In the form of WithMP3, Cardinal Info Tech joins the growing ranks of software companies offering a Windows Media Player alternative for the Pocket PC. Although adequate for some, WMP follows the trend of most Microsoft bundled software and is a little lacking in the features department when it comes to playing music. WithMP3 aims to correct this failing and consequently comes packed to the gills with options and abilities to make it a top-notch dedicated audio player.
Upon firing it up the user is presented with a much more efficient layout than that of WMP. Following the trend set by Nullsoft�s WinAMP on the desktop, the screen is basically divided into three segments: the main player, an EQ and a playlist. WithMP3 does not run fullscreen, so one still has access to the top and bottom bars for the usual system interaction. Notably, WithMP3 comes equipped with a special �Minimize� button for background play.
The main interface is in a garish retro green-on-black colour scheme, which makes for perfect readability but may not match one�s preferences. The very top of the display scrolls song title, artist and duration, and can read ID3 tags. Below this is a time indicator, capable of displaying time passed or remaining, and indicators for bitrate and stereo status. WithMP3 played variable-bitrate (VBR) and high-bitrate files just fine, although it couldn�t quite manage to correctly calculate duration for VBR files, and played one file exceedingly slowly, despite it playing correctly in WMP.
To the right of the status indicators are sizeable buttons for play/pause and stop, big enough for manipulation with fingers. Finally, a small mute button, volume slider and previous/next track navigation buttons complete the �player� section, with a track-position slider along its bottom edge. These controls can be fiddly to operate without a stylus, and it would be nice to offer a screen layout that sacrificed the EQ and playlist sections in exchange for a larger player. If the user is lucky enough to have a PDA equipped with a wired remote control, WithMP3 can take advantage of it.
Moving down to the EQ section, we find one of WithMP3s most obvious �wow-factors�, a real-time stereo graphical EQ, which has a customizable framerate. It offers no useful function but sure looks cool. The rest of the EQ itself is very functional, however, supplying a huge range of presets for its ten bands as well as a Pre-Amp covering -20 to +20 db. As expected, abusing the Pre-Amp led to some pretty horrific crackling especially in the lower frequencies, but sensible use really improved certain tracks with little distortion. In general the sound output was of good quality over a range of MP3s on our testbed machine, an iPAQ 3850 equipped with Sony EX-70 earbuds and Koss KSC-50 phones.
The last section covers the playlist, and displays five tracks at one time, with number, title and duration as well as the total length of the list. Should you desire, the playlist can expand to cover the EQ, and can then display eleven tracks - much more useful. Buttons arranged along the side handle all the usual playlist management tools, allowing loading and saving as well as adding, removing and ordering tracks in the current list. Playlists up to 999 files are possible, and WithMP3 can handle subfolders with ease, although it can�t handle network streaming. Excitingly for those with large playlists and fickle tastes, the program offers a �favourites� system, whereby particular files within the playlist can be tagged. Thereafter the shuffle feature will only choose between these tagged files. All this makes for a pretty comprehensive solution.
Beyond the swathe of features available from the front-end there lies a decent range of options, too. As well as the minimize button previously mentioned, menu shortcuts to equalizer and playlist functions line the bottom of the screen and are completed by a file menu, which leads in turn to the configuration screen. All the standard options are present and correct: button mapping, various preferences covering shuffle and repeat, and so on. Some of these would be better placed on the main screen (shuffle, for example), at least in an expanded view. This is especially true given the option of turning off the graphical EQ - instead of removing them from the display, the user is left with two blank black boxes on the main screen, which is a shame.
Further option tabs cover the buffer utilized by WithMP3 for skip-free playback: the SD-slot on our iPAQ produces skipping audio in WMP as it cannot keep up with the speed requirements of streaming MP3s. Using WithMP3�s buffer eliminated skipping altogether, which is obviously a very good thing. For those using a MicroDrive or other such power-hungry media, the program also includes a caching facility of up to 20 MB, allowing it to read ahead and then spin down your drive, saving a lot of battery power in the process.
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