Synchronizing with Windows Media Player 11

[Darius Wey]

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060518-WMP11a.jpg" /><br /><br />Fortunately for us Windows Mobile users, Windows Media Player 11 isn't just eye-candy. Beneath the player's visually appealing interface is an improved sync experience with portable media devices that rivals what most consider to be <i>the</i> benchmark in today's digital age - that is, the iTunes + iPod partnership.<br /><br />After the break, we'll take a look at some of the new features in Windows Media Player 11, and most importantly, go through the simple steps to getting your favourite media on to your mobile device. <!><br /><br /><span><b>The User Interface - Good Looks, Better Performance</b></span><br />Having learned from its mistakes, Microsoft spent some time revamping the entire user interface of Windows Media Player 11. The end result? A player that looks good, works well, and is significantly more usable than its predecessors.<br /><br />When you first launch Windows Media Player 11, you'll immediately notice that its layout is similar to that of Windows Media Player 10's - tabs at the top, list pane to the right, and playback controls at the bottom. However, each of these three elements sports a unique set of changes that influence the overall usability of the player. Each tab (not just <b>Now Playing</b>) now includes a set of extended menu options that offer quick access to common settings. To the left of the tabs are Internet Explorer 7-style <b>Back</b> and <b>Forward</b> buttons that allow you to retrace your steps. The list pane to the right includes a new dynamic box that not only displays album art and ratings, but also allows you to purchase the track or album via Microsoft's online media store, <a href="http://www.urge.com/">URGE</a> (to be discussed later). The playback controls at the bottom of the player have been shifted from the left to the centre to make way for a new status area that not only displays track information, but also a thumbnail view of playback status, album art, and a spectrum analyser. Speaking of which, the main visualisations in Windows Media Player 11 have not been updated - that's right, same old, boring <b>Bars and Waves</b>, <b>Battery</b>, and <b>Musical Colors</b>. Whether Microsoft will update these over the course of the beta period is something that we'll only know once the player is officially released.<br /><br />Despite these changes, it should come as no surprise that Microsoft focused most of their efforts on improving the media library. Windows Media Player 10's media library was so blasphemous that I stopped using it altogether. Now, with Windows Media Player 11, I'm back to using it again, and it is without question the core experience of the new player, and an enjoyable one too.<br /><br />Viewing and organising your media collection in the new media library has never looked so good. In Windows Media Player 11, Microsoft ditched the spreadsheet-style library in favour of an attractive and easier-to-use graphical library, where album art plays a key role. Categorised stacking is supported, so multiple albums in a specific category pile up to deliver a better visual representation of your media collection. If you're not a fan of the default view, you can change it to an expanded tile view or a detailed view. The navigation pane to the left has also been tidied up to enhance usability.<br /><br />The accompanying word wheel search feature delivers instant, on-demand results, similar to what iTunes offers, except Windows Media Player 11 goes one-up on iTunes by delivering results with the relevant album art. Microsoft also managed to integrate the search feature with the URGE service, so you can use the same search box to perform a simultaneous search in your local library and the URGE catalog.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060518-WMP11b.jpg" /><br /><br />The ripping and burning experience has also been enhanced. The extended <b>Rip</b> tab menu allows you to select the desired format and bit rate, among other things. Microsoft's online database of media information has been updated, and a new advanced audio fingerprinting feature is present, alongside copy-and-paste support for album art, so at the end of the day, there's a greater chance that your albums will appear with the correct information and better looking album art. Burning custom CDs in Windows Media Player has never been easier. The new interface is all about dragging-and-dropping tracks or playlists into the list pane. Above the list is a box with a graphical bar that automatically updates the remaining capacity of the disc as you drag-and-drop. If your items fail to fit on to a single disc, you can make full use of the disc-spanning feature and have Windows Media Player 11 burn the items on to several discs.<br /><br /><span><b>The New Sync Experience</b></span><br />We haven't received any hints of a release of Windows Media Player 11 Mobile, but that's not to say that Windows Media Player 11 cannot sync with existing Pocket PCs and Smartphones running Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. In fact, the sync experience between the two is significantly more stable and reliable than ever before.