I use the Ogg Vorbis media file format and the Symbian OggPlay media player for listening to music on my Nokia N80 IE.

I have previously used iTunes to both manage my music files and keep the music on my phone (my old phone, a Sony Ericsson P910i) synchronized with a playlist. I have decided to continue along this path and because I now have both a new phone and a new laptop, I have to setup everything from scratch.

This is a brief report on setting up Ogg Vorbis support on my laptop - I will defer the details concerning synchronization between iTunes and phone to a later post.

OK, so I think I have now gathered all the applications and utilities necessary to make iTunes/QuickTime and Windows Media Player support Ogg Vorbis files (.ogg).

• You need iTunes and QuickTime from Apple. By downloading the iTunes + QuickTime bundle from Apple, I got iTunes v. 7.0.2.16 and QuickTime QuickTime v. 7.1.3.
• The Ogg Vorbis DirectShow filters from Illiminable enable Windows Media Player - and other DirectShow based players to play back Ogg Vorbis files. I installed version 0.70.0827 of the filters. You could also use another player that supports Ogg Vorbis out-of-the-box, for instance the VLC Player
• The xiph QuickTime components enable Ogg Vorbis support in QuickTime (and thus iTunes). I installed version 0.1.5 of the QuickTime components.

After installing all of the above it is possible to listen to Ogg Vorbis files using both Windows Media Player and iTunes.

Finally, to encode music into Ogg Vorbis, and to convert between different media file formats, I use the free version of the Easy CD-DA Extractor from Poikosoft. Easy CD-DA Extractor is very fast at ripping music CD's into Ogg Vorbis and also converts between a wide range of audio file formats.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Our neighbor has been rearranging his garden all weekend using some sort of tractor. I asked him if he would mind remove the concrete fence posts in our front yard (there are similar fence posts in his garden and I saw how easily he removed those using the tractor). He did not mind at all and earlier today he pulled free all four of them. Alongside one of the fence posts, one end of a thorn cable came out of the ground and the cable unfortunately turned out to be our telephone cable (including the DSL broadband connection).

  

So, I am now posting this using my N80 IE as dialup modem via bluetooth.

I have contected TDC and I think a technician will be able to come and rescue us on Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

These are the applications that are currently installed on my Nokia N80 Internet Edition:

• AutoLock - locks the phone's keys after a preset period of inactivity.
• Calcium - nifty calculator.
• DivX Player.
• OggPlay - great music player that plays Ogg Vorbis files (and several other formats, including .mp3, .aac and .wma). Only a beta release is currently available for Symbian S60V3 - I installed the 1.70 MMF version.
• Opera browser - I have sort of become addicted to Opera's small screen rendering and prefer it over the N80 builtin browser (which actually is not bad).
• Screenshot for Symbian OS - by Antony Pranata.
• Nokia E50 search - local search for S60V3 devices. Searches messages, emails, events, contacts and other files.
• Nokia WLAN Wizard - nice little "Find 'n' Connect" utility. Available from the "Standby" screen.

I have two more applications on my wish list. I would really like a RSS reader application that allows me to read feeds off line. I would also like a blog client application that enables me to post on this blog (Wordpress). So far, I have not been able to find these two applications, but maybe I have been looking in the wrong places?

Suggestions are most welcome!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Jonas, Anna's uncle, shot these videos when we visited Karen & Jens last Saturday.

(more…)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Both my new router and new mobile are UPnP-enabled devices and although I bought neither of them with UPnP in mind, I have been experimenting a bit. Partly because Pash - a visitor to this blog - left a comment about his UPnP results.

WL-500g Premium setup:
If the Media Server is enabled on the WL-500gP and you plug a USB drive into the router USB port assigned to the Media Server ("USB Application" -> "Basic Config"), the router will by itself create the necessary media folders and start sharing their content. That's at least what happened to me, when I plugged in an empty USB key. My WL-500gP is running Asus firmware, rev. 1.9.7.0.
The folder structure created is as follows:

-share
– \Download
– \Music
– \Photo
– \Video

N80 IE setup:
Set up UPnP by going to "Connect." -> "Home netw." -> "Settings" and choose the access point of your home network. To browse content on other UPnP servers, there is no need to share content on the phone, but if you wish to do so, sharing is set up in "Connect." -> "Home netw." -> "Content sharing"

Browse media from N80 IE:

Go to "Gallery" -> "Home network". The WL-500gP should show up here - default name is "WL500G.Premium" (see screenshot below). I think the media files residing on the WL-500gP USB drive should now be displayed, but nothing comes up.

