Zen Minder won't play my MP3s anymore (?!)

[Tristan Raghnall]

I've tried so many scheduling/clock multi alarms that it makes a person's head spin. They all sucked big-time because, paid or not, they'd all fall down hard on a feature or two. (Blackberry apps are not tested extensively, it seems! Or the companies don't listen to feedback!)

At any rate, the other issues is finding trials. I absolutely refuse to pay for something until I can try it out. And after seeing that Blackberry apps are even less well-thought out than Windows apps where trials are also a must, glad that I've not paid first, had headaches afterwards!

Bulbera's Alarm Clock v1.1 and the Zen Minder app are the 2 "best", though still lacking, for trying to fill a vital need for a multi-alarm app that allows for customized sound and that has frequency that allows for every x number of minutes (since I need one that reminds every 90 minutes/1.5 hours).

Bulbera's bugaboo is that it stupidly displays the _current_ time on missed reminder popups. When I tested one that was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and I ran a reminder every 3 minutes with sound muted, at 3:02 p.m. I opened the phone to have all those missed reminder popups yet ALL said 3:02 p.m.! STOOPID! But it works so I could live with it if it weren't for the MP3 issue, which I'll get to.

Same with Zen Minder not working 100%. Annoying that whenever I have a missed alarm, the entire app interface is open when I open the phone, etc. But I could live with its quirks, too, except it stopped playing my MP3s.

Well, all the MP3s on my phone are rips from my bought CD collection. I love my MP3s. Well, hello, they're all going to have DRM issues, I'm guessing. A box came up on Thursday that said something or other about DRM issues. I don't remember what I pressed to get rid of the box but since then neither app plays sound so I missed the reminders all morning yesterday before realizing it.

Yet MyAlarm and my regular BB scheduler use the files just fine!

So, if anyone knows of how to fix this issue (?), would greatly appreciate it. I'd stick with Zen Minder for these types of reminder needs and the built-in BB one for all the rest.

[Why the BB "new alarm", based on the clock, isn't good enough - PAY ATTENTION RIM:
- only ONE sound notifier is possible, globally, no customization possible
- can't repeat sound notifier x number of times, only plays once
- can't change sound notifier volume
- reminders aren't searchable like regular scheduler alarms are. Need to change a NEW ALARM in the BB scheduler but it's in the future and you don't remember exactly when it comes due? Good luck! You have to literally scroll through all your entries in AGENDA mode and hope you more-or-less remember where it was initially to change the reminder date/time, etc.
- no snooze whatsoever, only dismiss. So you have to dismiss, go to the reminder and manually reset to new time! Another STOOPID thing.]

Or, alternatively, if anyone knows of any other multi-alarm app that deals with customized sound yet can remind every 25, 30, 45, 90 minutes, etc., (many only have frequency as little as hourly which means you have to choose for hourly reminder or every 2 hours when you need 1.5 hours!!) that has a trial version available for dl, pls advise. This list below are the only ones I kept a record of having tried. I should have written them down, but I didn't think I'd have so many problems. But here are the ones I remember that failed:

BBSmart AlarmsPro v2.2, Tbilisoft Alarm, Pocket Informant 4.2, BugMe, MultiAlarm and a host of others I'd wish I'd kept the name of.

Thanks!

[Tristan Raghnall]

Well, now I know that the BB is unreliable in some way. This would happen with MyAlarm but I figured after many months of use that it was because it was an old app that's not very good. I'd reset the audio and then it would tend to work.

Yesterday, around the time that I posted this question, I set the clock to play the MP3 file and it did. And then Zen Minder did (for a while)! I re-installed the clock 3rd party app since the trial hadn't run out and it, too, for a while played the song. But about the time one 3 3rd party app quit playing MP3s, so did the rest. The only reliable one seems to be the BB clock! But this particular song _cannot_ be my general notifier sound for NEW ALARM events in the scheduler! That just would not work!

