Related
Do you use your desktop Windows PC, Mac or Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) desktop computer to play back music or videos? Would you like to be able to remote control the playback from your Pocket PC like on an infrared remote controller unit? Don't you like the idea of purchasing another hardware remote controller for the PC to be able to do this, even when this only means a new sound- or video card with a dedicated hardware infrared remote controller? You don't want to use short-range infared controllers where line-of-sight is a must but, for example, would like to control your equipment from anywhere of your house through, for example, your Wi-Fi wireless network? For example, you're sitting in the kitchen and would like to make the desktop computer-controlled speakers in the kitchen a bit louder or temporarily switch off the music because you have an incoming call? It's just a screentap in your Windows Mobile-based handheld device. Now, imagine what you would need to do without having any kind of a remote control facility - you'd need to go to your (MCE) PC and there do what you need.
Interested? Read on - you'll certainly find this roundup highly useful!
There are two main kinds of Windows Mobile -> desktop PC remote control applications: full-fledged desktop access applications (VNC, TSC, RDP, LogMeIn etc.) and strictly multimedia control applications. As far as the former are concerned, I've thoroughly reviewed all the, on Windows Mobile, available solutions in the Remote Desktop Access Bible. You will NOT want to use these applications to control your media players - there are much better, multimedia-specific applications for this task. There is simply no point in using a fully-fledged, full desktop controller application for multimedia control.
Note that there is a third class of Windows Mobile remote control applications; that of "simple" infrared (IR) remote controller applications I've reviewed in the Infrared Remote Control Bible. As they don't have many of the advantages (for example, lack of need for line of sight; the lack of heavy dependence on the CPU type - most titles don't support the TI and the Samsung CPU's - and the quality / range of the built-in infrared unit; the lack of one-way control only etc.) of the "real" multimedia remote controller (MMRC for short) apps and the only real point of using them is controlling "non-smart" audiovisual devices like stand-alone DVD players and amplifiers, I don't pay any attention to them in this review. Please make sure you do check out the above-linked review for more information on them.
Note that there're some other, similar, but desktop-only roundups; see for example this German language Wiki entry for some additional, desktop-side apps.
1.1 What can you control?
With all the reviewed (available) MMRC apps,
you can control, at least, the basic functionality of the desktop-side player; that is, Stop / Start / Next title / Previous title / Pause and the volume slider.
you see (at least - with more advanced remote controllers, you also see the album art or even the lyrics of) the title and artist of the current title (particularly if it has a filename already conveying this information - the simplest applications only display the filename of the currently played title or, in very few cases - see for example PPC Tablet Remote Control Suite - don't display anything, not even the filename.)
some kind of a playlist; if not your desktop-side, pre-created and automatic playlists (as is the case with for example WMP), then, at least, a local playlist you can create on your PDA my individually adding arbitrary titles to the "Now Playing" list. Note that very few titles lack this functionality; a notable example of these is the free and not really recommended SnowCrash.
one or some desktop-side multimedia player. In most cases, it's Windows Media Player 9 or later (WMP for short). The second most widely supported player is the well-known WinAmp and the third is Apple's iTunes. Very few MMRC apps support other players or other applications like Microsoft PowerPoint. Support for the latter may turn out to be pretty useful if you plan to control your PowerPoint show from your Windows Mobile handheld.
With most players, there are a lot of additional goodies they offer to the user; in the next section, I list them.
1.2 Two-way communication
As opposed to most "standard" IR controllers, PDA's have a display on their own. This means they will at least display the file name of the currently played title and some kind of a song list, from where you can see what the next song is. This means you don't have to see on the desktop PC's screen what the next song will be. Again, imagine your controlling multimedia playback from your kitchen, even some 30-40 metres away from your desktop computer - you see the advantages of this, don't you?
In addition to the next / previous title (file)names, most of them also offer at least desktop playlist download and, with most titles, editing / synchronizing back; with many titles you can also get the details of the songs and, with very few of them, even the lyrics, the aditional ("ID3") information embedded in the file and the album art (when available).
Note that it's in the "Explanation for the comparison chart" section that I explain most of the advanced functionalities and capabilities the MMRC apps offer/have.
1.3 Connectivity
At the beginning of this roundup, I've quickly mentioned a scenario where a Windows Mobile-based media control through Wi-Fi may be highly useful. In this section, I elaborate on in what ways (using what kinds of (wireless) connections) you can remotely control a media player on a desktop computer.
First, there are two main ways you can connect your Windows Mobile device to your desktop computer. One of them is either native or serial Bluetooth support (supported by very few MMRC apps), the other is the widely supported, well-known TCP/IP like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN).
Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages.
1.3.1 Native or serial Bluetooth apps
require almost no manual configuration (and are, therefore, generally better for a Windows Mobile beginner - no manual connection establishments, no manual desktop IP entering) and, generally,
work on crippled Bluetooth stacks like that of Microsoft. (Why crippled, you may ask. Because, as far as our case is concerned, it doesn't support BT PAN.) Also,
Bluetooth units built into PDA's consume far less power than Wi-Fi units, the other choice for "full" TCP/IP-based remote control
As far as the disadvantages are concerned,
their range is limited (at least compared to Wi-Fi-based solutions),
some of the "full" TCP/IP apps support multicasting to automatically find controllable desktops on the local network, making it unnecessary for the end user to enter any local desktop IP. Also, peer-to-peer (for example, BT PAN) IP addresses remain the same all the time and don't need to be re-entered with most MMRC's. In this respect, the "no setup needed" advantage of BT easily vanishes.
in cases, they only work with a given pair of BT stacks and are incompatible with the other stacks (see the example of jaylee.org’s Bluetooth Remote Control for Windows Mobile) and
very few titles do support this type of connection.
1.3.2 TCP/IP connectivity
As far as "full" TCP/IP connections are concerned, there are two main connectivity types you'll want to consider using: Bluetooth (BT) Personal Area Network (PAN for short) and Wi-Fi. The latter can use both p2p (peer-to-peer) and infrastructure mode (via a traditional access point anywhere in your house). Let's take a look at the (dis)advantages of each solution.
1.3.2.1 Bluetooth PAN, when compared to Wi-Fi, has the following advantages:
It, generally, consumes far less power than Wi-Fi, meaning much better handheld battery life
It uses at least an order of magnitude less radio power, which may be an issue if you constantly keep your PDA in your hand and you're afraid of the effects of the constant radiation
On the other hand,
it is not compatible with some major Windows Mobile Bluetooth implementations; most importantly, that of Microsoft. This is because the MS BT stack doesn't really support true BT PAN, not even in WM5 AKU3 / WM6, as has also been explained in the AKU3 Networking Bible. This means you can only make use of BT PAN on, say, a current Windows Mobile phone (which, generally, except for some rare exceptions like the, in this regard, excellent Fujitsu-Siemens T830, run the Microsoft BT stack as opposed to that of the much superior and BT PAN-capable Widcomm/ Broadcom) if and only if you manually install the Widcomm BT stack on it and disable the original Microsoft one. This is not likely what you really want to do in some cases, particularly if you plan to use your phone with an external Bluetooth headset and / or as a Bluetooth modem, because, as of now, no "hacked" Windows Mobile phone models have decent support for external headsets or dial-up modems. If the Widcomm BT stack runs on them at all, that is - for example, currently, it doesn't run on the HTC Trinity (P3600), "only" on the Universal, Wizard and TyTN, as far as the most common models are concerned.
while Wi-Fi supports auto reconnection (when you power up your Windows Mobile automatically reconnects to the last access point or, in p2p mode, other computer it was connected to), BT PAN must be manually reconnected. The latter may require several screen taps.
as it requires a direct connection between the desktop PC and the Windows Mobile device, it has much more limited range. Effectively, you'll be only able to remote control your media desktop in the same room. With Wi-Fi, particularly when you control your desktop with a Windows Mobile device connected to the Internet via an Access Point, you can control your desktop from anywhere, even several rooms away from your desktop (remember the example of the kitchen?)
1.3.2.2 Wi-Fi
Finally, Wi-Fi. In our case, there are two kinds of Wi-Fi connections you can consider: a direct (peer-to-peer) connection between the desktop and your Windows Mobile device (this is a bit more complicated to set up at first, requires native Wi-Fi support in the desktop (which, particularly with desktop - non-notebook - computers, not always the case) and has less range) and full infrastructure-based connections (without a direct Wi-Fi p2p connection between your desktop and Windows Mobile device). This means you may want to prefer infrastructure-based connections in most cases, particularly when range is an issue. (An access point is closer to you and your Windows Mobile device than the desktop in your particular remote control setup.)
Please note that I've thoroughly elaborated on all of these questions in the Windows Mobile Multiplayer Games Bible. It's also there that I've linked in my BT PAN, Wi-Fi P2P and BT serial tutorials - please make sure you DO read them if you want to use any of these three techniques to get your Windows Mobile device connected to your desktop.
1.4 Two main types of control: Web-based access and native Windows Mobile clients
There are two main kinds of MMRC apps. The first group offers Web-based access from, in general, any Web browser running on almost any kind of the client (which, therefore, can even be a "dumb", albeit still Web-capable client like a low-end mobile phone); the second uses a native, dedicated Windows Mobile client running on the client device.
Let’s see the advantages / disadvantages of the Web-based solution compared to the native one! The advantages:
You can use it without installing anything on your Windows Mobile device (if you hate installing anything on your device OR it's restricted / blocked in some way)
It's platform-independent. This means it can be used from any kind of a Web-capable client device. Furthermore, this also means the user interface on these different clients will exactly be the same (except for some platform-specific skins applied by the server). The latter has several advantages: most importantly, it'll be sufficient to learn how the GUI must be operated (for example, how desktop-side playlists can be accessed / edited etc) only once; after that, you don't need to learn a completely different GUI because you, for example, need to switch to a completely different MMRC product when you switch client platforms (from Windows Mobile to, say, Symbian, Palm, Linux or even a UMPC) - you can keep using the old, already-familiar one because it supports clients running on any client platforms.
The disadvantages:
They are, generally, considerably slower than native solutions. In some cases (see for example the commercial PlayerPal) this isn't really a problem, in some other cases (see for example the speed difference between the Xlobby clients), it is.
Even more importantly, because of the restricted and non-dynamic standard HTML controls (widgets), you can't for example have a simple volume slider to control the volume. You'll most likely have two buttons or a drop-down volume list to control your volume. The same stands for quickly seeking into a song - with some Web-based clients, it's plain impossible, while it's supported by most (but not all) native clients.
As there are several factors to consider when decidin between the two types of architectures, it's up to you to decide which way to go. Because of the severe restrictions and, generally, lower speed of Web-based MMRC applications, I'd go with native ones, but YOUR decision is up to you.
Note that there are MMRC apps that belong to both categories; that is, they have both a Web-based client and a native one (I recommend the latter for the greatly enhanced speed). Now, the only example of this is the free, excellent Xlobby; this may change in the future.
1.5 What multimedia remote applications are there?
Note that this section is pretty short - it's in the Comparison Chart (and in the explanations it's followed by) that you find most information on all titles. In here, I only give a very short introduction (except for the hard-to-configure and two-mode Xlobby) and link in Windows Mobile-related user forums, articles and reviews that may be worth checking out for more information (in addition to the information contained in the Comparison Chart, that is). In addition to the app-specific thread links, I also recommend these comparisons and this thread.
Note that I don't give you ANY definite "pick" - that is, there is no "most recommended" MMRC application. While there are some very nice titles (1-2-Remote, NetRemote2, Salling Clicker, Xlobby, PPCTablet (if you also need the additional functionality and prefer an all-in-one app) etc.), you have to thoroughly compare the advantages and disadvantages of each application yourself, using my feature / comparison chart and make a decision based strictly on your particular needs. It's just not possible to answer the question "which one is the best" without knowing your needs; for example, whether you need lyrics support or not. There is no "best" application that would have all the features all the alternative MMRC apps have, unfortunately - you'll need to make compromises.
1.5.1 Salling Clicker 3.0.1
This title is pretty remarkable in that it not only allows for controlling Windows, but also Mac-based desktops. Also, it's one of the few titles to support PowerPoint and a number of other desktop-side multimedia players and is also scriptable.
More user reviews here; note that early versions did have problems with BT reactivation; with the current one, I haven't run into problems like these.
