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The complete guide to using the HBM-30 Bluetooth Headset |
Gaijinsan
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
Posts: 34
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Getting the most from your HBM-30 Bluetooth music player.
After extensive research into this I have made a complete guide for anyone who is interested.
So you think you got a bargain.
Like me you were probably one of the many that bought this from expansys for a knock down price (nearly a quarter of the original) When it arrived you were very excited but it quickly dies when you open the package and you find that the instructions are pretty useless.
Battery Life
Like some of you on these forums and me included the HBM-30 has a shockingly short battery life (about 2hours and not the quoted 10 hours). This can be attributed to several factors.
1. The batteries I recommend using Ni-Mh batteries with a high charge around 800ma or good quality dry cell batteries.
2. The music type on our headset. Good quality, consistent bit rate, well converted MP3 will get a reasonable life from your battery. Of course this being a Sony product the best battery life comes from using ATRAC3 recordings.
Putting music on your headset.
The first way is the simplest. Take any music source with a headphone socket use the supplied cable to connect to the headset, set your levels, your quality of recording.(bearing in mind that this is Sony’s proprietary ATRAC3 which comes in three flavours 66, 105, and 132kbps) the lowest setting able to squeeze 2 hours from a 64Mb card. Press record on your headset and play on your music source.
The problem with this way is there is no easy way to organise your recorded music and writing the track names can only be described as painful, also you are recording in real time so 2 hours music takes 2 hours to record.
The second way is probably the way that a majority of people will use. Good old MP3 files. Unfortunately this headset is a Sony product and something as useful and easy to share goes against everything that Sony want in terms of control over copyright content, therefore they have appeared to make it as difficult as possible to get the music to play properly once you have got it on to the memory card. The only sure fire way of doing this is to re-convert all your MP3 files and using a standard card reader put them into the special MP3 folder on your card.
I am using a quote from a post by GothTeddy.
“first things first, format the Duo from the HBM-30. make sure all your mp3s are encoded at less than 192k, preferable 128 or 160, stereo (joint-stereo is not supported) and no VBR. open the MP3 folder on the Duo and drop em in... “
If all your files are all one standard you will also get a few more hours of battery life.
The third option is by far the most rewarding but also the least known about. It requires extra hardware only available from Sony, but you will find that you will be able to get the best from your headset and even that elusive 10 hours playback quoted in the manual.
The secrets of Magicgate revealed
Magicgate is an encryption system used exclusively by Sony for the distribution of copyrighted content i.e. downloaded music. It is not necessary for MP3 files so when transferring music in MP3 any memory card duo will do. If you want to get the most from your headset though, you must make sure that all your memory sticks are MG compatible.
You will also need a card reader that will encrypt MagicGate currently only Sony Card Readers (Except MSAC-US2) do this so you will need to buy one. I am using the latest card reader from Sony the MSAC-US30 http://www.sony.co.uk/view/Sh[....]view&category=REC+Memory+Stick and prices for this vary but I think the cheapest is from dabs.com you can also look on ebay for an earlier model Sony memory card reader but you must make sure that they are official sony card readers that come with the drivers and OpenMG software.
Now that you have the Magicgate reader as well as the compatible MG memory Sticks you can start to put your music onto them. Depending on which model card reader you bought it will come with a copy of either Sonicstage or the older OpenMG software (you can download the latest version of Sonicstage from this address http://www.sonydigital-link.com/dna/dna.asp ), this is Sony’s own music conversion software and it will try to convince you that you should be using their own ATRAC system for all your future CD ripping needs. This is not necessary as all the software has the ability to handle your extensive MP3 collection without the need to reconvert to ATRAC and, since you are using the Sony Card Reader the options on the software allow you to convert the MP3 to ATRAC3 as you transfer them from computer to Memory card.
Once you have transferred your music onto the card slot it into your HBM-30 and away you go.
If you need any help please post here and I will try to answer any questions.
[ This Message was edited by: Gaijinsan on 2004-11-04 19:50 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Gaijinsan on 2005-10-18 01:57 ] |
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ludovic.audoin
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: 14
From: France
PM |
Hello,
Thanks a lot for this post which is very useful. I bought a MSAC-30US in order to use Magicgate and Atrac3. It works fine with Sonicstage (1.5 or 2.06).
I think the real bad point of the device is the battery life, that's why I try to use Atrac instead of MP3.
What I would like to know is :
1/ Does the encoding bitrate (64-105-132) has an important influence on the battery life ? Which encoding rate is better to improve batery life ?
2/ I change the HBM30 headset by another one you can put directly into ear. Obviously I need to decrease volume compared to the the original HBM30. Do you think it could have an influence on battery life ? Do you think the nature of the headset as an influence on the battery life ?
Best regards and thanks for your post.
Ludovic |
Gaijinsan
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
Posts: 34
PM |
Ludovic.
I'm glad you found my guide useful.
The use of any of the three bitrates on ATRAC3 will have little or no significant change to your battery life, Only a difference in sound quality. Also the use of different headphones will make very little difference. I myself never even took the headphones that came with my HBM-30 out of the box( I find the over-ear headphones very uncomfortable) and instead used my own in-ear headphones. The fact that you have to lower the volume may squeeze some extra life but probably only 15-20 minutes.
