SonicStage CP 4.2 Has Finally Arrived!!
Sony has provided two consecutive versions of SonicStage CP in just less than a month. SonicStage CP 4.1 debuted alongside the new NW-S70x series on October 21, 2006 and now the latest addition, SonicStage CP 4.2 is available for public download.
New features:
★ Importing and playing back in HE-AAC format is available.
- Format;*.3gp/
- It doesn’t support a copyrighted file.
★ Ripping Audio CD in HE-AAC format is available.
- Format;3gp
- Bit rate; 96kbps/80kbps/64kbps/48kbps/40kbps
★ DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) function is available. DSEE is a high-frequency completion technology developed by Sony that improves the quality of compressed audio and adds back in high frequencies that are often lost when audio is compressed. The resulting audio is closer to the original, more natural, and offers a wider sense of space.
Accordingly, SonicStage CP 4.2 now supports the following WALKMAN devices:
★ Hi-MD Walkman
★ Net MD Walkman
★ NW-E series
★ NW-A series
★ NW-S Series
★ NW-HD series
★ NW-MS Series
★ ATRAC CD Walkman
MODULE VERSION
SonicStage : 4.2.02.11020
SonicStage Add-on for Personal Audio Download : 4.2.02.11020
OpenMG Secure Module : 4.6.01.10041
MagicGate Memory Stick Device : 4.6.01.10041
NW-E2, NW-E3, NW-E5 and NW-E8P : 4.6.01.10041
OpenMG CD : 4.6.01.10041
M.S. PRO : 4.6.01.10041
CD Walkman : 4.6.01.10041
ATRAC Audio Device with Intelligent function : 4.6.01.10041
Hi-MD : 4.6.01.10041
Music Clip, NW-S4, NW-E7 and NW-E10 : 4.6.01.10041
ATRAC Audio Device : 4.6.01.10041
Net MD : 4.6.01.10041
EMD Plug-in: 4.2.02.11020
CD-R 書き込みモジュール(Audio CD/ATRAC CD/MP3 CD) : 4.2.02.11020
Px Engine: 2.7.33.500
DOWNLOAD LINKS: Sony Japan | Sony Europe | Sony USA | Sony Asia-Pacific | JEB
Wahoo finally!
lol probably the fastest 2 versions of sonicstage ever to come out! 
Downloading now, going to test it on the final RTM build Vista, and will report back, as soon as I have info…
Woot woot!
1st version of Sonicstage that appears to work with Vista!!! Been trying to break it, and I can’t Vista support seems fine..
watch out before u update ur SS.
I just tested it w/ my a1000, and it says that
i got to format a1000 in order to use it because my a1000 contains songs that were transferred using previous version of SS.
WTH SONY? stop making me formatting my devices.
will u ever learn?
For me, i’m using connect anyway, but it seems that sony made another mistake.
Is anybody able to find the difference in sound quality with DSEE ON?
I think that sony still did not solve the main problem. I cannot get my music back from the player. It keeps formating and removing all my tracks (I have two players and when I want to connect the other it reports that it needs authorisation).
What for have they invented something like Sonic Stage? It would be much easier to use drag and drop method in windows.
I’m sorry to say I shouldn’t have bought any sonty product.
DSEE actually does add some higher frequencies above the cutoff frequency of a file, but ONLY when played on the computer. No way to use this function on the unit.
Try playing an ATRAC3plus 48 kbps file through good headphones with and without DSEE - you will hear the difference. Frequency analysis in Adobe Audition also demonstrates that, but it also shows that frequencies are added in a “not quite linear” way.
As for NW-S706F, you do not need to format the device.
Another decent upgrade. I didn’t notice any immediate difference with DSEE on higher-bitrate tracks. I have a big ole’ “Connect” button in the upper-right section of the app. Performance seems slightly improved on my PC as well.
I do wonder about the continued inclusion of AAC codecs. What does Sony have planned for AAC and their portable music devices? A number of Sony Ericsson’s Walkman music phones support AAC, with the newest supporting HE-AAC as well. I suppose only time will tell, unless anyone has any real information about what may be coming…
hows the nw-a1000 navigation speed on the player when synchronizing with SS Cp4.2????
