(Last edited March 2, 2008)

While we’re on the multimedia theme, I’ll be discussing the audio or music player programs available for the Palm.

One of the most popular entertainment devices that most people buy nowadays are mp3 players. But what most people are not aware is that a Palm costs slightly a little more money and offers mp3 playback capability in addition to all the other features I’ve discussed including viewing and manipulating documents, spreadsheets, video playback, etc.

What’s required is a Palm device and an expansion flash memory SD card that can store the mp3 files. Although it is possible to store the mp3 files internally in RAM, most people store them on an expansion card.

To play an mp3 on the Palm device, you simply need to install an mp3 player program (some Palm devices have an mp3 player program already pre-installed), load the mp3 file onto the expansion SD card, and play the music file.

There are a number of different mp3 or compressed audio music players, each offering different features and skins.

Real Player

Real Player is probably the one mp3 player that most Palm users are familiar with because it’s either pre-installed on the Palm device, or that it’s included in the Palm install CD. But, unfortunately, although it does work, compared to its competitors, Real Player is too basic, lacking and inferior. Some Palm users even want to remove the program from the Palm because it’s so inferior. Depending on the device, you may be able to remove it if it doesn’t come pre-installed, (meaning that the program is in ROM (Read Only Memory)). Real Player is in ROM for Zire 72, Tungsten E2, T5, Treo 650 so you won’t be able to remove it if you own these devices. If you have to install the Real Player program either from a CD or from a file downloaded on the internet, then, you can remove the program either by using an uninstall program or deleting it from the default Palm launcher application or using a file manager and manually deleting it yourself.

One note when using Real Player, you must create a folder called AUDIO or /AUDIO or RN_AUDIO (looks like Real Player on the Treo 650 creates this folder) on the expansion flash memory SD card using a file manager like FileZ or FileProg. And then, transfer the audio files to that folder. The Real Player will only look for audio files in that directory. Other mp3 players like Aeroplayer and PocketTunes will search through the entire card for audio files.

Simulation of Real Player

Alternative Flash links: Image Shack, MyFileHut

The simulation will play through to the end unless I’ve inserted a pop up note to explain specific points.

To continue playing the simulation, press the button.
To go back to a previous paused segment, click on the button.
To pause the simulation at any time, press the button. To continue after it’s paused, press the button again.

To scroll forward or backward in the simulation, click anywhere on the left (to go back earlier in the simulation), or right (to go forward in the simulation) on the progress bar.

Aeroplayer is a popular mp3 player that offers additional features like screen blanking (to conserve battery), equalizer, volume boost, bass boost, skins, aac support, ogg vorbis support and album art. There’s a trial period to try out the software and if you like it, you will be required to pay a license fee to play mp3 files. If you play files in the open source format of ogg vorbis, there is no license fee required. If you want AAC support, get this Aeroplayer AAC program instead.

Currently, Aeroplayer does not support wma files because Microsoft charges a licensing fee to use their format. Check out Aeroplayer’s FAQ for more info. That’s also why you have to pay for a license to play mp3 format files because there is a licensing fee involved. These are not open source formats like ogg vorbis, which is why you can use the players to play an open source format file.

Simulation of Aeroplayer

Alternative links: MyFileHut

Pocket Tunes Deluxe offers similar features to AeroPlayer but also offer wma support, aac support, wave file support, wireless streaming, digitally encrypted songs purchased from online download sites like Rhapsody, Napster, etc and integration with Windows Media Player and other players for music file transfers to the Palm. There’s also a Pocket Tunes Basic Version. Similar to Aeroplayer, you will need to pay a license fee to play mp3 files after the trial period but playing ogg vorbis files on PocketTunes do not require a license.

If for whatever reason, your Pocket Tunes does not have the ogg vorbis or wave file plugin (maybe you got it pre-installed in the TX for example) and wish to install the ogg or wave plugin, you can get the plugins from PocketTunes’ website here. Also, here’s a link to the Pocket Tunes User Guide

Simulation of PocketTunes

Alternative links: MyFileHut

DioPlayer is no longer supported but it’s still available for download through various download sites (myTreo.net, Softonic.com, Download.com among others. The best thing about this music player is that it’s free, unlike Aeroplayer and PocketTunes which require a license to play mp3 files on the player. It doesn’t look like it supports ogg vorbis format, but this may be a good alternative player for those who don’t wish to pay for license and doesn’t like the limited features of Real Player.

