Via Advanced Media Network

The latest issue of the UK PSP Magazine has several new details on what the near future holds for the PSP-PSOne emulation launch titles.

No release date was announced, but Sony did confirm that it plans to have up to 7,000 PSOne titles available via the service by the end of 2007. Several titles announced for launch were revealed, including Tomb Raider, Castlevania: SOTN, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Silent Hill. There will be other titles at launch as well but no other titles have been announced at this time.

Recently, a security vulnerability has been identified within the Gracenote® CDDB (CD Database) lookup service application utilized by certain versions of Sony music management software. The Gracenote CDDB lookup service provides music-related information such as artist, title and tracklist through the software. As of the date of this update, neither Sony nor Gracenote has received reports of any customers being adversely impacted by this issue. However, we take all security issues very seriously. If you use any of the Sony music management software listed below (e.g., in connection with a VAIO computer or with a Walkman® portable music player), we recommend that you download the Gracenote Update and install it on your PC.

What is the issue?
A security vulnerability (in this case known as a “buffer overflow”) has been identified in an ActiveX® control for the Gracenote CDDB lookup service. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to load malicious code onto a user’s system and then execute the code, potentially resulting in loss or misappropriation of data on your PC.

Affected Software Applications
Sony CONNECT Player
Sony SonicStage Ver.3.3/3.4
Sony SonicStage Mastering Studio Ver.2.1/2.2
Sony Do VAIO Ver.1.6

NOTE: If you do not have any of the specified versions of the Sony software applications listed above, this notice does not apply to you. Similarly, if you have SonicStage CP 4.0, you do not need to execute the update.

DOWNLOAD PROCEDURE
The installer is named GracenoteUpdateForSony.exe and is 2.9MB in size. If your browser offers a RUN or OPEN option you may select it when you click the download link, otherwise please take note of the download location on your computer, for example C:\Download. Once the download has completed, please run the installer to start the update of your Sony software. When the installer has finished, it will prompt to restart your computer. Please click the Finish button. Your computer will reboot and the update process will be complete.

Click here to download the installer to your computer.

We are pleased to release this special full ATRAC Plugin to our beloved userbase. You will now be able to write, and read, all ATRAC files within Sony Media Software. From the words of Dan Kinney, Senior Director of Technology at Sony:

We have built a plug-in for the application from our “Media Software” group. These are apps such as Sound Forge and ACID, which are pretty common in the audio editing community. Support for ATRAC will be included in the next version of ACID (version 6) which is about to ship. Other apps will soon get the functionality as part of an auto-update.

These apps support the new “.aa3” file format definition for ATRAC. This is the definition of audio files using the ATRAC codec without any copy protection or DRM.

Essentially, this is an MP3 file, only using ATRAC for the codec. While it uses ID3v2 tags for its metadata, it also supports an audio header at the beginning of the audio data to describe the bitstream to the playback app or device. This little tweak makes it different enough to make it problematic to use a standard ID3 editor, but trust me…they are ID3 tags. Sonicstage (3.3 and beyond) can support *.aa3. As of the last firmware update (2.5), the PSP is capable of playing back these files.

This plugin has been tested with Sound Forge 8 and Vegas 6 (video editing app). It supports ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus and Advanced Lossless.

Download the ATRAC Plugin here! You must be a registered member of ATRACLife to download. (free, takes under a minute)

Tip: After creating a *.aa3 file, rename the extension of said file to *.omg to allow Sonicstage to put it on your ATRAC-capable device.

Nonetheless, this is compatible with ALL Sony Media apps (Vegas, Vegas+DVD, DVD Architect, Vegas Movie Studio, Vegas Movie Studio+DVD, DVD Architect Studio, ACID, Music Studio, ACIDized, Super Duper Music Looper, Jam Trax, Sony Sound Series, Chopper, Groove Mapping, Groove Cloning, CD Architect, Sound Forge, Audio Studio, Acoustic Mirror, Noise Reduction, Wave 64, Wave Hammer, XFX and more.). Read further for an example of the functionality present with Vegas 5:

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As you can see, we have updated the theme to a design by 5ThirtyOne Design. There will be several tweaks made over time, and this will remain default. Please make sure you click on the “Pull” tab on the upper right for enhanced navigation. Feel free to leave any comments regarding the new look as well as any issues with the new skin (especially useability concerns, suggestions, etc).

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. has released a new The PSP™ Content Pack for the month of June. The pack comes in two variation:

• Pack 1
  PSP™ system Update 2.71 
  LocoRoco™ Playable Demo (System Update 2.71 Required)
  E3 Coverage - Killzone™: Liberation (ESRB = RP)
  G.A.P. Auditions Video
  PlayStation-Palooza® Media
  June Calendar Wallpaper 
• Pack 2
  PSP™ system Update 2.71 
  LocoRoco™ Playable Demo (System Update 2.71 Required)

The PSP™ Content Pack is a free download that features preselected content, optimized for your PSP system.  We will provide the Content for you each month. All you need to do is connect your PSP to your PC, download the pack, then just sit back and relax while everything is transferred to your PSP system. Once the process is complete, your PSP system will be stocked full of the latest in PSP system optimized video clips and trailers, wallpapers, screenshots, audio clips, and game content, all for your viewing pleasure. Check back here each month for the newest edition of the PSP™ Content Pack.

LocoRoco.com is now live - a little reminder that the game will have a worldwide release. LocoRoco’s English demo: via PSP’s browser from http://www.locorocodemo.com/ or direct download from http://www.yourpsp.com/. The Japanese version: click here. 

Update: ATRACLife is going to visit one of these machines (in Georgia) and take pictures/movies for your pleasure this week. Stay tuned.

San Diego — Sony Electronics will bring its chairman Howard Stringer’s “Sony United” directive to airports and shopping malls as it tests a new Sony vending kiosk to sell products from many of the company’s disparate operations. The vending kiosks, which will be maintained and operated by Zoom Systems, will showcase and sell multiple formats of Sony recordable media, batteries, headphones, Walkman MP3 players and CD players, Sony digital cameras, Sony Pictures DVD and UMD videos, Sony music CDs, Vaio PC accessories and PlayStation games and PSP players. Sony is calling the new retailing approach “Sony Access,” and will use it to both sell Sony goods and promote its brand name and products, said Joe Stinziano, Sony Electronics media and applications solutions division senior VP.

Sony will roll out the test program Monday, starting with units in Atlanta’s Mall of Georgia, Flatirons Mall in Boulder, Colorado, and the Santa Rosa Mall in Santa Rosa, California USA. Next month a unit will be added in the Indianapolis Airport. Six additional locations will be added in the test period during July and August.

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