Conduits Releases Pocket Player 4.0

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.conduits.com/products/player/' target='_blank'>http://www.conduits.com/products/player/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Conduits Technologies, Inc., announced today the release of Pocket Player 4.0, an alternative media player for Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PC and Smartphone. Pocket Player aims to satisfy consumers who demand more from a dynamic media player on a mobile device, and recently won Best Audio at the 2008 Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards for its Pocket PC and Smartphone editions. Pocket Player 4.0 introduces AAC and M4A playback and podcast subscriptions, as well as enhanced MP3 support and other improvements. Pocket Player 4.0 is fully compatible with all Windows Mobile 6.1, Windows Mobile 6, and Windows Mobile 5.0 devices."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1231174712.usr2.gif" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>A <a href="http://www.conduits.com/products/player/download.asp" target="_blank">free trial version</a> of Pocket Player 4.0 is available. If, after trying it, you like what you see and want the full version, you can grab it from our affiliate software store (<a href="http://software.pocketpcthoughts.com/product.asp?id=3017" target="_blank">Windows Mobile Classic/Professional</a>, <a href="http://software.smartphonethoughts.com/product.asp?id=5512" target="_blank">Windows Mobile Standard</a>) for $19.95. However, if you purchased Pocket Player 3.x on or after December 1, 2008, you're eligible for a free upgrade; if you purchased any version of Pocket Player before that date, then it's just $9.95 for an&nbsp;<a href="http://store.conduits.com/popl2up.html" target="_blank">upgrade</a>.</p>

[benjimen]

Wow... AAC+ support! If anyone's wondering, just tried it out and it works well. I subscribe to DI.fm -- they also offer free stations in WMA and MP3 format, but if you're a paying subscriber, the commercial free AAC-Plus streams are available. Until now, these links haven't worked in any WM player as they involve authentication which not even CorePlayer does. PocketPlayer does -- and as I'm stuck with T-Mobile EDGE connection on my device, I'm now able to take advantage of that 64k stream that sounds better than even the 128k MP3 one.

[Joel Crane]

I purchased Pocket Player ages ago, and have enjoyed many free upgrades until now. Its high time Conduits made some money off me, because I use Pocket Player daily. It is the single most important program on my x51v.

[buckyg]

I've been away from Pocket Player for awhile, using Coreplayer for all my multimedia. Tried the new version, love the features they've added in the meanwhile. It's so much more intuitive to use Pocket Player's media library. CorePlayer has it beat for video capabilities, but Pocket Player's my audio player now.

[benjimen]

...CorePlayer has it beat for video capabilities, but Pocket Player's my audio player now.
I agree 100% -- nothing touches CorePlayer when it comes to handling of video files -- but the interface is a bit klunky, and I just don't get their library functionality (you shouldn't have to figure something like that out). Nothing compares to PocketPlayer for audio though, organization and access to all things audio couldn't be more intuitive...

[nmcclana]

Same here. I upgraded more to kick in 10 bucks than for the new features. I'm not sure most users will see enough value to upgrade, but if they're looking for a great audio player, now is a great time to pick up pocket player.

[benjimen]

...I'm not sure most users will see enough value to upgrade...
I think you're wrong... One change in 4.0 is the handling of dropped streams. Every other WM media player, including earlier versions of PocketPlayer, would attempt to resume a dropped stream for a bit, and then timeout. For me, the 'timeout' period has always been to short. On a jog or a bikeride, I continually had to take the player out of my pocket and tap play to get the stream going again. With the new version, PocketPlayer attempts to retrieve a dropped stream continuously, or until you press the stop button. That feature alone is worth the $10...

For those of us stuck in EDGE world with T-Mobile, the ability to access AAC+ streams is another 'worth the $10' addition. A 64k AAC+ stream sounds great, and is easily handled by EDGE connection speeds.

[nmcclana]

I'm pro AAC+ streams. I upgraded for the podcast download capability. But it doesn't really seem to work (http://www.conduits.com/community/forum_posts.asp?TID=1425&PN=1).

[benjimen]

I'm pro AAC+ streams. I upgraded for the podcast download capability. But it doesn't really seem to work (http://www.conduits.com/community/forum_posts.asp?TID=1425&PN=1).

