Sony NWZ-A815BLK - 2gb Digital Music Player User manual

Copy right © 2007. Sony Creativ e Softw are Inc.
All Rights Reserv ed
Revised December 6, 2007
You can use Media Manager for WALKMAN software to find photos, music, videos, and RSS media feeds on
your computer and transfer them to your WALKMAN.
Go Pro
WA LKMAN s upports the use of .mp4 video files that are Q V GA s ize (32 0 x240) and c onform to thes e
profiles: M P E G4-Simple P rofile, A V C Baseline P rofile v1 .2 , v1 .3 .
Video encoding of other formats is available only in M edia M anager P RO for WA LKMA N.
Notice: T his c omputer program is protected by c opyright laws and international treaties. U nauthorized reproduction or
distribution of this program, or any portion of it, may res ult in s evere civil and criminal penalties, and will be pros ecuted to the
maximum extent possible under the law.
http://www.s onycreativesoftware.c om
Sony C reative Software Inc . may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, c opyrights, or other intellectual property
rights c overing subject matter in this document. E xcept as express ly provided in any written lic ens e agreement from Sony
Creative Software Inc. the furnis hing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, c opyrights,
or other intellectual property.
Walkman, WA LKMA N, and WA LKMAN logo are registered trademarks of Sony C orporation.
Music rec ognition technology and related data are provided by Gracenote®. Grac enote is the industry s tandard in mus ic
recognition technology and related content delivery. For more information visit www.grac enote.com.
Page 1

Symbol
Meaning
Drop-down text: c lick to dis play more information. C lick again to hide the drop-down text.
Note: provides additional information.
Tip: provides a s hortc ut or an alternate means of performing a task.
Warning: important information that you need to know before performing a task.
Underlined Text
Link: C lick the blue underlined word to jump to another topic . C lick the Back button to return to
the previous topic.
Underlined Text
Popup: C lick the green underlined word to view a popup definition or graphic . C lick outside the
popup window to close it.
Command
Keyboard Shortcut
Toggle between panes
F6
Scroll
Up/Down A rrow
Open selected book
Enter or Right A rrow
Close s elected book
Enter or Left A rrow
Open selected link
Enter (when right-hand pane is ac tive)
Toggle selected link
Tab or Shift+T ab (when right-hand pane is active)
Toggle C ontents, I ndex, Searc h, and Favorites tabs
Ctrl+T ab (when left-hand pane is ac tive)
Contents = A lt+C
Index = A lt+N
Search = A lt+S
Favorites = A lt+I
Back
Alt+Left A rrow
Forward
Alt+Right A rrow
Print topic
Ctrl+P
Using the Online Help
The Media Manager for WALKMAN online help contains help for all of the features in Media Manager for
WALKMAN software. The online help window functions the same as other Microsoft HTML help programs. For
information on using the standard window commands, refer to the Microsoft online help.
Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the online help conventions.
What do you want to do?
Graphical conventions The help window Help window keyboard shortcuts
Page 2