Well, that means that I won't be buying any 3rd party apps whatsoever since what's the point?! I've added the reminder at home to my computer scheduler and when at work I'll set up one there and then when I can afford to I'm going to have to buy something like I had before, an electronic scheduler. It _never_ let me down. Unless I can fix this BB issue with it not playing MP3s consistently and reliably like it very well should!

I prefer to put songs as reminders because they remind me without bothering colleagues/people around me very much as we're all used to different ambient sounds now coming from people's phones. And the sound reminder allows me to know what I'm being reminded of without having to always open the phone.

So if _anyone_ knows a way to fix this, I'd appreciate it before ditching this BB as my main scheduling means. I really need to have a reliable reminder system (see? Zen Minder test just now?? Flashing light but _NO_ sound.)

I have the type of job where I get immersed for hours and I don't check clocks as often as I would like and don't remember to. A unobtrusive sound reminds me to do something that I then do and come back to work without any fuss or bother. But now 3 third party apps have shown this weakness in the BB and I need to fix it _now_ or find another solution when money is there.

Pls advise and thanks in advance a whole lot!

D

[Tristan Raghnall]

Well I kept looking. Even though I hadn't found any answers and no one was responding here, I really need this feature to work since I don't know when I'd be able to afford finding some other electronic device to do my scheduling needs. I had a potential bit of luck here in these 2 messages from this thread:

Free MP3 DRM Removal Tool Suggestions? - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community
Free MP3 DRM Removal Tool Suggestions? - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community

I've gotten a couple of events test to work so that they finally played custom sound notifiers again when they hadn't since last Thursday! So this _may_ be a solution. Despite the DRM box that came up for one of the apps last week, this battery pull _may_ be a solution. Don't know. Will continue to run test events and see if they continue to work. Will post back.

[Tristan Raghnall]

I seem to need to do a battery pull once if not twice a day to keep my MP3s "connected" and playing. If I don't, I don't, the MP3s just stop playing and never come back on board!

Is this truly a Blackberry flaw, or is something else going on here? I'll wake up the next day and I now test the alarm sounds to see if they are still playing and every morning or evening I do this, there is no sound. A battery pull and a re-testing so far have shown that the sound comes back.

But I can't be yanking the battery out every day like this. This is wrong and shouldn't be required. But the folks at tech support for my company are less than useless. They don't know the phones half as well as we do!

Help pls.

[hubermania]

Would it take long to re-record your alarm tones from the original CDs without DRM? I use Windows Media Player to rip CDs to WMA files for playback on my BB, making sure to uncheck the WMA rip option to "Copy Protect Music". You might try your fav alarm tone as a DRM-free WMA file to see if your alarm program can use it.

I almost never do a literal battery pull. A+ Reset and QuickPull are two of many apps that will do a soft reset. The paid versions let you set up a schedule on which to reset the phone. I very much prefer A+ Reset, but that's just me.

[jediracer]

if you have a google account you can use google calendar for scheduling....works pretty seamlessly

[Tristan Raghnall]

Originally Posted by hubermania

Would it take long to re-record your alarm tones from the original CDs without DRM? I use Windows Media Player to rip CDs to WMA files for playback on my BB, making sure to uncheck the WMA rip option to "Copy Protect Music". You might try your fav alarm tone as a DRM-free WMA file to see if your alarm program can use it.

I almost never do a literal battery pull. A+ Reset and QuickPull are two of many apps that will do a soft reset. The paid versions let you set up a schedule on which to reset the phone. I very much prefer A+ Reset, but that's just me.

Hi, sorry for delay! Dratted forum didn't advise me there was a response. Sorry 'bout that.

The thing is that I'm not really, really sure it is a DRM issue. However, the sound stopping twice daily is all I can attribute this to. I tested a few more clock apps that supported custom sounds and one of them eventually popped up a DRM message just as I was hitting a key to dismiss a reminder so I only caught the DRM warning message for a millisecond. (That's a flaw with the Blackberry that reminders pop up with no discrimination even when you're right in the middle of typing. I wish that if there was keypad activity, that it could be told to wait till there was a lull in keystrokes. I'm constantly having to go back to the scheduler to see what I punched out on <g>.)