1.5.2 Xlobby build 08/01/2006
This title is a very widely known and, what is more, free (!) desktop-based multimedia control center. It has two remote client access modes: via the Web and via a native Windows Mobile client.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
(click HERE for a much larger, UXGA-resolution version of this)
I've written a short tutorial on how it needs to be configured because the tutorial coming with the program is far from perfect and you'd need to read a lot of threads in the official forum to find REAL answers to your Windows Mobile-related questions, even at just the setup / configuration phase. This way, I save you a lot of time and effort.
As has already been explained, this title is unique in that it has no less than two remote control modes: a Web server listening at port 8002 and a non-Web server at port 8000. These must be individually enabled when needed. To start the Web server, press F2 in the main program, select Xnet and then click Start Web Server. To start the non-Web server, click "Start Server" at the top
As has been pointed out, you'll want to prefer the non-web server access: this is the recommended way of communication because it's much faster than the browser-based one.
Starting and using the native PPC client (also see this thread):
\Program Files\xlobby\client\xlobby2sd.exe and servers.txt must be transferred to the PDA; the latter after editing: at least changing server address, which is 192.168.1.100 by default (note that it's, while similar to the pre-WM5 desktop ActiveSync IP address, 192.168.55.100, not exactly the same) to the real, current one.
Web-based access:
Password-protected, the default username is empty and the password is xlobby123. This information must be filled into the client-side Web browser like in here (a quick note: if you enter the wrong password or give a username, you'll be redirected to this funny page)
Note that the web server just returns 40…80 kbyte-long images (as an ISMAP map) during the communication; that is, no client-side processing takes place. This also means it'll run in even the worst, least capable browser (but still capable of image map handling). This also means the Web browser-based interface is exactly the same as that of the desktop - as is the case with the native Pocket PC client, which, essentially, also uses GUI images to communicate.
Other setup notes and hacks for Xlobby
Unfortunately, on my notebook, it crashed when I've tried to supply a music path to it, no matter what music I've tried to import (it had no problems with other kinds of multimedia stuff). Fortunately, simply editing \Program Files\xlobby\ databases\music.xml and changing <paths /> to
<paths>
<path>d:\path1</path>
<path>d:\ path2</path>
</paths>
worked just great as can be seen in this screenshot showing importing the music files from the path supplied this way. Note that you can supply any number of paths in here; in the above example, I've supplied two.
Also see this and this for a Pocket PC-related discussion. The (pretty good) forum of Xlobby is here; the generic subforum here and the documentation here.
1.5.3 PlayerPal 4.2 sr1
This is a strictly Web-based solution. While it's clearly better than the other, strictly Web-based title, SnowCrash, I don' really recommend it unless you REALLY need a web-based MMRC application for the reasons I've outlined in the Web-based vs. native client section. Also see this thread.
1.5.4 Proximis NetRemote2 2.00.00.86
This is a highly recommended, albeit really expensive all-in-one remote control suite. You will seriously want to consider the advantages and unique features of this title to find out whether you really need them or you can go with an, in general (there are exceptions in some areas like lyrics or remote playlist editing support!) less featureful, but also much cheaper alternatives.
First, it has an infrared remote controller built-in (reviewed in my infrared roundup), which is pretty powerful and good (albeit doesn't support two of the most widely used CPU types of today: that of TI (the HTC Wizard, P3300 etc.) and Samsung (HTC TyTN, P3600 / Trinity etc.)). What is more important, it supports remote controlling / scripting via Girder, probably the most important and widely supported remote control scripting solution for Windows. Note that it also has a barebone Web browser client built-in. It's really barebone though - I wouldn't pay a penny more just for this "feature".
If you do need an IR remote controller (again and again, it is NOT compatible with a lot of current Windows Mobile phones, unlike with some competing products!) and/or Girder support, give this title a definite try. Otherwise, if you are absolutely sure you won't ever need them, look for something cheaper (which, in cases, are far more feature- & powerful - see for example 1-2-Remote.)
Note that it's only lately that the Proximis folks have unified their, previously, three different, separate clients. This is why a lot of sources are still referring to a separate infrared / media controller in addition to the Girder one. Keep this in mind while Googling or checking the forums for more information.
More information & user opinions here, here and here. Official forums here and here; the latter with also WM-specific information. A comparatively old (2004) review can be found here.
1.5.5 Rudeo 1.5.13
This title was pretty famous and popular in the past; for example, it even won some Pocket PC & Smartphone Magazine Best Software Awards in its category. I'd say those times are well over: currently, there are far stronger alternatives on the scene. A desktop server screenshot here.
1.5.6 Zerama Remote 4.2.1
This title was also pretty famous in the past. I'd too say there are better alternatives out there now.
Note that this title requires the .NET framework 1.1; the dialog presented upon install takes you to the 2.0 download, which isn’t the right one. You must acquire the 1.1 framework from here instead.
1.5.7 Kiwisrus / CRPSoft Pocket Media Control 1.0 b42
If you're looking for a strictly free solution and you can live with the restrictions of this title, make sure you check it out.
Also see this and Akheron’s thread for more info / user opinions. Note that, as far as old links and sources are concerned, the original homepage is no longer accessible; web.archive.org has a mirror (with the online tutorials), but without downloads. freewareppc.com links this (non-anymore-working) download; pocketpcfreewares.com doesn’t have a copy. This means you'll need to use the above-linked PDAGold software archive for getting this title.
1.5.8 RemoteAmp 2.0
A pretty capable client - as long as you don't need WMP support.
Also see this thread and this 3.0 betatest announcement.
1.5.9 1-2-Remote by SFR Software 1.1.0
This title is one of my recommended picks because of its being snappy, nice-looking, supporting remote playlist editing and lyrics display.
There's a German language review here.
1.5.10 AwoX Media CTRL for Pocket PC 1.1
This is one of the titles I recommend the least because of its high price, restricted capabilities and, last but not least, the developer's not supporting it any more: the Media CTRL homepage of AwoX doesn’t list the PPC version anywhere and the last, 1.1 version was released in 2004.
Note that, should you REALLY want to buy it (I, again, don't recommend it!), you can get if for much cheaper at Expansys.
1.5.11 A&A Computer Services’ PPC Tablet Remote Control Suite 4.0
This is a pretty unique title in that it not only supports "plain" multimedia control, but also (pretty bad - see the already-linked Remote Desktop Control Bible) remote desktop control and support for many other desktop applications, in addition to using the PDA touchscreen as an input tablet / mouse for the desktop.
Unfortunately, as far as strictly multimedia control is concerned, it does have its share of problems (for example, the lack of seeking or any kind of local feedback); this is why I can't recommend it for strictly multimedia control, only if you do need its other capabilities and features (most importantly, the really unique tablet capabilities - again, its desktop controlling module is far from perfect.)
1.5.12 jaylee.org’s Bluetooth Remote Control for Windows Mobile 0.6.0
(Other screenshots: finding devices 1 2)
This free application is unique in that it relies on (strictly) native Bluetooth connections, with all its advantages and disadvantages. This means if both your Windows Mobile device and your desktop uses the Microsoft BT stack AND the restrictions of Bluetooth (for example, the limited range) aren't a problem, you may definitely want to give this title a try.
Note that \Program Files\ Orion\ Bluetooth Remote Control\ BTRemoteServer.exe must be manually started on the desktop in order to start the server.
1.5.13 Vinyl 1.0
This discontinued (the old homepage is no longer directly accessible (web.archive.org mirror available here)), free (it was made free in 2004) player may be a good choice for you if and only if you have a Windows Mobile device with an operating system prior to WM5. Unfortunately, it's not compliant with WM5 or WM6.
See THIS for a review.
1.5.14 SnowCrash 2.03
(a screenshot of running it in the desktop IE)
This free, Web-based title doesn't have much to write home about. I don't really recommend it.
Tips: Note that, in the docs, the "What Bugs Does Snowcrash Have?" section means the following:
"The roles.cfg file doesn't support * with access level of 1000": this means you MUST supply the full IP address of your client. When operated via BT / Wi-Fi P2P or ActiveSync, this will be the same all the time.
"Unable to display non-mp3 files" doesn't mean for example WMA files can't be played back with it (if they're already in a playlist) or shown by the player; it's just that, when you traverse the drives / directories of your desktop computer right from your client, you will only see MP3 files in a given directory, nothing else.
Also see this thread.
1.6 Not reviewed / disqualified MMRC apps
1.6.1 Tinytechnews' AirTunes! 2.0
(Note that this product should not to be mistaken for Apple's AirTunes. They are completely different products and have nothing to do with each other)
I've disqualified this product because
it's been abandoned back in 2002; it's only on Tucows that I could find it and there isn't absolutely any point in paying for it
it's plain buggy. For example,
if the server doesn't work on the desktop, the client will still stay in the "Loading list"
if you click Play when nothing selected (for example, before you download the title list), you get an index error (this is what I call sloppy programming!)
if you don't supply any media directory to the server running on the desktop, the client will still try to fetch stuff from there. Furthermore, you can only supply one directory to the server, unlike with almost all the other solutions, which require and / or allow for supplying media directories in the local file system.
it seems to have major compatibility issues. For example, it wouldn't work on my WM2003 iPAQ 2210 at all (execution refused with an eVB error). On my WM2003SE Pocket Loox 720, the situation was better; in there, it started but still wouldn't download anything off the server.
Otherwise, it has nothing to write home about either: for example, no TCP/IP multicast discovery, no native or serial BT support, no lyrics / album art / ID tag and, of course, no WMP support.
1.6.2 www.mcmajeres.com' Iremote
This project has been completely abandoned and the original title doesn't seem to be accessible anywhere.
1.6.3 Niveus Pocket Remote 2.0
This title is only compatible with Vista and Windows XP Media Center Edition; this is why I haven't tested it.
1.6.4 Total Input Elite Edition for Pocket PC Version 2.0.6
Doesn't support any MM players out of the box and there are no third-party scripts or plug-ins (unlike with, say, Girder or Xlobby). Furthermore, the project seems to be abandoned - the last update was released four years ago. Therefore, I've disqualified it too.
1.6.5 PuppetMaster
They have just started the development for Windows Mobile; maybe this is why this title simply didn't find my notebook computer from any of my test Pocket PC's.
2. Comparison / feature chart
As with most of my reviews, the bulk of the information, along with some 100 example screenshots of all apps, is in the comparison / feature chart (CLICK THE LINK!!). It's only using a tabular format that the existence (or lack) of a given feature can be quickly identified.
2.1 Explanation for the chart
Supported desktop-side MM players: what multimedia players (and, in cases, other apps like PowerPoint) it's capable of remote controlling.
VGA?: is it compatible with WM2003SE/WM5/WM6 VGA devices? Does it do (ugly) pixel doubling; if it does, can it be "hacked" to be more VGA-friendly?
Requirements?: additional libraries it requires (in most cases, Compact Framework on the Windows Mobile device and in several cases, .NET on the desktop).
Doc quality?: In here, I've elaborated on how useful the official documentation is. I've also linked them in if available online (and not only, say, part of the installation package or the installed application itself). Note that, in here, I haven't listed the quality of the online forum (otherwise, I would have given a much better mark to Xlobby.)
Connectivity group: this is where the real content begins. In this group, I've elaborated on how the given MMRC app connects to the desktop (TCP/IP or serial/native Bluetooth) and, if it uses TCP/IP, does it support passwords (to make it impossible for intruders coming from the external network) and multicast discovery (to make it far easier for Windows Mobile clients to find controllable desktop(s)).
Type: a quick summary of the connection type
If TPC/IP is supported, multicast discovery (incl. true WM5 AS connections, as opposed to (restricted) pre-WM5 ones)): see the above discussion of multicast discovery. Also note that it also works under WM5 / WM6 through plain ActiveSync connections (even over USB ) when operated in the default LAN mode, unlike under previous operating systems, where multicast discovery doesn't work and you must enter the IP address of the desktop PC, 192.168.55.100, into your Windows Mobile client. Please also read this article on the differences between the two networking approaches under WM5 / WM6 if not sure.
(Even remote) IP address w/o multicast discovery?: this is the opposite of multicast discovery: can you directly enter any IP address into the client?
WMP playlists group: WMP supports both manually created and automatic playlists. In this test, I've checked how the tested applications support this functionality.
Does it allow for local playlist creation / editing?: advanced MMRC apps allow for local playlist editing and even creation. This is a hugely useful feature when you prefer editing your playlists from, say, your bed. In here, I've elaborated on this feature, packed with screenshots to give a feel how it's done in practice.