Does this CP 4.2 update support the Vaio Pocket?
Just updated from 4.1 without any issues so far.
This new DSEE thing sounds really cool… But I’ve been thinking: why is Sony focusing so much on sound quality? To me, it seems that if the iPod revolution proved anything, it’s that people don’t care that much about sound quality. If it’s ‘good enough’, then it’s okay. Could Sony be barking up the wrong tree yet again?
updated from 4.0 no problems. noticed a3000 now updates and loads faster when connected to crable or usb
The most important reason for supporting Sony is their dedicatino for better sound quality. Infact, there are many people who wants a good sound quality.
There are people who buy products based on quality, and do research on the products that they purchase. These does not seem like the market that purchase the iPod. I have always purchased sony products, base on several factors that some DMP do not have. One of them is sound quality. Good enough is okay, but I will pay a little extra money for the better sound.
Works quite well with Vista RC1 with no problems at all! Snappy, too!
This program is really lol. My nw e002 plays the songs with much better sound quality. With the previous versions there were several problems . The low freq sounds sucked up the whole song , but now , there are low and high freq sounds together. No problems at all. I like it!
hi, i own an nw-a3000, i use sonicstage cp 4.0, and i use mp3s not atrac or aac or whatever. Is it worth upgrading to 4.2?
Also i find when listenin on low volumes to songs, on the quiet parts i hear a constant hissing/ fuzzing noise (and also during track changes theres a very loud continous beep, although i dont know if that can be solved since its probably normal??) by the way i use decent headphones- creative ep630s
any idea how to fix this hissing noise? and will doing somethin in the new sonicstage or something help it?
the beep can be turned off in the options of the player, set to off.
Another incremental update from Sony. Not bad, but I still wish it could play tracks without gaps between them (they play just fine on my NW-S706). And there’s still no text-string search box in the upper right like iTunes has…or am I missing something obvious? We’re slowly getting there. Thanks Sony.
pixelchef,
That feature has been part of sonicstage since it’s hayday. On the left hand side you see the “View” and the “sort by” drop down menus? Under “VIEW” you do “ALL TRACKS” and then when you type into the search field, it filters out songs that don’t match the text-string that you inputted.
Anyway, my experience with SonicStage 4.2 has been really good. I think the load time has really shortened by quite a bit, and I havn’t really had any stability problems with it since the 3.x incarnations…
but then again, each revision’s main purpose is to support more codecs and features, so in theory it should get better and better… LOL
Intrigued said:
That hissing noise is a hardware issue so it would be difficult to remove. Only way I can think of would be to use some sort of filter in line with the headphones. I think the hissing noise is bought on by resistance in the circuitry, and also through amplification. I was very impressed with the sound quality of my MD-NH700, there was almost no hiss, I personally don’t mind the hiss too much on my A3000 because I listen to lots of loud music
.
About upgrading to the new Sonicstage, it depends whether you’re happy with the current version and if the new features would be useful for you, I can’t really answer that. I personally like to keep everything as up-to-date as possible.
pixelchef said:
Hey pixelchef,
There is a text-string search, which has been in previous incarnations of SonicStage from as far back as I can remember. On the middle left side of Sonicstate, there are two drop down menus “View” and “Sort By”..
the default i think is View/Albums, Sort by/Artist…
What you want to do is select VIEW=> “ALL TRACKS”, and then as you type words it filters out songs that don’t match your criteria
As for the rest of the SS4.2 discussion, I think this version keeps moving SonicStage into the right direction. Is it just me or does SonicStage seem to open up hella quick now compared to before?
Still hasnt crashed on me yet, though I’ve had pretty good experiences since Sonicstage 3.x (Been using since the OpenMG days… tried out Connect player too, and that one really didn’t like either of my systems…)
But yeah, good work Sony for this update to SonicStage!
whoops! Sorry for the double entry, I didn’t realize the postings were moderated and I replied twice since i didn’t think my first post went through
My bad! -_-
no text searching box? why would sony leave that out of SS and have it in CP? wierd.
