Of course, your PDA can also play music with the default Windows Media Player.
However, Windows Media Player is sadly lacking as a portable music player. It
plays music all right, but you find yourself constantly having to use the stylus,
and accessing your music files and playlist is a confusing and tedious process.

Why is the iPod such a big hit? For one, it's the iPod's no-brainer user interface
- the iPod's clickwheel is all you need to play your music and navigate through
your playlist. Accessing your music playlist is also a breeze.

What if you can simulate or 'copy' the interface of the iPod with software?
What if you can use your hardware buttons in the same way you would use the
iPod's clickwheel? There are a few programs for the PDA that can already do
this. I've tested a lot of them and I can recommend 2 that I have found very
good and easy to use - Conduits Pocket Player and GreenSoftware's
GSPlayer.

Conduits Pocket Player

Conduits Pocket Player plays MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, WAV and FLAC files. It automatically
scans your storage card and built-in storage for music files so you can start
playing music immediately. The interface is fully skinnable, and with some of
the skins provided, you can make the interface look like a real music player.
Functions such as Play/Pause, Next/Previous track is mapped automatically to
your PDA's hardware buttons so that you can use your PDA's hardware buttons
to play music instead of the stylus (or your fingers). Running in full-screen
mode and using my PDa's hardware buttons, I found the experience to be little
different from using a 'real' music player.

Conduits offers a 30-day trial of its latest Pocket Player on their website
at http://www.conduits.com/products/player/

Turn Your PDA Into A Radio with GSPlayer

If you've got a wireless Internet connection at home and a Wifi adapter in
your PDA, you can listen to Internet radio anywhere in your house. Imagine having
a pocket-sized portable radio that can receive thousands of stations from around
the world! Plus, unlike your usual radio, you can see what track is currently
playing on the display.

For this example, I will be using Yahoo's Shoutcast streaming radio service
and the GSPlayer software. GSPlayer is an open-source MP3 player that can also
play Shoutcast streams.

The interface needs some work but other than that, it works just as well as
Conduits Pocket Player. GSPlayer also allows you to map your hardware buttons
(Go to Tools->Options->Buttons) so you won't have to use your stylus.

First, download and install GSPlayer. You can download GSPlayer at http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA032810/

Then, open up your PDA's web browser and go to the Yahoo Shoutcast website
(www.shoutcast.com). Select a station, and it will save the file as a .pls file.
Open this .pls file in GSPlayer and GSPlayer will connect to the streaming server
and start playing the stream.

If you want your web browser to open GSPlayer every time it encounters a .pls
file, associate all .pls files with GSPlayer. In GSPlayer, select Tools->Options->Association.
Tick the .pls file extension. Now, when you select a Shoutcast station from
your web-browser, it should automatically open GSPlayer. When the music is streaming
at 128 kbps, I've found that the quality is even better than radio.

Drawbacks

The 2 chief drawbacks of using your PDA as a music player is the lack of battery
power and the lack of storage. The built-in storage space is simply not enough
to store a decent music collection.Some of the newer PDA models out there have
large built-in storage, but if you use an Axim like me, you need external storage,
such as an SD card or CF card. Myself, I use a 1 GB SD card to store my modest
collection of music.

As for battery power, make sure you charge your PDA fully before going out.
An extra battery pack also helps.

J. Corcoran has a Dell Axim PDA. It does everything but wash the dishes.