Sony NWZ-E436F Questions...

[defunct32]

I just bought Sony NWZ-E436F MP3 player a couple of days ago I love this player, but I've a couple of things I'm hoping I could get some insight on, thanks!

1. STANDBY MODE
The player will go into standby mode if there's no activity for 30 seconds I'm sure you guys noticed? I want to know if there is an option to disable this? I like my player to "stay awake" all the time, I know it's battery consuming but I just like it that way.

2. MAKING CHANGES
I noticed that changes will not take place even if you have made it directly in the player via Window Explorer, like I had this song called "No Boundaries" but there was a typo-- No Bondary so I changed the ID3 Tag in Windows Explorer by double-clicking and using Winamp to edit the ID3 Tag, when I did this the player said "Do Not Disconnect" indicating that it is applying the changes but after I discharged my player from my PC USB the typo is still there, I have to actually delete the file from my MP3 player device, make the changes on my PC and reupload the MP3 again for the changes to finally take effect, what gives?

3. WHAT IS THE BEST SOFTWARE (RECOMMENDATIONS)
To add album artwork and upload my tracks with *ease? WMP11 is horrible, Drag N Drop is cool but I don't like manually making folders for Artist and Album all these hierarchy business, I'm currently using Media Go 1.1 the program creates the folder for me and all that but it seems to add a "/" to my track number after uploading my MP3s to the player and if I disabled the Version 2 of the ID3 Tag the album art I've added will disappear am I not supposed to disable it? Is there any way to disable Media Go from entering information to the ID3V2 Tag?

4. MAKING A PLAYLIST
How do you make a playlist for NWZ-E436F? I've tried using Media Go 1.1 but each attempt resulted in failure, I don't know how to use WMP 11 to make a playlist, is there an easier way of doing this?

5. WINAMP SHUTTING DOWN
Everytime when I have my E436F device connected to the PC and have Winamp open as well, the latter would shut itself down, it would stay open for about 3 to 5 seconds before shutting down. Winamp only seems to work after I've disconnected my device. Any ideas?

6. MTP VS. USB
Which is better? I know how to switch between the two but I want to know which is the better "option" should I stick with MTP or with USB? I've issues with MTP one of them being Winamp often shutting down by itself and some other minor stuff. I just want to know if there are any additional benefits to using one type over the other? Anyone knows? Currently I'm using USB Mode instead of MTP.

Seems like everyone else is unhappy with the "Creating Library" issue, it seems to only happen when the device...

1. Is switched off (PWR OFF button) and LEFT FOR over 4 HOURS, once you power up the device again it'll recreate its library

2. After disconnecting from the PC regardless whether or not you upload or did anything to the PC/device/etc.

I guess that's it, it's such a neat device I love it but I might consider other Sony series as opposed to this one if I'm getting another MP3 player.

Any advice on my six questions? Thanks.

[CrowdAds]

[MattMc3]

I'm fairly new to Walkmans so I don't have all the answers, but I've had my S639 for a about a month now. Here is what I've found:

1. The player doesn't go into standby after 30 seconds, it starts a screensaver after 30 seconds (user adjustable). There isn't an option to have the screen "always on". I'm like you, there are times when I'd like to have the screen always on at the expense of less battery life.

2. The same thing happens on my S639. I found that if I changed my transfer mode to MSC instead of MTP I can edit tracks on the player (see question 6).

3. Can't help you out on this one. I use MP3Tag to manually edit all of my ID3 info (it writes both ID3 v1 and v2 tags). I drag-n-drop everything manually. I don't use media management/transfer software.

4. I don't use playlists.

5. Can't help you.

6. Do you mean MTP vs MSC (not USB)? Again, limited experience here. With MTP (default) you can easily connect and disconnect the player without having to go through the "safely remove hardware" option in the taskbar. The player will show up as a media device and not as a storage device with a standard drive icon. With MSC, you do have to use the "safely remove hardware" option when disconnecting. The player will show up as a standard storage drive icon instead of a media player. In MSC mode I can edit files on the player. I don't know if using MSC mode would prohibit the transfer/syncing from media management software?

The "creating library" only bothers some people. If it doesn't bother you and you are happy with the other features on the E-series then you might not want to upgrade to an S-series. I had an E-series player that I returned because I didn't like the "creating library" after being turned on from standby. FYI, the S-series does the "creating library" thing whenever it is disconnected from the computer, but not when being powered on from standby.

Hope this helps.

Matt

[CDMP3PlayerFan]

I have the 8GB version of your player (NWZ-E438F) and also a NWZ-A818 and I will do my best to help:

1. STANDBY MODE: It looks like you can't turn the screen saver function off, you can just select the type of screen saver you want (Clock or Blank).

2. MAKING CHANGES: I've had the same problem (for example when working with album art) and I've found the best way to handle it is to edit the file on your computer, delete the incorrect file from your player, and load the updated file from your computer to your player.