What would be nice is search capability while in album/artist view mode. The search box could filter out only the albums/artists/tracks that are related to what you typed in…
One thing I’ve always wanted to see with SS is something I think I saw once on a Connect player screenshot: expanded album view. I like Album View in general, but it would be great to see the list of tracks in an album or playlist without having to double-click on it and go to a new window. It’d be similar to an Explorer-like view, I guess.
Once Sony figures out how to make it real easy for users to move their Library around (like iTunes - drag the whole folder to a new computer and re-authorize for any purchased tracks), I will be VERY happy.
I want to smash my NW-HD1! My screen went out on my walkman so I can’t see what I am doing which is very difficult to do sonsidering my buttons wolk half the time. I have had so much trouble with sonic stage and my player. I have had to FORMAT my walkman time after time. Huge pain in my…
Smashed.
has anyone experienced the following error
“omgjbox.exe has encountered a problem” and then it closes. so annoying.
I am using windows Xp with Service pack 2. I decided to switch to this as I was having so much greif with Connect. When I installed Sonic Stage on a pc running under Windows 2000 there was no problem it worked so sweet. However on my principal computer with XP it has proved to be a very stressfull encounter
any help would be appreciated
Marty,
I can’t help you but if you make a posting under the appropriate forum, you may get some help. Click on the very tiny word “forums” at the top of the blog. I know it’s easy to miss. It was months before I noticed there was anything more to this website than just the blog.
Once you get to the forums page, scroll down and click on “Software Discussion”
Cheers
Thanks
I finally succumbed to this and I hate it already. Firstly I had to reformat my NWA3000 and it’s currently taken over an hour to transfer 300 songs (only another 1900 to go…). It keep saying “Converting” but they are WMA files!! And I’ve got firmware v3 and had nothing like this trouble with Connect Player.
Can anyone help. i have a NW-A3000 and when i install sonicstage it all works fine and dandyo. when i try to transfer an album though thats a different story.
The device screen says transfer in progress and looks like its working but then it pops up with a box and says unable to transfer. it then acts as though my player isnt even connected and i have to unplug the cable and try again.
any ideas????????????
a couple of questions if someone can help me out:
1) this new DSEE setting - does it only impact on importing or on transferring too? If it impacts transferring, is it retroactive? in that will it improve sound quality when transferring files that have already been imported without DSEE functioning? if you follow me…
2) what recommendation are there for achieving best sound quality on NWA1000 - what transfer settings should i be using?
many thanks for any feedback
rumblefish said:
Answer to 1: SonicStage’s DSEE feature is only for playback on the PC; no impact whatsover on file transfer.
Answer to 2: If capacity is not an issue, aim for ATRAC3plus 352kbps or 256kbps. Otherwise, use ATRAC3plus 192kbps - this bit rate is ideal if you need to conserve capacity while keeping acceptable SQ.
Should you have further queries, please feel free and venture within our forum.
Ishii -many thanks - that’s very useful…
I just got the NW-E003F. I tried to install the Sonic Stage software and a message keeps popping up saying ‘Install path not specified (21009)’. I tried downloading it from there website and the same thing happened. I meet all the requirements so I don’t know what is going on. I called Sony and they said it is my computer but couldn’t tell my. Does anyone know how I can fix this or why my computer is doing this…
Hi guys,
well, quite interesting, this 4.2 version BUT since I own the W950i Walkman Smartphone by Sony Ericsson I have to continue to use Apple iTunes. SS 4.2 is not supporting .MP4 files with proper ID Tag encoding inside so that Sony Ericsson Walkman Phones could play such files. What a shame on Sony!
Almost all my music was in ATRAC format, as I owned in the passed, MiniDisc Walkmen, Harddisk Walkmen. Then I switched over to the W950i and all my ATRAC stuff went obsolet. Another shame on Sony! Since Sony Ericsson is a 50/50 joint venture of both companies why don’t you let the Walkman Phones play ATRAC???
At least I tried to stick with SS because I love this program with all its charme and bugs.
But no chance, Sony! You made me hate my Sony Vaio and my Sony Ericsson Walkman Smartphone and my Sony Sonic Stage!
