the right direction, even if it is a little bit too late.

At last someone at Sony has decided to take control and give clear direction to the consumer!

To Sony

"indecisiveness is destructive in business".

A clear statement, as you are now making, could have significantly appeased many of your customers and limited further damage to your Brand reputation and in particular your excellent hardware as in the NWA SERIES. I fear your indecision and time delay has exacerbated the Connect Fiasco.

I for one, will hold out, on the premise that you have now got your act together, backed up by your excellent hardware track record, and that commercial necessity will prevail, to at long last get your software division back in line!

However as this site bears testament, you cannot afford to get it wrong again! The internet is a powerful ally to the wronged consumer, through which, anger and unforgiveness will undoubtedly be fortified, indeed unified, by instant virtual collaboration & communciation, with such pervasive force, that to ignore, would be commercial suicide! Get it right - "the mistakes of the past are the lessons of the future" - it is unfrogiveable for you to repeat such mistakes - GET IT RIGHT!

I am heartened to hear that things may be heading in the right direction.
But why so slow?
We all signed on and registered or players so why no email to us all at least telling the consumer what to do?
Why do we have to dig and do our own reseach to find the answers?
Why should we rely on the comfort and support of fellow alarmed consumers to get answers?
What the hell is the point in collecting data if a company doesn't use it?
The total lack of communication in todays electronic age is unacceptable.
A simple email, or god help me a letter, would have helped.
Sony is playing an ostrich game. If they stick their head in the ground and don't make a sound maybe the consumer will not see the balls up they have made.
Well guess what sony!?!
These days if you stick your head in the ground and ignore the consumers then the internet doesn't beome your friend it becomes something to come alone and F**K your big feathered ass while you are not watching.

Just out of interest.
Visitors to this site would have seen me last week make four listings on Ebay.
The listings are meerly another way of gaining publicity for the failings of the player from "my" point of view.
Remember Ebay listings are also genarated on the "sponsored" side of any google search!!
They have another four days to run but so far the viewing counter shows 84, 272, 197 & 64 viewings of the ebay listing.
I hope that means 617 people will think twice before buying a NWA 1000 or 3000.
If an average price of the two players (excluding those in the John Lewis bargin bin) is £150 then that is £92,550 in potential sales lost.
Meanwhile back in the real world that isn't going to be half way true.
But it makes you think...how many sales has this site put off?
Keep up the good work everyone.
How many sales do you have to lose to make a public statement?

oooooooooooooH!
Big Feathered Arses...

"Analysts have said Sony has been hampered in part by the different goals of different divisions, such as the desire of the content companies to protect their music and movies from piracy, and the electronics division's stake in technologies such as the MiniDisc and the Memory Stick."

Taken from this link -

http://news.com.com/Sony+reorganizes+struggling+Connect+service/2100-1027_3-6029397.html?tag=nefd.top

Copyright control gone too far in Connect?

Connect my bollocks

Your bollocks should already be connected.

From the sony statement on the problems encountered by some users "Where they occur, these issues arise as a result of aspects of some system environments and usage conditions". No it is the result of crap untested software or they set the system spec too low, in order to sell more units(there is no way that a 450 Mhz with 250MB RAM could run Connect, unless in a parallel universe...). They can decide which hat fits! Personally I think if it were not for the fact that they are now receiving big time bad exposure they would not be doing anything to help us. How I really hope they don't screw up SonicStage (it's the only bit that sort of works) if they do we will be left with flashy paperweights! With any luck it will be tendered out to real programers this time!

I believe that Sony are taking this very seriously. Everything we are seeing and reading from Sony is tantamount to a corporate shake down!

From a corporate stand point, the expectations of the new MP3 players must have been a huge part of their budget and marketing campaigns to regain ground against IPOD! As the Connect player fiasco unfolded, and the scale of it, the Top Sony Execs must have been punch drunk into disbelief that their divisions made such a catastrophe! You can be sure that people have been made to be accountable here, with firing, hiring and decisive restructuring, especially given that Sir Howard Stringer is the new Sony chairman - his tenure and inauguration has been completely undermined by this fiasco, he will not stand for it, given his background, business culture and reputation. Ultimately, he has the stock holders and analysts to answer to, as the debacle breaks into the public and wider financial domain. These guys will viciously turn on Sony and Sir Howard for answers, he will know that, and will have already sat down with his team, formulating a practical and city palatable plan.I bet we are now seeing the signs of such a plan before the markets get a chance to draw blood, and not forgetting the even greater bloodshed that could ensue if they stand still with consumers. Appease, placate, instill clear leadership, broadcast decisive direction to consumers, and hire where necessary the best brains to put the train back on the rails - that will be the order of the day with Sir Howard. Why the delay? Probably the old encumbent Sony mentality stifling the truth before the decision makers ie Sir Howard and his team were put in the picture! I now smell Sir Howard's hand on the tiller! Let's hope he will pull it off!

Posted today on asahi.com...

Sony reshuffles over Walkman woes
01/24/2006

The Asahi Shimbun

In the face of stagnant sales, Sony Corp. has shaken up the top management at a key division in charge of Walkman portable digital audio players and online music distribution.

The move comes as the new Walkman A series, released in November, has failed to regain share lost to Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iPods.

Sony on Friday renamed its Connect Company as the Connect Business Division and appointed a single manager to lead the organization.

Previously, the in-house division was headed by two managers, one responsible for Japanese operations and the other for U.S. operations.

Connect Company was established in November 2004 to revive the Walkman brand. The first Walkman audio players equipped with memory chips were released in April.

The management reshuffle followed the recruitment of a key engineer from Apple in December to head software development for all Sony products.

Overall sales of portable digital audio players are more than doubling from a year earlier, but the Walkman is struggling.

Sony's share increased only marginally although the company cut the suggested retail price of the Walkman A series by between 1,000 yen and 5,000 yen right from the time of the release.

According to market researcher BCN Inc., Sony's share in the domestic market was 14 percent in November. It was little changed at 16 percent in December when electronics manufacturers conducted year-end sales campaigns. It has fallen back to 15 percent so far in January.

Apple's iPod has maintained a share of more than 50 percent since the start of its iTunes Music Store online music distribution service in August.

At the Yodobashi Camera Co. outlet in Tokyo's Akihabara district, which opened in September, about one-fifth of the 4,000-square-meter first floor--at the premier location of the outlet--has been occupied by Apple products, including the iPod.

Yodobashi Camera officials said the iPod has continued to attract visitors.

Analysts say the iPod is drawing users because of the ease of its operation and downloading from the iTunes store as well as the power of the product brand.

Sony, meanwhile, is struggling with marketing as well as with the product.

Several software bugs were found after the release of the Walkman A series. So far, Sony has modified the software five times and distributed the fixes via the Internet.(IHT/Asahi: January 24,2006)

Sony is very concerned. Within two hours of my request to the UK press office for a comment for the article in The Times I had a call back telling me that the general manager for Europe would respond personally.
Gregory Kukolj's comments had to be abbreviated for reasons of space but he appeared very concerned about the damage this is doing to the Sony brand. When issues like this get significant publicity retailers can no longer pretend they are unaware of potential problems, so it will hit sales.
Mr Kukolj told me that Sony is working very hard to solve the problems with Connect Player. However he appeared to be suggesting it was primarily an issue of compatability affecting a small number of users, whereas we who have tried to use CP know root of the the problem is clunky, resource-hungry, bug-ridden software that wouldn't be up to the job even if it worked perfectly.
The good news is that he was adamant that the issues will be fixed and that Sony is committed to the players. Unfortunately he was unable to give a date when the revised software will be released.
But Sony has to do something about it because it is not only affecting sales of its players, it's also affecting sales from its music division.
I can load CDs onto my wife's NWA3000 using CP, but I can't download anything from the Connect store because I have been unable to register. Even with broadband every request to the store, even something simple like scrolling the page, takes at least 15 secs to get a response. Life's too short. I'd rather buy the CD's second hand. Not only is it cheaper but I know the music will still be there next time CP crashes my computer.
Simon

Well there you go! Common sense starting to prevail, the shake down has begun!

If the Apple engineer was recruited in only December then the fruits of his labour will not be so readily apparent. Perhaps he was the guy that convinced Sony to keep Sonicstage active until such times as Connect is ready? Of course this assumes he is any good and is in a position of clout! Maybe that is why there was a delay in responding to consumer angst as he was in the process of getting his head around the core of the software to give a qualitative direction?

I received a NW A1000 for Christmas and was really pleased with in initially. Although I was having difficulties at first I put down to my own inexperience as a first time MP3 owner. I now realise that the problems are software related and after being up half the night struggling with it crashing, rebooting pc several times, un-install and re-loaded software, near to tears with frustration I now know the truth, that Sony's Connect Player is the biggest load of c**p going. Can I sue them for having a nervous breakdown???? I can't belive that such a small thing like this can have such a big effect a persons mental well-being.

Just spoke to trading standards:

Some consumers may have problems with retailers not offering them a refund but offering them a replacement.

If this happens stick to your guns and fight.
Usefull points.
1. Any replacement will have the original version software still it.
2. Do not let the retailer tell you "there is nothing wrong with the product" ...the "product" means everything inside the box. Therefore the software and product. Therefore the software failure is part of the product.
3. The player does not work as described in advertising and within its own description.
4. The updates do not fix the problems.
5. The recommended transfer of product from Connect software to sonic stage eliminates some player functions therefore the player does not work as descibed.
6. Sony publically admits that they have software problems. Quote The times and the Sony website.
7. You have already updated and downloaded connect improvemnents and it still doesn't work.
8. The lenght of time with delays from time of purchase to time of last upgrade means you have missed the free return period but you only did as you where told and you are still frustrated and are returning the player.

Hope these points help.
If in doubt call trading standards and discuss your case.

I have not bought a 3000 but really really want to! I have a high spec PC and suspect that Sonic 3.3 will be fine and I already have it installed for my MD player. One aspect of the 'pods' I dont like is the fact that you have to send it back to apple to get the battery changed once it dies. I know its off topic can a NWA owner let me know if this is the case with the Sonys? Will be dissappointed if it is.

Oh yeah they have now added a link to download SS 3.3 to the support section for the NWA's. Looks like they're counting on it to get them out of this mess?

Cheers

HP

Thanks eventr, it crossed my mind that this needs to be clarified reading some earlier posts.

Good summary!

From today's ATRACLife Colloquium mailshot:-
--------------------------------------------------------------

Sony Issues Critical Warning for Connect Player Users

January 23, 2006 at 11:45 am

It appears that the infamous Connect Player is about to bite the dust; this is not too surprising considering the unprecedented amount of woes that users of the program have reported across the Internet. Apparently Sonicstage will recieve an update (!), and deliever equivalent functionality to NW-A series users. One can only assume that Sonicstage has now been resurrected, and will be updated often once again. Connect Player may possibly see a few maintenance releases, but it seems as if the software is finally being laid to rest. Incredible.
--------------------------------------------------------------

To HP

Good point about battery. I cannot see any other way other than sending it back if it dies on you. Sony market the battery life as being exceptional, with firmware features that manage the charging conducive to extended battery life. In practice, nobody knows at this stage if this is just marketing hype, as the product is so new.

I have to say, not being able to replace the battery independant of the manufacturer, is a big negative, as it is another premium cost down the road. I sometimes think, that it is a deliberate design feature, based on the fact, that after say 2 years, consumers will probably just want to get an updated device?

Peter,

Yes but at what cost is the 35 hours battery life, will it last only a year? even 2 is pretty poor if you ask me? Personally I look after my gadgets and would not normally replace them for 3 - 4 years (except mobile phones), so if the Sony dies after 2 years then I will not be impressed.

I'm pleased to see they are giving Sonic Stage another lease of life, I actually think its ok software and does the job with my HI-MD.

HP

hey guys ive got an nwa1000 and my sister just got her one 2day. i have windows XP home and two different usernames for my sister and myself. when i opened connect in her windows username i found that my library of songs was there. is there any way i can restrict my library so it only appears when im on my username as i dont want her songs in my library and auto transferring to my player (i have around 1200 songs in my library so i cant just delete hers as it would take too long). any suggestions as to how i can create two libraries, one for my windows username and one for hers?

thanks in advance

Now that Sony have admitted to major problems with the software - surely they should stop all advertising of the product.
I am still seeing adverts for the Walkmans in the National press. Still proclaiming all the things we know don't work.
Any Legal Eagles on here ? Surely this is a case for a good legal kicking.

Further to all the well documented software problems - there are three major problems with the Walkman itself.

1. The Artist Link feature does not work.
2. The screen cannot be seen in daylight.
3. The battery life is nowhwere near 35 hours.

Yet more false advertising !

Message to 'Bones' up above. You mentioned using the Windows Media Player to download onto your Walkman.
I tried this. My Walkman froze totally and I had to re-initialise the machine. (Wipe everything clean and start afresh.)

well have posted a few times and am still not totally happy as i can't creat a playlist but i can play randomly the 2543 songs i have on the player all thans to sonicstage 3.3 but even this software is not great took 8 hours to put all that music on.

still i think we should pester watchdog as much as possible to get this in the public domain

Regarding Johns comments......
The Artist link does work with Connect but not with Sonicstage, if you are using Connect then make sure its enabled in your preferences. If you dont have any artists of roughly similar 'style' then the unit won't find any matches. If you do and it still won't work then your player is probably faulty.

OK HELP!!!

I have been contacted by a major media TV programme.

They reacted to the "iceberg email" as posted in here.

They have one week to do something with this issue.

Without causing bias one way or another I need your help.

I have created a one time email address of eventrwalkman@yahoo.co.uk.

If you are able to talk to the media via phone or email at your own leisure please contact me and I will put you in touch.

Simon? Would you mind if I gave your email to them?

Please help I have worked hard to raise a profile and we need back up.

They are looking for any quote from sony, any web reference to the problems and the solutions any failings.

If we can get this on TV media we will get results.

Please, please help me out!!!!!

PS up to 796 (347, 111, 246, 92) on the ebay viewings.

Hi Everyone

I just thought that you might like to know that after complaining to BBC Watchdog last week, I've today had a phone call from one of their researchers to say that they are hoping to run a feature in next week's show (31/01 7pm BBC1) and wondering if I would like to appear on the show.

If you want to get your views across please complete the form at www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog.

Here is an interesting link re-Connect Player -

http://www.newsonjapan.com/feeds/kanainet.php

The Australian version of NW-A series has a menu choice to disable the volume limiter and the PDF manual that comes with the players shows how to remove the battery for replacement

I think the fact that within two hours of a call to the UK press office I received a message that the general manager for Europe would be dealing with it personally shows Sony is takling this issue very seriously.
Hardly surprisingly as the publicity in The Times means that retailers can no longer profess ignorance or claim there have been no problems with the player.
I did, however, get the impression that Mr Kukolj regarded the problem as being one of compatability. Anyone who has used it will realise that even if the bugs were ironed out and it were to operate perfectly it would still have very limited functions. Why, for example, have I still been unable to register with the Connect website and why does every command, even something simple like scrolling the page, take 15 secs to produce a response, even using broadband?
He did assure me that Sony intends to stand by the players and will get the problems sorted, though he was unable to give a specific date.
Regards, Simon
Bruce (eventr) It's fine to pass on my email address though I am sure they can find it if they want it.

Pages 83-84 of the Operation Guide shows how to remove the battery.

Thanks guys re-battery info! It pays to read !

I have yet to look at the opreation guide but my mind boggles how you get that little sucker open with out damaging the case - away to read.

On this point, I would imagine down the road a lot of users will have scratched front cases and would like a replacement (assuming a proprietary polish doesn't resolve the problem first). Anyone know if this is also possible as a home job?

Well it's coming up to the end of January, I believe that Sony said this will time in with their next big update? The anticipation is killing me, along with what they have shipped so far!

Come on Sony,I have faith in your player,just give me the software to make it work to it's full potential!

Same problem as you guys is there any other program that works with it???

To Eoin

Many of us have had reasonable success with Sonicstage 3.3. You wont get all the features supporting the NWA series but apparently that is in the pipline in a later version. Here is the download link -

http://support.sony-europe.com/DNA/Hotnews/hotnews.asp?l=en&f=ConSon

To Eion

After using sonic 3.3 you will get most of the functions of your NWA by opening CONNECT SOFTWARE with your NWA device attached to your USB.

Check my post 5TH JAN if any problems.

P.S. My CONNECT library was empty when doing this
and I started from scracth after re instaling CONNECT SOFTWARE.Remember to delete all files relating to CONNECT before re installing(even the hidden ones).
Hope this helps and good luck!

Bought NW-A3000 for my daughter for Christmas. Connect software is slow and "chunky" but eventually managed to rip songs and transfer to player - except where cd has other data on it. Connect sees it as data cd and won't rip. Used Windows media player for these cd's.
Now fault with player has developed. The front cover has come loose at the bottom of unit around button area. It "squeaks" when pressed and moves slightly. Also a dark "stain" has appeared on the inside of the front cover in the area of the screen. Have sent unit back to Sony and am awaiting developments.

To Allan K

The front cover issue is another problem awaiting to plague users. Ingression of dirt and even moisture to the underside of the cover is inevitably going to happen creating a stained and dirty appearance. Scratching is also inevitable. Polishes might work such as "Displex" but they will get under the cover and in between the buttons. To be able to remove this cover for cleaning and maintenance is a necessity for this kind of design. I am not sure if this is possible by the user at the moment - will research further. Keep us posted how you get on with Sony.

To anyone having issues with ArtistLink feature:

EVERY track in my library has the ArtistLink data present. At first I imported some existing tracks from iTunes, some of which I still have in the library but I'm trying to phase them out with ATRAC files from Connect (because the genre info and bitrate are different).

I messed about with the background service option in the settings, turned it on and off a few times. When importing a CD, it sometimes works about 3 tracks behind the one that is ripping. Any that it doesn't do, close Connect and the re-open it and don't touch anything. It will start to download the required data for each track shortly after finishing loading. If you've got a router/modem which has flashing lights to show activity, you will notice is flashes a few times and then stops. After about 10secs it will start to flash continuously. After a while, check some files to see if they have been done. If it has missed any, restart Connect.

Android_808

I've yet to see Artist Link working - what does it do for you? Does it display artists on your player which have similar genres to the song that's playing, or does it suggest other artists / tracks which are not on your player?

Hi

Same as everyone else i am having LOTS of issues with Connect - it simply does not work.
Sonic Stacge works occasionally and when it does, only imports a few of my tracks, sometimes it picks up 20 or thirty, other times 100 or so with no particular pattern.

I've just called the Sony support number to basically be told that I should import my CDs via SS or Connect. Now, I have over 300 Cds and I'll be buggered if i am going to spent 2 days doing this when i have them already MP3'd. Apparently they cannot support tunes ripped in 3rd party software - even Windows Media Player.

If i had known this was going to be the case I would not have bought the product. As someone mentions in the above posts, Sony produce great hardware, but the software is apalling and I will NEVER buy another product that has Sony software attached.

The helpdesk guy also informed me that the software update would be about a 'month or so' before release and copuldn't give me a proper release date.

I got this today for what it's worth - probably this weeks propaganda or am I just cynical

"I do appreciate that this on-going situation is frustrating for you, however it has been confirmed that developments are underway to provide an upgrade to Connect to enable the use of the functions that you are missing can operate effectively.

This is being treated as a matter of urgency, and has the attention of the Senior Management teams based in Tokyo. I hope that this has gone some way to allay your concerns, although I apologise for the delay in being able to provide you with full information.

For information on these updates when they are available, please click on the support page of our website, www.sony.co.uk."

Just a pity the senior managers in Tokyo didn't give it due attention before they released the product.

Regarding the potential damage to the front cover - I got the soft Walkman case for my A3000. It is qute smart and stops the walkman getting scratched - it also gives it quick clean when you slide it in and out.

Yeh Gman, makes sense to buy a soft case otherwise you are asking for trouble. Unfortunately, when I bought the player this was an non-stock accessory. I bought a cheap non-sony temporary one for the moment. I was kinda hoping that a Silicone Skin would become available.

Those Tokyo managers must be under one hell of a pressure1 To get things wrong in Japan is tantamount to hari-kari, bringing shame on yourself and the family! But hell, so are we! ...we've got to use the friggin software! Anyway, I hope they turn things around quickly.