Legal Notices
Sony C reative Software Inc . may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, c opyrights, or other intellectual property
rights c overing subject matter in this document. E xcept as express ly provided in any written lic ens e agreement from Sony
Creative Software Inc., the furnis hing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks,
copyrights, or other intellectual property.
For your convenience, M edia Manager for WA LKMA N provides links to various feeds via the Directory. U s ers s hould exercise
their own judgment in viewing any of the feeds as you may find s ome of the content objectionable. Sony C reative Software Inc.
makes no representations regarding the content of the feeds , the ac c uracy and reliability of such c ontent, or any information
related thereto. The views express ed in the feeds are those of the author of the feeds and do not necessarily repres ent the
views of Sony C reative Software Inc. Furthermore, the inclusion of these feeds is not intended to reflect any endors ement or
support by Sony C reative Software Inc. I f you have a concern, please report it to Customer Service.
12 Tone Analysis
"12 T O N E A N A LYSIS" and its logo are trademarks of Sony C orporation.
Apache
Copyright 200 7 Sony C reative Software I nc .
Licensed under the A pache License, V ersion 2 .0 (the "Lic ens e"); you may not us e this file except in compliance with the
License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apac he.org/licenses/LI C EN SE-2.0 .
Unless required by applic able law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "A S
IS" BA SIS, WI T H O U T WA RRA NTIES O R C O NDITIONS O F A NY KIND, either express or implied. See the Lic ens e for the
specific language governing permissions and limitations under the Lic ense.
Apple QuickTime
Apple® Q uickTime® application is a trademark of A pple, Inc. in the U nited States and other c ountries.
FLAC/Ogg File Formats
©2007, Xiph.org Foundation
Neither the name of the Xiph.org Foundation nor the names of its c ontributors may be us ed to endorse or promote products
derived from this s oftware without specific prior written permission.
This s oftware is provided by the copyright holders and c ontributors “as is ” and any expres s or implied warranties , inc luding,
but not limited to, the implied warranties of merc hantability and fitness for a partic ular purpos e are disclaimed. In no event
shall the foundation or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, inc idental, s pecial, exemplary, or c onsequential
damages (inc luding, but not limited to, procurement of subs titute goods or s ervices; loss of us e, data, or profits ; or
business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, s trict liability, or tort (including
negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this s oftware, even if advis ed of the pos s ibility of such damage
Gracenote
CD and music-related data from Grac enote, I nc ., c opyright © 2000-2007 Gracenote. Gracenote C DDB® C lient Software,
copyright 200 0-2007 Gracenote. T his product and s ervice may practice one or more of the following U.S. P atents :
#5 ,987,525; #6 ,061,680; #6 ,154,773, #6 ,161,132, #6 ,230,192, #6 ,230,207, #6 ,240,459, #6 ,330,593, and other
patents iss ued or pending. Servic es s upplied and/or devic e manufac tured under lic ense for following O pen Globe, Inc.
United States P atent 6,304,523.
Gracenote and C DDB are registered trademarks of Gracenote. T he Grac enote logo and logotype, M us icID, and the
"Powered by Grac enote" logo are trademarks of Grac enote.
Portions of the content are c opyright © M uze or its providers.
Main Concept encoder
Main C oncept® plug-in is a trademark of regis tered trademark of M ain C oncept, I nc . in the U nited States or other
countries. A ll rights res erved.
Microsof t Windows Media 9
Portions utilize Micros oft Windows M edia® T echnologies . C opyright © 199 9 – 2 0 0 7 M icrosoft C orporation. A ll rights
reserved.
Page 3

MPEGLA and MPEG 2
USE O F THIS P RO DUCT I N A N Y M A N N E R T H A T C O M P LIES WI T H T H E M P E G-2 ST A NDARD IS EXPRESSLY
PRO HIBITED WI T H O U T A LI C ENSE U N DER A P P LICABLE P A T E N T S IN T H E M P E G-2 P A T EN T P O RTFO LIO, WH I C H
LICENSE I S A V A ILA BLE FRO M M P E G-LA , LLC , 2 5 0 ST E E LE ST REET, SU I T E 300, DENV ER, C O LORA DO 80206.
Manufactured under license from M P E G-LA.
Sony AVC
T H I S P RO DUCT I S LIC ENSED UNDER T H E A V C P A T E N T P O RTFO LIO LIC EN SE FO R T H E P E RSO NA L A N D
NON-COMMERCIA L U SE O F A C O N SUMER T O (i)E N C O DE V I DEO I N C O M P LIANCE WI T H T H E A V C ST A NDARD
(“A V C V I DEO”) A N D/O R (ii)DE C O DE A V C V I DEO T H A T WA S E NC O DED BY A C O N SUMER E NGAGED IN A P E RSONA L
AND NO N -COMMERCIA L A C T I V IT Y A N D/O R WA S O BTAINED FRO M A V I DEO P RO V IDER LI C EN SED T O P RO V IDE
AVC V I DEO . N O LIC E NSE I S GRA N TED O R SHA LL BE I M P LIED FO R A NY O T H E R U SE. A DDITIONAL INFO RM A TIO N
MA Y BE O BTAINED FRO M M P E G LA , L.L.C . SEE H T T P ://M P E GLA .C O M
WALKMAN
Walkman, WA LKMA N, and WA LKMAN logo are registered trademarks of Sony C orporation.
Microsof t Windows Media
Portions utilize Micros oft Windows M edia® T echnologies. C opyright © 1 9 9 9 – 2 0 0 7 M icrosoft C orporation. A ll rights
reserved.
Main Concept
Main C oncept® plug-in is a trademark of regis tered trademark of M ain C oncept, I nc . in the U nited States or other
countries. A ll rights res erved.
Thomson Fraunhof er MP3
M P E G Layer-3 audio c oding technology licensed from Fraunhofer I I S and Thoms on.
Supply of this produc t does not c onvey a license nor imply any right to dis tribute content created with this produc t in
revenue generating broadcast s ystems (terres trial, s atellite, c able and/or other dis tribution c hannels ), s treaming
applications (via internet, intranets and/or other networks ), other content distribution systems (pay-audio or audio on
demand applications and the like) or on physical media (c ompac t dis c s , digital versatile disc s, s emiconductor chips, hard
drives, memory cards and the like). A n independent lic ense for s uc h us e is required. For details , pleas e visit:
http://mp3licens ing.c om.
Thomson Fraunhof er MPEG-4 HE-AAC
M P E G-4 H E -A AC audio c oding technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS. For details, please visit:
http://www.iis .fraunhofer.de/amm/.
Page 4

