Sony Connect (SonicStage)

Pros

I read a couple of reviews where it didn't work for certain Sony products and the results were really bad. I had never heard of it until I purchased a Sony CD Walkman D-NE330 and the owner's manual explained it. So if I didn't have the right hardware I wouldn't have tried it. But I did and now I have five or six blank cds with about 20 entire regular cds on each blank cd!! The buttons on the walkman make it very easy to navigate from cd (or folder) to cd while listening to a song. I can rank songs and create playlists among other neat features.

Cons

There have been some cons. One is if you don't already have all of these different cds ripped into your computer then that's gonna take some time. That's probably the main thing that's keeping me from downloading it again and creating another cd. Also, of the five or six cds I've made using Sonicstage, two haven't worked. I put the cd in my walkman, press play, and after some clicking sounds, nothing happens. One last con is that these cds will only play on my walkman because that's the only device I own that supports ATRAC.

Summary

If you know your Sony device supports ATRAC format songs, then I wouldn't hesitate trying Sonicstage. Just read the instructions as you go. Read your device's owner's manual first to be sure.

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Pros

if only works if you open as adminstrator,,,,so go to short cut right click then go to open as adminatrator,,,,works for me on an old modle... had the same porbs as above then did this,,,

Cons

it is slow but
go to short cut right click then go to open as adminatrator

Summary

go to short cut right click then go to open as adminatrator

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Pros

None it doesn't work.

Cons

This is useless as it isn't compatable with earlier Sony MP£ players and managed to wipe all 18GB of music off my MP player. There should be a warning that this is possible, prior to allowing access to your player. If I could I would demand compensation for the loss of all the music on my player.

Summary

Please do not download this if you wish to keep your music.

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Pros

NOT ONE! NOT ONE!

Cons

Since the upgrade I cannot use my mp3 player period to transfer music. My library is lost, and it asks me to format my Sony player. I have music that I cannot rearrange or add to. This is useless now, and I will never buy another Sony product.

Summary

NO MORE SONY FOR ME! I paid over $100 for a piece of junk that won't work, and am now stuck with music I purchased before Sony Connect went out of business. I would think Sony could come up with a solution to this problem.............FAST! Guess they are dragging their feet hoping people will fork out more money on their products. NOT IN MY LIFETIME!

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Pros

I loved my Sony MP3 player at the gym, it was smaller than an Ipod and had an arm band for ease of use while working out, running, and on the Harley.

Cons

Sonic Stage is completely useless now. I don't know what they did to the software it worked ok at first but now every time I open a sonic stage file (even backup) it freezes the whole computer and I have to manually restart.

Summary

Sony needs more than one type of software for their MP3 players. Sonic Stage is an epic failure.

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Pros

Essential for some Walkman models - ATRAC3plus sounds excellent - better than ATRAC 3 by a large margin. Excellent Gracenote database outshines WMP.

Cons

Slow and unresponsive. No way to separate different genres. ATRAC CDs are best written in small chunks to avoid crashing.

Summary

ATRAC 3 plus is a truly excellent sounding format although it is now defunct. However if you have a Walkman or CD player that uses it you can take advantage of this program's inbuilt conversion to stock up your device with high quality sound. Just remember to alter the conversion standard from normal to high in the preferences - this helps even if you use the lowest bit rate (48kbs)

Updated on Dec 17, 2012

UPDATE: Don't download this from Sony.
Go to the SonyInsider website and get "SonicStage Ultimate".
This is a modified version and is very stable. It also has drivers for NetMd on 64bit systems - something Sony never got around to providing. Also it runs without any compatibilty issues.
It will run on Windows 8 but you have to "disable driver signature enforcement" - google it.

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Pros

simple to understand

Cons

at times takes a little longer to work

Summary

generally very good

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Pros

If I can think of one, I'll get back to you.

Cons

Mixes up all of the artists and songs, very tedious especially with double albums. Very slow as well. I could read War and Peace while loading music onto my NW E105F MP3 player. No Drag and Drop feature that would simplify everything.

Summary

Sony doesn't want to update this software anymore I gather, and I don't think there is any other software that I can use with this model. At least none that I've already tried at any rate. Time to get an I-Pod I suppose. The device was a gift from my former employer a few years ago. Should have known it was too good to be true.

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Pros

There are none!

Cons

I tried to load a couple of songs on a friends MP3 player (Sony NW300), but couldn't without the software. So I download and install Sonic Stage, and the second time I tried to access the program it crashed my computer.

Summary

People are very critical of Apple products, but they have never given me any problems. Get an Ipod (or even a Zune), but stay away from anything that requires Sonic Stage.

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