You need to use DShow and have the codecs for whatever media you intend to play in the image. COM interop for WMP 9.0 (which is what ships up through at least CE 5.0, maybe also in 6.0) is a non-starter for managed code.If you don't know DShow, it's a fair amount of work - even in native code - as DShow is not a fun or friendly API set.The plus side is that you don't need WMP at all in the image, so you can typically use a Core CE license (Pro is required to use WMP). I know of, but you said you're looking for a free solution and I'm not aware of anything other than rolling your own. Depending on your level of familiarity with COM interop (which you'll need for the DShow stuff) and the use of DShow and filtergraphs, I'd allocate at least a week or two to getting this working.One added note - the complexity also changes depending on how you want the video displayed. If it's just full-screen then it's a bit less work than getting it inside a Window within your app. Not a lot less, but at least a little. DirectShow?Check out for a starting point.Provided that DirectShow is present on your CE, which I don't know.EDIT: Since you can use DirectShow, I'd like to add a bit.As ctacke notes, it can be a lot of work if you do everything manually, but it's pretty straightforward if you can use IGraphBuilder (see the sample I linked above).I don't know much about DirectShow versions, but the one included with Windows Mobile 6.0 lacks a splitter for MPEG audio.
Anyone here have a zip or RAR file with a media player that will run in Windows CE 6.0? TCMP seems like it might be worth a go but it's only in.
It means, e.g., that out of the box it won't play.mp3 files unless you wrap them in RIFF headers.
XaudioUnless you’ve been living under a rock for the past fewmonths, you probably already know what MP3’s are. If you don’t, here’s aquickie overview. MPEG3’s are highly compressed music files that areusually taken from regular music CD tracks. The key here is in thecompression. A typical 5 minute song recorded to a.WAV file for examplewould require about 50mb of disk storage.
That same file in MP3 formatwould only need about 2mb of storage space and would still sound just asgood. As a result, the record companies are freaking out because peopleare ‘ripping’ tracks from CDs, converting them to MP3’s and then makingthem available for download over the Internet.
Files can be found atvarious sites like these:Xaudio is a MP3 player from a company called.Xaudio is available in Linux, Mac, BeOs, Unix, Windows and now Windows CEflavors. I’ll be reviewing the PSPC version as used on a Casio E-11 with a32meg compact flash card. The application requires 500 k and any.MP3files that you load will of course take up additional memory.MP3 files are really large so I recommend buying a compact flash card if youthink you’ll be using Xaudio a lot. The player has a nice interface that displays the song titles in your currentplay list. You can create multiple lists and save them. So, if you have a bunchof country tunes, or top40 tunes, you can separate them into different lists.You can then tap on them one at a time to play them or you can shuffle them.The onscreen controls let you Play, Stop, Pause, go to Next song, or go toPrevious song. You can also drag the progress bar to a different part of thesong (sort of like fast forward or rewind).
There is also an on screen pull downvolume control switch. I had a slight problem with the volume control. Whileplaying a song, I popped up the regular system volume control app and set it tothe highest setting. When I did that, everything turned to a loud static sound.It startled me since I had the earphones on. I had to stop the song and restartit. It seemed fine then but I could repeat the problem.The sound quality is great on the Casio E-11.
Here’s a sample that I recordedusing the internal speaker on the Casio E-11. Remember, it will sound MUCHbetter through headphones.
27secs / 297kXaudio now has a permanent place on my Casio E-11. I really enjoy listeningto a quick song whenever I wish. The only thing that it needs is hardware buttoncontrols so that you can easily start and stop a song without having to get thestylus and tap around on the screen. And maybe an option to start up with thelast play list loaded. You can use the up/down rocker button to adjust thevolume though. Other than that, it’s a nice program at an ok price.Price: $19.95Pros:Easy to use.Very good sound quality.
Cons:MP3 music files are very large.No hardware button control to skip to next track.ModPlayerCEWhat are MOD files? Modules, or Mods, are digital musicfiles. They contain instrument (or even voice) samples (similar to WAV orAU) and sequencing information that tell the player how to play the song,when to play which sample on which track and at what pitch (similar toMIDI), sometimes effects like panning are added. MOD files are a crossoverbetween MIDI and WAV, and has the best of both worlds.MOD files are interesting because they are mostly original compositionsand not just remakes of existing Top 40 tunes.ModPlayerCE by isa MOD player for the PSPC or HPC. This review will only focus on the PSPCversion as tested on a Casio E-11.The program requires 220k of free space on your PDA. This doesn’tinclude space for the actual MOD files. MOD files are typically quite abit smaller than MP3 files.
Although some can be almost a meg insize. You can find many websites with MOD files for download.