The Media Manager for WALKMAN Window
The Media Manager for WALKMAN window is divided into two main areas: the PC pane on the top and the
WALKMAN pane on the bottom. Each pane is divided into two views: the tree view on the left and the list view
on the right.
To refresh the display, click a pane to give it focus, and then press F5.
The status bar between the PC and WALKMAN panes displays the name of the selected WALKMAN and the
available space. The progress indicator in the target pane displays the progress of encoding and transferring
files:
The panes and tree/list views can be sized to your preference by dragging the dividers between them.
Which area of the window do you want to learn more about?
Mode buttons The PC pane The WALKMAN pane
Page 5

Mode Buttons
The mode buttons are displayed above the PC pane and allow you to choose which type of media you want to
browse and transfer to your WALKMAN.
Each mode has one or more action buttons —located above the PC pane —that are used to perform a
specific action.
The WALKMAN pane displays all media types in each of the modes.
Button
Description
Music Mode
Click to loc ate audio trac ks on your c omputer and trans fer them to your
WA LKMAN.
Audio CD Rip Mode
Click to rip trac ks from your audio C Ds and trans fer them to your WA LKMAN.
Photo Mode
Click to loc ate photos on your c omputer and transfer them to your WA LKMA N.
Video Mode
Click to loc ate video files on your c omputer and trans fer them to your WA LKMAN.
RSS Media Feed Mode
Click to download and s ubs cribe to feeds (podcasts, video blogs , etc ).
Settings Mode
Click to c hange settings for M edia Manager for WA LKMAN.
Page 6

The PC Pane
The top half of the Media Manager for WALKMAN window allows you to select the source media—music,
photos, videos, and RSS media feeds—that you want to transfer from your computer to your WALKMAN. Click
one of the mode buttons to choose the type of media you want to transfer.
The tree view, located on the left, displays the hard drive(s), CD drives, and any virtual drives, depending on
your selection. Any media found on the drive or network is displayed in the list view, located on the right.
Which mode do you want to learn more about?
Music mode Audio CD Rip mode Photo mode Video mode RSS Media Feed mode
Settings mode
Page 7

The WALKMAN Pane
The bottom half of the Media Manager for WALKMAN window displays the contents of your WALKMAN. You can
perform any of the following tasks using this pane:
Browse the contents of your WALKMAN.
View information about each file.
Click a column heading to sort your files in ascending or descending order.
Select files and click the Delete button to remove them from your WALKMAN.
The progress bar between the PC and WALKMAN panes displays information about the number of files being
transferred and the progress of the transfer. You can click the Cancel button at any time during the transfer
to cancel all tasks.
Media Manager for WALKMAN keeps track of each WALKMAN that you've used with the application, so you
can choose the device you want to view by choosing it from the Selected Device drop-down list between the
PC and WALKMAN panes:
Page 8

Getting Started with Media Manager for WALKMAN Software
You can use Media Manager for WALKMAN to transfer photos, music, video, and RSS media feeds between
your computer and WALKMAN. The software also has the ability to rip audio tracks from CDs and transfer
them to your WALKMAN. In addition, you can transfer files from your WALKMAN to your computer.
What do you want to learn more about?
What you'll need Connecting a WALKMAN Music mode Audio CD Rip mode Photo
mode Video mode RSS Media Feed mode Settings mode
Page 9

What You'll Need
To use Media Manager for WALKMAN software with your WALKMAN, you'll need the following items:
A USB cable for connecting your WALKMAN to your computer. For more information about the specific
cable required for your WALKMAN, please refer to your WALKMAN's documentation.
If you want to use the Media Manager for WALKMAN CD-ripping features, you'll need a C D drive and
an Internet connection (to obtain CD information from Gracenote MusicID).
If you want to download RSS media feeds, you'll need an Internet connection.
Page 10

Connecting Your WALKMAN
Media Manager for WALKMAN works with a USB-connected WALKMAN. Perform the following steps to start
using Media Manager for WALKMAN.
1. Connect a USB cable to your WALKMAN.
2. Start Media Manager for WALKMAN.
The status bar between the PC and WALKMAN panes displays the space available on the selected
WALKMAN. Media Manager keeps track of each WALKMAN that you've used with the application,
so you can choose the device you want to view by choosing it from the Selected Device drop-down
list between the PC and WALKMAN panes:
Page 11

