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View Full Version : Plus! Sync & Go for Pocket PC


Jason Dunn
01-08-2003, 04:11 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/PortableDevices.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pl...ableDevices.asp</a><br /><br /></div>We mentioned this a few weeks ago, but now that the Plus! Digital Media Edition is shipping, it bears mentioning again. During the promotion leading up to the launch you could pre-register and get a discount coupon. I don't know about you, but I'm still waiting for my coupon to buy the product - which is a little lame. Customers who pre-registered to buy are the ones <u>most</u> interested in buying the product, so they should get the coupons immediately upon launch. And it gets worse: "Payment can only be accepted from United States credit cards at this time." Tsk, tsk Microsoft - if you're going to make your first big step into electronic software distribution, you'd better make sure to include the rest of the world.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/images/Sync&Go_image.jpg" /><br /><br />"Taking your favorite music, news, and information with you on your Pocket PC just got easier! With Plus! Sync &amp; Go for Pocket PC, you can synchronize content quickly and easily between your desktop computer and Pocket PC. Sync &amp; Go lets you choose the content you want to download, including Web content from Internet content providers and music and video files from Windows Media Player Media Library. <br /><br />Then Sync &amp; Go automatically synchronizes the content to your Pocket PC, so you can be sure that you always have the latest information on your device. Simple playback controls in Sync &amp; Go for Pocket PC make it easy to locate and play back the content when you want."

icatar
01-08-2003, 04:21 PM
I didn't get my coupon until 7 PM EST last night. I haven't bought it yet, because I have two PCs and I have to decide which one to install it on, ya know, because of that product activation stuff and all....

Randall L. Lewis
01-08-2003, 04:21 PM
I agree with you about the credit card issue, but can't share your complaint about the coupon: it was right there in my e-mail inbox Tuesday as promised. I clicked, gave the credit card info, and downloaded without a hitch. Haven't used Sync and Go, (or anthing other than the dancers) yet, but they do tell you as you download that Sync and Go is a subscription and will be free only for an undefined period of time.

Wilbert
01-08-2003, 04:37 PM
Well I too revieced my coupon lastnight around 7:00 PM. I did request 3 more coupons, and they all showed up within an hour later.

But I did purchase the product and I must say it has some good "add on's" to XP. Plus the price was not bad for $14.

Now as for Sync and Go. This is a different story. I LOVE the idea of what this can do. I just have some problems with the first version of this. First, I have a 1910 so I do not know if this is just my problem or if other have this problem, but the video playback is choppy and when you go to landscape mode the audio crackles. I do not know if this is a hardware issue or software, so I would like to know what happens with other peoples PPC's.

The whole interface could be and NEEDS to be redone and the skins that come with it do not help. The "Default" skin seems to be best, but it is kinda lame. Not much color or very good looking and kinda hard to understand at first. But it has promise!

The content is not bad, and I was impressed with the amount of content that was on my PDA after syncing! I hope they add more providers of content in the future!

I have not used the "audio" side of Sync and Go. It can search your Windows Media Player and download songs that meet certain criteria.

Overall not bad. Needs some polishing. I would give it a 4 out of 5

BUT Microsoft should have released a Series 9 player for PPC :evil:

Jason Dunn
01-08-2003, 04:42 PM
I didn't get my coupon until 7 PM EST last night.

Hmm - I wonder if they're doing filtering by countries, since orders can only be placed by people in the US. :?

Foo Fighter
01-08-2003, 04:52 PM
Something is wrong with the check-out function. I keep getting an error message telling me I need to correct my City, State, and Zip code entry....but there is nothing wrong with what I entered.

Guess I won't be buying this software. :roll:

frankn
01-08-2003, 05:17 PM
Is there a valid link to get the coupon still?
:oops:

Thanks

Wilbert
01-08-2003, 05:19 PM
Nope. It stopped on the 6th :wink:

bdegroodt
01-08-2003, 05:28 PM
Curious if anyone is using this yet and cares to comment on the time required to sync things like video and music.

I rarely change my play lists on my SD card because it's like a half day event to get everything transfered over to it...and it's only 128MBs.

Wilbert
01-08-2003, 05:31 PM
I just posted that I was using it :wink:

It takes about 4-5 minutes depending on how much data you want to have on your memory card. The more you want, the longer it takes and it also depends on how fast your connection is to the net.

I believe mine is at 60-80MB of data right now and that is not even half of what you can add to your device!

bdegroodt
01-08-2003, 05:35 PM
I just posted that I was using it :wink:

It takes about 4-5 minutes depending on how much data you want to have on your memory card. The more you want, the longer it takes and it also depends on how fast your connection is to the net.

I believe mine is at 60-80MB of data right now and that is not even half of what you can add to your device!

Wow! That's impressive! I hope that the next WMP incorporates some of this syncing speed. Sounds like it's worth the price for that alone.

Am I clear in understanding that it allows you to not only sync content from MS partners, but also your own locally selected "stuff?"

Wilbert
01-08-2003, 05:42 PM
Am I clear in understanding that it allows you to not only sync content from MS partners, but also your own locally selected "stuff?"

I do not know about that part. It does allow you to sync you audio, and I would think it would allow video files, but I do not know for sure as I have not done that part.

If you do get it, let me know how your performace is for the video playback! I would like to know how others feel the video playback is!

Cliffbrooks
01-08-2003, 05:43 PM
I'm using it too, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use and how polished it feels (despite an ugly interface). It installs it's own player, which I found curious, but on my Maestro I don't have the playback issues that another user has experienced. I wasn't aware that there would be a cost for content, but if it's of the current quality (MSNBC), it might be worth it. I'm very eager to see how this develops -- looks like they got it right the first time. :D

The other components of the Plus! pack are also very nice -- especially Photo Story (make movies from your photos) and the dancers are stupid fun. Well worth the $15 I paid with the coupon!