So it looks like the end of January is not on the cards for the update as a previous statement suggested?

Posts are now being vetted/ censored by the site owner? Do I detect bully boy tactics by Sony in the background? Fair play, if there are some out of hand comments, but blatant censorship because of threat tactics, well that is another thing.......

...if so, patience breaks and we all pile into watchdog, the times, class action law suits.......!

The issue of Connect software was reported on Radio 1 today and is also mentioned on their Newsbeat website.

What posts have been censored ????

A new version of Connect has just been released.......... but only in Japan at the moment

"Problems fixed with this update Ver.1.0.03.
1) CONNECT Player’s operating status; almost incomprehensible when problem occurs
2) Edited music track information occasionally not reflected in CONNECT Player
3) Music files of a certain bit rate not converted when transferred over to a WALKMAN A Series
4) CONNECT Player may not start due to database related issue
5) Search function (character string that includes the space) cannot be used until CONNECT Player is restarted
6) Playback issue on the WALKMAN A series; for music files converted from Mp3 and WMA to ATRAC using CONNECT Player
7) Tag information such as Album Jacket/Cover and Lyrics of music purchased from Mora not reflected in CONNECT Player"

This news from a contact of mine at Sony.

Sony UK has set up a dedicated support line for Connect Player related problems. The number is 0800 169 5263 and is currently manned from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

All Sony dealers are being informed of this helpline by letter (in the post tonight) and the Sony UK website will be updated to include the hotline number.

A further update on the timeline for software updates will be available soon.

I hate to change the mood but my connect player works great, i can only recomend that you dont leave the player to sync all the time change it to just adding and it works fine.

My only problem is that im tight and wont pay for anythin (not after spending £200 anyway) so when i saw the advert on this page

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowArticle.action?article=1131968641657&site=odw_en_GB

i thought yea get me some of that... After registering i did not recive any email from connect with my promised voucher (which sucked). so obvious question please tell me where im going wrong and/or tell me any tricks that may bend the rules but let get what i want???? (will probebly accept blatent breaking of the rules)

Thanks

How stupid is this?
When i registered my walkman i downloaded the free album, but get this, i can't put it on the player, not even with SonicStage!
I Emailed Sony and after 2 weeks the only reply i've got is they i don't understand a simple question!
oh yeah! the damn software dosen't work either!

this connect player problem has been on the news on radio one, galaxy 102 and other stations all day.

with this publicity surely the software must be sorted out soon?

To Rob C

I had a post re-directed to a page stating that my post was to be viewed by the site owner prior to being allowed to appear here? My post was certainly non-offensive! It was kinda like WTF? I am still awaiting to see if it will appear hence the suspicions. First time it has happened!

Hi everyone, I'm the site owner. My software that manages the site has an automated spam comment filter due to the amount of spam comments that weblogs receive. If you have certain keywords, you can imagine what they might be, the comment will be stopped and must be reviewed by me before publishing. I've gone through the backlog and have published all the old comments that were caught in the spam blocker.

To Silva

Glad to see Sony are doing this. I actually sent an e-mail to Sony 4 weeks ago, stating that they should take the actions they are now doing, immediately, back then. The main thrust of my e-mail was based on the philosophy, that a well informed user will be more politically stable for the Sony brand. I cannot believe they have waited so long and now look at the anger, the bad press, justified as well! Great shame, the players are excellent pieces of hardware!

Thanks for the info.

To Gen Kanai

Thanks for clarifying that issue I thought perhaps Sony had been threatening you! So I must have certain key words in my post that has been held up?

Thanks for supporting us and our plight, all respect to your efforts.

got the 6gb player for xmas,thought it was just my computer playing up till today!i'm not the only one!what a piece of slow,sluggish crap!sony sort it out!

I got the 20 gb player just after christmas and, although it took tediously long I managed to put just over 1100 song files onto the player, but the other day the software crashed on me and now everytime I open the connect software (which takes too long) it will not input ANY files into the library, and worse when I attach my MP3 player the second it finds the files on that it simply closes down the software. What the hell is going on? Ive tried Uninstall/re-install and system restore and neither of these worked. Im going to try removing all traces of sony from my computer and try again, and as a last resort im going to try formatting the player, but i dont really want to do that because that works fine. Please help!

To John Dolan:

The artist link brings up a list of artists of same genre. Highlighting the artist, it will start to play samples of each of that artists track, taken from somewhere in the middle of each track. Each sample plays for about 5secs and then changes to next track. You can also increase the range of the search, I guess it just looks at similar genres.

Since posting yesterday, tinyhttp.exe has crashed once. As a result I'm currently unable to get ArtistLink data for 2 tracks. Will keep trying though.

I have no real issues with the launch times of Connect, if anything it has started to load quicker now than it used to. I have a poor old Duron 1.1Ghz with 384MB PC133 SD-RAM. I have probably got about 400-500 tracks at the moment.

Android_808
Thanks for that. Am I right in assuming that this list of artists comes from the Connect site, rather than your own library or what you already have on the player?

Cheers,

John

John

The Artist Link list is to songs on your player, it isn't a cross-selling tool for the Connect download service.

It works well on my player. For instance, suggested linked artists for Led Zeppelin are Deep Purple, The Who, Neil Young, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck Group, Thin Lizzy, etc..

Even though it works, for me it's a bit of a 'So What?' feature. I much prefer the time machine shuffle as it often throws up tracks I haven't listened to before.

Thanks for that Silva. As I ditched Connect player on day one in favour of the familiar (and working) Sonicstage, I've yet to see Artist Link do anything. It seems very "so what" to me too. I would much rather see the button dedicated to something sensible, or even better a user-defined function.

So, if I have say 3000 tracks in my library or on my player, the Connect software is busy downloading the Artist Link info for ALL of those tracks while I'm trying to do meaningful things like get tracks onto the player? Is that what tinyhttp - the mother of all bloatware - is for?

If so, and tinyhttp shows up in the fabled next version of Sonicstage, then that's the day my Walkman goes onto ebay. I've already taken my kids' players back and bought them something usable.

20GB machine purchased before Christmas locked up and then lost everything on it. Got a refund.
Purchased 6GB machine this week and decided to load Sonicstage 3.3 instead of Connect. No problems at all and have loaded about 800 songs from CD and music files. Sound quality is excellent. Don't appear to be able to use Top100 or Artist Link with sonic Stage 3.3 but am not that bothered.

SONY has spyware. Connect toartist link and you will loose songs.
AND THIS SITES SENSOR SHIP wont let you know.

Pocket
I have used artistlink (it only works with a couple of my early loads) and it did not lose any of my songs. However Connect is so bad it is quite likely that that has lost the songs or your database may be corrupt. If you read through all the posts here I think you will see that the site is not censored to protect Sony in any way

Hi

It finally looks as if Sony have admitted defeat. They have decided to drop the Connect software altogther and continue with Sonicstage instead. They have decided to update Sonicstage to include all the functionality that the new players require to work properly. At last we might be getting somewhere.

See the news release here http://www.atraclife.com/index.php?showtopic=650

After a re-install of Windows after my Connect software stopped workin just like many others. I have installed Sonic 3.3 and all is well.. However I can't log on to connect service anymore, Must be a DRM issue, not that I download anyway but I would have liked to grab my "Free" Album. I really do hope that they add all for the NW-A3000 functions to SonicStage. 'tis a real pity that such a good MP3 player should be let down with such poor software.

For those that are looking for the info Paul Posted about Sony Dropping the Connect Software here is the Direct Link :

http://www.atraclife.com/2006/01/23/sony-issues-critical-warning-for-connect-player-users/

After a re-install of Windows after my Connect software stopped workin just like many others. I have installed Sonic 3.3 and all is well.. However I can't log on to connect service anymore, Must be a DRM issue, not that I download anyway but I would have liked to grab my "Free" Album. I really do hope that they add all for the NW-A3000 functions to SonicStage. 'tis a real pity that such a good MP3 player should be let down with such poor software.

For those that are looking for the info Paul Posted about Sony Dropping the Connect Software here is the Direct Link :

http://www.atraclife.com/2006/01/23/sony-issues-critical-warning-for-connect-player-users/

Gman
Good to see u have faith i have posted some atricals only to find the have disapeard hoo har.
her is a local artical "unfounded" from my home town.
To put u straight. I am im AUSTRALIA where the nw-a1000 retails for $370 AUD yer i bought one for Xmas with nothing but trouble as every one else!!!!!!

Think twice before purchasing a music CD this christmas. You might be buying your loved ones a virus, or at very least making them more vulnerable to them.

"copy protected" CDs released by Sony Music Group (and others), now place their own hideous spyware onto your computer and further instructs Windows to open up more tracks that allow in malicious virus.

Sony owns many recording labels such as Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, RCA Victor, RCA Records, Sonic Wave America and others.

This recent disclosure has been made by respected Windows expert Mark Russinovich who discovered the far reaching secret. That Sony Inc. is responsible for releasing spyware on many of its latest music CD releases.

Once installed, the copy-protection software, which Sony says is a necessary "speed bump" to limit how many times a CD is copied. is almost impossible to remove.

The infection opens up a backdoor, which could be used to steal personal information, launch attacks on other computers and send spam, major antivirus companies said.

The software installed is hidden from view and cannot be found by Windows. Untracable by virus scanners, special tools are required to find and remove the software from all PCs. There is no uninstall provided. Attempting a manual removal of the Sony software results with the disapearing of your CD-ROM drive altogether. Getting it back again is nearly impossible for most PC users.

Because of the Windows holes opened up by the anti-pirating software (released on Sony CDs), virus scanners will not be able to find the next flood of soon-to-be-released virus as writers scurry to take advantage of the security flaw.

"What makes Sony's CD digital media software particularly nasty is that using expert tools for removing the parasite risks leaving you with a Windows PC that's useless, and that requires a full reformat and reinstall." says Andrew Orlowski from The Register.

Contravening current laws in place all around the world, the situation has been described as "A law suit just waiting to happen" by many within the computer community.

With possible fines of up to $1,000 per computer affected, it is expected to take a huge chunk out of Sony's 'oh so deep' pockets.

Marks article was released on October 31st. Since then Sony has stated that nobody had reported problems before the article appeared and now they have a flood of complaints. One user states "this would be because nobody had any idea that a reputable company such as Sony could be responsible for all of our PC problems, in fact it would be the last place we'd think of as the cause of our crashes"

So Were am i coming from?

SONY SORT IT OUT DOWN UNDER

LATERR ROD............

oww is it still there

Well I come to my conclusion after I have backed my music data base up daily..

The only files to have an error in the magnificent CONNECT PLAYER are the ones that "may" have been downloade from the net???
I duno u tell me i am not a scholar...
Shite happens (oww don't put the wrong word or it will be censord)

You figure it out!

SERIOUS

This blog is still the only thing that has made me keep this product.

So let's not stuff it up for all those other under privileddedd AUSSI'S OIE OIE OIE!!!!

Ow can I say "OIE"

Later from AUS I read and have read all this blog.

SONIC STAGE THE EASY WAY OUT!!!!

CRAP............

Like everybody else could not get Connect Player software to operate on several high spec machines, ended up resorting to Sonic Stage with reasonable success.

I am extremely suspicious of the underlying reasons why Connect Player software is not performing in the manner one would expect, especially given the excellent hardware in the NW-A3000 etc. The stakes are just too high to make such a blunder but at the same time the software is just too blatantly faulty for someone at Sony to have not noticed they have a serious problem on their hands before they launched the software.

Looking into the library section of the Connect Software folders, it appears that each music file is proprietarily encoded in terms of file name and file contents, suggesting a high level of Sony unique encrypting going on. This perhaps suggests why, if one has a large music library, the software eventually grinds memory and CPU usage to a hault, as the level of individual file encrypting, encoding and reading consumes system resources. I successfuly loaded Connect Player onto my computer, but problems ensued as soon as I attempted to load my library into software, eventually hanging machine. After numerous attempts to trace the problem on several computers, I decided to pace the software with a fresh install and 20 file batches, observing resource usage. No question, that the software is involved in some kind of sophisticated encodong of files, the bigger the library got, the larger demand on resources until machine hanged. The question then begs why such a level of sophisticated encoding? Copyright control? Sony has a track record of defying consumer satisfaction by insisting upon insidious copyright controls? Is this why the software was allowed to circulate, as the price to pay for control, but as we are all writing here, it has seriously backfired on Sony? I notice that the USA market has been held back from these woes? Are we the guinea pigs?

I also find it very suspicious that certain users are stating that they have complete success with the software, not understanding other's complaints! I have now tested the Connect Software over 12 MACHINES, several of them high end Sony Computers - OK, some did perform better than others but eventually the software ground each machine to a hault! I speculate that, those success stories are none other than disinformation moles working to diffuse an utterly useless piece of software, buying time until the magic fix is available.

I also find it unbelievable that Sony have not responded with a clear message on their web site that they are dealing with this problem as a matter of urgency. I certainly would find comfort in such announcement as I am sure others would. The NW-A3000 player and sister products deserve such clear support! What are Sony doing? It just does not make business sense to go underground on this or not give it maximum decisive and clear support. There are plenty of examples, where large name software companies have got a release seriously wrong but they gain consumer tolerance and forgiveness by providing clear and informative support! Senior Sony executives should be sacked for such a complete lack of customer care and support - smacks of arrogance and a cover up - I wonder how much the man at the top of Sony knows of this problem? I hazard a guess that a lot of senior Sony executives are scrambling around to protect their hides!

Anyway, just to say that Sonic Stage 3.3 got files onto NW-a3000 with reasonable success. Do not try to load large batches on though as this causes this software to get stuck at a 99% transfer message! Also before I used Sonic Stage I organised all my library with i-tunes (great piece of software!), coverting where appropriate into MP3 format, into one folder. Sonic Stage picked up this folder and brought files in with out time lags.

Surely someone will come up with Media Player plugin for NW-A3000? Sony wake up, we are hanging on by the saving grace of a great piece of hardware!

Posted by: Max on January 9, 2006 09:27 AM

An interesting story......

Dropped into a Sony Centre today out of curosity, to see what level of information re-Connect was circulating at retail level. I passed a beautiful display of NWA series MP3 players, they looked the business, enforcing my resolve to see the software fiasco through!

Anyway, I engaged in a friendly banter with a fairly cool sales-guy, the kinda guy who tells it straight. After sussing out the accesories in stock, glad to say there is a Silicone Sleeve for the 3000, which I duly bought one for a tenner,(good investment guys), I started to elaborate on my troubles with the software, referring to you guys on this site as well, as testament to the level of dissatisfaction. As I finished my rant, he smiled and said; "tell me about it, we have had many returns, we oursleves in the shop could not get Connect to work, in fact it hung our machines here, about a dozen times!.. in our attempts to resolve the problem for customers"..he continued "but the way forward is with Sonic Stage 3.3, it works perfectly well being the older but working and proven software for MP3s". I then exclaimed, "yeh but it is short of a number of features to fully exploit the players, and for god's sake, it's such an indictment on Sony to get what Connect should be, a simple piece of software so incredibly wrong, undermining the superb hardware and it's potential to seriously knock i-pod" I went on; "the mind boggles why sony have screwed up so badly, after all this should be a basic bit of software engineering, even to update, unless they have put some kind of complex copyright engine in there?" With a wry smile, kinda like a grimace of compliance and acknowledgement, he states; "that's Sony for you, great hardware but need for unnecessary complexities that could be dealt with much more simply, we've all been talking about this in the shop and with the regional rep, about this problem and the level of returns, there has been a ground level petition to Sony HQ to get their act together!" In reply to this, I said; "So in a nutshell, you are all pissed off at retail level and Sony HQ have had the fright of their lives, perhaps thinking they have another DRM class action lawsuit on their hands, and whatever they do now they have to get it right!" With another wry smile, he said "exactly!"

Anyway, as another customer was breathing down my neck, I duly paid for my goods and thanked him for being so Frank, I left him with a closing remark "Great shame, however I will hang on in there, until the appropriate updates arrive"

Now do the Maths, one shop, high level of returns, Sony trained staff cannot get Connect to work, multiplied by the number of outlets up and down the country, repeat for other circulating countries........this is an f'ng huge catastrophic problem for Sony in "money, politics, litigation, discontentment". Also is this why an update has taken so long, as Max said in a previous post, they have got lost up their own arse with Copyright Control and they cannot easily fix it?

Despite everything, I still believe in the hardware and that Sony under the helm of the new Chairman will make the software come good along with customer support!

Has anybody yet figured out how to get past the short video clips on the beginning of some CDs ?
I've got two (Katie Melua & Pink) that I can't load onto Connect because of this.

I must say that I'm finally getting along ok with Connect now.
I use drag & drop to load onto the Walkman and never go near that awful; 'Transfer To Device' section.

The main problem I am annoyed about is the speed.
It takes a life time to load up and forever to rip and burn.
And more worryingly, it is seriously slowing down everything on my computer.
It is like a big lumbering vampire sucking the life blood out of its victim.

Sony have got to make this problem a priority.

Finally - In all their bland press statements so far - they have not mentioned anything about compensation.
Every registered owner of this machine must be given some form of payback for being illegally mis-sold goods that clearly were not fit for the purpose.

John

Try ripping the tracks off the problem CDs with something else, for instance Windows Media Player. Then import the tracks into Connect once they're ripped. This gets around the mixed content problem.

You'd be generally much better off using Sonicstage though.

I was one of the lucky people who managed to load around 4000 tracks onto my A3000 using Connect without too many dramas. These were all from CDs. However, I am now having major problems after downloading the latest update of Connect. When I plug the device into the computer the Connect programme just shuts down as soon as it is synced. I have tried uninstalling Connect and reinstalling to no avail. Would anyone out there have any answers to the following questions?

1) My computer keeps displaying the message "Virtual Memory Is Too Low." Would this have anything to do with Connect? I hardly ever use my home computer and there are very few programmes installed on it other than Connect and Internet Explorer. I don't really save anything on the computer so just don't really understand why the memory should be low.

2) If I start using Sonicstage rather than Connect will that affect the tracks I have already loaded onto the device? I would rather commit suicide than start loading up the device again from scratch!

3) If I use Sonicstage should I just get rid of Connect completely from the computer?

If anyone can help with these it would be much appreciated.

To Azteclife

1 - Yes, this is the main problem with Connect Software consuming computer resources, this is what you are experiencing.

2 - Suicide renders all hardware and software useless, so please do not do that! However, copy the contents of your player to a new folder on your computer. (Your player will appear as a drive in your computer directories, click into the drive, select all folders/ files, copy and paste into new directory.

3 - Download Sonicstage from the sony site and install. Once you have Sonicstage installed, run programme. Do not open Sonicstage if Connect is open, meaning never run programmes together. Go to "Music Source" and click on "Import Folder". Check the folder that you copied the contents of your player to and press OK. This will import the music files that are on your player into Sonicstage. Re-initialsie the 3000 and connect device to computer and use Sonicstage to transfer files back to the player. Use Sonicstage from now on in to transfer files. Dump Connect once everything is running smoothly with Sonicstage. Hopefully updates will be here soon to enable Sonicstage to embrace all the features of the 3000.

Hope this helps. Maybe some others will want to chip in to help too.

USA SPARED CONNECT WOES -

http://www.atraclife.com/2006/01/05/nw-a3000nw-a1000-us-debut-sony-ces-2006-day-1/

Some of you might have come across this article. What is interesting that it was written at the begining of January and is testament to the fact that Sony knew the software was never ready, ssentially confirming that we have been treated with utter contempt here in the UK!

Many thanks for your help Peter. Much appreciated!

Play Lists:

I have successfully managed to transfer 250 CDs onto my Player using Connect Player.

I have been trying to create some Playlists using Connect Player and then transfer them onto my PLayer. However, during the transfer its reports that it is skipping all the playlist tracks (because they are already on the Player). Does anyone know how to create a playlist that will appear in the Playlist menu on the Player? I have tried following the instructions but it does not seem to work.

I have had same problem with playlists on both Sonicstage and Connect with NWA-3000.

Hi Peter,

I have just sussed out how to transfer the Play List.

