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You are here: Home / RIM / The BlackBerry Pearl’s Media Player Sucks!

The BlackBerry Pearl’s Media Player Sucks!

September 7, 2006 by Robb Dunewood 31 Comments

With the Blackberry Pearl being the first CameraBerry and RIM’s first dabble into multimedia, I tried to come up with a nice way to say that Pearl’s Media Player is less than desirable and to make sure that RIMarkable readers know that I am very excited about the release next week. The best that I could come up with is that the BlackBerry Pearls Media Player sucks!

I was just saying the other day that RIM and Apple should come out with iTunes for the BlackBerry. You would think, however, that the developers of the BlackBerry Pearl’s Media Player, which would have seemed outdated 5 or 6 years ago, have never even heard of an iPod.

I just watched a video where Research in Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said that they have been working on the BlackBerry Pearl for the last three years. If this is true, I urge you to go out and hire a few new developers and designers that own iPods as quickly as you possibly can…

The first problem is the way you move files to the Pearl. I swear that folder drag and drop method has that crappy Windows 95 CD creator feel to it that sucked way back in 1995. The second problem is that you cannot control the Media Player with any of the external buttons. Why for the love of all things that just plain make sense in the world didn’t someone think to allow the volume control buttons, the menu button and the voice command button to double for Media Player controls?

I have one thing to say to Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie when it comes to the Media Player on the BlackBerry Pearl. Call Steve Jobs up. He may have an idea or two for you.

BlackBerry Pearl, iTunes, iPod, Media Player

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Filed Under: RIM Tagged With: BlackBerry 8100

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Comments

  1. Dave says

    September 7, 2006 at 5:05 pm

    That is exactly why I’m also super excited, but love my new 7130e and will gladly wait the 2 year contract out to get the next version of the Pearl. If it doesn’t get better it should just go away altogether!

    Reply
  2. Rimmy says

    September 8, 2006 at 12:47 am

    Hi.. too bad! And, two questions:

    I heard that the media player won’t play through bluetooth (to bluetooth headphones) True?

    And, the headphone jack is part of the headset (2.5mm) jack.. True? That’s a shame, as there are few (if any?) nice headphones with a 2.5mm jack

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    September 8, 2006 at 3:38 am

    It’s a stereo 3.5mm jack I believe.

    Reply
  4. Rimmy says

    September 8, 2006 at 8:15 am

    From CNET.com:

    “Also, be aware that the headset jack doesn’t accept Walkman-style headphones.”

    Reply
  5. Robb Dunewood says

    September 8, 2006 at 9:14 am

    Yeah, you need to get any adapter to convert… I don’t know if the audio plays via Bluetooth, however, unless you have bluetooth stereo head phones, it’s kind of moot anyway…

    I just used the earphones that came with it…

    Reply
  6. UES says

    September 15, 2006 at 7:43 pm

    Will there always be a 3MB limit on the size of media file downloads? Or am I mistaken about this limit even existing? Is a memory card necessary for larger file sizes?

    Reply
  7. Marc says

    September 27, 2006 at 8:08 pm

    Best I can tell, the pearl cannot play media via a bluetooth headset. PLEASE correct me if I am wrong.

    I haven’t spent too much time futzing around with it – but on the surface it seems to default to speaker or plugged in headphones.

    Reply
  8. Pearl User says

    January 4, 2007 at 1:34 am

    Shut up!
    The player is lame for many reasons.. no streaming support is the biggest of them.. buttons of course.. but please dont tell me that itunes or ipods file transfer is better than plain and straight forward copy.. its the most unintuitive pos of an app look alike
    BB pearl is one extremely usable package that apple wont ever create since they never knew how to make anything multi-purpose
    the only reason why i would be mad with RIM is now that the pearl is out they’re not listening to user feedback and not correcting some of the simple fixes that they could litterally provide in a matter of weeks

    Reply
  9. colo patricio says

    April 8, 2007 at 10:21 pm

    i need music on my bb pearl. this aint cool. imma end up returning this if they or some one cant help me w this!!!!

    Reply
  10. Meg Mayo says

    August 17, 2007 at 5:55 pm

    Can I get my BB Pearl to work with iPod accessories like the car FM radio transmitter? Is there an adapter (headset jack size) out there and where can I buy it?

    Reply
  11. Steve Farr says

    January 14, 2008 at 5:14 pm

    I found this article while actually searching the web for an alternative to the BB Media Player – which yeh, it totally sucks.

