Enjoy the ocean while listening to Pocket Tunes.

Well folks, Matthew here once again with yet another gadget to use in conjunction with Pocket Tunes. As a support technician with Normsoft, I routinely work with customers and Pocket Tunes. I have come to realize that our customers really rely on Pocket Tunes and their music to guide them through their busy work days and lifestyles.

I, myself, use Pocket Tunes quite often to listen to an audio book before bed, while driving in the car or during business travels. While having one of my late night insomniac moments I realized, "Hey! Wouldn't it be great to have visual representation to go with my audio.", so I started doing research. Before I go any further I want to take you back to the late 1980's. Remember the fad that grew across the nation with audio/visual relaxation tapes? Laying down in the evening and popping in your favorite scenic nature video complete with birds, running water and the occasional cricket.

My apologies everyone, I guess that memory took me back a bit further then it should have. Moving on. When I found this new gadget it really was the only comparison that I could think of. Takara Tomy has invented a projector that they call a "Healing Theater Umine" or Umine for short.

This product basically is a projector that accepts an audio input source (perfect for our Pocket Tunes users). In a dark environment generally used in someone's bedroom, the projector actually places visual effects on the ceiling while playing whatever audio is fed to it.

The device has a few modes to it, one being a beautiful rolling water effect that includes waves. The colors are brilliant and well, who doesn't want an ocean on their ceiling while relaxing at night with image quality that looks like it was pulled directly from the Virgin Islands. Umine also offers other scapes like nature and forest scenes.

This is the first device of it's kind to my knowledge and it is really neat. Now, I realize that with a price tag of $89.00 USD or 8,400 Yen, this device might not be for everyone but, I am hoping that we will see more devices like this in the future. I really do think that visualization for mobile devices complete with audio is a very cool idea. Plus for the price, and the possibility to add a bit more R&R to our lives, how can you go wrong.

For more information on the Umine please follow the link below:

http://www.himeyashop.com/product_info.php/products_id/7765

Also you can check out a youtube video of the device in action at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hsMsO7rY0Q

- Matthew C , Customer Support Specialist/Audiophile/Gamer/Gadget Geek, NormSoft Inc.

Pocket Tunes Deluxe 4.1.1 for Windows Mobile

NormSoft has just released Pocket Tunes Deluxe 4.1.1 for Windows Mobile. This patch release fixes a number of known bugs and is available for free to anyone who purchased Pocket Tunes Deluxe 4.1 for Windows Mobile. If you are new to Pocket Tunes Deluxe 4.1 for Windows Mobile, a 15-day trial can also be downloaded for free.

You can download the update or free trial from:

http://www.pocket-tunes.com/?page=new_win

OR

Even easier, you can update directly from Pocket Tunes!

1. Open Pocket Tunes
2. Go to the Menu and select "Help"
3. Then select "Check for Updates"

Pocket Tunes will then check to see if there is a newer version available and download it directly to your device and start the installer once downloaded.

To purchase a copy of Pocket Tunes Deluxe 4.1.1 for Windows Mobile please go to:

http://www.pocket-tunes.com/?page=purchase_win


What's new?

* New menu item linking to download page for available skins

* The VGA skin is now included by default with the product download

* The 320x320 skin for devices like the Treo 800w is now included by default with the product download

* User's can now turn off the screen on pro devices while WM DRM tracks are playing

See the complete list of bug fixes at http://www.pocket-tunes.com/?page=history .

Enjoy!

Mark Belliveau

VP, Marketing and Business Development

NormSoft, Inc.

New Palm and Windows Mobile skins

Hello everyone,

We have added some new skins for Pocket Tunes
http://www.pocket-tunes.com/skins/index.html .

On Palm:

We have added a very very cool skin called "iTunes 7 with Coverflow". The really cool thing about this skin is that it shows the album art for the current track AND the previous and next track. Similar to the view you get in iTunes showing the 3 tracks album art. Some brilliant work by Bernhard Lee Strobl the skin's author.

