iTunes syncing with Sony MP3 players?

[nataku]

Hey all

I am going to buy the new Sony NW-S705F noise canceling mp3 player. I was a bit worried that it doesn't have any Mac OS support, although it mounts as a mass storage device, but music transfer can only be done using the SonicStage software.

I was wondering if anyone out there has a Network Walkman (any), can you try syncing some of your music from iTunes to the device? I found software that will allow you to do so, but I want to be absolutely sure that it will work. It's called iTunemyWalkman and SyncTunes

Can you guys try it out for me? I would really appreciate it. Please don't give me solutions like "buy an iPod instead" or "install XP via bootcamp".

Thanks

 

[Sesshi]

No it won't work.

The Sony phones will work with iTuneMyWalkman, because being somewhat more sensible than their 'pure Walkman' counterparts the bods at Sony Ericsson make their phones USB Mass Storage compliant for music as well. The Sony flash players are not USB Mass Storage compliant for music, just data only. The music is stored in a encrypted format (regardless of the fact that you can keep music for Sony players on the PC in an unencrypted format these days).

As for the NW-xxxx series, you have no choice but to run Sonicstage in Boot Camp or Parallels (Boot Camp highly recommended although it will more or less work in Parallels). Either way it is far, far too much hassle to go through just to get music on, even discounting the fact that Sonicstage is probably the biggest steaming pile of turd out there in terms of music management software.

Despite what you said, I would say buy an iPod - and a pair of Shure or Etymotic earphones. Not only will this provide superior sound quality to what Sony is shipping, it will also give more effective noise isolation and be a much better Mac-friendly package as well.

If you're of the 'iPod is for sheep' persuasion, look at iAudio (U3) and iRiver (Clix) flash players and pair it up with the aforesaid Shure/Etymotic phones. Both are drag & drop capable to work with iTuneMyWalkman. Not as good as the Sony/iPod sonically, but they do offer quite a lot more in the way of features.