fmo

I just received my Axim X50v a few days ago, so I've been configuring it and trying out a bunch of different third-party applications, which include audio (MP3) players, specifically free ones.

.....

I installed BetaPlayer, mainly for playing video, but it's also very capable of playing MP3 files. However, it does have some limitations, the main ones being the lack of a Playlist window and minimal player controls. Although, it was very easy to select and stream MP3 files from my laptop wirelessly, and I liked how it remembered the last folder I had been in, and clearly displayed whether the file was an MP3 or M3U file.

.....

Next up is GSPlayer which gets a lot of recommendations here at AximSite. The main reason I wanted it is because it had a Playlist window and I wanted to use the skin pictured below (first attachment). I've been getting in the habit of using landscape mode for a lot of apps, and I had to edit this Winamp Modern influenced skin so that it would properly display in landscape mode.

Now for the bad news. For some reason GSPlayer would never remember any of my settings on exit, including the custom skin I had chosen. Anyone else have this problem? It was also more of a hassle navigating to files on my network that I wanted to stream to my Axim, requiring me to type in the network address (for example //LAPTOP and then browse to My Documents/My Music) instead of just being able to browse to the folder. And it didn't display the file extensions like in BetaPlayer.

.....

MortPlayer is another free audio player that gets mentioned a lot here, and I went to the site with high hopes. But I'm sorry, that interface is way too fugly. I couldn't even make myself install it to see how it how it sounded.

.....

Which brings me to PocketMind's PocketMusic (freeware version, not trial). I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. The ability to use Winamp2 skins is definitely a plus in my books. It means that not only can I use an interface that I'm very familiar with, but that I have hundreds (actually thousands) of skins to choose from. I quickly chose my all-time favourite Winamp2 skin (picutred below in 2nd attachment).

While it may not be optimized for WM2003SE and VGA, it works fine and the skin looks okay even though it has to be stretched to the higher resolution. And when it comes to navigating for files, PocketMusic is my favourite of the players I've tried. Finding MP3 files on my laptop to stream to my Axim is a breeze.

OddbOd

Hi fmo, nice to see you gave a variety of players a try before settling on one, it's certainly a change from the "what's the best xxxxx ?"-type threads that get posted. I do have a couple of comments that you may find useful/informative (or not :)).

Betaplayer is very much a work in progress and is modelled more on WMP Mobile than a straight music player hence its separate playlist screen, as an example, how would mixed playlists containing both audio and video be handled?

I'm not sure what is causing GSPlayer to lose its settings as that has never happened to me, sorry I can't be more helpful here. The network browsing problems can be avoided to some extent by installing Resco File Explorer - a trial version is bundled with your Axim - and using it to map your network shares onto the X50 which works with nearly all applications. A big bonus is that network browsing continues to work even after the trial period expires as it's actually a hidden OS feature which Resco merely enables.

Don't you think you were a little harsh on MortPlayer? Maybe you didn't see the skins page and assumed that the default interface was the only one available. As an example the attached screenshot is MortPlayer with the Media Jukebox skin running on top of a GPS display.

fmo

PocketMusic isn't perfect for sure, but right now it suits my needs the best. Of course I'll continue trying and testing different players. These were just my initial observations after only a couple of days. I just wanted to post my comments while they were fresh in my mind.

BetaPlayer is definitely my player of choice for video, just not for audio because of its lack of a couple of features (features that I find important in an audio player).

I have no clue what's going on with GSPlayer on my Axim either. I go into Options and configure everything, change the skin, and map the hardware buttons, and then the next time I start it, everything is lost. I installed it to BIS, and that shouldn't make a difference. I believe there is a DAT file where the settings would be stored, but it's invisible to me when I go to that location with Resco File Explorer.

As you can see, I do have Resco File Explorer, and it's true that I can use it to navigate to my network shares. I just would have preferred it being easier to do from the GSPlayer interface. Truth be told, I'm only streaming music from my network because I haven't received my 2 GB SD card yet (it's back-ordered). Once that finally arrives, I probably won't be doing much streaming to my Axim because it won't be necessary.

I admit I was somewhat harsh on MortPlayer considering I hadn't even tried it. I was basing my opinion strictly on the appearance of the interface on the MortPlayer website. You are absolutely correct that I didn't see the Skins page. Some of those don't look that bad, and I'm now willing to try it. I'll do that this week and report back. I'll probably end up loving it! :D

I know there are other audio players out there that you can purchase, such as 40iplay, but I was limiting my observations to free ones. If anyone else has a free audio player that they would like to throw into the mix, by all means, go ahead.

pesto126

Well.. I'm a bit biased towards GSPlayer myself and created a number of skins for it too.. It is extremely lightweight (single program), runs great out of BIS and supports native VGA. Oh.. and I can easily listen to shoutcast streams with it!

I've tried almost all the players out there (except 40iplay.. a bit too complicated website/support and install setup for me.. and $$$), and keep coming back to gsplayer.