With the Player Window open, just click and hold on the required Play List (upper left-Hand pane on Connect Player)and drag the Play List into the Player Window. I have just done it and it works. My Play List has now appeared in the Play List menu on my Sony Walkman.

Thanks for the pointer Gazza09 - will try that tonight.

Peter

After you transfer the playlists onto the player and the DO NOT DISCONNECT (on the bottom left of Connect) disappears and the player shuts down, make sure you DO NOT DISCONNECT the player from the computer right away. Leave it for another 3 minutes or so. Just to make sure connect or the player are not doing anything in the background.

I had a few incidents where I was transferring playlist onto the player and I disconnected the player from the computer right after it shut down. When I went to play the playlist I got an error "Insufficient information. Connect compliant software and transfer information."

Bought the Europe version (NL)
Why don't they just allow us people to copy the files (like we do with a usb stick) and make the software to play the music?

Can anybody go to the rnd dept. over their and blow up some shit? ;-)
(just kiddin')
I feel bad about this crappy product!!!!!!
I posted some opinions of mine on this site as well:
http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/38939

Thanks for the advice Aaron - Connect has this nasty habit of making simple tasks a maize of user discovery!

To Gary

Copyright control is why they won't allow us to simple copy and paste files. I agree with you, how simpler life would be if you could do this! Some technical guy is threateneing to start work on a NWA-3000 plug-in for Windows Media Player - I read that on another forum. Hope he succeeds in defiance to Sony!

I'm having the same troubles that are seemingly part and parcel of Connect player, but I'm also struggling to register my Walkman. Can anyone help? I'm being asked for a 16 digit code/model number, and I have the serial number off of the back of the player, but it's only 7 digits long. If I combine it with NW-A1000, that still doesn't work, I'm just being told I've entered the code correctly?
Any pointers please? Thanks!

I'm having the same troubles that are seemingly part and parcel of Connect player, but I'm also struggling to register my Walkman. Can anyone help? I'm being asked for a 16 digit code/model number, and I have the serial number off of the back of the player, but it's only 7 digits long. If I combine it with NW-A1000, that still doesn't work, I'm just being told I've entered the code incorrectly.
Any pointers please? Thanks!

To Sheree

The 16 digit code should be amongst the manuals that came with the player. You wil find it on a single fold leaflet headed Product Registration.

Hope this helps.

You should have received the 16 digit code in the documentation that came with the player.

I bought a NW-A1000 and love it to bits though I have been using Sonic Stage. I think it's pretty pathetic that Sony rushed it out for Christmas with useless software. Hopefully they are on the case now and February will see everything sorted out.

I purchased a NW-A1000 last week and have had a rough time with the Connect Software. Version 1.0 DOES NOT WORK.

I've been complaining to the support site ( SUK.GeneralCIC@eu.sony.com)and got this email

"Dear Sir/Madam

I apologise for the delay in replying.

As stated in my previous correspondence, we are looking into a way of providing software that will enable the extra features of the NWA3000 to operate. Unfortunately, I am unable to give a timescale for this.

However, in light of your concerns, I would like to offer 10 free downloads from the Connect Music Store. In the hopes that this is satisfactory, could you please reply, stating your full name?

With regards

Peter Shorney
For and on behalf of
Sony United Kingdom Limited

Looks like if you complain enough you get something - not much considering all the crap we have to put up with but, if it is good enough for one...

On another point, has anyone noticed that the "shuffle all" seems at times to play a couple of tracks back to back from the same album it doesn't happen all the time but certainly more often than you would expect.

Is there definitely a feature on Watchdog tonight regarding this fiasco?

Well, I know now not to buy my next Walkman from the Co-op.

Especially the Co-op on board a cruise liner.

Do Sony sell gold on the side ?

At least we didn't invest our money in gold!

You beat me to it , Peter, never mind could have been a quadruple whammy,could have bought a gold plated Walkman from a Co-op shop on board the QM2!

See Dixons got a bit of a shoeing as well. Sony might not sell gold but they do a nice dodgy silver. I thought I was watching a Sony board meeting the other night - turns out my wife had put on House of Flying Daggers!

'Flying Daggers', no problem, they can dodge anything!

Guy, guys, guys have we learned nothing?
There is nothing wrong with the gold plated NWA walkman purchased from Co-op on board the QEII...
...just the cheap plastic disc inside!!
Maybe the ship sinking in the channel is actually the QEII delivering Sony NWA walkmans to Coop?
Sony could be fooling us with the "sulphuric acid" smoke screen. "it's not listing at 35 degrees...it's just the software"

woops looks like I am on the censored list.

eventr - what did you do? Slag off Watchdog?

Watchdog all to often falls into the category of trash tv and sensationalism. I didn't manage to catch the programme tonight. Did they run the Sony Fiasco? If so to what detail and who represented Sony? Did eventr get his bit in?

well the hardware is finaly failing...mine always randomly turns of and i always have it on hold so i know somethings note pressing up againt the buttons...everytime it shuts and take it out of my pockets and i always see that sony screen before it shuts of...when i turn it back on it conntinues plaing as if nothing happened...one time i got it out of my pocket fast enough to see the screen say "code error" with some number...this is getting ridiculous...i put up with the software..byt the hardware faling...

Seems Sony placed a new version this morning (1.03) at http://support.sony-europe.com/DNA/ConnectPlayer/connectplayer.asp?l=en, together with a new version of SonicStage (3.4), here we go again :-)

Thanks 4 all the info on this site - very useful!

I have an A1000 - great hardware (once you've removed the volume limiter using the 'engineer test mode' & upgraded the firmware so it can play WMA files)

TERRIBLE SOFTWARE - DO NOT INSTALL SONY CONNECT PLAYER SOFTWARE ON YOUR PC!!!

I cannot emphasise this enough.
a. It is soooo slow
b. It does not work properly (take a look at these threads!)
c. It creates PROBLEMS on your PC

I have a fairly speccy PC with an Asus motherboard. The sony connect player software has managed to cause problems with the CD-ROM and the on-board sound. This has taken me HOURS to diagnose and problem solve.

I have always held Sony's products in very high regard. Not any longer. Why release software that is buggy, doesn't work, and creates problems with your PC????

DO NOT INSTALL THE SONY CONNECT PLAYER SOFTWARE - I cannot emphasise this enough!!!

Justin Knightley
London, UK

Please let us know if anyone has any better user experience with the latest version of the Connect Player 1.0.03.13130

Many thanks!!

I have an A608, fantastic piece of hardware but having read the reviews of the bundled Connect software have decided to go with SonicStage 3.3. It works fine but means the great shuffle capabilities of the player seem to be lost. Really, really annoying. Is there any way of having shuffle and Sonicstage with the A608??

Ok have seen the new Connect Player 1.0.03.13130 is out, will try this and then report back.

I thought this release was only available in Japan?

Right enough update fro Connect now available on Sony Site here -

http://www.sonydigital-link.com/DNA/WM/NWH/NWH.asp?l=en&m=NW-A3000

Sonicstage version 3.4 also available (Hopefully supporting all NWA's features). Look forward to you guys reporting back with any successes. Just remember back-up your NWAs ie copy and paste your entire player contents into a folder on your desktop before venturing into the unknown. Hope it all works out!

There is hope! taken from this link http://www.atraclife.com/

Sony’s new software czar, Tim Schaaff, knows a little something about handling companies in turmoil.

In early 1997, Schaaff headed Apple Computer’s QuickTime engineering team. The computer maker was in internal upheaval, as the newly returned Steve Jobs cleaned house, jettisoning people and products he felt had contributed to the company’s fall from grace.

The QuickTime group, which had grown used to almost complete independence, appeared on the surface to be one of the worst suited to Jobs’ newly centralized regime. But former employees say that Shaaff’s “zen-like” influence managed to mollify Jobs and keep the group intact to an extent rare across the company at large.

“The engineers who ran QuickTime were used to making their own decisions when Steve came in with his people,” said former QuickTime evangelist Charles Wiltgen, now a Qualcomm product manager. “They were also very intelligent and very headstrong. Tim was one of the few people who could have made a love connection between those groups.”

Fast-forward to the present. The 46-year-old Schaaff has now become one of Sony’s brightest hopes, plucked from Apple late last year to fill the newly created role of senior vice president of software development, coordinating software efforts across the company’s sprawling corporate divisions for the first time.

To some, the Sony he is joining looks much like mid-1990s Apple. It is a company with a stellar hardware past but a shallow software portfolio. It has creative but insular product groups, which often communicate poorly if at all. It is in the midst of a historic upheaval aimed at reversing a long slide down from the market’s top.

Here is some feedback regarding new updates this will prepare you for what you are getting, (beware!) -

http://www.atraclife.com/2006/01/26/connect-player-update-version-1003/

Well I've downloaded the update and it appears to have successfully uninstalled the old version and installed the new. Still takes about 5 mins to load Connect and I can't see that its much different. The system is going mad however "updating artist link". Not really sure what's going on there!

Well I've downloaded the update and it appears to have successfully uninstalled the old version and installed the new. Still takes about 5 mins to load Connect and I can't see that its much different. The system is going mad however "updating artist link". Not really sure what's going on there!

Well I've downloaded the update and it appears to have successfully uninstalled the old version and installed the new. Still takes about 5 mins to load Connect and I can't see that its much different. The system is going mad however "updating artist link". Not really sure what's going on there!

Sonicstage 3.4 ???

Well, the only change that I can detect is that it says 3.4 on the splash screen instead of 3.3.

No difference in operation or facilities, no difference in the behaviour of the Walkman. It still says "Connect Compliant Software" when it starts to create the library and whenever I try to use play history, intelligent shuffle or anything else that 3.3 didn't address.

I tried initialising the disk before using the "new" version, but nothing seems to have changed.

I suppose I didn't expect much else, after all it is Sony - but what have they actually done to it apart from changing the version number?

I was going to try Connect Player v1.03 to see what it was like but now I won't bother.

SNAFU

John
Maybe it is a placebo, if the hardware thinks the software is fixed it'll work. There was a program about that last night. Seriously I don't hold out much hope for this, it looks like all they are doing is adding status messages to connect and some more cosmetic crap on SonicStage- lets hope that they buy in proper programmers to look at doing something on SonicStage and fire the current numpties that they have working on this.

My automatic updater failed to notice ther was an update so I am having to do a manual download - can't they do anything right!

Gman -

"it's a placebo"

rolling around with bellyful of laughter.....!!

hehehehehhahah........superb, nice one!

Give that one to Simon of The Times -
SONY RELEASES PLACIBO

still rolling around......hehheheheh...nice one!

My sides are aching........."Placebo Updates"..

right on.........hehehehehehehehehe!

You know what you are probably right!

hehehehehehehehehehhahahahahahah!

in relation to John Dolan's comment about the "connect compliant software" error message after using sonic stage....id like to say i have exactly the same problem. my normal reutine is now to add the music to the player using sonicstage....then, close sonicstage and run the god forsaken connect player, wait half an hour for it to load, then it will do its own thing for about 5 minutes, and sort out your play history, recently added tracks etc. its solved the problem for me, its just a feckin pain in the arse to do!!!

I'm trying to download the update and it has a d/l time of 5 hours 15 minutes!

Chris

I've been through the Connect / Sonicstage cycle so many times, it's just not worth the effort just to get play history etc working. I just had this vague, overly-optimistic dream that Sony might have done something positive for a change, but no, I was wrong.

Just to answer an older post about removing scratches from a Walkman, if you shove it up a Sony exec's arse about fifty times, you might get rid of them. Both the scratches and the exec that is.

.....away to find a Sony Exec.....!

Nice one........Sony's updates are cracking us up........sides still aching about Placebo Software.....!

I've downloaded the latest Connect software and have to say so far its looking slightly better.

I've managed to import the 4942 tracks already on my PC. (It took about an hour to import and about 4 hours to update all the tracks with the artist link data.) The information on the bottom left of the screen is much better - at least you know that tracks are being imported and that it has added the Artist Link data.

I would add that whilst I did this my Walkman was not connected. I noticed the tinyhttp program was MUCH less processor hungry using between 10% and 25% of my CPU capacity.

I've formated my Walkman to start afresh. At 18:55 tonight I started to copy the 4942 tracks over in one go, converting them all to ATRAC3plus 128bit. The tracks being converted are about 80% WMA / 20%mp3.

I noticed as soon as I started the conversion process my CPU usage has gone up to nearly 100% with tinyhttp hogging 95-100% of my CPU!!! Shame Sony couldn't sort that out during the update!

I will let you all know when it finishes (assuming it does not crash).

I wonder if the recycle bin work's with Sony Updates?

Well - Once again Sony software has come up trumps . .

Why can't they host the upgrade somewhere other than Japan?
One would think that they would host it on a server that has a bit of bandwidth too. I have a download time of approx 5 hours - for a 18MB file.
Having said that I imagine that it's a roadblock trying to download due to auto updates running on all of the client software instalations.

They really dont have a clue do they.

SORT IT OUT YOU LOOSERS

Sonicstage 3.4

Installed Sonicstage 3.4 update and noticed a number of improvements so far interacting with NWA-3000.

- playlists transfer now, fast, and as yet no upper limitation to number of tracks in selection

- gracenote running automatically with out silly demands on CPU usge - average readings about 20%

- no time lag in initial startup of programme

- device recognised immediately with refresh of database in good time

- no problems running Sonicstage in background of other programmes with out compromise to CPU resources

- so far quiet stable especially as I am running my music library over a fast wireless network

The main thing I am delighted to see is that it is responding in a timeous fashion and negates frustration from time lags. The big one for me is the response to playlists. Previous version was being extremely fickle to playlists.

Overall, nice step forward and now enjoying the NWA-3000 as I should, as an ace player. I am staying well away from Connect just now as Sonicstage works nicely, better with this version 3.4, so why screw around with Connect that is intrinsicly flawed. Big thumbs up for Sonicstage 3.4 from me - no placebo effect lol!

Hope this helps to get others moving forward!

I tried to upgrade my Connect Player Software last night. I have 6mb broadband. I gave up after 2 hours due to the very slow download.

I have installed Sonic Stage 3.4 and it appears to work brilliantly.

I imagine there was quite a lot of demand for the update hence the delays in downloading. I dowloaded it in a few minutes at around midnight.

Is this a blog or a chat site?

hehehehehehehehehehhahahahahahah!

.....away to find a Sony Exec.....!

My automatic updater failed to notice ther was an update so I am having to do a manual download - can't they do anything right!

"USA SPARED CONNECT WOES -"

Give that one to Simon of The Times -
SONY RELEASES PLACIBO

This news from a contact of mine at Sony.

CONNECT SOFTWARE - THE SIMPLETON'S GUIDE!

Where doe's your loyalty lie?

YOU all seem pretty SONY to U.S....

To Sconed

As you have clearly demonstrated it can be either! .....but in the main, we have all contributed considerable useful advice and information, to help us all move forward with our Sony Players and Software, thus qualifying in the context and the flow of the blog, some light relief now and again!

Now that you have that of your chest,I look forward to your more productive contributions, of course unless you are a "Sony exec" offering "polishing services", in which case I am sure a number of us will be more than happy to use you!

To everyone else

Sonicstage 3.4 is looking stable, so far no problems!

the sony mp3 oh my god what were they thinking?
did they not test it or did they not bother.
i spent £200 on s*it and that a lot of money for a 18 year old. the sofe ware don't work i try and try but it just did not work and i got it for xmas so you no how i felt. i went nuts i went to sony shop in croydon to get my money back and they said no refunds then said it was my computer and user error. so they look up my dad name on their computer i gave me my money back and got a new vido ipop and for £19 more it i go 30GB and i have had no gone wrong touch wood. the psp cool

hi!

does anyone know how to use the "hold" facility when the player is off? when I have it in my bag or pocket, it keeps turning itself on, wasting battery life etc..
thanks,
Jacq

jacq

When the player is switched on playing a track, if you press the play/pause button to pause the track, THEN press the hold button the player will switch itself off and stay off until you press the hold button to switch it on again. (I hope that made sense... it does work!)

Just time how long it took to load the new version of Connect: 5min 20 secs! and I do have a reasonable spec machine with 2 gb ram etc. I think windows XP loads quicker !!
The new version is still updating artist link, so presumably something now works that didn't before.

I'm determined to see this through, Connect does work (so far) on my setup, albeit sooo slooowwwlllyyy !!!!!!!!!!!

To jacq

I invested in a Silicone Sleeve for the NWA-3000, about a tenner in your local Sony Centre, it helps to shield the buttons from accidental depression. I have walked around with it in my pocket etc and have found that the sleeve does the trick.

thanks Peter and Steve...it works :)

Just loaded the connect update. It now loads. I hadnt been loading for me previously. So a little improvement.

Wait and see if it actually works!

Installed the Connect s/w. It combed the 2 HDD's and placed every MP3 it could find in the song library. I tried to weed out the THOUSANDS of small game mp3's. That took hours with little progress (slooooooow s/w). I decided it is easier to uninstall and start afresh. But this piece of shit s/w - on REINSTALL - seems right now to be RELOADING everything. Where the fuck does it keep the database???? Can I go and wipe it out??? I guess not. Joke s/w.

As far as I can see connect only now admits it is crap - I get an error message saying database corrupt - reinitialising, it then says failed to reinitalise exiting. Is this the best they can do? Ho hum guess I had better uninstall and put on the old version again. All I can say is thank goodness they don't make anyhing important like hospital equipment!

Ferdi wach the curs this web site drops comments it dont like!!
Go to C: docs and settings
all users
app data
sony corp
connect player
libray
and delete before reinstall

Or yer and back it up daily (library)
Sony spy ware get's you every time.

Cheers fron AUS
PoCket

Well here go's I am just about to allow connect player to update ARTISTLINK for the first time after 3 days of the new version 1.0.03.13130
with just a few corrupt files in the database it seems to function OK.
Let's see how my Database survives
If it doesn't and becomes corrupt I will slag sony for ever and ever.
cynically Pocket!

I have deleted most of the albums i have on my player from my PC due to lack of memory. Does anyone know if this update would cause me to lose info from the tracks i have now deleted or if will i lose the songs from the player??

Guys, if you are wrestling with Connect update, just go to Sonicstage 3.4. It's not perfect, but it is reasonably stable to get a level of user satisfaction. As someone in the know (allegedly), stated on another forum (Atraclife), this update of Connect is nothing more than a Stop-gap of minor fixes with a major update weeks away. This really does suggest that the Connect Engine is majorly flawed that it is going to take that time, and only perhaps, to get it right! It sounds like Copyright Controls gone wrong and Sony has got lost up it's own arse! However, as I copied earlier, the big hope is in the appointment of -

"Sony’s new software czar, Tim Schaaff, knows a little something about handling companies in turmoil.

In early 1997, Schaaff headed Apple Computer’s QuickTime engineering team. The computer maker was in internal upheaval, as the newly returned Steve Jobs cleaned house, jettisoning people and products he felt had contributed to the company’s fall from grace.

The QuickTime group, which had grown used to almost complete independence, appeared on the surface to be one of the worst suited to Jobs’ newly centralized regime. But former employees say that Shaaff’s “zen-like” influence managed to mollify Jobs and keep the group intact to an extent rare across the company at large.

“The engineers who ran QuickTime were used to making their own decisions when Steve came in with his people,” said former QuickTime evangelist Charles Wiltgen, now a Qualcomm product manager. “They were also very intelligent and very headstrong. Tim was one of the few people who could have made a love connection between those groups.”

Fast-forward to the present. The 46-year-old Schaaff has now become one of Sony’s brightest hopes, plucked from Apple late last year to fill the newly created role of senior vice president of software development, coordinating software efforts across the company’s sprawling corporate divisions for the first time.

To some, the Sony he is joining looks much like mid-1990s Apple. It is a company with a stellar hardware past but a shallow software portfolio. It has creative but insular product groups, which often communicate poorly if at all. It is in the midst of a historic upheaval aimed at reversing a long slide down from the market’s top."

OK Peter, so perhaps I should give Sonic Stage a go. Do I need to uninstall Connect firts, or can I have both progs on the system and have a choice ? Do I have to reset my player to install SS or will that work as it is ?

To Peter (another on)

First thing I would do before venturing into any uninstalls and new installations is backup your entire player's contents to a new folder on your desktop.