    I don’t mind the lack of an iTunes thing, i hate iTunes (i’m a network admin, we have media servers, go figure), and i’m cool about converting video to MP4 and dragging over to the BB folder, etc. By the way iTune haters check out the AVS alternative to iTunes and they also have a nice little video converter for the BB too.

    But. When i saw media player i too thought that RiM had to be kidding. First off, i’m now using the 8800 which looks nice and everthing (apart from the stupid kiddy-finger-ball and lack of a mansize-thumb-wheel). I thought hey, at least i’ve got a reasonable size screen for video, and hey i thought maybe this means i can leave my iPod at home. Ok big screen. Wait! Whats this tiny video window? Ugh ok, so how do i make this bigger? Hmm. You can’t. Guys at RiM i’m sorry but this is really sucks. I mean really.

    And another thing. I like to listen to MP3s on a long journey, especially the night train out of town. I sit back relax, set up everthing to play, push my cap down over my eyes. Reckon i’ll be dozing off around 1am, so i’ll just pop my BB back into the holster while playing…

    …And it stops. Guys at RiM listen to me. Fix this or else my next phone is an iPhone. You get me? I love my BB truely, but just lately there are ever so many cool Google apps which mean. Might just mean, i could stop using a BB altogether.

    Reply
  12. Justin Uther says

    January 21, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    I don’t know what you guys are ranting about. I copy music files (mp3) to my microSD card and press play. I put it in my holster and listen as i walk around my office. I’d like it if it would work with Bluetooth stereo headphones but for such a well rounded and tool/crutch that I’ve been using for about a year I am very happy with it. I will even convert video and watch when I’m traveling. Really, it’s a phone first and I have e-mail (4 accounts including my company’s), real web browser, camera (sure it could be better), games, Google maps, calculator, calender and more. Built in GPS would be cool and a regular 3.5mm jack for my headphones but for the first BlacBerry that isn’t a big clunky blue brick with that thumbweel RIM did a great job.

    Reply
  13. Sean Ryan says

    January 24, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    I have this blackberry for couple months. Trying all ways possible to use the headset while working out… hmm nope. Bought a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter didnt work. Still searching… let me know if you found a good headset / adapter that i can hoook up to other audio speaker…

    Reply
    • aeri says

      November 3, 2009 at 1:43 pm

      im using a 8100 pearl since 14 months try Lg cyon phones ka headsets it comes with 3.5 adapter so enjoy……

      Reply
  14. Steven Field says

    January 27, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    I agree, it sucks for many reasons.

    my main reason is i don’t want to scroll thru 200 songs to find one track. come up with a better way to store the songs so they are easier to access.

    Reply
  15. Andrew Moore says

    February 12, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    if you download the free xplayer for the pearl you can use bluetooth headphones

    Reply
  16. emstien says

    February 23, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    i can say that the media player of BB pearl is so lame…like your listening on a 1950s radio… its so flat, no Eq even if you put an adapter and hook-up a good headphone…sucks!

    Reply
  17. LK says

    March 6, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    I guess the 8130 is a better phone than previous versions. But I too came across this page trying to find a better player.

    My pearl seems flaky though. My first test with my Sony DS970 stereo headset/handsfree worked better than on my Nokia 6275i. The sound, while not amazing, was pretty darn good, and I could control functions from the remote.

    Today, I can’t get the media player to work period! I kick the battery outa the phone and restart it after powering it off a few times, and finally it allows the player to work. While it’s playing I turn on the headset and allow it to autosync. No audio control, but at least I got my tunes.

    The media player is a little quirkish… I wish it had EQ functions, but it does what it does decently.

    What I want is Samsung to do something like their P2 player and merge it with a blackjack. That would be amazing!

    Reply
  18. diamond says

    March 27, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    Dis sucks n lick cock

    Reply
  19. Kathy says

    June 25, 2008 at 8:31 am

    Well, it’s June 2008 and the Blackberry Media Player still sucks. I just bought my first Blackberry. It’s pretty neat. OK, it was at first. Within the first week I needed to call tech support … it took an hour on the phone to get everything reset – cannot (and don’t want to) remember what happened but the phone needed to be wiped and have the software reloaded. Now, the dang Media Player is screwed up. Won’t maintain playlists, at all. This is not making me happy. ๐Ÿ™ Now I’m seeing that they have known all along that the Media Player stinks. Gee, two years and they couldn’t come up with anything better?

    Reply
  20. Ronnie says

    July 26, 2008 at 3:36 am

    For the problem of listening to media through a bluetooth… the regular media won’t do it, but X PLAYER will.