Not sure why you are having issues with the settings... perhaps a de and re install might help? Good luck...

fmo

Well, after playing around with PocketMusic for a day, I found some flaws. There's a definite pop and click as it transitions from one song to the next, at least when I'm streaming MP3's on my network. It was very noticeable when listening with headphones, but not as obvious when listening on the tiny Axim speaker. Maybe this won't occur when listening to songs stored on an SD card. Haven't been able to test that yet.

Also, when listening to really long MP3 files (radio shows or podcasts), it incorrectly displays the length of the file by half. For example, an 80 min. file will show up as a 40 min. file. It does play the whole file, however, it makes it difficult to go an exact section of the MP3.

I know the free version of PocketMusic doesn't support Landscape mode, which really wouldn't work with the Winamp skins anyway, but if I forget I'm in Landscape mode and I start PocketMusic, it freezes everything up completely requiring a Soft Reset.

.....

Moving on to MortPlayer. I installed it and a few skins and I'm loving it. The skins I chose were Emp, Steel, and WMP. Steel is the one I like the most with its clean simple interface. However, it did require that I edit the Steel.mps file. The "Stop" button wasn't lining up correctly (see first attachment). So I opened the Steel.mps file in Notepad and changed the line "StopPos = 8,195,64,50" to "StopPos = 8,195,62,51". This changes the position of the "Stop" button so that it lines up correctly (see second attachment).

I also edited some of the fonts to make them smaller, specifically the one that displays the Artist and Song Title on the main interface. I changed it from 14pt to 10pt and now most MP3 files will display the entire song info without having to scroll. I find this important in MortPlayer because it scrolls "line by line" as opposed to "character by character". You can see what I mean if you compare the two screenshot attachments.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that music sounds great on my Axim using MortPlayer. Oh, and I love how you can save specific folder locations as Favorites.

pesto126

Well.. glad you found a player to suit your needs! Enjoy!

im_dragon

fmo,

Changing the font to smaller size is a good idea, but you can do one better. Make sure your MP3s only have ID3 v1 tag. You'll be able to see the song title and artist in separate lines, just like the screen shot at the MortPlayer website. Yours only shows the file name, and that's bad.

Again, Mort Player only recognizes ID3 v1 tags. All of my MP3s have both v1 and v2 tags, I have to remove the v2 tags for Mort Player.

mushm0uth

Hello all,

I have installed all of these players too and like them each for different reasons. I'd have to say that PocketMusic is my favorite for ease of playlist management. I actually PAID for that one, but am distressed because it totally freaks out when I try to play files with ID3.v2 tags. I have to soft reset it.

That problem led me to try GSPlayer and Mort. I like them both, but I prefer the sound quality in Mort for some reason. Playlists are the least manageable in Mort also. Unlike the previous post, I have no problems playing my ID3.v2 tagged songs in Mort, but I was really hoping the album art embedded in the tag would display in the Mort skin.

Does anyone know of a player that supports embedded art, or of a Pocket app that will clear the version 2 tags in one fell swoop? I don't want to remove the tags on the original files, because version 2 tags are really nice.

phendric

Originally Posted by fmo

I know there are other audio players out there that you can purchase, such as 40iplay...

Have you tried the trial version of 40iPlay (or has anyone)? How does it compare to the rest of these free players you're comparing (sound quality, ease of use, stability, etc)?

PS - I guess, so that people don't think that I'm just another of those saying "tell me what's best and I'll go get it," I should mention that I tried out GSPlayer, then BetaPlayer, then 40iPlay. I have my opinions about them all, but want to see what others think first :).

pesto126

I haven't tried 40iplay since I'm really not interested in shelling out the money for an MP3 player.. I use GSPlayer (VGA version) and I'm very happy with it. I use betaplayer for movies.. also quite happy. Not sure what else you could want/expect for listening to some MP3's on a pocket PC..

Y-Guy

fmo thanks for the post and the detailed information you provided. I gave Mort a whirl and its great, like you the Steel skin was my choice and your post to the stop button issue was very helpful. Thanks!

RabidWolf

I went with PocketMusic myself, due to having used Winamp for so long. I actually bought the paid version, too. I also have a 1GB card in my X50v with just tunes, giving me about 17hrs of music. Even the MBTA commuter rail has never been THAT late! Grins.

Have you tried playing a location/URL using the WiFi card?

RabidWolf

Originally Posted by fmo

I just received my Axim X50v a few days ago, so I've been configuring it and trying out a bunch of different third-party applications, which include audio (MP3) players, specifically free ones. -snip- Which brings me to PocketMind's PocketMusic (freeware version, not trial). I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. The ability to use Winamp2 skins is definitely a plus in my books. It means that not only can I use an interface that I'm very familiar with, but that I have hundreds (actually thousands) of skins to choose from. I quickly chose my all-time favourite Winamp2 skin (picutred below in 2nd attachment). While it may not be optimized for WM2003SE and VGA, it works fine and the skin looks okay even though it has to be stretched to the higher resolution. And when it comes to navigating for files, PocketMusic is my favourite of the players I've tried. Finding MP3 files on my laptop to stream to my Axim is a breeze.

fmo

Originally Posted by phendric

Have you tried the trial version of 40iPlay (or has anyone)? How does it compare to the rest of these free players you're comparing (sound quality, ease of use, stability, etc)?