<br /><br />When you first connect your portable device (whether it be a Pocket PC, Smartphone, Portable Media Center, or other compatible device), Windows Media Player 11 fires up a wizard that allows you to customise the name of the device (or the memory card) and set up an automatic or manual sync relationship. The former works by mirroring your entire media collection (or select playlists) on to your mobile device. The latter allows you to specify which files and playlists you want to sync each time your device is connected, and for the majority of us who prefer greater control and have large media collections, this will end up being the preferred sync relationship.<br /><br />After establishing a manual relationship, you'll notice that your device appears in the navigation pane to the left. This entry can be expanded to display a set of categories (sync status, artist, album, songs, genre, year, rating, and playlists) that allows you to monitor the contents of the device using the same graphical library interface that drives Windows Media Player 11. Because the <b>Sync</b> page is heavily tied to Windows Media Player's media library, all it takes is a bit of drag-and-drop action to kick-start the sync process. Similar to the burn interface, the list pane is situated to the right with a box above it displaying the storage capacity of the device. After dragging-and-dropping the relevant tracks, albums and playlists, hitting the <b>Start Sync</b> button toward the bottom-right makes the magic happen. Depending on how you set the conversion options, Windows Media Player will either copy the files straight on to your device or downsize them to better fit the device. If your heart so desires, you can establish a shuffle sync relationship - that is, have Windows Media Player automatically add a set of shuffled songs from your library to the list pane. And depending on the device, a reverse sync relationship can also be established (to transfer content from the device to the computer), along with a guest sync relationship (to help deal with multiple libraries on multiple computers).<br /><br />Once the items have been synchronised, you can launch Windows Media Player 10 Mobile on your Pocket PC or Smartphone and witness the changes. Firstly, there's absolutely no need to update the media library of the device since Windows Media Player 11 automatically updates the media library during the sync process. Secondly, all media information (including album art) is correctly transferred from the computer to the device. That is quite a departure from Windows Media Player 10, which failed to do any of that correctly.<br /><br />Microsoft boasts improved sync functionality with Windows Media Player 11, and from what I can tell, it works. Yes, I'll say it again - it works. It's now easy to rip a CD or download a song from the music store and have it on your device in a flash.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060518-WMP11c.jpg" /><br /><br /><span><b>Got the URGE to Download?</b></span><br />So, what is <a href="http://www.urge.com/">URGE</a>? Long story short, it's Microsoft's and MTV's baby. This digital music service is exclusive to Windows Media Player 11 and is a huge step up from MSN Music. It boasts a catalog of over two million songs, hundreds of playlists, and a wealthy collection of radio stations - all integrated into Windows Media Player 11's graphically-enhanced interface. <br /><br />URGE has three major pricing plans - "URGE - By the Track", "URGE - All Access", and "URGE - All Access to Go".<br />• <b>URGE - By the Track:</b> the limited solution; tracks available at 99c each with twenty free radio stations and access to URGE's feature stories, music blogs, and interviews.<br />• <b>URGE - All Access:</b> the unlimited solution; play and download all tracks and access all other services at $9.95 per month or $99 per year.<br />• <b>URGE - All Access to Go:</b> the "All Access" benefits with additional support for playback on portable media devices at $14.95 per month or $149 per year.<br /><br />URGE may be Microsoft's attempt at stealing some of iTunes' market share, but it still has a long way to go before it gets anywhere. The iTunes Music Store currently operates in twenty-one countries and URGE operates in just one (the United States). Apple also has the advantage of possessing a uniform media player, whereas Microsoft relies heavily on third-party manufacturers to deliver Windows Media Player-compatible solutions. Guess which one is easier to advertise?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060518-WMP11d.jpg" /><br /><br /><span><b>Availability</b></span><br />Windows Media Player 11 is available for both Windows XP and Windows Vista. The version compatible with Windows XP can currently be <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx">downloaded as a beta from Microsoft</a>, while the version compatible with Windows Vista is included in the operating system by default.<br /><br />So, is Windows Media Player 11 worth the download? You bet. It's everything Windows Media Player 10 should have been.

