The Pocket PC is hardly short of audio players, but Conduits Pocket Player stands out from the crowd. Join Windows Mobile Editor Anthony Newman and he'll tell you why.
The Windows Mobile software market certainly doesn't lack choice when it comes to audio players. It's not enough just to be good, then; to stand out, an audio player must be great looking, full of features and competitively priced. Conduits' latest Pocket Player claims to do just that. Let's see if it lives up to its reputation.
 | Conduits' Pocket Player makes audio playback of any kind a breeze
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Loading Pocket Player for the first time presents the user with the main screen dressed in the attractive default skin, offering access to most functionality. Various other skins are included, and while they may not appeal to all tastes they are on the whole innovative and well executed - and with support for WinAMP 2 skins, the range of options is nearly endless. Also, colours can be changed.
Top marks for appearance is guaranteed by support for full-screen mode and the presence of visualisations, which can run full-screen or in a sub-window. Although not mind-blowing-and probably not great for battery life-they're certainly entertaining.
Usability is also helped by various little touches. Like most audio players, it can run in the background, optionally relinquishing its control of hardware buttons as it does so. However, while in background mode Pocket Player can be accessed by a status bar and today screen icon for quick track control while the user continues in another application. Handy.
The forgetful will appreciate the sleep timer, which can turn the Pocket PC off if it's left on by accident, say when the screen is turned off. Similarly, there's auto screen shut-off at user discretion. Well-implemented bookmark and auto-resume functionality caters for audiobook junkies, while the audiophile will appreciate the fully customisable EQ with presents, which is accessible from the main screen.
The eclectic geek will thank Conduits for the range of file types supported, which includes OGG along with the more common WMA, MP3, WAV and streaming audio, among others. The fickle, meanwhile, will love how easy it is to create different playlists or open files in different directories. Pocket Player can even ignore WAV files, allowing users to play files from their whole device without getting system tones in there too. And if you're migrating from other programs, Pocket Player can even open a range of playlist formats, too.
Jittery memory cards or Microdrives can be tamed by the audio cache, and customisable crossfade support-even when skipping tracks-is great for parties and mixes. Other mentionable features include tag support and button mapping, which are unusually already setup for you.
Overall, the impression one gets from Pocket Player is of thoughtfulness. Like changing the program's behaviour when it's connected to AC power, or allowing the user to override the current theme's font to make for more readable text. Pretty much everything that the control-freak user could want is here (including control over file associations), and it all works smoothly, too, bug-free. Conduits provide good documentation, and Pocket Player fits into a modest 1 MB of RAM.
Availability
Conduits Pocket Player 2.51 is available now for $19.95 USD, and is compatible with all current Pocket PCs. A Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition version is also available, as is a 30-day trial.
Conclusion
We were very impressed with Pocket Player. Conduits have done a great job of fulfilling every feature we could think of, and still keeping the program enjoyably simple, not to mention pretty. All popular file formats, and even some more obscure ones such as Ogg Vorbis, are supported, and users shouldn't have a single problem locating a skin of their liking given the application's support for WinAMP 2 skins. Pocket Player comes highly recommended.
- What's positive: Intuitive and user friendly; great skins and visualisations; broad format support
- What's negative: In the upper price range for audio players
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