Synchronizing the created / edited playlists back to the desktop?: if you do edit / create your playlists on your Windows Mobile device, you will also want to synchronize them back to your desktop so that they instantly become available for the desktop player too, and not only from the client. In here, I've listed whether automatic resynchronization works flawlessly.
Additional features / goodies group: in here, I've listed the album art, ID3 tags and lyrics support, searching capabilities and equalizer support.
Cover (album art) in the same directory / embedded in the file (if WMP hasn’t already extracted the thumbnail to become a directory-level one)? Does the latter, when supported, override the album-level one with it?:
Basically, there are two ways of storing album arts with a given song OR an album: either posting one art for all the songs in the same album (on the directory level) or embedding an image (or, for that matter, several of them) in the song file itself (see this official Microsoft tutorial explains how you can add album art to a given music title on the latter). Both have advantages and disadvantages and the players' ability to notice and render these images are wildly different, particularly on the Pocket PC.
In addition, some plays make it possible to consider the (alphabetically) first JPG file they run into in the same directory the album art in the same album.
In this test, I've tested whether these images are correctly rendered on the PDA (if at all).
MP3 ID3v1 / ID3v2 Tags?: is the player able to (locally!) display MP3 ID3v1 / ID3v2 tags? (Note that I haven't explicitly tested the ASF (WMA) ID compliance of the players because it's far less widely used than MP3 ID3.)
MP3/WMA tag lyrics support? If yes, synchronized lyrics? Note that WMP only supports tag-based lyrics, not file-based (.txt / .lrc) ones.: Most modern compressed music formats support inline lyrics storage, even at two languages.
Note that not even the latest (11) version of WMP support external LRC and TXT files and its synchronization features only allow for line-based lyrics synchronization, not word-based one (unlike advanced LRC-based lyrics). This means you in no way can achieve for example Karaoke-like effects: on Windows Mobile, you won’t get support for the latter, except for KarPocket and the LRC-compatible Lyrics Magic.
In this test, I've embedded some lyrics in an MP3 file, made sure it's correctly rendered my WMP and, then, tested the applications to see whether they also render them on the Windows Mobile client.
The Genre / Album / Artist etc.-based sorting of the WMP media library on client? If not taken from WMP, does it try to parse the sound file filenames / tags to find out more?: does it also use the Genre / Album / Artist-based sorting of WMP, or, does it discard it and/or try to invent it itself. The latter is a big plus with desktop players that do NOT support (implicit, automatic) Genre / Album / Artist-based sorting.
Video on the desktop PC?: a decent remote controller should be able to remote control video playback. This, unfortunately, isn't so evident as music playback as many players use plug-ins running hidden and, therefore, if you play back videos, they aren't necessarily shown. In this row, I've elaborated on these questions.
Searching for a given title?: a decent MMRC app should make it possible to run (even partial) searches for a given title. Unfortunately, very few of them allow for this.
Battery and desktop friendliness, possible problems and bottlenecks group: especially with clients that are, in cases, up and running for several hours, it's of extreme importance to have as low battery consumption as possible. In addition to selecting the best communication form (preferring Bluetooth to Wi-Fi whenever possible) to achieve this, it's also very important that you use a client that doesn’t use the CPU when it's not necessary.
Unfortunately, many clients scroll the title of the currently played song on the screen of the mobile device, which may result in excess CPU usage all the time, resulting in a heavily decreased battery life (assuming you, otherwise, use a battery-friendly way to communicate; for example, Bluetooth. If you use Wi-Fi, it'll account for the majority of the power consumption and, then, the CPU usage factor won't be that important. That is, the benchmark data given here should only act as a showstopper when deciding for a particular MMRC solution when you otherwise would have excellent battery life, and even 10% CPU usage makes an articulated difference).
In this group, I've examined mostly these questions. Note that with the titles sporting excess CPU usage because of (mostly) the title scrolling, I've also run CPU usage benchmarks when minimized or when switched to dialogs where the scrolling wasn't visible. With titles that, in this case, get rid of the CPU cycle-consuming scrolling algorithm, it may be worth considering always switching to these (mostly setup) dialogs or minimizing the application when it's not strictly needed to achieve (also depending on some other factors; most importantly whether you use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) substantially better results.
I've also paid special attention to the desktop-side server component to see how much memory it consumes and how much CPU time it uses. As you'll see, there are some desktop server components that "go rogue" and consume even hundreds of Megabytes of meagre RAM!
Built-in screen off; if not, is it compatible with system-level button-assigned or Start menu-based tools?: while switching off the screen, unfortunately, has (in most cases) nothing to do with the CPU usage of a given application (that is, an application that has excess CPU usage because it, say, constantly scrolls the title of the song on the local mobile screen won't stop chewing through the battery if you, in some way, power down the screen), it's still nice to know whether it's possible to do this at all with either some kind of a built-in screenoff functionality or a system-level one with, say, assigned to a hardware button. This way, you can also extend the battery life.
Can the PPC (and, therefore, the connection) be suspended while remote controlling?: if you know you surely won't need to control your desktop equipment for some time, can you safely suspend, and, then, later resume your handheld device - that is, can the MMRC app just "pick up" work where you've left it at? Fortunately, all of them can. That is, the playback of the "Now playing" list will not be stopped when you power down your Windows Mobile device.
Desktop-side RAM / CPU usage: while inactive? (If CPU usage isn't explicitly stated, then, it's always very close to 0%) and while active?: as has already been explained, all these MMRC's (except for only one of them, SnowCrash, which is a WinAmp plug-in and not a separate process) run as a separate process. In here, I've checked the memory and the CPU usage of this process while both inactive (there are no connected clients) and active (an active MM control session is in progress). As can clearly be seen, while the CPU usage is negligible with all titles, some expose VERY high memory usage. This may be an issue particularly on memory-constrained desktop computers (mostly notebooks).
Does a huge number of desktop-side songs cause problems?: Some non-optimized MMRC apps may, in cases, cause severe lockups when, say, trying to send a list of 5000 titles to a Pocket PC client. This may be caused by the Web browsers' inability to render larger HTML pages (older versions of Pocket Internet Explorer slow down at documents exceeding 200-300 kbytes (and crash at 400-500 kbytes) even when there are plenty of dynamic RAM memory available) or just the slowness of the engine itself. Fortunately, it's only SnowCrash that suffers from this problem, and only with the default skin. (You MUST change it to a PDA-optimized one - see the mini-tutorial in the "OS compliance" row!)
Controls group: here, I've elaborated on what remote control functionality is supported as far as basic functionalities (stop / start / next / previous and pause buttons and volume sliders / setting capabilities) are concerned (see Basic functionality (stop / start / next / previous / pause / volume)); whether you can freely seek in a song or not (see Freely seeking in a song?) and whether any hardware buttons (including the D-pad) can be utilized on your Windows Mobile device for even faster and/or "blind" access for the most common functions (Any PPC hardware buttons used in addition to D-pad? Is the D-pad utilized?).
Verdict group: this speaks for itself. In here, you get a full list of the most important pros / cons of each and every application and, finally, a some-sentence evaluation. Make sure you check out at least these three rows, if not the full chart!
3. Generic streaming questions
You may also want to know how you can encode and stream something to your PDA, assuming you don't want / can't access network shares to play the files directly on your handheld device, which isn't at all impossible (on the contrary - accessing shared files will work just great over any local TCP/IP network; for example, BT PAN or Wi-Fi, both p2p and not. It's, in general, only with remote (non-local) access that you will be interested in real streaming capabilities -or, with wildly incompatible or non-streamable (for example, some video) formats). Therefore, you will only want to read the rest of this short section if you want to know how streaming can be accomplished.
None of the titles have built-in streaming capabilities; not that it'd be of any problem because there're specialized tools to do the job. Of them, I recommend two free tools: Windows Media Encoder and SlimServer. (Note that there are several other, mostly SHOUTcast-like tools; the usage of most of them are like that of WME. Therefore, in here, I don't elaborate on them - if you understand how WME works with any desktop-side, remote controlled, media player, you will be able to stream using any other tool.)
3.1 Windows Media Encoder
(or any SHOUTcast-alike implementation) will work together with any MMRC application pretty well, based on the fact that you can directly control WHAT song is played back on your desktop with any MMRC app, while the additional streaming software just blindly transfers the currently played track over the wired / wireless connection to your PDA. WME is, streaming-wise, fully compatible with the built-in Pocket Windows Media Player; SHOUTcast-compatible desktop-side encoders, on the other hand, with third-party MP3 streaming / SHOUTcast-compatible clients like GSPlayer.
3.2 SlimServer 6.5.1 by Slim Devices (now: Logitech)
(the same on the desktop PC)
This, otherwise, excellent and very capable title (it fulfills almost every requirements: supports lyrics, album art etc., albeit, as with all the other Web-based clients, it lacks random file seeking support) is strictly for SHOUTcast-compliant streaming with iTunes playlist / database support, not for desktop-side playback remote control. As it uses SHOUTcast to broadcast media, it can prove much more useful to you.
Note that while the Web interface (it's fully Web-ized) promises to have a handheld-optimized version, the "optimized" version, in practice, doesn't differ much from the original version - it still uses frames. Fortunately, the frames can be dynamically resized any time.
Also see this thread on this question.
Comments, feedback, questions, flames are welcome, as usual!
(Cross-posted to: PPCT, MobilitySite, AximSite, BrightHand, FirstLoox, HowardForums, XDA-Dev.
Excellent article as usual Menneisys. Even though I knew about most of these, it was quite refreshing to see them reviewed again.
On another note, is there any PPC app that can basically do 2 things via a Non-Web Interface
1) Search a Remote Computer
2) Browse using a Remote File System (Like the PPC Tablet)
and show hidden and system files and also resort files and folders to display the folders at the top of the list?
valuable information! but you forgot one important thing - memory and CPU usage on the PPC! I don't care at all on my desktop with 3Ghz CPU, 4GB RAM and 500GB HD, but on my PPC with 0.016 times the RAM and 0.00025 times the "HD" size and a CPU slower than the keyboard controller of my desktop...
DoctorT said:
valuable information! but you forgot one important thing - memory and CPU usage on the PPC! I don't care at all on my desktop with 3Ghz CPU, 4GB RAM and 500GB HD, but on my PPC with 0.016 times the RAM and 0.00025 times the "HD" size and a CPU slower than the keyboard controller of my desktop...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See "CPU usage on client while active" - it "only" lists the CPU usage in %, which is, IMHO, the most important when you run an app in the foreground for, in times, several hours. (This is why I haven't measured the memory usage - I haven't ever run into "shortage of memory" situations on my test devices.)
UPDATE (03/08/2007):
there is a new, beta version of 0.7.0 of the jaylee.org’s Bluetooth Remote Control for Windows Mobile. It, for example, now supports the desktop-side Widcomm BT stack, which is GREAT news!
AirTunes! has turned out to be still supported and having a Web page at http://www.airtunessoftware.com . I'm still awaiting answer to my questions from the developers (if you are one of them, please make sure you read them either in your Webmail mailbox or on my blog as comments); as soon as I get the new version working (so far, I haven't managed to on neither of my desktop PC's), I post a revised review.
Nice summary! But I miss Pebbles.
The software for Windows Mobile has two program files: RemoteCommander and Shortcutter.
While the software isn't very graphically advanced, it allows for a number of interesting control objects: in Shortcutter you can create sliders, rotary buttons, a gesture pad and even a mouse pad.
There is however no interactivity (it only sends keys/commands, it doesn't display information) with the application.
But if all you need is a (free) simple remote control, it really is worth checking out.
Jörg
remoteamp was updated and is now called signal. I've tried all the apps on your list except netremote and signal is by far my favorite. Now it does have WMP support. connects quickly, no wait time for it to sync a database, fast response, etc. I pretty much use it as a remote control now. ONly wish it could do video.
Very interesting and very nicely done write up.
Has a write up ever been done for WM friendly Media Servers, such as ORB? Currently using ORB, was just wondering if there is anything else out there worth looking at.
Having both Remote Media Controller and Media Server services running gives one total control over both the equipment and the digital assets of a HTPC setup from any where
I used logmein without problem for years with Verizon. With AT&T however, I keep getting an error stating Mismatched IP Address. Anyone have a solution?
Nice guide! Thanks!
The one I am most interested in is actually Niveus as it gives a much "integrated" feel, and I don't use any app other than MCE on my HTPC anyway.