I am on my second Sony whatever.. mp3.. walkman… NW-E003F (I returned the first “bean” kuz it was awkward) and am ready to drive my car over it - repeatedly!! SonicStage has caused me nothing but grief! I had the 3.4 and downloaded 4.2 today. My library swelled to an astounding 8,000 tracks!! Some tracks were listed 2 - 3 even 4 times!! Now, I admit that I am not the sharpest tack in the pack when it comes to this stuff… But COME ON!! There has to be an easier way. I am wishing now that I would have stuck with my old Rio player that worked with Windows Media player…. aaaarrrrggghhh!!
((Don’t worry… I’ll get there…. just needed a little vent!))
Happy New Year!
At the moment im using the Connect Player version 1.04 etc (the latest one) however im considering converting it over to sonicstage. Is it really worth the trouble? My mp3 player works ok so i really want to make sure im not making a mistake before changing to sonicstage
Thanks to all
Ben
Why Sony focusing so much on sound quality? Because we use our ‘ears’ to listen music instead of ‘watch’ music. Everyone try to get the ipox because of trend, outlook and the brend but not the sound quality… Did any one will to afford more money to buy a headphone with good quality instead of those colourful Silicone Skins for their player… that’s why sony insist their focusing on sound quality!!
Nav said:
I loaded SS4.2 (replacing 4.1) but now SS wont show Groups. I tried downloading the patch again (available from this site) but it still doesnt work. Any ideas please?
Nikkie said:
I’m have the exact same problem with a Samsung Notebook. I’ve turned off all Anti-Virus Software and it still occurs.
Can anyone help?
Just spent Hours feeding my CD’s into SS 4.2 Only to find because Gracenote is so crap many titles are incomplete.
Take Acoustic 04 for example if you google gracenote and look up the album all appears fine. The tracks are listed and the search returns what you would expect.
O.K. over to SS 4.2 Import the 2 CD’s and on CD 1 tracks 4,9,11,12,16,18 & 20 are not recognised as part of that Album.
Fine you say just edit the album title and it should accept it as part of the album - does it hell.
So for one album I have 13 tracks recognised as that album and the other seven tracks as individual entries.
A one-off I here you cry - Not so, this is about the seventh album out of approx 40 that has missing entries in it !!!!
Try optimise I hear you say - Doesn’t work they still show as unique albums with the same name but with one track.
It NEEDS a feature where you can force a track to become part of an album listing.
The database system is poor and gracenote shows up these errors all to often - missing artwork or tracks.
I have the bloody tracks they are there on the sodding CD but I cannot get the software to accept it is part of the album. It insists on creating the album again with one track in it !!!!!!
Bloody Frustrating !!!!!!!!!
Error 21009 is driving me nuts! Help me please before my computer lands on the floor! I’m trying to install version 4.2 that I downloaded because I thought that version 3.2 off the CR rom wasn’t working. But neither one works. It says that I haven’t specified an Install Path! I’ve tried every folder on my computer. What have you guys done to fix this? Thanks.
I bought an NW-S203f 1gb mp3 player,but when i transfer mp3 files to the atrac device(player) it says unable to transfer………………can ne1 plz help
One big Problem which Sony have failed to see …. is when transferring tracks to the player the play list can some times be in the incorrect order and you have No way to edit this … as they have failed to edit the tags in the program.
For example select an album that has been transferred to sonicstage then open then go and highlight a track and then edit drop down box on top menu you can move the track up or down … that’s fine but as soon as you have transferred the list over to mp3 player (so sonic is showing two screens) you can not move tracks up or down on the side which controls mp3 player… Not always a problem but is one major headache when you are trying to listen to chapters in an audio book and it has labelled itself chapter 1 4 3 and 2) … ok you can still do a play list option which is fiddly to say the list but then you loose the option to store it via artists ext …. Sony this is a great mp3 player but this software needs tweaking …. Drag and drop like the ipod would of made more sense.
Hi,
Can’t establish a proper connection from NW-E407 -device to my Vista pc. The old Sonicstage-version is apparently not compattible with Vista, but Sonicstage CP 4.3 does’nt work either.
