18 replies to this topic

[akarno]

I am still having problems using my Touch Pro as a music player. I have given up trying to use AAC+ files and am going through my music collection (again) re-encoding as WMA. I have also given up with the Touch Flow music player. It will not play albums in the right order. It is also difficult it get to the album you want.

As a result, I have reverted to using the built in Media Player, but I am still getting some problems. The biggest issue is the gap it puts in between tracks. I know many music players put a gap between tracks, but 5-10 seconds (I timed it) seems excessive. Is anyone else getting this?

Also I seem to get a dropout (fraction of a second) about once a track.

I am open to suggestions. I don’t think it could be the memory card. It is a ScanDisc and I had no problems with it on my old phone. Is there either a fix or a good quality 3rd party player anyone could suggest?

Edited by akarno, 19 August 2008 - 08:23 PM.

[Neil5459]

WMP is a huge memory hog, and the long gaps can be due to paging the next track into memory. Likewise, the HTC Audio player is pretty useless.

My personal preference is Pocket Tunes from Normsoft. It is a fantastic sounding player with lots of options. Also has the ability to sync iTunes Plus files and non-DRM iTunes and Windows Media playlists from a PC. Can't handle protected iTunes files due to Apples stupid licensing, but can handle protected WMA files.

I did a review of it Here if you're interested

Other than that, TCPMP is an adequate music player, and is free, or the old favourite Pocket Music is still good (about $20 I think?)

[Simon Desser]

The music glitch/drop outs every 3 to 4 minutes is the most annoying thing (to me) about the majority of HTC phones.
It started with the Kaiser, the Touch Dual did it too, the Diamond and now the Touch Pro   The only one that didn't do it was the Touch (which is still my favourite HTC phone)
Some of them seemed to get fixed with ROM upgrades but I've yet to find an answer or solution.
BTW, it does it with ALL software I've tried, not just WMP, however, using bluetooth headphones is fine, it only does it with wired headsets  
There's lots of posts about it on Modaco as well as XDA Devs, but as far as I'm aware there's no fix  

[PaulOBrien]

Simon, you have a TP and an Omnia?

Which one are you using most?

P

[Simon Desser]

Paul (MVP), on Aug 21 2008, 10:03, said:

Simon, you have a TP and an Omnia?

Which one are you using most?

P

Today I'm back on my lovely white Touch  
I know it's mad but it's the most reliable, least annoying PPC I've ever had (and I've had quite a few    )

[PaulOBrien]

Touch over the Omnia?

P

[Simon Desser]

Paul (MVP), on Aug 21 2008, 10:18, said:

Touch over the Omnia?

P

I know I'm always moaning    BUT here goes:-

My Omnia's music playback is still WAY too quiet  
My GPS won't work at all anymore (it did at first)  
Signal strength is much worse than the Touch  
In one room in my house I get weak signal on Orange - last night my Touch constantly held on to 2 bars and could happily make and recieve calls no problem. The Omnia flicked between searching and one bar for half an hour, and when it was possible to make a call it was barely audible    That did it for me

I'm wondering if I've got a faulty one ? or perhaps I expect too much  

[akarno]

Neil5459, on Aug 20 2008, 08:22, said:

WMP is a huge memory hog, and the long gaps can be due to paging the next track into memory. Likewise, the HTC Audio player is pretty useless.

My personal preference is Pocket Tunes from Normsoft. It is a fantastic sounding player with lots of options. Also has the ability to sync iTunes Plus files and non-DRM iTunes and Windows Media playlists from a PC. Can't handle protected iTunes files due to Apples stupid licensing, but can handle protected WMA files.

I did a review of it Here if you're interested

Other than that, TCPMP is an adequate music player, and is free, or the old favourite Pocket Music is still good (about $20 I think?)

I have bought Pocket Tunes and I am evaluating over the next few days to decide if I will keep it. So far, it does most of the things I want. The main problem I had was with AAC+ files. It plays them, but at a really bad quality. I have been using them for months on my N95, so I know they are good. You are correct that the dropout problem is still there. I am assuming Windows Mobile does some type of interrupt every few minutes and HTC has attached some code there that takes all the CPU for a fraction of a second.

I am now using WMA, meaning I will have to re-encode everything. I am still not completely convinced the sound quality is as good on Pocket Tunes, but that might be my imagination. I will test more closely.

