As I've been showing off the handset to people, at least three people (one being me) so far have tried to go to "On Demand" to find the "TV" and "Radio" services.  This naming convention, to me, is confusing.  I think of a "media player" as something you go to to play content you already have and I would think "On Demand" would be for content you want to request.  This comes from the "Video On Demand" of hotel and cable boxes as well as "Music On Demand" from newer download services.  

Not only that, but the "Music On Demand" feature isn't found in any of the above.  Instead, it's has it's own area.  Even more confusing is that you have to use this "Music Store" to play the purchased music and the "Media Player" to play other MP3s on the memory card.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying this is any better or worse than other phones.  I'm just saying the experience could be better.  I've mostly gotten used to it by now, too, so I can tell people where to go depending on what they're looking for.

The Samsung a950, on the other hand, does play the protect music in once place with the music on the card.  Of course, on my PC, I have at least two media players I have to use -- Windows Media and iTunes -- to play all of the different protected songs.  Windows Media definitely has the upper hand right now in device support, though. Well, in breadth of support.  By numbers, iTunes has the upper hand, of course.

What I still need to find out is how far the WMA files I'm getting can go.  For instance, I now have WMA files as purchased via VCast music and with the Samsung a950 and I have WMA files from the Sprint Music Store as purchased via the Samsung MM-a920 (although not with the a920).  I also have regular, unprotected WMA files.  And I'm thinking of trying out the Napster all-you-can-eat service to get lots of WMA files.  The Samsung a950 can play WMA files and sync'd to the handset and so can the Dell DJ Ditty device.  But, can their protected content be swapped around.  Can I sync WMA files purchased through Sprint onto the Samsung a950 or the Ditty?  Can I take Naptser files and get them on to both of those devices?

When I find out, you know where I'll be writing about it.

The answer is YES. More later...

Posted by Shane on March 13, 2006 8:35 AM | Permalink