[konstantinos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sodacose That's true, but they are selling in the UK for about 235 USD.

UK: The British branch of SonyStyle says the NW-A3000 costs £200 which translates to $340...

EU: The Greek branch of SonyStyle says €300 on the NW-A3000. I think we're in sync with the rest of continental Europe

 

[Sodacose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by konstantinos UK: The British branch of SonyStyle says the NW-A3000 costs £200 which translates to $340... EU: The Greek branch of SonyStyle says €300 on the NW-A3000. I think we're in sync with the rest of continental Europe

My apologies! I was accidentally using a euro conversion tool! The British head-fiers should be quite angry with me. I should have realized that 200 pounds isn't 240 dollars

.

edit: maybe I'll forgo that whole international shipment thing

 

[carsncars]

Yes, 350CAD. Well, 349.99CAD, to be exact. We're charged an extra 14% for sales tax here, but that's not Sony's fault-- it's the government's. An interesting thing to note is that this is the first HDD player released in Canada by Sony since the HD1. In fact, I think my local Future Shop still had the HD1 listed at 399.99CAD.

That IS pricey, considering the iPod goes for a mere 30CAD more, but it's not unusual of Sony. They always try to position their products as 'premium', but it backfires on them some (most) of the time. I think they'll probably be cutting the price somewhere down the line.

I'm thinking the US version should run 279-299USD.

Unless the price was the ultimate deciding factor, I would DEFINITELY go for the A3000 over the HD5. It may not be as cosmetically durable-- though as I stated, it does hold up very well compared to its iPod brethren-- but it feels much more funtionally durable, and the new features (and Connect Player, once Sony pumps out a decently-executed version) are worth getting the A3000 for. You can always use SonicStage 3.3 until Sony releases a better CP, and then upgrade to use the new features when the new CP comes out.

By the way, a little bird told me that Sony's planning a CP worldwide update for the end of December. Wouldn't want all these customers waking up to buggy software on Christmas, would they?

 

[dskywalker]

This is like the third time I heard ppl saying that this player sounds exactly like the HD5. And also, many had said that the connect software sucks. This player seems to be just an HD5 with better shuffle modes, or possibly better user interface?

 

[carsncars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dskywalker This is like the third time I heard ppl saying that this player sounds exactly like the HD5. And also, many had said that the connect software sucks. This player seems to be just an HD5 with better shuffle modes, or possibly better user interface?

Yes, I'm guessing it is much like the HD5 hardware-wise, on the inside. The GUI is MUCH improved, though, and the rating, and Artist Link features are more useful than you'd think. Also, Connect Player has the potential to be a (I can't believe I'm about to say this..) good piece of software.

Unless the HD5 is dirt cheap, you might as well go for the new player.

By the way-- I was talking to one of Sony's engineers that was working on this (a friend of mine); the innards are actually roughly the same size. It's the thick acrylic and the rounded shape that are bloating it. Still a very nice size, very comfortable to hold.

 

[Sweet Spot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by carsncars One negative is that to use all but one of the A3000's EQ options, you must encode in Sony's ATRAC format.

Can you please elaborate on this point please ?

Personally speaking, proprietary this and proprietary that all make me feel less than concerned about buying a Sony product....Still. This of course would go for any other company which decided to go that way. IMO, the actual unit looks beautiful, I just wish it was a fully UMS compatible device with half the feature set of say ...ROCKbox.

 

[nickd75]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweet Spot Can you please elaborate on this point please ?

As with all of Sony's HDD players so far, there is a full range of eq options of you use ATRAC, but only a limited subset of this range if you use mp3. Not sure why, but then I haven't once used eq on my HD3.

Oh, and if you're interested in buying an A3000 in the UK, they're about £180 on amazon.

Nick

 

[titaniumx3]

Has anyone tried service menu hack that removes the volume limiting feature on the european versions of the A3000/A1000???

Is the headphone output noisy???

 

[Shureman]

great review. Can the A3000 do WAV or the new ATRAC Lossless?

 

[LFC_SL]

Its hilarious that the new software is worse than SS. OTT DRM is one thing. But an overbearing system resource hogging is another

I've flogged my HD3 off after getting an X5. On a UK forum I frequent, others are doing the same

Sony will keep losing customers unless they stop treating their customers like idiots/thieves and get some decent software coders in

 

[D555]

Sony Canada indicates a December 15th release.

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/ser...h=46881n100208

I thought the NW-A3000 was going to include an FM radio. I guess not.

Haven't seen a USA release date.

Paul

 

[azncookiecutter]

The smaller capacity 6GB ones are already in Sony Stores, and they seem pretty well built, as with all Sony stuff. Only bad thing is the stupid software. Why can't Sony ever get that right?

 

[carsncars]

You could always use SonicStage for the time being. It's not a bad program-- it's just not as good as it should be, coming from Sony. I'd still pick SonicStage 3.3 over a program like iRiver Plus or m:trip. It is quite stable now, doesn not hog up a huge amount of system resources... my main qualm with it is that it's not very intuitive in general.

One correction-- gone are Sony's V-SURROUND EQ options. There's only the digital sound preset option left, along with a bunch of presets-- like Sony's flash players. This EQ works with both ATRAC and MP3 files. Got my wires crossed with the HD series, sorry.

And yes, the A3000 supports all new ATRAC formats, and Sony has promised .wav support sometime in December.

Oh, yes, the some Sony Stores DO indeed have them. I asked to see an A1000 package and the poor sales rep accidentally pulled out the A3000... had to do some convincing to get him to sell it. Wow, did I just convince someone to sell something to me?

What Head-Fi does to you.

 

[Mike66]

Hi all, I'm a late bloomer to the mp3 stuff. Had a net MD before but had problem carrying all the mini discs around when I went abroad.

I have just got a sony NW 1000 & have read the connect software is not great. What could you suggest for me to use instead or shall I go with it? I dont need it to do acrobats or anything- just rip from cd & transfer. ??

Any suggestions??

Thanks & sorry to seem an absolute idiot being so late on the music stuff- I feel like I am growing into my dad!!

Mike

 

[lloyd braun]

i may have missed this, but do you still have to charge with the usb and ac adaptors together?
are there any OS limitations with the new software?
i'm really torn between this and the hd3. the main thing that turns me off about the hd3 is the backround hiss.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike66 Hi all, I'm a late bloomer to the mp3 stuff. Had a net MD before but had problem carrying all the mini discs around when I went abroad. I have just got a sony NW 1000 & have read the connect software is not great. What could you suggest for me to use instead or shall I go with it? I dont need it to do acrobats or anything- just rip from cd & transfer. ?? Any suggestions?? Thanks & sorry to seem an absolute idiot being so late on the music stuff- I feel like I am growing into my dad!! Mike

you can still use sonicstage if i'm not mistaken, and possibly even mp3 file manager-->http://www.syndetics.net/sony-hacks/sonicstage.html