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SonicStage

SonicStage CP 4.3 showing the Sony Connect store view
Developed by	Sony
Latest release	4.3 / 2007
Preview release	5.1 / 2008 (Japan only)
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Music player
License	Proprietary
Website	http://musicstore.connect.com/

SonicStage is the name for Sony software that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC OMG/OMA and MP3 recordings on a PC. It was first used in VAIO PCs put on the Japanese market in October 2001, and superseded OpenMG Jukebox. Version 2 was found on 2004 model products, and Version 3 on 2005 model products (Sony introduced native mp3 support on its music players in 2005).

The Sony Connect service was formerly used to purchase recordings online, and could be accessed from within the SonicStage program. However, Sony announced that on the 31st March 2008, its CONNECT download site would be going offline, therefore affecting SonicStage users.

It should be noted however, that in late 2008 Sony launched a new online music store called "bandit.fm" on a trial basis in a limited number of countries, notably Australia. This store is unique in that it does not require specific software (such as Connect Player or Sonicstage) or hardware to be used, offers its downloads without Digital Rights Management copyright protection and in MP3 format at a high bitrate; its downloads are also compatible with virtually all MP3 Players, including iPod range and its accompanying iTunes computer/synchronization software. Although unconfirmed, it is widely expected that Sony will launch bandit.fm globally in the medium-term future, pending the results of the Australian trial.

Contents 1 Features 1.1 Copying restriction 1.2 MP3 Support 2 History 2.1 Version 1 2.2 Version 2 2.3 Version 3 2.4 Version 4 (SonicStage CP) 2.5 Version 5 (SonicStage V) 3 SonicStage for LISMO 4 Alternatives 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Features

[edit] Copying restriction

Since Sony has an interest in protecting the copyright on the music that it sells, the design of SonicStage is closely tied to a requirement that the program guard against copyright infractions. Sony music players have a write-only design. Somewhat similar to an Apple iPod, it is not generally possible to move tracks from the music player to the PC hard drive, and thereby from one music player to another. Some earlier models (such as some of the Net-MD line) could not even transfer voice recordings made by the user (with the player's microphone input) to their PC.

Copy restriction is provided not by any one feature, but by a group of design features and software limitations. The main features being:

1. The software strictly enforces Digital Rights Management through its use of OpenMG. SonicStage ties the DRM license of each track to the hardware of the computer from which it has been transferred. SonicStage will not allow transfer of tracks from the player to another computer. It is possible, however, to backup "My Library" and import it into another installation of SonicStage on a different computer.
2. Music files have to be "wrapped" by Sony software in order to be played on a Sony music player. Sony has not introduced drag and drop support for music files. Although it is possible to load files directly onto a Sony player without using SonicStage, it is not possible to play music files loaded this way. Neither is it possible in most cases to transfer music files back to a PC. (all versions prior to 3.4)
3. The program does not generally convert OMG/OMA files to MP3 or WAV.
4. The program only encrypts in omg format, not mp3. The program encrypts any audio files imported into it in omg format, including audio files that are not legally downloaded, or illegally copied music.
5. The program lacks a true import album feature for WAV and MP3 files. The program imports tracks as is. Imported files cannot be grouped into an album with artist, title and tracknumber fields assigned at the time of import. This has to be done before or after import.
6. When WAV tracks are imported, they remain linked to their wav source file and the track can only be edited for as long as the WAV source file remains on the computer. This makes it difficult to use SonicStage to edit CDs that have been ripped with another program.
7. Because of these security features there are limitations when using the program in Windows XP. Only users with administrator accounts can transfer tracks from SonicStage to Sony's devices.

As of version 3.4, an intermediate update mostly for Hi-MD users, some of the above restrictions have been relaxed. SonicStage 3.4 allows tracks recorded via digital/analogue inputs on Hi-MD devices to be transferred back in WAV format. Also, files in Sony's proprietary ATRAC format can now be converted to WAV.

3.4 is also the first update to the program to come out after Sony appointed Tim Schaaff, former Apple Computer executive, as senior vice president of software development.

[edit] MP3 Support

Support for mp3 files in both SonicStage and 2005 model devices is problematic. A 2005 model device may not be able to play some tracks. For example, it may not be able to play low bit rate mp3 tracks, (the ones that may be produced by an internet radio station, or in a podcast).

