Product Category: Media PlayersManufacturers:
Conduits Technologies and
Pocket MindWhere to Buy:
Pocket Player ;
Pocket Music (old version?) from MobiHand (affiliate)Price: Pocket Player = $19.95 USD; Pocket Music = Free (MP3 + Winamp only), $19.95 USD for Bundle, which includes WMA and other features.Specifications: Both run on Windows Mobile 5 or 6. Pocket Player requires approximately 3MB of memory, while Pocket Music needs 2.9MB.Pros (for Pocket Player):
Able to handle most music and video media formats;
Finger and gesture-friendly interface for listing and selection of items.Pros (for Pocket Music):
Supports the widest variety of audio formats, including audio books, streaming audio, and playlists;
Standard Winamp skins available for look and feel;
Finger-friendly interface with direct access to major features.Cons: (for Pocket Player)
Limited number of skins available;
Many controls on the player itself are not 'big finger friendly';
Creates playlists in your 'My Documents' folder automatically;
Some features are difficult to get at.Cons: (for Pocket Music)
Seems to lock out all externally-defined hardware button functions while it is running;
Default Winamp skin has very small controls;
Equalizer degrades overall sound performance.Summary:The field of media players for the Windows Mobile is (thankfully) a rather crowded one, with numerous applications available beyond the Windows Media Player provided with the operating system. Two of the more popular options – Conduits' Pocket Player and Pocket Mind's Pocket Music have recently released new versions, so now seemed a good time for a head-to-head comparison of their features and capabilities. Is one better than the other? As all good consultants say, “It depends...”Read on for the full
review!