[adamz]

Doesn't the automatic sync also let you specify playlists like it does on WMP 10? You make it sound like you have to do a manual sync everytime you want to change the content on your player and that the automatic sync always only copies your entire media library.
In WMP10, you could set the automatic syncing to update your mobile's media library when specified playlists changed. For example, my JAMin always has the latest 3 episodes of certain TV shows copied over after they are recorded on my Media Center.

And is this shuffle sync relationship that automatically copies random tracks to your mobile device really part of a manual sync relationship?

Well, hopefully the ability to add a shuffle sync playlist and other custom playlists to an automatic syncing relationship is still there. That was a much easier way to manage mobile media content. I can delete tracks in my mobile playlist and they will be automatically removed from the device on it's next sync.

[OSUKid7]

Does anyone know if Napster/the Napster WMP plugin is available in WMP11 for Windows XP? I see on my Vista machine that it is not, and would rather not upgrade until I know Napster works with it. Oh well, I'm a sucker for new stuff, so I'll probably try it and hope it doesn't mess things up too badly.

[alabij]

To be honest. i never ever had a single sync problem with WMP10 and my Windows mobile 5 pocket pc. I'm surprised to hear all these complaints. All my playlists and album art always synced flwalessly with AS 4.x.

[JonnoB]

To be honest. i never ever had a single sync problem with WMP10 and my Windows mobile 5 pocket pc. I'm surprised to hear all these complaints. All my playlists and album art always synced flwalessly with AS 4.x.

As have mine.

I just downloaded the beta and it seems to be the same. The difference in sync as far as I can tell is better visual cues, but the sync seems to offer the same features.

[adamz]

As have mine.

I just downloaded the beta and it seems to be the same. The difference in sync as far as I can tell is better visual cues, but the sync seems to offer the same features.

I havn't had any WMP10 syncing problems either. Album art always works for my autosynced storage cards. The only problems I have had was syncing DRM content such as an MSN Video subscription. In order for the syncing to work you had to turn off the feature for converting files to a device-specific format. Maybe with WMP 11, you can actually automatically downsample DRM protected video for use on the small-screened media players.

[Darius Wey]

Doesn't the automatic sync also let you specify playlists like it does on WMP 10? You make it sound like you have to do a manual sync everytime you want to change the content on your player and that the automatic sync always only copies your entire media library.

Yes, sorry, I neglected to mention that - it does automatically sync playlists like in Windows Media Player 10. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll update the article to make it clearer.

And is this shuffle sync relationship that automatically copies random tracks to your mobile device really part of a manual sync relationship?

It is. You can have Windows Media Player 11 perform a shuffle sync whenever you want (manually) by selecting the option from Sync's extended tab menu.

[Darius Wey]

I havn't had any WMP10 syncing problems either. Album art always works for my autosynced storage cards.

Very lucky. I recall many users having problems syncing with Windows Media Player 10 - either album art and media information wouldn't copy over (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=373475) properly, or the sync process would just die halfway.

Fortunately with Windows Media Player 11, I've not experienced any of those issues.

Maybe with WMP 11, you can actually automatically downsample DRM protected video for use on the small-screened media players.

Alas, and as Janak pointed out in his earlier thread, this was a general overview of syncing non-DRM media. If URGE operated here in Australia, I would have spoken heavily about the new DRM syncing experience. :(

[Darius Wey]

Does anyone know if Napster/the Napster WMP plugin is available in WMP11 for Windows XP? I see on my Vista machine that it is not, and would rather not upgrade until I know Napster works with it. Oh well, I'm a sucker for new stuff, so I'll probably try it and hope it doesn't mess things up too badly.

