audio bookmarking with remote integration

[uzetaab]

Just checking.

My own research has told me that, currently, I can either have an app that supports bookmarking, like google listen, or I can use the integrated music player that supports the headphone remote and control buttons on the drag to unlock screen.

But I can't have both?

Btw, it's probably important to note that I listen to both audiobooks and podcasts, so I really need support for both media types. Ideally, I'd really like to have a desktop manager for my podcasts at least, but for audiobooks too would be ideal. I know about doubletwist, but it doesn't give me bookmarking & I haven't tried to figure out how well it manages audiobooks.

There is a possibility that I can manage with double twist, then play on the device with a app market player, but I've not found one that supports the remote or drag to unlock screen.

I really want to dump my ipod touch, so, thank's very much for any suggestions!

 

[uzetaab]

I guess nobody knows of an app that supports what I need yet, so I'll use this thread to document my research, perhaps others will find it useful.

Notes:
-Bear in mind that these are not full reviews as I am only looking at things that are useful to me, and perhaps other podcast/audiobook listeners.
-stock HTC wired earphones
-scrubbing is being able to move a slider to change position in a track.
-the button sizes are currently small, medium, large & extra large. IMO, for jogging or driving, anything smaller than large are too small.
-Upon further research, apparently special bookmarkable files can be created from standard files, but this would require a lot of extra work, I'm attempting to find a program that natively saves bookmarks of standard mp3 files.

Android default app: free
Bookmarking: no
Remote: yes-pause/play, skip
Lock screen widget: yes-pause/play, skip

Location:
Included with phone.

Interface:
-control buttons are small and placed closely together, not ideal for jogging or driving.
-no fast forward, only skip.
-scrubbing, but not variable speed.
-swipe to skip
-lock screen buttons are small and close together.

Widget:
2 from HTC -cover art, skip and play/pause. Buttons are small and close together.
1 from Android -plain text display, small in size, buttons are small & close together, no skip backwards.

Subscriptions:
None

Mixzing media player: free, paid upgrade us6.99
Bookmarking: no
Remote: yes-pause/play, skip
Lock screen widget: yes-pause/play, skip. limited time demo included, but must upgrade to keep it.

Location:
Android Marketplace
mixzing.com

Interface:
-control buttons are small and placed closely together
-no fast forward, only skip.
-scrubbing, but not variable speed.
-lock screen buttons are medium and close together.

Widget:
3 small, large & text
large -cover art, skip and play/pause. Buttons are medium and close together.
small -cover art, skip forward only and play/pause. Buttons are small and close together.
text -medium skip buttons and large play/pause

Subscriptions:
None

Mort Player MUSIC version: free, donate option

Note: There are 2 versions of this player, plus a separate widget program.

Bookmarking: no, this version does not support bookmarking.
Remote: yes -play/pause, skip
Lock screen widget: no, but the lock screen can be disabled. The issue with disabling the lock screen is that the phone will turn on when any button is pressed, even the remote buttons.

Location:
Android Marketplace
http://www.sto-helit.de/

Interface:
-control buttons are medium and placed closely together
-no fast forward, only skip.
-scrubbing, but not variable speed.
-rotate support

Widget:
2 from add on download-cover art, track skip, album skip, fast forward/rewind and play/pause. Buttons are small and close together.


Subscriptions:
None

 

[uzetaab]

reserved

 

[uzetaab]

reserved 2

 

[uzetaab]

reserved 3

 

[njperry]

I will be watching this thread closely, as I like to listen to audio books a lot and need the bookmarking feature. I can't believe the built in player does not have this! I read elsewhere (using Google search) that if you put files in the podcasts folder on your sd card, the built in player will automatically remember where you left off, but I could not get it to work. I think it may be because my phone (Droid Incredible) has HTC sync, but I am not sure.

 

[uzetaab]

I don't know how much more work I will do on this since I have found a workable solution.

I will do a more in depth explanation, but here's the short version of what I use:

Until Android supports audible.com files I'm using Sound Taxi to make the files work on my device. Note that you should buy the 50x version of the program, the 6x is just too slow.

I still use itunes as my pocatcher atm.

I am using isyncr to transfer the files (both podcasts and audiobooks) from itunes to my device. I created a smart playlist that lists unlistened to podcasts.

I use Mort Player Audiobook to listen to all files on my device atm.

I may switch to something that downloads podcasts directly to the device, like Google Listen.

The flaws:
Mort player does not work the best at sorting files, so it can be a bit confusing trying to find the one you want. Other than that, Mort player is fantastic.

iTunes does not know when you have listened to a file, so you have to tell it manually.

 

[njperry]

Thanks. I downloaded MortPlayer and will try it out.