Shame it is not suitable for this guide, but have you at least tried it? Any opionion on Niveus?
Thanks.
good review, av tried all the bluetooth ones with no luck, somehow they just cant connect although my fone and ppc are al paired..
can anyone point me on how i can use the wifi one, as in how do u setup.
i have a router in my house from which i can connect to the internet, we dont any network in the house. so how can i setup my PC to connect with PPC so that i can use the remote control.
shyboy said:
good review, av tried all the bluetooth ones with no luck, somehow they just cant connect although my fone and ppc are al paired..
can anyone point me on how i can use the wifi one, as in how do u setup.
i have a router in my house from which i can connect to the internet, we dont any network in the house. so how can i setup my PC to connect with PPC so that i can use the remote control.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your handset see your desktop via Wi-Fi - for example, a Web or an FTP server? Can you ping it?
i can only connect to the internet..is there any 'special' procedure to see my desktop?
An update from me: Pebbles will probably go open source, please take one minute to check out this thread. Then we could build our own remote according to our needs:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4782671
Have you ever wanted to listen to radio stations on the Net? With
the advent of the pre-3G technology EDGE, which, with most network operators, is sufficient for listening to most (if not all) radio stations on the Net (let alone 3G, of course),
the proliferation of unlimited data contracts
and, last but in no way least, the really revolutionary, bandwidth-saving, "high-quality stereo even over slow GPRS connections" AAC+ (also known as HE-AAC, aacPlus etc.) streams becoming common,
they have become accessible to almost everyone with a connected mobile device (for example, a mobile phone) on both the Windows Mobile and the Symbian platform. (Note that the final version of the article / chart will also have extensive info on the seriously enhanced Pocket Tunes 4.0 on the Palm OS – that is, it’ll cover no less than THREE mobile operating systems!)
In my forthcoming article, I discuss for example the following questions:
What radio stations there are?
How you can access them?
What should you pay attention to, depending on whether you’re on an unlimited contact, and/or super-slow GPRS connections?
Which radio client to choose, depending on your needs?
Note that I still haven’t decided whether I should publish the Multimedia Streaming Bible as a separate entity, or, part of my (even larger) Multimedia Bible. There are both pros and cons in both approaches:
Pros:
I can publish it in the next one or two days – you don’t need to wait some 1-2 additional weeks for the Bible to be, finally, published
Separating these pretty disjunctive subjects greatly help in reducing the size of the Multimedia Bible. This would be pretty much welcome as it’s going to be BIG. Very big.
Cons:
It’ll miss a lot of information I’ll only give you in the “big” Multimedia Bible like equalizer support, hardware button support, alarm / sleep shutdown functionality, screen dimming etc. That is, the Streaming Bible will only contain information strictly related to audio streaming and will not contain other info, which may make it easier to choose from the given apps. (This missing info, however, WILL be present in the final Multimedia Bible – sometimes later.)
And yes, before I forget about it: HERE’S THE CHART. Do check it out, do comment it, do send me flames and/or greetings. And, do enjoy the information not readily available anywhere else - for example, many people have been hunting for an AAC+-capable player for ages (see for example THIS). Yes, noone has actually published a tutorial on what players are able to play these streams.
It contains both protocol compliance reports, battery life-related remarks (with Windows Mobile, in CPU usage percentage; with Symbian, in Watts) and some other goodies like whether they’re able to record the radio stream.
Again and again, as has already been pointed out above, the chart mostly contains strictly (audio) streaming-related info. That is, I haven’t for example elaborated on stuff that I’ll discuss in the final Multimedia Bible. Subjects like these are equalizers, button handling, AVRCP compliance etc. I’ve mentioned SOME of these in the Pros / Cons rows at the bottom but, except for the links, the price and the MOST important compatibility information (for example, Mundu Radio’s not really supporting (W)VGA Pocket PC’s). These questions will ALL be covered in the chart targeted at the wider audience (not only those that want a radio client).
Also note that I don’t discuss Orb and the like in here; they’ll only be elaborated on in the final Multimedia Bible. The same stands for video streaming, LAN access and UPnP. With this Bible, my “only” aim is to give you a complete picture of listening to the already existing, remote radio stations on the Net.
Added the just-released Kinoma Play 1.0 and Spb Online 1.0 to the chart. See my Spb Online review for more info.
Have you ever wanted to listen to radio stations on the Net? With
the advent of the pre-3G technology EDGE, which, with most network operators, is sufficient for listening to most (if not all) radio stations on the Net (let alone 3G, of course),
the proliferation of unlimited data contracts
and, last but in no way least, the really revolutionary, bandwidth-saving, "high-quality stereo even over slow GPRS connections" AAC+ (also known as HE-AAC, aacPlus etc.) streams becoming common,
they have become accessible to almost everyone with a connected mobile device (for example, a mobile phone) on both the Windows Mobile and the Symbian platform. (Note that the final version of the article / chart will also have extensive info on the seriously enhanced Pocket Tunes 4.0 on the Palm OS – that is, it’ll cover no less than THREE mobile operating systems!)
In my forthcoming article, I discuss for example the following questions:
What radio stations there are?
How you can access them?
What should you pay attention to, depending on whether you’re on an unlimited contact, and/or super-slow GPRS connections?
Which radio client to choose, depending on your needs?
Note that I still haven’t decided whether I should publish the Multimedia Streaming Bible as a separate entity, or, part of my (even larger) Multimedia Bible. There are both pros and cons in both approaches:
Pros:
I can publish it in the next one or two days – you don’t need to wait some 1-2 additional weeks for the Bible to be, finally, published
Separating these pretty disjunctive subjects greatly help in reducing the size of the Multimedia Bible. This would be pretty much welcome as it’s going to be BIG. Very big.
Cons:
It’ll miss a lot of information I’ll only give you in the “big” Multimedia Bible like equalizer support, hardware button support, alarm / sleep shutdown functionality, screen dimming etc. That is, the Streaming Bible will only contain information strictly related to audio streaming and will not contain other info, which may make it easier to choose from the given apps. (This missing info, however, WILL be present in the final Multimedia Bible – sometimes later.)
And yes, before I forget about it: HERE’S THE CHART. Do check it out, do comment it, do send me flames and/or greetings. And, do enjoy the information not readily available anywhere else - for example, many people have been hunting for an AAC+-capable player for ages (see for example THIS). Yes, noone has actually published a tutorial on what players are able to play these streams.
It contains both protocol compliance reports, battery life-related remarks (with Windows Mobile, in CPU usage percentage; with Symbian, in Watts) and some other goodies like whether they’re able to record the radio stream.
Again and again, as has already been pointed out above, the chart mostly contains strictly (audio) streaming-related info. That is, I haven’t for example elaborated on stuff that I’ll discuss in the final Multimedia Bible. Subjects like these are equalizers, button handling, AVRCP compliance etc. I’ve mentioned SOME of these in the Pros / Cons rows at the bottom but, except for the links, the price and the MOST important compatibility information (for example, Mundu Radio’s not really supporting (W)VGA Pocket PC’s). These questions will ALL be covered in the chart targeted at the wider audience (not only those that want a radio client).
Also note that I don’t discuss Orb and the like in here; they’ll only be elaborated on in the final Multimedia Bible. The same stands for video streaming, LAN access and UPnP. With this Bible, my “only” aim is to give you a complete picture of listening to the already existing, remote radio stations on the Net.
As many of you already know, the long-awaited, high-end, albeit “disconnected” HP iPAQ 21x series is out - currently, the only (standalone) PDA to have a 4", good-quality (if they use the same, excellent screen as in the predecessor, the hx4700 – that is, not a cr*ppy one, heavily suffering from severe polarization issues like the one in the Dell Axim x50v/x51v) VGA screen – at a pretty nice price point, compared to the high-end PDA phones of, say, HTC.
Some (not all – see for example THIS) of the initial discussions talked about the new, high-end, 210-series being based on the PXA320 CPU, the best of the new, Marvel PXA3x0 series. This is why I really was looking forward to this device - after all, it would have been the very first VGA device to sport a PXA320.
Currently, there is only one Windows Mobile model out there with the PXA320, the LG KC1, but it's just an, in my opinion, pretty much mediocre QVGA phone - really nothing to write home about (no 4” VGA and it’s Korean and WM5-only – and I don’t know of “hacked”, “cooked” ROM’s making it English – albeit I haven’t searched XDA-Devs for more info), except for the high (806 MHz) CPU clock, which can come VERY handy when running for example emulators like Masterall's excellent FinalBurn, the various SNES or GBA emulators or Mplayer playing back HTTP RealAudio streams, all requiring as much processing power as possible.
Using the new PXA320 instead of the 310 would have been a decent decision. Not only because of the higher CPU clock (and, therefore, the higher maximal speed) and other goodies like the large(r) cache, but also because of the seemingly superior video decoding capabilities, which help a lot with decoding for example full (not just “plain” 640-wide VGA), that is, PAL/NTSC-resolution (720 pixels wide) H.264 videos (please consult the just-linked H.264 Bible if you don’t but would like to understand this paragraph). Incidentally, the H.264 PXA320 is so powerful that it’s even rumored to be able to decode 720p (that is, 1280*720) H.264 videos on even an underpowered Pocket PC (!!) without problems. Quite a feat, isn’t it? Not that there would be any point in watching 1280*720 videos on a 640*480 (or, at most, 800*480) screen – let alone the huge storage requirements of these x264 files, which, in many cases, exceed the file size capabilities (4096 Mbytes at most) of the FAT32 file system used on current cards (because, initially, they were designed for NTFS or other file systems capable of much bigger files).
However, HP’s decision for going with the clearly worse 310 is pretty much understandable (considering the price difference between the two CPU’s) and acceptable – as long as you resize & reconvert your H.264 videos to be no wider than 640 pixels. Then, assuming CorePlayer (the premium video player for all major mobile platforms) indeed, as is promised HERE, receives support for WMMX in version 1.2, you’ll see a dramatic increase in decoding efficiency of at least inferior video formats like MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 Part 2 (a.k.a. DivX / Xvid; not to be mistaken for the much more advanced H.264 / AVC!). This subject, by the way, is also thoroughly discussed HERE – I really recommend sonichedgehog360’s posts in there.
Note that, currently, the CorePlayer folks only promise WMMX support (which, again, doesn’t help with decoding H.264). That is, no hardware H.264 decoding support has been announced. They have stated they will announce if and, if it’s possible at all, when this kind of support is added to CorePlayer after the release of CorePlayer 1.2. This means don’t run out to purchase the new iPAQ if you’re a H.264 buff: CorePlayer may not receive H.264 hardware decoding support at all.
Of course, even if no H.264 hardware decoding support is added to CorePlayer, the new CPU platform is still vastly superior to the old, PXA270 platform. Just take a look at THIS and THIS (the PXA310 and PXA320 specs, respectively). Note that some of the online comparisons are plain useless. For example, the PXA310 quick summary HERE doesn’t even mention WMMX2 or H.264 hardware acceleration support (as opposed to the PXA320 quick summary HERE). The above-linked PDF files, on the other hand, contain much more dependable information.
Otherwise, the device is pretty nice and the fact that it is no longer based on a touchpad (as opposed to the predecessor, the hx4700) makes it much more usable in everyday situations (for example, gaming, e-book reading or Web browsing using the D-pad). It also sports USB host capabilities, which, unfortunately, is a very-very rare feature among current Windows Mobile models and was REALLY useful on the Fujitsu-Siemens (RIP!) Pocket Loox series (for example, the most versatilye WM2003SE device ever, the Loox 720) and some other models like the Toshiba e750+ - and some current ones like the (otherwise, isn’t that nice) Toshiba G900.
I plan to publish the further installments of my Multimedia-related Bible series (of which I've already published several chapters of) only after 02/21 - that is, after the impending release of CorePlayer 1.2 (only the Windows Mobile version, unfortunately - that is, the Symbian / Palm versions will only be released later. See for example THIS for more info on the release date of the Symbian version). Version 1.2 promises a lot of great goodies: UPnP support, RTSP support etc. I’ve chosen not to publish the final Bible before the release so that it doesn’t get outdated in the very near future.
I’ve, in the meantime, purchased a BlackBerry 8800. This also means I’ll start working on the long-promised Push Mail Bible really soon, paying special attention to accessing BlackBerry servers from Windows Mobile and explaining the difference between BlackBerry and Microsoft Exchange, the advantages and disadvantages of both approach with a lot of never-before-published, real-life tricks and benchmark results.
