We all know that the rivalry between BlackBerry and iPhone users is fierce. While nothing can beat the BlackBerry when it comes to personal productivity, the iPhone does have a fantastic music interface. Comparing the music capabilities of the two devices is unfair as the iPhone is based on the iPod, however lets admit it, we all fancy some cover flow action (even on our BlackBerrys).
The FlipSide MP3 Player is a full-fledged music player for the BlackBerry that also supports coverflow. Apart from supporting MP3, WMA, M4A and AAC files, the program also lets you create playlists and find missing cover art using the Internet.
In case you receive a call when listening to your music, the player auto-pauses the music and lets you take that call. Last.fm audio scrobbling support is also found on the FlipSide MP3 Player and there's a feature called FlipSide Extras, which is actually an online biography of the artists.
I must admit, I was a little hesitant downloading the program as I was quite satisfied with the default music player on my Bold even though it’s somewhat limited.
Once I installed and open the program, the player started searching for all the music stored on my device. When the player was searching for songs, I got a message on my screen, which said “various autofill tracks” which meant the player was loading songs in the library.
Once this was done, the tracks began appearing as cover flows on my device and I loved how could swoosh through my music using my trackball.
The album art visuals were quite vibrant and made for some stunning imagery. I then proceeded to test out the missing cover art option. Before searching for cover art, the program warns it will use the Internet and data charges may apply.
I clicked on a song by an Indie Artist called, Ari Hest and waited for the application to work its magic. After around five minutes, the player didn’t come up with any album art. The same process was repeated for the band Bloc Party and this time I wasn’t disappointed as the covert art was added without any glitches. This means that the “find cover art” option is only successful if the artist in question is mainstream.
Another feature that the FlipSide MP3 Player offers is “FlipSide Extras”. I selected the Ari Hest track, clicked on “FlipSide Extras” and then waited. My mobile browser took me to a web database, which listed all the latest gigs of the artist in question, and also music recommendations based on the same genre. This option worked flawlessly and it’s quite neat that you can explore all kinds of artists at a single click of a button.
When it comes to creating playlists, the FlipSide MP3 Player didn’t disappoint either. You can select options like ore “Add To Playlist” ,”Create Playlist” or “Show Playlists” during playback.
To access Last.Fm, I just clicked on the “Last .fm” option and entered my username and password. In seconds I was able to log in and view all my favorite artists from my mobile browser!
The FlipSide MP3 Player is a must have application for audiophiles that are on the BlackBerry platform. The application enhances the whole music experience and comes highly recommended. Even though it's so feature rich, it didn’t cause any lags and worked great.
The $9.95 price tag is also small price to pay for such functionality.