It is recommended to uninstall Connect before installing Sonictage but I found that the emphasis is on never running the 2 programmes together. So from my own experience it is OK to have the 2 on the same machine but a must do is only run one.

As far as resetting your player is concerned it's a half way house thing. By copying your entire player contents to a new folder you have actually saved the setup as executed through Connect. If anything goes wrong or you are unhappy with your results with Sonicstage all you do is re-initialise your player and copy these files back into your player and pick up where you left off with Connect.

Once you have installed Sonicstage, re-initialise your player, and import your previous player files from the directory you copied them to, or so as not to duplicate sources of files just start again importing from your main library depot. One piece of advice is to transfer to the player in reasonable size batches so as not to hang the transfer process. Sonicstage imports songs and transfer songs relatively quickly so I would not be too frightened of starting from scratch.

Hope this helps, others might want to chip in with their experiences.

Even with latest update for Connect it will not transfer any tracks onto my NWA1000. I will continue with Sonicstage. That placebo idea earlier creased me up! Very funny indeed my friend!

Sonicstage will at least get you up and running. It is expected that the next updates of Sonicstage will unleash the full features of the NWA series players. At least you are working with something that works now and will go further later!

Gman's Placebo comment was class......thanks Gman for one of the best laughs I have had for ages! Sony's Placeboware!

Sonicstage 3.4 is awesome.. Whilst not great with all the extra features. it will allow you to upload and Download your atrac to ANY machine. I have it at home and at work. and i transfer my music 2 and from!!

Just don't put on the copyright :P

To anyone who might know:

I have loaded a few mp3 files from my PC onto NWA3000 this evening. Most went across OK but 2 will not transfer. In the Connect library, they appear on the device window in bold print, but when I look for them on the NWA3000 after disconnecting, they are not there. They appear to be regular .mp3 files, and they play OK on my PC. I have tried several times with different bunches of tracks, and the same 2 always don't make it across.
Any help would be appreciated.

Johnjoe, Make sure they are bitrates that the 3000 can support!!

To Sony Central:

The bit rate on both problem files is 128kbps, the same as that on many other successful transfers ==> therefore this is not the problem.

Thanks anyway.

Same issue as listed above, I can't click on "I agree" during the installation and as I need to install the bundled version to install the latest connect player, I'm screwed.
What a joke...

Connect version 1.0.3 has just Auto Uploaded.
Took about 5 minutes.

First impressions = No difference. Still takes two centuries to open.
Still dragging my computer back into the stone age.

I tried to buy a wrist strap at Dixons yesterday.
Assistant said they don't have any because Sony refuse to supply them with any accessories for the Walkman ?? Didn't know why !

Advised me to go to any camera shop and buy the same thing for a tenth of the price.

im up to 4622 songs on my nwa-3000 but not one of them has any artist links...its not bothering me to much its not very useful but since im paying for it to work might as well get it too...how do i get connect to find artist links is my question, i have it set in the preferences to enable artist link in backround but it does nothing. what do i do to find it?

thanks

I get ArtistLink to work by just leaving the player open, playing audio or not. It can be a little tempermental, as I posted before. I got it working again an it seems to work better than ever now (before update to 1.0.0.3. I haven't tried it in the latest version yet, but the memory consumption seems to be a little better. It starts off at about 97MB but goes down to 30-40MB after a few minutes.

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL OWNERS OF SONY MP3 PLAYERS (including the NWA3000)! Uninstall your CONNECT software NOW!

SonicStage v3.3 is the answer to all our prayers! It runs 100 times smoother than CONNECT and transferring songs is easier than taking a piss. I'm completely serious. This latest version of Sonic Stage has playlist functions as well. Did I mention IT IS SOOOO MUCH FASTER THAN CONNECT! GET IT NOW!

Hi.

After having bought a NW A-1000 and having problems with the crappy Connect player software for some months I decided to try Sonicstage 3.4

However, Sonicstage crashes on my computer as well. It’s the oh-so-wonderfull:
"Omgjbox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to Close...." error everytime I run Sonicstage.

I DO have Windows XP PRO SP2, which should leave out the pre SP2 hot fix problem with Sonicstage. I have tried to reinstall Sonicstage, even with Sony’s own Sonicstage removal tool, but with no luck. The dam program crashes anyway.

Does anyone know a solution to the problem that does not concern the hot fix issues when running Sonicstage 3.4 on Windows XP WITH SP 2?

My setup:

Sonicstage 3.4 and Connect player 1.0.3
AMD Athlon Xp 2800+
1 gb ram
600 gb hd SATA (2 disks in raid 0)
Windows XP PRO SP2 (English) with ALL available updates.
USB 2.0.
No firewall or antivirus installed.

Omgjbox.exe error message:

AppName: omgjbox.exe AppVer: 3.4.1.13062 ModName: aclayers.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 000131db

Per K

ACLAYERS.DLL can be problematic and it is mentioned in your Omgjbox.exe error message.

ACLAYERS can be damaged by uninstalling software which erroneously deletes parts of the registry which ACLAYERS needs. Another common cause is spyware/virus infestation. I notice you mention you are not running any antivirus software.

Check out this site for further info:-

http://www.mydllfiles.com/errors/1507/aclayers.html

To Per K

I do not believe the problem is with Sonicstage 3.4 (hard to believe I know!). This is a problem with a windows operating system file. I remember having to labour with something similar a while back. For starters, try this link, hopefully this can give you some direction in resolving the issue -

http://www.mydllfiles.com/errors/1507/aclayers.html

Hope this helps to focus where your efforts should be concentrated towards.

Well John great minds thinking alike - I think this calls for us to call out "first jinx!" Mind you you were 6 minutes ahead of me!

To Per K
You could also look at this
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.mediakill.a@mm.html
Its an old virus but if your not using AV (god knows why not ?, i'm sure you have a perfectly valid reason) then it may be causing a problem, either way i'd get a full system scan done before i did anything else, there are loads of free AV programs on the net these days.
There are also some conflicts with certain nVidia drivers as well, i find Google always helps in a situation such as this.

Sorry.

The Omgjbox.exe error message was from when I tried to run Sonicstage 3.4 i Windows 2000 compability mode (which didn't work either). When running with no compability set Sonicstage still crashes but with this error message:

AppName: omgjbox.exe AppVer: 3.4.1.13062 ModName: l3codecx.ax
ModVer: 1.5.0.50 Offset: 000015aa

And I have run both Hitman pro 2.3 (http://www.hitmanpro.nl/) and AVG antivirus software with negative results. I've removed them for now to see if they where causing problems with Sonicstage.

Have anyone had the same problem?

I installed Connect 1.0 over sonicstage 3.3 and it works (for almost a week so far fingers crossed) perfectly. There was an immediate updating to 1.03 and this imported all my tracks that were in sonicstage with no problems ready to be put onto my A608. There doesnt even seem to be an issue of system resources with my pc. I have 200gb running on a P4 with 1/2 a gig memory and XP. Having mates who have ipods i cant say Connect is as good as Itunes but the hardware is superior so whilst it has taken far far too long to fix the software problems 1.03 does seem to be a step in the right direction.

Sony UK has extended the operating hours of the Connect Player Software Helpline:

Monday - Friday 8am to 8pm
Saturday - Sunday 10am to 4pm

The telephone Number is 0800 169 5263

throw in the towel and admit a refund is the only way forward, thats what i did only after my mum threatened the sony centre with civil court, there so unhelpful. crummy softwear made the player crummy which inturn made me hate it every time i tryed to use it. glad to be free of it. serious waste of money

Well after much (seriously) deliberation I went for the NWA 3000 (and yes its lovely). I didnt even bother with connect as I already have SS 3.4 on my PC. It works a treat tho I have one question:

I listen to a lot of mix CDs and when I import a mix CD to the player it lists the Cd by all the individual artists rather than the artist who created the CD. Its the same on the player. I cant see anything in the options in SS to change this? Its strange because it didnt do this on my HIMD player. Does CP sort this or is it just SS? When I do an artist search I want to see the creator of the CD not all the individual artists on the 'Various Artists' CD!

HP

Is this board now closed?

SHOCK HORROR

Yer Right connected to artist link gave it a day!
PC CRASED 4 days down thanks SONY
Player came up with many errors in database!
Mostly downloaded MP3 files!

All of which still had download directory on my Connect Player?

CONFUSHUS SAY no to piracy
or should I say SONY say's no to piracy
AT WHOS EXPENCE
POCKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SONY SUPPORT IN AUSTRALIA IS SHITHOUSE!!!

But there after 5 emails

Why would you close this board ther are alot of angry AUSSIE's to come.

Maybe I am one of the few lucky ones. Installed Connect Player 1.03 and transferred 2600+ songs to my NWA3000 without a glitch. The whole process took about an hour.

The NW-A608 is a feature-rich device which is functional and pleasant to use. However, Sony Connect is appaulingly bad software - appears to be trying to mimic iTunes for look and feel (which I can't stand anyway) and it is slow and buggy.

I'm going to take this crap back to where I got it and go and buy a Creative or IRiver player. They do not use proprietry audio formats with DRM, nor is any poxy software needed just to move music files onto them, you can just do copy operations in Explorer/xcopy/whatever you like.

Sony & Apple: Stop telling me how to use the technology I buy. Make your awful software optional and I'll come back. Otherwise, word of mouth will make all but the kids that just want a pair of white headphones go elsewhere.

If you really hate the Sonic Stage and Connect then what you can do is do a search for MP3 filemanager and download that and yes it works easily, you can see the progress, it can send atrac files and finally you can download any songs from any compatible windows computer because it is stored on your player.

Wow
Now this is weird...have I missed something and Connect now works OK, or has everyone given up ? After the initial batch of psosts on this and the other forum, all of a sudden...nothing. Any news when Sony will release further updates ?

Peter - I think they've all given up.
I got my lad a 20gb Zen in exchange and he's never looked back since. Not only does it do direct transfer without any stupid unworkable lump of 'software' but it's a superior player.

Bye bye Sony - best of luck anybody who is still sticking with them... you'll need it.

I'm with John, I haven't been sucessful yet in exchanging mine Might have to write it off as a big mistake. I am using my wife's Creative Zen Touch - shestopped using it anyway. Not as attractive as the Sony but the software works a treat and I can use a large number of play for sure vendors. I now know why the A3000 is shaped like a bar of soap - it is easier for them to shove the returns up where the sun don't shine. I will never buy Sony again and will never recommend them to anyone in fact I hope they go bust!

I'll second that, Gman.
I've bought Sony kit since the original cassette Walkman in the 70's. They had quality and functionality worth paying a bit extra for.

Ever since they became music owners they have gone down the pan. They have followed the music industry's myopic paranoid path and I hope it leads them to oblivion.

I've paid through the nose for overhyped overpriced vinyl and CDs for years, I'm still prepared to pay for it because I love music. They treat me like a potential criminal, not trusting me to stay legal, in fact they are insulting my integrity by trying to force me down their cul-de-sac of proprietary formats. The overblown mess they have gotten themselves iinto with Connect Player would be laughable if it hadn't cost me more of my hard-earned money, not to mention huge amounts of wasted time and frustration.

Well, they can go and fuck themselves from this point onwards. The poor guy at the Sony centre is probably still shaking from my reaction when he tried to refuse me a refund. I like the bar of soap idea, but I bet their arses are too tight to get the A3000 up there, it'll have to be the A1000.

Ok so after crackin the shits with connect player and wipping it out, I delt with SONIC STAGE for a week. Yu no it still didn't have the features of the holy connect player.
It didnt have artist link, top 100 and some other stuff.
I have conntacted SONY AUSTRALIA SUPPORT and whilst the email support was slow it was there after 4 emails.
But when I Rang for phone support I had to put throug to IT the first dude thought he had no I DEAR about CONNECT PLAYER software and CUT ME OFF. Rang straight back and had to be put through to IT SUPPORT and the second Dude was happy to send me to the place of purchase for a refund.
Not somthing I would want my staff to do.

I love the hardware and will endure the software SHIT U HAVE GIVEN US.
So downloaded connect again more updates shock horror.

Conecting to artist link with pirated songs and alll tonight lets se how we GO. mothers!!!

SILL GET DRIVE NOT READY ERROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sonys expence with support now?

HA HA HA HE HE HE

Something may be getting through.
I popped into a Jojn Lewis yesterday find a DAB digital radio (not sony) and while I saw all the ipods and other MP3's no sony.
On another note can anyone explain in simple terms openmg?
I gratefully took the free cd download offer from sony and now it won't let me burn it onto a CD.
It is in openmg format.
I am using the new version of sonicstage but it wont let me burn the CD.
What have I done wrong?
I managed to import everything else in MP3 format at 160kps
I seem to be able to burn those fine.

eventr

Openmg?
Take alook at this link and try not to laugh.
http://www.sony.net/Products/OpenMG/overview/

HERES TO IPOD! for being too lazy to fix their shit and paying off sony to make theirs WORSE!
i am actaully tempted to sue sony. lol im 16 and worth 5 pounds an hour. the sony CONNECT software has so far eaten up... lets say 3 hours per attempt to get the songs i want on it, plus the four hours on christmas/boxing day i recon they owe me... 75 pounds... with that i could bye a mitre saw, sledge hammer n hydraulic clamp. i normally like hard to use software as its more challenging (even if anoying) butthe sony software for my NW A1000 doesnt actually do anything. i have so far managed to get music on it twice, once it put songs on which mostly, didnt sounds like anything, and the other it noly put half my music and put 112 copies of iron maidens alexander. which is incidentally. awful. i had another go just now and it decided is didnt like iron maiden nymore - or anything else and so it removed all music from it, ok not too bad i can just highlight all my music and click add ryt? or re sync or update or full sync or ( i even gave clicking remove a go to see if that would work) i had a heart attack when it then removed... my library from their C drive locations into the recycle bin, which luckily i had a large limit on or it wud have permamentaly deleted em. u wud have thought that a piece of software this bad would at least run well on my lounge computer, or the laptop, or the alien ware. nu uh! so i went online to find a site on which i could rant! AND THIS IS TAKING UP TIME I SHOULD BE DOING COURSEWORK IN! AARRRRRHHH. alex foster - speaking on behalf of the angry teens of us.
ovr n out FUCKERS!
(not you - lol ur site is gr8, i was impressed to see a post from the 21st of feb 2 am. its 9 and the 20th here :P)

oh yeah - and if anyone wants to be an amzing agony aunt and hear me rant more - please email me at fuzyfozybear@hotmail.com lol:P (dont act. do this)

fozzy
i dont think there is anything wrong with your mp3 player, iron maiden IS AWFUL.

sigh* still trying still havent done coursework - sony now owe me 85 pounds lol - urr i tried all the suggestions i read here - sonic stage seems to work really well but when it starts downloading, it says unable to download these files : lists all my songs . it then decides that my mp3 player has no free space. the thing is blank. please help. :) thanx

Yes they are! and something has to be wrong with my Mp3 to be making me listen to em! ryt now i would prob settle for their album on there over the current nothing though.

fozy,

Try initialising the drive on the player and starting again with Sonicstage.

Don't bother using Connect player, given Sony's software history it won't be worth using for a couple of years at least.

It's worth the effort to get your Iron Maiden tracks on there. They're great.

hmmm.
So in summary.
Sony let me download a programme into a format only sony systems could read and that prevents me from using it anywhere else???
Thus controlling the copyright and therefore eliminating the chance of "sharing the file"
Is that about it?
Or in four words.
Another Sony Balls Up.
Oh yeah I'm laughing.

Plan.
If I buy another player from a different oulet will sony give me another track?
If I return that player within 7 days complaining of the software will that add to the reject pile?
If I did that for week after week would I increase my cd collection?
If I did that would that piss sony off?
Would it cost them money?
...hello dixons, comet, currys, argos, john lewis, sony centres, tesco, asda ...do you have any of the wonderful new sony walkmans?

SOLID! thus far.............................. WHY CAN I NOT DOWNLOAD MUSIC IN MY CONTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUCK IOT.

Nice to see you back, POCKET.
We've all been missing you.

This blog should now be called, "Why flog a dead horse"!

Anyway came back with this little link -

http://www.stuffmag.co.uk/hotstuffarticle.asp?de_id=1152

Sonic Stage is excellent. All we need is for it to integrate the topp 100/ favourites/ etc.. features

Just another disatisfied customer [a3000] had most of the above problems, but now my complete libary has disappeared? the egg timer is showing when i move my mouse around the screen but it never clears. Totally frustrated, love the player , my first hate the software.

oo oo what is initialising my drive? how do i do it? i still have no dongs on it btw :P ive started using it as a flash drive and have been trying to get sonic too work thanx .

OMFG!!!!! INITIALISING MEANS FORMAT!!!! FFF******"""@"@"@"@"@"@@@******CK!!!!!! all my work was on that! my cw!!! MY CW!!!!! arrrhhh!!!! :( more no sleep for me..:(
the only reason i am writing this is to ask if nyone knows if there is a way of UN-Initialising?>???
no? sigh
on a lighter note my mp3 now works fine! thanks dude who suggested it (dick! (no ofense) )

Thanks, Miss me like a hole in the head.
Connect Player goin oko.
Thanks to a cool sony support lady, Database still in tact downloads and all, yi har.

So SONY WHY CAN AUSTRALIA not have the same as all other country's a cool music store to buy tracks from.

I guess I will have to keep file sharing hey.

ok just thought id tell u guys! im back to the place i was when i first placed a blog on this site with my cw! stayed up all nyt again to do it! sigh*

i need help i deleted one of my windows upgrade-hotfix- and now my computer takes 10 mins just to open a folder i need help!!!!!!!please

if u can help me contact me onehitwonder123@hotmail.com

Bloody connect is a load of crap it took like 2 hours to transferr 500 songs onto my NW-A300 the next day it took an hour to do 200 songs wtf its shit as hell. Dam Sony and bloody Connect damn them to hell. Its takes 20mins for Connect to get all the songs up that r on my player its shit.

ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGH

Back in the day I bought one of the original Sony Network Walkmen. At the time I was running Win98. A few months later I upgraded to Win2k. Upon visiting Sony's site I was informed that I would have to upgrade to a new version of the desktop software (a free download from Sony) in order to run the software on a Win2k O/S.

One small problem.

The new version of the software was released to coincide w/the release of their newest model of Network Walkman.

IT DID NOT WORK WITH THE VERSION OF NETWORK WALKMAN THAT I OWNED AND HAD PURCHASED A MERE FEW MONTHS EARLIER.

::Pete Puma:: DUUUUUHH...my momma' done told meeeee ::Pete Puma::

After much complaining to Sony they finally sent me one of their latest Network Walkmen for free, which I greatly appreciated. However, the damage was done. My faith in Sony and their portable audio division was lost.

The moral of the story? Apparently, Sony is incapable of learning from their mistakes. I mean, it's one thing to mess up like this when portable digital audio for consumers was in its infancy back in 2000 - 2001, but five years later...in the age of the iPod?

If they were trying to keep a lid on their problems, then it's not going to be much longer... Know everyone knows what a state Sony's Walkman and Connect divisions are in..

http://apple.slashdot.org/article.plsid=06/03/02/2054249

http://news.com.com/Sonys+software+future/..._3-6044937.html[/url]

PS. Sony, still waiting for that SonicStage upgrade to make my NW-A3000 pretty brick actually work as it was intended to.... Getting tired waiting...

The part about this article that made me laugh (cry) the most:

"The resulting product, released in mid-2004, was a flop. A year later, in early 2005, Sony Corporation of America Chief Technology Officer Phil Wiser conceded that the software had been a problem but said the company had learned from both its own mistakes and iTunes' gains.

"The software has gotten killed," Wiser told CNET News.com in a February 2005 interview. "We were well aware of the changes in the market, and clear on how we could address these things, but we didn't move fast enough."

It seems they **THINK** they have learned their lessons, and are now on the right track. They really need a wake-up call. As from a end user, I am telling them, they are still not moving fast enough, nor are they on the right track. I have owned this damn NW-A3000 for 4 months, and it's no better than that fatefull day back in Decemeber, when I bough the think, thinking "nobody for fired for buying Sony" (to use a IBM phrase). How wrong I was...

Sony Connect is absolute garbage. Sony just isn't trying anymore. Why should they when they have the Play Station bringing in all the cash. Meanwhile they let a bunch of autistic chimps write the software for the Walkman.

