Sony Connect (SonicStage) 3.3

Publisher's description of Sony Connect (SonicStage)

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Download the latest version of the Connect player and access the Connect music store, one of the world's largest music download stores. It's your online source for today's chart-topping hits, emerging artists from independent labels, all your old favorites, plus exclusive tracks you simply can't find anywhere else. You can download your tunes to listen on your PC, then burn a CD to play in your car or home stereo. Or transfer your songs to over 3 dozen different Sony portable audio devices such as the new HD3 Network Walkman.

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User reviews of Sony Connect (SonicStage)

• Average user rating: out of 123 votes
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  Sony Connect (SonicStage)

  if only I had another choice!

  by: martinw1200 on 05-Jan-2006 04:14:59 PM

  Cons: As far as I know, this program is the only way I can use my sony mp3 player. The program is amazingly slow and unstable. It took me literally hours to download the 5 free songs you get with the player, and install them onto the player. Hasn't Sony heard of the thing called "drag and drop"?!

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  Sony Connect (SonicStage)

  It's EDLIN anew!

  by: Arash on 11-Jun-2007 06:03:32 AM

  Pros: Even in the latest version (4.3) SonicStage cannot move a song into another 'album'. Files are moved randomly AND often erroneously into folders called albums without the option to move files around. Isn't it disgusting SONY should have chosen this for a device called Digital Walkman player and a bunch of others?

  Cons: This is a lame, shame, impotent piece of septicware where most basic functionalities are absent. Play your music randomly till you're tired or debilitated.

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  Sony Connect (SonicStage)

  Steer clear of this garbage!

  by: Nuke Baby on 20-Feb-2007 09:04:50 PM

  Pros: Nothing!

  Cons: So much for the "free" downloads That I won in a Coca-Cola point redemption. This software is VERY buggy and crashes CONSTANTLY. The user interface is just plain, well...stupid. The downloads are slower than molasses rolling uphill in winter! To top it off, the music selection is crap. You have to know exactly what album or song you want to download. The "similar artists" search keeps yielding the same 5 bands! They have a ton of "world music" artsy-fartsy crap-ola, but very little classic rock and metal. My heart goes out to those people with portable Sony audio devices...you should have purchased...(gulp) an Ipod.

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  Sony Connect (SonicStage)

  worst software i have ever used in my life.. really disapointed

  by: eric2mrng on 28-Jan-2006 06:42:46 PM

  Pros: 1)Almost all the sony mp3 hardware this software comes with are great lookin, affordable with great specs such as battery life etc..

  2)software is a nice colour (blue).

  3)decent sound quality after compression into atrac format. small sized files etc

  Cons: 1) Unstable, this software randomly crashes for no apparent reason.

  2) Very picky about what songs it can transfer..

  3) It hates the older versions of the software.. no compatibility at all.. e.g if you had version 3.2 (like i did) and upgraded to this 3.3 version, it wont let you transfer anymore songs onto your mp3 until you initialize (delete/format) your mp3 and start over. (which is a pain if you have a big collection)

  4) very slow importing songs (im using p4 3.2 processor with 2gb ram and its still slow)

  5) when converting to atrac format it wraps copyright protection all over it so it'll be difficult if you use multiple computers or share music when your at friends house.

  6) your stuck with it, there is no alternative software if your using a sony mp3 player (that isnt flash)

  7) installation is from server. difficult if you upgraded from 3.2 to 3.3 and looking to downgrade back to 3.2

  8) even though you can turn off this option SS automatically saves a version of your converted atrac onto your drive taking up lots of room. usually found in (c:/documents setting/all users/sonicstage/packages/importedfiles)

  9) if you decide to delete the "backup" (i mentioned at point 8) to save disk space (like i did) you'll lose the ability to transfer your atrac songs on your sony mp3 BACK onto your pc which is ridiculous.

  10)theres more issues like grouping issues etc that other reviewers have mentioned so read up.. so i wont bore you with anymore..

  so yeah, sony mp3's are great pieces of hardware.. but the software.. destroys the whole point of havin an mp3 (which is to jus njoy good music) and replaces it with stress stress and an empty wallet.

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  Sony Connect (SonicStage)

  Huge and poorly constructed

  by: titch_the_clown on 12-Jan-2006 04:29:57 AM

  Pros: Will rip to multiple formats

  Will (eventually) do as told

  The Sony Hardware it is designed to work with is brilliant.

  Cons: Instalation is huge and unintelligent

  Don't spend 15 minutes downloading directx I tell it but it has not checked and it does not listen when I tell it I have already got a perfectly good directx.

  After loading I spend a few fruitless hours before I discover that I can only download microphone recordings if I save them to the desktop. Sonic Stage insists my hard drive either does not exist or it does not have access to it for donloading microphone recordings, in spite of it being quite happy to rip CDs to anywhere on the hard drive.

  When I created an Atrac CD to play on my car stereo I accidentally clicked on the transfer button twice for one album - no "do you want me to over write" message or similar appears. Machine happily copies album over to atrac CD twice.

  It takes forever to recognise attached hardware. worst of all it does not remember that the computer has a CD drive - EVERY TIME I START THE SOFTWARE.

  If their software was half as good as their hardware I would be 100 times as happy.

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