Edit:
After I wrote this post the Viking MP3-player has been updated with a bookmark resume from last position feature that makes it remember the track and the exact position of the last file you where playing. This makes the Viking MP3-player my clear choise for listening to audio books and podcasts on my Nokia.
Previously I have mentioned that I use my Nokia 6630 to listen to podcasts. It plays MP3, and the memory card can be synced easily using Windows Media Player. However, I am not satisfied with the built in player in the phone. Mostly because of the poor fast forward possibilities. So I asked my friend Mr. Google and he found a couple of players. The Viking MP3Player 3.33, the UltraMP3 and MP3Go looked like the most promising so I gave them a try.
MP3Go
On my 6630 this one gave a horrible sound quality and featured a not-so-intuitive interface. So, okay – NEXT!
UltraMP3
Good sound quality, fancy interface with advanced skinning possibilities and a slightly better fast forward than the built in RealPlayer. Basically a huge amount of stuff that I don’t need and a minor improvement on the functionallity I want. NEXT!
Viking MP3Player 3.33
Good sound quality. A very nice and clean interface. Easy and intuitive. A possibility to change the background picture. Very good fast forward and rewind functionallity. The price is $18 and this one enhance my listening experience enough to justify a purchase! Now, if the Vikings could include functionallity to let the player remember where I left off for each file I play and resume at the same place we would have a very nice player for podcast listening on the 6630.
OggPlay
I just added OggPlay to the list of players that you should try. Thanks, Phil Wilson! OggPlay is free, fast, clean and gives quite good fast forward and rewind possibilities. No bookmark-functionallity to make the player remember where you left off here either. Support for advanced skins and user defineable keyboard shortcuts.
The next step is to do a mod to my headphones. Something like this, so I can use my Koss Portapro and my Sony Noise Cancelling headphones with my Nokia. I will post back here…
Edit2:
And now I have modified my headphones. You can read more about that here.
Related posts:
How to listen to podcasts on your mobile phone
Modify your Nokia headphones.
Closing all programs on a 6630 or 6680
How to completely reset your Nokia 6630
I use OggPlay, which also plays MP3s.
Official verdict: meets the 80/20 rule.
Thanks! OggPlay is a good one. The post is now updated.
[...] Update: I have installed a third party MP3-player to enhance my listening experience. Link. [...]
Hi Eirik. I feel that its not quite correct to say that Viking mp3 supports bookmarking.What it merely does is to resume playback from where you last left. Sorry, in my book(!) that does not qualify as a bookmark.
I’ll give you an example. Suppose I listened to an audio book from say time 00:00 (hh:mm) to 00:30 and closed the book. Next time I start it, it resumes from 00:31. But suppose I just want to go back and listen to something at 00:10 on which I want to refresh mky memory. I’ll have to ‘rewind’ the track. Moreover, after I have listened what I wanted to recall from 00:10, I’ll have to ‘forward’ to reach 00.30 again.
Now bookmarking is something like I bookmark 00:30. Next time the playback resumes from the last bookmark 00:30. I go back to 00:10 by rewinding, or using the bookmark 00:10, if I had created any. I listen to 00:10 and simply reopen bookmark 00:30. A real bookmarking would be akin to Media Player Classic for Windows.
Another way would be how Lonely Cat Games’ Series 60 Smart Movie Player does it. Here you can input any time location and simply jump to it.
I stated this at another place and I say it again here, that I wonder whether there is some technical limitation on the platform in making an audio player supporting either bookmarks or jump to time, or whether the software makers are pure blind!
I totally agree and have edited the post to avoid any confusion. Thanks for noting.
Hi,
A feature as important as bookmarks is the ability to adjust the playback speed. I have found that I can easily listen at 10-20% higher speed than the original recording and sometimes even faster. So far I have only seen this in Windows Media Player and I believe the iPod has this feature as well (I’m the last one on the planet not to have used one yet). Currently, I have to change the playback speed with software like GoldWave, but that leaves no flexibility once I start listening. The MP3 player for Nokia that has bookmarks and playback speed adjustments will get my money!
Interesting. Someone should contact the people behind the Viking Player. They might include an option to increase the playback speed.
Good sound quality, fancy interface with advanced skinning possibilities and a slightly better fast forward than the built in RealPlayer. Basically a huge amount of stuff that I don’t need and a minor improvement on the functionallity on the nokia 6630 all by daniel