Also, in my future Bibles, I’ll also elaborate on the differences between the BlackBerry (BB ) OS and Windows Mobile – as I’ve done with Symbian S60 in the last few weeks. This will be especially useful for both new WM users coming from BB and both WM software developers and Microsoft itself – just like with my WM vs. Symbian S60 comparisons.
Note that, in order NOT to completely mess up my all-in-one Bibles with the constant references to, currently, three mobile operating systems, I’ll use different text colors when referring to non-Windows Mobile operating systems. That is, if you have only had Windows Mobile devices and don’t want to know how a particular feature differs from, say, Symbian or BB, you will easily know what sentences / paragraphs / charts / columns in charts you can safely skip.
Note that, in the future, I also plan to add
- Apple iPhone – as soon as third-party apps (like CorePlayer, which is being ported to iPhone and already has a working (!), already MPEG4 Part 2 (DivX) video playback-capable prototype – see THIS, THIS and THIS for, for example, YouTube demo videos) become common on it and/or
- Android if and when it gets more support and/or
- (at least) Nokia’s Linux implementation when and if they release the rumored successor to their current, flagship Internet Tablet N810, which MAY contain a built-in phone unit. This, incidentally, will also allow for discussing Linux running on the, unfortunately, discontinued Sharp Zaurus line, of which I have the SL-C860 – a truly excellent, clamshell, VGA device with unparalleled screen quality. Yes, I’ve long been promising articles on Zaurii; now, with the advent of Nokia’s Linux platform on their Internet Tablets, I may indeed start paying attention / devoting articles / comparisons to the old, but still popular Zaurus platform along with the new Nokias.
With references to so many mobile operating systems, the new, colorized text will be a life-saver for people only interested in one (or some) of the covered OS’es. And, a gold-mine for multi-platform geeks & gadget freaks like me
There has long been a new and, on the protocol level, vastly improved, 6.x version of I’m InTouch, one of the best remote desktop and, particularly, PIM info / mail access tool for Windows Mobile. I’ve already made the tests & comparison to the previous version reviewed in the Remote Desktop Access Bible; as soon as the developers review / comment on the draft of my article, I publish it.
Bitbank Software have released the brand new, 4.0 version of their, for long-time Windows Mobile users, known VirtualCE PDA controller. I post a detailed review & comparison to SOTI’s highly recommended Pocket Controller and My Mobiler as soon as I get feedback from the Bitbank folks on my preliminary comparison & feature chart I’ve sent them. Speaking of My Mobiler, it has received a very decent upgrade – much more bugfree and has a lot of nice features – since I’ve reviewed it and, now, is pretty much recommended if you don’t mind the somewhat lower speed, particularly with VGA devices.
If you speak Finnish and follow one of the best, multiplatform Finnish mobility-related blogs (that of Tero Lehto), you may have already heard of Strategy Analytics Inc.’s 5-Star Safari Leads Mobile Browsing Experience. The results of the study have resulted in a heated discussion (and a lot of flames) in the Finnish blogosphere. I’ll also publish an article on this issue as soon as the author, Paul Brown, answers my last two mails asking for more thorough information on how the tests have been conducted, why Opera Mini was completely neglected and whether the testers were aware of the keyboard shortcuts of Opera Mobile. The latter is key to using Opera Mobile as effectively as possible – no wonder I’ve always, in all my Opera Mobile-related articles, strongly emphasized to learn its default button shortcuts – or redefine / reassign them if you’d like so. (The same stands for Opera Mini, by the way. If you do learn the button shortcuts, it’ll become the fastest-to-operate browser.)
I, along with the linked-to Finnish blog, feel Internet Explorer Mobile (IEM) certainly doesn’t deserve the excellent (second) place, which is far better than that of both Opera Mobile and Nokia’s Web (Browser) in S60v3 FP1. The latter two browsers are without doubt FAR superior, in most respects, to IEM – if you learn to master their controls and shortcuts, that is. It’s the latter that I certainly lack from the users’ report in the Strategy Analytics Inc. report / summary. That is, it seems they didn't really try to learn to master all these shortcuts; instead, they used the menu system to access, for example, the favorites, go back to the previous page or enter a URL. In these respects, IEM is indeed easier to use (requires less screen taps / button presses) than both Opera Mobile and Nokia Web. However, if you do master the, on the Internet (for example, in my MS Smartphone Web Browsing Bible - see the related chart HERE, covering IEM and the two Operas on devices with a built-in dialpad), well-explained button shortcuts, the situation will be radically reversed and Opera Mobile / Nokia Web both become easier & faster-to-use than IEM. (The same stands for the non-reviewed/compared Opera Mini, of course.)
I also find that the lack of Opera Mini – currently, probably the most popular Web Browser even on Windows Mobile; see for example the latest voting results HERE, which also emphasize this – makes this report conveying pretty much questionable results. Finally, I also miss Netfront and, to a lesser degree, Thunderhawk and Picsel on Windows Mobile (and, the latter, on Palm OS as well). While, personally, I don’t particularly prefer these browsers (Opera Mini is far faster and more usable, particularly on a device with a dedicated dialpad – that is, a Blackberry, a Symbian phone, a MS Smartphone or one of the very few Pocket PC’s – for example, the Asus P525 and the LG KC1 – with a dialpad on the front), they still have a lot of fans.
As far as games are concerned released / announced since my previous all-in-one news post, Amiga Inc.’s Invasion is definitely worth mentioning, which has received a trial version available for download HERE. Note that, should you want to purchase the game, do it on Amiga Inc.’s own page, in there, the title only costs $5.99 – as opposed to the twice more expensive Clickgamer.
It’s the best and most enjoyable Space Invaders clone I’ve ever seen on Windows Mobile (see THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS for the alternatives) – for the price, a definite keeper. Its strengths are mostly the stylus-based control; the fact that you can also go upwards (should you want to kill your enemies faster – remember, your fire rate is restricted, as you can only have two missiles on the screen at the same time), the excellent animation, good sound effects and the in-menu, tracked, stereo, “scener” music (no in-game music, unfortunately).
Unfortunately, it isn’t compatible with pre-WM5 operating systems. Note that it’s one of the very few titles to support 240*240 square-screen phones.
Also note that, while the official homepage (or ClickGamer) doesn’t mention it with a word, it’s also compatible with the MS Smartphone platform: both QVGA and 176*220 devices (I’ve tested it on both my HTC Vox / s710 and Oxygen / s310). It runs flawlessly even on slow, non-overclocked TI OMAP CPU’s.
All in all, make sure you give it a try. Again, download the demo from ClickGamer, but purchase the game itself from the developer’s homepage to save some money!
Another gaming news: the new, in addition to the venerable and no-longer-developed Pocket Humanity, Civilization-alike, Revival (see the links to (p)reviews HERE), has still not been released. It’s promised to be released today, after some last-minute bugfixes. Hope they indeed manage to achieve this.
Emulation news: Masterall has released a preview of the brand new, 0.12 version of his EXCELLENT FinalBurn, by far the best (advanced 2D) arcade gaming console emulator. Make sure you give it a try – and provide feedback in the original thread. (And, if you don’t know the excellent games Finalburn is able to run, do check out the Arcade Emulation Bible!)
Are you coming to the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona? Then, we can even meet I’ll be there with my brand new, shiny Canon PowerShot SD950 IS (but will also take my Nokia N95 with me as another “video camera”) and posting long-long reports on the latest gadgets of the mobile worlds (mostly Windows Mobile, but, given that I’m really interested in other operating systems as well, I also plan to report on at least Symbian and BlackBerry). Yeah, be prepared for a LOT of news. (Megathanks for Hal Goldstein at Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag for the financial help; without him, I couldn't really attend the conference.)
A short offtopic thought (on high-end point&shoot digicameras): some time ago, I’ve stated I’d go for the SD870 IS mostly because of the wide lens and the excellent DP review. However, after reading through a lot of user opinions and direct comparisons of the two devices, I’ve realized the Canon folks still haven’t managed to produce a lens with flawless wide-angle. While some other manufacturers like Fuji and Panasonic have managed to produce a lens with better wide-angle; however, their Finepix S8000fd and TZ3 are suffering from some severe problems (for example, the, with Pana, ever-present, huge noise); so, I didn’t see the point in going for them. And, for portability / pocketabilty reasons (and the fear for the mechanical mirror’s getting worn out much faster than with a non-DSLR camera – I tend to take hundreds of photos a day, meaning several tens of thousands of photos a year, so, it’s a concern for me), I didn’t want to go with the, otherwise, tempting and great Oly E-510 either.
So far, I'm pretty much impressed with the camera. The 12 Mpixel CCD is definitely an overkill in a P&S camera with such a small lens system (it's the optics that puts a physical threshold on the maximal resolution, it seems) but is certainly a big step ahead of my old HP R717.
UPDATE (01/25/2008): PG frontpage
The WM version of CorePlayer 1.1.3, now, with the above-mentioned WMMX optimizations in place, has just been released.
It, among other things, has FULL HTC Kaiser / AT&T Tilt support (and support for all Qualcomm 7200-based Windows Mobile devices, for that matter - see for example THIS for more info on this issue). See for example THIS thread for more info on the Kaiser / Tilt opinions.
Note that it has a lot of other goodies as well; however, some of the advanced (mostly networking: UPnP, RTSP etc.) stuff is still missing. See THIS for more info on this - what the new version contains (of 1.2) and what it doesn't.
Well done, CoreCodec (Now, I only hope you'll release the Symbian version of 1.2 as well - or, at least, an interim, bugfix version just like 1.1.3 for WM...)
UPDATE (02/01/2008):
I, after more than a week’s waiting, still haven’t received any feedback from the Strategy Analytics Inc. folks regarding the lack of Opera Mini in their 5-Star Safari Leads Mobile Browsing Experience, which, in many Windows Mobile users’ (including me) opinion, is the most useful / quickest Web browser for the Windows Mobile platform. And, for other mobile platforms too – on my Symbian Nokia N95 and BlackBerry 8800, I almost exclusively use this browser to access the Web. Not including it in the test makes the entire report pretty hard to depend on – it’s like completely ignoring, for example, Ferrari (a top-performing car) when evaluating the cars of Formula-1.
And, of course, I’ve already elaborated on the bad ranking of Nokia Web (running on Symbian S60 3rd edition devices – that is, NOT on Windows Mobile) and, particularly, Opera Mobile (running on all major mobile platforms). Again and again, if you do learn the dialpad shortcuts and/or, with Opera Mobile running on a dialpad-less Pocket PC, use a third-party tool to assign its key functionalities (accessing favorites, current tabs, back etc.) to Pocket PC hardware buttons, they both become quicker and easier to operate than Internet Explorer. It’s clearly at this point (in addition to the lack of Opera Mini) that Strategy Analytics Inc.’s report severely lacks – it’s evident the test folks didn’t really make an attempt at learning the dialpad shortcuts / configure Opera Mobile for easy and much quicker access / use.
UPDATE (02/01/2008):
As far as running Invasion on MS Smartphones is concerned, you can’t use any of the dialpad buttons for firing (or controlling the ship). This makes the game pretty hard as you will need, in addition to pressing the Action button to keep firing, use the D-pad to control the ship. On Pocket PC’s, this isn’t an issue because, there, you can use the touchscreen for the latter. (Unless you have a 2.8”, non-Intel Xscale-based HTC phone – that is, almost all of their 2.8” WM5 and WM6 phones, including, for example, the Trinity, the Kaiser and the Wizard. Then, the well-known touschreen CPU usage bug will make the game pretty slow. Unfortunately, the HTC folks don’t seem to be bothered about the bug – I’ve been reporting it for two years to them but, so far, they haven’t fixed it.)
Listening to or watching podcasts is great fun. If you think they are boring, meaningless or can’t entertain you during, say, a long fight, you’re wrong. For example, watching all the clips of X-Play, played back on my VGA HP iPAQ 214 (thanks to Smartphone & PPCMag / iPhone Life’s Hal Goldstein for the gift!) could entertain me for long-long hours. (Sure, I’m not of a big 3D FPS gamer on desktop PC’s – I only play text adventures like those of Legend Entertainment and RTS games like Starcraft –; still, I did enjoy witty episodes like Cheating Unleashed: Darth Vader Tryst or Final Fantasy Date).