Wilbert
01-08-2003, 05:45 PM
I don't have the playback issues that another user has experienced.

What hardware are you using? The problem that I notice is that the video and audio do not sync very well, and in landscape mode the audio is choppy.

Comments?

Cliffbrooks
01-08-2003, 06:33 PM
What hardware are you using? The problem that I notice is that the video and audio do not sync very well, and in landscape mode the audio is choppy.

Comments?

Wilbert,

I'm using an Audiovox Maestro, and in full screen landscape mode the synchronization between lips and audio is just slightly off -- you have to be looking for it to notice. I'm using the MSNBC content and I'm VERY impressed with the playback. No, it's not DVD quality, but for compressed data, it's pretty darn good. Playback is smooth, with an occassional skipped frame, but nothing to complain about. I'll likely play with it a bit more tonight, but I'm at work now and haven't (can't?) installed the synch software on my NT workstation at work yet.

Again, the Plus! pack is a real bargain at $15 or $20.

Uh, back to work!

-C

TrojanUO
01-08-2003, 07:21 PM
I didn't get my coupon until 7 PM EST last night.

Hmm - I wonder if they're doing filtering by countries, since orders can only be placed by people in the US. :?

I got my last night around 7:00 PM as well, and I'm in Canada.

Trokair
01-08-2003, 08:36 PM
I keep recieving strange errors of this sort when I try to use some parts of Plus: DME (Sync and Go! in particular) that uses WMP9 (the final version). Even in the tutorial, the intro movie doesn't play, instead showing a black screen.

AppName: syncandgo.exe AppVer: 1.0.0.2239 ModName: msvcr70.dll
ModVer: 7.0.9466.0 Offset: 000020c5

I'm on Windows XP Pro. SP-1, any ideas about what could be wrong?

-Kyle

Bandito
01-08-2003, 09:31 PM
I'm using it too, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use and how polished it feels (despite an ugly interface). It installs it's own player, which I found curious, but on my Maestro I don't have the playback issues that another user has experienced.

Is the player that it installs compatible with WM9 content? If so, I'm gonna go out and get me a copy today. Can you please confirm that content created in WM9 is playable on your Pocket PC, especially video? Thanks.

Wilbert
01-08-2003, 09:45 PM
Is the player that it installs compatible with WM9 content? If so, I'm gonna go out and get me a copy today. Can you please confirm that content created in WM9 is playable on your Pocket PC, especially video? Thanks.

I really do not know :?

Has anyone used this on an xScale device to see how the video playback is?

Paragon
01-09-2003, 12:04 AM
I wouldn't mind trying this product out. The price is a little over the top for me at the moment. I'm not so sure it's worth moving to the USA for. I kinda like Canada.

Dave

ntractv
01-09-2003, 12:13 AM
Being the novice that I am can you guys explain to me in layman's terms with this whole program is about. I currently sncy to Avantgo and Mazingo and was wondering if this is replacement to those and if there is a monthly fee. Any feedback appreciated.

twntaipan
01-09-2003, 02:32 AM
And they don't take American Express!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dhpss
01-09-2003, 04:30 AM
I received the email about this from License Key Service [[email protected]], etc. then the link takes me to
https://pa.one.microsoft.com/PortalLime.aspx?req=.....License Technology Group as Microsoft partner, etc...
then it asks you to enter payment information, such the visa info, etc....I am not so sure if this is not a scam, where you enter your credit card info to an unknown web site that looks like Microsoft, etc.
Could anybody tell me if it is what you received and it is OK to proceed.
Thanks!

Cliffbrooks
01-09-2003, 05:12 AM
I'm using it too, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use and how polished it feels (despite an ugly interface). It installs it's own player, which I found curious, but on my Maestro I don't have the playback issues that another user has experienced.

Is the player that it installs compatible with WM9 content? If so, I'm gonna go out and get me a copy today. Can you please confirm that content created in WM9 is playable on your Pocket PC, especially video? Thanks.

Bandito,

Not really up on creating WMP9 content, but if you'd like to send me some I'll give it a try. As far as downloadable content, I resynched my device today, but didn't get any new content. I don't know if this is a startup problems, or a sign of things to come. NPR is supposed to be updated hourly, and MSNBC daily I think -- I didn't get an update on either. Oh well, I've got my fingers crossed that this will really take off, as using it is really easy (so far), and the results are impressive.

-C

yvilla
01-09-2003, 05:20 AM
I received the email about this from License Key Service [[email protected]], etc. then the link takes me to
https://pa.one.microsoft.com/PortalLime.aspx?req=.....License Technology Group as Microsoft partner, etc...
then it asks you to enter payment information, such the visa info, etc....I am not so sure if this is not a scam, where you enter your credit card info to an unknown web site that looks like Microsoft, etc.
Could anybody tell me if it is what you received and it is OK to proceed.
Thanks!

Yeah, it appears legit. Downloaded the software, got my confirmation email, etc.

Newsboy
01-09-2003, 08:45 AM
Just a warning, it's a 38.6 Mb download, so if you don't have a broadband connection, I would wait for the retail version.

Bandito
01-10-2003, 02:30 AM
Bandito,

Not really up on creating WMP9 content, but if you'd like to send me some I'll give it a try.

Just go to www.windowsmedia.com . There is a bunch of WM9 content available on the front page.

Looking forward to hearing the results.

fyiguy
01-13-2003, 04:21 PM
Don Sorcinelli has posted a review of Microsoft Plus! Sync & Go at BostonPocketPC (http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=65) if you want check to see if it is for you.

:D