SonicStage will play ATRAC3 files directly from a digital music device when the latter is connected to the computer and detected by the software. SonicStage 3 does not play DRM-wrapped MP3 files directly from the device. Many bugs, however, are corrected and addressed.

[edit] History

[edit] Version 1

Version 1.5 adds the native support for ATRAC3plus^[1] and Windows Media Audio (WMA). And addition, MP3 encoding plug-in was sold on Sony's on-line stores (SonyStyle Japan: ¥1,590^[2]), for their Palm device: CLIÉ. But those encoding function for WMA/MP3 was removed in SonicStage Version 2.0 (SS2.0 supports only the decoding function).

[edit] Version 2

This is the last version of SonicStage before native mp3 devices were introduced by Sony. MP3 is supported by converting the mp3 file to ATRAC format and downloading that file to the device.

The V2 library manager is "benign" in that it sits on top of what is already on the hard drive, and doesn't change what is already there (It will change a file name if you have it set to do so in the Options). With V2, you can tell it that you have an album in a directory, and import that group of files as an album without having the program change the header information in the tracks.

[edit] Version 3

Version 3 uses the header information in the tracks to get album, artist and track name information. The tracks are placed in the database according to what is in the tracks. When the header fields in a track are blank, the program imports the track into the unnamed album ( No name, no artist, no album ). As a consequence, when importing tracks, many albums are placed into the album called "Unnamed".

Tracks under digital rights management cannot be changed, and neither can tracks with a missing source link.

As noted above, Version 3 lacks an "Import Album" feature. SonicStage V3 classifies tracks according to the album-related information present in their headers.

2 GB memory sticks are not supported.

Sony have added the option to drop DRM on ripped files in SonicStage V3.3.

SonicStage 3.4 includes an option to de-DRM an entire library (the larger it is, the longer it takes) allowing as many copies of files as you like, on as many players and PCs as you want. You can even share non-DRM files with other people.

The option to de-DRM files does not however work on unplayable OMA files.

SonicStage 3.4 does not operate on Windows Vista.

[edit] Version 4 (SonicStage CP)

Adds the ability to import AACLC, as well as HE-AAC.

The main downside is that a number of features, such as the ability to recover from corrupt track lists, are still missing. It also disallows Limited User Accounts from having any privileges except for listening to music on the program.

Version 4.3 adds Windows Vista compatibility (Vista 64-bit not supported but works - Tried and tested: Sony NW-E407). And as of October 2008, this is the latest version of the English (and other non-Japanese language) SonicStage.

Version 4.4, released on January 10, 2008^[3] (only in Japan), added HE-AAC transfer function for new walkmans.

[edit] Version 5 (SonicStage V)

SonicStage V is the latest version of the Japanese SonicStage, and features a new user interface like SonicStage for LISMO. Version 5.0 released on October 9, 2008 in Japan.^[4][5] On 9 Feb 2009, version 5.1 was released.

SonicStage V does not work with the Hi-MD/Net MD Walkmans, MP3-CD/ATRAC-CD players (such as CD Walkmans) and other old devices.^[6]

[edit] SonicStage for LISMO

SonicStage for LISMO is a stripped-down version of Japanese SonicStage CP, and is a part of the "LISMO Port" suite. Version 1.0 was released in February 1, 2008. SonicStage for LISMO developed for a new ATRAC service (LISMOオーディオ機器連携) of LISMO, the online music store provided by a Japanese mobile phone operator KDDI (au). There are some useful functions to using LISMO, but no values founded for non-LISMO users. The playable codecs are same as SonicStage Version 4.x, but encoding functions are only available for the ATRAC codecs.

As of October 2008, 16 au phones (manufactured by Casio-Hitachi mobile communications, Kyocera, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba) support LISMO's ATRAC service.^[7]

[edit] Alternatives

Symphonic is a open source, cross-platform program (that runs on any Windows/Linux/Mac machine with java 1.5 installed), that, once copied into the Walkman enables the transfer of several kinds of audio files, including MP3, to/from several flash based Walkman Series, (it can be downloaded from here [[1]] and is in continuous development).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sony
• A Linux Tutorial for the Walkman