No, I haven't tried 40iPlay since MortPlayer pretty much does what I need it to.

Originally Posted by phendric

PS - I guess, so that people don't think that I'm just another of those saying "tell me what's best and I'll go get it," I should mention that I tried out GSPlayer, then BetaPlayer, then 40iPlay. I have my opinions about them all, but want to see what others think first :).

Hey, some of us have already posted our opinions. Let's hear yours!

Originally Posted by Y-Guy

fmo thanks for the post and the detailed information you provided. I gave Mort a whirl and its great, like you the Steel skin was my choice and your post to the stop button issue was very helpful. Thanks!

You're welcome. I'm still using MortPlayer with the Steel skin that I changed slightly by giving it a blue tint (see attached screenshots). On the Playlist, I made the scrollbar narrower, and I also fixed the anti-aliasing on the rounded corners since they were kinda jagged and not as smooth as they could be. Some of the buttons still have the jaggies along the diagonal lines but I haven't bothered to fix those yet.

Originally Posted by RabidWolf

I went with PocketMusic myself, due to having used Winamp for so long. I actually bought the paid version, too. I also have a 1GB card in my X50v with just tunes, giving me about 17hrs of music. Even the MBTA commuter rail has never been THAT late! Grins.

I gave up using PocketMusic for the reasons that I listed in a previous post.

Originally Posted by RabidWolf

Have you tried playing a location/URL using the WiFi card?

I've used MortPlayer to stream music from another computer on my network without any problems. I haven't tried it to play a stream from a site like Shoutcast, but I have played MP3's from my own site by entering the URL.

Y-Guy

fmo I noticed the changes any chance of sharing those? I know it wasn't your creation and all. I liked the blue tint I thought it was just how mine looked.

phendric

Originally Posted by fmo

Hey, some of us have already posted our opinions. Let's hear yours!

For what it's worth, I think that 40iPlay is probably currently the best music player out there for the Pocket PC. Here's a little of my history with PDAs and music players.

When I bought my first PDA more than 2 years ago, I started with a low-end Palm (m130). Deciding that I liked it and wanted something a little better, I quickly upgraded to a used Palm (T|
T), as where I worked, we sold Palms. I used the free version of Pocket Tunes with my music encoded in ogg format as my music player. However, seeing that Palm kept producing PDAs with various issues (lots of them recently had big problems with screen buzz, for example), and reading up on some of the pocket PCs out there, I decided that when I could save up enough money, I wanted to try out the platform to see if I liked it any better. I haven't looked back since.

My first PPC was an Axim x30 basic, which I bought because it was the best-priced (read, lowest price) unit I could get, and I was impatient. I immediately started looking for free music players, starting with GSPlayer. It was decent, but not wonderful - I don't remember now exactly what it was that I didn't like; it may have been the look of the interface, or the fact that some of the sound effects (reverb, 3D, etc) really didn't work well at all. I looked for something else.

I stumbled on Beta Player, which I really liked, and used for several months. It's a good program, and has support for lots of different media formats. I never really used it to watch videos, as I don't really watch many movies, but I thought that it played audio files well. I didn't really like the music interface though - the front screen is very plain, and you can't see the list of songs that you are going to be listening to. The audio quality was good, though.

Then, reading a thread somewhere in these forums, I saw posts about the 40iPlay software, and those who said anything about it either said it was the best ever (great for audiophiles), or ranted because it costs so much. I didn't hear anything bad about it except for the cost. I tried it out - I didn't have long at all because apparently before I had installed the trial version and then promptly un-installed it; thus, when I went to use the trial version again, it had almost expired (I think I only got an afternoon to try it).

When the summer came along and I was working more, I decided to buy it. It's great: the interface has a bit higher learning curve than other players, but it's well worth the effort to learn. It has great sound processing capabilities from reverberation, cross-feed and stereo/surround modes to an 8-band equilizer for which the user can set the center frequency for five of the bands (I don't know if any of the free players have these capapbilities). You can listen to your music over a network if you have wireless, but I guess most of all, the great thing about the player is the extremely high audio quality. I bought it and I love it.

Since then, I've bought the x50v. I have not installed the mixing program that everyone mentions because in looking at the sticky in the x50 forum, the author of iPlay mentions that the software does much of, if not everything, that this other program does. What I don't know, however, is how it makes BetaPlayer (now TCPMP) compare to iPlay.

My 2 cents. I have a cheap pair of Sony earphones (MDR-J20) - I'm wondering if a better pair would make the music sound even better or not. It already sounds pretty amazing.

I guess I should also mention that most of what I listen to is classical music. Many of my siblings play instruments - my older sibling just graduated from Julliard. I'm not really a good musician, but I can recognize when something sounds good. If you haven't tried iPlay, you might want to see how it compares.

Phillip

PS - was that enough of an opinion for you?