What's new in WMP10 and ROM Update?

[Guest]

What's new in WMP10?

I ask as looking at the list of things the new ROM update fixes this is the only one that is remotely interesting to me and I use BetaPlayer anyway so why bother? I ran the last update but can't see anything really making it worth my while having to re-install EVERYTHING.

What is the direct link to Orange's website for this? For the info page not update. The one on Coolsmartphone.com doesn't work:

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite...ature&t=Product

Is this the official list? -

* Windows Media Player 10

* MP3 ringtones

* Ringtones from your SD card

* Compatibility with the THB car kit

What didn't work with THB Car Kit before?

Thanks in advance

Edited July 14, 2005 by Guest

[Guest ronny]

What's new in WMP10?

I ask as looking at the list of things the new ROM update fixes this is the only one that is remotely interesting to me and I use BetaPlayer anyway so why bother? I ran the last update but can't see anything really making it worth my while having to re-install EVERYTHING.

What is the direct link to Orange's website for this? For the info page not update. The one on Coolsmartphone.com doesn't work:

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite...ature&t=Product

Is this the official list? -

* Windows Media Player 10

* MP3 ringtones

* Ringtones from your SD card

* Compatibility with the THB car kit

What didn't work with THB Car Kit before?

Thanks in advance

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

here's the link to the orange update page:

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite...=Product#answer

and here's the link to directly download the ROM update.

EDIT: No direct Rom links please.

[Guest patp]

More to the point, what's so great about WMP10. I tried the ROM update and WMP still sucks. VBR WMA files were stuttery and the sync process from windows WMP10 does not give enough control over the encoding of your audio. It also breaks the ability of Betaplayer to play WMA files, and Betaplayer is a far more capable app all round. I reverted to the old ROM. In real terms all you get is the a crappy update to a crappy media player. The other things are trivial and subject to workarounds anyway. Oh, and it took twice as long to boot with the new ROM.

[Guest]

here's the link to the orange update page:

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite...=Product#answer

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks Ronny but that's exactly the same link I already posted which is now out of date. All it loads is a page saying:

" using your phone

Find out all you need to know about your phone and Orange services here."

And it asks me to choose my phone model. I do this and there is then no option to download any rom. That link is NOT the Orange update page!

Fine I can download it direct but I'd rather see the info page first!

More to the point, what's so great about WMP10. I tried the ROM update and WMP still sucks.  VBR WMA files were stuttery and the sync process from windows WMP10 does not give enough control over the encoding of your audio. It also breaks the ability of Betaplayer to play WMA files, and Betaplayer is a far more capable app all round. I reverted to the old ROM. In real terms all you get is the a crappy update to a crappy media player. The other things are trivial and subject to workarounds anyway. Oh, and it took twice as long to boot with the new ROM.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks PatP

Please explain what you mean by this:

"the sync process from windows WMP10 does not give enough control over the encoding of your audio"?

Why does it break the ability of BetaPlayer to play WMA files? Are you sure it hasn't just changed the WMA association to WMP? Have you tried re-installing BetaPlayer?

What's been added/fixed in WMP10?

Edited July 14, 2005 by Guest

[Guest chrisbpr]

wish i had'nt bothered..not worth the hassle of reinstalling all my apps , still roll on the m500 ( !!! )

[Guest b1ackb1rd]

What a load of bollards, no mp3 ringtones and it crashes every few minutes.

[Guest lewdvig]

Oh, and it took twice as long to boot with the new ROM.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is normal after a reflash - subsequent reboots are normal (at least in my case).

Yeah, there isn't much here. The speakerphone option on the in-call menu is nice. I never had that before on my firmware.

There is a qtek rom with AAC support. I am an iTunes (non-DRM) guy so I will have to chase that down.

[Guest patp]

Please explain what you mean by this:

"the sync process from windows WMP10 does not give enough control over the encoding of your audio"?

Why does it break the ability of BetaPlayer to play WMA files? Are you sure it hasn't just changed the WMA association to WMP? Have you tried re-installing BetaPlayer?

Before I discovered OGG, I used to downsize my MP3s to VBR WMA files setting quality 25 in Windows Media 9 - this gives good sound quality and small files. I use dbpoweramp to do this. The WMP10 sync process limits the options for compressing and even the lowest setting gives larger files sizes than I was used to, plus they stuttered when playing.

