Windows Phone Thoughts: PocketMusic Review

PocketMusic from PocketMind...Ever wished you could 'tweak' the sound coming from your favorite MP3 while you were listening? Or re-label those music files by genre? Or, are you looking for a more full-featured alternative to Windows Media Player? Read on....

PocketMind has just released version 1.2 of its MP3 player -- Pocket Music. The basic version is provided as freeware and even so, it offers many more features than Windows Media Player. The most significant is a 10-band equalizer so you can 'tailor' the output from your favorite tunes. There is also a 'feature pack' available (for $19.95 US) which provides additional functionality (more on that later). The majority of this review will focus on what's available in the freeware version.

Gettin' in on the ground floor
I originally saw this product briefly mentioned on Brighthand and decided to take a look. I've seen a lot of 'new' MP3 players for the Pocket PC come and go, and a number (including one from Japan) which touted equalizers. I was interested to see if this one actually worked. I went to the site and downloaded what I think was their first 'production' version and loaded it up. The freeware version asks that you register your copy at the PocketMind site, which consists mainly of providing your name and email address. Although I didn't check, according to PocketMind, if you don't register the freeware version it will quit after 3 days. Over the last month or so, PocketMind has sent me a couple of upgrades to their freeware version -- the latest being February 14th.

The package from PocketMind is a .zip file, which includes just the installation executable -- there is no other documentation. Installation is pretty straightforward using the ActiveSync Add/Remove Programs function.

Interface
Whew...this screen is packed with stuff!!! Even with the basic skin which comes with the freeware version, you get a lot of functionality in this player.


Figure 1: Main Screen -- the PocketMusic default skin

There's so much stuff here that a number of the controls are unlabeled. I found the volume control (the horizontal slider just below the display of sampling rate, etc. near the top of the screen). But I still don't know what the slider to the right of it does. Using it on my HP Jornada 568, it doesn't seem to have any effect. Some of the controls are so small that I couldn't even get them to respond to my stylus. An example of this is the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons at the top right. On my HP, these controls are so small that getting them to work is a shot in the dark proposition. Fortunately, in version 1.2, PocketMind has made its hidden menu available by tapping on almost anywhere on the screen, and these functions are available from it.


Figure 2: PocketMusic's Hidden Menu

This menu gives you access to most of the background functions of PocketMusic, such as the Key Mapping and various Player Options. The Key Mapping is pretty straightforward, providing access to most of the Start/Stop/Next Track functions and allowing you to map them to any available hardware key. The notable omission is Volume Up/Down, (which I really miss from my Windows Media Player) but this is available with the Feature Pack which I will talk about more later. Unfortunately, the mapping function seems to interfere with other key mappings for other applications while PocketMusic is running. For instance, I had a screen snapshot utility attached to the tap&hold function of my Tasks button. This no longer works in PocketMusic, even though I haven't told PocketMusic to use this key.

The Player Options (new to version 1.2) allows you to set the Read File Cache size anywhere from 256kb to 16mb. This is especially helpful in reducing the number of disk reads (and increasing battery life) when using a Microdrive unit.


Figure 3: Player Options (General)

You can also set various Playlist options.


Figure 4: Main Screen -- the PocketMusic default skin

Back at the main screen, even though they are small, the controls operate fairly smoothly. The exception for me is the Playlist scroll control which jumps significantly and is difficult to control when you have a playlist with more than 30 entries.

One of the biggest advantages of PocketMusic is being able to collect files anywhere on your device and save your own playlists.


Figure 5: PocketMusic File Selector

The Equalizer
For me, this was the big attraction over Windows Media Player. Not all my headphones have the same response curve and not all recordings are created equal. I really enjoy my music, so it's important to have it sound right. Unfortunately, I can't get PocketMusic's equalizer to work the way I want it to. Theoretically, an equalizer should only boost or reduce a fairly narrow band of sound around each of the center frequencies selected for the bands -- all other sounds should be unaffected. While version 1.2 is better at this that the first version I used, PocketMusic's equalizer definitely affects the other ranges when any one of the controls is moved. In the worst case, if you move a single band to the extreme ranges (+ or - 20db) then the sound becomes muffled and sounds like it's playing inside a tin can. The only correction I could find was to turn off the equalizer completely. Thinking that this anomaly might be due to a lower sampling rate (I typically use 64kbs), I also tried a 128kbs file but there was no difference.

Sound Quality
Generally, the quality of sound produced by PocketMusic is pretty good but is highly dependent upon the sampling bit rate and the quality of the headphones you use. In side-by-side comparisons between PocketMusic and Windows Media Player, I couldn't find any discernable differences.

...and now, the Feature Pack!
Adding the Feature Pack will cost you US $19.95. For that, you get

• Winamp 2.x skins support
  
• Sound 'presets' for the equalizer -- everything from soft rock to reggae and classical
  
• Ability to save your own presets for the equalizer
  
• Ability to set the track title, artist, album, genre, etc. (the ID3 tags) for MP3 files
  
• Advanced Playlist organizer, with the ability to create playlists by genre, artist, album, and titles
  
• Playlist Catalog which shows all the PocketMusic playlists on your device
  
• Media Catalog which lists all the MP3 files on your device. It also allows you to sort them by various criteria
  
• Enhanced hardware key mapping for controls. In addition to the ones provided in the basic version, the Feature Pack adds Volume Up/Down, Mute, Show/Hide Player, Toggle Full Screen, Play/Pause, Load Files and Enqueue Files

Whether you feel having these features is worth the additional cost, I leave to you. For me, most of what I need in a music player is provided in the basic version. I suppose a new Winamp skin might fix my difficulties with the interface. When I checked the PocketMind site, I found only eight new skins. Here are a couple of examples:




Figure 6: Example skins for PocketMusic with Feature Pack

The Feature Pack comes as a separate installation package and requires a separate registration key which is sent with the package.

Gotchas
Unfortunately, there's no documentation provided with the freeware version, so you have to play with the controls on the basic skin to figure out what does what. Right now, PocketMusic only supports MP3 files. According to PocketMind, they are working on a version 2.0 which will also work for WMA files, but they didn't mention an availability date. I think the equalizer still needs some work. Changes made to one frequency band should not affect sound in the other bands. I would also like to see some way to reset all the band controllers back to their zero position by pressing one button. Lastly, hardware key mappings for other applications will not work while PocketMusic is running.

Where To Buy
The freeware version of PocketMusic can be downloaded from PocketMind with the basic skin (shown here). The free registration code can be obtained from the same site. The Feature Pack can be purchased from Handango for US $19.95 (affiliate).

Specifications
I only have a Pocket PC 2002 device, so I was not able to test if it will work on other versions of the operating system. The freeware version (1.2) of the software requires 429K to install. The Feature Pack requires another 127K of memory. I have loaded both to my CF storage card and they seem to run fine.

Conclusions
PocketMusic version 1.2 is a worthy competitor to Windows Media Player in the MP3 arena. I think the main differentiator -- the equalizer -- needs more work, and the basic interface could use some tweaking around usability. I also feel the Feature Pack is a bit pricy, but then I wouldn't really use all the functions it provides. All in all, it's something I'll definitely keep on my machine and see how it progresses.