Music Mode
This mode allows you to copy music and other audio files between your computer and WALKMAN.
Media Manager for WALKMAN helps you find music on your computer, preview it, and transfer it to your
WALKMAN.
What do you want to learn more about?
Browsing your computer for music Searching your computer for music Previewing
your music Viewing file properties Updating cover art Transferring music to your
WALKMAN Shuffling tracks to fill your WALKMAN Deleting music
Page 12

1.
Browsing Your Computer for Music
In Music mode, the left side of the PC pane displays the folders where you tell the software to look for music.
You can navigate folders and subfolders in the tree view. The right side of the window displays the contents of
the selected folder.
Media Manager for WALKMAN helps you find music in your My Music folder or another location on your hard
drive. You can click the Add Shortcut button to add folders to the PC pane. The list view of the PC pane
displays the music from the location you specified.
Once you have located your music files, you can preview and transfer them to your WALKMAN.
When you select a music file, information about the selected track is displayed at the top of the PC pane:
Tips:
To add files to your WALKMAN quickly, drag files from the Windows Explorer to the WALKMAN pane in
the Media Manager for WALKMAN window. The transfer will begin when you drop the files.
If album art is not available, a is displayed. You can click the icon to open your Web browser
and perform an image search. To update the album artwork for all files in the current folder, drop a
graphic file or URL on the image.
To locate a file on your hard drive, right-click it in the PC pane and choose Explore Containing Folder
from the shortcut menu.
What do you want to do?
Use files from the My Music folder Add a shortcut to another folder containing music
Remove a shortcut from the tree view Add or remove folders from your hard drive
Page 13

Searching Your Computer for Music
If you have a large music collection, finding a specific song can be a challenge. You can easily find songs in
your music library using the Search box at the top of the Music Mode tab.
You can search using any text that appears in a song's metadata (title, album, artist, genre, etc).
1. Click the Music Mode button at the top of the Media Manager for WALKMAN window.
2. Type the text you want to find in the Search box.
Search Term
Example
Results
Single term
Brat
Finds all files that c ontain the word "Brat" in the file name or metadata.
Phrase
Big Brat
Finds all files that c ontain the words "Big" and "Brat" in the file name
or metadata.
Exact P hrase
"Big Brat"
Finds all files that c ontain the exact phrase "Big Brat" in the file name
or metadata.
A ND
Big A ND Brat
Finds all files that c ontain both "Big" and "Brat" in the file name or
metadata.
OR
Big O R Brat
Finds all files that c ontain either "Big" or "Brat" in the file name or
metadata.
OR is the default operator: "Big Brat" and "Big O R Brat" would produce
the same results.
NO T
Big NO T Brat
Finds all files that c ontain "Big" but not "Brat" in the file name or
metadata.
Field
title:Brat
Finds all songs that contain the word "Brat" in the title.
artist:P hantom
Finds all songs that contain the word "P hantom" in the artist name.
album:Guest
Finds all songs that contain the word "Guest" in the album title.
genre:A lternative
Finds all songs that have their genre set to "A lternative."
You can also us e A ND, O R, or N O T operators to s earch multiple fields. For example,
search "genre:alternative A ND title:landed" to find alternative music that c ontains
"landed" in the song title.
Fuzzy search
Big~
Finds s imilarly spelled words. "Big~" could find words that inc lude
"big" or "pig" in the file name or metadata.
Wildcard
Brat*
Multicharac ter wildc ard. Finds files that include Brat, Bratty, or
Brattiest in the file name or metadata.
B?g
Single-charac ter wildc ard. Finds files that inc lude Big, Bag, or Bog in
the file name or metadata.
3. The song list in the Music pane displays the songs that match your search terms, and your search
results are saved in the Search Results playlist at the bottom of the folder list in the PC pane.
4. Click the Preview button or double-click the track to preview it in the lower half of the Media
Manager for WALKMAN window.
You can use the transport controls at the bottom of the window to pause/resume/stop playback, skip
to the previous/next track, and adjust the playback volume.
Hold C trl and double-click a song to preview it using the application associated with its file extension.
Page 14

Page 15

Previewing Your Music
Using Media Manager for WALKMAN, you can preview any audio tracks on your computer before you transfer
them to your WALKMAN.
1. Click the Music Mode button at the top of the Media Manager for WALKMAN window.
2. On the right side of the PC pane, select the song you would like to preview.
3. Click the Preview button or double-click the track to preview it in the lower half of the Media
Manager for WALKMAN window (if the software cannot play the file, it will attempt to start the player
associated with the file type).
You can use the transport controls at the bottom of the window to pause/resume/stop playback, skip
to the previous/next track, and adjust the playback volume.
Hold C trl and double-click a song to preview it using the application associated with its file extension.
Page 16

