Finally! Sony has released a firmware upgrade for the Vaio Pocket models VGF-AP1 and VGF-AP1L which will let these machines play MP3 files in their native format -- no ATRAC3 translation needed! Sony's music transfer applications SonicStage and Vaio Transfer will also be updated to allow for this new functionality. I think this is a great step forward for Sony. Also Sony has announced at their upcoming NW-HD3 harddrive players will also support the MP3 format natively. I am so happy to see Sony getting on the right track. Now we will have to see if these moves are welcomed or a little too late. Not all is happy, happy though:
A new version of Sony's SonicStage jukebox software, 2.3, will now allows MP3s to be copied directly to the player without conversion. The NW-HD3 provides native MP3 playback, but it also wraps the files a OpenMG DRM layer to prevent them from being copied back to another PC, Sony said.It is definitely a step in the right direction though! Now if only they would create some Macintosh support. I gueses that maybe asking for too much?