There is NO WAY this software EVER worked. Which means they never even tested it. What a bunch of thieving losers.

DO NOT BUY SONY STUFF. You WILL regret it. It's not like the old days when they were dependable and high quality. They make absolute garbage and sell it at inflated prices because "people love sony".

I got The NW A1000 for Christmas and it managed to somehow wipe my hard drive. I was extremely pissed off, luckily i use a external hard drive as back up so no damage was done luckily. installed it again to see if it would work and it sort of does but it only lets me put one album one then i have to restart the program. Also the link button on the side of the player cant link to other artist cos of the stupid CONNECT software junk. Its such a shame that this amazingly cool player is let down by such shit software. Something has to be done about this otherwise sony are going to lose a lot of coustomers and not get them back.

Where is POCKET!

WE WANT POCKET !!!

Sony sucks.. I borrowed a MD from a friend and all the way home i was practically masturbating over it.. so sleek, so sexy, so small, so light..

Then I came home and installed sonicstage. Cue hours of cursing, shouting and lots and lots of crashing and rebooting.

I ended up buying an ipod. The hardware isnt as sexy but at least the software gets the job done. Havent had any troubles at all.

Sony just sucks now.. seriously. The whole rootkit fiasco, their DRM laden Blu Ray shit.. fuck em. Fuck em right in the ear.

Where do you fint a replacement battery to the nwa300? I does not look like any battery I have ever seen in stores.

Pockets data base is good.
Pocket is gone.

rearane the leters and yu there come see.
have me if yar a chick.

Thaks to the contribuuters of this blog witout u sony would have had nwa-1000 sent back in a box.
Later ROD

Well I am just about to send the player back to sony and they have written to me saying they will refund it in full after i complained via a letter and demanded a refund.

Now with the 200 quid, what is the best player for ease of use and value for money?

Any input appreciated!!!

This whole saga has put me off Sony for a while!

If I had my way again, I would want an open architecture player; something you can drag and drop to or just simply get's recognised by the likes of Windows Media Player. Creative's Zen Vision M looks interesting. I think you get a plug-in and you can use WMP.

Here's the link -

http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=14331&nav=awards

I will defend the player despite the crap software but do think Sony have got a cheek sending me replies like the one below. You can't d/l Connect anymore while it is being 'fixed' and the CD-ROM I received with the player didn't run so apparently I should BUY a replacement CD-ROM!

Thank you for your recent enquiry.

Firstly I would like to apologise for the delay in replying.

Unfortunately the Connect Player software is not available as a full package to
download yet from the Internet as it is still currently being upgraded.

If you require a new disc you can order one from the company detailed below,
between the hours of 8.30 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday. They operate a mail
order and credit card service and will be able to advise you on the availability
and cost of supplying the item you require. For further information on Seme
Ltd, please click on http://www.seme.co.uk/.

Seme Ltd
Hudson Road
Melton Mowbray
Leicestershire
LE13 1BS

Telephone: 0870-240-6354
Fax: 01664-563976
Email: sony@seme.co.uk

I hope that this information has been of use to you.

I have found an interesting workaround which has allowed me to load about 1600 tracks with all functions (except artist link, which sounds crap anyway). I rip all my tracks into mp3 using Winamp, I then load the MP3s into SonicStage and connect my player and transfer the tracks over to the player. I shutdown Sonicstage and then disconnect the player and start up Connect. I then plug my player back in until connect crashes at which stage I disconnect the player and I get all the shuffles etc. However only Sony could come up with something this crap. I am slowly moving away from them after this experience and upgraded my Sony Ericson Phone to a Samsung and will get rid of my playstation and replace it with an Xbox. Maybe they will learn the hard way not to screw with us.

Weel I envy those of you who have got to the stage of having problems with Connect. As soon as I connect my NWA3000 to my PC, it immediately locks up. Not even a hint of getting task manager to popup, it's a cold reboot or nothing. No response from Sony UK so far despite a near constant bombardment of phone calls.

Anybody have the faintest idea when the much vaunted "upgrades" will actually happen, or are Sony hoping that we will all give up and go away ?

Well if it's anything like the SonicStage upgrades, the first you can expect will be April 2007.

This is the first I've checked out this blog since Feb 1st when the wathchdog feature failed to appear. They've gotten away with it as far as I'm concerned because I've resigned myself to the fact that sonic stage is better than nothing!That's 3 months now and the anger and frustration I felt at the start have waned a bit. Even if they sorted out the software I don't think I would bother with it now. Just shows that if they fob you off long enough you'll give in eventually!

Jimmy I pop back here from time to time just to see how it is all going. Gave up on the piece of Sony crap a while ago, although I have been unable to return it as I got on holiday. I now use a Creative Zen Touch and whilst it is not so hot on looks it plays and Loads with ease. I have also replaced my Playstation with an X-Box and will never buy another product that has the Sony name on it. My point is that they only get away with it once they have potentially lost a lot of future income from me and anyone of my circle of friends who take my advice.

i got the nw a3000 but when i was fiddling with the software to try and get it to transfer music onto the player i ended causing the software to not reconise the player and i tried re installing and rebooting my pc but it still dosen't work can anyone help me with this?

Gman you're right, Sony products will be last on my list too from now on. There are a lot of other excellent companies jumping on the bandwagon nowadays and vying for our custom. I've had a Creative MuVo2 and a Philips HDD070 myself. Both were excellent. My friends have Samsung,Ipods,and several other makes. The choice out there is endless. I'll stick with it for a while , but the next time I upgrade, it definitely won't be Sony who are getting my hard-earned money.

Ok Sony, buy yourself some time doing this:

Make a simple tool that converts music files into a desired filetype(s);
Make some firmware;
Let the firmware make a map in the device that says MUSIC;
Let the user drag-and-drop their just converted music in that folder using windows explorer;
When disconnecting the device from the computer let the device make a library for itself and compile some stuff or whatever.

After that buy some GOOD developpers and let them make software for it or firmware that just plays everything that is dropped onto the device without a stupid driver.

YOU POMMIES REALY SHOULD GET OUT MORE>
The version that you use of connect player is as corrupt as the third right.

FIND THE US VERSION SUCKERS.

Why not put a link then if your so clever?

great player - crap software - surely Sony arent that stupid?

That was no stupid American - I think it is our beloved POCKET from Oz!!!

Whoever he/she/it is, they are too thick to know that the US version of Connect is actually Sonicstage, as mentioned previously in this blog many times.

This is because Sony's lawyers have advised them against releasing the disastrous Connect Player in the good ole extremely litigious US of A.

THIS IS THE OWNER OF THIS SITE. IF PEOPLE ARE NOT CORDIAL AND POLITE ON MY SITE I WILL DELETE THE OFFENDING COMMENTS AND CLOSE COMMENTS FOR ALL. PLEASE KEEP THE DISCUSSION RELEVANT AND POLITE FOR EVERYONE.

I am not joking at all.

Hey leave me out of it MY conect Player is working fine and updating the software daily.
Just so happens it is the following version
Language: en-US
Region: Asia
No problem with the sofware here
tranfers fast, no errors in the database, no problem with downloaded pirated songs, and the player is now faster as well shorter menu options.

IT IS THAT BLODDY GOOD I BOUGHT AN NWA-3000 for my sons birthday.
WOOPS i cant say "BLOODY" in ENGLAND
KEEP UP cheers from AUS
ROD

hi all, hmmmmmm, connect, most of the comments relate to issues with it after installing. Anyone not able to get that far because the installation windows are bollox'd up? When I try (following all the sony recommended steps before this) the end licence agreement window opens, I scroll to the bottom, only I cant! because the licence window is too small - I cant see the down arrow in the scroll bar of the window, and the 'next' button stays ghosted. In fact, the previous window asks to select area I'm in or something, but no options turn up, so I click away while moving the mouse around a grey patch of the window, which seems to something. My system is win xp pro, sp2 bla bla. anyone else with this? And just a thought for those that have tried connecting their player to more than one sonicstage app - sony have a vested interest in, and are involved heavily in the music industry, I dont think Apple are, which may be why they arn't so bothered about users sharing their units between pc's etc?? Dunno, just a thought tho.

I admit, i was a bit reluctant to purchase this player after reading in various places that the software sucks. i had narrowed my choice down to this and the ipod. i finally went ahead and bought the sony player, and i must say, im mighty pleased! the software installed without any problems, transferred all my songs in hardly anytime, and no crashes or freezing up whatsoever!!! some people r saying that it starts crashing after a couple of transfers, but ive had the player for nearly a week now, and i must have transferred and synced songs at least 50 times by now, no problem at all!!!

im really glad i bought this and not the ipod!!

Vishrut - Lets hope you stay glad, you should email Sony and let them know, you are one of the few who are happy with everything, apart from the obvious Sony moles who post around the net

I am having no problems with my walkman, i just use sonic stage to transfer, don't even bother with connect player. I have near 2500 songs on it now.

emailed Sony recently, got this reply today:

"Thank you for your enquiry, I apologise for the delay in my response.

I do appreciate that this on-going situation is extremely frustrating for you. It has been confirmed that Sony is actively investigating these problems and developments are underway to upgrade the "CONNECT Player" software to remedy the issues reported. In parallel we will provide a further release of "SonicStage" with additional functionalities in the near future.

I can assure you this is being treated as a matter of urgency and has the attention of the Senior Management teams based in Tokyo.

I hope that this has gone some way to allay your concerns, although I apologise for the delay in being able to provide you with full information.

I am sorry to say that we are currently not offering compensation to customers who have had difficulties with Connect Player. I apologise if this causes any disappointment.

For information on these updates when they are available, please click on the "Service and Support" page of our website, www.sony.co.uk."

Somehow that doesn't quite do it !!!

Well, after three installsConnect seemed to be playing ball last night. It actually responded to mouse clicks - shock horror - although very slowly. The latest problem is that the library max's out at 15000 tracks! I've got about 19000 mp3s. Has anyone heard of this before?

Think I'm gonna go back (again) to SonicStage.

Been running the latest version for since day of its release. No problems what so ever. Only wish I could rip enhanced CDs straight into Connect, currently I use SonicStage and then import them so at least they are ATRAC3s.

Only real on going issue is with Gracenote actually. Some of the genre information is WAY off. I'm thinking of removing the genre folder from the library paths just so I can adjust them to make them more sane. iTunes uses Gracenote, but that puts them into broad catergories. Nearly everything appears as rock.

after a great 4 month run my time has come. at this point nothing works....its going back for an exchange....and if that doesnt work the garbage...

does anyone get 35 hours out of their player/

Wish we had read this site before my 17 year old spent her birthday money (collected from everyone and added to hard earned money) on an A3000 to replace her defunct Creative NOMAD (bought before ipod was here in the UK). Not prepared to spend time on the software, it doesn't work so is going back tomorrow. Main issue with us is the all the wma files legally bought and can't be used. Why should she have to rebuy then or spend the time converting them

Great looking player but that menas nothing ifit can't be used. Sadly she is going to buy an ipod.

Just the worst software ever (I'm using the latest version of Sonic Stage, Connect is just impossible, doesn't work at all, been pulling my hair out over this thing since Christmas). It's a major headache to get anything from the PC on to the unit, the sychronisation between the two is simply appalling. If you're reading this don't buy a Sony player, in fact don't buy Sony ANYTHING. Experience has taught me that this company's produce is generally awful (I've owned most of their gear at one time or another, CD Players, TV's, MD Players, Cassette decks.....I could tell you about the "State Of The Art" MD deck costing me £700+ that crept past it's warranty date then subsequently died.....but that's another story..... their gear has a very short lifespan and generally doesn't work well whilst it is working). If you're thinking about an ipod forget that too, similar copy restrictions apply making it a damn difficult unit to use. My advice would be get an MP3 player (the Sony & iPod units are NOT mp3 players by the way) that has NO restrictions regarding what you copy to it (experience of iRiver players has so far been very good, simply drag and drop your mp3's onto the unit in Windows Explorer.....what could be easier?). I know some people will take issue with my comments regarding the ipod (better than Sony gear I agree) but copy restrictions still apply, just take a look at Sue's post above, that just about sums the whole fiasco up. Hit this awful company where it hurts.....DON'T BUY SONY !

PLEASE!!!!! Sony has WAY more budget than that...

u guys are a disgrace...

when i bought my NW-a1000s, I though OMGOMG a mp3 that feels iPod but isn't KOOL, went to install, BUGGED!! Damn Windows ME!! Thank god for my GRANDPA's comp(yes my grandpa has a comp lol)
so i go to install and DAMN did i have a hard time transfering my tunes... Jesus is that program mercyless... i make an error, it f@cks,

Oh Fer god Frixing Sake I converted ALL my 441 songs into Atrac3plus 48kbps and i STILL don't egt 20 hours into that player...

good job sony... botching the job to make Apple's profits go sky high...

Just had to update you - my daughter took the Sony back and against my better judgement bought an ipod and I got a licence online (£10.90) to copy all wma.drm files to mp3 which took a couple of hours to convert all 600 (I was not going to let her pay to download 600 again). The ipod was up and running almost immediatley (had to copy and paste the converted files - took a few minutes)and firmly fixed in the ears on the way to school.

My real issue about the whole advertising thing is that you can be prosecuted for downlaoding illegally, so you do it leaglly and then you can't buy the so called 'cool' players - someone is conning someone here, but not got time to rant.

To thise critics of this site, without such a site we woudl have struggled for hours - so keep it going

I've just upgraded my PC from an AMD Athlon XP 2000+ with 500 meg ram to an AMD Athlon X2 4200+ with 2gb of ram. The connect player is now 'usable'. The minimum requirements for Connect by Sony are a complete joke, get yourself a new top of the range PC if you want to use the Connect softeware.

I've just upgraded my PC from an AMD Athlon XP 2000+ with 500 meg ram to an AMD Athlon X2 4200+ with 2gb of ram. The connect player is now 'usable'. The minimum requirements for Connect by Sony are a complete joke, get yourself a new top of the range PC if you want to use the Connect softeware.

Just had a marketing e-mail from Sony to sell me the 'new' Walkman mp3 player. Thought "hello, they must have updated it" since I bought mine 6 weeks ago. Nope. Same player, same guff, and same quality. Even half the links in the e-mail they sent don't work, linking to http:///

Who are they employing?

Hi! does anybody know if and how you can connect this mp3 walkman to your car so you can play it through the car radio ?!! thanks

Ref - connecting the Sony Walkman to your car:

Yes Jacq - you can ... but your car will only do 5 miles per hour and it will keep stalling every 300 yards.
Your passengers will keep disappearing for no reason and the four wheels wont go in the same direction. You will eventually take a hammer to the car and beat it to death.
Good luck. John.

I've noticed that when I've transferred some tracks to my Sony NW-A1000, some of the icons are only half blue coloured. Have a look at what I mean - I'd just transferred Kanye West's album:

http://web.onetel.com/~barrydrink/sonicstage.html

Both version of track appear on the player and both play ok.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Cheers.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Cheers.

Just got a marketing email from Sony as well. It made me laugh. 'You and the WALKMAN were made for each other. but the connection can go even deeper.' At christmas, before I found out the Connect software was rubbish, the WALKMAN nearly went deeper. ABOUT 50 FATHOMS!

I've noticed that when I've transferred some tracks to my Sony NW-A1000, some of the icons are only half blue coloured. Have a look at what I mean - I'd just transferred Kanye West's album:

http://web.onetel.com/~barrydrink/sonicstage.html

Both versions of the tracks appear on the player and both play ok.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Cheers.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Cheers.

Barry,The url in your link points to a picture on your desktop so isn't available to view. Stick it in the images folder.

I wish it was summer, I can see this player skip mighty fine on the surface of a calm Ottawa river...

PS: SONY, please get with it, and do something to save my NW-A1000 from drowning!

PEAVED CANADIAN

So SONY why the bloody hell does connect software duplicate 100's of tracks in my music directy up to 40++ times in your format.
SORT THAT OUT YOU IDIOTS!!!!

I am one lucky NWA-3000 owner!!! I'm amazed of the user-friendly software that works in unprecedented harmony with the hardware...

It's so beautiful rebooting every 5 mins for 3 hours in a row. I honestly hadn't had anything better to do last night.

Never thought I'd pay 300 Euros to buy something that is 100% depended on a -so called- software that even I wouldn't do so bad. Even my 2 yo nephew can "program" better than any of the as*****s involved. My sewer has less bugs.

WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING BEFORE SOMEBODY KILLS A DEALER!!!

Hope the "resurection" will come soon otherwise my neighbours will see a shiny and silver flying UFO...

Keep pressing them. The only thing they understand is mass consumer reaction. We are stronger than we think!

Greetings to all the Connect victims!

PS Will SONY pay for the headache, the fight with my fiancee and one broken keyboard?

I've noticed that when I've transferred some tracks to my Sony NW-A1000, some of the icons are only half blue coloured. Have a look at what I mean - I'd just transferred Kanye West's album:

http://web.onetel.com/~barrydrink/index2.html

Both version of track appear on the player and both play ok.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Cheers.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Cheers.

PS Thanks John

Anyone any idea if where you can get a replacement front outer casing for the NWA-3000. I dropped mine today and one side is now loose.

Hi! does anybody know if and how you can connect this mp3 walkman to your car so you can play it through the car radio ?!! thanks

Posted by: jacq on March 28, 2006 11:12 PM

Yo your player has optional output.
As long as your car sterio has RCA input and you have the right cabel NO PROB.
Find the cabel let us kno and ur done.
CHEERS POCKET

Pocket returns!
Cheers, Rod!

Has this blog been loaded into connect player? It seems to have lost a lot of its content...

What appaling software - mine worked excellently for about a month. Then it crashed. After that it just sits there saying building Interface and eats 100% cpu. Have uninstalled, re-installed, manually cleaned registry, deleted all files. Even after giving up and installing sonicstage, it now says 'cannot import files not registered to sonicstage' and then quits - So no more songs from there. Installed connect on my low-spec laptop - similar issues. A big problem seems to be the fact that connect wants you to have a cdrom drive. I really hope Sony sort this out as I'm ready to ebay it and get an ipod - not as nice looking, but if it works...

I installed Connect 1.0 over sonicstage 3.3 and it works (for almost a week so far fingers crossed) perfectly. There was an immediate updating to 1.03 and this imported all my tracks that were in sonicstage with no problems ready to be put onto my A608. There doesnt even seem to be an issue of system resources with my pc. I have 200gb running on a P4 with 1/2 a gig memory and XP. Having mates who have ipods i cant say Connect is as good as Itunes but the hardware is superior so whilst it has taken far far too long to fix the software problems 1.03 does seem to be a step in the right direction.

I finally got Connect installed t'other day, on XP64. wont work on my 32 bit XP. So, now for my review!!

well I see the good side of this, it makes Sonic Stage look like a saint. My lord how crap is connect?! it wont even read CD's properly. Artist Link function, yeh right, not one of my CD's had any info supplied. What a mess it is, I grew up with a sony walkman, and people envied
me, no people chuckle and plug their ipod into their many accessories.

Wake up sony, if you dont sort this soon, when the ship sinks, all passengers will have already boarded the Apple Cruise Liner. I'll give you a few weeks before I jump over board.

sorry, just to give a few reasons for my review, it ignored most tracks I had already spent a dayor more importing with Sonic Stage, it crashed every 3 or 4 rips, when using the device format option, it did it, and then replaced it with the same data, it has sooo many hidden progs running in the background, it's no where near detailed enough. It said it was updated this artis link thing, but when i looked at a track it said it had updated, surprise, there was nothing.

I have a NW-A1000 and like many others have found the CONNECT software v.ordinary. I wanted to use Windows Media Player(WMP) as a default software however WMP sends files as .wma not .oma to the NW-A1000 and the player doesn't recognise the files.
Come on SONY how about updating the firmware to cater for wma files?
The WMP software is so much easier to use.
I can send the audio from WMP to CONNECT then to the NW however the software for CONNECT is slow and sometimes jumbles the files.
Does anyone know how to use WMP software exclusively with the NW-A1000?

Just for a laugh I chased Sony re my earlier reply (see my post dated 18 March) to see when they considered "in the near future" actually meant. This was the reply:

"Thank you for your recent enquiry.

