iPod Replacement

[mattkrass]

It brings a tear to my eye to declare my poor iPod dead in the water (http://www.themattcave.org/2008/07/its-clicking-at-me.html) and since I'm about to sink some serious cash in to my BlackBerry soon (Upgrade is this weekend, finally) I can't really replace it so I had an idea. I've decided to deviate from my plan to get an 8830 to instead get an 8330 (The keyboard won me over!) and I see that the Curve has a 3.5 mm headphone jack in it.

Here is my query: Would the Curve work well as an MP3 player? I've purchased an 8GB microSD card for it and I plan on bringing my earbuds over from the iPod. It would be nice to be able to just throw my earbuds in, and listen to music on the Curve. Also, if I holster it with the RIM leather holster with sleeper magnet, will the music playback override that, or will the phone sleep anyway and halt playback? I'm not an intense audiophile so as long as the sound is decent and audible without distorting I'm happy.

Thanks,
Matt

[John Clark]

I use my BB for an mp3 player all the time. Any songs you purchased from iTunes won't work though, due to DRM restrictions.

[JSanders]

But it will work fine for normal mp3s. It is not an iPod, but you will get decent quality playback from the BB. The iPod is a dedicated device, so don't expect ALL the same features, but the BB will serve you decently in that regard.

And no, the sleep function will not kill the playback when inserted in the holster. The BB will shut the light off, but the music lives on forever.

[Johnny909]

Rock on dude.

[mattkrass]

Excellent! I'm very happy to hear that, even better than I hoped. I'm not looking for anything more advanced than playlists, shuffle play and volume control and such. I rip all my own music so no DRMs there. Thanks!

[mattkrass]

Silly question, but I assume when the phone receives a call, it pauses the music, which I knew about, but does it make any distinction that a call is coming in? I ask because my intended ringtone is a song I listen to quite often and I'm a little worried if I'm not paying very close attention it will cause me to just assume its the music and ignore the incoming call, heh.

[JSanders]

well this is going to be quite interesting then...

Give your phone calls a vibrate in addition to ring.

[003402]

I seem to recall converting itunes files into mp3 files (for music I owned). I haven't done this with my curve, but my pearl 2 worked great as an MP3 player. nice and simple drag and drop. I did not use VZWs roxio media manager. It was pretty much useless.

[dasunst3r]

Back when I used iTunes, I used this program (mods: May I disclose what program I used?) to break the DRM outright. To my amazement, I was able to load the un-DRM'ed files to the BB straight and have them play. Now I buy all my music from Amazon, and now you know why DRM sucks.

[BBBG]

I am in the middle of reinstalling the OS on my device after buying the same card and only having it recognize 4GB of memory instead of the 8. Reading the site makes you think it is easy to upgrade the OS so that you can get all 8GB. Now, 3 hours later, I am hoping that my BB comes back to life. Fun fun fun.

For what its worth, it works ok as an MP3 player but it is a pain in the ass to make the thing stop. It needs shortcut keys.

[Micpip]

For what its worth, it works ok as an MP3 player but it is a pain in the ass to make the thing stop. It needs shortcut keys.

Shortcuts: On a curve the speaker on/off button at the top of phone will pause the music even if ur not in the music player app. Also I set my left side convenience key to the media option , then pressing the side button twice it will put me right back to the music player. When in the music player app P=previous, N=next, Space=play/pause

[John Clark]

When not in the media player if you push and hold the volume up/down keys it will skip to the next or previous song.

[jakebudhram]

There are even programs you can use to sync your blackberry with your itunes playlists, such as iTuneMyWalkman.

[John Clark]

MediaSync was just released today by RIM for syncing the BB with iTunes.

http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-blackberry-discussion/141783-media-sync-released-promised.html

[sespringer]

thats the kicker with BB - I have a ton of itunes.. really wish I could use them. After all the only think i always have with me is my phone. It'd be nice to have some decent tunes.

[John Clark]

If they're DRM protected then NO other media player will play them. If they're standard mp3's or m4a's you can play them on the BB.

[jakebudhram]

MediaSync only works on windows. iTuneMyWalkman is for mac.