Plus sides are fairly easy navigation, but I cannot find a search in Albums. I am also worried on Library performance once I get my 350 albums loaded. Other big plus is gapless playback. It is probably worth the money just for that.

[Dr Who]

Simon Desser, on Aug 21 2008, 09:57, said:

The music glitch/drop outs every 3 to 4 minutes is the most annoying thing (to me) about the majority of HTC phones.
It started with the Kaiser, the Touch Dual did it too, the Diamond and now the Touch Pro   The only one that didn't do it was the Touch (which is still my favourite HTC phone)
Some of them seemed to get fixed with ROM upgrades but I've yet to find an answer or solution.
BTW, it does it with ALL software I've tried, not just WMP, however, using bluetooth headphones is fine, it only does it with wired headsets  
There's lots of posts about it on Modaco as well as XDA Devs, but as far as I'm aware there's no fix  

Sounds a lot like the 'tsk' glitch on the C500! Not sure that was ever resolved either. There was some talk at the time whether it was related to the phone communicating with phone masts. Not sure if that was ever substatianted/refuted???

[Simon Desser]

Dr Who, on Aug 29 2008, 08:12, said:

Sounds a lot like the 'tsk' glitch on the C500! Not sure that was ever resolved either. There was some talk at the time whether it was related to the phone communicating with phone masts. Not sure if that was ever substatianted/refuted???

I don't think it's anything to do with the phone (in this case) as it still has the glitch in airplane mode, and there's no glitch using bluetooth headphones, only wired ones.

[pd.ryder]

Ah, the great music player debate! I *really* can't understand why Apple doesn't jump on the band-waggon and just develop a propper WM version of iTunes that works, like they did for the PC, with true iTunes sync.

I know Apple would much prefer we all buy iPods, but then they'd probably prefer we all buy Macs too but they still developed iTunes for the PC platform.

It's gotta make sense!

[Dr Who]

Except iTunes is crap?

[pd.ryder]

@Neil -- I've read your review (very tidy indeed) I'm (still) confused by what amounts to "protected iTunes files"? I've used iTunes for a long time but I've never seen an option to protect or otherwise any content I rip from my own CDs. Would those files be protected or not by default?

[pd.ryder]

Dr Who, on Aug 29 2008, 09:39, said:

Except iTunes is crap?

For what? I've never noticed any significant problem with it and much prefer it over WMP. Each to their own I guess. I'm interested to know what aspects of it you consider so excremental

[Dr Who]

pd.ryder, on Aug 29 2008, 09:56, said:

For what? I've never noticed any significant problem with it and much prefer it over WMP. Each to their own I guess. I'm interested to know what aspects of it you consider so excremental

I DESPISE the entire experience of iTunes. It works in a really odd way, at least to my way of working. Just doesn't work for me at all. None of the options are in the right place or even called the right thing - why on earth do I have to select Get Info to edit track information, it should just be called Edit! Many, many examples like this which drive me into paroxysms of fury every time I use it.

[pd.ryder]

Each to their own Doc

Personally I like iTunes' presentation and layout. The only gripe I would have is that WMP seems to have access to system resources that iTunes doesn't -- I can play the same track in the same format at the same volume on iTunes and then WMP and WMP just gets "more" everything - volume, depth, warmth, everything. That's probably (in my own tiny mind) down to Microsoft limiting resources to iTunes to make WMP sound "better". No fair!

[mobilehappy]

Kinoma Play is a very nice media player with good sound and stunning ui. The company behind it was started by drop-offs from Apple

[Neil5459]

pd.ryder, on Aug 29 2008, 08:53, said:

@Neil -- I've read your review (very tidy indeed) I'm (still) confused by what amounts to "protected iTunes files"? I've used iTunes for a long time but I've never seen an option to protect or otherwise any content I rip from my own CDs. Would those files be protected or not by default?

Sorry- I totally missed this response

Protected iTunes files are those purchased and downloaded from the iTunes store. Everything you rip yourself from CD's into iTunes remains unprotected, so will sync perfectly with Pocket Tunes via its desktop Playlist Sync application. Burning 'purchased' iTunes content ot a CD also removes the protection, so these could then be reimported in unprotected format.

[mobilehappy]

Simon Desser, on Aug 21 2008, 09:29, said:

My Omnia's music playback is still WAY too quiet  

Increase volum levels on Omnia