Take a look at the "iTunes 7 with Coverflow" skin here:
http://www.pocket-tunes.com/skins/index.php?os=PalmOS&id=153

On Windows Mobile:

We have added to skins on Windows Mobile. Both are winners of the skin contest we had at 99 Designs (www.99designs.com).

Pcok Green - This is a cool graphic skin with a very nice display.

Lean - A deceptively simple skin with some nice added features like a pop up volume bar.

See both Windows Mobile skins plus the Cool Black skin and VGA skins here, http://www.pocket-tunes.com/skins/index.php?os=WinMo .

Take care,
Dave
NormSoft, Inc

NormSoft Introduces Pocket Tunes Music and Radio Player for Windows Mobile Smartphones

Today NormSoft announced the availability of its award-winning audio player Pocket Tunes&trade Deluxe for Windows Mobile® 5 and 6 devices. With the addition of Windows Mobile, Pocket Tunes now supports Palm, Inc.'s entire family of handhelds and smartphones in addition to many Windows Mobile handhelds and smartphones from other manufacturers.

Read today's complete press release at:
http://normsoft.com/press/2008-06-02.html

Mark Belliveau - VP, Marketing and Business Development

Pocket Tunes &trade - Your phone. Your music. &trade

Advanced Internet Radio Not So Advanced !

As many of our users already know Pocket Tunes Deluxe features Internet radio streaming. Internet radio can be a pleasant change from the everyday music that we all have on our devices. Many times I find myself browsing through the Internet radio catalog looking for new bands or anything else that strikes my interest.

However, Did you know that you are not just limited to the music catalog that we offer? Many of your favorite local stations are also now available online. This can be wonderful especially when your stuck on a business trip out of town. For instance if you visit radio-locator.com you can do a search by zip code, region or address and instantly you will get results of local stations offered in that area. Plus websites like Shoutcast.com and live365.com offer literally thousands of stations for your listening pleasure. All you have to do is navigate to these sites via Blazer or your browser of choice on your device, select the Internet radio station you want to listen to and Pocket Tunes will play it.

Now you might be wondering what if I find a station I really like and I do not want to lose it. Well all stations that you have previously listened to are filed in your Choose songs screen under unfiled. You can even make playlists of your favorite Internet radio stations directly in Pocket Tunes Deluxe which can really save time when trying to track down a station.

Now let's talk a little bit about the frills! While working in support daily I find one of the most common questions being "How do I use a Bluetooth headset/speakers or Bluetooth in my car with Pocket Tunes Deluxe?" Well now Normsoft has that answer. We have teamed up with Softick to become a reseller of their award winning software called "Softick Audio Gateway". SAG gives Palm OS based devices functionality for Bluetooth devices.

What does this do for me you ask? Well now you can use your favorite Bluetooth headset or speakers to listen to Pocket Tunes wherever you go. Imagine you have a data plan on your cell phone and already enjoy Internet radio. Why not use that in conjunction with Softick Audio Gateway and listen in your car or while your out doing the morning jog, via wireless!

For more information on Softick Audio Gateway click here.

Pocket Tunes links that might be of interest to you:

Information on creating Internet radio playlists
Manually adding internet radio streams to Pocket Tunes
Playing Live365 stations in Pocket Tunes

Links of interest from this article:
Radio-Locator
Live365
Shoutcast


- Matthew C , Customer Support Specialist/Audiophile/Gamer/Sleep Deprived, NormSoft Inc.

Pocket Tunes adds support for a classic format

Hello everyone,

NormSoft Inc. is pleased to announce that we have added support for a classic audio format.

So go up to your attics and dust them off, we've added support for 8 track tape!!!

Yes, that big boxed format of the 70's has a new home with Pocket Tunes 8 (yep, we've skipped right to version 8 we are so excited about this addition).

