The Flipside BlackBerry MP3 player (Published by:Electric Pocket) is a lightweight easy to use MP3 player that stands head and shoulders above the default BlackBerry Media player. With the option to set playlists and view album artwork and detailed band information, there is lots to see and do.
The FlipSide BlackBerry MP3 player carries a price tag of $19.95 but is available for a free 3 day trial period at the BBGeeks Store.
Getting Started
Downloading and Installing the required files:
Installing the Flipside software on your BlackBerry is a simple task. Just download the required file set from the Flipside website (use above mentioned links) and install it using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Additionally you have the option to download the install files OTA directly to your BlackBerry handset.
After installing the Flipside software on your BlackBerry you will notice a small record appear in your application icons. Clicking on the Flipside icon will launch the application on your BlackBerry.
The Flipside software sources out all of the music files on your BlackBerry media card and will automatically attempt to locate album artwork associated with each of your audio files. If no artwork is available, the Flipside software will display a music note in it’s place.
Navigating through your music files is as simple as scrolling your trackwheel/trackball to the left or right. The album artwork slides smoothly in either direction and the album names appear above the artwork. The name of the song being played will be visible at the bottom of your display at all times along with the status bar showing you how much of the song has been played so far. A click of the trackball/trackwheel will dim out the album artwork and overlay the song title on top.
Features and Functionality
When you are viewing the Flipside user interface, you can press the BlackBerry application key to bring up a list of available options. These include:
Play Controls: Mute, Shuffle All, Play, Next, Previous
Shortcut Keys:
- Press A to jump to the first song in your list
- Press 0 to skip all the way to the last song in your list
- Press and hold the trackball/trackwheel to add the currently selected song to your playlist.
- Press the Spacebar to pause and restart a song
Find Album Art: Clicking the “Find Album Artwork” option will result in an internet search for the particular album associated with the currently selected song. This will require an internet search and data charges will apply. If the search is successful, the newly downloaded album artwork will now be visible in the main song selection area.
For songs that already have album art downloaded, there is an alternate option that allows you to delete this artwork if you so choose.
FlipSide Extras: Selecting this option will launch your mobile browser and get additional photos, concert dates and band bio information courtesy of Last.fm.
Add to Playlist: With any song selected in the main area, click the application button and then “Add to Playlist”. This will create a playlist within the Flipside application. Repeat this process for each additional song you would like to add to this playlist. The playlist will be visible as an icon located at the end of your list of audio files. (Scroll all the way to the right).
Once you have added your first song to the playlist, you will notice that two additional options appear in the menu. These are “Show Playlist” and “Clear Playlist”. These are pretty self-explanatory.
Refresh Music: This option will scan your BlackBerry in an attempt to locate any new audio files that it might be able to add to the FlipSide song selection area.
Unlock: Use this function to enable the full program after you have purchased an unlock code.
My opinion:
Flipside rocks! This software provides an easy to navigate and intuitive interface that allows access to all of your audio files stored on your BlackBerry Media Card. For the most part, I had no issues with the experience at all. Clean and simple. If I had to make a suggestion of things they may want to improve, it would have to be the addition of a full volume mute. Currently when a song is muted on my 8800 it is still clearly audible.
Additionally, I might suggest slowing down the animation on the album artwork by a few frames. I found it quite easy to scroll my trackball a small amount, but still manage to skip past a few songs at a time. Slowing it down just a touch might make it easier to land on the correct song with little effort.
Oh yeah, rewinding and fast forwarding would be a nice addition too =)
