 | |
 Music Center for PC version 2.0 | |
| Developer(s) | Sony |
|---|---|
| Initial release | August 29, 2017 [1] |
| Stable release | 2.7.0 / March 21, 2024 |
| Operating system | Windows (8.1, 10, 11) |
| Predecessor | Media Go / x-APP |
| Type | Music player |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | www |
Music Center for PC is a music player and transfer software for Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony and first released in 2017. [2]
The software was created to replace Media Go and x-APPLICATION (Japanese: x-アプリ). Unlike those, Music Center for PC only focuses on audio and as a result it has had several features removed, [1] such as CD burning, or non-audio media functionalities like photo or video playback and transfer. [3] It is also not compatible for transfer with phones or consoles, but only with audio devices like Walkman, [4] home stereos and theater systems, active speakers, and others. [5]
Version 1.0 of Music Center for PC is based on x-APPLICATION (and in turn, SonicStage). [1] Version 2.0 was released in late 2018 and had a major overhaul of the user interface [6] developed on Electron. [1] Additionally there is now also support for DSEE HX. [3]
Gracenote tagging of music is also integrated into Music Center for PC. [7] The mora music store is also integrated for Japanese customers to directly purchase music. [8]
Music Center for PC supports the playback of numerous formats including high-resolution audio, namely: ATRAC (.oma/.aa3), ATRAC Advanced Lossless (.oma/.aa3), WAV (.wav), MP3 (.mp3), AAC (.3gp/.mp4/.m4a), HE-AAC (.3gp/.mp4/.m4a), WMA (.wma), DSD (.dsf/.dff), FLAC (.flac), MQA (.mqa.flac), APE (.ape), ALAC (.mp4/.m4a) and AIFF (.aiff/.aif). [9]
It can also play audio CDs, but ripping a CD is only possible into FLAC, WAV, MP3 or AAC formats. [9]
An audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system. The bit layout of the audio data is called the audio coding format and can be uncompressed, or compressed to reduce the file size, often using lossy compression. The data can be a raw bitstream in an audio coding format, but it is usually embedded in a container format or an audio data format with defined storage layer.
Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC) is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC, in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio information with minimal perceptible loss in quality. Improvements to the codec in the form of ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, and ATRAC Advanced Lossless followed in 1999, 2002, and 2006 respectively.
The Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), also known as Apple Lossless, or Apple Lossless Encoder (ALE), is an audio coding format, and its reference audio codec implementation, developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music. After initially keeping it proprietary from its inception in 2004, in late 2011 Apple made the codec available open source and royalty-free. Traditionally, Apple has referred to the codec as Apple Lossless, though more recently it has begun to use the abbreviated term ALAC when referring to the codec.
Gapless playback is the uninterrupted playback of consecutive audio tracks, such that relative time distances in the original audio source are preserved over track boundaries on playback. For this to be useful, other artifacts at track boundaries should not be severed either. Gapless playback is common with compact discs, gramophone records, or tapes, but is not always available with other formats that employ compressed digital audio. The absence of gapless playback is a source of annoyance to listeners of music where tracks are meant to segue into each other, such as some classical music, progressive rock, concept albums, electronic music, and live recordings with audience noise between tracks.
SonicStage is a discontinued software product from Sony that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC and MP3 recordings on a PC.
Sony Ericsson Z800i is a 3G mobile phone developed by Sony Ericsson and released in 2005. The Z800i is a phone that is identical to the Vodafone branded Sony Ericsson V800.
A tag editor is an app that can add, edit, or remove embedded metadata on multimedia file formats. Content creators, such as musicians, photographers, podcasters, and video producers, may need to properly label and manage their creations, adding such details as title, creator, date of creation, and copyright notice.
K-Multimedia Player is an Adware-supported media player for Windows and iOS that can play most current audio and video formats, including VCD, HDML, DVD, AVI, MP4, MPG, DAT, OGM, VOB, MKV, Ogg, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, AAC, WMA 7/8, WMV, RealMedia, FLV, and QuickTime.
mora is an online music and video store for the Japanese market operated by Sony Music Solutions, a part of Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ). It is integrated into the Japanese version of Sony's Music Center for PC software, and was also integrated into its predecessors such as SonicStage. It is now the official store for their Walkman devices.
GOM Player is a media player for Windows, developed by GOM & Company. With more than 100 million downloads, it is also known as the most used player in South Korea. Its main features include the ability to play some broken media files and find missing codecs using a codec finder service.
The Sony Ericsson W880i is a mobile phone that was announced on 6 February 2007 and released in spring 2007. Part of Sony Ericsson's Walkman series, the phone has been popular due to its tiny dimensions and low weight. At only 9.4 mm thick, the W880 was one of the few phones on the market that were thinner than 1 cm (10 mm), the other notable example being the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic from later that year.
The Sony Ericsson W200 Walkman is a cellphone measuring 101 × 44 × 18mm and weighs 85g (3 oz). It features a VGA camera, an FM radio, and Sony's Walkman software, although it lacks Bluetooth.
DSEE is a sound quality improvement technology for lossy compressed music files developed by Sony.
Media Go is a media player and media library application that runs on Microsoft Windows and was developed by Sony Entertainment Network. The software organizes and plays a wide variety of multimedia content including video, music, podcasts and photos, and can share them in a network as a DLNA server. Media Go also manages content on various Sony mobile devices including the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Walkman, Sony Tablet, and Xperia. Gracenote tagging is integrated, and in the past it also had a storefront from PlayStation Network and mora for purchasing media content.
Freemake Audio Converter is an ad-supported audio conversion utility developed by Ellora Assets Corporation. The program is used to convert across different audio formats, merge audio files, and extract audio from video files. Freemake Audio Converter 1.0.0 does not support CD burning. Since 2016, the program has reached a user base of over 63 million people.
The Walkman S Series is a line of portable media players designed and developed by Sony, currently marketed in Japan. The S Series made their debut in the fall of 2006 and later were launched in other regions. Although the first generation of models had generic displays, all next generations of players of the S Series had TFT color displays and supported video playback. They were slightly cheaper than the flagship A Series but had more features than the E Series. The S Series was discontinued outside Japan in 2012 and continues solely in the domestic market.
ripit is a Linux command-line CD ripper originally developed by Simon Quinn. It is a Perl script which can create flac, ogg, mp3, m4a (aac), als (mp4), mpc, wv or other files from an audio CD. Encoding is done with all CDDB information. It has many options but can be used successfully without them, making the program easier to use than the underlying or other command-line programs.
The Walkman A Series is a flagship line of mid-range digital audio players (DAP) by Sony as part of its Walkman range. The A Series has been marketed since 2005, initially as the top spec Walkman players and since 2014 as a mid-range following the introduction of the ZX Series. The "A" originally stood for "All in one, Advanced, and Attractive".
The Walkman E Series is a line of digital audio (DAP) and portable media (PMP) players, marketed by Sony as part of its Walkman range. E Series devices have been marketed since 2000, although in its current form since 2008 as entry-level, candybar styled players.