| Software Author: |
BCL Technologies |
| Title: |
VoiceMP3 |
| Cost: |
$29.99 |
| Reviewed By: |
Matthew
Miller |
| Storage: |
1.8MB download and 3.9MB on your Pocket PC |
| Rating: |
  |
One of the things I like about using my Pocket PC is the ability to listen to music
while I am reading websites or doing other activities. BCL Technologies has recently
released VoiceMP3,
which is an application designed to allow you to control an MP3 player with voice commands.
I don't regularly use voice activated programs because I am not in environments where I can
comfortably speak to my Pocket PC. I thought this application may be nice to use in my
truck where I have an adapter to play music from my Pocket PC over the speakers and allow
more hands free operation. I'm sorry to say I was very disappointed in this product and
cannot recommend it to our readers.
The application is rather large on your Pocket PC at almost 4MB and installs a separate
MP3 player. I convert all my music to WMA format to save space and found out that this
application only supports MP3 files. So I converted a few of my songs to MP3 to review the
product. You can use existing WMP playlists and also create new ones from VoiceMP3. To
activate the program to accept voice commands you can tap and hold or tap and release on
the record button. I tested it on a Jornada 568 with the side record button. If you have an
iPaq 3900, check their site for some known issues.
Main program display and Tools menu
Playlist setup screen
Program options
The power of the program is in the ability to play songs from a long playlist by saying
its name. However, I found I could only get it to respond to the word "Play" about 2 out of
10 times. The program kept saying "Try Again" or "Back". As quoted by a BCL representative
on the Pocket PC Passion boards, "Sometimes the voice recognition engine will mix up the
shorter voice commands when not used in a quiet environment. Be sure to allow a 1/2 second
interval after the tone before speaking." The problem is play, stop, next, etc. are short
commands and it was pretty quiet where I was testing it inside a parked car in a parking
garage. Another thing about my use of music on my Pocket PC is that I generally use
headphones and imagine most people do since the speakers are usually not that great for
stereo sound. If you have headphones in, does it make sense to take out a headphone or
speak to play songs in an environment with a crowd? The program just isn't practical for
me and I can't think of many instances when someone may want to use it.
There are a few decent features where you can get to a certain song quickly and listen
as the program browses through your list and then say "Play." Then again, it has to
recognize what you are saying and without that happening every time in most environments I
don't think the program is worth $30.
Voice command list
Help on Pocket PC
They have a 5 day demo version, which is one of the shortest trial time periods I have
ever seen. However, I think you can see if you like the program after only a few uses. I
personally recommend you stick with Windows Media Player or other stylus activated program
for listening to music.
You can purchase VoiceMP3 directly from the BCL site for
$29.99. You can download
a free 5 day demo version after filling out a registration form that requires your name and
email address. | 
