09-09-2007, 11:30 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Do You Use Your Pocket PC As A Media Player?
Pocket PCs have always had the ability to play music since including Windows Media Player on the device since Pocket PC 2000 was released. Even before that there options, including a version of WMP from MS you could install on some pre-PPC 2000 devices. I am wondering how many use it as your primary music device, and if not, why not? I don't, and for several reasons.
� No gapless playback. I have some CDs, like those from Diane Arkensone, that are really one long song. The pauses between songs is unacceptable.
� Little or no cooperation between WMP and the phone. You can go deaf if listening to music and the phone rings at the elevated volume. Ditto alarms and reminders.
� No "listening to music" profile. This sort of goes with the previous point, but even with text messages, new emails or any other new alert, like some RSS readers have. When I am listenting to music, I want everything else off. I should't have to put the phone in flight mode or disable all my other alarms and reminders temporarily. I recognize this is a user preference and you may want your alerts, but i suspect you may want to turn some off or reduce the volume to about 10% of normal levels.
There are more reasons, but the fix is to have some sophisticated profiles on the device allowing the user to configure these preferences at one time, not every time they fire up WMP, and then having to reconfigure them after shutting it down. For now, and the forseeable future, I'll have a separate MP3 player. Right now, I am looking seriously at the new Creative Zen, which should be shipping in a few weeks.
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09-10-2007, 12:06 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 18
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Hey someone should come up with a really good phone and MP3 player combo. If only someone could take the functionality of something as good as a fully featured iPod and stick it in a phone...I wonder what that would be like... That would probably sell really well.
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09-10-2007, 12:15 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,520
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I voted no, but currently I'm looking to do just that. Its only because my Creative Zen:M was stolen and I haven't replaced it yet.
The new Zen looks good but I would be going from 30GB to 16GB. Even with a 4GB SD card I'm still only at 20GB. It may be okay.
I'm between re-buying the Zen:M, the new Zen, and waiting for Zune 2.0. Although I have serious doubts that I would buy the later. These closed systems are just too much hassel. The Zen:M was problem free.
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Phone: Nexus one Backup Phone: AT&T Samsung Jack; Future Phone: I'm Watching WP7; Media Player: Platinum Zune HD 32GB; Home Server: HP MediaSmart Server LX195 Console: XBox 360, PS3, Wii |
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09-10-2007, 12:17 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 18
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Phillip Dyson
I voted no, but currently I'm looking to do just that. Its only because my Creative Zen:M was stolen and I haven't replaced it yet.
The new Zen looks good but I would be going from 30GB to 16GB. Even with a 4GB SD card I'm still only at 20GB. It may be okay.
I'm between re-buying the Zen:M, the new Zen, and waiting for Zune 2.0. Although I have serious doubts that I would buy the later. These closed systems are just too much hassel. The Zen:M was problem free.
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Wow that was the most UNBIASED thing I think I've ever read. :roll:
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09-10-2007, 12:18 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by compboss17
Hey someone should come up with a really good phone and MP3 player combo. If only someone could take the functionality of something as good as a fully featured iPod and stick it in a phone...I wonder what that would be like... That would probably sell really well.
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:rotfl:
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09-10-2007, 12:20 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 30
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This is probably one of my MAIN uses for my pocketpc. I have over 20k songs, with most of them in FLAC lossless format. With a collection that large, I use vnc or rdp/terminal to log into my media server and have access to my entire music collection to broadcast a private shoutcast stream. It really sounds a lot more tedius/complicated then it really is. And if I dont have a wifi connection or cell signal, i can always slap in a 4GB CF or SD card on the fly.
Plus with mortplayer I can also listen to other inet radio station streams or when i'm at home, use it to access the shared folders/files on the mediaserver.
I borrowed a friends ipod for a week not to long ago and I can't even begin to tell you how limited and shackled I felt. The last thing I need is to carry a 4th thing on my belt besides a PDA, phone, and 2 way radio.
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09-10-2007, 12:33 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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BTW, some WM players support gapless playback. I'll soon publish a Multimedia Bible; in there, I'll elaborate on all these issues. In the meantime, it's certainly worth giving at least the AximSite forums a quick search for "gapless" to see what people write about this thing.
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09-10-2007, 12:38 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Mountain343
With a collection that large, I use vnc or rdp/terminal to log into my media server and have access to my entire music collection to broadcast a private shoutcast stream.
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I'd say using fully-fledged, heavy-weight remote desktop solutions is a definite overkill. There're several lightweight direct remote controllers that, assuming you run for example WME on your desktop, you could use for flawless remote media selection MUCH more easily than via any kind of a remote desktop accessor. See for example Proximis NetRemote2.
Also see my related Bible at http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/foru...ic.php?t=53973 . It thoroughly compares ALL the remote media controllers AND explains how streaming needs to be implemented, on top of them.
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09-10-2007, 01:20 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 333
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The other reason I don't use it (besides Ed's) is battery life. Since my Pocket PC is also my phone, I don't want to run everything low listening to MP3s. My nano is pretty small, and I don't really need music with me everywhere anyway.
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09-10-2007, 02:17 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 357
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I've been using my Pocket PC/Windows Mobile devices for mobile music exclusively since the iPAQ H3600 over 7 years ago. The first thing I do when I get into my car is plug it in. I keep a 1Gb and a 2Gb playlist on my desktop which I update and modify as I choose. Each are synced automatically with their respective storage card sizes on the mobile device. Though I may have to add an 8Gb playlist when the 8Gb MicroSDHC cards come out. My 2Gb playlist has almost 600 songs on it and the card is only half full. Letting WMP/Media Center automatically convert the files to WMA and WMV really helps with the storage limitation without significant loss in quality. Furthermore, since I have a Media Center PC, I can automatically sync recorded TV shows for viewing elsewhere. That certainly isn't possible on any iPod unless you purchase the show through iTunes if the one you want is available.
I also love the cooperation between WMP and the phone in Windows Mobile. When a phone call comes in, the audio pauses so you can hear Voice Command announce the name of the caller. If you keep the phone ring volume the same as the system volume there's no need to worry about going deaf since both would be the same.
I also prefer having the reminders announced during music playback. I set reminders for a reason. If I wanted to ignore my appointments I wouldn't set reminders for them.
And since my phone is also a GPS Navigation system, I've got navigation voice prompts playing along at the same volume as the music. This is extremely useful.
I heard that the Apple iPhone shuts the phone off if you plug it into a car stereo adapter. That alone is a deal breaker for me. Having my music, phone calls, appointments, messages, and GPS Navigation instructions audible through the car stereo (or my motorcycle helmet) all via one device is awesome. I can't imagine having to use something so less advanced.
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