Motorola Q Blog: Day 8 -- Windows Media

[Pony99CA]

One of the great advantages of Windows Mobile is its media capabilities, and the Motorola Q is no exception. Not only does the Q include Windows Media 10, but it has a 1.3 megapixel camera that can take stills and videos. Today I'll cover Windows Media, and my next entry will cover the camera and photo applications.

Windows Media 10 first came out on Windows Mobile 2003 SE. However, it wasn't available when WM 2003 SE first launched, so it was made available as an upgrade in some cases. I believe Windows Mobile 5 is the first version with Windows Media 10 integrated on every device.

As usual for Microsoft and Windows Mobile, Windows Media takes a few steps forward and a couple of steps backward. The forward steps include the Library screen shown below, which allows viewing your media files in many different ways. For example, under My Music, you can see all of your music or just music from a certain artist, album or genre. That's much better than Windows Media 9, which only showed playlists or all media files (including music and video).

Other advantages include the ability to rate media, the option to show elapsed time or time remaining in a track and additional properties (like the number of times you've played a track and the track number on an album). Also, even though the Q is a Smartphone, Media Player seems to be as fully functional as the Pocket PC version (at least compared to Windows Media 9 on my iPAQ 5550).

Of course, there are some downsides. The biggest is that you can no longer edit playlists on the device itself (even in the Pocket PC version, I believe). Playlists you created in Windows Media 9 and earlier will still work in Windows Media 10, but you'll have to edit them with Windows Media Player on the PC (or in a text editor if you're feeling brave).

Also, Windows Media doesn't support the greatest variety of formats. If you need better media format support, get The Core Pocket Media Player (http://corecodec.org) (TCPMP).

Another great thing with the Q is streaming media. With EV-DO, you never need a WiFi hotspot or cradle to play media (although I've heard Verizon's Terms of Service says no streaming, so this was just a proof-of-concept test, OK?). Visiting Radio4PDA (http://www.radio4pda.com) and playing WRIF from Detroit (http://wrif.com) (the radio station I listened to most growing up) was a lot of fun. I was shocked to find out that Arthur Penhallow (http://www.arthurp.com) (BABY!) was still on the air; I thought he was old back in the late 70s, but it was also like coming home again.

I've used my Pocket PC as my primary media player for years, and the Q raises the bar with easy streaming. Even without streaming, with a 2 GB MiniSD card full of music, why bother with an iPod?

Could you use a Q as your only media player? Share your thoughts in the discussion.

Navigation: Day 1 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3671), Day 2 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3676), Day 3 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3677), Day 4 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3681), Day 5 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3684), Day 6 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3694), Day 7 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3710)

[DaleReeck]

I used to say the same thing - why bother with an iPod when a PocketPC can do it all and better. That is, until I bought my own iPod :)

The problem is storage. The largest miniSD card is 2gb. The largest SD is 4gb and even then, not all are compatible with all devices. Subtracting the storage I need for apps and such, I take up most of the 2gb on my PPC (a Sprint 6700). Even with high compression (a DVD file takes up 250MB), you do not have much room for media without switching cards. And the problem isn't even switching the cards as it is buying and carrying them. I can only carry a very limited selection of media with me on my PPC.

My iPod on the other hand is a video iPod with 60gb of storage. I can carry all my music (300 songs), videos (about 100 DVD's), Audible books (120 books) plus a ton of photos and still only have used half the 60gb storage. Plus, battery life is a little better with an iPod than a PPC running videos. Battery life is a lot better with music.

For me to go PPC-only, I would need a 16-20gb miniSD card. Even 8gb might work if I am selective in media selection. But 2gb just isn't enough and I'm afraid we are a while away yet from even an 8gb miniSD card.

[Pony99CA]

I guess my question is whether you really use all of that media. Are you gone for long periods of time where you can actually use most of that?

MP3s ripped at 128 kbps is about 1 MB per minute, so 2 GB is about 2000 minutes of music, or over 33 hours. On a long business trip, I suppose you could listen to that much music, but when do you have time to watch 100 DVDs? ;)

Of course, I would also like larger storage cards. Back in the days of iPAQ sleeves and 5 GB PCMCIA hard disks, I was asking why we didn't have 10 GB or 20 GB disks, especially with 20 GB iPods using the same 1.8" drives that the PCMCIA drives did.

However, I don't have that much down time where I need that much media. Plus, I like listening to the radio or watching TV. That's how I discover new things.

Steve

[DaleReeck]

I actually do use most of the media. I don't watch for long periods unless I'm on a plane or something. But I do spot-watching. Not ready to go to sleep, 15 minutes of video in bed. Out on the veranda, 10 minutes there. Whenever I get bored and need a few minutes of diversion. I tend to favor episodic shows rather than movies, so you don't have to watch a whole two-hour DVD at a time. Especially lots of cartoons, South Park, Ren and Stimpy, Aqua Teen, Home Movies, Futurama, Dr Katz etc. So 10 or 15 minute spurts work for me, especially the toons that are 11 minute episodes.

The same with Audio books. I have an Audible.com subscription. On my PPC, I only have room for one book at a time. I have to offload/onload alot. With 60gb of storage, I have all the books there, just pick one.

Its useful for me to have a large variety to pick from without having to move files on and off cards. I pretty much have all my digital media with me and only need to add new stuff, never take off old stuff (at least for now). That's convenient for me.

[Pony99CA]

Its useful for me to have a large variety to pick from without having to move files on and off cards. I pretty much have all my digital media with me and only need to add new stuff, never take off old stuff (at least for now). That's convenient for me.
I understand about having the variety. It allows you to pick something that suits your mood. However, I don't rip video, so all I need to store is music, and 2 GB is almost enough to hold everything I've ripped so far; a 4 GB card would be more than adequate. Of course, if I ever decide to rip my entire CD collection, things may change. :)

I also understand about the convenience. It would be a pain to have to remove some files to put new files on a card. Even carrying multiple cards doesn't help that much, because what if each of 10 songs you want to hear is on a separate media card? Swapping that many cards would be annoying.

However, I don't think the convenience or variety is worth $300 (basically the cost of the cheapest full iPod). You have more media, so apparently it's worth it to you. I'd pretty much be happy using the Q as my only media player, you wouldn't. Different strokes.... ;)

Steve

[adamz]

I also use my Windows Mobile device as my only media player. The 2Gb is the same as an iPod Nano, except the Windows Mobile devices also sync with my Media Center for auto-conversion of TV shows and Video. I don't have to specifically do any ripping like you would for an iPod.. nor do I have to buy iPod versions of TV shows that I can record for free.

Plus, the best part is I can listen to music in the car while also listening to a GPS navigation program tell me where to go. And if a phone call comes in, the music automatically is put on pause while I talk on the phone. I'm so spoiled, when I'm in some one else's car and the phone rings, I expect the music to automatically pause itself! Instead you actually have to pause or lower the music yourself like a sucker. It would be even worse if I had an iPod with a headset in my ears... I'd have to pause the music, take those headphones out, search my pockets for my phone or bluetooth headset, answer the call... then put the phone away when I was done, get the iPod back out, put the headphones back on, then press play again. What a pain that would be!

In terms of ease of use, I use the auto-syncing features in Windows Media 10 so I don't ever have to go into my memory card's file system to manage files selectively. I just edit my auto-synced playlists. If I get a new memory card or device, I just select those same playlists to sync and everything is automatically downsampled and copied to the new device.