[mattkrass]

Cool stuff but I didn't use iTunes with my iPod, I used Winamp which has excellent support for mobile devices and will probably handle the BlackBerry well, I might have to 'teach' it the directory structure but otherwise it should work fine.

[mattkrass]

Well I got myself a nice shiny 8330 Curve from VZW and so far its doing very well as an iPod replacement. The ONLY complaint I have is no way to change tracks while it is holstered/locked. Otherwise it actually outdoes my iPod. Seeking to a song with a keyboard is way nicer and the sound quality is actually better than the iPod was. So if someone knows of a way to solve that one gripe it will be perfect!

[mobile_mirror]

Yeah, my 8310 rocks as an mp3 player. I was on the train a few weeks ago and forgot my Ipod so I used my BB. I was impressed with the sound and the ease of playing/finding the music with the built in media player.

I don't think you will be to change anything in those stats without accessing the media player directly.


^_^_^

[iggy097]

Anyone suggest a cheap 8gig micro card? I just ordered one from Amazon, but it turned out not to be a mini! Had to send it back, so now I'm stuck with the 1g card till I can find either a cheap 4g or a decent price

[Deraj090]

will 8gb's work in the curve?? i know a lot of the older phones only accept a certain amount of storage space, and the rest is deadweight...

also - a great 8gb micro price is ebay - lots of sellers have them for $25 buy-it-now.

[trax95008]

Silly question, but I assume when the phone receives a call, it pauses the music, which I knew about, but does it make any distinction that a call is coming in? I ask because my intended ringtone is a song I listen to quite often and I'm a little worried if I'm not paying very close attention it will cause me to just assume its the music and ignore the incoming call, heh.

this shouldn't be an issue. on my 8310, the ringtone wont play through the headphones. i just get a "peep" i think the ringtones will only play through the hands free loud speaker. (as long as no headphones are plugged in)

[John Clark]

will 8gb's work in the curve?? i know a lot of the older phones only accept a certain amount of storage space, and the rest is deadweight...

also - a great 8gb micro price is ebay - lots of sellers have them for $25 buy-it-now.

Yes, 8Gb works in 4.5 OS and 16Gb's will work with 4.5.0.81 and higher.

[daphne]

8 GB also works on 4.3.

[Deraj090]

sweet -- ordering my curve 8310 tomorrow...anyone know which version AT&T has as default? i'm OK doing an upgrade, just not feeling like it right now haha

[John Clark]

Wirelessly posted (BB 11020)

The 8310 still comes with 4.2.2 so 4Gb is all you can use out of the box. Its 30 minutes to update the device. I suggest updating before you begin using the 8310. Its very quick to do if there's no data to restore.

[Deraj090]

good point. if i end up doing an exchange though, i don't want to deal with any warranty issues

and i know i can restore back to the original OS, but you get my drift...

i'll probably end up doing it anyway haha

[AdamSilver]

I listen to long podcasts (60 min+, This American Life etc) and I wondered if there was a player on the BB that would automatically recall where I was when I last listened to it? Sometimes I like to leave a podcast and put on music for a while, and then come back to it, and it takes me too long to find my spot again.

[marqi.k]

Wirelessly posted

Yeah, I've loaded "This American Life" on my BB too.

[MERK350Z]

i think that the blackberry is perfect as a iphone.ipod replacment. the iphone is a few years from where the blackberry is. i have a 4 gig micro-sd card in my 8300 and its great push email and the key board and cam, video, everything works perfect. i have the new iphone and the old one and somehow i end up back on my blackberry. i have even give my new 160gig ipod to a friend of mine because i was using the blackberry so much.

[AdamSilver]

Will - does your media player remember where you are in a track?

[MERK350Z]

Wirelessly posted

When I phaus and exit the app and go back into the app keeps me on that track but. The only way to stop the song is click stop or when I get a call it starts where it stopped.

[urvec]

I use mt curve as a media player with a 2gb card, and the quality is great. As good as on my ipod. As for the case, the jack is actually hidden in the case, so you wont be able to listen to the music anyway