 | |
 Music Center for PC version 2.0 | |
| Developer(s) | Sony |
|---|---|
| Initial release | August 29, 2017 [1] |
| Stable release | 2.6.0 / April 11, 2021 |
| 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.
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is a series of audio codecs and their corresponding audio coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs. WMA Pro, a newer and more advanced codec, supports multichannel and high resolution audio. A lossless codec, WMA Lossless, compresses audio data without loss of audio fidelity. WMA Voice, targeted at voice content, applies compression using a range of low bit rates. Microsoft has also developed a digital container format called Advanced Systems Format to store audio encoded by WMA.
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 loss in perceptible quality. Improvements to the codec in the form of ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, and ATRAC Advanced Lossless followed in 1999, 2002, and 2006 respectively.
MiniDisc (MD) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, and later, 80 minutes of digitized audio.
A CD ripper, CD grabber, or CD extractor is software that rips raw digital audio in Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) format tracks on a compact disc to standard computer sound files, such as WAV or MP3.
Rockbox is a free and open-source software replacement for the OEM firmware in various forms of digital audio players (DAPs) with an original kernel. It offers an alternative to the player's operating system, in many cases without removing the original firmware, which provides a plug-in architecture for adding various enhancements and functions. Enhancements include personal digital assistant (PDA) functions, applications, utilities, and games. Rockbox can also retrofit video playback functions on players first released in mid-2000. Rockbox includes a voice-driven user-interface suitable for operation by visually impaired users.
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.
Squeezebox is a family of network music players. The original device was the SliMP3, introduced in 2001 by Slim Devices. It had an Ethernet interface and played MP3 music files from a media server. The first Squeezebox was released two years later and was followed by several more models. Slim Devices was acquired by Logitech in 2006.
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.
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 W910i is a slider model music phone. The W910i was announced on June 14, 2007, as a branded "Walkman phone" and uses version 3 of the 'Walkman Player'. The phone also features the shake control feature found on the W580 that enables music track switching by shaking the phone and also for Java ME based video games and applications using the JP-8.
More! More! More! is the tenth studio album by the Japanese electronica band Capsule, released on November 19, 2008. The album reached #3 and #6 on the Oricon daily and weekly charts, making it the band's most successful album in their career selling a total of 67,309 copies and being the duo's first album with a Top 10 ranking.
Media Go is a discontinued free multimedia management application that runs on Microsoft Windows, developed by Sony Entertainment Network. Media Go manages content on Sony family products including Sony Mobile phones, the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Walkman, and Sony Tablet. Media Go can organize, play, and transfer a wide variety of content including videos, photos, music, and podcasts; it also had a storefront from PlayStation Network and mora allowing users to purchase media content. Sony announced the discontinuation of the software by December 2017; it was replaced by Music Center for PC which only works with audio products like Walkman.
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.
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.