sony/sonicstage software

hi guys , just wondering is there anybody in majorgeeks who is pretty familar with sony's digital madia software called sonicstage or anyone got any good links to good up to date related forums.
some questions include:
1 - how to find the music files on the computer outside the prog.
2 - Is there any software that will convert the files from atrac coding etc
thanks to anyone who can be of any help

oh yeah i'm running version 3.2 which often gives me small trouble , i had version 4 but it was extremely troublesome so had to uninstall , and im using it with a sony NWHD-5, thanks

 

I use a Sony NW-HD3 (I think, such a catchy name it's a surprise I can't remember it!) so I use Sonicstage to create all my MP3's.

Hopefully I can answer your questions -

1) In Sonicstage if you go into File (left menu along the top), Import you will find something like search folders. Essentially you can use this to either always search one specified folder (eg My Music) or change the location it searches to suit you. I don't see any reason you couldn't just ask it to search My Computer and find every audio file on the PC if you wanted to.

2) Not that I'm aware of. I use SonicStage 3.2 which I highly recommend if you are using an older version, never had any problems with it. In the options menu in this you can just set to record to MP3 (and turn off copy protection) instead of ATRAC. Then apply your changes to the basic format and you'll have great software which doesn't cause you hassle in future re-recording a new format or copying files to a new PC.

NW-HD5 plays MP3 as well as ATRAC so you'll have no problem with the new files. If memory is an issue then I suggest turning recording quality down to about 128kbps (variable bit rate), I don't find any noticable quality difference at that level (and on in ear headphones the phones are always the weak point).

Good luck, any other questions I'll see if I can help.

Alex