3. WHAT IS THE BEST SOFTWARE (RECOMMENDATIONS): I have had great success with MediaMonkey. Once set up it works flawless with both of my players, and I can arrange the music as I want on my hard drive and on my player. Due to its massive number of features, it does take a little while to figure the program out, but its worth the effort. Its main limitation is that it only works with music, not photos or video.

4. MAKING A PLAYLIST:

MediaMonkey will allow you to create playlists and put them on your player. You just make the playlist in MediaMonkey, and then tell it to sync the playlist to your player. You can also use playlists to control the music loaded on your player, that is how I control the music I load on my player.

You can also create and edit playlists via Windows Explorer. This thread contains instructions for creating playlists via Windows Explorer: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=43660. You can also add, delete, and reorder the playlist by opening it in Windows Explorer.

5. WINAMP SHUTTING DOWN: I don't use WinAmp so I can't provide any help here.

6. MTP VS. USB (MSC): I've only used my player as an MTP device and I've had no complaints with it. My experience with my e-book reader (which works as an MSC device) is less convenient since I can't just plug it in and have it available immediately (my system takes a little time to fully connect my reader to my computer) and must correctly disconnect my reader.

As far as the rebuilding library issue, for me the problem with my E-Series player isn't that it happens often, its that it take so long each time. With my E-Series player filled to near capacity, it rarely takes less than 1 minute before I'm able to use my player (one time it took more than 5 minutes for the library to rebuild). It wouldn't be much of a problem for me if it took no more than 10 seconds to rebuild the library each time. With my A-series player, the only time it rebuilds the library is when I add or delete files from the player.

I hope that helps.

[defunct32]

Hey guys, thanks so much for all of the replies I really appreciate it. Oh yeah I tried MediaMonkey it's great and I'm able to create a playlist w/ the program but it seems like I've to upload two of a particular song if I want it available in my playlist, does that make sense? Let's say I've this song in my MP3 library called "A" then I want "A" to be in my playlist, it creates but I saw two "A"s in my Music Library supposedly one is for my Music Library (for MP3 player) and the other is for the playlist, and both consume space. Haha, so I decided not to use any playlist at all.

And yeah, I figured the best way to edit is to delete the content on the player, make changes on the PC and reupload the content again. :\

Well, gotta make do with whatever I have now.

[CDMP3PlayerFan]

I'm glad I was able to help.

Concerning playlists, (using your example) although the song "A" and the "A" playlist share the same name, they are not the same files. The playlist file has the extension ".pla" and as far as I know only contains pointers to the playlist's songs on your player, and takes up little space on your player (I checked one of my playlists in Windows Explorer and it shows the file size as 0 bytes).

I find playlists to be very useful. I have a number of playlists that I regularly use, such as Favorties (songs rated 5 stars), and a Quicklist of songs that I always want to get to quickly. These (and other playlists) allow me to quickly get to the music that I want.

[Chocolate Truffle]

Is library mode serious problem? I bought one off eBay in hopes of waiting for X1000 price to drop. Doesn't all players take few seconds to update the library when unplugged from computer? I had Samsung P2 and it always updated its library whenever I plugged and unplugged it from USB port.

[MattMc3]

Originally Posted by strangesweet

Doesn't all players take few seconds to update the library when unplugged from computer?

Yes they do. But what is frustrating about the E-series is that it rebuilds its library whenever you power it on and it is not in "standby" mode. If you only have a few songs on it it might only take a second or two to rebuild a library, but it you have an 8GB model that is almost full it might take 30 seconds or more. The A and S series players only rebuild the library when disconnected from USB, not when powered on.

It's up to you to determine whether you can live with it or not. It doesn't bother some people. If you power your player on multiple times per day this probably won't be an issue. But if you turn your player on every couple of days it will rebuild the library every time.

Matt

[The DarkSide]

My S9, and the S639 & A829 I had, took seconds to start. The E Series is a ***fail***, and you deserve better - get something else, unless constant library rebuilding isn't something that irritates you. Me, I'd freq!!!! Upgrade, it's worth it.

[Chocolate Truffle]

How do you turn this player on? My first Sony.. bought used but has no manuals and USB.. so I don't know if it works or not, or it's just the battery.

Does anything appear on screen when it's out of battery?

I had Samsung P2 and it powered on at least then turned off with warning message.

[CDMP3PlayerFan]

Originally Posted by strangesweet

How do you turn this player on? My first Sony.. bought used but has no manuals and USB.. so I don't know if it works or not, or it's just the battery.

Does anything appear on screen when it's out of battery?

I had Samsung P2 and it powered on at least then turned off with warning message.

To turn on the player you just hit any button. How long it will take to be usable depends on how long the player has been off. As mentioned before, if it needs to rebuild the library it could take a little while before you can actually use the player.

BTW, although hitting and holding the Option button will power off the player, it actually puts the player into standby mode. Per the instruction book, if the player is in standby mode for 4 hours, it will completely power off. As far as charging messages go, the player will warn you that it needs to be charged when the battery power drops to a certain point.

If you need a manual for your player, visit the SonyStyle website. Your player's manual is available for download as a PDF.