Error display: “The connection between the device and the computer is unstabel. Disconnect and reconnect them”
….Nothing!
What am I missing?
Paul
Same problem! When I connect my NW-E003F it says “the connection between the device and the computer is unstable…” I deleted all my tracks to try and fix the problem and now I have a useless mp3 player…Help!!
Exactly the same with my NW-E002F…don’t know what to do from here!
I’ve bought a new pc with Vista and my sony sonicstage version 4.0 won’t work. It saved ok and I started ripping my CDs and, although I had to save CDs as MP3 rather than ATRAC, it was working fine. Imagine my annoyance when I just started my PC to carry on ripping my CDs and it wouldn’t let me open the program!!! I’ve uninstalled it but can anyone let me know if they have had the same experience? NOTHING I’ve tried to set up on my new PC seems to work and I’m getting really fed up!
hey i have a problem. i am using vista starter and my sonicstage version is 4.3.
i am trying to connect my sony nw-e003 mp3 player and i have got an error massage.
the connection between my player and pc is unstable, disconnect and reconnect them. (as PAUL, KAtherine, GAVİN) it says me to delete all tracks but i couldn’t. it gave me another fail massage… please help!!!
Same problem! When I connect my NW-E005F it says “the connection between the device and the computer is unstable…” I deleted all my tracks to try and fix the problem and now I have a useless mp3 player…Help!! Rather FM tuner tried formatting and everything no use , using SonicStage 4.3
i have just got a new laptop with vista home premium on it just downloaded the new sonicstage and it wont work it starts to load the just when it says loading UI components it says ‘a problem has caused sonicstage to stop working’ any suggestions to get it fixed? i have already contacted sonicstage about it but didn’t get anywhere
i was wondering if there is a sonicstage out there that works on the new vista computer ..i have a cd to upload sonicstage but it only works on everything but vista so is there a soicstage that works on vista??
same to me: new laptop with vista, new s203f, result: the connetion between the device and the computer is unstable …
Daniel, i have exactly the same problem.
Also a new laptop with vista and a new NW-S202F pm3 player.
Same problem with the device and the computer is unstable ….
I am wondering if vista supports SonicStage ?
Did you solved it already ?
Kind regards.
Similar to my situation: Desktop with vista (upgrade installed March ‘07), NW-A3000, version 3 firmware, SS 4.3. Used to work perfectly well until I connected the player to the PC last December and got the message: the connection between the device and the computer is unstable … I initiallsed my plaver as suggested, still the same. Now I cannot use my player. What can I do to solve this problem?
Same problem…………….
How do you record continuous mixed cd’s, or continuous live recordings without having a small gap between tracks??????????
If anyone can help me here I promise i’ll look after you in the afterworld!!!!
Like everyone above,
I have the same problem with the connection, which the program indicates as unstable.
It was working fine till yesterday but now I cant do anything and the error code 000066d7 is gonna drive me mad.
is there somebody out there to help ???
Having the same problem with the NW-A1000. Has sony bothered to answer anyone of you ?
I encounter the same issue as well.. “Connection between the device and computer unstable..”
can someone give me some advice I have a sony nwa 3000 with 800 tracks on it I used the connect software to transfer the music until it became obsolite,if I used sonic stage on windows xp sp 2 to add more tracks would it wipe the hard drive for the player reformat the tracks on it or would I have to reload the whole player from scratch,also the battery only lasts 3 hours if im lucky after being charged this is nowhere near the stated life of the charged battery,im dissapointed sony.
Same Problem: “the connection between the device and the computer is unstable”.
Operating system: Windows Vista Business
Sony Walkman:NW-S230F
SonicStage Version: I’ve tried both 4.0 and 4.3 but got the same error.
please help me……..send me an email at meknuyen@yahoo.com….because my mp3 walkman (NW-E002F) doesn’t work properly… i format and reset, but the files needed to run as an mp3 does not appear….sonic stage did not recognize the player so i am not able to transfer music to my mp3…HELP ME PLEASE…thanks