    IT’S T’S FREE!!!
    IT’S T’S FREE!!!
    IT’S T’S FREE!!!

    All u have to do is go to google and type in…”free x player for blackberry pearl”, and there u go….I listen to my music through my bluetooth all the time!

    Reply
  21. Tammy says

    July 29, 2008 at 10:53 am

    I purchased my blackberry curve from Sprint with the idea that I would be able to take my music from my IPod and place it on my blackberry. I see that is not possible. Where can I get music for this thing and not pay for it? Please remember, I am a social worker and not have the computer experience you all have. You will need to explain it to me like a baby.
    Thanks

    Reply
  22. grundik says

    October 12, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    Find and download the latest OS 4.5. The media player, while still sucks, does have EQ presets.

    Reply
  23. Daveboy says

    November 24, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    I have today loaded OS 4.5 (8100M_PBr4.5.0_rel81_PL2.7.0.68_A4.5.0.55 to be exact) onto my 8100. The media player is nicer but I see no way to change EQ presets. I’ve seen some screen shots elsewhere on the web showing the EQ presets on the media player options, but I don’t see them on my ‘phone. Can anyone suggest why?

    Reply
  24. Joel says

    December 19, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    I hate my Pearl 8100. It’s slow, keeps on crashing (yes I have the latest OS) and I have to constantly pop the trackball out and clean it because dirt gets in there and pisses me the fuck off. And don’t even get me started on the media player. The POS takes 10 minutes to access the media card, and I have 35 songs on it. This is the worst phone I have ever had, I’m selling this POS for $20 and going back to my old Motorola. And now the Storm is getting really bad reviews, I understand that it’s new and they still have bugs to work out like the Iphone, but I mean come on, this is just ridiculous. Researching any fix issues with this phone is a long and daunting task, especially on RIM’s joke of a website. It’s a mini Windows Vista in your pocket! Fuckin horse shit.

    Reply
  25. Chris says

    February 12, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    Where can I get the media player for my blackberry pearl? Any one know?

    Reply
  26. mrG says

    April 26, 2009 at 9:48 am

    I found an alternate mediaplayer at http://www.dollars5.com/OTA/mediaPlayer.jad — it’s commercial but gives a 30 day trial and it looked like it might solve some of these problems … but the domain is BLOCKED by Rogers.ca!!!

    It’s a bit of a shock to discover you live in a highly censored society, a place where porn and piracy are ok, but it is immoral to have business competition.

    Reply
  27. Ryan says

    May 2, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    Bought the new pearl. It has the 2.5mm headset jack, so had to buy an adapter…and good headphones for running. It only played mono, pissed me off so bad -rather than hunting for a solution to their inferior hardware I took it back and bought the iPhone. RIM putting proprietary technology is a 1990’s amateur hardware move. Would never recommend it to anyone and I was a blackberry power user. 1 out of 5.

    Reply
  28. Brandon West says

    May 27, 2009 at 11:30 am

    I’m disappinted. Plain and simple. Take this thing back and give me my 8700. I thought maybe it would be nice to upgrade and gain a camera and something that wasn’t the size of a brick. Well, while I love my blackberrys I wish RIM had taken note from apple and given it a fun factor. About the coolest thing this Pearl does is upload a pic to facebook. Meanwhile my friends with iphones are watching videos, downloading pretty cool apps, and playin music. Me? Well its just the same email tether a BB always was.I’m finally going to give up the crackberrys and get the G1.

    Reply
  29. berryspud says

    November 9, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    All I have to say is my blackberry curve is close to the biggest waste of money and time I have ever has the misfortune to fall for.

    I still have yet to find ANY video that is a supported media type.

    I feel blackberry completely misrepresents their products, and once my contract is up I will never touch another one of their products.

    Reply
  30. Dave says

    April 14, 2010 at 9:14 am

    I see a lot of complaints about the audio player, and let’s face it the thing sucks. I was turned on to a good solution by a stranger in walmart. Slacker.com provides a wonderful music player in a radio station format. You can even customise stations with your favorite songs. Best of all its free. I still have yet to find a solution to the video player. Why even include one if it won’t play any videos? Not one type of video is playable without running it through a converter on your desktop. There are free converters available but I want to be able to watch the videos I come across while web browsing. The only app I found that was even close would only play youtube, and even that wasn’t through the browser. IPhone has this beat hands down, but android is even better because the software is on multiple phones and does pretty much everything iphone does in a more intuitive format. My next phone will be an android, but in the meantime does anyone know where I can find a decent video player for ota video?

    Reply

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