I am sorry for the continued frustration you have experienced. I can assure you that this problem is being dealt with at the highest levels. At this time we do not have a date for when these updates will be released, however it is still being looked into urgently.

I hope this will be of further help."

If anyone from Sony reads this..the answer is no, it doesn't help!!!

email to service@connect-europe.com
-------------------------------------------------
Hello,

Could you please tell me why I spent £200 on one of your Sony NWA3000 Walkmans for my daughter in December 2005 and in April 2006 you still haven't provided me with software which enables the NWA3000 to be used in the way in which it was advertised?

Why is it that four months down the line, your empty promises have turned to nothing?
Why do I have to explain to my daughter every day that the huge global Sony corporation cannot produce a simple piece of software?
Why is it that I can look at the current connect player and HONESTLY believe that my ten-year-old son could have written something better?
Why is it that the spokemen for the Sony Corporation says that it is the user's fault for not upgrading the software when he knows that this is a barefaced lie?
Why have you not released the NWA series in the United States? Is it because you are scared of the mass litigation that you know would ensue?

WHY AM I WRITING THIS WHEN I KNOW THAT BECAUSE OF THE DISDAIN YOU HAVE FOR YOUR PAYING CUSTOMERS, THAT YOU WILL NOT EVEN REPLY?

ARE YOU NOT ASHAMED TO WORK FOR THE SONY CORPORATION?
-------------------------------------------------
The reply, dated 23rd March, after which I have heard NOTHING:-

-------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your e-mail message.

Your questions has now been forwarded to our management team.
We are now waiting for response and will get back to you as soon as possible.

We kindly ask you for your patience.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
The CONNECT team!

I had hige problems with CONNECT, but they are posting updates which are available from the player or from the website which have cured al my problems!!! Even if you only have a dial-up connection, grin & bear the long download times and you'll be able to transfer dongs to your mp3 player with n problems

I had hige problems with CONNECT, but they are posting updates which are available from the player or from the website which have cured al my problems!!! Even if you only have a dial-up connection, grin & bear the long download times and you'll be able to transfer dongs to your mp3 player with n problems

SOLUTION!!! SLOUTION!!! SOLUTION!!! SOLUTION!!!
---------------------------------------------------
I had huge problems with CONNECT, but they are posting updates which are available from the player or from the website which have cured all the problems (No scrolling, no tranfering, no recognising and reading of player, no info about what's hapenning to your player, doesn't tell you when to disconnect so that when you do the database file is destroyed and all your songs gone...)!!! Even if you only have a dial-up connection, grin and bear the long download times and you'll be able to transfer songs to your mp3 player with no problems!!!

does anybody have a program link to download songs from the player back onto pc? sure i saw a program link somewhere before

hi
im thinkin' of buyin a walkman eventhough you lot have said its a lode of crap but i think it looks good but if u can share any advise (apart from don't buy the crapy thing) id willingly accept it

hobo dude

biggetybong

GYM (Get Your Music) is a great utility designed for network walkman but works fine with NWA series too. Get it from
http://clientes.netvisao.pt/~sonygym/index.htm

ps could you direct advice to me by puttin my name somewhere in ur answer tnx

hheeeellllllllllllllllloooo

hobo dude
Read the blog, that's the advice.

Also
http://www.kanai.net/weblog/archive/2005/11/10/06h20m47s

In a final attempt to get some kind of information out of Sony I asked again...and this was the reply:

"I obviously can understand your frustration with the current situation. However at this time we are in no position to offer any kind of time scale for when the updated software will be launched. However as soon as it is ready to be launched it will be posted on our website, www.sony.co.uk.

I apologise if this causes any further frustration."

COME ON SONY, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO WRITE A DECENT PIECE OF SOFTWARE, IF YOU WERE REALLY TRYING ???????

I recently recorded some speech using a Nokia phone. I downloaded a freeware file converter which converted the .amr to a .mp3. I tried to add this file to my NW-A100 but apparently it's either copyprotected or SonicStage cannot find the 'rights' or the format is not supported.

FFS it's an mp3! Arseholes.

I haven't got any music saved on my pc, i deleted files once on my player. If i update connect will my library lose all information therefore causing my player to lose info?

YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING ABOUT DOWNLOADING MUSIC YOU JERK!

sorry about i guess i didn' read the middle of this page. cool website it's the best site i've been to all day.sweeeet.

yeah your right sony mp3 players are really sucky. my brother had one and it lasted him half a year.I'll tell you which mp3 players work good BenQ Joybee 210 mp3 players it's the kind I have.This is what I think if you're getting an mp3 player get a BenQ Joybee 210.

Hello,
I bought the NW-A3000 in Poland 3 days ago and I try to transfer mp3's via connect "shit" player!
Now I find this blog - and I start to install SonicStage 3.4.
But I think that we must to do something together beacuse Sony Shops in all the world sell NW-A3000 and NW-A1000 with CD with connect player only!
I will send e-mail to consumer organization which help people to fight with some stupid corporation like Sony! And I want to change on polish market a set of sony NW-A series (they must add a CD with SonicStage and info about fuckup of Connect Player).
Please tell me what do you think about my idea.
Regards

PS
I have got under 200 mp3's on my NW-A3000 transfered via Connect "Shit" Player and I created 8 playlists.
Now I removed Connect "Shit" Player from my PC and notebook and I instal a SonicStage 3.4
And I can't anyone new transfered mp3 to add to playlists. Do you know how I can add song to playlists?
Regards
Tomek

em right any ideas here fellow frustrated users,
my nwa3000 has just decided to stop giving out any sound! hmmm always good. it plays and all but no output, i've taken to watching the screen instead its kinda cool but could do with some volume, phoned the unhelp line as i call it and was told to initialize it by their techman, no guesses what happened nothing, still no volume. anyhoo was wondering if there was a easy fix from the test mode that would help, asked the sony guy but he suddenly sounded quite dumb????

You people are so right about Connect Player!!! Bought NW-A1000 on Fiday and it TOTALLY SUCKS.
I reinstalled the software and now I've been trying to open it for about an hour and it keeps displaying this stupid Buidling Interface info. Nothing else is happening. Guess I'm gonna get it back to the store tomorrow. Unless you have some advice?

Joannie - you are right. I think that tomorrow I will get back my NW-A3000 to the store, but... I've got my mp3 layer 5 days and I realy like this player :) Of course software is fuc... shit :) and I don't know what to do.
Regards
Tomek (tolu@poczta.fm) - jak mozesz napisz do mnie Joanno jak wygladalo Twoje oddawanie playera do sklepu.

Hey, this Grab Your Music is promising!!!

I'm getting a message 'skipping failed to import "0" when trying to put tracks on my walkman. Any one had this before.

hey Ian connect will skip corrupt songs or songs with the wrong bit rate or songs that have been file shared yep Sony spy ware gets ya.
Later Rod

well hello!!

For those who remember back at christmas time I too had the sony fiasco nightmares.

Long story short. Sent the sodding thing back and kept up the campaign to slag off sony for using connect software.

Anyway...I decided that after my head unit packed up I needed an mp3 player compatable head unit hence didn't want an ipod so back to sony i came.

Firstly pissed off to see sony still selling the product with corrupt v.1 software.

Ok we all know to avoid connect software.

No problem.
Used sonic stage and found uploaded 2500+ songs.

ok here we go.

now i connected it to the sony head unit advertised by a decent london based seller who was promoting the head unit as able to control the nwa3000 with a sony approved connection box.

didn't work...hmmmm

checked the connections and rang the supplier. They asked all the right things and suggested i contact the supplier of the third party box.

Oh said the supplier we haven't developed a box for that yet sony won't release the data to build it yet....hmmmm

back to the seller. Oi!!

Oh they say the sony sales manager asked us to promote the head unit as being compatable with this box to the nwa series.

They rang sony and rang me back

oh! I said! The sales manager has resigned and has moved on.

Is there a sony head unit that will control the nwa? like every ipod compatable units? kenwood, jvc and even sony produce one.

NO.

So sony who make sony head unit will control an ipod but not a nwa 1000 or 3000.

Is anyone else laughing yet?

Back goes sony nwa 3000 number two.

Jesus h. christ sony when will you get your shite together?

eventr
You ARE a glutton for punishment!
I remember only too well back to Christmas, that's why I'm avoiding Sony products like the plague just now.

I seriously thought that when you bought an MP3 player you bought a player, that payed MP3's, not some wacko device that only plays .OMA files (WTF) and takes 7.5 years to convert the perfectly good and well compressed MP3 files to OMA.

Thanks Sony, you have just lost another customer.

If i'd read this page earlier, i probably would still have bought the NWA608 but thought - "muppets, cant use computers" - DONT BE FOOLED - DONT BUY SONY!!!

There is a new update for Connect player on the Sony update site.
Cant believe how much better it is !!!!

You must try this! However what a pallava to keep your files in mp3 format! Sony are really paranoid about MP3 and it shows. Lets not be too negative and give it a blast. So far so good. I personally think it is down to this forum, that has got us this far and I thank the person that started it. Also everyone that has contributed.

updated to the latest connect 16100 or something .
now it will not upload any tracks at all but it does tell me my 3000 is empty even though through Sonicstage I managed to get 3000 or so tracks on to it.It spends ages saying updating artist link then the bloody thing just disappears and shuts itself down.Great what an improvement this is,certainly worth waiting nearly 5 months for,are the Sony boys waiting till we have all given up and thrown the player in the bin to release one that works with their software or are they just incompetent..
For gods sake just get it sorted..

Just bought the NW-A1000 on a trip to Canada. The player are so sweet, but I have to admit -just like you other guys, that the software are the worst piece of shit I ever installed on a computer....its even more shitty than HP software. How the f*** can a compagny like Sony make something so crappy...hope they make it god again, really dont wanner buy an ipod. Anyone have an idear what to do, other than install Sonicstage again -didnt thought I ever would install that to a computer again, but Sony did it....way to go Sony, you are now not longer AMONG the top 10 for most crappy software, you are number unó, and there a looooong way to number 2.

Just dowloaded new release of Connect Player (as at 22nd April) it very kindly removed the old version but does not appeared to have installed the new version correctly as it is nowhere to be seen on my system (no icon, no entry in all programs) plus i get 'no disk found' message when i boot my PC, not sure if my Connect database is still intact. Has any body else seen this problem and is there a fix?

Thanks

Looks like TinyHttp is a bloody java webserver!!
http://hemswell.lincoln.ac.uk/~slawson/napier/CO42022/2000-2001/labs/lab06.html

I am the only one this worries? No wonder it uses so much system resources

Tinyhttp being a webserver was mentioned on this blog or it's sister blog a few months ago.
It was then that I uninstalled Connect Player and reverted to Sonicstage.

How dare Sony have the absolute cheek to install a webserver on my machine without telling me?
Have they leaned nothing from the disgraceful rootkit debacle?

Just who the fuck do these people think they are?

Tinyhttp isn't even a secure webserver, it's meant to be an experimental vehicle to test out new technologies. Sony is well known for their paranoia about copy protection, but this is going WAY too far.

I ditched my kids' NWAs a couple of months back and got them Zen Micros and they've never looked back. I'm glad I did now, and I would urge everybody else to do the same. If you are so in love with the hardware that you want to keep it, then use Sonicstage. If you're running a webserver at Sony's underhand behest, what are you leaving yourself open to?

I wrote to their support "management team" demanding to know what Tinyhttp actually is and never got a reply.

agreed John.
I have just uninstalled connect player and chucked the A3000 out of the window.

There is a Winamp plugin available from sourceforge that is in the "alpha" stage. It is for transferring music to and from your NWA machine. Here is the link.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlsony
I am gonna give it a try.

There is a Winamp plug-in at this link
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlsony
It is in "alpha" stage at present. Gonna give it a try. It is for loading and unloading tunes to your NWA1000.

Ficklefinger
mlsony doesn't seem to do much at all except make winamp throw a hissy fit and crash. I did see my Sony pop up once in the Portables section of the Media Library, but that was about as far as it got.
Still, it's listed as pre-alpha, and it's nice to see that at least somebody's having a go at something outside the sony software nightmare.

Did you get any joy out of it?

Give them back.......i bought mine and my girlfriend´s sony a1000 2 days ago.....im given them back tomorrow......no way i am keeping this crab......

Has anybody tried to install connect player
CP-PM-Update-1.0.04.16100-English_UK as i cannot get it to work, even worse it has deleted my previous version (see previous post). Have gone back to square 1 by deleting all traces of connect player software from my PC, installed from installation CD which in turn downloaded the latest update after installation if you start Connect you get the splash screen for about 30 seconds and that it, no error messages or anything. Then manually downloaded the latest version, it promptly deleted the previous version (even though it was the same) then installed with no errors, however it has in fact installed nothing, no icon, no exe so i am now left with no access to mt player and no apparent way around the problem.

Open to suggestions, yes i know the obvious is throw it in the bin, but i would like to get it working again.

Cheers

Yo John,
Well I got Winamp to recognise my NWA1000 as a "device" but I could not seem to get any tracks onto it. As you say, at least someone is having a go at this and good luck to them.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this, when I get Connect to work, the tunes on my device dont sound as good as when I use Sonic Stage. I used mp3 in both cases.

Just installed Sonic Stage 3.4 and it works like a dream, forget Connect Player until Sony get their act together and provide us with a decent version !

Hey. I bought the NW-A1000 and it's great, and I don't have any trouble with the software what so ever. However it is resource consuming so I try to avoid running any other major programs while running Connect. There is a volume unlock you cna get it from: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2005/12/sony-a1000-a3000-volume-limit-unlock.php#more
I think how the software operates largely depends on the type of computer and the number of songs.

guys n gals.....i have set up an online forum devoted to the sony connect player fiasco. its very new, so does not have any new posts yet....i would greatly appreciate it if u could take a look...and hopefull help out anybody who views it, by adding advice and problem solving...much appreciated, admin.

url: http://nwa.forumcircle.com/

http://nwa.forumcircle.com/

Ahhhhh
Creative Zen M.

....thats so much better, I can relax again.

right, i have had a couple of posts on the forum now. these posts need answering, so if u wish....visit the forum and have ur say, u can help other like u with personal experiences and poblems and hopefully...solutions!!

http://nwa.forumcircle.com/

New version of connect player
version 1.0.04.16100
PxEngine version 2.4.35.500
OpenMG version 4.4.00
Auto-Update version 1.0.04.15300
Language en-US
Region: Asia

Just let it install itself it said it was converting data base upon opening new download.
new start up new menus have a look.

I hope you pommies are keeping up.
Later ROD

Lest We Forget.

Installed latest version of Connect with no problem at all. First load took ages as it "converted database" but now it is faster (in geological timescales) Once loaded it seems a lot better, hardly locking up at all. Progress !!!

Connect Player is dead - NO LONGER SUPPORTED BY SONY !!!!!!

I wrote to the Euro Connect support "management team", demanding to know why they have included a covert web server in their software. This was two months ago. I have emailed them every single day since wanting to know why they had not replied. This morning I got this message back:-

Dear Mr. Dolan

Sorry for the late statement on this.
First of all thanks for your request. We are happy with all kind of
request because also critics help Sony to get better.

The software you are using at the moment I think should be the Connect
Player.

This software is not longer supported by Connect or any other Sony company.

The actual prefered software is Sonicstage 3.4 which does not support the
intelligent features of the NWA 3000. You can download this software under:
http://www.connect-europe.com/sonicstage

On

DATE DELETED BY WEBLOG OWNER ON REQUEST BY SONY AS THIS IS COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION POSTED WITHOUT PERMISSION.

Sonicstage will release his new software Sonistage CP which
will support all intelligent features including Artist Link. The software will be
available under the same link as the previous one.

We are sorry about your problems and hope we could help you a bit.
If you need a CD with Sonicstage on it just let us know.
Feel free to contact me if you have further questions

Best regards
Sony Connect Support Management Team

HAD 2 NWA3000 NO PROBLEMS WITH ANY OF THEM EXCEPT FOR THE FIRST WHEN IT FELL OF MY FRIDGE FROM ABOUT SIX FOOT AND KILLED ITS DRIVE .GLUED IT BACK TOGETHER BROUGHT IT BACK TO ARGOS SAID IT WAS NOT WORKING GOT IT REPLACED.ONLY PROBLEM WITH ITS BACK UP LIBRARY IS HARD TO GET ANY OTHER MACHINES TO UPLOAD SAVED FILES

Connect Player is dead - NO LONGER SUPPORTED BY SONY !!!!!!

Then why have they just released an update ?

Crossed wires I think?

Well, I tried everything. SonicStage 3.3 now won't upload to my NWA3000, 3.4 won't install and trying to download the current CONNECT Player gives me "The target software for this module is not installed". It now won't work at all. I've send 3 different emails to different Sony departments - no response. If I don't get working software and some sort of recompense (free downloads?) I'm going to cause some trouble.

I wish I;d never bothered getting this. It's a shame, coz it is amazingly good hardware (when you take the volume limiter off...)

I skimmed the comments here and am glad I'm not the only one with this point of view - though did anyone else use a laptop that actually broke down because of the software?? My laptop is actually so badly damaged nothing is retreivable, so the parrot in Sony telling me to use Sonic is wasting their breath because I now don't have anything to download tunes with... really annoyed...

Connect player is one big programming bug.
It takes about 5 minutes to start the damn thing, and when i start transfering a song it crashes so all the songs that i got on it after numerous attempts are gone AGAIN.
They really should get some decent coders. n00bs

My Creative Zen M is perfection.
1 hour to transfer 20g of music, 1g of photos and videos.
It works like a charm. The software is wonderful,fast and seamless.

Forget the Sony players. Give up.

I got rid of connect and installed sonicstage lastes version, which has worked mega. Transfering songs is damn easy at the moment.

Player has lost all it's features like top 100, time shuffle, play history which sony didn't tell me would happen.

When i complained that my £200 player would only work with less features than advetised Sony offered me a voucher for 2 songs from there connect store. Cheeky cheeky b**tards

OMG. CONNECT Player does my f***ing head in. I used the software when i first bought it - fine, worked OK. then, on trying to use it again, couldnt import certain songs/albums to its library. then (after uninstallining and installing to get over these problems), when the home screen is open for about 20seconds, the whole bloomin program shuts down. EVERYTIME!! AN ABSOLUTE JOKE. I WANT AN IPOD!

Unfortunately I'm having the same problem.

I've had my AW-3000 since Decemember but now when I go to load CONNECTplayer It just stays on the little loading screen with the title "Building Interface" I literally can't do anything with it which is really annoying because I just got 3 really nice albums.

Ugh, anyone know what I could do?

Blaine
Use Sonicstage, it works.
You lose the intelligent shuffle and Artist link features until the new release of Sonicstage in May, but at least it works.
Connect Player is no longer supported by Sony (not that it ever was in reality) so you may as well get used to using Sonicstage now.

Had my NWA3000 for about a month - first time worked like a charm. Since then nothing - thought I was alone till I found you all! I suppose that's the best news I could hope for! So what happens now?

Best regards
Sony Connect Support Management Team

LOL this is the Connect-Europe Store, they have never supported anything but Sonic Stage LOL

Connect Player 1.0.04.161 works a dream, time for a topic change

Just looked at the new Connect update with some trepidation. Anybody know if it's worth trying?

Jimmy...yes it is, much better, although still far from perfect!!

Thanks Peter, think I might give it a go just out of curiosity's sake.

Holy Smokes, what a pile of crap...stupid NW-A1000 does not work (at least the software doesn't). Jesus, what a waste of money...it is going back, and NOW!!!

I had the same trouble with Connect with my NW A3000. I downloaded SonicStage from the Sony site and it works brilliantly. I don't know why everyone doesn't try it!

Just thought i would post my disgust with the software, i am a programer myself and to see software that is ment to be able to hold thousands of tracks freeze after around 800. dont get me wrong i love the player but connect has now decided to loose all knowledge of my files now i have no desktop database of files and it wont let me import which is nice. well nayways will keep ploughin on as i dont want a ipod and love sony stuff

REF # Posted by: John Dolan on April 26, 2006 01:19 AM

In reference to your "Letter" it looks as though it was written by a child. I was actually told by a REP today, that it (connect) will be supported. He did say however that sonicstage in its next installment may have most of other functions of connect.

