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View Full Version : Pocket Player Update Coming! Woo hoo!


Jason Dunn
06-04-2003, 10:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.conduits.com/company_news.asp?nfti20030604.html' target='_blank'>http://www.conduits.com/company_new...ti20030604.html</a><br /><br /></div>"Pocket Player fans: your time has come! Pocket Player for Pocket PC 2002 devices will be launched this month as well. To whet your appetite in the meantime, here's an early screenshot:"<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/pp_teaser.gif" /> <br /><br />"What features will it support, you ask? There's not enough space here to list all them - you'll have to wait for the release! Not satisfied? How does "MP3, WMA, OGG, Equalizer, Visualizations, Streaming, and dynamic Skins" sound?"<br /><br />Sweet! :mrgreen: I've been begging Conduits to release an updated version of Pocket Player for, oh, three years now, so I'm thrilled to see them releasing this! I can't wait...

Jonathon Watkins
06-04-2003, 10:50 PM
It certainly looks the part. Are there any old reviews kicking around?

Three years old???? Why do you rate it so highly Jason? Just curious.

karinatwork
06-04-2003, 11:19 PM
FINALLY! I was really looking forward to this. This must be the coolest looking player out there. Ever since I got my pocket pc 2002 device I was waiting for the release date... I just hope it won't have the hefty price tag of the old version (if I remember right they sold it for $ 20.00). That's why I never got it, but the trial was for sure a very well working, extremely cool looking program. Conduits stuff is great, in my opinion. I use the Timekeeper regularly. Good looking programs are a MUST for me.

:)

Don't Panic!
06-04-2003, 11:29 PM
I used Pocket Player because when MS Changed to WMP7 and above for Pocket PC's I lost the ability to play some of my favorite files. I listen to OTR a lot and that genre has been preserved only through the efforts of OTR enthusiasts who converted their LP's, Acetates and even wire recordings into files you can listen to on the net or download. So needless to say the resulting encodes were not always perfect. :) Anyway MP3's that WMP would stall on or end abruptly would play alll the way through on Pocket Player. Now withMP3 serves that function for me, but if Conduits gives us full screen visualizations I'll be on it in a flash.

Don't Panic!
Bobby

Fitch
06-05-2003, 12:26 AM
Grr, but no PPC 2000. I wanted a visualizer for my car music.

Jason Dunn
06-05-2003, 12:45 AM
Three years old???? Why do you rate it so highly Jason? Just curious.

Well, three years ago the Pocket PC had just launched, and prior to that the Media Player that existed on the Palm-size PC really, uh, sucked. :lol: Pocket Player was a great player for it's time. I really wanted a better media player for the Pocket PC, because the version WMP wasn't all that great, but it's taken Conduits a while to jump in with both feet. I think this is going to be a GREAT program though - Conduits doesn't do anything half-assed, they go all out to make killer programs!

jeffmd
06-05-2003, 01:38 AM
hmm lets see... a player with a fruity blue skin and huge buttons, or...this...

http://home.twcny.rr.com/jeffd/ppc.png

Jason Patterson
06-05-2003, 01:40 AM
To clarify: Pocket Player will support any Pocket Player skin (.PSZ, skin definition to be posted on launch), or any Winamp 2 skin (.WSZ, downloadable from www.winamp.com) as well. It will also feature skin hue/saturation adjustment -- don't like the blue skin? Make it red, gray, purple, etc. An example:

http://www.conduits.com/news/pp_teaser2.gif
Winamp Baseskin, hue and saturation adjusted for emphasis.

What we posted today is just one screenshot, and by no means a complete feature description.

jeffmd
06-05-2003, 01:46 AM
Ahh, It must be allowing special skins support for winamp then, since the button layout was much different.

still.. though, winampaq is free, and does all that but streaming and visualization. i could care less for visualization as when im not selecting songs, the display is off to preserve battery power. as for streaming, the author says on the boards it is being worked on, but no release yet.

Duncan
06-05-2003, 02:22 AM
I second Jason's Woo hoo! Pocket Player was very superior indeed and I missed it when moving from Palm-size PC to Pocket PC. I'm gonna be greedy though and hope for an upgrade offer for owners of the old version (though that is probably unreasonable for a product I bought over three and-a-half years ago!).

Now - what about a new version of Pocket Browser?

ctmagnus
06-05-2003, 03:04 AM
Pocket Player fans: your time has come! Pocket Player for Pocket PC 2002 devices will be launched this month as well.

