Tungsten T5 as an MP3 player

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

Using the program Pocket toons all of these things are posible but the
program does cost a few dollars.

As far as I know Mp3s and other files (incolding Ogg) can only be played
from the SD card. But that might be diffrent with the T5 since it has that
flash rom.

MP3 playing doesnt hurt the battery at all, because at least with Pocket
tunes you can turn off the screen while it's playing, giving you hours more
of battery life.
"Peter Mutsaers" <plm@msbx.net> wrote in message
news:ullc9vh8w.fsf@plm.msbx.net...
> Hello, I have some questions on how the T5 is as an MP3 player:
>
> - is there player software included or do I need to buy add-on?
> - can one play MP3 directly from an SD flash card?
> - does it also support other formats (e.g. Ogg)?
> - does playing MP3 hurt battery life hard?
> - can the player resume at the last position (1 bookmark). Are even
> multiple bookmarks possible?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Peter Mutsaers

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

I have a Tungsten E, and use that as an MP3 player, the T5
functionality appears similar.
i.e.
in the UK at least, Realplayer is included in the box.
Realplayer runs mp3's (and/or realaudio) direct from sd cards. on the
E it can't run from the pda memory, although this might be different
with the T5 flash drive?
Realplayer does not support ogg. (pocket tunes does, but this costs.
It also supports wma with its more expensive deluxe version, priced at
$27 I think)
Running realplayer does use the battery more than just having the palm
switched on. don't know how this will work on the T5.
realplayer doesnt' have bookmarks on the version with the E.

Biggest problem I have with Realplayer, the biggest pain, is that
while its really easy to transfre music from PC to the Palm , you
can't transfer playlists, and have to create these manually on the
palm. And its really longwinded as it presents all music files in one
long list...

I'd reccomend you look at Pocket Tunes. ok, it costs 20 or 30 dollars,
but hey, if you're spending a few hundred on the T5, its not that much
more is it..

Chris


On 08 Dec 2004 00:08:31 +0100, Peter Mutsaers <plm@msbx.net> wrote:

>Hello, I have some questions on how the T5 is as an MP3 player:
>
>- is there player software included or do I need to buy add-on?
>- can one play MP3 directly from an SD flash card?
>- does it also support other formats (e.g. Ogg)?
>- does playing MP3 hurt battery life hard?
>- can the player resume at the last position (1 bookmark). Are even
> multiple bookmarks possible?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Peter Mutsaers

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

That looks wonderful, thanks for your input. Now I'll buy a T5 + SD
card instead of an mp3 player. I've been looking for a similar "mp3
player" for long, one that also offers bookmarks and exchangable flash
(i.e. SD cards).

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

I use my T5 as an MP3 player. It comes with all the software that you
need, although I had fits getting it to work.

On the T5 itself, you get RealPlayer 1.6, which is a beta version that
last I checked wasn't even available at Real's website. For your
desktop, Palm provided RealPlayer 10.5.

OK, first problem is that RealPlayer 10.5 froze anytime I tried to
download music from the music store or anytime I tried to transfer
music from a CD. Technical support was no help. They had me unistall
and reinstall the software numerous times. They had me defrag my hard
drive. They had me clean out temp files. Nothing helped.

Work around. I downloaded the older RealOne Player from the Real
website. Voila -- RealOne PLayer allows me to transfer music from a CD
to my desktop library. I still can't download music from their on-line
store. When I try, the software prompts me to upgrade to RealPlayer
10.5. Oh no, you don't! I already fell for that one. I'll live
without the on-line store, and Real will live without my money.

Next problem is that the RealOne Player is old and it doesn't recognize
your T5 or, for that matter, any PalmOne devices. There is undoubtedly
a plug-in somewhere, but Real support couldn't direct me to it. Oh
well.

Work around. Just save the music to your hard drive. From there, you
can easily transfer it to the internal card on the T5 using the file
transfer application that comes included. It's fast! And there's no
need to hot sync. You can also use the removeable drive feature to
accomplish this, which comes in handy if you're using someone else's
computer.

Tip. When you transfer the music from the CD to your hard drive, put
it in RealAudio 8 format. There's two reasons for this. First, its
more compressed tham .MP3. Second, the RealPlayer 1.6 on your Palm
won't recognize .MP3 files stored on the T5's internal memory card.
When I asked technical support about that one, they mumbled something
about RealPlayer 1.6 being a beta version . . . Gee, thanks Palm, for
pre-installing it on my device.

However, if you have gotten the files in RealAudio format on to your
T5, you will now have a pretty good "MP3" player. Volume is good. The
battery lasts. Sound quality is good. I use the internal card to
store the music. I haven't gotten an expansion card yet, so can't
speak to that.

One last thing. The T5 doesn't come with earphones. The ones on the
Palm site are ridiculously expensive. Don't buy them there. You can
pick up a decent enough pair at Radio Shack or at most electronic
stores for anywehere from $10 to $25.
Hope this helps.

Good luck,
Richard Stanz

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (More info?)

In article <1102518122.249428.304940@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, plmuon@gmail.com wrote:
> That looks wonderful, thanks for your input. Now I'll buy a T5 + SD
> card instead of an mp3 player. I've been looking for a similar "mp3
> player" for long, one that also offers bookmarks and exchangable flash
> (i.e. SD cards).

A couple of comments based on using a T3 to play MP3s.
If you don't have any other particular reason for getting a T5, you might
want to consider a T3 instead. The internal flash drive on the T5 isn't
that big compared to a 1GB SD card anyway, it is smaller to carry around,
and you should be able to pick it up $50-$100 cheaper than a T5.

Volume is more than sufficient.

You are limited to max 1G at a time, but that is true for anything below
iPodMini level anyway. SD cards are small and relatively cheap, so you could
carry multiples. (There are various cases available with pockets for SD cards.

PocketTunes is a very useable player, and worth the money. It allows you to
set up any directory tree you like on the card, and you can navigate by
directory, or by ID3 tags. This is essential if you are looking to carry a
lot of music around at once.

It is annoying fiddly compared to a dedicated MP3 player that there are not
simple controls for things like pause and change volume that you can grasp at
without looking. They can all be done from the Palm buttons, but they are
small and close together. If someone walks over to talk to you you can't
just stick a hand out and pause it.