Issue # 121 Zzaj Rant

     Hello again, readers… lately I’ve been experimenting with various & sundry PLAYERS for my Android (Zen Touch 2)… the best I’ve found (yet) is one that plays both songs and videos called “Astro Player“… after downloading it & seeing that it had a nice/easy interface, I investigated a bit further and found that the “Astro Player Nova” was what I really wanted – because it had several more control features than the original.  You can get more information about it on their page… download it as well, or purchase the NOVA version (it was only $4 or $5) with the advanced features.  It’s very important to have a good player on your ‘droid, especially when it does both sonic and visual.  I’ve been in touch with the developers & hope to get a feature article on them soon.  You can view several other SCREENSHOTS too.  The other thing that was very important about this download is that you can get/install the .apk file without needing to REGISTER it via ANDROID MARKET (Google’s app store).  There was another player I liked the looks of (very much), POWER AMP, but the only way to get the upgrade to work was if you could login to the market… my Zen Touch 2 isn’t able to do that, so I had to scrap the app.

     Another piece of freeware that will be essential for those using the ‘droid to play videos is FORMAT FACTORY; this handy little package converts essentially any format to any other format… all in one package… though it’s free, I donated to the development (something you ought to consider doing, too, if you like the package as much as I do).  I was a bit hesitant to download this one in the first place, because it comes from China – but I applied all the scanning I could to it before installing – NO virus-laden .exe file, everything seems to be (very well) in order, and even a software dullard can have this package up & running in mere minutes!