Isn't Pocket PC 2003 due out this month also? So that would make them a generation behind when it comes to OS support.

:morning: :byebye: :drinking: :zzz: :!:

IMO that's akin to going out an buying a sporty new vehicle that accepts top-of-the-line ethanol-free gasoline when fuel cell vehicles are just coming to market. Only the other way around.

Paul Martin
06-05-2003, 03:31 AM
jeffmd,

Where did you get that skin? Do you have a link?

karinatwork
06-05-2003, 04:02 AM
hmm lets see... a player with a fruity blue skin and huge buttons, or...this...

Now don't laugh, because I might be particularly clumsy, but the HUGE buttons would be exactly the reason why I'd buy a program like that. I tried out Winamp, and there was just no way on earth that I could manage to set up the program with my stylus (and I have the smallest stylus out there - h1910!!)

So HUGE buttons for me are a HUGE advantage. :mrgreen:

K.

DualShock
06-05-2003, 05:42 AM
To clarify: Pocket Player will support any Pocket Player skin (.PSZ, skin definition to be posted on launch), or any Winamp 2 skin (.WSZ, downloadable from www.winamp.com) as well. It will also feature skin hue/saturation adjustment -- don't like the blue skin? Make it red, gray, purple, etc. An example:

http://www.conduits.com/news/pp_teaser2.gif
Winamp Baseskin, hue and saturation adjusted for emphasis.

What we posted today is just one screenshot, and by no means a complete feature description.

is it just me or does Pocket Player look a lot like Pocket Music (http://www.pocketmind.com/pocketmusic.htm)? Pocket Player does seem a lot cooler though... :D

oh, and any word on what that musical note icon in the notification area is for?

Fzara
06-05-2003, 05:49 AM
I see Pocket Player having a very hard time, as Pocket MVP, Pocket Music, and WinamPAQ are all good FREE competetitors for the PPC.

darius779
06-05-2003, 06:58 AM
I was hoping pocket music was going to provide OGG support, but it seems they are too little, too late when it comes to earning my $.

WinamPAQ is functional, but I prefer software that is more polished.

Thanks Conduits!

QYV
06-05-2003, 07:36 AM
No Pocket PC music player I've tried will play a series of MP3 files without at least a one-second gap between them. I listen almost exclusively to DJ-mixed trance albums, and these pauses between tracks destroy the experience and have forced me back to my Discman. :evil: :evil: :evil:

If this new player can play music files continuously with no breaks, they'll have my money as fast as I can click on their link.

daveburrows
06-05-2003, 08:03 AM
Is it me, or do I not see a pause button in the Pocket Player screenshot ? Pause for me is pretty essential. If it has a pause button, then it will win my vote.

jeffmd
06-05-2003, 10:35 AM
dave, mostlikely the play button also becomes the pause button, just like PMVP.

QYV, wow... im picky about sound quality but not track gaps. ive stuck with them ever since the Rio 300. 8)

sprawlgeek
06-05-2003, 02:55 PM
i am tempted at this point to buy the PocketPlayer too, just because!!!
I must be compulsive because I already have WithMP3, PocketMVP, MS Media Player and yesterday I just popped for the 256meg YEPP. (pretty slick stuff!)

I have been a big fan of Conduits soft from the old days.... back when
they were they only player in town. An independent vendor with streaming and visualizations support would be a good counter balance to Microsoft.

I haven't researched the palm market lately, but one would think that the multiple choices we have in the audio market leaves them in the dust....

sprawlgeek...

kaiden.1
06-05-2003, 03:06 PM
Whoohoo! I've sent them 2 different emails and actually spoke with themon the phone about upgrading their player. I have the old one and it still rocks! I just don't use it so often cause I have to pull out my old casio. :mrgreen:

I have with MP3 and it does a good job, but I reall like the conduits pocket player best. I hope that they kept all the old stuff into the newest release.

I will be buying it for sure! GREAT NEWS!!!!! :D

Jason Dunn
06-05-2003, 06:26 PM
hmm lets see... a player with a fruity blue skin and huge buttons, or...this...

Heh heh. Pretty funny, because I prefer the "fruity buttons" (the screenshot you posted looks horrible to me) - it's a UI designed for the Pocket PC, not a hacked Winamp skin designed for a PC screen (and even then, Winamp is a wee player with wee buttons that are sometimes hard hit quickly).

