[Ewok]

Am looking very closely at getting the pink one for gfs birthday in couple week. However I used to own a minidisc and the sonicstage software I was forced to use was such complete crap I ended up not using it and selling the md.

I have heard however that there was meant to be new software from sony for these comming out in May which allowed simple drag and drop of mp3's without the rediculous restrictions that have no doubt cost them thousands and thousands of users so far.

Does anyone know the status of this software or can even confirm whether what I have heard is true, because I simply refuse to buy any of these without some proper, simple, drag and drop, restriction free software to get my music on it.

Personally I cant see them providing anything like that but I did see one person say there was this new software comming in May. No idea what its called or where it is but it is now June so either it's out and I cant find it, or its delayed and theres some new date, or it doesnt exist at all and im wasting my time even considering Sony.

anyone have any more info on it?

 

[guavarex]

At www.sonystyle.ca, I see the software you are looking for with the footnote:
"Optional software available for download June 2005"

Googling that phrase will take you to the link.

Like you, I am holding off on this otherwise cool player until drag-n-drop is available.

 

[Ewok]

well it seems quite official that they ARE going to be releasing it, it seems to me this would be a firmware update to allow it to be changed to a ums, like the irivers have. Reading the claim that you open one window with the sony and another with your music files and simply drag and drop does not sound to me like there is any software involved at all, which would be fantastic and certainly make this a killer device.

unfortunately I cant wait as I need to have it before 16th june.

As that site looks pretty official (is it an official sony site?) I am going to order it anyway as I dont really have any alternatives (the alternative was a 1gb muvo micro, however creative are too stupid to offer this in pink anywhere other than japan, and i cant order it from japan to uk as i cant read japanese on the website). She wanted a girly pink one, and while this "pink" sony looks more like purple than pink to me in the pics ive seen, i think the looks of the device will certainly impress her. They had BETTER come up with this drag and drop though!

 

[gshan]

Kudos to Sony if UMS will in fact be available in the coming months. SonicStage will still be needed for converting to ATRAC, I'm guessing? And if SS is needed for conversion, will it be needed for xfering ATRACs over the the player? And if UMS is updated onto the player, will the player still even be able to use SS?

The last question is important to me, because my Iriver player apparently cannot use proprietary software from Iriver anymore, after UMS update.

 

[Ewok]

well according to the page it says transfer atrac AND mp3 using drag and drop method. i would guess u would need ss to convert as its not going to do it on the fly by the player itself (otherwise the player would have to ask you if you want to convert for every file you drop on the player).

yeh i have an ifp-899 (be wishing i had the sony if they enable ums) and i use the ums firmware on it so cant use their software, but thats a GOOD thing as i have no wish to use any of these crappy softwares that these companies churn out.

it might not be UMS but it sure as hell sounds like it is from that description. I havent even read that these sonys are firmware upgradeable though so maybe its just some dodgy windows explorer hack which again i wouldnt want.

 

[gshan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ewok well according to the page it says transfer atrac AND mp3 using drag and drop method. i would guess u would need ss to convert as its not going to do it on the fly by the player itself (otherwise the player would have to ask you if you want to convert for every file you drop on the player). yeh i have an ifp-899 (be wishing i had the sony if they enable ums) and i use the ums firmware on it so cant use their software, but thats a GOOD thing as i have no wish to use any of these crappy softwares that these companies churn out. it might not be UMS but it sure as hell sounds like it is from that description. I havent even read that these sonys are firmware upgradeable though so maybe its just some dodgy windows explorer hack which again i wouldnt want.

Lets cross our fingers. Thanks.

 

[Discman]

This is like the umpteenth delay on the drag-and-drop software.

First they said it would be out at the beginning of May, then delayed it till the end of May, and now they say June sometime.

Next, they'll say Q3 2005.

It's not a firmware update, it's an EXE file that you install onto the player. It will resemble Windows Explorer and you drag your MP3's into it.

The player is already UMS. You can drag MP3's into it from Windows Explorer but you can't play them. SonicStage adds some proprietary encryption to MP3's before transferring them so that the player will play them. This is what the drag-and-drop software will do as well.