I can't see it in mine. URGE managed to gobble everything up. ;)

Having said that, Paul Thurrott did mention that he got it working - probably by downloading and reinstalling Napster again.

[snoop244]

I'm pretty sure this won't work any better with drm protected music when syncing to a ppc. it didn't on the Vista preview. an oem upgrade to wm5 is required. it may have made it into aku 2, but I doubt it given Microsofts release date for the patch. so, the way I see it is URGE + wm5 = continued dissapointment in Janus for ppc. I hope I'm wrong.

[msafi]

I wish someone would enable Windows Media Player Mobile to play Audible.com Audio. If you put an Audible file in Windows Media Player 10 and sync it with WMP Mobile, it will sync fine, but it won't play on the handheld device. That's obviously an error on Microsofts part. WMP should ensure that the file will run on WMP Mobile before transferring to it.

Any case, please somebody get *.aa files to work with WMP Mobile. AudiblePlayer stinks badly.

[x51vuser]

Still no DVD rip to my Axim ???!!!!!

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Any case, please somebody get *.aa files to work with WMP Mobile. AudiblePlayer stinks badly.

I very much doubt that will happen unless audible themselves do something - it is their own DRM scheme after all. In any case, I find Audible Player quite usable, if you don't mind upgrading and hacking it a bit. What I find funny is that Audible releases updates to their player pretty frequently (both PC and PDA), but it's never made known or even picked up by their own update program :roll: You might want to redownload and reinstall the player (just remember to deactivate before reinstallation and reactivate afterwards).

[sapibobo]

I have not any problems (include album art thing) with WM5 HX4700 and Windows Mobile 10 in laptop or pc. Everything always sync flawlessly. I always use manual sync though.

However WM11 is a nice upgrade. I cant wait to get it downloaded into my PC at home.

I have few question though for you guys that have already downloaded :

a. Is WMP11 still support only MP3 and WMA only? Does it support WMA 9 Pro?

b. What codec is WMP10 using? Some said it is support WMA9 other said WMA8.

c. Any other audio codec supported here such as :
- MP3Pro
- OGG (it is not natively supported, mine got it through separate Direct Media installation from OGG Vorbis)
- AAC, M4A, etc of iTunes

d. WMP10 for WM5 actually support WMA9 or WM8? Any future WM9Pro implementation on Pocket PC?

e. Any sound ehnacement features such as SRS WOW, equalizer, rythm speed, etc?

f. Any speed increasing when transferring the song between WM5 and PC (i use HX4700)?

g. Will WMP11 ported to WIndows Mobile devices?

Thanks

[hamishmacdonald]

I put a CD of mixed music into my WMP library, and now whenever I search for album information for ONE track, ALL the tracks from that homemade CD get dragged into that album, giving them completely incorrect tags and album art.

Is there a way to change the info for just one track, or to tell WMP "Okay, forget what you think you know about this file!"

[beedee]

I have my PPC sync with WM11 with room for music files on a storage car. Syncing wiht WM11 works fine, except that the Shuffle sync option is greyed out when I click on the little arrow below "Sync" in WM11 and I don't know how to change this!

PS: Also must mention that I had a couple of program-terminations (it's beta, after all). What I found is that these terminations happen all the time when ActiveSync tries to sync the Media part (which is last in my row of items to be synced).

[Darius Wey]

Still no DVD rip to my Axim ???!!!!!

There are way too many legal issues involved for Microsoft to even consider implementing a DVD ripping function into Windows Media Player. ;)

[Darius Wey]

Is WMP11 still support only MP3 and WMA only? Does it support WMA 9 Pro?

Support for WMA 9 Pro is included.

What codec is WMP10 using? Some said it is support WMA9 other said WMA8.

Most Windows Media Player versions are backward compatible, so Windows Media Player 10 supports WMA 9.1 and below. Likewise with Windows Media Player 11.