And, if you’re more of a traditional news viewer / consumer, you’ll definitely prefer automated podcast downloading to hunting for the same video / audio clips on the web. Just a real-world example: Before finding out the Tagesschau (the German news program we usually watch at home in addition to the Finnish YLE programs) podcast feeds, I always had to navigate to HERE (preferably after 9PM and before midnight each day so that I can catch the main evening news program at 8PM) and click the 20:00 link to initiate playback. Then, still two clicks: to start the streaming and to maximize the player screen after the video playback has started. All in all, a lot of clicks and waiting in between – not to take into account you can’t access the programs of the previous day(s).
Diametrically opposed to the awkwardness of all the above, just subscribing to the Tagesschau podcast feed (with downloading the video podcasts (files), the so-called “enclosures“, to the local PC or Windows Mobile, Symbian or BlackBerry handset / smartphone) makes sure you’ll always have access to the main, longest (the one at 20:00) programs – and instantly. That is, you don’t have to (slowly) traverse Web pages, wait some seconds for the video streaming to start to be able to make the player fullscreen – if you are always in a podcaster program (on either a desktop PC or any of the smartphone operating systems), in general, (at least in a well-designed podcaster app like NewsBreak) a single screen tap starts the instant playback.
The same stands for, for example, the MoDaCo (Windows Mobile), All About Symbian (Symbian) or CrackBerry (BlackBerry) podcasts. If you don’t use automatized podcatcher apps to gather these podcasts and make them available offline on your handset (for mobile access; of course, you can also store it on your desktop PC, but the major focus in this article is on fully-mobile podcast/catching), then, you end up, on your desktop PC, having to do a lot of hunting, right-clicking, saving to your hard disk and manual transferring to the storage cards. There, you’ll still need to make sure your mobile media player is able to play these podcasts; this may also require a lot of additional work like starting a library refresh (see dedicated bible HERE) and waiting for it to complete. In cases, this may turn out to be just too slow and time-consuming.
Side note: Difference between podcasters and podcatchers
What’s the difference between podcaster and podcatcher applications, you may ask. The much simpler podcaster apps can only stream (play back) podcasts, but can’t save them to the file system and, consequently, don’t have any kind of scheduling, cleanup or storage usage restriction capabilities. They, nevertheless, allow for subscribing to feeds, which makes it possible to avoid having to enter their Internet address every time.
More advanced ones (in our case, Pocket Player, as opposed to the, as of the current, 1.2.5 version, simpler CorePlayer) even allow for marking podcasts that have already been listened to “read” so that the user won’t listen to them again by mistake as he or she already sees the given podcast has already been consumed. In this regard (too), they provide a far sleeker interface to podcast feeds than traditional Web browsers on mobile platforms, which are much harder to use. With the latter, it takes much more clicks to get to the next podcast; in most cases, Web browsers require podcasts to be saved to the file system first and only let them to be played by a multimedia player later, while podcatching-capable apps are capable of instant streaming etc. Nevertheless, on the BlackBerry platform, still a lot of people prefer downloading podcasts manually (linked to from HERE), via, say, Opera Mini .
The much more advanced podcatcher applications, on the other hand, in addition to being able to play back the podcasts (in several cases, with the help of an external player), are also able to store them in the local file system and can also work in scheduled mode, making it possible to run even lengthy download / synchronization processes when you surely won’t need the handset – for example, during the night.
If you, on the other hand, run a podcatcher application on your handset every night, connecting to the Internet via a Wi-Fi access point of an unlimited Internet connection to download the latest podcasts and to store them on/in your storage (card), you won’t have to waste time on anything explained above. When you wake up in the morning, the latest podcasts will already be available on your handset and you simply don’t have to be afraid of anything else.
Running direct podcatcher applications on your handset – if you do plan to listen to / watch these podcasts right on the phone – is definitely more preferable to doing the same on the desktop and manually synchronizing / copying the files to the handset:
- You don’t have to do any synchronization between your desktop and handset (or memory card swapping if you plan to make a non-high speed transfer faster)
- You don’t even need to switch on your desktop computer for the new podcasts to be downloaded (let alone having to sync it with your handset or, even worse, manually hunt for, select and transfer the new podcasts to it). This results in, among other things, a lot of saved electricity
- You don’t even need to have a desktop computer at all – all you need to get the latest podcasts is your handset itself with an unlimited Internet (or Wi-Fi) connection.
Still, if you do want to know what desktop podcatcher applications there are, you’ll want to read either Smartphone & Pocket PC Mag‘s or Engadget’s tutorials (the former being far more thorough). They both discuss Doppler (probably the best desktop client; another also very popular one is Juice) on the desktop – and synchronizing the clients to your handset. More advanced users / hackers may also want to take a look at the MortScript-based PC -> Windows Mobile syncing solution HERE.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
(Doppler on the desktop; by default, it downloads to c: \Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\My Music\My Podcasts\<feed name>).
Note that not even popular desktop browsers like Opera support automatic podcast downloading (that is, podcatching). Three screenshots showing this:
(podcasts shown in Opera)
(another rendering example– as you can see, Opera doesn’t download content)
(There isn’t anything you can do in Feeds / Manager Feeds / Edit (Properties) either, except for setting the interval of the auto-retrieve)
There are even fewer write-ups on the handset-based podcaster applications. The most important of them is Podcasts on a PDA..., which discusses three mobile OS'es and only few podcaster apps: WM (Egress), Palm (Quick News), Symbian (Nokia Podcasting) - as you can see, BlackBerries are not discussed.
Note that this roundup is a separate entity from my forthcoming RSS / Syndication Bible (to be published early September). I found it necessary to separate the two roundups from each other as, while, basically, they’re all RSS readers, their aim is different. In addition, some of the podcaster apps are just not recommended as an RSS reader and vice versa: some well-known RSS reader titles like Spb Insight (as of the current, 1.5.1 version) aren’t enclosure-capable at all.
Also note that because there are several high-quality and recommended podcast/catcher apps, I don’t have a definite choice. (If you really want one, I recommend NewsBreak if you are ready to pay for your podcaster and BeyondPod or HubDog if you aren’t.) Therefore, I don’t provide you a full tutorial of any of these apps either. However, in the chart, I do give you a lot of tips and tricks and describe how / where a specific feature can be found. This is why I provide the full menu path of all the, say, feature en/disabling checkboxes in the chart. I also provide several screenshots showing all this.
That is, while I don’t provide a full, 100% tutorial to any of these apps, as with all my chart-based articles, bibles and full roundups, I do provide you with hundreds (!) of tips and tricks in the chart. If you really don’t understand how you can configure a given podcaster, feel free to post a public (no private messages please) note and I answer your questions. I don’t think, however, that you wouldn’t understand them. They’re all (except for FeederReader, which does require a LOT of learning) fairly easy to learn. Just keep playing with your choice for some hours and you’ll start to know it like the palm of your hand. Then, all the puzzles will also fall into their places.
Now, let’s take a quick look at the podcast/catcher applications available for the three mobile platforms. Note that this section is in no way a full discussion and introduction of all the apps. The sole reason for this is the main chart’s having all the information you’ll ever need. That is, don’t expect this humble section to contain as much information as available in the 60 kbyte-long (!) and tabular (which eliminates the need for repeating the same info again and again) chart. Also note that all the apps are podcatchers, unless otherwise noted (with the case of CorePlayer and Pocket Player).
Let’s start with Windows Mobile, with remarks to the BlackBerry version of AudioBay and, finally, the Symbian-based Nokia Podcasting.
BeetzStream SmartRss V4.3157 - RC1
This app requires .Net CF 3.5 SP1 (while the other Compact Framework-based titles don’t need more than CF2) and MS SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1. The trial version is pretty useless: it limits you to 5 items per channel and will not save any setting changes, as opposed to the, in general, fully functional, 30-day test version of the other apps.
In a nutshell, I don’t really recommend this title - there're far better alternatives.
Kinoma Play
As of version 5.0.60, this recently-released player has excellent (streamed) podcasting features (but not podcatching at all).
It allows for directly entering RSS URL's in the main menu. It’s quite a bit buried under the different menus: it’s available at Settings / Player / Open URL:
The latest update (see THIS) has also introduced auto-pasting features (manual pasting doesn't work as the app uses nonstandard text input fields / areas).
While it doesn't allow for direct OPML input (that is, you can’t explicitly browse the file system to find the given file), if you just put the OPML file in the file system somewhere, it'll find the contents and list it under "My Media Files / Playlists" as in the following screenshot:
Note that if the OPML file also contains subfolders, they’ll be correctly rendered and the OPML file’s original name will be used as the playlist name. An example of this is (the highlighted) “BeyondPodFeeds” item in the above list.
Note that while it streams stuff, it, of course, needs to download multimedia content that it can’t play back streamed. Examples of this are the Tagesschau videos
pRSSreader
As of version 1.4.2, this, because of it being free and open-source, pretty popular generic RSS client has some limited podcatching capabilities. In no way as sophisticated as those of some of the other clients as, unfortunately, it in no way can be forced to automatically download enclosures (again, unlike most other podcatcher clients). In the top-level "Channels" view, Menu / Offline / Cache Unread Items only downloads all the articles, along with their images, and not the enclosures themselves.
Unfortunately, there's no way to initiate anything like "play all" from inside the app either. Fortunately, as pRSSreader stores the individual podcasts using their original name in feed-specific subdirectories (the subdirs having been named after the URL of the
It also has a cache manager (accessible via Menu / Cache Manager); unfortunately, it doesn't allow mass playback either (only mass deletion):
Initiating the in-app download of an enclosure involves several taps: after entering the article (two subsequent taps in the article title list), Menu / Enclosure / Download:
If, on the other hand, you want Internet Explorer Mobile to open the file, you can just click the name of the enclosure at the bottom (which has the same effect as Menu / Enclosure / Open).
Viigo 3.0.18
This is a multiplatform application: has Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and generic (also Symbian-compliant) Java MIDlet ports.
Even the most advanced Windows Mobile version is way less powerful than any of the other podcatchers. In addition, the BlackBerry version, as of current (3.0.224, released on Sept. 12) version has absolutely no podcast support (also see THIS for more info) and neither does the generic Java MIDlet version. Podcatching support is only promised for later. However, as I seriously doubt the podcatching support of it will be any better than the current (very weak) podcatching support of the Windows Mobile version, I wouldn’t be holding my breath either – it’s just too weak, even if you take into account the currently only real podcatcher on the BlackBerry, AudioBay, isn’t top-notch either.
Some WM screenshots:
(main view)
(podcast list view with menu)
(Properties of a feed – as can be seen, except for providing a login/password, absolutely nothing can be set)
(the player. Note that it couldn’t play back m4a (AAC) files; this is just a demo of how it looks like)
(the only setting capabilities Viigo has – see why I don’t recommend it?)
BlackBerry screenshots:
(Main: the feed list. No upper-level menus!)
(the menu in the feed list)
(the above two screenshots (an individual article view and the menu in there) show there aren’t even links for download using the built-in BB browser, Web)
CorePlayer 1.2.5 (also applies to Symbian / Palm OS / iPhone & other, supported OS’es!)
This is a strictly podcasting-capable application you should already have if you’re seriously(!) into multimedia. While it’s no doubt the best all-in-one player for Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm OS, its podcasting capabilities are pretty limited. Hope this changes with the imminent release of the 1.3 platform with its downloading capabilities.
Incidentally, speaking of the iPhone, the situation seems to be otherwise pretty dire. This will, on the other hand, surely change in the future.
Conduits Pocket Player 3.7
It’s another strictly podcasting-capable application with somewhat better podcasting capabilities & compliance than those of CorePlayer. That is, if you also need podcatching capabilities, you’ll still end up having to get a separate podcatcher app.
A quick intro to accessing feeds: you can add a feed in Browse / Podcasts / Add Podcast Feed:
Double-click the new podcast to see the available enclosures:
Note that this screenshot has been taken with the MoDaCo feed, which Pocket Player has severe problems with. As can be seen, they’re in no way descriptive – unlike with other podcast downloading-capable apps compatible with the MoDaCo feed (that is, not for example CorePlayer). It’s only when actually starting to stream them by, for example, a left-right swipe that more info becomes available on a given MoDaCo podcast:
Note that I haven’t encountered similar problems with the other, tested (and working) feeds.
Hubdog 2.0
This podcatcher client is very famous for its Web & community capabilities. They aside, it’s still a very capable an decent client, albeit, in my opinion, can’t really match the speed and the easiness and intuitiveness of NewsBreak.