The new ROM certainly breaks Betaplayer's ability to play WMA - there's a dll that's no longer available and no fix for this is likely.

BTW, anyone who wants to fit the maximum amount of music onto their C500 should be using OGG with the aoTuv tunig and quality setting -1. Betaplayer handles these files well and the compression/quality is amazing. I'm averaging about 1MB per song. When I get round to buying a 1GB card that will mean around 1000 songs!

[Guest uzi_999]

BTW, anyone who wants to fit the maximum amount of music onto their C500 should be using OGG with the aoTuv tunig and quality setting -1. Betaplayer handles these files well and the compression/quality is amazing. I'm averaging about 1MB per song. When I get round to buying a 1GB card that will mean around 1000 songs!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what program u use to encode it and where can i get it from??

[Guest scott2eyes]

He said [link=http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=dbpoweramp&meta=]dbpoweramp

[Guest scott2eyes]

He said dbpoweramp

EDIT- d'oh... Why do so many different forums use different markup tags?

Edited July 15, 2005 by scott2eyes

[Guest tonijj]

what program u use to encode it and where can i get it from??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah I wouldn't mind getting that info either m8, Im just copying regular ripped mp3s so an album is about 70mb, think your solution could help me ease the pain of my mini-sd card :)

Post the url in here, thanks!

[Guest patp]

Yeah I wouldn't mind getting that info either m8, Im just copying regular ripped mp3s so an album is about 70mb, think your solution could help me ease the pain of my mini-sd card :)

Post the url in here, thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/download.htm

once it's installed, right click on your MP3's and select the convert option. You can choose various formats, select OGG and it will take you to a web page to download the codec. First get and install the standard OGG, then get and install the aoTuv files. Eventually you will be able to right click on an mp3, convert, select Ogg aoTuv and choose quality -1. Use the latest version of Betaplayer from http://betaplayer.corecodec.org/ to play the ogg files.

pp

[Guest uzi_999]

@ patp - can i also right click on wma's and convert them?

[Guest]

Thanks PatP

Back OT:

"Is this the official update list? -

* Windows Media Player 10

* MP3 ringtones

* Ringtones from your SD card

* Compatibility with the THB car kit"

What's been added/fixed in WMP10? Why's it better than 9? (apparently).

p.s - I see BetaPlayer is now called "The Core Pocket Media Player".

[Guest Abecedarian]

Thanks PatP

Back OT:

"Is this the official update list? -

* Windows Media Player 10

* MP3 ringtones

* Ringtones from your SD card

* Compatibility with the THB car kit"

What's been added/fixed in WMP10? Why's it better than 9? (apparently).

p.s - I see BetaPlayer is now called "The Core Pocket Media Player".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

(1) Re: CoreCodec's TCPMP/BetaPlayer.

In my experience, sort of. The interface of TCPMP is a bit cleaner than BetaPlayer, but tends to run a bit slower. The thing that has generally made BetaPlayer superior to others w.r.t. mp3 players is that it skips ahead and loads new files significantly faster, with little to no pause. There now tends to be a slightly longer pause, which becomes very noticable when you are in the mood to dart around in the middle of a song.

On a side note, does anybody now if TCPMP is able to play WMP now? On my SMT5600, I've never been able to get BetaPlayer to play them; apparently c500 users have everything we do now!

~Abecedarian

[Guest b1ackb1rd]

I'd don't really care what sort of files are beter, that's not the question.

If mp3 ringtones are part of the upgrade, why the **** don't they work ?

I've got more volume in bluetooth, and a fancy icon when vibrate is selected ... but I'm missing my Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher' ringtone!!!

HELP !

[Guest]

I'd don't really care what sort of files are beter, that's not the question.

HuH?

What do you mean sort of files are better?

If mp3 ringtones are part of the upgrade, why the **** don't they work ?

Does it really matter in reality? When you can have WAVE and WMA as a ringtone. I don't get why it matters.

Sure you could argue that MP3 files are better quality but we're talking a very lower quality mono speaker here (aka - the phone speaker).

I've got more volume in bluetooth, and a fancy icon when vibrate is selected

Anything else new?

[Guest RT87]

I have gone from original to 4.2.1.1 and can only say I am very happy.

From original rom, the following things I have noticed are new (some were introduced in the first update).

