Media Player for Pocket PC: User Feedback

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.staticfuzz.com/content/2003_11_22/index.html' target='_blank'>http://www.staticfuzz.com/content/2...1_22/index.html</a><br /><br /></div>"I recently posted an article listing several personal feature requests for Microsoft's Pocket PC Media Player. At the end of the article was a link for readers to post their own suggestions and requests. I never could have expected to receive so much feedback. The ideas were well thought out, and well presented. Thus, I have decided to create a second part of the original article, "User Feedback"."<br /><br />Richard Kettner has posted a second part to his original article on Windows Media Player for the Pocket PC, but there's one thing missing from his list: <b>NEW ICONS FOR FILE TYPES</b>! I swear, this drives me bonkers every time I use this app: I have both audio and video files on my 256 MB Sandisk SD card, and when I do a listing of all local content, there's no way to tell at a quick glance which files are video and which are audio. The solution? A different icon for each type of file: audio & video.

[dean_shan]

I never had that problem. Then again I only have MP3s on mine.

[Chris Spera]

I really hope that MS is listening. Media Player could be a really cool application that could give every other player a run for its money. Id really like to see s formal response from Microsoft indicating that they have heard the cry of the massive faithful and will take the suggestions under consideration.

Jason, can you help? You've got contacts in The Collective, right? :robot:

[snowday]

Sometimes it is the oddball subjects that suck a die-hard lurker out...

Jason - if I'm not mistaken, the PPC OS handles icon referencing/associations just like any other version of Windows, and if so, your issue at least can be solved with a custom icon and a registry hack (assuming the files you need to identify have different extensions; wma, wmv, etc.). I'll look into it, but I thought I throw the idea out there in case some PPC registry guru here can have this done before I even get started.

And I would agree, media player is on the verge of greatness...

back to lurking...

[JordanMills]

You can change the icons in the registry just like on the desktop. Quite easy.

[David C]

...Media Player could be a really cool application that could give every other player a run for its money...

I totaly agree. At my work, we sell both Palm and Pocket PC device. Sometime, when people ask what is the differnce between the two, I realize that Multimedia is the only one thing that sets Pocket PC apart from palm.

[caywen]

Windows Media Player wish list:

1) AAC support (I use iTunes)
2) Mixer (more bass yall!!)
3) Better one-handed support (playlist UI sucks.)

[dhpss]

"I...to tell at a quick glance which files are video and which are audio. The solution? A different icon for each type of file: audio & video.

I just put them in separate directory, when you create a playlist and select the whole directory is easy too!.
(e.g: Audio-1;Audio-2;Video Family, Video Music, Video various, etc.)

[adamz]

How 'bout the ability to sort Local Content by Last Modified date!?

I see Voice Command is on their wishlist... that's out and works great. Except you can't search by song title.

[Noel]

http://www.seespotruninc.com/images/hope.jpg

[ctmagnus]

My $0.02:

Playlist Filters - A system of filtering playlists by file formats, and song data. You could filter by artist, album, genre, etc.

Already doable via CEPlaylist (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1596).

Tree view - A way to have songs organized by artist, album, genre, and other filters without having to be in playlists.

Same as above.

Voice Commands - The ability to start, stop, and control playback by using voice commands. For example, speak the word "play" to start or resume playback.

That's what Voice Command is for.

Minimize to Taskbar - Media Player should have a way to minimize to the taskbar along the top of the screen. This way you could read Avantgo, or other content while listening to music. Perhaps they could include an icon along the top of the screen (like the volume control) that opens a dialog box with basic media playback controls.

:rock on dude!:

Also a menu option to blank the screen on this item.

Gapless Playback – This would provide a setting to enable file overlap to smoothly transition from song to song. In other words, as one song is coming to an end, the next starts fading in slowly for smooth continuous playback.

:rock on dude!:

Improved Random Playback - The random playback engine can be repetitive and start on the same track too often. Perhaps Microsoft could improve this to be more "random" in its selection of starting songs.

:rock on dude!:

ROM Updates - If Microsoft is to update the media player, provide a rom update system that allows it to be installed without taking up valuable RAM space.

:rock on dude!:

Rewind/Fast-forward - Fine grain controls for fast forwarding or rewinding large media files. This is especially applicable for audiobooks or long movies. Having the ability to jump back or forward a specified length of time would be nice too.

:rock on dude!:


Although the gapless playback, random playback and rewind/fastforward ideas would require more CPU utilization (as I see it) which leads to increased power consumption.

[Len M.]

Have it be able to play WAV files, with word widths and sample rates up to 24-bits and 192 KS/s.


Len Moskowitz
Core Sound
www.core-sound.com

[Len M.]

Have it be able to play WAV files, with word widths and sample rates up to 24-bits and 192 KS/s.


Len Moskowitz
Core Sound
www.core-sound.com