BeyondPod 2.8.0
This free app is probably the most featureful catcher of all. Highly recommended unless the speed problem introduced by its slow rendering engine really annoys you.
FeederReader 1.10.0
This is another featureful podcatcher with some really unique capabilities.
Too bad using it is like rocket science. You’ll want to start with the manual and also make you read the tutorials: THIS, THIS and THIS, in this order.
AudioBay 4.0/e0 (Windows Mobile) and 3.4/e0 (BlackBerry 8800);
Note that it also used to have a Symbian S60 version but has been discontinued in the meantime because of Nokia’s Podcasting. The Windows Mobile and the BlackBerry versions, on the other hand, are still developed.
The former (the Windows Mobile) version is pretty much average: not among the best titles but not the worst ones either. The BlackBerry version, on the other hand, is THE way to go. Note that, however,
1. AudioBay has no trial version (this should be fixed by the developer!)
2. Some people have found it to be unreliable, particularly on Verizon
(WM)
(BB)
NewsBreak 2.1
While this certainly isn’t the most featureful application, it’s by far the easiest to use. It has large, nice download icons associated with each podcast easily pressable. As soon as the download is over (which is the fastest of the bunch), the icon (which, after queuing the podcast for download, changes to a “Cancel” icon) changes to a “Play” icon. All this makes it possible to really easily queue, possibly cancel and, then, play back a given podcast. In this regard, NewsBreak is clearly the best of the bunch.
Top-level feed view
Channel view
Article view
Egress 4.0.1
Egress is another very strong title. iPhone(-alike) fans may prefer it to the other apps because of its iPhone-like interface. In my opinion, NewsBreak is better mostly because it takes fewer taps to queue something and is generally faster / easier to use. However, Egress is still a recommended title.
NewsGator Go! for Mobiles (current version as of late August 2008; internal filedates: 03/28/2008)
NewsGator, which has recently made been free, has a very strong Web-based interface. If you look for something like Opera’s Opera Link but with a generic subscription & already-read-flag synchronization, this should be the podcatcher to check out. Otherwise, I would stay away from it: it’s certainly lacking in features and, what is worst, is very-very slow in everyday use – even for normal (podcast-less) RSS use.
Skookum 2.0.0.0
Skookum is an abdandoned, free podcaster app. It has nothing to write home about; albeit, it’s certainly not the worst one either.
The developer is no longer in business (see for example THIS and THIS for more info). Sites like PocketGear only seem to have the commercial, initial and, therefore, in no way recommended, 1.0 version
Note that you will need to use CF1SP3 (or, of course, CF2+) to run it; it crashed on me, along with throwing a FileNotFoundException, right at the beginning with an older version.
Note that, while some of the errors (see see THIS and THIS for additional info) may show you you need to manually install System_SR_enu.cab (linked from HERE) , you won’t need to do this.
Much as the developer’s long been out of business, I haven’t disqualified the app as it’s free.
Symbian
With AudioBay’s Symbian S60 version discontinued (because of Nokia’s app’s release), Nokia Podcasting has become THE podcasting app for all S60 v3 phones. It’s generally very well done, fast at downloading and only lacking in some advanced features like channel image view.
It offers pretty nice, pre-configured choices, parallel downloading (of course, it allows for multiple selection with the Key button + the up/down arrow):
, automatic scheduling. However, it isn’t capable of parsing generic URL’s like that of MoDaCo for feeds. In these cases, you must enter the URL directly in Podcasts / Options / Go to Podcasting / Podcasts / Options / New Podcast:
Don’t forget to set your storage card as the download target at Podcasts / Options / Go to Podcasting / Options / Settings / Download:
The chart
As with most of my generic bible / roundup articles, the focal point of this bible is the feature chart, which makes it possible to pack in as much information in an article as possible, also allowing for direct, easy comparison between the different solutions. As usual, you’ll want to maximize it and, on smaller-resolution screens, zoom out to avoid (excess) scrolling. Sorry for the size: as usual, I wanted to present a full roundup; hence the gigantic size. The chart is here.
Explanation
Today / home plug-in showing the number of new podcasts etc. (NOT just a start / stop / pause control, with the song title, of the currently playing track!): some podcatchers also display the number / title(s) of newly downloaded podcasts (or simple articles).
Does it allow for user-def’d podcast categories?: more advanced catchers allow for organizing podcast feeds into user-defined categories. If you have more than a handful of feeds, this capability can prove VERY useful.
Feed login/password?: there are some private feeds requiring a login/password pair to only allow authenticated users to access their content. Almost all podcast/catchers support this.
Terminology used: particularly if you test more than one app, you may run into terminology inconsistency problems. For example, feeds are referred to as “Channels” by many. Feed contents are generally referred to as “items”, “headlines” or “episodes”. In this row, I’ve collected the terminology used by all apps so that you can avoid any confusion.
Support for non-supported (in general, non-MM) stuff?: here, I’ve listed non-multimedia stuff. Some feeds (for example, the C&L feed) not only have multimedia audio / video content, but also other stuff like YouTube links, Flash (.swf) and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files etc. In this group, I’ve tested whether these kinds of files can be (manually – automatic download, in general, won’t work, except for very few titles like FeederReader) downloaded.
Download benchmarks (~20M mixed content over 512 kbps ADSL): in this test, I’ve tested how fast the app downloads to a 8GB Class 4 Sandisk card over a lower-end (512 kbps) ADSL connection. High-speed connections, of course, may have resulted in a much more pronounced difference. Just an example: over a very fast connection, NewsBreak is flying, while Viigo remains abysmal, certainly showing its file buffering / flushing algorithm is very weak.
Auto download / fetching: Supported? Refresh intervals / timestamp to execute?: Automatic podcast download / fetching is very important. In this row, I elaborate on which (or both) of the two updating timing is used: interval-based or a given, pre-set time of the day. I’ve also elaborated on the freedom of settings these parameters – that is, the granularity of the timestamp / interval setting. (Can you configure it to refresh the contents every, say, 5 minutes? Or, are you only allowed to do an update, say, at most once an hour?)
Download restrictions settable separately for each feed, as opposed to one, global setting?: Especially with sizable podcasts, it may be very important to be able to set completely different for example auto-deletion / retention parameters for individual feeds.
The storage requirements of different feeds can vary a lot. For example, there can be a feed with podcasts only taking up some 2-3 Mbytes at most (an example of these is Heart of Space, which only offers 30-second-long podcasts taking up only some hundreds of kilobytes), while other podcast episodes can easily be 50-100 Mbyte long (an example is X-Play’s lengthier movies). This means if you have little storage space but would like to keep as many podcasts as possible on your handset, you may opt for only letting for the retention of, say, 1-2 episodes of feeds generally having huge files, while not having so strict restrictions on feeds with small podcasts. In these cases, feed-level configurability (as opposed to one, global setting) can really pay off.
Distinction between allowed / blocked connection types to avoid using (expensive) cellular data?: some podcatchers allow for restricting the type of connection for downloading to avoid high data bills. The majority offering this capability has the ActiveSync vs. cellular distinction.
Can you define whether to force to open a connection if it isn’t available: some (unfortunately, VERY few) apps allow for very advanced functionality like enabling Wi-Fi / BT / the cellular radio (if any) before starting the update (and, when needed, disabling them after the update). In this row, I explained this (and similar) capabilities.
Storage usage restrictable / automatic deletion of listened-to / expired enclosures?: in percentage of free / remaining storage?: this subgroup has detailed information on whether you can fine-tune the storage usage by not letting the podcatcher download stuff that would result in the storage fill up. This is a basic setting and should be supported by all podcatching applications.
Permanent storage in the file system: can the home directory be set?: better apps, in addition to storing the podcasts on a storage card (or a, size-wise, comparable entity), may also allow for setting their home directory to anything, not just a wired-in directory name like \Podcasts.
Settable maximal number of enclosures kept?: Better catchers striving for efficient storage usage may employ a deletion strategy stating the following: whenever the pre-set maximal number of enclosures becomes too small to download the newest podcast(s), the oldest one (or an already-consumed one) is deleted.
Auto-deletion of podcasts older than X days?: storage saving may also be enhanced by allowing for (unconditional – that is, not depending on whether it has been consumed or not; see on this the next row) automatic deletion of podcasts older than X days.
Flags: Already listened to? What functionalities (not listing, deletion etc.) are based on this flag?: A decent podcaster application should at least flag already-consumed media as “read”. Based on this flag (and the visual presentation), the user would have the chance of not listening to the same podcast twice.
Podcasters behave differently when it comes to the read flag. For example, NewsBreak makes sure articles already read are put at the of the headlines, should you still need them. That is, at the beginning of the headlines list, you will only see unread articles. Some other casters “only” unbold read articles. Also, some of them have the “Hide read articles” functionality.
Better podcaster applications also have even more advanced functionality based on the “read” flag. The most important of this is (mass) auto-deletion of such articles. Too bad this really basic functionality is missing from most of them.
Not listened to, but old enough to be deleted (expired)?: in addition to the pretty basic “read” flag, some casters also employ other flags like “expired”, which, in a decent caster, would allow for deleting old, but not (necessarily) listened-to podcasts.
Note that some apps do support this functionality by just offering the “Delete all podcasts older than X days” functionality.
Downloads: Multiple downloading threads at the same time to make performance better?:
This row shows whether enqueued podcasts can be downloaded in parallel. The point in parallel downloading is as follows:
- Some servers serve podcasts considerably slower than your local Internet connection. Say you have a 2 Mbps connection, while the server you’re currently downloading podcasts is only capable of serving a podcast at 500 kbps. This means 1.5 Mbps of your Internet connection remains unused.
- You may want to quickly download something while another download is in progress. For example, let’s assume you’re downloading a huge podcast when you notice there’s another, interesting one you’d like to listen to as soon as possible. In a single-threaded (simple) app, you would either need to cancel the current download(s) to quickly queue the new clip as the first one to download. In a more advanced multithreaded app, you just start the download and it downloads (albeit a bit slower because the bandwidth available may be divided up between the current downloads), without further ado.
Progress bar (or any way to see what has already been downloaded): better apps have some kind of a visual feedback showing how many bytes (and/or percent) of a given podcast (and, preferably, all the queued podcasts) have already been downloaded.
Streaming (playback without downloading the entire enclosure (first)) Supported? : better players allow for streaming – that is, playback without downloading the entire enclosure first. Note that the built-in WMP doesn’t support this; CorePlayer does.
If streamed, random positioning supported?: there are two approaches to streaming – one that allows for quickly fast forwarding into still not downloaded parts of the podcast (that is, allows for really free random access, independent of what has already been downloaded) and the simpler one that doesn’t. Naturally, the former is preferred.
Here, n/a, naturally, shows the given app isn’t at all able to stream.
Feed input (in addition to direct address entering, which is supported by all): OPML import / sync?: There are several ways of making podcast/catcher apps aware of the feeds you’d like to subscribe to. In addition to by directly entering their URL’s, one-by-one, the most important way of importing them is via OPML files.
Note that several of the apps also support exporting into OPML files of your current subscriptions, which makes it easier to transfer your current subscriptions to another (OPML import-capable) podcatcher/caster.
M3U / PLS support?: some apps also allow for mass-importing feed URL’s via the well-known M3U and/or PLS playlist files. (See for example THIS for more info on these formats.)
Pre-defined, built-in library?: many of these apps have some kind of access to predefined, online libraries already offering feeds you can subscribe to.
Online search?: there are several services allowing for feed lookup based on their names. Some of the handset apps have interfaces to directly access these services.
Generic HTML page parsing if unsure about the exact feed URL?: (very) few apps allow for parsing generic HTML pages to find feed URL’s in them. (This is how most desktop browsers and Opera Mini work when they display a “This page has RSS feeds in it” type of message.)
Online, web-based, synchronizable and/or readable account?: one of the best capabilities some of these apps offer is an online account allowing for either account management (importing / deleting etc. feeds, sharing them with your friends, the community etc.) or on-line article reading via any Web browser – or both.
The former greatly simplifies subscribing to feeds (and deploying the same set of feeds to other, OPML importing-capable podcasters later).
Built-in player (if any): AVRCP: while the majority of these apps rely on external players to play even the most basic and widely used podcasting file formats like MP3, some of them have a built-in player to play them back. It’s the limitations, capabilities, CPU (and, consequently, battery) usage of these built-in players that this group is all about.
The first test in this group, AVRCP, discusses whether Bluetooth remote control, AVRCP, is supported by the player (if any). Naturally, as with most of the entries in this group, n/a means there’s no built-in player in the app at all.