Hope this was helpful.
Gaijinsan |
aga2k2
Joined: Sep 23, 2002
Posts: 93
From: UK
PM |
this guide is great but regarding the battery life I went and bought a pack of duracell m3 batteries but the HBM-30 will die after about 2 to 3 hours. Now for the strange bit using the battery tester that is on the battery I still get a full bar but if I place the battery back into the HBM-30 the screen will indicate that the battery has no power.
is this normal or should I get the item exchanged.
thanks in advance
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ludovic.audoin
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: 14
From: France
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Thanks a lot Gaijinsan,
it's amazing how just a change in format (Atrac3) can improve a battery life.
Do you have an idea of the battery life when we only use bluetooth headset ?
But what I don't understand it's why Sony Ericsson never talk about this point. I know a lot of people who have sold their HBM30 because of the poor battery life !!!! In my case, my HBM30 starts a new life !!!
[ This Message was edited by: ludovic.audoin on 2004-08-01 15:29 ] |
ludovic.audoin
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: 14
From: France
PM |
Quote:
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On 2004-08-01 14:21:28, aga2k2 wrote:
this guide is great but regarding the battery life I went and bought a pack of duracell m3 batteries but the HBM-30 will die after about 2 to 3 hours. Now for the strange bit using the battery tester that is on the battery I still get a full bar but if I place the battery back into the HBM-30 the screen will indicate that the battery has no power.
is this normal or should I get the item exchanged.
thanks in advance
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Try to encode your music into Atrac3 and you will see that your battery life will be fully improved (around 10 hours) !!!!
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Gaijinsan
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
Posts: 34
PM |
Dear aga2k2
You should increase the battery life if you re-encode your mp3's to one standard bitrate, preferable 128 or 160, stereo (joint-stereo is not supported) and no VBR. This should extend your battery life. Unfortunely this being a sony product you only get the best when you use Atrac3 I will post a list of compatible sony cardreaders that use magicgate and sonicstage. I'm sure you can pick up some of the older ones of ebay.
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Gaijinsan
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
Posts: 34
PM |
Here is the list of compatible sony devices to use with sonicstage and magicgate memory stick duo cards. to convert all those MP3 to atrac3 and get the most from your battery.
MSAC-US30
MSGC-US10
MSAC-US20
MSAC-US70
[ This Message was edited by: Gaijinsan on 2005-01-12 19:46 ] |
rdnymllnsktr
Joined: Feb 04, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: California, but now in Plano,
PM, WWW
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I have a question. How do I choose the order that my tracks are played in? I set them in the order that I wanted on my computer, but that made no difference to the order they were played. I want to arrange them on my computer, then have them play in that order on my HBM-30. Please help.
This message was posted from a T616 |
Gaijinsan
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
Posts: 34
PM |
If you are using sonicstage and ATRAC3 the order should be as you transfer them to the device.
If you are using MP3 then as you move them to the memory stick rename them with the position number you want before the file name. i.e hey_jude.mp3 should become 01_hey_jude.mp3 then the second file should have 02. This means that the player will read them in that order and not alphabetically as before.
Remember to put a zero before the numbers 1-9. |
frozenwaffles
Joined: Jan 08, 2003
Posts: 122
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also get your firmware updated!!! |
ludovic.audoin
Joined: Jul 30, 2004
Posts: 14
From: France
PM |
Quote:
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On 2004-08-03 13:30:33, frozenwaffles wrote:
also get your firmware updated!!!
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Sorry, which firmware ? Do you have an url for it ? |
dome
Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 7
PM |
will the size of your MS-Duo matter? and secondly, must you use Sony MS-Duo? there's cheaper alternative, Sandisk (from tw I think, twinmos), which is MG compatible as well. |
Gaijinsan
Joined: Jun 21, 2004
Posts: 34
PM |
@Dome
The size of your duo doesn't matter.So you can use any size up to the maximum of 128Mb.(Be careful because this MP3 player only uses MS Duo and NOT MS Duo Pro).
You can also use any make of MS Duo card you like but if you want to use the atrac3 system be sure to check that your alternative make is Magicgate compatible which as you say the sandisk are.(You don't need the Magicgate system if you ae just using MP3)
Hope this answers your question. |
dome
Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Posts: 7
PM |
thanks for the reply,
I borrowed a ms-duo Sandisk 128 (MG compatible) from a friend, tested it. I have a msac-us30, so I use sony's ATRAC. Since the battery (energizer e2) my hbm-30 was pretty low, I inserted the sandisk ms and the hbm-30 auto-turned-off. I removed it, and turn it on again, inserted the sony 64 ms, it can play fine with 1 bar of battery life. I removed it, and inserted 128 ms, it turned off again.
It seems to me that size/brand may contribute to battery life. Maybe someone can confirm that as well. I'll try to get my hands on a 128 Sony MS-duo to test it.  |
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Posted: 2004-07-21 21:17