Hereare a few example sites:You have to be careful to just get files with a.MOD extension as there arequite a few varieties of MOD files that ModPlayerCE isn’t yet compatiblewith. ModPlayerCE also can only play 4-8 channel MOD files.The interface for ModPlayerCE is pretty simple to figure out.
There are CDplayer like controls for Play, Stop, Pause, Rew, FF, Next Track, Prev Track.There are also little buttons that:Scan a song -plays the first 15 secShuffle -shuffles songs in the play list so they will play randomlyRepeat -allows you to play one song over and overTime -toggles the display to show either time remaining in a song or timeelapsed while song is playingYou can select one song at a time from your storage memory or you can createplay lists. During the review, I put several songs on a Compact Flash card andModPlayerCE was able to access them easily. There is one setting you have tochange before you can play any MOD files. You have to turn off screen tap soundsin the Volume app. I’m not sure if this is just specific to the Casio PSPC or toall PSPCs though.The songs sound good on the Casio with headphones. I don’t think you’d wantto try to listen to them through the regular speaker because it isn’t reallyloud enough. Here’s a sample that I recorded using the built in speaker.Keep in mind that it sounds much better through headphones (although it is notstereo of course).30secs / 375kI like ModPlayerCE a lot.
But, wish it had a few extra features. I wouldreally like it if you could use the action/rocker button to start or stop asong. It would also be nice if there was a hardware button that you could use togo to the next or previous song. Having hardware buttons that can do thesefunctions would just make it easier for people that use the player while theyare driving or riding a bike for example. It would also be nice if there was aneasy way to change volume levels through the ModPlayerCE app.Price: $24.00Pros:Easy to use playerMOD files are smaller than MP3 filesCons:All controls are on screen.
No hardware button controlsHumHum is an.MP3 player that was co-developed byand. It actually uses the same Xaudio.dll engine asthe Xaudio player uses.The interface on Hum has very large buttons so that you caneasily tap them with a stylus or even your fingers. There is also a nicevolume slider control.A status window at the top of the screen displays the song title andthe time count down of the currently playing song.The best thing about Hum is that it will actually play in stereo on theCasio E-100. Another nice feature is that you can either use the actionrocker button or the joypad up/down button to turn the volume up or down.Pressing the joypad left or right skips to the next song or goes back tothe previously played song.You can customize the interface of HUM with free downloadable skins.These skins make the interface really colorful and unique. A great placeto find skins is thesite.I think that the sound quality through Hum is a bit better than Xaudio. Ican’t be sure if it is my imagination though.Hum has implemented what they call ™technology, Hum constantly detects the multimedia capabilities of yourdevice while dynamically delivering the optimal audio reproduction regardless asto what device (mono, stereo, color, black/white) you have.I do like Hum a lot but I think the price is quite high considering that youcan use Xaudio for free.
I’m hoping that Utopiasoft will add some extra featuresto make this program more in line with the price they are charging.Price: $19.95Pros:Plays in stereo on a Casio E-100.Takes advantage of the joypad on the Casio E-100.Sound quality seems better than Xaudio.Customize the interface with skins.Cons:None that I can think of.Pocket PlayerPocketPlayer is an.MP3 player by Like HUM, this player can use ‘skins’.Skins are graphic overlays that allow you to create your own custom userinterface for the program. A great place to find skins is thesite.Pocket Player like HUM also uses the Xaudio MP3 engine.
The programexcluding the skins will take up approximately 350k (total program sizewith skins will be 400k-800k depending on the skin). Pocket Player canplay in high quality stereo on a Casio E-100/105 and it sounds great.Pocket Player can be set to play in CD quality mode where HUM has only LOWand MEDIUM quality modes.The Pocket Player interface comes with a cool iMac like default skin. AWindows application is available that will allow you to create your ownnew skins. Unlike WinAmp, you can totally configure how you want thescreen to look. It is up to you what the buttons look like and where theyare located in the screen. I think this will quickly set this MP3 playerapart from the others because of the ability to customize it.The skins will take up from around 50k-500k of storage space on your device.Other features that Pocket Player has are a nice play list editor and optionsfor mono PDAs to use either the left, right or both speakers.
Pocket Player alsois the only player that will turn the display’s backlight off in order to savebattery life while you’re listening to music. When the backlight is off, thealarm LED on the PSPC will glow red. You can also minimize Pocket Player.
Whenthe app is minimized, you can tap the icon in the taskbar for a small menu ofoptions. These options let you pause, skip to next track, etc. Onelittle annoyance that I kept running into had to do with the NEXT trackfunction. After you get to the end of your play list, pressing NEXT will notcycle back to the first song. Instead it does nothing.A couple other interesting features included are a preamp that will increasethe playback volume.
