Why does Sony Walkman just work on some Macs?

[Timetwister]

I had a drag-and-drop Walkman, which worked fine both on my old (late 2006, Tiger) MacBook, and my new (unibody, Leopard) MacBook. Then I lost the Walkman. Now I have bought a new Sony Walkman: NWZ B142. It works just fine on my old mac, but not at all on my new. Can anybody tell me why this is?

 

[Xapphire13]

Is that one a drag and drop walkman? Or does it need SonicStage? Also, when you insert it into the USB port, does the disk mount? Can you send a screen shot of your disk utility with it inserted?

 

[Timetwister]

It's a drag and drop, no special SoftWare needed. In the old MacBook the walkman appears like any USB drive, to which I can drag and drop music. On the new mac however, nothing at all happens when I insert the walkman; the mac doesn't react.

 

[Xapphire13]

Could you post a shot of the disk utility when plugged into the mac that doesn't like it?

 

[Timetwister]

It did find something after all. But, it still doesn't look very promising.

 

[Xapphire13]

Well from your picture disk1s1 (the main partition) is not mounted... click the greyed out disk1s1 and then click the mount icon at the top... what happens then?

 

[Timetwister]

It "failed" to mount.

 

[Xapphire13]

Backup the contents of the drive on the older mac that reads it.. then plug it into the new one and try deleting the partition and making a new one?

 

[Timetwister]

I can't seem to find a way to delete the current partition.

I tried deleting all the files on the walkman, and then inserting it in the new mac. It actually mounted then, but only that once. Repeated tries at the same thing have failed. It doesn't seem logical.

 

[Xapphire13]

Select 1 Partition

 

[Timetwister]

Ok, I did that, and what happened is this (the main partition is gone). However, the information box said "fail, permission denied":

Is it possibly mocking me? Damn Walkman...

 

[Xapphire13]

So you cant create a partition? Try your other USB port? Or try creating the partition on your old mac?

 

[Timetwister]

I did it on the old mac, and - lo and behold - the new thing actually appeared for the first time, mounted, on my new computer. However, I added a folder named "MUSIC" with a song in it, tested that I could play it (I could) - and then the disc did not appear in finder again once reconnected with my new computer. This is very similar to what happened the first time it appeared. Also, I tried to partition again, and it just does not work! It seems to work once and never again...

Regarding the actual partitioning, I have chosen MS-DOS file system (FAT16) format, is that alright?

Any more ideas? I am very impressed with your lack of despair

 

[Xapphire13]

Very strange. But when there is a problem, there is a fix . I format flash drives as MS-DOS (FAT 32), as it is slightly better (and faster) than FAT 16. Hmm, so if you format it on your old computer, your new one mounts it? Once mounted, can you then format it with your new one?

 

[Xapphire13]

Also, under options, make sure it is set to 'Master Boot Record', as i predict the mp3 player will need this.

I could upload a video of me formatting a MP3 player if it would be of assistance..

 

[Timetwister]

I managed to mount it on the new mac again (by, on my old mac, deleting all items from the player, putting everything back from my back-up folder and then partitioning the volume again).

Then I tried to partition it on the new mac, which worked, only the volume became unmounted in the process, and failed to mount when I prompted it to.

 

[Timetwister]

Please upload the video of how to format an MP3 player, it might help, and certainly won't hurt.

 

[Xapphire13]

Well, I can try and help you later on but I must go now (as it is 3:15am in Australia right now)

Sorry

 

[Timetwister]

Good night, and thanks for all the help I hope to hear from you soon.

 

[TheShinyMac]

I am making you a video on how to do it, hold on

 

[TheShinyMac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jm-Fxtpo4o&feature=player_profilepage# there you go tell me when you watched it so I can delete it

 

[Xapphire13]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jm-Fxtpo4o&feature=player_profilepage# there you go tell me when you watched it so I can delete it

Good video, but it doesn't specify how to change partition mapping

 

[axy60]

For some reason my Walkman (WS623) stopped showing up in the Finder (macOS 10.15.7). The WM works fine; loading the battery also indicates that the USB connector is working.
I followed all the steps Sony's suggesting but at the end their support tells me to contact the sales person to check/repair the unit. As I bought the Sony Walkman over the Sony Store over 1 year ago this seems to be going nowhere...