Sony NW-A1000/1200/3000 get WMA support

Sony likes to play it cool. While everyone and his/her mom was releasing digital audio players that rocked MP3 and WMA playback, Sony said, "Nah, not us, we know people really want to get down ATRAC-style." But as we've seen over the last few months, Sony has gone from playing it cool to playing catch-up, first offering native MP3 support in some of their newer devices, and recently adding WMA support to the latest PSP firmware upgrade. Well now another set of devices has gotten WMA support with a just-released firmware upgrade for the NW-A1000, NW-A1200, and NW-A3000 Network Walkmen. The question remains, though, as to whether the new firmware supports PlaysForSure tracks--if it does, this could be a sign that Sony is gearing up to offer their own subscription service ala Rhapsody and Napster To Go. If it doesn't, well, at least you may save a little time converting your tunes to one of the few Sony-friendly formats.

[brian @ Dec 26th 2005 2:58PM]

getting a little dry around here eh?

[Jared @ Dec 26th 2005 3:17PM]

What are the stars for, and why do I have "0 Stars"?

[huh? @ Dec 26th 2005 3:25PM]

jared, engadget (and their Weblogs, Inc. overlords) don't love you. It just means that you aren't a good commenter.

I want to know what happened to the "open link in a new window" button next to each "read". Ah, engadget giveth and she taketh away. On the whole I like the upgrades.

[jsis @ Dec 26th 2005 3:54PM]

Sony DAP's does not entirely have "native" MP3 support. You still have to use the SonicStage software to put your MP3 collection to the device --- but without any conversion.

[Ryan Wagner @ Dec 26th 2005 4:00PM]

I think it would be nice to get a Sony ATRAC player because of the high compression rates would allow you to fit about twice the amount of songs when compared to MP3 format.



The only downside is that it wouldn't be as easy to transfer songs to a computer without the Sony Software installed on it.

----------

-Ryan

http://blog.cyberwags.com

[TheGuyNextDoor @ Dec 26th 2005 7:01PM]

Sony bless 'em, they'll get there in the end I'm sure. It's quite heartwarming to see the big S gradually giving in to what the consumer wants. The latest Walkmans really are fantastic, and to me are a much more desireable personal music player than a ubiquitous iPod. Granted the software to transfer the music still isn't quite up to iTunes' standards, but again, they're getting there. And for all intents and purposes, music transfer is but a small factor in the enjoyment of the product. The actual use product itself is very impressive, with great audio reproduction, fantastic styling, great build quality and intuitive controls.



Had Sony brought WMA into the fore in the first place, I'm sure the Walkmans would have had more of an impact however, but at least they are native mp3, which is the buzzword for the computer-illiteraty.



Maybe next time, they will finally produce the perfect player?

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 26th 2005 7:30PM]

Yup, we're making some improvements to the site, we did lose a few things (like "open in a new window"), but they'll be back, they're not things we intended to remove, they're just features that didn't survive the transition to our new blogging software. we're working on bringing all that stuff back and with some luck we'll have fixed a lot of these issues by next week.

[Christopher MacManus @ Dec 26th 2005 7:40PM]

I like this alot better Peter, there seemingly is a more comfortable foundation to work with not only for you guys but you also retain the same facade. and



Enhanced functionality is always a good thing. It'd be rad if you guys had AJAX.

[Suntiger @ Dec 26th 2005 9:42PM]

The one thing I miss about the new layout is the ability to view all comments on one page instead of 20 at a time, especially with the volume of comments on Engadget... any chance we could get an option on that?

[huh? @ Dec 26th 2005 10:51PM]

Sounds good, Peter. You should give yourself a gold star for explaining it....

[lotech @ Dec 26th 2005 10:57PM]

All this is enevitable - the PSP added WMA support last month and pretty much indicated exactly where Sony are going - and WMA is the only real way of getting instant store support using an already popular format (or unpopular format depending on your opinion). Eitherway this is the nail in the coffin for ATRAC and looks like the fight is now down to AAC, WMA & unprotected MP3.

[rizali @ Dec 27th 2005 1:01AM]

some time we need this product.

[The Dude @ Dec 27th 2005 2:02AM]

people don't realize the advantage of atrac3, even though it sux to convert the first time it requires a lot less power to unencode into what the player sends to your ears, which is how sony can get awesome battery life. I've heard problems about atrac3 in low bitrates, but when I convert to the higher quality I'll be darned if there is any difference between atrac3 256kb/s verse any other format (unless you maybe use extremely expensive equipment). So it's more a consumer education issue . . . wma will work now but the playback time per battery charge will be much lower.

[derrick @ Dec 27th 2005 2:28AM]

341. Hey for christmas i got $350 and was wondering wut i should get...This ipod photo with 1,600+ songs

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5846905278&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1



Or



an ipod video with only enough money for a few songs?



PLEASE REPLY I NEED MAJOR HELP

[alexei @ Dec 27th 2005 2:30AM]

Oh, I have NW505 and there is no real mp3 or wma support. :(

[Vezquex @ Dec 27th 2005 6:43AM]

Bless Sony's heart. All they need now is video support. I give it a month until they release a new player with that and other snazzy featuress.

[Michael Shada @ Dec 27th 2005 7:33AM]

It's a Sony. Who cares what it does.



My advice from a tech standpoint is to avoid Sony at all cost. Their equipment (mem chips for one) are not compatible with anyone else�s equipment and can even cause some models of HP Printer / Card readers to BURN OUT!



Along with everything else they make that�s NOT compatible and EVEN ILLEGAL!! (Their latest release of destructive spyware) I would not purchase anything from them until they straighten their act up.



As for the ipods in the above question, I would also NOT purchase anything from Apple for the same reason as Sony.