This works pretty well but on some songs it made them sounda bit like they were over driving the speakers. The other feature is avisualization feature. You can choose between throb or scope visualization. Itjust puts up a little window that changes with the beat of the music. This isjust a novelty I doubt if you will use it more than once or twice.Right now Pocket Player is my pick for best MP3 player due to price and soundquality.Price: $14.95Pros:Turns off display backlight for better power management.Uses ‘skins’ for a more custom feel.Nice play list editor.Cons:Has a small bug in the NEXT track feature.AudiblePlayerAudiblePlayer from is nota music player but an audio content player. What is the difference you mightask? Well, audio content includes audio books, newspapers, magazines, andrecorded radio shows for example.
The AudiblePlayer comes with a Windows desktopprogram that allows you to transfer different content to your PSPC. The desktopsoftware will let you transfer blocks of audio (you can specify how large theblocks are). For every 1 hour of audio, 2meg of storage space is needed.You actually sync with this desktop program so that after you have listenedto a block or portion of the audio content on your PSPC, it will then refreshyour PDA with the next block of audio. For example, I downloaded a bookcalled Anne of Green Gables. This is a classic children’s novel.
The entireaudio book is about 12hrs long. I transfer about 45mins of content to my deviceat time.
This lets me listen to the book during my drive to and from work. ThenI sync with the desktop program so that I have fresh content for the next day.The desktop program is easy to use and keeps track automatically with your PSPCand what it needs to transfer next.The desktop program will even allow you to listen to the content on yourPC. I like the desktop program but sometimes it would seem a bitflaky. I had quite a bit of trouble with it during the time I helped betatest for Audible.
Since I have upgraded to their latest version, it seems a lotbetter but I still have a few problems now and then.The AudiblePlayer on the PSPC is easy to use. The interfacelooks like a typical player with stop, play, pause, rewind and fastforward controls. A status tells you how long you’ve been playing thecontent and how much content is left. You can use your up/down rockerbutton to either fast forward or rewind 10 secs at a time. Pressing theaction button in will start and stop playback.You can even set bookmarks to mark specific places in the audiocontent.The quality of the audio is just fine for listening to this type ofcontent. Being able to listen to books like this really nice. I found thatit made my short drives to and from work really enjoyable.
I would use acassette adapter to round the audio through my vehicles stereo. Theseadapters are cheap and can be bought through the Audible website or atmost dept. Stores.As far as the variety of content that you can download from the Audiblewebsite, it is pretty large.
You can find best selling books, classicbooks and all types of other content. You use a shopping cart online topurchase your titles. Prices range from around $5 – $12 or so depending onthe titles.You can buy subscriptions to different business publications and radio showsso that you will get the content automatically.Price: FREE player. Pay for content.Pros:Easy to use player.Great for long commutes to work.Lots of content available through the Audible website.Cons:Desktop program can be a little flaky at times.Windows Media Playeris a free.MP3 and.WMA file player from Microsoft.WMAfiles are a special format that usually compresses even better than.MP3files making the files take up less storage space.This player although free, is pretty basic. It does have the typicalplayer features including play lists, and skins though. Play listsare implemented much better than the other players that are available.Windows Media Player will automatically find the.MP3 and.WMA files onyour device or CF card without you having to put them in a separatefolder. You can also create different play lists and modify the order ofthe songs very easily.Another nice feature is the ability to assign functions to the hardwarebuttons.
For example, you can assign Play to the Action button, or Nexttrack to the Up button etc. Being able to do this makes playing songs moreconvenient because you don’t have to extract the stylus to tap the screen.The.MP3 sound quality of the Windows Media Player is very good. It mighteven be just a tiny bit better than Pocket Player. But, I think Pocket Playerhas a bit better bass response. Either way, they are both VERY close.WMA soundquality is the same (at least to my ears) as the.MP3 quality. But, the greatthing about.WMA files is that they are quite a bit smaller than.MP3 files. Itook a 5meg song and converted it into a.WMA file that was only 1.3meg in size.I listened to both of them and couldn’t hear a difference at all.
A fileconverter doesn’t come with the Windows Media Player, but you can downloadshareware converters easily.There are a few problems with the Windows Media Player which keeps me fromrecommending it. It seems to be a bit flaky and will sometimes not shut downproperly. Another very annoying problem with it is that it will pause theplayback if you bring up a song’s info and then close that info screen. It willpause playback for about 3 secs and then restart. It will also do this if youbring up the About dialog screen.
Besides those ‘bugs’, this player also lacksscreen blanking and the ability to minimize it to the task bar. Trying to runother applications while playing a song also seems to slow the overall system.If these problems could be fixed, I’d give this player a big thumbs up butas it is, I’ll stick with Pocket Player.Price: FREEPros:Free.Good sound quality.WMA files take up less space than.MP3 files.Ability to map hardware buttons to different functions.Cons:Pauses song when exiting info screen.Does not blank out the screen.Can’t minimize to taskbar.Sometimes locks up on exiting. Product Information Price:Pros:. Turns off display backlight for better power management.