To see if the problem is caused by the WL-500gP or the N80 IE, I went ahead and installed a trial version of On2Share Pro - a Windows UPnP media server and client (renderer). The On2Share client works as a plugin for Windows Media Player (WMP). Upon installation, WMP will look for UPnP servers and ask if media on found servers should be added to play lists.

The On2Share client had no problems locating and playing the media on the WL-500gP drive. I also shared some media files on the N80 IE and the On2Share client was able to play back these files without any problems.

I then used the On2Share server to host some media files on my laptop and as you can see in the screen shots¹ below, the N80 IE had no problems locating the laptop server and listing its media files.

 

There is only one problem: the N80 IE cannot play back the media files on the laptop server - it can only redirect the playback to another UPnP device ("Gallery" -> "Home network" -> "Options" -> "Show via home net.").

A sort of conclusion
I did not get UPnP media sharing to work between the Asus WL-500g Premium router and my Nokia N80 Internet Edition mobile phone, but separately each device works with the On2Share server/client.
The N80 IE is not capable of playing back media on UPnP servers (which is what I really wanted to do: use the N80 as a sort of network media player)
I have no data on this, but while experimenting with the above I got the feeling that this UPnP stuff takes up quite a bit of network bandwidth.

1. Taken using Antony Pranata's excellent Screenshot for Symbian OS [back]

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I have had my Nokia N80 Internet Edition for a week now and I thought I would post my initial impressions of using the phone.

Overall, I really like the phone. I am new to slider phones, but it is very straight forward to use the N80 - in both "closed" and "open" mode. Device responsiveness is great - some users have complained about this, but I think the persons in question are used to more "light-weight" devices. Compared to the SE P910i I am used to, the N80 is not bad at all.

Basic phone functionality is flawless and I have also tried video calling without any problems. Before buying the N80 IE, I read about people having problems with texting (sending SMS) being annoyingly slow. Nokia even have a patch to remedy this. Fortunately, I have had no problems of this sort - texting on my N80 is as fast as on other phones I have used.

What I have been using most is the WLAN connectivity and I really, really love this feature. It just works, although there are a few catches when configuring WLAN's. The phone manual instructs you to set up a WLAN by opening "Connect." -> "Conn. mgr." -> "Availab. WLAN"; locate a WLAN; and use "Options" -> "Define access point". If the WLAN uses encryption this will result in the display of a cryptic (no pun intended!) message and you will have to go to "Tools" -> "Connection" -> "Options" -> "New access point" to get up and running. Also, if a WLAN does not broadcast the SSID, make sure to set "Network status" to Hidden - otherwise the phone will not be able to detect the network.

I picked up a book, Ida had ordered from our local public library (there's as blog!) and as I walked through the door, I saw a sign that said something about a public wireless hotspot. I whipped out my N80 and was happily checking my Gmail seconds later. The WLAN connectivity just works…

Integration with flickr is one of the additions of the N80 Internet Edition and this stuff also works great. You first have to set up the phone with a flickr account and then you upload to flickr like so … very simple. As far as I can see, the only drawbacks are lack of support of tags and image visibility (images are private by default - maybe this can be set from within flickr?¹).

I have not used the camera much and I am not a very good photographer. My initial impression is that the lack of auto-focus makes the camera unnecessarily complicated to use. Images taken in plenty of daylight appear to turn out ok, but quality is lacking under low-light conditions. Plenty of daylight is a scarce resource this time of year in Denmark.

1. UPDATE: Yes it can - in your account settings [back]

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

As part of a promotion of their Active Fit diapers, we have received this CD and leaflet from Pampers.

The leaflet shows various 'tumlastik' exercises you can do with your baby and the accompanying CD supposedly contains music appropriate for exercising. The only problem is that the CD is hilariously horrible (I am not the first to notice this). The music is sort of OK, but the person singing cannot sing. He (or she? I really cannot tell) does so in a high pitched, off-key squeaky voice. Also, the quality of the recording is pretty bad in itself.

Well, Listen for your self:

1. "Den lille Ole med paraplyen"
2. "Mester Jacob" (Frère Jaques/Bruder Jacob)
3. "Så går vi rundt om en enebærbusk"
4. "Lille Peter Edderkop"

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!