THEY ARE ALSO BOTH WAY WAY WAY OVER PRICED!!!

[clicclic @ Dec 27th 2005 9:38AM]

Everyone is so nice today - honest! I guess Christmas was good to y'uns.





ATRAC should have been castrated and disembowled years ago. Sony opened the door with ATRAC and invited the iPod in when they could have owned this market. Their hardware was superior back in 1999 to anything out there, but their software decisions f*cked 'em. Now they're playing catchup and still battling idiots over in Hollywood.



They're making the same exact mistakes with their flat-panel TVs as we speak. Knockoff Chinese brands are flooding the market with unencrypted DVI and selling like hotcakes. Idiots...

[Sp1n @ Dec 27th 2005 4:02PM]

i wouldnt say this article said anything REALLY interesting or important.



"this could be a sign that Sony is gearing up to offer their own subscription service ala Rhapsody and Napster To Go. If it doesn't, well, at least you may save a little time converting your tunes to one of the few Sony-friendly formats."



this one is just one piece of the article that is a joke. You can see right away that the person who wrote it never used any sony walkman products. Also, who cares about wma format? it`s like the worst format that can be out there. ewww..



"walkmen" - ahahahah, anyways. yes sony is gearing up for war with ipod. Superior battery life and great sound - are two features that especially rock for me personally.



After few months Sonic Stage got much better, it does not crash as much as it was(i havent gotten any crashes at all). Also their new Connect software is much better than SS so Sony is improoving with time.





After trying every major player on the market i decided to go with HD5. It`s EQ`s are superior even to ipod - which has just horrible sound. It`s EQ`s are something that ipod should improove next to the battery life.



Bottom line: if want a player with long battery life and a great sound - sony walkman is the way to go.

[DirtHerder @ Dec 27th 2005 7:03PM]

Sonic Stage, Sony Connect, iTunes, etc, etc.



Personally I'd rather not have to deal with any software to get my music onto my DAP.



Just plug the player into my computer and drag and drop without ever having to install anything else. That's what I want.

[Steen @ Dec 30th 2005 2:31PM]

Am I the only person having trouble with Connect software? Seems like it is smashing my computer (and my son's)

[Steve Radford @ Jan 2nd 2006 3:38AM]

Agreed, why the hell do you have to got through the stupid Sonic Stage software they ship. Why oh why can't you just drag and drop your music files straight onto the device without any messing, just like you did back in the late 90's when the 1st MP3 players came out, I believe it was the Diamond Rio, great bit of kit, way ahead of it's time...

[Dan @ Jan 3rd 2006 8:40PM]

A few words on Sony�s line of Network MP3 players and Sony in general.



I�ve been a Sony customer for many years now, and can honestly say I�ve not had a lot of trouble with their product line, be it their portable CD players, headphones, or any number of electronic gadgets they�ve released over the years. In particular, I�ve always been pleased with the products that came out of Sony�s �R&D� Aiwa division, primarily because the engineers there were encouraged to push the envelope on new and unusual features. Yes, Sony tends to be a bit pricier, especially their personal computers (and for no real reason that I can tell), but by-and-large, I like the company�s electronics. But. . . (There�s always a �but�)



The Sony Connect/Sound Stage software that is required to upload media to Sony Network players barely deserves the title of software. The software is clunky, unintuitive, quirky, and unstable, crashing again and again, not to mention sucking memory and processor resources from other applications in ways that my best 3-D graphic-laden games never have. But what is probably the most maddening problem that in all likelihood will result in me returning my just-bought Sony NW-A1000 is that the software is painfully, ridiculously, inexcusably, hair-pullingly sloooooooow.



I kid you not, folks, when I tell you that this software bundle bites. I can scarcely put into words how poor this software is, but let me try. I�m not joking when I say it took me the better part of 12 hours to upload perhaps 500 songs in mp3 and WMA format. A majority of that time was spent actually waiting for the file transfers to complete. 500 songs � 12 hours. No joke. I�m not running a bad machine either. 2.41 gHz, 1.2 gigs of RAM. And then I had to go through and clean up after the mess the software made of my player. It uploaded some songs up to 4 times, so the multiple copies were eating up my disc space. Also, the software supposedly uses the GraceNote music-recognition service to identify your files, but I suspect Sony may have opted in for the cheaper �Error Prone� database service that GraceNote, unbeknownst to the rest of the world, offers on the sly, because every 10 or 12 songs, there would be odd typographical mistakes in the media information, be in the artist�s name, or the song title. Rather than New Order, I�d see NEw O rde on my player�s display. Or instead of �When the Saints Go Marching In,� I�d get �wHHen t o �� RealPlayer, Window�s Media Player, Music Match � I�ve never had this kind of problem with these other media management programs.



There�s simply no excuse in this day and age for software that, well, quite frankly, sucks this much, and Sony should be ashamed for rushing a product to market that was so full of flaws.



It�s unfortunate, really, because the actual player itself is beautiful and very easy to use (despite some very odd icon choices that don�t seem to mean what you would think they would). If you can hold out a day or two to actually get you music onto the player, it�s great. But it�s during that period of actually wanting to upload anything that you want to just chuck the software disc out the frickin� window, return the player, and jump ship over to an i-pod.

[ben brazier @ Jan 7th 2006 8:54AM]

Can anyone help me please?



I've installed the 'connect' software yet everytime i double click on it, nothing happens.



Is my software faulty?



Don't buy a sony NW-A100. Don't buy any philips MP3 player. Buy Ipod everytime- you NEVER have trouble with them.



Thanks

[Steph @ Jan 21st 2006 12:47PM]

Hey. I have the sony nw-a1000 mp3 player and I was wondering if anyone knows why it *skips* some songs and doesn't put them onto my mp3 player..really getting on my nerves..does this happen to anyone else?