Uses 'skins' for a more custom feel. Nice play list editor. Cons:. Has a small bug in the NEXT track feature. AudiblePlayer.
AudiblePlayer from Audible Inc. Is not. a music player but an audio content player. What is the difference you might. ask? Well, audio content includes audio books, newspapers, magazines, and.
recorded radio shows for example. The AudiblePlayer comes with a Windows desktop. program that allows you to transfer different content to your PSPC. The desktop.
software will let you transfer blocks of audio (you can specify how large the. blocks are). For every 1 hour of audio, 2meg of storage space is needed. You actually sync with this desktop program so that after you have listened. to a block or portion of the audio content on your PSPC, it will then refresh. your PDA with the next block of audio. For example, I downloaded a book.
called Anne of Green Gables. This is a classic children's novel. The entire. audio book is about 12hrs long. I transfer about 45mins of content to my device. at time.
This lets me listen to the book during my drive to and from work. Then. I sync with the desktop program so that I have fresh content for the next day. The desktop program is easy to use and keeps track automatically with your PSPC. and what it needs to transfer next. The desktop program will even allow you to listen to the content on your.
PC. I like the desktop program but sometimes it would seem a bit. flaky. I had quite a bit of trouble with it during the time I helped beta.
test for Audible. Since I have upgraded to their latest version, it seems a lot. better but I still have a few problems now and then. The AudiblePlayer on the PSPC is easy to use. The interface. looks like a typical player with stop, play, pause, rewind and fast. forward controls.
A status tells you how long you've been playing the. content and how much content is left. You can use your up/down rocker. button to either fast forward or rewind 10 secs at a time.
Pressing the. action button in will start and stop playback.
You can even set bookmarks to mark specific places in the audio. content. The quality of the audio is just fine for listening to this type of. content. Being able to listen to books like this really nice.
I found that. it made my short drives to and from work really enjoyable. I would use a. cassette adapter to round the audio through my vehicles stereo. These. adapters are cheap and can be bought through the Audible website or at. most dept.
Stores. As far as the variety of content that you can download from the Audible. website, it is pretty large. You can find best selling books, classic. books and all types of other content. You use a shopping cart online to.
purchase your titles. Prices range from around $5 - $12 or so depending on.
the titles. You can buy subscriptions to different business publications and radio shows. so that you will get the content automatically. Price: FREE player. Pay for content. Pros:. Easy to use player.
Great for long commutes to work. Lots of content available through the Audible website.
Cons:. Desktop program can be a little flaky at times. Windows Media Player. Windows. Media Player is a free.MP3 and.WMA file player from Microsoft.WMA. files are a special format that usually compresses even better than.MP3. files.
Making the files take up less storage space. This player although free, is pretty basic. It does have the typical. player features including play lists, and skins though. Play lists. are implemented much better than the other players that are available.
Windows Media Player will automatically find the.MP3 and.WMA files on. your device or CF card without you having to put them in a separate. folder. You can also create different play lists and modify the order of. the songs very easily.
Another nice feature is the ability to assign functions to the hardware. buttons. For example, you can assign Play to the Action button, or Next. track to the Up button etc.
Being able to do this makes playing songs more. convenient because you don't have to extract the stylus to tap the screen. The.MP3 sound quality of the Windows Media Player is very good.
It might. even be just a tiny bit better than Pocket Player. But, I think Pocket Player.
has a bit better bass response. Either way, they are both VERY close.WMA sound. quality is the same (at least to my ears) as the.MP3 quality.
But, the great. thing about.WMA files is that they are quite a bit smaller than.MP3 files.
I. took a 5meg song and converted it into a.WMA file that was only 1.3meg in size. I listened to both of them and couldn't hear a difference at all. A file. converter doesn't come with the Windows Media Player, but you can download. shareware converters easily. There are a few problems with the Windows Media Player which keeps me from.
recommending it. It seems to be a bit flaky and will sometimes not shut down.
properly. Another very annoying problem with it is that it will pause the. playback if you bring up a song's info and then close that info screen. It will. pause playback for about 3 secs and then restart. It will also do this if you. bring up the About dialog screen.
Microsoft Windows Ce 6.0
Besides those 'bugs', this player also lacks. screen blanking and the ability to minimize it to the task bar. Trying to run. other applications while playing a song also seems to slow the overall system. If these problems could be fixed, I'd give this player a big thumbs up. But. as it is, I'll stick with Pocket Player.
Price: FREE. Pros:.
Free. Good sound quality.WMA files take up less space than.MP3 files. Ability to map hardware buttons to different functions.Cons:. Pauses song when exiting info screen.
Does not blank out the screen. Can't minimize to taskbar. Sometimes locks up on exiting.Post navigation.