But ever since that DRM warning message I saw so briefly, Zen Minder Lite sounds conk out twice a day.

I ripped the songs myself from my CDs directly to MP3. I could rip to WAV and then to MP3 but I'm not sure how that would change anything. I've never had any problems with my MP3 collections at all, except in this case. WMA might have this ability to uncheck that protection thingie but it's never come up with MP3s. Anyone know what's up with that in terms of MP3s?

Thanks, checking out those soft-pull apps. I hope they're freeware (though somehow doubt it).

Fortunately for me, I found out last week that a new flip phone came out that has a higher OS not supported by my Pearl Flip that has customizable sound capability in the calendar, I'm told. My Pearl has never had any problems whatsoever with the same MP3s for ringtones so it'll likely work just fine with my MP3s for specialized reminder notification sounds for a built-in app. At least, I hope. I never have sounds not work in the ringtones yet it's the same pool of songs I draw from for reminders. Anyway, the BB Style also has a regular BB keypad for MUCH easier typing. I don't text on the Pearl as it's a pain. It's tedious enough typing in the gazillion reminders I have.

Thanks for the info. I'll report back re the battery pull apps. They sound like a good thing to have even if/when I no longer have this twice-daily problem with sounds not playing eventually if I upgrade to another BB phone. Cheers.

(p.s., just subscribed to this thread. Wish there was a way to get that to be automatic like other forums. <g>)

[Tristan Raghnall]

Originally Posted by hubermania

I almost never do a literal battery pull. A+ Reset and QuickPull are two of many apps that will do a soft reset. The paid versions let you set up a schedule on which to reset the phone. I very much prefer A+ Reset, but that's just me.

Hah, that's what I get for not reading your post correctly! <g> There are freeware versions for both, yeay!

A+ Reset: BlackBerry App World - A plus Reset Free
QuickPull: BlackBerry App World - QuickPull

A+ Reset sounds better. I don't like/need reports and extra stuff. I don't need a schedule, either. I like to be in control at all times, anyway.

Thanks will check these out.

[Tristan Raghnall]

Originally Posted by Tristan Raghnall

Hah, that's what I get for not reading your post correctly! <g> There are freeware versions for both, yeay!

A+ Reset: BlackBerry App World - A plus Reset Free
QuickPull: BlackBerry App World - QuickPull

A+ Reset sounds better. I don't like/need reports and extra stuff. I don't need a schedule, either. I like to be in control at all times, anyway.

Thanks will check these out.

Well, Pearl strikes out _yet_again_! I'm glad that I have an alternative down the road because it got old real fast how virtually nothing works that you dl for the Pearl. Or, how many times have I spent a lot of time hunting around for instructions for something only to try them on my Pearl and they don't work and to then find buried much later on as I continued searching: "These instructions don't work for the Pearl". Countless!

RIM is so stupid. All these countless OSs and versions that are incompatible from one another. I honestly thought Micro$oft had the corner on _that_ market but RIM in just days into this 6 months journey has shown me even over 20 years experience now with Micro$oft that it can win such a long race in so short a time!

The soft reset button keystrokes that all other Blackberries seem to be able to work natively from them so you don't need an app to reset? Doesn't work on the Pearl.

QuickPull ... doesn't work on my Pearl.
SoftRest (FOR the Pearl) ... doesn't work on my Pearl's OS.
A+ Reset ... comments on the above page say that it's NOT freeware but ultimately, a trialware dl.

So, will continue the hard battery pull.

I'm definitely going to give the Style a good demoing at the store. I'm _not_ going to get another BB that gives so much trouble in this regard. Stupid.

Thanks for everyone's help. No one's fault in forums that the Pearl is so limited! Just glad there's another flip alternative down the road.