Why does my battery die so fast when playing music?

My x50v is running WM6 and has an extended battery (2200 mAh). Well, the problem is that when using programs like Mort Player or Pocket Music, the battery only lasts maybe 3 to 4 hours. What's strange is that when using TCPMP to play video, it lasts for longer, even though it has the screen on and everything.

Are Mort Player and Pocket Music really inefficient or something? How come my battery is dying so fast?

Btw, I am playing my music off of a compact flash card.

[Zealot]

When you play movies, are they on the CF card as well?

Accessing the CF card requires power so if the songs are being played off the CF card then that may be the culprit. Test it, if possible, by moving a song or two onto the device and play only those for awhile, see if you are suffering the same power drain.

Good luck,
Z

[psionandy]

you may want to try running something like acbtaskman to see exactly how you're using the power

Yes, I'm playing the movies off the CF card as well. I don't really have any other options besides SD, but I don't have any large enough SD cards. I'll give that power manager a try.

[kcallahan]

How old is your battery?

Just because it's a larger capacity doesn't mean it retains that strength for ever. :(

[Don't Panic!]

You could try changing your processor speed from Auto to Power-Save before playing your music. That should give you a couple of more hours.

[kcallahan]

I've tried that myself and it doesn't seem to make a difference for me. :(

But, I'm not playing music or watching videos either. :)

[mostlylisten]

You might have alot of running programs in the backround????

[kcallahan]

You might have alot of running programs in the backround????

For me - the only thing I had running was a game. I shut everything else down and even reduced the brightness. :(

Fortunately, I don't use it off AC power or car battery charging very often. :)

I use TCMP for listening to music off my SD card. Using the TCMP Hot Key settings, I configured a button to turn the screen completely off. Even with a 2.5 year old 1100mAh Dell battery, I can easily get 3-4 hours. Note that I'm using an SD card and not CF - maybe the CF draws more current?

PS - glad to see Chris' sites back up and running.

[dkimak]

It is likely that those programs DO use a lot more CPU cycles. There's a good comparison of the different players in the Software | Applications section of this message board.

This battery is very new, I only bought it this year. How long should I be getting with a 2200 mAh battery?

[bigbop]

This battery is very new, I only bought it this year. How long should I be getting with a 2200 mAh battery?

Are you running anything else besides the music player?
As stated above, if you're only listenng to music, use TCPMP and map a button to shut off the LCD display, set the processor speed to minimum and then lock the unit using the lock switch. That should get you close to 8-9 hours out of the battery.

The trick to getting long battery life with portable devices is to reduce power consumption everywhere in the device. That means lower processor speed, turn off any peripherals not needed and run the minimum number of processes.
If you're reading music from a CF card, remove any SD cards. Also, new SD cards draw less power and the older 4GB cards are cheap now.

I just picked up an aftermarket 3600mAH battery and cover for $24 incl shipping from MegaCapacity.com . It's 3X the thickness of the 1100mAH battery and I can no longer use my Rhino extended case, but it lasts a long time.