To each his own, but I'm all for interfaces designed in an appropriate fashion for the target device. Big buttons = finger friendly. Also, the brighter colours makes it easier to see outside to boot. Yah for appropriately designed user interfaces!

Jason Dunn
06-05-2003, 06:27 PM
Pocket Player fans: your time has come! Pocket Player for Pocket PC 2002 devices will be launched this month as well.

Isn't Pocket PC 2003 due out this month also? So that would make them a generation behind when it comes to OS support.

You may want to take into consideration that fact that most developers already have the Pocket PC 2003 SDK, and are actively coding for it, but they're not exactly supposed to start blabbing about the new OS until it's actually announced. Your tone assumes that Conduits is stupid - I can assure you, they are not. :wink:

Jason Dunn
06-05-2003, 06:28 PM
is it just me or does Pocket Player look a lot like Pocket Music (http://www.pocketmind.com/pocketmusic.htm)? Pocket Player does seem a lot cooler though... :D

It's because they're both using Winamp skins, which are from the desktop side of things.

Jason Dunn
06-05-2003, 06:29 PM
Is it me, or do I not see a pause button in the Pocket Player screenshot ? Pause for me is pretty essential. If it has a pause button, then it will win my vote.

I've confirmed with Conduits that their pause button really WORKS - it won't reset back to the beginning like WMP does if you pause a file for more than a few seconds...:way to go:

Jason Dunn
06-05-2003, 06:34 PM
If this new player can play music files continuously with no breaks, they'll have my money as fast as I can click on their link.

I think you'll be pleased. :mrgreen:

heov
06-05-2003, 07:14 PM
cool... it seems they have a implemented a feature like GSPlayer in minimizing to the taskbar (and you can click on it for basic functions, w/o bringing up the program). EXCEPT pocke player seems to be resided in the Start Menu... cool. I just hope they have an option to bring it down to the task bar (today screen) cause i don't like having things in the start menu/title bar other than the essentials.

But then again i'm no audiophile and probably won't buy this as there are freeware alternatives, so it really doesn't matter what i think :lol:

jeffmd
06-05-2003, 09:22 PM
jason, hehe, they are wee buttons, but I generaly have no problem clicking them. most of the time im using the buttons on the ppc to do things like volume, seeking rew/ff, going to the next/last song, or pausing. I love this skin, the font for the timer is pretty inovative, including an "inset" shadow for the numbers. Just a matter of taste I guess.

sprawlgeek
06-05-2003, 09:51 PM
jason, hehe, they are wee buttons, but I generaly have no problem clicking them. most of the time im using the buttons on the ppc to do things like volume, seeking rew/ff, going to the next/last song, or pausing. I love this skin, the font for the timer is pretty inovative, including an "inset" shadow for the numbers. Just a matter of taste I guess.

Jeffmd--

ditto on PMRadio....great skin do you know the name/link????

sprawlgeek

ctmagnus
06-06-2003, 02:39 AM
Your tone assumes that Conduits is stupid - I can assure you, they are not. :wink:

I realize they have some very commendable products, however, if I was going to pay for a given software product, I certainly would not do so this far into the OS lifecycle. I would wait until the new OS is out and buy the product then. Unless this product is so absolutely astounding that customers will hold off buying PPC2003 devices just so they will be able to use this product to its full potential. Which is a very gutsy decision for any company to make.

I blame the rather odd timimg (imo) of this release on the overzealous marketers! :wink:

jeffmd
06-06-2003, 09:08 AM
its called wild glaze and is from the skins section of the winamp site.

sprawlgeek
06-06-2003, 04:03 PM
Thanks

sprawlgeek

jarod71
06-10-2003, 03:19 AM
I got tired of wmp on my maestro choking on mp3's that i d/l or ripped myself, rather than reconvert my cd collection, i tried pocket music. it hsnt hiccuped on any of my files, sounds great, pause really works, i even paid 20.00 for the upgrade for wma support. i loved conduits player back in the day but i will b hard pressed to buy it just for big buttons as i use it primarily in the car and use hardware mapping for all the features so i dont have to look at the thing and keep my eyes on the road. great player. conduits may be too late in the game.

ctmagnus
06-10-2003, 05:27 AM
i tried pocket music. it hsnt hiccuped on any of my files

What bitrate do you use? 'Cuz most of my stuff is ripped @ 256kbps or more and all the free players I've tried have choked on it.