If you use sonicstage for music...

[SIlverbulletmr2]

What are you opinions of sonic stage as far as ripping cd's to build a massive music library on a computer. I'm heading off to college soon with (hopefully) a new computer, and lots of cd's. I would like to have CDDB take care of all the info fields for me, and would like to have one program for orgnizing, playing, etc my music. I have an sj33 and it is on my setup cd.

1) How does sonicstage stack up to lets say windows media player (the newest one)??? Does anyone here use it like this? 2) Does it rip to mp3 as well as ATRAC, or only to ATRAC?
3) Is it worth ripping to ATRAC? (all i use to play songs is computer or clie)
4) Can a purple memory stick hold ATRAC files for playing on clie? or do i have to go out and spend more benjamins on white ms?
5) I like the UI of sonicstage, very nice, but does it have the utility and substance to back up its flashy graphics?
6) I sometimes get a song or two off of kazaa (i know shoot me) is there a way to covert it to ATRAC from mp3 if i have to? Can i use sonicstage to convert ATRAC back to mp3?

Thanks for your inputs
peace
Andrew

[itsBob]

haven't used sonic stage enough to answer most of your questions...but there is a reason.

It uses a lot of RAM. I know, so does Windows Media Player, but sonic stage really takes it to a new level. If you're not going to have half a gig of RAM, this could be a problem for you too.

On my computer, WMP seems to use 28 megs when running music. My native audio player uses 7.

Sonic Stage uses 38! Just a thought.

[SilverbulletMR2]

i have read some stuff online now about sonicstage and it has some shaky reviews. people say its full of bugs and problems. THats a shame it seems like it fits my needs for a while there. I want a prgram with a slick interface, and good organizational tools that can also rip cd's to mp3's. WHat i read makes me want to go out and find where i can download real jukebox again, remember that? it actually worked quite well for me.

[cbulock]

I'll try and answer some of your questions

1)Not sure, have never actually used Sonic Stage, but I think Windows Media Player is great for ripping MP3's. You have to buy the MP3 add-on though.
2)Sonic Stage only does ATRAC.
3)I personally don't think so. I like to listen to music in Winamp, and who knows what kind of devices you will want to listen to music on in the future. I think MP3 will be around for quite some time still, while with ATRAC you will be stuck with Clies, PC using Sony's software, or the Sony Walkmans. Then, you will end up having to re-rip all that still, and that's just a pain.
4) Only the White sticks can. Also, the new Pro sticks don't work either, even though they are called Magic Gate.
5)I have no idea
6)Not sure about the MP3 to ATRAC, I imagine it's possible. But ATRAC to MP3 is not possible since they want to keep the music copy protected.

My opinion is that I don't want to get locked into something that I can only use on certain things. With ATRAC, your stuck with Sony. At least some newer stuff like AAC is easier to use, and more companies are supporting it. With MP3, it's already widely supported, and with such a huge market, things will support it for a long time. ATRAC could stop being supported tommorrow, and it would have only a minor effect on the world. I don't trust stuff like that.:)

[quantum]

Indeed, the program is resource intensive. However it does have certain nifty features like enabling you to create playlists that you can sync onto your magicgate at a click of a button. It does organisation of music too according to artist, genre, album, etc. And this together with the sync is certainly convenient. However it does require you to first convert the piece of music to ATRAC3. I doubt if anyone can tell the ATRAC3 piece apart from the MP3 counterpart and in certain cases I feel that it sounds better and is smaller. But it forces you to have a duplicate piece of music.

The main gripe i have is that the new Pro sticks have a slightly different implementation of MagicGate and the current range of clie don't support it. This is slightly different from what cbulock said about the Pro's not working with Sonic Stage. I believe that they do, but only with the right Memory stick reader and writer. And of course you would need to have a device that is Memory Stick Pro MagicGate compartable. Of course i could be mistaken. :)

ATRAC is certainly Sony's but it is not only used in MagicGates. It is also used in MiniDiscs. I own a Sony Net MD player and it uses SonicStage to transfer music from my computer onto a MD. My opinion is that i have a lot of devices which are Sony. Although I agree with cbulock that i am stuck with Sony, i don't really mind. Sony devices work well with other Sony devices and being able to use them as a system rather than individually certainly makes my life a little more convenient. :)

[banjo]

I use SonicStage extensively - mostly because I've been using MiniDisc for years & have built up a decent sound library. I like the fact that it can be configured to perform an automatic check in & check out of songs; with a random mix of songs transferred each time to the MD or Clie. And the sound quality is excellent. But I do agree with other comments in this thread - it is a heavy application and completely based around Sony's proprietary ATRAC format - which Sony could drop at short notice. There are a few signs that Sony isn't interested in extending ATRAC3 & ATRAC3plus support in their products.

About your questions:
1) How does sonicstage stack up to lets say windows media player (the newest one)??? Does anyone here use it like this?
--> Don't know - I don't use WMP (Microsoft is worse than Sony IMO)
2) Does it rip to mp3 as well as ATRAC, or only to ATRAC?
--> only to ATRAC3 or ATRAC3plus
3) Is it worth ripping to ATRAC? (all i use to play songs is computer or clie)
--> Maybe, but it is a dead end, since you can't convert from ATRAC to, er, anything.
4) Can a purple memory stick hold ATRAC files for playing on clie? or do i have to go out and spend more benjamins on white ms?
--> only white MagicGate MS (bot not MS Pro!)
5) I like the UI of sonicstage, very nice, but does it have the utility and substance to back up its flashy graphics?
--> I think so
6) I sometimes get a song or two off of kazaa (i know shoot me) is there a way to covert it to ATRAC from mp3 if i have to?
--> Yes.
Can i use sonicstage to convert ATRAC back to mp3?
--> No.

In summary, I would suggest you don't use SonicStage unless you have a really good reason to (e.g. also for MiniDisc or ATRAC CD player use).

db

[n2ifp]

The MP3 addon for Windows Media Player does work well as Cameron suggests. My brother uses it to make music MP3 CD's for his truck.

Sonic Stage visual is pretty for playing MP3, but that's it for me!!!

I also use Music Match for high speed ripping.

I don't like being controlled by Sony!!!

To me it's more expensive and too much of a hassle to use the ATRAC3 format and then derive no real benefit from it.:(

[Shogmaster]

The new EAC and Winamp 3.0 combo is all you need.

Both are freakin' FREE!!!!! And whole lot less wonkier than sonic stage.

[JwY]

winamp 3 was such a memory hog i went back to 2.9x

[Orincarnia]

sonic stage burns the cd with cd text, thats something windows media player can't do......and when ever i use winamp it converts all my files then i can't play them in any other place, like windows media plaer or sonic stage.

[SilverbulletMR2]

i've been tinkering around with realONE today. What are opinions of that? seems to fit my needs so far. Is the premuim upgrade worth it?