Sony’s SonicStage was the early-2000s answer to managing music for MiniDisc and Network Walkman devices, built entirely around Sony’s proprietary ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding) format. Launching in 2001, it started as Sony’s all-in-one rip, store, and transfer tool—basically iTunes, but locked to ATRAC. Updates came fast: SonicStage 2.0 in 2004 improved speed and added CD-burning, 3.0 in 2005 finally supported MP3 playback without converting, and 4.0 tried to clean up the clunky DRM experience. ATRAC itself promised higher-quality audio in smaller files, but the walled garden and constant format conversions frustrated users until Sony killed ATRAC support outside Japan in 2007. If you remember babysitting transfers while praying “Cannot Transfer” errors didn’t pop up, you lived this era.