Giving IPOD A Run For The Money - Pocket Tunes 3.0 Deluxe For Palm OS
Written: Dec 20 '04 (Updated Oct 05 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Exceptional sound quality. Easy to use interface. Background audio play.
Cons: Absolutely, positively, without a doubt, 100% sure, no ifs ans or buts, NOTHING
The Bottom Line: All-in-all, when you're looking to make something out of that $500 address book of yours (PDA), try Pocket Tunes and Noviiremote, you won't regret it.
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| shippo225's Full Review: Pocket Tunes 3.0 Deluxe for Palm OS |
I give comparisons to AEROPLAYER by Aerodrome often in this review, but comparison only. If you are a LEAD and can add Aeroplayer to this site, let me know please. Thanks.
The Palm World:
.....I haven't seen many EP listings for Palm OS software much until recently. The first one I came across was NOVIIREMOTE FOR PALM OS, an IR program for replacing all the remotes in your house. Now I am writing a review for the ever popular PTDeluxe 3.0. Stick around and see for yourself how great it is and get the necessary info for getting the most out of it.
What Does It Do?
.....If you made the assumption that PTunes is an mp3 player, then you are correct. But thats not all. The Deluxe version plays WMA, MP3, OGG (vorbis), and uncompressed WAV. Chances are you will only need the mp3 plugin, so you don't need to install the others to save space. You can store the music on removeable SD or MMC cards. I currently use a 1GB SD card to store hundreds of songs. Your best bet is to purchase a USB CARD READER/WRITER to put the files onto the card, because hotsyncing, when possible, is a lethally slow process for large size transfers. If you are unable to use a card reader, you can download program called MEDIA MANAGER (www.handango.com) that allows you to hotsync non-palm files to the SDIO port.
.....Some of the prerequisites that are necessary, in my words, are as follows:
-->PalmOS 5.2 ^ (or Palm Tungsten T)
-->125MHz processor for decent decoding
-->Headphone Jack and/or Speaker (non-tone)
-->SDIO SD/MMC card slot
-->SD/MMC card (hopefully at least 128MB, up to 1GB)
-->File Transfer method (Media Manager; Card Writer)
-->And any Palm audio updates for your specific device
Getting Started, & Stuff That Doesn't Fit Anywhere Else:
.....To start using the program, make sure that all the songs are downloaded onto the SD/MMC card. With the recent versions, you can put the files in any folder you wish, whether you use AUDIO folder or MY MUSIC, whatever. IT now lets you browse for songs. Open the PTunes program. Somewhere, depending on what skin you use, there is a button for finding songs. Tap it and it will bring up an explorer-type window. It is already reading from the card, so select the folder or subfolder in which you placed the music. You can select individual songs by tapping them, or hit SELECT ALL to do all of them. Tap OK and it will take you back to the playing window. It should start automatically playing. You can drag the song bar to a certain point in a song, select a song in the list, screw with the equalizer, run other programs while listening, yada yada.
.....If you have a five-way navigator, such as a Palm TT, you can control it without touching the screen. Press UP to crank to volume, DOWN to dim the volume, LEFT to skip to a previous cons, and RIGHT to skip to the next. If you press and hold the left or right button, it acts like a CD would, FF'ing and RW'ing. Then, hit the center button to toggle between PLAY and PAUSE.
.....You can put the songs on shuffle and repeat too. If you have a 320x320 screen, or High-res, you can change the text size for better reading or more songs on the visible portion of the list. This option is under the first menu drop-down under SKIN PREFS. The text can be tiny, tiny bold, medium, medium bold, or large, large bold. The tiny text is quite clear, but small, and lets the viewer see up to 19 songs on the screen at once. The largest lets you see four or five.
.....Tapping on the time display toggles between time left and time elapsed. A battery display shows you a bar of the current battery level. And if you are using headphones, or have it wired to a sound system, you can adjust the balance bar that puts sound more towards one side or the other.
Skinning:
.....One wonderful aspect of this program is the ability to create and use skins. I don't really make any skins, but they have a Windows program that allows you to make fully customizable skins. Or you can just go to a PTunes site and download skins that are posted throughout the internet. Most are about 200 - 400Kbs, so if memory is of short supply, only use one. You just hotsync the skin.prc to your PDA. Then, hit the menu bar and select the CHOOSE SKIN option and select the skin you wish to use.
.....The desktop skin maker is too complex for the tech illiterate. But in time you should get a grasp of it.
Sound Quality:
.....The sound quality of PTunes is unbeatable by competitors, given that you have any necessary audio updates prior to use. Of the four popular Palm OS audio players, this one has the most crisp, clear sound. The closest competitor would be Aeroplayer by Aerodrome.
.....As for loudness, most of these Palm devices can pack a punch. With the system sound overdrive, you can get enough sound to fill an apartment. Unfortunately, once you get so loud, some devices get a cracking sound from too much input. So chances are, you may never reach 100% volume. With headphones, you can handle more of the AMP bar and some more bass. And sound can be completely customized to your preference with the graphic equalizer, discussed in the proceeding section.
Equalization:
.....For the techno geeks and die-hard music fans combined, you may find the highly customizable equalization quite pleasing. The equalizer can be found by going to the MENU BAR-->TOOLS-->GRAPHIC EQUALIZER. On this screen there is a drop-down box that allows you to select one of three preferences; Disabled, Equalizer, or Bass Boost:
DISABLED:
.....This option disables the equalizer. Aren't I the Master of the Obvious here. If you don't care for fine tuned music and just want to listen to it, then this default option is the way to go. It will do just fine for most situations. It is also the most CPU efficient, playing the song straight out instead of decoding with alterations. When you first put the program on, this is the setting that it uses.
