HOWTO: Use MP3 Player on the O2 X3 :You can encode your MP3 file(s) to different compression quality, i.e. different Bit rate. There are three options of encoding MP3 file(s): - Constant Bit Rate (CBR)- Bit rate is not changing is still same.
- Average Bit Rate (ABR)- Bit rate is changing, and the quality of sound is better than in Constant bit rate.
- Variable Bit Rate VBR)- Bit rate is changing realtime during the song ( between 96kbps and 256kbs if you choose the higher quality). Slightly bigger file again
MP3 files can be encoded from your CDs through a tool like dbpowerAMP (or another encoder of your choice) with the different bit rate and different encoding. Start from 96kbps up to 128kbps, which combines reasonable playback quality with pretty good compression (so room for more tracks). there is no direct way to get your MP3 files into your O2 X3 through the supplied software. Instead you must buy a card reader like this one (MobyMemory USB2 mini-SD Card Reader), or an Multi-format card reader (see these) and get an SD adapter jacket with a new mini-SD card (as supplied with all our cards). Then you connect the card up to your PC (or MAC) via the reader and copy and paste across your MP3 files to the mini-SD card. The following screen shots are reporting the O2 X3 Mp3 Player in action with various encoded MP3 files. We did this when we were testing our the new X3 as we wanted to stretch its music player a bit to see how it performed. The screenshots also give you an idea of file size for length of song with the differrent compression options. 96kbps CBR.. 96kbps ABR (better sounding than CBR for same size file).. 96kbps VBR.. best sound out of these three but slightly larger file size. Our recommendation would be 128kbps VBR for a sound you are not compromising quality on, but with a decent sized mini-SD, should still leave you plenty of room for lots of tracks. If you must squeeze more on, then try 96kbps VBR conversion. One thing we did not like about the O2 X3 is that it does not let you keep your MP3 files nested in different levels of folders on the mini-SD card (i.e. by Artist and then by Album for example). Instead they all sit in the Music folder. But as it is not on the root folder, there is no FAT limitation on no. of files which is at least a good thing.. (this can be a bit of a problem for Nokia 6230 when in default mode of scanning the MMC) We like the O2 X3 for its snazzy style, and useful music player (the sound is pretty good with the supplied headphones) all at a price much lower than most of the other phones in the same music function category. check out our range of compatible mini-SD memory cards for the O2 X3, at sizes from 128MB up to the mighty 1GB mini-SD (you saw here first!) All our mini-SD memory cards are compatible with the O2 X3 and come supplied with a free SD adapter jacket (so you can use the memory in SD-slot cameras, PDAs etc..) Also our new mini-SD Reader makes a great companion for one of our mini-SD cards (and it is discounted with the memory card purchase). Meaning there is no need to carry around the SD adapter jacket everywhere anymore..
Eduard
Test Engineer
Edo@MobyMemory.com |