A quick review of TCPMP 0.70

http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/

The new version of The Core Pocket Media Player (TCPMP), the best, free multimedia player for both the Pocket PC and the Palm OS platform, has just been released. You can download it here. I've tested some of its new functionality:

• support for JPEG/TIFF/PNG image formats (also see my roundup of imaging on the Pocket PC for more information on this subject)
• Speex support (also see my latest article on recording sound on the Pocket PC). (Remember to download and install the separate speex.setup.0.70.* file to be able to play these files!)
• A better ffmpeg library (also see my ffmpeg and QuickTime-related blog entry at http://www.smartphonemag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&title=how_can_i_play_apple_quicktime_mov_video )

As far as JPEG/TIFF/PNG support is concerned, it's really minimalist (no thumbnails, no slideshow configuration options etc), but can be sufficient for a quick image review/slideshow, especially with small, downsampled images. It's not really meant for watching large JPEG's; some will have green artifacts at the bottom as can be seen on the following screenshot: Click for screenshot It, however, worked flawlessly, without any problems, with small(er) images, including PNG's. (I haven't tested it with TIF files.) I've tested the ffmpeg library with the Nigerian videos the last, 0.66 version wasn't able to play the soundtrack of. Unfortunately, the new, 0.70 version doesn't play them either (unlike the desktop player). Finally, its Speex playing capabilities are excellent. Furthermore, as opposed to the, in this respect, buggy Resco Audio Recorder (which isn't able to do the same while playing), it's able to random position in long (>28 minutes) Speex recordings without problems. That is, if you plan to play long Speex recordings on your PDA often (with frequently navigating in the recording), this player is the way to go, unlike the Resco app. As far as its problems/shortcomings/downgrades are concerned, - the (legality-wise) long-debated AAC support has been removed from this version. If you need AAC support, stick with older versions. According to Gerard, the old AAC plug-in doesn't work any more with this version. - there's still no support for subtitles Finally, this thread is worth checking out; the author of TCPMP also posts to it. EDIT on 23 Nov.: - older AAC libraries are still supported. They aren't downloadable from the official pages any more, however. (Google for them.) - this blog entry has been linked from Jim Karpen's latest Web Guide