How does it work? Well once you purchase Pocket Tunes 8, we'll ship you a special Bluetooth adapter that will attach to the 8 track and wirelessly send those classics from the 70s to Pocket Tunes. Yes you can leave those 8 tracks right where they are, under the seats of your car, in the trunk, musty box in the basement, anywhere and Pocket Tunes can still play the tracks. Gum, chocolate, cigarette ash stuck to the tape? No problem, Pocket Tunes can digitally remove all imperfections. Casing so faded you don't even know WHAT is inside the case? Piece a cake, Pocket Tunes will figure it out and display the album art....or at least a hand drawn facsimile.

Don't have Bluetooth, don't worry we throw in a wired adapter as well.

Look for an announcement as to availability very soon. We just have some final testing to do after we pry one of the testers Three Dog Night tapes out of our test device.

For more info, please see this Knowledge Base article http://www.normsoft.com/kb/idx/50/248/article/ .

Happy April Fool's Day everyone!!

Take care,
Dave
Director of Quality Control and Customer Support
NormSoft, Inc

Sounds of my City - Seattle Edition

Several months ago I moved back to Seattle, my favorite city. Thanks to internet radio, Pocket Tunes Deluxe users can listen to the radio of any major city. Here are some local Seattle stations with URLs to the streaming audio pages. You can enter these into your Palm web browser to listen with Pocket Tunes Deluxe (or a valid Trial version of Pocket Tunes).

KUOW News and Talk Public Radio
http://www.kuow.org (home page)
http://128.208.34.80:8002/listen.pls (128kbps)
http://128.208.34.80:8000/listen.pls (32kbps)

KEXP - Eclectic Music Mix
Formerly KCMU, this was one of the first stations with a 24 hour, high quality internet stream.
http://kexp.ort (home page)
http://kexp-mp3-128k.cac.washington.edu:8000/listen.pls (128kbps)
http://kexp-mp3-1.cac.washington.edu:8000/listen.pls (32kbps)

KBCS Community Radio - Eclectic Music and Talk
http://kbcs.fm (home page)
http://9810.broadcastmatrix.com:9810/listen.pls (96kbps)
http://9820.broadcastmatrix.com:9820/listen.pls (32kbps)

KPLU 24 Hour Jazz
http://www.kplu.org (home page)
http://sc1.abacast.com:8236/listen.pls (32kbps Jazz 24/7)

KGRG Alternative Rock, Punk, Metal
http://kgrg.com (home page)
http://kgrg.com/streams/kgrg_broadband_aac.m3u (96k AAC+)
http://kgrg.com/streams/kgrg_dialup.m3u (32kbps AAC+)

There are also some great live music venues here in Seattle. One of my favorites is the Tractor Tavern in the Ballard neighborhood. They tend to book alternative country, rockabilly, and Celtic acts. I really wish I could attend the upcoming April performances by Tift Merrit and Southern Culture on the Skids but my schedule will not allow it.

We also have two big music festivals each year. The NW Folklife festival is over Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend brings Bumbershoot. Both are a great way to get outside and enjoy a wide variety of music, art, and festival food in the shadow of the famous Space Needle. If you happen to be in town, check them out! You can stream a wide variety of music from the 2007 Folklife festival here: http://www.nwfolklifeaudio.org/2007festival.html.

Who knows, maybe in future blog entries other NormSoft employees will share their own local sounds.

- Jeff Loomis, Principal Software Engineer, NormSoft, Inc.

Keeping Pocket Tunes Close at Hand

Pocket Tunes is one of the most-run applications on my Centro. Whether I'm queuing up my favorite album or working on the latest and greatest features for an upcoming version of Pocket Tunes, I like to be able to get to my music quickly.

If you really enjoy music and want to access Pocket Tunes more quickly on your Treo or Centro, here are three easy options.

The most effective way is to assign one of your phone's buttons to launch Pocket Tunes immediately. To set this up, press the "Home" button and find the "Prefs" application, usually under the "System" category. Pick "Buttons", and you will see a list of the applications that get started when you press the various buttons on your phone. Personally, I don't use the Voice Recorder, so I always set the "Press + Hold Side button" to start Pocket Tunes instead. Now you can access Pocket Tunes with a quick button press regardless of what you are doing on your phone.