Simulation of DioPlayer

Alternative links: MyFileHut

AudioPlus, Busker

Here are a few more mp3 players: AudioPlus, Busker.

(Edited May 5, 2006)

And here’s another one called mOcean by MotionApps.

For Sony Clies only

Smart MP3 Manager, AJVMP3 player (still in beta), eNeRgy

For older Palms

PsyTexx Audio Player, Movemento

PsyTexx Audio Player offers music playback for older Palm devices that newer programs may not support.

And for a completely different audio format, there’s Movemento which play mod files.

Aside from strictly mp3 players, most media or video players are also capable of playing mp3 and/or ogg vorbis files but obviously lacks the extra features of an mp3 player. They include: TCPMP, MM Player.

J-Shuffle, MusicShuffleSync

And here’s add-on software that can shuffle the songs that gets loaded into your Palm from the computer so that you don’t have to figure and select the songs to load, there’s J-Shuffle. MusicShuffleSync offers similar features of shuffling the songs before they’re loaded, like the iPodShuffle.

How to get the mp3 files

Now that you have the software to play the mp3 files, how to get the files? There are various ways. You can purchase the mp3 files from online download sites like iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, etc. But, most of them are digitally encrypted and you may or may not be able to play the files using the mp3 player software I’ve discussed previously for obvious copyright reasons. You will need to do the research on how to get by this yourself.

The other way, is to “rip” the songs directly off a regular music CD and convert and encode them into a compressed audio format like mp3, ogg vorbis, etc so that they can be stored and played on a portable device like a Palm.

There are many different CD ripping softwares available on the internet. There are many all-in-one programs that will do the ripping and encoding for free. I have been using CDEx for about a decade and I like it a lot. DBPowerAmp is another popular one. Simply install the software, pop in your CD and usually, it’s as simple as highlighting all the songs you want to rip and click on a button to rip them. Some may require you to go into the settings and change a few settings but once it’s done, next time it should be a click and it’s done.

If you have Windows Media 10, check Microsoft’s web on Windows Media for info on how to do it from Windows Media 10.

Transferring the files over to the Palm

Then, you can either transfer the mp3 or ogg vorbis files in one of many ways: using a card reader which you can simply drag and drop the files from Windows to the expansion card, using a software like CardExportII, Card Reader, PFB, PalmDisk which allows you to access the SD card while the Palm is connected in the cradle and do the drag and drop, or install them into the Palm or SD card via Quick Install and hotsync (but that can take a long time depending how many files you’re transferring) or via the Windows Media or Real Media software which also allows drag and drop transfer. I think the quickest way is to get a card reader or software that works like a card reader. Check out this posting on card reader apps.

Once the audio file is transferred over, the audio player is installed, simply run the audio player and play the file. And if you have more than one expansion flash memory SD card, you can load different sets of songs and easily change your music by simply popping in a different SD card.

Converting from one compressed audio format to another

Although it can be done, it’s not recommended. I can easily convert an mp3 file to ogg vorbis using the CDEx program just by selecting the file, setting the encoding, and convert. Simple. But it’s not advised. Any kind of converting from one “lossy” codec (eg. mp3, ogg vorbis, wma, etc) to another usually won’t result in a quality sounding file. Why? Let’s think of it this way.

The audio files on a CD, if you take a look, are many megabytes in size, usually in the 40s and 50s. In order to “compress” it into an mp3 format of about 1/10th of the size, a lot of data has to be discarded. So, although the loss in quality isn’t that easily detectable to our ears, if we try to convert from one lossy codec format to another, it will be very evident. Each lossy codec will determine which parts of the original audio file to discard when creating the file. So, if for example, the mp3 codec decides to discard the high end, and wma codec decides to discard the low end, and you try to convert an audio file from mp3 to wma, the result will be a very flat sounding file without any high or low end. That is why it’s always better to get it from a CD rather than trying to convert from one format to another.

The Palm can be a great mp3 player and video player if you have the necessary software and an expansion card. Rather than spending money on an iPod, or other mp3 players, a portable DVD player, and many other portable devices that the Palm can replace, if you have a Palm device, you can do many of the same things in one device, costing much less than by purchasing all the other devices separately. In addition, you have the added features of a digital daytimer (PIM), multi-functional alarm, extensive address book, office programs, email, picture viewer, ebook, etc.

It’s unfortunate that with all the people buying mp3 players that they are missing out on the added functionality of a device that is capable of doing so much more. And there really isn’t that much of a price difference now between a one function mp3 player and a multimedia Palm device. Hopefully this posting can help change that.

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