Only time will tell.

SONY CENTRAL,
That would be par for the course, the software was obviously written by children too.

SONY CENTRAL,
I think you should get your rep to chase this up as it needs clarification. The email came from Hans-Peter Sailer, purportedly part of the Sony Marketing Coordination Team, Europe. His email is

EMAIL DELETED BY WEBLOG OWNER ON REQUEST BY SONY AS THIS IS COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION POSTED WITHOUT PERMISSION.

I went to the Reading Sony Store on Friday and was told in the smuggest of terms that SonicStage was proven to work and that the only way to get it was to download it (so that they get spyware onto your system presumably). After 2 hours on my dial-up it had only achieved 20% of the download so I aborted. Should it really take 10 hours to download the software? Is it really worth it? I think perhaps not. It's going back and I'm going to stick with my iPod - it's not ideal but at least I know what it does and what it doesn't do. And more importantly the hardware knows what it does and doesn't do!!

Paul Facer
Just in case you change your mind, if you email

SONY EMAIL DELETED BY WEBLOG OWNER AS EMAIL WAS POSTED WITHOUT PERMISSION

he will send you a Sonicstage CD in the post.
Mine came from Belgium within three days.

I would also tell him that the Reading Sony store are talking crap, but he probably already knows that, because they all do, all of the time.

I call it rampant twattery.
Mind you, the Apple stores aren't much better.

I dont get why you are all still trying to get things working!

I havent been happier since I sold my NWA3000 and got a Creative Zen Vision M.

do it.
you wont be sorry.

Joe
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun and buy Sony Walkmans.

Thanks John Dolan for your comments but it's going back (if they'll give me a refund that is). I have been buying music and hardware to play it on for over 30 years, including the earliest Walkman, the CD and MD walkman, all from Sony, and this is the most frustrating experience ever. I have thousands of records & CDs and would just like to take advantage of the new technology to play what I like when and where I like. My 40gb iPod lets me do this but it is rapidly reaching capacity and I thought the NWA-3000 was a good addition. How wrong can one be?

Oww Do Not Disconect is now "RED"
Wat d u no Iwas just baggin conect and it FROZE UP.

Joe,

Why do you even bother with this blog if you sold your Sony? And what's with selling it? If you hate it so much, what did you tell the buyer? Or do you just work for Creative and you're just using this forum to plug your employer's product?

Note to blog owner: how do you know that people who promote other products on this blog aren't merely interested parties?

Pocket is back!

Good on yer, Rod. You've found out that Connect is shite, after all!
Stick to Sonicstage, cobber, it's better for your health. Throw Connect in the dunny.

Hey SlartyBardfast I have always known connect was shit.

This forum is read by SONY.

My story is, after looking at Mp3 players for two years and seteling on the unbeleavable nwa1000 an saving and finaly spending the $379 AUD on it.
I am goin to stick with it (maybe)as it is still the most functional mp3 player for my needs.

BUT HAVING SAID THAT MY PC HAS SUFFERD NOTHING BUT CRAP SINCE I INSALED CONNECT PLAYER from the very fist version 1.00

I only use connect player to charge my mp3 player I have never bunt copyd or even put a cd on my player usung connect.
YUP U got it.

DOWNLOADED and PC FILES ONLY!!!!!!!!!

WHAT THE?tiny http

I let it control my dial up connection yes it took over.

The lost data, corrupt data base, continual commputer freezz, lost track, no track info and continyaly loading and reloading the sofware

Yer lets not forget the SONY Spy Ware that was in the early versions when you connected to artist link.

YER I still us it, gee I must be patiant well I have only commplaind about the 5% of CONNECT that I use IMAGINE IF I WAS TEcNO DJ OR SOMTHIN.

SONY WOULD KNO a BOUT IT!!!!.

So that is why I deal with the software shite SONY have givin US.

They sold it they sould PAY!
and Sonicstage was to complex for me.

SALES IN AUSTRALIA Of the NWA1000 and now the NWA3000 must be very slow it is a shame as it is such an unbelivable mp3 player.

U no I have never seen it advertised in a cataloge here not one.
The retalers obviously have no faith in the software.
TRY to do a seach on eBay for it in AUSTRALIA yer it aint there.

SALES WHAT SALES.

SONY Here is the deal if my PC crashes freezes or even so much as flickers using Connect I am going to send my player back VIA MY SELLER It is getting old now so I could do with a new one.

I've already started looking

CHEERS POMMIES

Later ROD

GO SAINT'S

SILL GET DRIVE NOT READY ERROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: pocket on February 20, 2006 08:23 PM

1st of all thanks for the Weblog, without it I would have been stuck. I myself know a lot about computers and was even told by the guy in the shop not to buy the Sony and go for an I-Pod. I assumed that Sony would have sorted it out now but it's unbelievable. I only have about 200 songs on my walkman but already Connect is locking and I have to re-start my PC in between each CD. I am gobsmacked that Sony would do this. I will try Sonic stage and see. The Sony is clearly a better sound than the I-Pod and if the software was 100% Sony would be laughing - what the hell happened?

SONY OR WHOEVER HAD BETTER GET THE SOFTWARE RIGHT SOON COS I AM FED UP HAVING A UNIT THAT ONLY DOES PART OF WHAT IT WAS ADVERTISED TO DO AND TO BE TOLD THAT IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT THE SOFTWARE DOESNT WORK,WELL IT DOESNT NOW(CONNECT16100)IS WORSE THAN BEFORE ALL IT DOES IS SAY WALKMAN IS EMPTY,WHAT THE HELL AM I LISTENING TO THEN OR HAS ALL THE STRESS OF TRYING TO GET THE B---Y THING TO WORK DRIVEN ME NUTS...

COME ON SONY RELEASE THE UPDATE FOR SONICSTAGE AND MAKE THE PLAYER WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TO START WITH..
OH AND A LITTLE TIP ,PLEASE DO NOT RELEASE UNTESTED OR KNOWN DUBIOUS PRODUCT ON TO THE MARKET AND EXPECT US TO PAY TO BE BETA TESTERS IT JUST WONT WASH,YOU WILL ONLY LOSE MOST OF YOUR TARGET MARKET,YOUVE ALMOST LOST ME NOW !!

guys, visit this forum and have your say in the appropriate topic...when i have enough comments and replies, i will be forwarding the link to the forum to sony. im not saying they will do anything about it, but at least in reading it they can never say they wern't told about the problems.

Please visit http://nwa.forumcircle.com/ and have YOUR say!

hi guys, no problems with ss other than why does the genre repeat itself 2/3 times in the player, any help would be appreciated as to only have 1 genre instead of 2/3

many thanks
gk

Just loaded the new update ...& it works really well ...not slow...no problems ...fingers crossed.

check it out

Doesn't work and crashed my boyfriend's computer damaging it so badly that some of his research isn't recoverable now.

Really annoyed and have been fighting with Sony UK to get a refund but they actually won't. I am so so annoyed, they won't even listen, instead keep parroting "use the new software" which is pretty difficult since the hard drive is being repaired and I have no laptop.

I work in PR and might consider talking to the press about it in my country - and I have never done that before... am utterly disgusted and because of this I'm never buying Sony again.

I agree the connect player is an absolute joke i don't want to take the mp3 player back but if i can't get any songs on it then i don't see the point in keeping it. I got the sony NW-A1000 two weeks ago, at first it was fine but after i had used connect player only about five times it just stopped working.
I Installed sonic stage but it stopped some features on my MP3 player from working. Has this happened to anyone else and does anyone know what i can do to fix it.

Thanks for the useful info! I've had an NW-HD5 for a while now, I love it, running sonicstage 3.1 (or something like that - the one that came with the HD5). Probably the best sonicstage offering to date (rips cds to disk quickly & transfers rapidly) but still stupid as hell (i.e. nowhere near as advanced as iTunes). I never buy music off the net because, you know: fuck them and their DRM. I was thinking about purchasing this as an upgrade (but it's still not even available in the US market - which would piss me off even more if I were one of you guys - because I would have bought it as soon as it came out based on my liking of the HD5 - it's like they're using European countries as a testbed and that's not right - particularly when they clearly never gave connect/sonicstage a proper development cycle). Thanks for the info & I feel your pain - I had to do a million different installs to finally find the best version of sonicstage for my player.

Joe,
I had a NW-HD5 and now have a Vaio pocket. I found the new Sonicstage 3.4 to be great for both of them, as it is with my lad's NWA3000. By great, I mean it works. This is great in Sony software terms.

Which brings another traditional Sony shortcoming to light - the new Connect Player, if it ever gets to be usable, is not backward compatible with their previous hardware. In other words, kit like the Vaio Pocket, which is only a year old, will not work with Connect Player and never will.

Do you know of any other company that would do this?

Yet another example of Sony's rampant twattery.

Sonicstage v 4.0 CP announced
http://www.atraclife.com/
take a look.
Now it's definately time to ditch Connect Player, as the forthcoming Sonicstage v 4.0 supports all intelligent shuffle, artist link features, etc.

I'm just wondering whether it has tinyhttp in it...

Is there a patch to get the Sony player compatible with iTunes?
OR at least drag and drop?

What players are compatible with iTunes or is it just apple?

No patch for iTunes. If someone could write one they would be squillionaires.
Dunno about other players, not interested in Applecrap.

I mentioned this on an earlier post but for those that missed it, there is a guy working on a plug-in for WinAmp at this address http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlsony
It is in pre-alpha stage at present but much progress has been made. Check this for latest info
http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1528
You gotta hand it to this guy, he is doing a great job.

SonicStage 4.0 CP

http://support.sony-europe.com/DNA/SSCP/sscp_dl.asp?l=en&ul=en

here is the link ready for a whole new chapter

I thought it is only fair to say that i downloaded the update and now i have very few problems with it much better would recomend the update thanks for the help thought

I finally got a refund on my NWA3000 and got myself a Creative Zen vision M. I have had it about a week and have not looked back. I do not work for creative and went through the pain with a lot of the early contributers to this forum but after 4 months I thought enough is enough.
I really hope you guys don't have to wait much longer for a fully functioning fix.

I am really pissed off with Sony. I have bought some music online from microsoft a few days ago, hardly the refuge of music pirates and the bloody connect software refused to transfer the songs on to my walkman. This is just crazy, connect recognises the track, finds the album cover but wont transfer the songs because it cant find the copy protection piece - this is Microsoft it cant find!!!!!!!!

I will always think very carefully about a Sony walkman in the future. Unless the software support is open to third parties like say media player or any number of file transfer programmes the consumer will be reliant on (really) dubious software and a company that I think just does not understand digital music, the internet and the big idea behind it. I used to adore Sony - wonderful products that lasted years but they have been trounced in the digital music field - fact is it is all but over now anyway - which is a shame because Sony should have had a lot to offer - but they blew it because they dont understand it.

Big Tip: People just want to be able to buy music on a whim from a wide variety of sources, internet, high street whatever - they choose though not you - and play it on their walkman - simple as that.

Sorry to say Mark, but DRM encripted WMA files have never worked, it does say so in your manual

Oh and its an industry wide problem not just Sony, i-tunes for i-tunes, wma(drm) for media player and Atrac for Sony. They will never take DRM away.

G it doesn't take much for SONY to start replying does it.
Happy A3000
Mark has hit it on the head
SONY SPIES
Mark had to buy the bloody player before he got the manual.
Mabe if you sell the manual to everyone with the option to buy the player
Sales will get slower.

Just to reiterate my point. You could buy a record player in the 70's, and you could buy your records from anywhere in the world - they played great. You bought a walkman in the 80's, you bought your tapes from anywhere in the world, they played. You bought a CD player in the 90's, you bought your CD's from anywhere in the world they played. However, you buy a sony walkman in the noughties and the software wont let you play because of what - DRM, what the bugger does that mean to anyone outside of a small circle of frustrated sony users???

Simply, if I bought music legimately why can't I play it on my walkman? Just that absolutely nothing more.

I paid the price for the walkman and I paid for the tune from a retailor - why can't I listen to it? I really do struggle with the logic because to me it make no sense even if I am told every manafacturer is the same. Dont you think this DRM is a funny old thing to insist on - who actually benefits?

Anyway, I could rant all day howver I suspect the european union will step in very soon and simply tell sony and apple - the whole bloody lot of them to stop being anti competitive - like they did over football rights, microsoft etc etc.

Once you break the monopoly the software will be great because everyone will want your cash.

I have just been on the Sony UK online shop, noticing there are no A1000 & A3000s; with this new sales blurb?. Sony have been seriously burnt and they are having to re-package everything if I am not mistaken?!!

"NWA1200B.CEK
8 GB Hard Disk WALKMAN NW-A1200
Chic design and an incredibly long battery life combine to make the all-new NW-A1200 a must-have. Store your songs in MP3 or high-quality ATRAC format on the 8 GB hard disk embedded in a device no bigger than the palm of your hand. The NW-A1200 is extremely user-friendly: with a 1.5 inch easy-to-navigate OEL screen, the attention to detail in the design of the player is obvious. Supplied with SonicStage® CP software, making all your music and track transfers simple."

Connect Player where are you?

I'M STILL WAITING WITH EAGER ANTICIPATION.

NO TINY HTTP PLEASE.NO WEB SERVER SOFTWARE.NO DRM.

SOME SPEED OF LOADING AND USE.SOME SONGS LOADED ONTO UNIT(ONCE ONLY HOPEFULLY AND NOT MULTIPLES)
SOME REASON TO CONTINUE WITH SONY PRODUCTS.SOME CHANCE...
HERES HOPING THEYVE AT LEAST GIVEN US A FEW OF THE THINGS WE NEED AND WANT AT LAST...
OH AND CAN WE HAVE A PROPER CD WITH IT ON PLEASE IF IT ALL WORKS ??
SORRY PAUL IT WASNT TO BE..(MACCA)

Hi, has anyone downloaded any tracks from the Connect Site? What are your opinions? Before I spend good money I would like to ensure that I will be able to convert such purchased tracks to another format. Is it possible to convert them into WAV, or is burning Audio CDs the only way?
Thanks

Hi, I'm a user from Croatia and I've bought the A3000 on Christmas. The player itself, as a piece of technology, is something great, beautiful and quite functional.
The software is a different story. I've spent the last six months trying to get it to work, but today it went over the top. Why? After 5 days of ConnectPlayer, I wrote it off and started using SonicStage. Worked(term used very loosely) for a while, until today. I got the new SoaD album, and every time SStage tries to import it, it crashes.
And ConnectPlayer no longer recognizes the player.
My main question here is why? How can Sony, a super-mega-multi-whathaveyou company release something like this and take five bloody months to ANNOUNCE they've got a problem and that they're working on it?
Major FUBAR if you ask me.

a wam bam a loo bam a wop bam boom.OH AND SOME NEW SONICSTAGE SOFTWARE WOOOPEEEE...

GO GO GADGET SONY BOYS..........????????

THEYVE KNOWN FOR AGES MR BOZ AND HAVE IN THEIR OWN INIMITABLE SONY WAY BEEN TRYING TO CORRECT THEIR MISTAKE WITHOUT LOSING FACE !
THAT IS NOT BROADCASTING IT TO ALL AND SUNDRY AND THAT MEANS YOU AND I THE PURCHASERS OF THE PRODUCT.
YOU MUST REALISE THAT THIS IS PART OF THE PHYCHE FOR THESE PEOPLE..SO GIVE THEM ANOTHER WEE WHILE AND THEY WILL SORT THIS FOR US...

THATS ANOTHER £1000.YOU OWE ME MR SONY..
NO SERIOUSLY LETS ALL TRY THE SONICSTAGE UPDATE THEN IF IT DONT WORK ALL ARRANGE TO TAKE THE PLAYERS BACK ON THE SAME DAY AT THE SAME TIME TO GET A REFUND THAT SHOULD SHOCK EM !!(ALLEGEDLY)

I AM SURE HOWEVER THAT THIS NEW SOFTWARE WILL WORK THIS TIME AND GIVE US THE PLAYER WE THOUGHT WE HAD BOUGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE..

POOR PAULY HE THOUGHT HE HAD HAPPINESS,NOW THERES A THOUGHT ??????

Just to let you know I finally gave up after my 3rd replacement NWA3000 failed to meet my requirements and traded it in for a new black iPod which does everything I want it to - viz. load stuff onto the player without connecting to the internet and/or crashing my laptop. It seems I would never be able to run Sony software alongside iTunes through the same internet connection - even if they are on diffent PCs - which they are! - so I had to choose one or the other. Sony - FYI I chose the one that works!!!

I own an nw-a1000 and have had numerous software issues. After constant reinstalling and rebooting and updating i still cannot get any tracks to transfer over to the device. Even when the device is empty, every track that i try and transfer getrs and error message "skipping file "0" file failed to import". ahhhhhh

Apologies if this has been covered already but I'm sure no-one will blame me for not reading the entire thread!

I bought a song off i-tunes and loaded it onto my PC. (The reason I bought the song from i-tunes was because I could sample it before buying it). It is in m4p format. I then tried to import it into Connect for transfer onto my NWA3000. It doesn't recogise the format.

I then tried to change the format on the song to MP3. Still no joy.

Q1. Does anyone know of a way to convert a song downloaded from i-tunes, so that it can be transferred onto NWA3000. I saw some software on the net but don't want the cost or hassle.

Q2. Can you also sample songs before buying them from the Sony store?

did you not read this page before ,I guess not.

Anyways you change the file from mp4 to mp3 with appropriate software then maybe just maybe the sony software will import it,thats if it likes it and the drm rights are visible and acceptable to it.

use sonicstage not connect or try the new ss4-cp software out 25-5-06..allegedly..

Got a NWA3000 which works fine. Sorry to all you guys for who the software is knackered.

The software is annoying ill give you that but eventually it works and i got 3000 tracks on it at 128kbps in a few days.

Oh, after one hiccup when i had to remove everything that was anything to do with Sony from the directory on my computer.

Actually everyone is right the software is awful. Sony you should be ashamed of yourself.

I havent read up on all the latest additions here, so I don't know if this has been covered, but i just found a couple of guys at an atraclife forum working on "our little problem", and they've developed a plugin that allows winamp to send files to your Sony NW player with proper header encoding, and they claim that the NW player plays back tracks sent to it. I haven't checked it myself yet, but this could be the big one, guys..:) They claim to have it working for NW-HD5, NWA-1000 and various other models.
link: http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1528&st=160
latest version link is on page 16 as of now. Also, this is alpha software, not for non-technical-people.

Ozzy

Be VERY wary of the Winamp plugin.
Back your player folders up to your computer before you use it.
It can potentially wipe your player in the blink of an eye - It has completely knackered mine a few times already. When it does work, it's good, provided that you use Winamp's Media Library for all your tracks. You have been warned!

Is this the Sony update we have all been waiting for???

http://www.atraclife.com/category/software/

No European download as yet!?

well have tried and assessesd ss4 cp why is it called cp when there is no way to access sony download site from the software ?
Well ended up havin to delete all tracks already on unit so try to reload,then it did its thang for about an hour before I connected the unit(nwa 3000)said updating then ran for about 25 mins and then hung there like a swallow in an updraught.Had to reboot to get out of it and reloaded it then updated the data base and said downloading tracks ,seemed to do that okay then said half the tracks which where on unit couldnt be transferred now for some unexplained reason.Let the prog finish and then disconected (over 2 hours gone now)no tracks on unit at all now and saying connect compliant software.
Re-connected after restarting prog and it stated updating again after another 40 mins or so seemed to be finished ,disconeccted again and I have 3,000 tracks on unit and all features seem to work(what a palaver that was)
Cant see the sense of it having to continually reboot the unit and the software several times just to get tracks on (WHY)Oh and cant see the sense of a clock as a screensaver that doesnt stop on long enough to read or a calendar for that matter.
Can we not have software that works in one pass without multiple reconnects and guesswork ,a clock and alarm maybe that we can see and set,access to the download site from the one programme like before ,IS THIS TOO MUCH TO ASK.
THINK MAYBE THAT THIS RELEASE STILL NEEDS A LOT MORE WORK..
Sorry for the niggles but was expecting bigger things after waiting 6 months from buying the player..Come on try harder...pleeeeeze.