CPU usage?: The CPU usage of multimedia players is of extreme importance when it comes to maximizing battery life. This is why I’ve made some extensive tests to find out how these apps behave in this regard. Please also see THIS for more info on the well-established players.
Remembers last position (resume-capable)? And, even better, auto bookmark-capable?: with sometimes lengthy podcasts, it’s essential for a player to be able to resume playback after restarting (simple resume) or even switching to another and, then, returning to the same podcast (more advanced bookmarking capability; now, storing a “last playback position” associated with each podcast file, not just globally for the last played one).
Positioning (with already-local playback); + stands for external players with podcatcher apps without a built-in player: it’s also essential for a podcast playback application to be able to randomly position inside the already-local podcast. Note that this has nothing to do with the positioning capabilities of still-downloading and/or streamed apps, which was elaborated upon earlier.
If it does have a player, can you still use an external one?: almost all the built-in players are definitely inferior (buth CPU usage- and capabilities-wise) to those offered by other, third-party players. Therefore, particularly with podcaster applications having a low-quality player, it’s essential to be able to configure it to be able to invoke an external multimedia player to play back any multimedia content.
Channel / individual song image support: Generic channel image displayed?: This group elaborates on whether generic (non-podcast-specific) channel images and podcast-specific, inline images are supported.
The first test, “Generic channel image displayed?”, shows the podcaster app is able to display the generic image associated with a channel. This is in no way essential, just cool to have and makes it easier to easily spot a feed, particularly if there are more than a handful of them.
Album art / article display? :
Note that, with external players, this will only players that do support embedded artwork in individual podcasts; that is, NOT the built-in Windows Media Player Mobile in Windows Mobile. See the first chart HERE for more info on this question and the compatible apps.
Mass playback / delete operations: Mass playback in a given channel?: this mass operation-specific group elaborates on operations best done in one step instead of doing the same separately for each and every headline / podcast – that is, using mass operations.
The first of the tests, “Mass playback in a given channel?”, elaborates on whether the podcasts of a given channel (feed) can be played back in order without having to manually intervene (that is, start the next one when the previous is finished). This is of extreme importance with shorter clips you’d like to see. Just a real-world example: during my last 10-hour-long bus trip, I’ve watched almost all the episodes of X-Play. These podcasts are, in general, some 2…5 minutes long. As the client (the otherwise great NewsBreak) doesn’t support mass playback, it was quite a nuisance to always having to switch back to NewsBreak (from CorePlayer playing the video) and tap (with my finger) on the next feed’s “Play” icon.
With podcaster apps capable of mass playback (either in a given channel/feed or globally, with all available podcasts), you don’t need to constantly switch back to the podcaster app to start the playback of the next podcast.
Incidentally, behind the scenes, mass playback is accomplished by using playback (m3u / pls / asx files). This is how podcaster apps instruct external players to be aware of more than one playlist items. Also, this is why some of the podcaster apps (for example, Egress) explicitly refer to creating playlist files upon downloading.
Mass playback globally (not just in one channel, but all the new enclosures)?: while the previous row discussed in-feed mass playback (without human intervention), this one refers to playing back all the clips globally, originating from all feeds, not just one. Unfortunately, as with the feed-only playback, very few podcasters support this.
If (any kind of) mass playback is supported, audio / video distinction (unattended “Commute mode“ as referred to by FeederReader?): when you, for example, jog and, therefore, can’t watch the screen of your handset, in a mass playback mode, distinction between audio-only and video content can be highly useful. This way, you can be sure no video will be played back while in mass playback mode; only audio.
Mass deletion of all enclosures? If possible, can you do this on both globally and just in an individual channel?: in addition to mass playback, mass deletion can also be highly useful. Here, I elaborate on both global and in-one-feed mass deletion capabilities.
Filename naming conventions (for quick file system-level lookup, mass playback queuing from external players, deletion etc.): there are two approaches podcatcher applications use when downloading streams (one of them, BeyondPod, also supports both): either keep their original names (in some cases, adding a unique, machine-generated trailer/header to make sure no accidental overwriting will occur) or use a fully machine-generated name, mostly consisting of running indexes.
Both approaches have advantages. If you keep the original podcast filenames (particularly if you do this in separate, feed-specific subdirectories in the file system), you won’t need to do any lookup to find out what a given podcast really is. Also, queuing podcasts for mass playback (particularly if they’re in a separate subdirectory) becomes far easier. However, it’s prone to the overwriting problem, which may be particularly an issue with, in this regard, not very well written applications like
If you only have index-based and/generated random indexes, accidental overwriting won’t even occur. However, you may have a hard time identifying the podcasts in the file system, should you want to access them in an external media player without firing up the podcatch/caster application.
Of course, there are combined solutions as well; for example, Egress uses both a unique, random leading string to make sure no overwriting will take place and, after this, the original filename follows.
Compatibility with some real feeds: MoDaCo: in this pretty large group, I’ve presented some real-world test results on whether these podcast/catcher applications are compliant with some real-world, popular podcasts. The first of the test is MoDaCo’s, which causes some problems to, for example, Pocket Player (the fix is promised for the next version). It’s, otherwise, a pretty usual MP3 podcast. CorePlayer, which, as of version 1.2.5, has still pretty bad RSS feed parsing capabilities, is fully incompatible with this feed.
1Src Palm-powered Podcast (MP3): another usual MP3 podcast, no real catches here, except for Skookum, which can’t download more than one podcast a time, as it erroneously assumes the filename being “redirect.mp3”, which results in downloading subsequent episodes overwriting previous downloads.
Heart of Space (Mp3): another pretty usual feed. The only podcaster not compatible with it is NewsGator Go! for Mobiles: while it can download it, it can’t invoke an external app to play it back. This is a pretty common issue with NewsGator Go! for Mobiles, several other feeds are also suffering from this problem.
SpaceMusic Archive (MP3) and (Current) SpaceMusic : no problems at all with any of the apps.
Radio 538 (AAC-LC) : now, this is a problematic feed causing issues with many apps. For example, CorePlayer has problems with the 080804 issue, while the other episodes (for example, 080811) work just fine.
Also note that it isn’t an MP3 podcast but an AAC-LC one. Therefore, many podcasting/catching apps are simply unable to play it back – or, for that matter, even retrieve it.
Classic Animation (H.264 Baseline video): switching to videos, Classic Animation is a great source of old cartoons. They have their stuff in H.264 baseline format, which means great compatibility with a lot of multimedia players (as opposed to more advanced H.264 formats).
It worked with most podcasters, except for NewsGator Go! for Mobiles, which exhibited the same trailing bug as with a lot of other feeds.
X’Play’s Daily Video Podcast : these videos are high-res (VGA, 640*480) and use a more advanced, non-baseline H.264 format meaning very few players (most importantly, CorePlayer on all mobile platforms except BlackBerry) will be able to play them back.
Tagesschau Podcast (MP3): these MP3 files are the plain audio tracks of the Tagesschau video programs. They’re different from the previous titles (but not the original “video” versions) in that they have a much more complicated feed URL. Probably this is what makes these feeds inaccessible for several podcatcher/caster apps (CorePlayer, Hubdog and the BlackBerry version of AudioBay).
Tagesschau Video Podcast (MP4 / H.264 baseline): the situation is pretty similar with the original video versions of these programmes.
Other sources of information
A REALLY cool post on desktop podcasting
VoiceIndigo for BlackBerry
What are you using to “podcatch”?
A german list
Another quick news item on the PPCMag article
A 2006 thread: RSS reader with podcast support for TyTn, any suggestions?
Mostly a FeederReader-specific thread
Note that, while some feeds (for example, C&L) offers the capability of accessing two videos from one article, physically, they only hold one enclosure, not two (they only link to two videos). An example screenshot series:
No longer existing or plain weak applications
SmartFeed, an old, still widely known, popular app, has been incorporated into NewsGator in the meantime.
The Windows Mobile version (as of beta3) of the otherwise very nice and famous Doppler is pretty much useless and far inferior to any of the products in the chart. Still, a quick elaboration, should you still want to know why I don’t recommend it.
First, unless you have a lot of built-in storage, in Menu / Options / Settings, you’ll want to change the default podcast download path, \My Documents\My Podcasts. Finally, after a double-click on the feed, select Menu / Download podcast. Trying to update feeds / podcasts has always resulted in constant problems; then, also Aborting download… has stalled and required a manual, forced task kill. Therefore, it seems the only way to download the podcasts is via the built-in Internet Explorer (that is, fully manually – which is in no way recommended; after all, podcatchers exist just in order to avoid doing this), you can manually tap the link after double-tapping an article.
PiP (also see for example THIS) has been discontinued in the meantime.
Pocket Podcasts 1.0 is also pretty weak and requires a desktop-side server; this is why (on purpose) I’ve left it out.
Appendix: the Microsoft Zune
The desktop client of the Microsoft Zune allows for podcatching and synchronizing – just like Doppler, Juice and iTunes (and unlike WMP 11). I found it useful to include this section in this guide as
1. after all, the Zune is a portable device
2. Microsoft promises "Zune store integration", which is quite a bit similar to that of Nokia’s on-device music store solution. One can only hope Microsoft also makes the podcatching and synchronizing capabilities of the desktop Zune version 2+ available for Windows Mobile clients as well – even if "only" on the desktop side, and not natively on the Windows Mobile clients (unlike, say, the way Nokia implemented their Podcasting app).
The desktop podcatcher component of Zune has no timing capabilities (it starts downloading new episodes as soon as you connect or wirelessly sync your Zune, which also starts the Zune app on the desktop), which may be a bit disappointing, particularly if you have a lot to download (which may also greatly slow down the desktop) and/or have a slow connection and, therefore, need to wait a lot for all the new episodes to download. Nevertheless, it has a very simple and logical interface, which is really easy to use, while still offering advanced capabilities like feed-specific retention and synchronization settings (the ability to set the number of episodes to store on the desktop / on the Zune, from 1 to 10 and including all).
It also has a built-in search, should you want to avoid having to directly paste the feed URL's to Zune. All you need to do is just entering the name of the podcast feed (like "modaco") to the search input field. It found most the English and German test podcasts. It, however, didn't contain anything Finnish from THIS list, not even English-language ones like Radio Free Finland. I needed to add these feeds, then, one by one.
Unfortunately, it doesn't support OPML import – not even in the current, just-released, 3.0 milestone version. It didn't have problems with parsing any of the directly entered URL's, unlike some of the tested apps.
Some screenshots (of version 2.X; the latest, 3.0 version isn't at all different when it comes to podcatching):
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20podcast.jpg
(General settings)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20podcastseriesstting.jpg
(Feed-specific settings)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20podcastmain.jpg
(Main podcasts screen, showing all the subscribed feeds on the left and the episodes in the middle; the state of the current download etc.)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20syncgroups.jpg
(sync group-view, also showing the total space)
http://www.winmobiletech.com/082008Podcasting/zune20justsyncing.jpg
(Just Syncing-view)
Unfortunately, the Zune client does have its share of problems. For example, it entirely lacks MP4 (m4a) chapter support (like the ones in the enhanced MoDaCo podcast feeds or the Tiesto feed). Not even the just-released 3.0 desktop/device software fixed this.
Also note that Zunes can't update traditional podcasts over the air (only the newly (in version 3) added channels, but these channels can't be manually created) without the need for syncing with the desktop Zune software. Yeah, I know podcatching (with everything involved: incompatible feeds, incompatible formats can't be natively played back on the Zune etc.) isn't at all trivial; still, I would really welcome full podcasting client support as opposed to the pre-made, no-user-channels-possible channel syncing currently supported. Microsoft could, for example, just port the podcatching code from the desktop software to the device firmware. It's pretty solid and dependable; again, it was able to sync to all the feeds I've thrown at it not necessarily present in Microsoft's library.
(Some other, Zune & podcatching-related articles:
How to manage podcasts in the Zune software: this is the current one; also applies to 3.0.
Some examples of old, outdated, pre-version 2 tutorials:
How to Manage Podcast Content With Your Zune and HOWTO: Podcasting with a Zune. These are, again, outdated; now, there is absolutely no need to use an additional podcatcher in addition to the desktop-side Zune app. (This is also reflected by ExtremeTech's initial article Zune: iPod Killer or Half-Baked Flop?). Note that it was with the release of Zune 2 a year ago that podcatching has been added to the desktop software.)