Second, you can use the shortcut under the phone dial pad. On the Centro and some other Treo models, there is already a shortcut there by default. Press the Phone button and you should see a dial pad with 4 shortcuts below it. Press the down button on the 5-way navigator to reveal more shortcuts. If "pTunes" is there, you can access Pocket Tunes quickly from that shortcut. If you don't see pTunes or if you want to move it somewhere more convenient, you can add a shortcut by pressing the Menu button on your keyboard and selecting "Edit Favorites Pages..."

The third option is for power users with a lot of software on their phones. Press the Home button and make sure that you are in the "All" category. Now simply press the letter 'p' on the keyboard. It's the upper-right key on the Palm, so it's really easy to find. You should now see "pTunes" really close by, and you can use the 5-way navigator buttons to select it and start it.

I hope that brings you a little closer to enjoying your favorite tunes on your phone!

-- Tim Norman, Founder / President, NormSoft, Inc.

Pocket Tunes Provides Music Playback on the Palm Centro from AT&T

Today NormSoft announced the recent availability of Pocket Tunes on the Palm Centro from AT&T. We're very excited about the inclusion of Pocket Tunes and the music playback capabilities that it is providing for customers on the AT&T network.

Read today's complete press release at:
http://www.normsoft.com/press/2008-02-26.html

Mark Belliveau - VP, Marketing and Business Development

Pocket Tunes &trade - Your phone. Your music. &trade

Kids + Pocket Tunes + Music

"Daddy, can you bring the blue Palm and the black speakers to my room so we can dance?"

That's my oldest, Ben, age 4. He likes the Zire 72 because it's blue. I have a few Palms that I use to test Pocket Tunes with so my Kids have names for some. The LifeDrive is called "The Mooovies Palm" by my 2 year old because occasionally I'll watch a movie on it. And the Centro is "Daddy's Palm" because it is the one I usually take with me when we go out.

However the "Blue Palm" is the chosen one for music, at least for a a 2 and a 4 year old. But where do you get kids music from?

Well the first obvious place is from CD's. You can rip tracks from the CD to audio files and transfer those to your Palm using Windows Media Player. There are other options if you have Pocket Tunes Deluxe. The on-line stores have collections of Children's music that you can purchase outright or, with a subscription membership, download as many as you want, change them up every month (after the kids have listened to them a gazillion times of course).

Here are a couple of ways I look for music for my kids:

Online stores make it pretty easy to find Children's songs. Once you log into your account, go to the Genres tab. Then Select Children's Music and you can see what is available. I'll often play clips from the tracks for my kids and let them choose. I usually make up playlists with all the tracks the kids choose. Then drag them to my Palm. This way both the tracks and the playlists are transferred and I can easily select them (or avoid them when it's my time to rock). Most stores also have collections of playlists that they or other members create. These are great to use to discover new stuff or save you time searching. You can usually drag the playlist over to your Palm and the tracks and playlists are transferred over for you. I know in Napster I can select the Children's collection of playlists and it will show me a ton of different playlists that I can download to Pocket Tunes.

It's nice to have the tracks on a Palm because we can take them wherever we go. Connect it to the car radio for long trips to Grandma and Grandpas or out in the backyard with some portable speakers. Though 15 plays in a row of Barney singing "The Elephant Song" may not be the best thing for neighbor relations.

There are a few online stores out there. I've used both Napster and Rhapsody and they are both excellent. Their subscription service is nice because you can download unlimited numbers of tracks so you can keep changing the tracks up for the kids. Not all children's music is available on the subscription services, some you may have to purchase outright, but Pocket Tunes Deluxe plays purchased tracks from both Napster and Rhapsody as well as other on-line stores that support the Microsoft PlaysForSure format. The best bet is to give them a try, most have a free trial period. Choose the one that works best for you and your kids. Remember, you need to have Pocket Tunes Deluxe to play tracks from most on-line stores.

Take care,
Dave
Director of Quality Assurance and Customer Support @ NormSoft
Dad @ home