Any other audio codec supported here such as :
- MP3Pro
- OGG (it is not natively supported, mine got it through separate Direct Media installation from OGG Vorbis)
- AAC, M4A, etc of iTunes

No. However, you can add support for some (not all) of those by installing plug-ins. Visit WMPlugins.com (http://www.wmplugins.com/) for a brief selection.

WMP10 for WM5 actually support WMA9 or WM8?

Yes.

Any future WM9Pro implementation on Pocket PC?

Windows Media Player 10 Mobile already supports a wide range of Windows Media files, including those encoded with the WMA 9 Pro codec, the WMA 9 Lossless codec, and the WMV 9 Image codec.

Any sound ehnacement features such as SRS WOW, equalizer, rythm speed, etc?

Windows Media Player 11 still includes all that. You can access those enhancements by clicking the Now Playing menu and selecting Show Enhancements.

Any speed increasing when transferring the song between WM5 and PC (i use HX4700)?

This is usually limited by the USB specification of your computer and Pocket PC. While I haven't done any specific speed measurement tests, in a single environment, synchronising with Windows Media Player 11 seems equally as fast as Windows Media Player 10.

Will WMP11 ported to WIndows Mobile devices?

Unknown. As mentioned in the article, Microsoft has not yet hinted at the existence of Windows Media Player 11 Mobile.

[Darius Wey]

I put a CD of mixed music into my WMP library, and now whenever I search for album information for ONE track, ALL the tracks from that homemade CD get dragged into that album, giving them completely incorrect tags and album art.

So this is where Windows Media Player 11 fails. Both the Update Album Info and Find Album Info commands seem to make changes to an entire album, and not a single track.

There aren't any obvious workarounds, unfortunately (or at least, none that I'm aware of). One thing you can try is to modify the media information retrieval settings. Click the Library menu, and select More Options. From there, if you have the Retrieve additional information from the Internet box ticked, ensure that the Only add missing information option is selected. After that, use the Update Album Info command and see if Windows Media Player can update the specific track, and not the entire album itself. Make sure you don't use the Find Album Info command in this instance, as it has been designed to overwrite any manual changes, despite the modifications made to the media retrieval settings.

[bendy]

OK so I have upgraded to 11 and generally like.

I can snyc my phones (Vodafone v1240 WM5) built in storage ok.

But!!

I cant snyc my phones storage card??

Any help out there

Thanks

[Darius Wey]

I cant snyc my phones storage card??

Are you able to provide any further details? Computer setup, size of storage card, etc.?

Is it a problem with the storage card not appearing? Or does the storage card appear, but the sync just fails to start, or starts but fails halfway?

[bendy]

I cant snyc my phones storage card??

Are you able to provide any further details? Computer setup, size of storage card, etc.?

Is it a problem with the storage card not appearing? Or does the storage card appear, but the sync just fails to start, or starts but fails halfway?

Thanks for the fast reply

I was being dim as the storage card appeared as a separate device :-)

Doh!

Thanks anyway

[Darius Wey]

I was being dim as the storage card appeared as a separate device :-)

Great - glad to see you found it. :)

On a side note, if you wish to rename your device or storage card, you can. Simply open up the Sync menu and select [Device Name] > Advanced Options.

[hamishmacdonald]

Thanks Darius!

P.S. Bluh. Didn't work. I renamed the various bits in the Advanced Tag Editor and they still bounce back to having the wrong information on them.

[nwd]

WMP11b crashes on my system,
however I cant figure out how to uninstall it!
Not in add/remove, no shortcut in start menu, no unistall script in programme folder.
(I havent tried reinstall yet though)

[Darius Wey]

however I cant figure out how to uninstall it!
Not in add/remove, no shortcut in start menu, no unistall script in programme folder.

It's in Add or Remove Programs, though in order to see it, you'll have to tick the Show updates box. Scroll down to Windows XP - Software Updates and Windows Media Player 11 will be listed there.