Lucky for you, it's one of the better supported media players on the market. Remember when the library feature was first added? Now look at it, very slick. I'm sure you'll see similar progress with the podcast feature. They put a lot of work in PocketPlayer -- something noticable in every update, beyond just the bug fixes...

[Menneisyys]

I agree 100% -- nothing touches CorePlayer when it comes to handling of video files -- but the interface is a bit klunky, and I just don't get their library functionality (you shouldn't have to figure something like that out). Nothing compares to PocketPlayer for audio though, organization and access to all things audio couldn't be more intuitive...

It's indeed different than most of the other titles, but can be figured out once you understand how multiple selections and selection-based auto-filtering work. Also see my Metatag Library bible ( http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f323/definitive-multiplatform-multimedia-metatag-library-tutorial-bible-90188.html ) for more info.

[Menneisyys]

I think you're wrong... One change in 4.0 is the handling of dropped streams. Every other WM media player, including earlier versions of PocketPlayer, would attempt to resume a dropped stream for a bit, and then timeout. For me, the 'timeout' period has always been to short. On a jog or a bikeride, I continually had to take the player out of my pocket and tap play to get the stream going again. With the new version, PocketPlayer attempts to retrieve a dropped stream continuously, or until you press the stop button. That feature alone is worth the $10...

For those of us stuck in EDGE world with T-Mobile, the ability to access AAC+ streams is another 'worth the $10' addition. A 64k AAC+ stream sounds great, and is easily handled by EDGE connection speeds.

Yeah, it's great to see AAC+ support in PP - I've been asking the dev to add it ever since I've published my dedicated roundups and bibles. Now, it ahas received AAC+ support before (!!!) CorePlayer. (Not even the latest CP support AAC+, unfortunately.)

[nmcclana]

Lucky for you, it's one of the better supported media players on the market. Remember when the library feature was first added? Now look at it, very slick. I'm sure you'll see similar progress with the podcast feature. They put a lot of work in PocketPlayer -- something noticable in every update, beyond just the bug fixes...

Yeah, I'm pretty confident they'll fix it. But it's a little wonky to flag it as a key feature when it's non-operational. It also seems like a more incremental upgrade compared to the switch from 2 to 3. But I get so much value out of it, I'd give them $10 just to say 'thanks', even without any new features.

I'm also excited about the new stream handling, I didn't even know about that. I can't get AAC+ to work with the only AAC+ stream I listen to (somafm (http://www.somafm.com)), but AAC+ does sound great - I would say a 64Kbs stream is actually listen-able.

[me]

Looked at the product description at http://www.conduits.com/products/player/, and it sounds great!

One thing though, I'm not sure about. Although the audio types listed as supported include .aac and .m4a, I see nothing about the corresponding video types, .mp4 and .m4v. Are they supported, including AVC, h.264?

If not, that is a major addition, that they need to make. Any video players these days should support those file types, and compression type.

[buckyg]

Not sure about those video types. They are listed under Associations, but I don't have any such videos at the moment. You might want to check with their support, I'm not seeing a comprehensive list of video types they support.

IMHO, if I had to characterize Pocket Player, it would be an audio player that happens to play some video types. That is, as opposed to a video player or all-around multimedia player that plays everything.

[benjimen]

It's indeed different than most of the other titles, but can be figured out once you understand how multiple selections and selection-based auto-filtering work. Also see my Metatag Library bible ( http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f323/definitive-multiplatform-multimedia-metatag-library-tutorial-bible-90188.html ) for more info.

Thanks for the info -- maybe someday I'll be motivated to learn it, but I'm fine with PocketPlayer -- nothing to learn really unless you want to dig into some of the advanced settings -- but the library is easy and intuitive without 'studying up'.

I did just discover that AAC-Plus streams from DI.fm are now working with CorePlayer -- must've been added to the latest update, as previously it wouldn't work.

[JPD6825]

I just got a WM6 device, so naturally I'm looking at new software. I downloaded the PocketPlayer demo and was disappointed when it wouldn't play my MP4 videos. Sigh!
So what is the better all-around player -- or the better video player with MP4 support - and maybe even FLV support?