The installer offers Pocket Tunes itself and an application to allow the program to integrate with Windows Media Player, as well as a skin to change the look of the player and plugins to allow you to play music in Ogg Vorbis and WAV formats. By default, the application can play AAC and aacPlus, WMA, and MP3 formats.

The NormSoft Web site has a large variety of other skins available and you can create your own if none of those are perfect for you. Figure A shows the "sleek (blue)" skin, my favorite for its simplicity and ease of use.

FIGURE A


PocketTunes, with the "sleek (blue)" skin installed, is a clean and easy to use application. Roll over picture for a larger image.

When run, the application automatically checks your Palm's memory and memory card to locate any music you might already have installed. As well, if the Palm is connected to the computer when you start PocketTunes, the software starts up the Windows Media Player if you've installed the integration feature.

Using Pocket Tunes
I use iTunes instead of Windows Media Player because I use an iPod, but I had Windows Media import my library so I could test the connection between Pocket Tunes and Windows Media. At first I was unsuccessful: the transfer would start and then freeze, requiring me to reset my Treo each time.

I contacted NormSoft's tech support (without identifying myself as a reviewer) and had a response within hours explaining a number of possible problems and suggesting I first try a different SD card. Sure enough, a new card worked perfectly. I was impressed with their response: quick, detailed, and accurate.

To transfer music, you start Pocket Tunes with your Palm connected to the synchronization cable or cradle. Windows Media Player starts automatically and shows how much space you have available on your memory card. You can transfer to the Palm's internal memory as well, but I could only do this when the SD card was removed from my Treo.

Transferring one CD's worth of songs took approximately two minutes, considerably faster than HotSyncing the same files but not as fast as a direct copy to the memory card. I did notice, after the synchronization was complete, that the desktop said I could disconnect the Palm -- but the Palm didn't say it could be disconnected for a good fifteen seconds afterward.