Palm OS mp3 Encoding Now Available

Palm developer NewBornGames has released mp3enc, the first on device mp3 encoder available for Palm OS. It can convert WAV files into a variety of mp3 bitrates, ranging from 64 - 320kbps.

I tested out the trial version of mp3enc on a short piece of music. The resulting 192 kbps mp3 sounded quite good, with no obvious skipping or compression artifacts.

Palm OS mp3encAs you'd expect from a standard 312mhz CPU, the encoding speed is not exactly mind-blowing: it took about four and a half minutes on my Treo 650 to encode a 20-second piece of music @ 192kbps. However, by using PXA Clocker and overclocking the Treo's 312mhz ARM to 428mhz, this was slashed to three minutes. Those willing (and brave enough!) to push their devices harder will see even more impressive performance. It's also likely that it would be faster with simpler voice-only recordings, such as those generated by the Treo call recorders CallRec and mVoice. Batch encoding is supported, adding further to its usefulness.

mp3enc is simple and stable and NewBornGames deserve kudos for bringing yet another new ability to our Palms.

The full version costs $12 to register, or you can purchase it in a bundle with NewBorn's Wave Edit Pro for $30. There is a free trial available.

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Good idea.

VampireLestat @ 12/11/2006 1:46:51 AM # Q
That is nice. Now add OGG.

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Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 12/11/2006 2:03:58 AM # Q
As I said a long time ago, if my iRiver MP3 player can make excellent MP3 recordings in real time, Palm's devices should also ship with such a capability.

Nice to see an independent developer attempt this solution. They might want to license their code to one of the companies that are selling voice recording software for the Treo. I would definitely buy a high quality MP3-format sound recorder app. With MP3 being a widely used standard, such an app would significantly increase the functionality of the Treo:

- Students recording lectures for later playback on their MP3 players/car stereos.
- Reporters recording interviews and immediately emailing the files to the office.
- Illegally recording conversations for the purposes of bribery.

... the possibilities are endless!

TVoR

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
VampireLestat @ 12/12/2006 2:04:14 AM # Q
hehe bribery

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
freakout @ 12/12/2006 2:59:45 AM # Q
Apparently, the developer created this as a one-off for a client of theirs, but decided to offer it publicly after some others expressed interest. Hence the somewhat limited abilities.

I agree, there's a lot of potential for an on-the-fly recorder. I wonder if your iRiver has a special chip for mp3 encoding, Voice - I can't imaging the CPU needs to be as powerful as that in the Treo.

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
pascanu @ 12/12/2006 6:04:07 AM # Q
I wonder if your iRiver has a special chip for mp3 encoding, Voice - I can't imaging the CPU needs to be as powerful as that in the Treo.

I really doubt that. I bought a 12$, no-name, "made in China" MP3 player/recorder/FM radio that can record conversations in MP3 format. Now what super-chip could that be at this price?

Handspring Visor -> m505 -> Zire71 -> Zire72 -> Treo650

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
freakout @ 12/12/2006 6:29:12 AM # Q
^^ Good point. I shouldn't say "special" chip; rather that it may have mp3 encoding built into the hardware in a way the Treo doesn't that allows for faster encode speeds. Four minutes to encode twenty seconds of audio is far from real-time performance. So I suppose my real question should have been: is hardware or software the problem that stops Palms recording mp3 in real time?

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650 ---> Crimson Treo 680
RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
hkklife @ 12/12/2006 10:42:41 AM # Q
Whether there is a dedicated chip or not is (mostly) irrelevant as I seem to recall real-time MP3 decoding being done on low-end Pentiums years ago. I think the original rule of thumb for mp3s was that a 4 minutes song would take 8 minutes to encode but things pretty much became 1:1 once the Pentium II processor broke 300mhz.

What does a "modern" 312mhz Xscale lack that a nearly decade-old 333mhz Pentium has? MMX extensions?

In my opinion the biggest hindrance to this sort of thing may be the Palm's pitiful SD card bus speeds. I could see the actual writing to the card in real-time being the source of stuttering/hiccuping.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
twrock @ 12/12/2006 7:28:41 PM # Q
Palm's pitiful SD card bus speeds

Kris, do you have any specifics on what is the bus speed (say of a TX)? I'm going to pick up another SD card and wondered at what point I'm wasting money buying a higher speed card.

I'm still waiting for the mythical color HandEra.

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
hkklife @ 12/12/2006 10:48:33 PM # Q
Ron;

No specific info per se (maybe Dmitry Grinberg or Ben Combee or even Beersy could be of further assistance?) but I do recall reading back around the T|T days that Palms have a 1-bit SD bus interface. I know for a fact that most WinMob devices & all recent digital cameras have a 4-bit interface.

Ah here it is:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=4490


While I've never run any specific speed tests, I can assure you that my Sandisk Ultra II 2gb SD card is minutely faster when writing to the card than my old blue 2gb Sandisk card was.

I'd stick with a solid name brand card and go for reliability over speed...avoid the blue Sandisks but go with an Ultra II if you do a lot of multimedia stuff (your PC's card reader can definitely utilize the extra speed if you dump a lot of mp3s & videos onto your card like I do).

For 4gb cards, I'd go with Transcend, Patriot or OCZ. I'd avoid ADATA & PQI as I've had nothing but trouble over the past 2 years with anything made by either of those companies (both flash media & DIMMs). I also read somewhere that the SD consortium are pressuring the Chinese companies to cease their SD 1.1 non-spec 4gb card output and switch over to "official" 4gb SDHC cards so you might wanna grab one while they are still readily available and cheap.

Now, to throw a twist into the whole situation:

The Register (UK) are claiming that the Treo 680 supports SDHC cards! They tested 'em!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12/11/review_palm_treo_680/
(news story coming soon)

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
twrock @ 12/13/2006 12:24:39 AM # Q
I also read somewhere that the SD consortium are pressuring the Chinese companies to cease their SD 1.1 non-spec 4gb card output and switch over to "official" 4gb SDHC cards....

Yep, you got that right. Here in Taiwan we are always on the "bleeding edge" (for better and worse), and it is already really hard to find an "original" (as we say in Chinese) 4gb SD card. Everything has already moved to SDHC. So I think "supply and demand" is already influencing the price: the best price I could find on a Transcend 4gb 150x card was US$125! So that's why I was wondering if I can get by just fine with a 30x card instead, whether there is really any noticeable difference in real-world usage.

Now I'm wondering if I even want a 4gb card at this point. I suspect my TX is already on its last leg, and that will leave me with my Zodiac as my main PDA (which is really not that bad of a problem to have). I believe it only accepts 2gb cards, so I'll probably just get another 2gb and have 4gb capacity on two cards together.

I'm still waiting for the mythical color HandEra.

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 12/13/2006 2:36:28 AM # Q
I wonder if your iRiver has a special chip for mp3 encoding, Voice - I can't imaging the CPU needs to be as powerful as that in the Treo.


I believe the (brilliant) iRiver iFP-799 has a dedicated Philips PNX0102 chip for MP3 playback + encoding. Probably would have cost Palm $1 to add this chip to their $600 Treos...

TVoR

RE: Now if only we could get a good direct-to-MP3 voice recorder.
freakout @ 12/13/2006 5:29:10 AM # Q
^^ I think you meant "$399 Treos, or free with contract." :P
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