pocket tunes suckage and Life Drive

[trickypuss]

Anyone else having problems with pocket tunes and the Life Drive, particularly skipping issues? I've talked with someone at normsoft and they say an updated version is on the way. I'm using the latest deluxe version and have experienced moments of complete dropout in both wma and mp3 files. Pretty much twice per song in any playlist I set up.

Is this an issue that anyone else is running into? Pocket tunes has always run great for me on all my other palm devices, so this is a little disappointing to say the least. Poor audio = not much like an ipod at all.

[SoS]

its a Ptunes issue, that is why there is an update on the wy. Someone tried beaming the LD Ptunes version to a T3 and it skipped the same way!!

[GadgetGuru]

What the, PalmOne paid normsoft to create a special version and they created a broken one? Somebody at PalmOne must be sleeping, maybe they should have stucked with Real Player, at tleast they need not pay for that one...

And if it can't play wma, why not just include Dioplayer, and uses the saved $$$ to make a cradle free for the LD...

[Billy Baggins]

I received responses to some of my questions from Normsoft:

QUESTIONS:
Hi Dave,

You mentioned that the next version of
PT Deluxe will be coming out very soon adding support for copy
protected WMA files. If I buy the current version, will I have to pay
an additional fee to upgrade?

I am experiencing a delay in the music caused when opening another
application while running PT in the background on my LifeDrive. I
also noticed a scratchy, interference noise between tracks when
playing MP3's in Pocket Tunes? Are you aware of these problems on the
LifeDrive? If so, will this new version coming out fix these bugs?

The LifeDrive can hold as much music as an iPod Mini, but
unfortunately it falls short as a music player. It doesn't provide
iPod-like automatic music sync between device and desktop. Despite all
that screen space, it doesn't display album covers.

Are you planning to add automatic music sync between device and
desktop and displaying of album covers in future upgrades?

Thanks in advance,
Bill



RESPONSE:
Hi Bill,

You will be able to do automatic sync. I'm not sure if it will be on the next release or the one after but you will be able to do that.

Yes, if you buy the current version you get a free update to the version that supports copy protected WMA files.

The scratchy interference may be the shielding on the LifeDrive. I have a pre release version that is quite bad when you have it plugged into the power cable, a lot of extra nose. I'm told the production models have improved that but you might be hearing that. Try seeing if there is a difference between when it is plugged in and not.

You will likely get a small delay when opening other apps because of the nature of the device. We are working on minimizing it and I believe palmOne will have a ROM update eventually that may address it, but you will get a bit of a delay. I had the same issue even on my T5. The new file format is partly the culprit.

We are looking at the possibility of supporting album covers and you will likely see it in a future release though not the next one.

Let me know if I missed any of your questions.

Take care,
Dave
NormSoft Support Team
NormSoft, Inc.
www.normsoft.com

[trickypuss]

The really crucial question is...

[trickypuss]

.....when?

[Adrenochrome]

I'm having similar problems. I really have no complaints about the HD in the thing, since the only issue is an occasional one-second delay.

But, Pocket Tunes is performing a bit sub-par. I'm not getting any mid-song skipping, but cross-fading is totally out. When it nears the end of the song, it stops dead for a second, then plays the cross-fade into the next song, stops dead again, and then picks up in the next song. Ridiculous. I love cross-fade, but it's useless on a LD. Pocket Tunes has also caused the only two soft resets I've had so far. One was my fault, but the other, that just happened two minutes ago, is just PT.

One note - when I was playing music straight from an SD card, it was smooth and flawless. Fantastic, actually. Cross-fades, jumping from track to track - all instantaneous and without the slightest glitch.

By the way, my LD sounds more "boomy" than my other PDAs. A little EQing clears it up with no problem, and I'd rather have too much bass than not enough, but has anyone else noticed this?

[Adrenochrome]

One other thing: I've never wanted a USB2.0 port more! It takes about half an hour to load the HD using standard USB.

By the way - the LifeDrive desktop software is first-rate. There is a lot of potential power in folder synchonization. Loving it right now.

[trickypuss]

Guess I'll just go get an SD card for now and hope they fix this later. One of the major pros (I originally thought) to the LD was that it was going to be the first handheld where no additional memory purchase was necessary. Guess not.

[Adrenochrome]

I just got a message back from Pocket Tunes as well. It goes into a little more depth:

"Yes, we are aware of that issue. palmOne is working on a ROM update for this issue. The problem is the buffer (cache) gets full and the disk spins down, but doesn't spin back up to full speed until the buffer actually empties. We're going to add instructions in Pocket Tunes to tell the disk to spin back up before the buffer empties. Between our update and the ROM update from palmOne, this problem should go away entirely. Expect Pocket Tunes 3.1 to be out mid to late June."

Looks like good news. It's something software can alleviate.

[trickypuss]

Mid to late June. Ok.

In the meantime I got a 1GB SD card from PNY and plugged it into my LD (hows that for a string of initials). Everything works great from the card, so it's definitely a buffer issue with the LD HD. Guess for now I'll put my music onto the LD and transfer into the card when I want to change out my playlists. Until sometime in June. I guess.

[E Ben G]

Hey guys,

Can either of you comment on the background static on the LifeDrive when using headphones? I've been very unhappy with the static on my T5...is it improved on the LifeDrive?