[msafi]

Any case, please somebody get *.aa files to work with WMP Mobile. AudiblePlayer stinks badly.

I very much doubt that will happen unless audible themselves do something - it is their own DRM scheme after all. In any case, I find Audible Player quite usable, if you don't mind upgrading and hacking it a bit. What I find funny is that Audible releases updates to their player pretty frequently (both PC and PDA), but it's never made known or even picked up by their own update program :roll: You might want to redownload and reinstall the player (just remember to deactivate before reinstallation and reactivate afterwards).
I just installed AudiblePlayer on my PocketPC, and I don't see any updates. It's the same old bad interface. AudiblePlayer doesn't support Bluetooth stereo and remote control. WMP Mobile does. And I hate how you have to double click on the file in that very tiny list to play the file. It stresses me...

So are there hax and updates for these problems?

[Gator5000e]

Installed WM 11. Seems to work well with one exception. It is seeing my 2GB miniSD card as a 498MB Storage card. This is limiting what I can load on my PPC. Anyone have any ideas on how to correct or work around this?

When I go to settings, memory, storage card, it is properly reading the amount of used and available memory.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Darius Wey]

Installed WM 11. Seems to work well with one exception. It is seeing my 2GB miniSD card as a 498MB Storage card. This is limiting what I can load on my PPC. Anyone have any ideas on how to correct or work around this?

Is this card clean or do you have other files on there? If the latter, something may be affecting the file system, so try formatting it (FAT32) - unless you've already done that?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

So are there hax and updates for these problems?

Since this is essentially OT, I sent you a PM.

[signothefish]

I was wondering if it's possible to play the files on my Pocket PC through my laptop speaker through AS without having to copy them over locally. After all, they show up in my Songs list under CF Card (see the left of the image below, and the list of songs displayed on my device). Yet I can't play them, I can't copy them to a playlist on my laptop, I can't seem to do anything with them except Delete or Properties through a CSM over the songs.

[1600x1200 image] (http://home.nc.rr.com/signothefish/images/WMP11_screen_shot.jpg)

[Darius Wey]

I was wondering if it's possible to play the files on my Pocket PC through my laptop speaker through AS without having to copy them over locally. After all, they show up in my Songs list under CF Card (see the left of the image below, and the list of songs displayed on my device). Yet I can't play them, I can't copy them to a playlist on my laptop, I can't seem to do anything with them except Delete or Properties through a CSM over the songs.

No, you'll have to transfer them to your computer first.

[sapibobo]

I finally managed to download MP11 and, Darius, i think it requires Windows Genuine Advantage checking via the internet. I am not sure but while it was installing there seems connection happening to the internet as my laptop shows.

I installed on my PC also but it doesnt require internet connection. Strange.

My 512 MB SD storage card showed 481 MB just as exactly WM5 reported as 480.63 MB.

I like new black shadowed skin. Too bad many of Indonesian album doesnt have album art in MS Server.

I dont find any substantial differences in sound quality. They're sound crispier a bit, but perhaps it just my feeling only.

If you have many playlist with broken links that can make WMP11 not responding for some time, as my friend told me.
All of my album located at My Documents/My Music and updating library is quite fast.

Overall the upgrade is very nice.

Edit : I found in option that i can use Windows Media Audio Pro for ripping. Is this playable in WM5?

[Darius Wey]

I finally managed to download MP11 and, Darius, i think it requires Windows Genuine Advantage checking via the internet. I am not sure but while it was installing there seems connection happening to the internet as my laptop shows.

Of course. That was a point I made in the other WMP 11 thread. :)

Edit : I found in option that i can use Windows Media Audio Pro for ripping. Is this playable in WM5?

Yes. WMP 10 Mobile supports media encoded with the WMA 9 Pro codec.

