Sony NW-A847 release date/Oct 31/2009 Japan
Oct 6, 2009 at 5:44 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 19
joplin

joplin

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Hi

Where is the best place to buy this in Japan?
Will it work in North America?
Is the volume capped in Japan?/Or does that only happen in Europe?
Does anyone know if this will be released in the states/Canada/When?

This looks a lot better than the A-1060 and its lousy browser.

Please answer ASAP

Thanks
Greg Joplin
 
Oct 6, 2009 at 4:28 PM Post #3 of 19
It will support English characters for tags, but all menus will be in Japanese - no English option there. You can use drag & drop for ATRAC or other supported file types, or use SonicStage V (I use SonicStage V with my X since I use it to encode ATRAC, but it's also all in Japanese).

If you're just using MP3 or something other than ATRAC, you can use drag & drop exclusively - so it will work here just fine.
 
Oct 6, 2009 at 5:58 PM Post #5 of 19
Quote:

Originally Posted by ilney /img/forum/go_quote.gif
But does SonicStage V have an English version?

Is it easy to use SonicStage to convert to ATRAC?


Nope, no English version of SonicStage V and you have to hack the installer to get it working on an English OS. Sony stopped making SonicStage for non-Japanese audiences about 2 or 3 years ago when they dropped support for ATRAC outside of Japan.

SonicStage has always been easy to use, especially from v2.3 or so. But if you've never used it, you may be a bit confused since there's a lot of Japanese writing!
 
Oct 7, 2009 at 1:44 AM Post #6 of 19
You will be able to use this Japanese model without SonicStage (or its new name the X-app), because it supports both that and drag&drop, just like the Japanese X1000.

But it's true that the player will very likely only have Japanese for the menu and interface. Sony seems to do this to stop foreigners from buying their Japanese models.

Volume cap is an European thing only.
 
Oct 7, 2009 at 1:59 AM Post #7 of 19
I know. But I still need SonicStage to use ATRAC.

BTW, the pre-order price is ~35,000 Yen now (~360USD). It should drop to ~300 by X-mas
biggrin.gif


Why the heck is this not in the States??
 
Oct 7, 2009 at 8:02 AM Post #8 of 19
Er, because the Japanese are more prone to paying top dollar for no reason? Maybe too many of the non-audiophile crowd can't decipher the difference between the S430/S630/S730/A720/A820, so they all bought the cheaper players, and so Sony only brought out new products at those price points.

Having said the above -- I haven't seen what SonyInsider says -- but I think there's still hope for this thing to be released worldwide. Volume-wise Sony still can benefit from selling it worldwide, even if it's a very small number compared to the ipod or the PSP.

ATRAC is on its way out... sad, but I feel very strongly that fans should blame Sony for its demise. They could have very easily released a standalone encoder/player software for it, if they really wanted to popularize it, and NOT let any one of us need to have a debate on whether SS is an "easy" software, don't you think?

A couple years ago Sony said it's too much work to let ATRAC and drag&drop coexist, but that turns out to be a lie if you see it from a 2009 point of view (it's done now, and it works as two separate libraries, so there was no issue to begin with). You should also know that Sony's VME technology has always been modular, so they can simply drop in the ATRAC codec and it should work. If I may be so bold to say, I think too often some of these decisions are based on factors other than what we want.
 
Dec 3, 2009 at 2:03 PM Post #11 of 19
Good morning everyone, first post on the forum but I have been reading for a while now.

I have been a fan of sony for quite some time now and my current mp3 player is slowly fading away. I am therefore in the process of buying a new one and fell in love with the NW-A847.

I'll be in korea in febuary and IF it is not avilable in north america by then I might decide to buy one over there. From what I have been reading, I can see that the menu is not offered in english. So here is my question:

If I buy a japanese version of the NW-A847, will I be able in the future to upgrade the firmware to an english version that will enable all the function in english?

Thanks
 
Dec 7, 2009 at 10:56 PM Post #14 of 19
There will never be a firmware upgrade to change it into english, it's just how Sony rolls hence the "nope" from a_tumiwa. It is pretty much a fact, it has never been done.
 
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