Sony Connect Player software problems? Check here for tips.

This article is intended to help people who are experiencing problems with Sony Connect Player software. I’ll also try to put the scale of the problems into perspective.

[Update 27th May 2006]

Sony has released an update to SonicStage called SonicStage CP Version 4. This version supports all of the enhanced functions of the NW-A Series Walkman mp3 players - it appears to have none of the problems exhibited by Connect Player. SilvaBokis recommends you download it and give it a try. Check out this link for more information

[End of Update]

In December Sony shipped the NW-A1000, NW-A3000 and NW-A605/7/8 Walkman models. These models have a new music management program called Sony Connect Player that replaces the previous software, Sonicstage.

I bought an NW-A3000 on the first day they went on sale. My own experience of the first release of Sony Connect Player was a nightmare. The software was unusably slow, hogged system resources, crashed, corrupted song databases. These experiences were echoed by other users on various websites.

I the month that followed Sony released two updates to the original Sony Connect Player software. The updated version of Sony Connect Player works very well on my home PC. I haven’t changed the PC – so the software updates seem to have resolved my particular problems.

How bad is the problem?

Many people have no problem with Sony Connect Player. It installs perfectly and works well for them. It seems that the majority of these people bought their Walkman after the first Sony Connect Player upgrade in mid December. For confirmation of generally happy customers (there are some unhappy ones too) check out Amazon reviews here, here and here.

The fact that other people are happily using Sony Connect Player doesn’t really help those users who are having problems – and it looks like a lot of people have got problems. Check out the Gen Kanai blog for a very long thread about the trials and tribulations of using Sony Connect Player.

What is the cause of the problems?

I believe there are 2 primary causes of problems - PC specification and size of digitised music collection.

If you have a low spec PC and/or you have a large (>3,000 song) digitised music collection then you may experience performance problems with Sony Connect Player.

If you have a high spec PC and/or you have a small digitised music collection or it's your first MP3 player and you're digitising from scratch then the odds are that you won't have a problem. That isn't a promise, but it is what I have observed from my own experience and that of others.

Some fixes for problems with Sony Connect Player

Here are some fixes for common problems. I will add more as they become available.

What to do if you can’t get past the Sony Connect Player License Agreement screen because you can’t see the checkboxes that need ticking.

The following advice came fom Sony Tech support:

*Follow the onscreen prompts until you reach the [License Agreement] screen.
*On the [License Agreement] screen, if the radio buttons to select whether you agree or disagree with the license have not been created, press the [Tab] button four times and then left arrow key once, The [Next] button should no longer be greyed out, please click on it.
*Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation.
*If the [next] button is still greyed out when following the above steps please can you restart your computer, follow the steps above but this time when you reach the License Agreement screen press the [Tab] key once and then the [left arrow] key once. If the [next] button is now active please click on it and follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation.

What to do if importing a large MP3 collection is very slow and sometimes crashes Sony Connect Player

This was the main problem I experienced with the first version of Sony Connect Player.

Solution 1 - I managed to get over 8,000 songs onto my NW-A3000 by doing the following:

• Disconnect the Walkman from the PC while importing tracks. This prevents the Sony Connect Player from trying to simultaneously import tracks and synchronise them to the Walkman.
• Set up a watch folder pointing to an empty folder. Add a number of your MP3s to that folder & let them import. Connect Walkman & Synch tracks. Close Connect. Use Task Manager to ensure that Cplayer & tinyhttp are closed. Disconnect Walkman. Open Connect & repeat process.

Solution 2 – Download and install SonicStage 3.3. This alternative Sony music management software is a lot more stable than Sony Connect Player. It works with the new Walkman models but a few features are disabled (Artist Link, Song ratings). So not every feature on the Walkman works but the most important ones – loading and listening to songs – are reliable for most users.

I will update this article as more problems/solutions are discovered. Ask a question using the comments facility below and I’ll try to answer it.

NB. Please don’t post abusive comments about Sony or the Sony Connect Player – they will be edited or removed. I know that software problems are very frustrating but this is a place where I want to present answers not arguments. I’d like this page to develop into an FAQ where visitors can easily find solutions - I won’t let it degrade into a public slanging match. Thank you.

Comments

[Amy]

Hi I have the same problem as Mick, if anyone knows the answer please post it! What's happened to Silva? I recently had my hard drive replaced and lost all my songs, they're on my player but not all will transfer back to my computer. I get the error message 'Tracks that do not exist in My Library are selected. Cannot transfer the tracks deleted from My Library to the computer.' If anyone knows how to get past this post on my lj. Thank you very much for reading!

[Sofia Loja]

Hi!
I have a problem with my Sony walman , the model is NW-E103, everything was fine with the songs and everything but just a week ago the message: file error & cannot play started appearing in some of the songs in my walman, I've tried formatting the walkman but it's impossible , when i choose "format" from the menu in the walkman and then "yes" a message of "memory error" appears and the format process never starts. I also tried formatting my sony walman with windows but nothing happens. What can I do, I don't mind losing the songs as long as it continues working....is the a program to force the formatting into the NW-E103 , how can I format this thing?????????please Help

[ADW]

The journey using sony software has been a pretty tiresome one (hardware great which is why we are all so frustrated) but I've finally got all my tracks on only to find there seems to be a limit of 999 tracks on a playlist even though it allowed me to copy 1500 tracks. does anyone know if sony are aware of the problems are have they just jumped a sinking ship. I'm grateful for pages like this for those who are still prepared to wade through the awful software. My question is can you increase the playlist limit?

[Elikem]

hi,i just got a sony walkman mp3 player(NW-E002F) and after using it for sometime,it said "NO DATABASE" and all the tracks are missing from the mp3 player.i dont know whether i deleted anything the device needs to function or not.I NEED HELP!!!!!

[Danielle]

I have had my connect player for quite a while now but when I go to transfer songs the songs that are already on the device are not highlighted and it keeps saying the portable device NW-A3000 failed to initalize and cannot be used? Can any1 help me on how to solve this? XxX

[Elya]

hi,i just got a sony walkman mp3 player(NW-E002F) and after using it for sometime,it said "NO DATABASE" and all the tracks are missing from the mp3 player.i dont know whether i deleted anything the device needs to function or not.I NEED HELP!!!!!

[esther Gunben]

NW-A605 mp3 player. I lost the software and I cant upload latest songs into it..Care to help me?

[Lance]

hi i have a sony mp3 NW-A605 and i have lost the sonic stage CD where can i download it from plzzz help me i am frustrated listening to the same old songs

[kirsty]

my mp3 has the v3 firmware update but songs arent in alphabetical order what cna i do? thanks

[Dilip]

Thanks..! i had the problem of tabs not being created, got it resolved.. thanks once again.. :)

[Kelly]

Hi Silva,

My CONNECT player had always work till now. I can't seem to open it. I tried deleting it then installing it again but it still doesn't open :(

[Ade]

Hi, i have had my walkman for 4 years and have largely had few problems. The only one i have is if i'm trying to burn a cd from the connect program, it keeps coming up with error message, formatt not recognised, how come?
Ade