[myrampar]

Hello-

I've been playing around with Sync on WMP11 and have made the following observations:

1. I like the new 'gas gauge' that shows up for connected devices, storage cards, etc.

2. When I connect my Ipaq 4150 via AS and then use WMP11 to sync music to my storage card, the option to "Create a folder hierarchy' on the device is greyed out. Same thing for the built in storage on the device or the Ipaq file store. Consequently, when I sync music, I get a long list of songs on the device with no folders.

3. If I stick my SD card into my card reader, the option to "Create a folder hierarchy" is checked but songs are not transferred to the card in this manner. It still just places the individual songs onto the card w/o folders.

4. If you rip your music from CD's into WMA Pro format, do not sync those songs directly to a storage card and expect them to play in your decvice w/ WMP9 installed. They need to be synchronized to the storage card while your device is connected via AS. I believe this 'converts' the music into the proper format for WMP9 on the device.

5. If you use Orb, it seems to automatically convert these WMA Pro formatted songs so that they will play on your device with WMP9. For example, I have a PC set up with Orb and ripped some cds into WMA Pro format. When I used my Ipaq 4150 to stream these songs over the internet, they played fine on my device. However, if I tried to stream these same songs over my home network, WMP9 on the Ipaq would not play them.

6. I have a Verizon XV6700 and many of the above issues do not apply. When I sync music to the device while connected via AS, it creates a folder hierarchy on the storage card and the library in WMP10 mobile is much improved. I am experiencing skipping while playing songs that have been tranferred to this device using WMP11. Could this be due to my MiniSD card, the general slowness that seems to be common to this device as well as WM 5 devices in general or something else? The songs seem to play fine from the card when using the card reader on my desktop and WMP11 but skip when played using my XV6700. The MiniSD card is a A-Data 60x high-speed card.

That's all I have right now.

[Darius Wey]

I am experiencing skipping while playing songs that have been tranferred to this device using WMP11. Could this be due to my MiniSD card, the general slowness that seems to be common to this device as well as WM 5 devices in general or something else?

Interesting. Did you try formatting the card prior to syncing?

[myrampar]

Hi Darius-

I didn't format the card prior to syncing. I did find a hack that seemed to take care of the skipping but I'm not sure if it will affect other functions of the phone.

One of the posters said that he set the WaveDev priority to 1 and now he gets no skips when playing mp3's with TCPMP, so I thought it was worth a shot.

I navigated to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\WaveDev\Priority256 and changed the value from the default of 110 (dec) to 1 and performed a soft reset.

Check out this Microsoft article here (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wceddk/html/wceddkReal_Time_Priority_System.asp)

After that, the songs played smoothly from the card.

I'll have to see if it breaks anything else. :D

[Darius Wey]

...but I'm not sure if it will affect other functions of the phone.

Theoretically, it shouldn't. You're merely giving the audio interface driver a higher priority. A value of 1 might be overkill, but hey, whatever works. ;)

[myrampar]

Darius-

I don't want to wander off-topic too much, but do you have any idea which process may have had a 'higher' priority to cause the music to skip with the default value?

I recently hard reset my device and have been slowly adding programs to troubleshoot a separate issue and currently have MemMaid 1.6 and Resco Explorer 5.35 installed. I did not install the Resco Today Plug-in and no other programs were running when I was experiencing the skipping.

On a separate note, it's nice that I am able to stream my tracks using Orb w/o having to convert them from WMA Pro for my WM2003 device. However, on the XV6700 I can play one song from a folder and then WMP10 exits taking me back to Orb where I have to tap on play again to start another song.

Do you have this problem with your WM5 device or do you think it is specific to my device?

Thanks for your input!

[Darius Wey]

I don't want to wander off-topic too much, but do you have any idea which process may have had a 'higher' priority to cause the music to skip with the default value?

I don't think it's a single process having a higher priority - rather, a culmination of processes (too variable to name). By modifying the registry key of 'wavedev', you merely bump the audio driver up the priority table and give it more attention.