-> More Symbols

-> WMP10 (very nice that I can now play particular artists music)

-> MMS Video option

-> New silent/vibrate icon

[Guest Abecedarian]

Find yourself a .wav converter. I haven't searched before, but they shouldn't be too hard to find somewhere on Modaco or, for that matter, any other Smartphone site. I imagine Symbian users have exactly the same need.

The truth is that you don't want or need three minutes of ringtone, nor exceptionally high quality audio, as these are being blasted out at high volumes but (relatively) low quality.

Any good utility should prove adept at creating compact files, knocking a 4,000 KB file down to a 20-100 KB one. You should even be able to find one that allows you to select your favorite part of the song.

~Abecedarian

P.S. Feel free to post links to .wav programs, anybody, since for the time being we have a lot of disapointed c500 users.

I'd don't really care what sort of files are beter, that's not the question.

If mp3 ringtones are part of the upgrade, why the **** don't they work ?

I've got more volume in bluetooth, and a fancy icon when vibrate is selected ... but I'm missing my Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher' ringtone!!!

HELP !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Guest BAZIL71]

Hi guys,

I cant use my MP3 files in my storage card as ringtones... Why..? Anyone has the same problem..?

[Guest]

You guys don't actually play your ringtones from entire songs? That's madness.

I used Goldwave (www.Goldwave.com) to open a WAVE file and chop out the parts I didn't want. I'm left with a 30 second clip (from BEP's Where is the Love). I then saved it out as a WMA file.

This is why I also don't get why people want to play ringtones from their SD Card. The person would've long since hung up before the song was over anyway.

BTW, anyone who wants to fit the maximum amount of music onto their C500 should be using OGG with the aoTuv tunig and quality setting -1. Betaplayer handles these files well and the compression/quality is amazing. I'm averaging about 1MB per song. When I get round to buying a 1GB card that will mean around 1000 songs!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How do they sound compared with 128Kbps MP3?

But surely even with an improved OGG codec (AOTUV) you're still zapping almost all the quality of the original file out of it.

Compression number 1 is only 50Kbps. That's vastly lower than the recommended 128Kbps for MP3 or even 96Kbps of WMA files. It's no wonder each song is only 1Mb there isn't anything left.

The WMP10 sync process limits the options for compressing and even the lowest setting gives larger files sizes than I was used to, plus they stuttered when playing.

That's surely WMP10 on the PC at fault, not WMP10 on the SmartPhone.

w.r.t.

WRT?

On a side note, does anybody now if TCPMP is able to play WMP now?

I take it you mean WMV? It's always been able to I'm sure.

Thanks btw

-> More Symbols

What do you mean?

-> WMP10 (very nice that I can now play particular artists music)

Why couldn't you before? Does it now support more file formats?

What's actually improved with WMP10? I'm guessing not a lot.

Edited July 17, 2005 by Guest

[Guest]

Okay here is the list of improvements compiled from the official list and what you guys have been saying:

* Windows Media Player 10

* MP3 ringtones

* Ringtones from your SD card

* Compatibility with the THB car kit

* More Symbols

* MMS Video option

* New silent/vibrate icon

* The speakerphone option on in-call menu

* Better volume in bluetooth

[Guest b1ackb1rd]

OK ... I can't sepll and I'm bone idle.

I've got all of my music on my hard drive in mp3 format, I usually have my 512Mb SD card full so I can chill out with a few tunes.

I simply can't be bothered to mess about changing formats/sampling a few bars just for the ringtone ... if it's SUPPOSED to play them, why don't it??

... and I know that my grammar slips when I'm p*ssed off before anyone mentions it :)

[Guest mossywell]

A bit OT, but...

Before I discovered OGG, I used to downsize my MP3s to VBR WMA files setting quality 25 in Windows Media 9 - this gives good sound quality and small files.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do bear in mind though that when you go from one lossy format to another you're going to degrade the sound quality. So, the destination format will only ever be as good (at very best) or worse than (more likely) the original MP3 format.

Sure you could argue that MP3 files are better quality

And indeed some people do, but actually, none is "better" than the other because it simply depends on the amount of compression you're doing. A high bandwidth MP3 will sound better than a very low bandwidth OGG for example. As for which produces the best sounds per KB of data, that's open to debate. Personally, I prefer WMA and OGG over MP3, but no one else has my ears and brain, so YMMV.