Viewing File Properties
When you select a media file, information is displayed at the top of the PC pane.
Right-click a selected file in the PC or WALKMAN pane and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to display
the Properties window, where you can view additional information about the selected file.
Notes:
If information is not available, a - is displayed.
The File Size value reflects the actual size of the file on disk, which can be different from the file size
displayed in the PC pane. The file size displayed in the PC pane is an estimate of the encoded file
size.
Page 17

Updating Cover Art
When you select an audio file in the PC pane, information about the selected track is displayed at the top of
the PC pane:
If album art is not available, a is displayed. You can click the icon to open your Web browser and
perform an image search. To update the album artwork for all files in the current folder, drop a graphic file or
URL on the image.
If you want to replace existing album art, drag a graphic file or URL and drop it on the current album art in
the PC pane.
Page 18

Transferring Music to Your WALKMAN
After adding folders and previewing your music, you are ready to transfer the files to your WALKMAN. Media
Manager for WALKMAN software supports the use of the following formats:
.mp3
.wma
.wav
.pc a
.ogg
.flac
.m1 a
.mpa
.m2 a
.au
.m4 a *
.m4 b *
.aac *
.3 gp A A C
.mp4 *
* Q uic kTime required.
Notes:
Music is transferred to your WALKMAN in MP3 or AAC format. Other formats are automatically
re-encoded before transferring. You can choose the encoding setting from the Target drop-down list.
Use the Music page in Settings mode to choose whether you want to transfer other supported audio
formats without re-encoding and whether you want to encode to MP3 or AAC format.
If your audio files contain metadata, the files are transferred to your WALKMAN using the artist and
album metadata. For example, d:\my music\The Dorothy Heralds\100 Unnamed Things\05 Synergy.mp3 would
appear on your WALKMAN system in Music\The Dorothy Heralds\100 Unnamed Things\Synergy.
If your audio files do not contain metadata (such as artist and album information), the files are
transferred to your WALKMAN using the album folder and file name from your PC. For example,
d:\my music\Desktop\05 Gracie.mp3 would appear on your WALKMAN in Music\Desktop\05 Gracie —if the
file does not contain metadata, there's no way to determine the album or track title, so the folder and
file name are used instead.
1. Click the Music Mode button at the top of the Media Manager for WALKMAN window.
2. On the left side of the PC pane, choose the folder that contains the tracks you want to transfer by
expanding and collapsing folders as necessary.
Playlists (.m3u, .wpl. and .xml) are included in the tree view in the PC pane.
3. On the right side of the PC pane, select the tracks you would like to transfer. Hold C trl or Shift to
select multiple tracks.
If your WALKMAN doesn't support the file, the Transf er to WALKMAN button is unavailable, and the
media file is marked with a .
4. From the Target drop-down list, choose the bit rate for transferred tracks. Choosing a lower bit rate
allows you to fit more tracks on your WALKMAN by reducing the quality of the transferred files. Media
Manager for WALKMAN re-encodes the tracks for the transfer.
When you choose Automatic, the software will determine whether the device can play your file and
will copy the file without encoding if possible. If the file needs to be encoded, the software will
automatically determine the appropriate bit rate.
Notes:
Page 19

1. The original audio track on your hard drive will be unaffected by the re-encoding process.
2. Prior to transferring tracks from an audio CD, the files are saved to your hard drive in your
computer's \My Documents\My Music\<Artist Name>\<Album Name> folder. You can choose a
different folder on the CD Rip page in Settings mode.
3. The status bar between the PC and WALKMAN panes displays the space available on selected
WALKMAN and the file size of the selected audio tracks. The status bar adjusts according to
the bit rate you choose, so it is helpful to monitor this information when making your
selection:
5. Click the Transf er to WALKMAN button to begin transferring the tracks.
The selected files are encoded if necessary and transferred to the WALKMAN.
To add files to your WALKMAN quickly, drag files from the Windows Explorer to the WALKMAN pane
in the Media Manager for WALKMAN window. Encoding will begin when you drop the files.
To stop the transfer at any time, click the Cancel button.
If there is not enough free space available for the selected tracks, a warning message is displayed
indicating that not all files may be transferred. Click the OK button to proceed and transfer the
tracks that will fit on your WALKMAN. You can also click the Cancel button and consider making the
following adjustments:
oChange your target bit rate.
oDecrease the number of tracks you selected to transfer.
oRemove files before transferring.
Page 20