Do you have this problem with your WM5 device or do you think it is specific to my device?

I can't quite recall. I'd check for you now if I could, but my media server (the one running Orb) is currently being formatted to make way for Vista Beta 2. I will let you know when I've got everything up and running again. :)

[myrampar]

Thanks Darius!

One thing that just came to mind. I had applied a hack to change the Voice codec my phone from the default of EVRC to 13k prior to my skipping problems. While conversations seem to sound better using the new codec, that may have affected the playback of the music. I may try to go back to defaults for both and see what happens.

Good luck with Vista Beta 2! As I don't have an MSDN subscription, I'm waiting for a Public Release of the beta to evaluate the new OS. I've got an extra hard drive waiting. Hope they release it soon! :lol:

Keep me posted!

[rkfinley]

I was wondering if Windows is going to offer podcast support, (i.e. RSS feeds with enclosures). I currently use a program called Juicer to snag the feeds and WMP 10 for playing them on my desktop. But it is kludgy; I have names of files and playlist long ago deleted. I would like an active playlist option that looks at certain folders and creates a play list from what is in the folders.

I use Windows Media on my Dell Axim x3i, and a card reader to load up my 1gig SD card with shows to last my work week. I would like Sync to transfer the new tracks while I’m asleep so I don’t have to think about it.

My ideal option would be a program that treats podcast as emails (i.e. read, unread and deleted) and allows me to prioritize the shows (i.e. load show A-1 to SD card before loading show B-1, and C-3.) But that is a pie in the sky dream, a program that does everything that I want and how I want it to do it.

Blessed Be,
C. A. Sizemore
[email protected]
www.casizemore.com
Morality; is doing the right thing and not caring if any one is watching.

[rveronezi]

Hello folks...
Last week I've purchased a Moto Q Smartphone... Wich is awesome, and works really great... Also I bougth a MiniSD 1GB card, so it can serve me as a Mp3 Player also!

I'm using Windows Vista RTM (Ultimate) with Windows Mobile Device Center (in place of Active Sync) and Windows Media Player 11...

When I try to Sync media files inside Media Player, it only sees the internal memory of the Smartphone, and I didn't find any way to change to the Storage Card.

The Storage Card is working fine, I can see it inside explorer (as a separate "drive") and also I copied some Mp3 files to card directly via explorer... It works fine in the Device, in MP you set the library to the Storage Card, and then he finds the files and builds the library, just fine...

But I can't make it work inside Windows Media Player... Sync media files via explorer is awful... Does anyone knows how can I change it to the storage card inside Media Player?

Thanks People...

[dean56]

i have the exact same problem. it cannot see the microsd card on my Dash. tech support at urge is aware of the problem. i hope they fix it soon.

[HillsboroUth]

I had to update to WMP11 to install Urge. Now my xv6700 doesn't show up as an available device at all. Any ideas? I have restarted everything, multiple times. I seem to remember I had this issue before, and rolled back to WMP10, and my device showed up again.

I am running XP SP2 and AS 4.5.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. (Sorry if this is a repeat post, I searched and didn't find the answer yet.)

Thanks,
Dan

[hamishmacdonald]

Apologies: I found a solution, but I didn't post it here.

There's a hotfix from Microsoft that solves the problem of WMP 11 not seeing storage cards on Windows Mobile Devices:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931621/en-us

[RexNoctis]

Hi all, although I joined a while back, first post here I think :oops:

I have almost exactly the opposite problem to many people in this thread, I'm using a HTC TyTN with a miniSD card. WMP11 can see the card fine when the phone is docked, Media Player on the phone can't. If I use File Explorer to locate the card and play tracks individually, pocket media player has no problem but the card will not show up in the library.

When the card is inserted, Pocket Media Player will pop up and ask if I would like to search for tracks. It will say completed but still not show up. On the library drop down, it wil only show 'My Device'

I have tried this with two different miniSD cards, both have the same problem.

Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks all!