Just started trying SonicStage 4. I did selected all 400 files in the media library to delete the entries. What I get is a ProgressDialog for every link. It takes 5 min. What a stupid peace of software.

Yes I have my tracks back on my nwa3000 playing really well At least they are when they are playing The unit has switched itself off 3 times now for no reason ,Oh and is it possible for the firmware update to alter the sensitivity of the buttons because I am now really having to press hard when before I just had to touch.

CAN SOMEONE SUPPLY SONY WITH A WALKMAN COS IT DOESNT SEEM LIKE THEYVE GOT ONE TO TEST THEIR UPDATES ON DOES IT ?????

THINKING OF GOING OVER TO THE DARK SIDE SOON,SOME PEOPLE PROTEST .I.POD..

Where did you find the new version of Sonic Stage?
I cannot find it

TwoBrains,

Use one of your brains to get it from
http://dl1.aii.co.jp/contents/connect/_data/ss/ss40_01_05160/US/SonicStageInstaller.exe

Use the other to work out why you bothered.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My lad has an NW3000, I have a Sony Pocket Vaio mp3. Installed Sonicstage 4. It says it's not compatible with the Sony Vaio. This means we can use EITHER the NWA3000 OR the Vaio, but NOT BOTH!

So once again Sony leave customers high and dry. They did this to me in the past with other kit.
I've never known a bunch of arseholes like this lot.

I've had enough, both the Vaio and the NWA3000 are going up on ebay.

I WILL NEVER BY SONY KIT AGAIN, EVER!

MORE RAMPANT TWATTERY FROM SONY !!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone for all the useful info, though I wish I'd read this site before buying my NWA3000! Sounds like I'm more fortunate than some of you though, as it's working well now with Sonicstage 3.4. This isn't perfect but at least it doesn't crash and actually allows you to transfer your music onto the player in some kind of meaningful way (best remember that one in future Sony!) As for the player itself, it seems good but I havn't used any other so I can't compare. After wasting several hours trying to use Connect Player I would have returned it out of principle, but the shop (Argos) doesn't accept returns for mp3 players! Again thanks for helping me to get it working, won't be buying from Sony again in a hurry!

I take it all back Sony finally put the european version of ss4-cp out and the connect music download page is now there..

The software seems to load withing about 120 seconds much better than connects 15 minutes or never depending on how it felt.
Most of the albums I have transferred from my hard drive now have Artist link and it seems to work on the player too.
Will try and empty player soon and re-transfer to see if I have the same problems I wrote about before,hopefully not but I will be honest if I do..

Lets hope its all systems go and I dont have to reboot several times as last time ,its a pain..

Keep on tweaking mr sony your stage may just be becoming Sonic..
Oh and the firmaware update does make the unit a bit quicker,the menu system seems a bit more intuitive ? but the buttons definatley are harder to push to work and it looks like the battery is going down quicker I will keep an eye on it..

At least more of the units functions now work as they should have done first out the Box...

Posted by: sonyboy-zen | Friday, 26 May 2006 at 04:55 PM

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Does sonicstage now ignore the word "The" when sorting artists. E.g. would "The Beatles" be filed under B or T?

Hi All,

I have a nw-a608 and it is great. Sonic Stage works fine with it.

The only issue I have is with the earphones. Why on earth is the lead not equal lengths from each earphone? Is there a functional reason for this? Because of this stupid design when I jog all of the weight of the wire is pulling on the one (shorter) earphone and it ends up pulling out of my ear! Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance
Rich

"The only issue I have is with the earphones. Why on earth is the lead not equal lengths from each earphone? Is there a functional reason for this?"

- Yes, you take the one that's longer and it goes around the back of your neck, for greater comfort or some shit, Î guess.

Screw NWA-3000 - I'm exchanging mine for a Ipod.
I hate the software, I have never in MY life come across something that shitty - and there is no fix for it??!?!? WTF!

"It says it's not compatible with the Sony Vaio."

This shouldn't happen - the VAIO is just a PC, nothing different from any other PC.

Have you downloaded the Japanese version of SonicStage by mistake? This will throw an error.

SilvaBokis
When it says it's not compatible with the Sony Vaio, it means the Sony Vaio Pocket music player that I mentioned in the previous sentence.

My Vaio Pocket Music player is less than a year old from new. Sony says that the Sonicstage CP doesn't support it, neither does Connect Player. So Sony Vaio Pocket Music Player owners are left high and dry. Bastards.

ss4 cp seems to work a lot better than previous releases ,Not too hard considering most of the connect software didnt run at all on most Pc's ALLEGEDLY)
I have transferred 3000+tracks to my unit after reinitalising the disk and also my dughters nwa3000 too.It is not always problem free however .The unit will sometimes refuse to acknowledge any tracks at all and tell you it has 0%FREE AND 0% USED eH ?
You then have to try again from scratch if disconecting the unit and reconecting doesnt update the database on unit or reload it..
Also had several instances of an OMJIBOX ERROR saying it has encountered an error and ss4 needs to close dont know what these are as it doesnt say and doesnt always happen so we wait and see ..
Maybe some more bugs to solve out and more improvements for the developers to include in the next update..
Keep on working on it and it'll come right as they say in Aus..

SS4 is a long way from living up to it's hype! It still behaves in a very unpredictable manner. So far I have had to close the programme down 3 times due to non-response! The same old crap happens; software hangs when you try to load more than circa 30 songs; DON'T use the auto connect to device feature - MACHINE HANGS! etc.

On the upside gracenote appears to work and SS4 is a million times better than Connect Player!

Don't know if its me, but the last incarnation of CP (1.0.04.16100) is working just fine with both an a3000 and an a1000 linked to the same PC (not both at the same time!) Working on the premis of, it aint broke don't fix it, think I'll give SS a wide berth.

Just popped backed for a look and see that you are the last contributor on the list Peter. Couldn't be bothered to read all the rest of the input I have missed.
However our latest hiccup is that for no apparent reason 2gig of memory has disappeared off the player.
Do you know if anybody else has come across this?
We have been working away fine with Sonic Stage but this has just warned us not to be too complacent!
This player and software can still catch you out!

So was a soloution actually found for the "connect compliant software" thing? I just searched on Google (because my Sony NW-1000 is being an arse!) and it came up with this site. The Favourite 100, Rating, Release Date, My Favourite Shuffle, Time Machine Shuffle, Play History and Recent Transfers all say "connect compliant software" when I click on them. It's been like it for a while and I'd hoped it would sort itself out but it hasn't. I've read through the instructions, been on the Sony site etc. and haven't found anything that tells me what to do. I only noticed this problem had occured when I switched from using Connect Player to Sonic Stage to transfer my files, because quite frankly Connect Player was crap!! And it caused loads of problems on my pc. After re-installing it for the 5th time, I gave up and used the alternative program Sony were recommending and installed Sonic Stage. That sorted out putting new songs onto my mp3, but I think it caused the problem I have now. I'm not too sure. Well, if you have anything I could try to make it work again, I'd be really grateful. Thanks. x

HIYA LUCY,your solution is to go to http://dl1.aii.co.jp/contents/connect/_data/ss/ss40_01_05160/AE/SonicStageInstaller.exe
and let the installer download and install sonicstage 4 cp..This software is not perfect but will allow all the features of your walkman to perform as they should.
You may be better of re initialising your units hard drive from its menu ,as sometimes it fails to load the data base to it from the pc unless it does a complete reload of everything the first time..
hope this will sort your problems (and so does Sony allegedly)
Best of luck..

boyzen..

http://dl1.aii.co.jp/contents/connect/_data/ss/ss40_01_05160/AE/SonicStageInstaller.exe

Download the sonicstage 4 cp software here,reinitialise your 1000 from its menu,reload tracks let unit do its stuff,bingo ,sorted.
Well ,maybe a bit more long winded than that but better than connect anyways(allegedly)

All the best Luce ..
Stevey.

THIS SOFTWARE IS BULLSHIT! The player,on the other hand is a work of art.Im the "envy of all my friends and yadda yadda yadda...but whats the point if i cant even load music onto the blessed thing with my MAC?SONY if you are reading this please please release some software for the lower end pcs and macs of this world?

I wish i knew the issues with the software before i purchased. I have had lots of frustrated hours trying to get the bloody thing to work. I bought it for christmas for my girlfriend and wish i bought a trusted and reliable i pod instead.

Managed to get over 6000 tracks on to my nw-a3000 using Sonicstage after attempting connect about 100 times. Came travelling, loaded sonicstage (connect?) version 4.0, which has allowed artist link (which is fairly useless) and ratings etc... loaded a couple of new albums on and now the half the library exists in 'etc' rather than alphabetically... so now when I try to play 'All Pete Murray' for example, it plays 'All' of antoehr artist! Fantastic! Well done Sony - spoiling my entertainment during my trip around the world!

Hey guys do you remember what the sample songs were on the NW-A3000. I remember one song was called Hypnotize...I accidently deleted it. But can someone tell me the artist etc.

Just to add to my point on May 15, as predicated the end is coming very quick for DRM in europe. SHAME ON ANYONE WHO DEFENDS IT.

From the BBC today:

"This system used virus-like techniques to hide itself and stop CDs being copied. The row over the software ended up in the US courts.

Firms employing DRM systems needed to be aware that using such systems in the UK would mean they "run a significant risk of being prosecuted for criminal actions".

The MPs called on the Department of Trade and Industry to look into the prices charged for the same digital content, such as music tracks, in different countries.

For instance some nations, such as the UK, pay significantly more for songs from Apple's iTunes store than customers in the US or mainland Europe.

"This is somewhat at odds with the notion of the 'single market'", noted the report."

The European union will kick sony and apple arses so hard unless they stop messing consumers around and open up products to other software makers.
full story on BBC today:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5041684.stm

Hi Adam... I just checked my nw-a3000 and realised I've recently deleted the sample tracks as well! However, I seem to remember that one of them (Hypnotize?) was by 'Dance Karate'...? Any help?

Cheers,
Gavin

Hey - has anyone else had problems with their music library on their nw-a3000 - half the artists being stuck in 'etc' rather than in alphabetical order... Playing 'All Silverchair' actually playing all of some unrelated artist instead?? I have - thanks to the new 'improved' Sonicstage connect CP 4.0...

If so, has anyone managed to fix the problem?!

Cheers
Gavin

I have just spoken to sony and have been told ther is no way for limited users to access connect player! I can use it being administrator but not my son(limited user).Anyone got this problem sorted?

Gavin,
I had a similar problem with my nwa1000 when i updated to ss4. The only fix i found was to wipe the player and start again!! However, the player does now work as i hoped it would've done when i bought it in Jan.
On a separate note, there now apears to be a clock on my player but the time is wrong and i cant find where to change it. Any ideas anyone?

Seemed to have sorted out the limited user issue by right clicking and clicking run as admin. Is it this easy, and no I don't like the software. Need a break now, wasted enough time on this already.

Matt,

There is an option in the settings menu to synch the player's clock with the clock on your computer.

Hi Matt - thank you very much for your response... it's slightly reassuring to hear that I am not alone!! Sadly I am travelling and do not have continued access to a computer... I guess I'd need to transfer all my music library from walkman on to a PC and try again?!

If only my travel funds could stretch to buying a laptop! Maybe I could invoice Sony?? ;oP

Cheers,

Gavin

hey man'n fuck this contract you got this bitch

Hey Gavin,

I have exactly the same problem; music library is no longer appearing in alphabetical order, with everything dumped into an "A-Z" or "etc" heading, no ability to scroll alphabetically as before firmware update! Sony have magically done it again! I guess I am facing a complete re-boot and fresh start - grrrr!!! Unless anyone has better idea!

Also I noticed SS4 is ramping my computer resources; CPU usage is rising and falling like a yo-yo sometimes freezing other programmes! I am hoping this will be resolved by switching of all background AUTO features.

Hmm, Sony... Would be nice if they were google-bombed with something like: 'Sony: no quality, high price!' *grin*

Is it really that hard to make a program that works? Just skip the damn things to connect store and stuff, but make sure it's possible to transfer all files WITHOUT CRASHING and make sure it doesn't take half a day. Simple as that. But apparently still not simple enough for some company. -_-

And they don't have to expect that i'll buy anything else of sony, ever.

Just bought one of these NW-A1000 series players the other day. Like everyone else I've not been able to get it to work. The software is disgraceful and a decent working patch would take a competent programmer half a day to create, so why haven't they done it yet!!!

Majority of my friends have the NW-A3000 and they love it. No problems whatsoever. I have one as well, and I love sony products they have never failed me ever. But perhaps the UK version is flawed or just a few of you encounter problems due to computer specs? (I'm sony crazy) never had any problems with any product. Well if the programmer programs it and the ceo accepts it, then maybe perhaps majority of the people aren't having problems with it. But with the current complaints they are probably working on a solution, they are sony afterall (The CEO would try to keep the brand reputation good, unless he's crazy). Of course i understand that there are people who would defend Apple's iPOD over sony, but I just think it's taste pref and which brand you prefer. But overall I believe it's people's taste prefs.

AJ,

You didn't mention whether you love the software.

Hey ,there is a solution if you're using a Microsoft OS. There are a couple of patches. For Windows 2000 download. Window2000-KB887811-x86-ENU.EXE For Winddows XP download . WindowsXP-KB887811-x86-ENU.EXE this will do the trick, it works.

You can het the fix here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

How do I fix the Omgjbox.exe error caused by the Microsoft Security Hotfix# KB840987

Question
How do I fix the Omgjbox.exe error caused by the Microsoft Security Hotfix# KB840987

Answer
Due to a recent Microsoft update, Windows Security Module MS04-032 (KB840987) it is creating an incompatibility with SonicStage® (XP and 2000). To correct this issue for Windows XP and Windows 2000 Please follow the steps below:

If the Microsoft "Security Update Program MS04-032 (KB840987)"*** is not currently installed on your computer, please install it to ensure your computer security level. The Security Update can be installed via the Microsoft Windows Updates website.
The countermeasure program can be downloaded from the Microsoft’s website at:

For Windows XP Operating Systems* with no Service Pack or with Service Pack 1: click here.

For the Windows 2000 Operating System** with Service Pack 3 or 4: click here.
Important Notes:

*This program is not necessary for computers that have Windows XP Service Pack 2.

**This program is not applicable for computers with Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 or earlier installed.

***If you delete the Security Update Program there is a possibility that problems may occur, including lowered security level and other unexpected anomalies.

After a couple of months waiting for the SS4 software I am again left disappointed by Sony! SS4 seems a bit more stable, seems now to actually be able to transfer tracks onto the NWA3000, but its so damn slow!

One example - I import a new CD into SS4, and Gracenote now works and finds the track details. So why, when I transfer to the NWA3000 does SS4 download the track details again?? This takes as long as importing a CD, even with broadband. Its so annoying! I had an NW-HD001 from Sony, and original sonicstage never did this.

Sony, you are really damaging your reputation by pissing all these customers off - just hope you read these posts and do something about it

I have had my sony since early april. Have had the same problems as everyone else, tried to take the player back for a refund, but because I had persevered for over a week, I was now outside my 1 week return policy, with the shop owner telling me pretty much I was simply stupid that I couldnt get it all to work. Yet they knew nothing about connect or how it worked - their answer, we have so many players all with different software we cant possibly know how all of them work - great customer service hey. He wouldnt even listen to me and I tried to get him to look at websites etc, to see the problems I was having, many were having, but he wouldnt. He kept telling me the songs would transfer through winmedia (which of course *we* know they dont!)
So, frustrated and annoyed I have hung on and waited. I LOVE the sony player though, so just hoped a solution would eventually come.
I have found the new sonicstage, for me, works fantasticly, and the now also, with the clock screensaver etc, is rather fun'nish. Speed doesnt appear to be a problem, in fact, I am now very happy with the sony player and the software is useable for me.

My question then? The same as someone above wrote, .... I seemed to have *lost* albums I had put on, only to discover over a few days I hadn't - they were all still there, only under *etc* and in no alphabetical order under that listing. The thing is, it has even split some albums, so I dont know the solution, I have trialled everything I can think of. - example, some of the songs come under the album in the artists name and cd name, the other, in a random order under *etc*

Has anyone been able to come up with a solution yet as to why this happens, and why some albums dont come under their alphabetical order?

Look forward to any help that can be offered.
Thanks
Ann

Hi Ann,

I had same problem with lost albums, only to discover that everything had been re-categorised under "etc"! The solution is a complete start from scratch (wipe the drive and re-load etc) under the new firmware and SS4 to get back your alphabetical listings! Sorry no quick fixes....I tried hard to find one but alas....!

By the way that shop-owner was a complete tosser - "winmedia", I mean WTF!......."*??!!£$.......!

Rgds

Peter

Here is an interesting story about Sony Internal Politics giving an insight to why we are all having problems -

http://www.atraclife.com/2006/06/01/inside-sonys-failure-to-connect-again/#more-94

Thanks Peter,
I shall give it a go over the weekend. Annoying, but if it works, well, hopefully after that everything will be great and smooth sailing!! :)

thank you very much for your help

Ann

Hi all,
I installed the connect player and everything is working fine!! But everytime I try installing the hardware(NWA-1000) Im told that

The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

Anybody had this problem before? Or think they can help me find the drivers I need?!
I spoke to Sony many times but they just keep on making up excuses.

Thanks for any help

Steve

hey you in a time warp or what you dont want connect.get yourself over to sonicstage.Find and download ss 3.4 at atraclife then update to ss 4.0 cp. it will work and you should stop all your woes before they really begin..

oh and update your firmware to version 3.0 before using and also re-initialise your players disk too,then allegedly your on the road...

Crouch-ing tiger hidden Goal scorer...way the lads....engerland da da..

For f sake everyone ....yes its slow and freezes but it you a patient and wait for it youll find its actually doing what you ask it to ....
Besides I rip my cds with Itunes then just import the mp3s to connect and use connect to transfer to walkman... while transfering connect freezes but when the transfer is done it begines working again..Patience is a virtuer besides the update they releases which is just a new sonic stage doesnt work with the walkman and causes probs with the artist link

Leeway

......"patience" as in watching grass grow and a tortoise doing the 10,000 Metres?

To chip in; Sonicstage4 and the new firmware update is now working reasonably well for me with out freezing, loading time delays etc! (all auto features turned off!)STAY AWAY FROM CONNECT!

I had a few oma files I had bought when I had the misfortune of owning an NWA3000 - I downloaded sonicstage v4 to burn them onto CD - what a waste of time it is no better than Connect. I just uninstalled it and deleteted all the Sony crap from my PC - that is now the end for me and Sony music.

I persevered with connect and find i have no problems. Change your location download to conect, and click on song. Wheres the hassle?

Is there a way to change the amount of time before the NW-A1000 goes into standby? If I'm listening to a podcast whilst in my van and I have to get out to make a delivery I pause it. By the time I get back - within 20-30 seconds - the player has switched off and it takes another ten seconds to come back on. Not a major problem I know, but a pain when you're in and out of a van hundreds of times a day.

I had the Connect Player problem, it swapped it for a 30gb ipod for £10 more and i've never been happier. Itunes is a dream and looking on here sony still dont seem to have solved any problems annoying me.

Jim,

Sorry about the delayed response.
I used this forum during my months of pain using the NWA 3000.

I offered my advice on an alternative player in order to illustrate how much better other players are. The sony player is a load of crap and the person I sold it too got a brand new player and knew that I didnt like it. If he hadnt have bought it from me, he would have gone and paid double for a new one.

No, I dont work for Creative and have never heard anything so ridiculous. You obvoiusly can't take your unit back so have to protect it's pride with your life!

I check back here from time to time to see if the problems are being solved since I cannot believe that Sony gets away with this kind of thing again ang again!.

What with the software it's crap, I brought my sony walkman fro my holiday the first thing i do when i get home is get shot of it the hardware is ok, but that go good if i cant get my song on it, it slow, it crashes. Said to me wife be a hour just downloading some tunes to the Mp3 player 9 hours later I am still at it.....F***ing pices of shit

Joe
Like you I went through a lot of grief with the NWA3000 I was able to threaten the supplier with the help of Consumer Direct and got a full refund with which I bought a Creative Zen Vision M and have not looked back. Player and software leave Sony standing. I also do not work for Creative, but check back here to see what is happening.