PocketTunes Deluxe

Tam Hanna of TamsPalm writes:

Almost every Palm OS5 device can play a variety of audio files. My Treo 600 is no exception… but it lacks a media player. A basic version of NormSoft’s PocketTunes ships with all new handhelds - let’s look at how the Deluxe version fares.

PocketTunes’ main screen can be customized with a variety of skins. Since I am half blind and since my Treo has a low res screen, I immediately switched back to the well-done default theme.

Creating and managing playlists is very simple. However, PocketTunes annoys with a long and slow search - I always cancel that and select the files myself from the file system.

PocketTunes Deluxe has a funky feature called CrossFade. This makes the last seconds of the currently playing sound overlap with the first seconds of the next - at the cost of up to one meg of RAM.

On the Treo, background playback is smartly implemented - the volume keys on the side control the playback volume. The usual console is available on the Treo, too (although the swipe options don’t work).

Graphic equalizers are included, too. They work very well on the Tungsten T3, but the OMAP CPU of my Treo is overloaded. A plain volume overdrive is included that works very well for silent songs like AlphaVille.

The screen of the Treo can be turned off to save energy. PocketTunes can somehow connect to the PC (I don’t need that) and can play Shoutcast streams, too.

When playing, the Treo slows down a good bit (but remains usable most of the time).

PocketTunes can support ogg, mp3, and wav files. It is said to have support for Napster to Go, too… can look at that one day, too.

This review looked at Version 3.1.5 on a Tungsten T3 and a Treo 600. The program’s Web site is here, and a full version costs $34.95.

Overall, PocketTunes is a very good media player. This review could only look at a small part of the product - get a trial version and look at it yourself! The only nuisance I experienced was the occasional splash screen/search delay… other than that, power to the groove!

TamsPalm - The Palm OS Blog is a great source for reviews, exclusive screenshots, and updates on all the new, 21st Century mobile technology as soon as it’s news to us!

[tags]PocketTunes Deluxe, TamsPalm, Palm OS blog[/tags]