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Sadly, my Sony MP3 player has died on me.  As all my music is stored on my PC in Atrac format on Sonic Stage, the easiest option would be to buy another Sony, but I think I want to take the opportunity jump on the Ipod bandwagon, as there are so many more accessories etc available.

Can anyone tell me if there is an easy way to convert all my Atrac files into MP3 files, and the easiest way to get them from Sonic Stage onto an Ipod?

Whilst reading the lates copy of Zoo magazine .. I saw this being reviewed

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=1493

£69 for1Gb and £89 for 2Gb

they look pretty cool and I'm asking santa for a 2Gb one for Xmas.

I can't help you with your software issue but honestly, why does everyone love ipods so much. They put up a good marketing campaign and now everyone thinks they're great in spite of the fact you have to use their crappy itunes system.

Anyway, below is the mp3 player i have. It works just like a hard disc (i.e. you plug it in and drag and drop your files), it plays wma's (including encrypted ones) and mp3's and you can use it just like a hard disc if you have to move data from A to B. It is also smaller and cheaper than a 20 gb ipod. Archos were one of the first people to make jukeboxes (i.e. 20gb mp3 players) and i have had no problems after i installed the first update (you get that from their website).

I don't work for them or anything, i just get fed up with people running round thinking ipods are great.

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3Z3H&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=archos+gmini&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

Claw - If you are going to invest some kind of money in a new MP3 do some research.

The I' series of products from apple in the main are typical mass produced disposable stuff.

The Creative stuff is wonderful - well built with amazing sound and software quality.

Loads of good alternative's out there to Apple IMO.

Just a consideration.

Ipods are great!!
There is a reason they are the market leader.

Converting atrac to mp3:-

http://www.mp3-cd-converter.com/convert_mp3/convert_atrac_to_mp3.html

As for sonicstage to Ipod you need to use itunes (or other third party software) because it uses it's own music format.

 rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

You can also convert them using Sony Sound Forge version 8.0d

Get a 30 day trial here: http://www.download.com/3000-2170-10005603.html

 Ac

You need to understand something i think:-

All music players use a specific format, the bigger companies use their own, the smaller ones use a generic format.

Ok, but to get from ATRAC to Itunes, you have to convert to MP3 and then from MP3 to Itunes. That's gonna take ages and be a pain in the arse. The problem with Itunes is that every single computer can play a wma or an mp3 but not every single computer can play an Itune without getting apple's special software from somewhere. If i want to give my mate some of my music, all i have to do is plug my mp3 player, and copy and paste. That's it. If i want to download music from the internet (via bit torrent etc.) it is easier to find it in mp3 format than any other.

I don't understand why people pay extra for something that is bigger, has a shorter battery life and is gonna make them spend longer arsing around with music files so they can listen to them.

I prefer archos to apple because they were the first (maybe second) to come up with a jukebox. If you look at their product line it is more advanced than apple's however they don't spend the money on advertising that apple do.

I've still got my Diamond Rio PMP300... Now that's old skool  :D

I just wanted to say that if you start converting music from one format to another then you are going to end up with degraded sound quality so your best bet might be to rip the whole lot from CD again or whatever.

Lol, i still have my rio riot. It'll be an antique one day i'm sure.

I am tired after reading those replies. Thanks so much everyone.  I think to save my sanity I will probably just get another Sony!

iTunes don't use their own format, it's just standard mp3's.  What you can't do with an iPod is load it from iTunes, then unload it to another pc.

iPods are ace, all I use iTunes for is filling up my iPod with mp3's, no conversion necessary.

Really, i thought you had to convert. Ok, now i look stupid.

Er, sry ifm.

All iTunes is is like a fancy libary for your mp3's.  You can also buy mp3's from the iShop and download podcasts and other stuff.  It's actually pretty good.

They're not actually in MP3 format from iTunes though are they? They have Apple's own DRM on them and can only be used on iPods?

I think that's what all the fuss is about?

My iPod is very sick. :'(

I have restored it to factory settings, but now it is taking over an minute to update 1 song (I have over 6000) so I thought "ok, 4 days continuous updating isn't too bad", but now it isn't updating at all.

Looks like I'm going to have to buy a new one...

I love my iPod -  iPods own!

Itunes do convert from MP3 to AAC format but they keep the originals as MP3's on your hard disk, this is probably why you may not know.
Oddly enough i was offered 20 ipod 4 gig nano's today for £100 each :D

I'll buy one off of you for £100 ;D

Cool, that means i don't look stupid anymore.

Ok……here’s a personal take on the the whole SonicStage/ ITunes / Mp3 situation.

SonicStage

Imports ripped music by default as OpenMG audio files (.oma).  Good quality but not transferable to another computer due to inbuilt security tag.  I had a library of these backed up when my hard drive packed up but could not import them then to same computer when I installed new harddrive!!! There is no way round this so beware.

However you can change settings so that any music imported/ripped is done so as an mp3 which I’d recommend doing.  I believe in the latest sonicstage versions you can also convert your existing library of songs from open mg/ATRAC  to mp3 format.


ITunes

Again the default  when ripping cds is Apples own format which can only be played by ITunes/Ipod but once again you can change settings so that you rip cd’s as mp3.

You do also have option when importing existing mps of having them copied into the itunes folder. This is quite handy, if space is not an issue for you, as it keeps your music library nice and tidy in one place. Plus it automatically sorts it into different artist and album folders.

As pointed out previously when you download a track from ITunes though, it has to be in their own format (m4p) and so is only playable in Itunes / Ipod. No way round this unless a conversion program is used after download.

Summary

I used to use sonicstage a lot but recent version seems very messy and time consuming when trying to sort out playlists/albums so I gave up and switched to ITunes which is much easier to use.

Change programme settings where possible to change from the software’s own music format to mp3 type.  This will give you much greater flexibility with your music!!

Although I don’t actually have an IPod myself ( after much deliberation I went for a Creative Zen Vision 30GB instead ) I use the folders ITunes creates to drag and drop to my music player and this works very well for me.

Incidentally, there is also an autosynchronise function for non IPod mp3 players,  in Windows Media Player 10 but I’ve never tried this yet.

So Claw there is no need to get stuck with mp3 player by same manufacturer….although this is what they set out to make you do!   :D

After my previous ramblings above the quick answer to this is........

1 Use sonicstage to convert Atrac files to mp3,   
2 Then download ITunes ( if you don't have it already) and import the mp3 files into that
3 Connect your IPod and it will synchronise the files onto it

Oh.... Keithy being brief is sooooo much better!!   rotflmfao

Amazingly, my iPod is acting like its old self ;D and is updating each song in around 1 second as apposed to 1 minute ;D

Bought one of these beauties recently" http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/zenvisionm/gallery/demo.asp. Had Sony MP3 and never thought I would get anything else, but this is quality, I also purchased the new Shure headphones which I highly recommend "http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=PA00206

You can do this, its a bit convoluted but basically you copy the tracks from the source computer to the ipod in window explorer you wont be able to listen to them but you can take them to a target computer all dump them all there. Basically it acts as a hard drive as well