Thread: pda for datalogging & mp3 files?

does ANYone know about datalogging & mp3 playing capability with a pda??

Originally Posted by nkotch

Are you limited to using a Palm PDA? I have an iPaq (windows mobile) but most relatively recent PDAs (palm, windows, etc...) support playback of mp3 files.

What pda do you have now? The only thing is song capacity will be limited by what type/size of card media storage you can use.

i currently have a palm iiix. it has no mp3 capability. my hope would be to get a newer palm in the hope that i can still use some of my accessoreis, but it does not have to be one.

my intent is to have a pda that can play as many or more songs as a 10-disc cd changer hence replacing its function. i don't know for what a comparable capacity would be, but assuming a typical cd will hold anywhere from 8 to maybe 15 songs per disk, that could result in ~150 songs. i figure if i have a pda that can store/play at least that many or close to, then i'm good to go.

the only catch is, it has to be able to run dataloggin software. i use mmcd.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...roup_id=114453
http://mmcdlogger.sourceforge.net/

forgive my inexperience in all of this, but it only recently dawned on my to rethink my audio setup so i am not at all familiar with ipods, ipaqs, nor mp3 capable pda's. so do you know of any that have both of these capabilities or have you ever used your pda as a datalogger?

is what i'm looking for non existent?? aren't there pda's which also store mp3 files and can house datalogging software???

Does the datalogging software you want to use have a forum? Perhaps checking there to see which newer Palm models can work with it would be better than checking here.

Also, you may want to try to find a different datalogging software. "data logging Windows CE" yeilded alot of search results on Google, and nearly all Windows CE/Windows Mobile PDAs can play MP3s and videos. I'm not very familiar with data logging, so you'll have to search through and find what you need.

[QUOTE=tom61]Does the datalogging software you want to use have a forum? Perhaps checking there to see which newer Palm models can work with it would be better than checking here.
...{/QUOTE]

lol! actually there is forum for the datalogging software & someone on there specifically suggested that i come to THIS site! go figure.

i prefer to use the mmcd software because i'm familiar with it, its freeware & it works well with my car.

but, that is only half of the concern. i also want to know if there are pda's that have mp3 capability that can connect to a car stereo receiver and function similar to a multi disk changer. it seems there are car receivers that have aux inputs or external RCA connectors for this type of purpose, but i'm not sure how they work. will the receiver display info & offer control of the mpa player (or PDA) sort of like how it does with cd changer controls? or is the control done strictly from the pda & the receiver has no controller function & displays no info about the mp3 file being played?

anyone familiar with that?

Originally Posted by nkotch

I mentioned above that pretty much any PDA you buy now will support playback of mp3 files. The early palms may not, but just about all the ones you can get now either have a builtin media player or you can install any number of 3rd party ones. I think you need to check and see if you can find a newer palm model that runs that datalog software, and then go to Palm's website or do a google on the model and see if it supports playback of mp3.

It'll be a pretty basic setup, the audio output (headphone jack) of the PDA will just plug into the AUX input of your head unit like you said. You'll have to control the music from the PDA though, as far as I know there's no head unit that'll control a PDA that's hooked up to it... too many different types and different software.

thanks nkotch. at least now i have a better idea of how/where the pda should be located in terms of accessing the music on it & being able to see it easily if i have to acess functions on it to control music playing.

i'll check palm website again or ask them about using the external connections on their recent models. you see tmy car uses obd-i & the current cable i have uses a serial connector & converter which then connects to the palm's external port. i think it's a propietary configuration. it's not a serial bus nor USB port. i believe most of the recent models are using usb. i do not know of any cable that would work for connecting to my obd-1 connector.
hopefully something is out there...

& yes, you did state that earlier about pda's having mp3 capability.