 

[gshan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Discman The player is already UMS. You can drag MP3's into it from Windows Explorer but you can't play them. SonicStage adds some proprietary encryption to MP3's before transferring them so that the player will play them. This is what the drag-and-drop software will do as well.

Oh god. Well at least it's good to know that the player can also be used as an UMS device. Thx

 

[Ewok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Discman This is like the umpteenth delay on the drag-and-drop software. First they said it would be out at the beginning of May, then delayed it till the end of May, and now they say June sometime. Next, they'll say Q3 2005. It's not a firmware update, it's an EXE file that you install onto the player. It will resemble Windows Explorer and you drag your MP3's into it. The player is already UMS. You can drag MP3's into it from Windows Explorer but you can't play them. SonicStage adds some proprietary encryption to MP3's before transferring them so that the player will play them. This is what the drag-and-drop software will do as well.

hmmm so is it the same as using sonicstage really? i.e. the same rediculous restrictions? (ive actually heard from several sources that dragging a bunch of new files to it will force you to delete all your old files on the player or something similar to that). I wonder if it requires sonicstage to be installed or whether you will just be able to run the exe on the player.

Basically I wanna grab a bunch of mp3s and drag them over, watch it copy for a few seconds and be done with it, regardless of what the mp3s are or how many times i copy them to the player. If it cant do this with the drag and drop software then im gonna cancel it.

I mean for christ sake what the hell are these sony idiots on? its already a ums player and they start screwing with the bluddy thing to put some rediculous and TOTALLY pointless copy protection on it, i assume just for the sake of not leeting you copy those files off again to give to someone else, when they can bluddy well download the stuff wherever they like anyway, not to mention use a normal memory stick to transfer them anyway (which i might add, sony makes without any stupid protection on it).

god knows how many thousands of sales they have lost over it as well as severely damaging their reputation with consumers. Personally I wouldnt touch these things with a barge pole out of principle as much as anything else but the gf wants a pink, good looking 1gb or more mp3 player which doesnt have a pathetic 10 hour max battery life, and this is basically the only one that fits.

 

[D-EJ915]

Go to www.connect.com and download SonicStage 3.1, I like it a lot better than iTunes personally, and it works with my NetMDs too, so all the better!

 

[Ewok]

eeeeeeerm

the ENTIRE point of this thread is about *NOT* using sonicstage (as has been mentioned several times)

 

[Ewok]

I now have this confirmation from Sony UK after i asked them about this new software, here is the response (i also complained about their restriction stupidness hence his crap babble about DRM:

"I am please to confirm that the web site you refer to is the official web site for the Sony Canadian on-line store "Sony Style"

Whilst the planed launch of this drag and drop utility is a very exciting development, however it is currently a Sony Canada product, where they have a very different market place to the United Kingdom. Whilst it is a good indicator of the way technology is progressing, we cannot always guarantee that we will launch the same products or utilities in this country as they do in other countries such as Canada for example.

In order to protect the rights of the copy write owner, Sony (as well as many other reputable portable music player manufactures) embed a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system within their software, this type of system precludes the use of drag and drop functionality. Please note that the drag and drop utlity (MP3 Manager) will still require the installation of SonicStage onto the machine on which it runs."

I think the most important part in all that is the very last line. what the hell is the point in the software if you still require sonicstage lol

 

[gshan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ewok I think the most important part in all that is the very last line. what the hell is the point in the software if you still require sonicstage lol

hahaha sony.

and what kind of marketing advantage would sony have in providing drag in drop to Canada and not the UK?

 

[Damage]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/waider/415461.html

Someone enterprising might be able to come up with some sort of interface that should give the NW series real drag and drop with this information. Not I though.

 

[Ewok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damage http://www.livejournal.com/users/waider/415461.html Someone enterprising might be able to come up with some sort of interface that should give the NW series real drag and drop with this information. Not I though.

now that would be good if someone could do that. and ONLY then would i ever consider purchasing another sony music device, enuff of this crap.