Help me make my HD5, HOMELESS!!

I'm gonna replace my HD5 with a new IAudio X5L. To do that, I'll need to transfer all my mp3 files from the player back to the PC. I deleted all the mp3 files already and an error message apppears saying that I can't transfer my songs. Is this because I haven't authorized my device, yet? (Trouble is I can't since there's no authorize button where there should be one.) When I first connected it to my lappie however, (before the SonicStage upgrade) I did try to authorize it but the 'authorization screen' does not change. I waited over an hour and the device is STILL trying to register. This happened twice already to both HD5's I've owned so I never got around to actually authorizing the devices. Or does this have nothing to do with it? Is it because the file locations of the original music files in my PC are PERMANENTLY 'altered'? How do I get around this??

Seriously. I'm ready to print out a return label from Amazon already but I can't yet because 200 songs are in my stinkin HD5! I don't want to go through the painstaking process of ripping all the CDs again.

AND I WANT THE X5L SO SO SO SO BADLY.

[Sasso]

well, you are going to have to rip them again. The HD5 cant transfer back, not many players can, the whole 'authorising' thing isnt really clear, though they have some instructions on the sony UK site under support for the HD5. It might even ask you to format the device before it can be authorised.

And are the songs in MP3? if they are in atrac then you cant use them anyway. 200 songs is that all??? thats not many cds to rip anyway, just do them again.

[extremelydodgy]

"Not many players can"
Not many Sony players can.


You're out of luck, so will just have to re-rip again.

[shadowritten]

Why oh why do folk delete their original MP3s without backing up first? I'd never trust a DAP as my only storage for my music. Ho hum ...

Yep, you're back to re-ripping, I'm afraid. Next time, consider backing up to at least CD-ROM.

[Sasso]

The Ipod doesn't let you copy tracks back to any PC either, only the original, which is the same on the sony if you can figure out how to authorise it.

[extremelydodgy]

Originally Posted by Sasso

The Ipod doesn't let you copy tracks back to any PC either, only the original, which is the same on the sony if you can figure out how to authorise it.

There are any number of programs which allow you to do so as Apple don't encrypt the music on the iPod with the exception of purchased tracks. Sharepod, Copypod, Anapod, XPlay, I can go on and on.

Thanks guys. I guess I'll have to rip them again then. But hey, the good side is that the X5 can support the FLAC (lossless) format. Meaning, that I could rip all the CDS to that format instead of being stuck with the 320Kbps Mp3 format that i used. Hopefully, FLAC deems it all worth it.

[extremelydodgy]

Be prepared for your battery life to plummet. Part of the reason why FLACs don't go on my X5 and why ALACs don't either on my iPod. Both X5 and iPod exhibit excellent performance when compared to claimed battery life when using 192K ~ 256K MP3's unlike my HD5. However, using lossless compression will cause the battery to drain significantly faster (more HDD spinups required).

I recently changed my mind. FLAC requires software so it can be rippeable and subsequently playable on your computer. So I just downloaded EAC along with a LAME.exe to rip my songs to 320 kbps format.

....
It's being prissy tho. It's ripping at various bit rates. Tsk. Not what I told it to do.