BASS BOOST:
.....This is a simple way of creating a bass sensation without screwing around with the equalizer bars. It uses slightly more CPU power than the previous option above, but most devices can handle it. Unfortunitely, unlike Aeroplayer's bass boost option, you can't select the level of bass desire.
.....If you have you PDA wired to a 4000-watt sound system, the bass output this program creates can shake the ground. But you'll need to purchase a Y-cable for stereo connectivity. I don't know how to get one, I just have one.
Equalizer:
.....The most CPU sucking, the equalizer bars give you the most out of fine-tuning your music. The equalizer of Pocket Tunes is more custom than Aeroplayer. You have five vertical bars to adjust. The first three are more for bass, while the two right ones are treble. While listening to a song, you can fix these amounts to sound perfect. If you have it wired to a 4000-watt system, once again, the far left bar will move the ground. Turning only that one to the top makes the heavy, deep bass.
.....Pocket Tunes is currently the only mp3 player that can store custom equalizer settings. From a drop-down box, you can select premade ones, if there are any, and make your own. Once you fix the EQ to your liking, type in a name for it in the line at the top. To make another EQ setting, select 'custom' from the drop-down box and type in a different name and make the changes to the bars.
Advanced Options And Features:
.....Pocket Tunes gives you plenty of options to make the most out of yours. From the menu bar, you can select advanced options. From there, you are able to set power prefs, volume override, and background play. A checkbox lets you select whether or not you want the display to shut off while playing after a fixed time of 10, 30, or 60 seconds. Under that is an option to have the power button turn only the screen off while playing. The volume override gives you a drop-down box that has five settings - Off, +3dB, +6dB, +9dB, +12dB, and +15dB - that raise the volume the 32x Maximum. Bad chance of ever hitting that 100% Max volume seamlessly, just to much power for a small device.
.....Selecting the background play allows you to start playing your songlist and the switch over to another program with music in the background. It's best to have Pocket Tunes set to a hard button so you can quickly get back to it. Aeroplayer lets you do the extended " / " shift and you can control it from the control bar that comes up at the bottom. The only problem is, if you don't have a 400MHz processor, you can play a high graphics game or other media while playing music in the background. But most programs, like Memo and CPU useless programs.
.....In the Deluxe version of Pocket Tunes only, you can use the CROSSFADE option that ends a song and fades into the next one. This option requires a significant amount of memory depending on the setting you choose - 1 to about 10 seconds of fade time. So if you are using a 16MB device like the Palm Tungsten T, You may need to have a clean device, free of unnecessary stuff in order to use it. I like this option when I use it. When selecting a number of seconds, it shows you the allocated memory needed.
.....You can create playlists, sort of like the program features on your CD player. But with this, you can save playlists and bookmarks. Bookmarks, I suppose, are points within a song that are significant. Like, if you had a story or play as an mp3 file, being very lengthy, having bookmarks for chapters and acts can be useful.
Tungsten T Owner Prerequisites:
.....If you are the proud owner of a Tungsten T, you will WANT to download the TT audio updates for sound improvement. Don't think that you can live without them , because music can sound like hell without. There are only two you need and I have them. To save you the hard chore of searching, email me at shippo225@gmail.com or shippo522@yahoo.com and I will personally send you the files within the next day or two at most (whenever I check my mail basically). The first update fixes issues that arise when using audio files in voice memo and any mp3 player. The second fixes the sound quality to make it sound like an expensive iPod. Try it first without the patch and then after and you'll notice the difference.
.....I have unzipped both files to make it easier.
Demo; Oh Where O Where To Buy:
.....Unfortunately for you, you have to pay to use the program after the demo is over. For me, I got it for free, and under abiding laws, I am not at liberty as to discussing why I have it for free. But anyway, when you download the free trial, you have a 15-day full use demo. After the time is up, you must purchase in order to use the mp3 plugin,the most important one. Don't think that setting back the master clock will give you more time because these new programs know these games. And erasing it and reinstalling won't work either.
.....The are a few sites at which you can purchase this wonderful program: Palmgear and Handango to name two. You just download the deluxe version and get the activation code. The only difference is within the code you input.
MP3 Alarm Anyone?:
.....If you are tired of those drab system alarms, then try this mp3 alarm combination. At Palmgear, download the trial program of "2PlayMe". It's a trial by will last forever. From this program, you can select an mp3 player, supposedly Pocket Tunes, and a song from the list. Set the time and duration, Sunday through Saturday, that it will occur. This gives you more options compared to the Palm alarm where you can only set it once.
.....I use my Tungsten T as my alarm clock every morning, so it's nice to wake up to something that isn't so life-ruining like the dreaded alarm beep.
Conclusion:
.....If you want to make something out of your Palm device, upgrade it with this program. Listen to some music at work, when the boss comes, switch over to the Calculator program.It is completely customizable from skinning to equalization. Bookmarks, skipping, FF and RW, SD card folder support, ans so much more. I've talked about most of it already, so I'm cutting this conclusion short.
IF YOU CAN THINK OF ANY POSSIBLE THING I COULD'VE HAVE MISSED IN THIS REVIEW, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
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As always, if you ever need to ask a question about a product or need help with something, drop me a line, you can IM me with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), or MSN messenger:
AIM ~ shippo52287
MSN ~ shippo225@hotmail.com
Email:
shippo225@gmail.com
shippo522@yahoo.com
Recommended:
Yes
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shippo225
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Location: Left @ Albuquerque
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