Thanks for representing in the forum Marc @ Pandora and answering questions. I am so glad to see Pandora on my Storm. I hooked it up in my truck via aux cable and my storm dock today for a few hours while I was running errands and it worked flawlessly.
Like everyone else it took just minutes to set up. Think the real trick is to start an account on your Pc then your phone. Wow some great oldies from the 50's for this old guy. I wonder if it's able to do talk radio. I'll have to try that.
Again, I'm no audio-phile but I can tell when something sounds mushy and when something sounds like it has expansive dynamic range. Pandora has a problem in this area compared with Slacker and so I asked what the file compression is and I received an answer.
Pandora's stream is 40k AAC mono for BlackBerry's. They said this is the limit of what the carriers allowed them and is a compromise solution to optimize speed and battery drain. They are experimenting with higher quality audio.
In comparison, Slacker uses 40k HE-AAC v2 which per wikipedia "HE-AAC version 2 (HE-AAC v2) couples SBR with Parametric Stereo (PS) to enhance the compression efficiency of stereo signals."
So in the very least I garnered that Pandora = Mono and Slacker = Stereo. I know that audio quality is subjective but is it that hard to hear the difference guys?
Skyeclad, superb post that is hard to refute! I think people are either judging Pandora's audio quality based on playing through the speaker or are so caught up in the fact Pandora is new and therefor better.
What still has me confused is when I listen to Pandora on my wife's Curve 8330, the sound is in stereo and as clear as Slacker. Marc, could you elaborate if the Storm feed uses a different algorithm than the other BB models? Would be interested if you could comment on Skyeclad's encoder analysis?
Sykeclad is correct. The audio is mono 40kbps aac. All blackberry devices use the same stream, so there should not be a difference between the Storm and other devices.
We did a lot of testing on different audio formats to come up with the choice for Pandora on blackberry. The only conclusion we could come to (if you can call it that) is that audio quality is subjective. Some people prefer the stereo effect as a trade-off for more "swishy" artifacts in higher frequencies, and some people prefer a mono stream with less artifacts.
Quanius: Are you listening over a bluetooth headset? If so, I'd be curious to know if the audio is improved over a wired headset.
There are some known issues with streaming over A2DP on some devices. We are working on identifying the specific hardware that might cause this, so any details about your setup would be very helpful.
We use the same audio stream for all BlackBerry devices - 40k AAC (mono). Like I mentioned previously, we're experimenting with other encoding formats and I'll be sure to make a post if and when we make any changes.
For what it's worth, we've done internal listening tests to compare AAC mono with AACPlus stereo (HE-AAC v2) at a similar bitrate and there is no clear winner. Some people think the mono sounds better than stereo, and vice versa.
Skyeclad's encoder analysis seems pretty accurate. I don't know where he got the info on Slacker's streams but from my listening tests it seems accurate based solely on the audio quality.
I read about slacker's bit rate on their forum. They use a different encoding method for their pc app as I assume Pandora does.
Hey audio quality isn't everything. There's also song selection and several other factors that need to be taken into account then deciding which service to use. Personally I hope Pandora selects a higher encode so that the choice is equal in this critical area.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
Make sure your internet browser is set for BB. I was set to firefox and it did the same thing.
I can't download with BB becuase of my companys firewall. Same issue with Slacker. Only way to get it to work was the OTA link. Anyone able to get this? Thanks.
I keep getting "could not connect to pandora. Please ensure you have sufficient network coverage and try again."
anyone else getting this message? I did a quick pull and still getting it. I'm in my house which isnt the BEST signal, but its enough to use the browser so I would think its enough for pandora.
Hey Pandora guys..any idea why some of us have the song re-starting after alerts bug and some do not? I'm running the 122/5.0 Hybrid FWIW.
Thanks, great app!
That's definitely an odd issue that we're not able to reproduce here on our 4.7.0.75 here. For me, the audio resumes where it left off after a short pause for the message received beep.
Does the problem persist after a battery-pull restart?
We have identified some issues with audio playback that we are in contact with RIM about. They may be related. We'll keep you posted.
That's definitely an odd issue that we're not able to reproduce here on our 4.7.0.75 here. For me, the audio resumes where it left off after a short pause for the message received beep.
Does the problem persist after a battery-pull restart?
We have identified some issues with audio playback that we are in contact with RIM about. They may be related. We'll keep you posted.
yes I have rebooted several times since installing. Sounds like it might be an OS issue. I bet the ones on .75 are the ones not having the song restart on them. Thanks for the response vic.
Quanius: Are you listening over a bluetooth headset? If so, I'd be curious to know if the audio is improved over a wired headset.
There are some known issues with streaming over A2DP on some devices. We are working on identifying the specific hardware that might cause this, so any details about your setup would be very helpful.
Vic, Marc.. You guys are great for participating in the forum here. Appreciate the response. Vic, to answer your question I am using a wired headset (Sennheiser HD570 to be exact). I would gladly participate in testing any higher quality streams if such is possible. PM me if desired.
Thanks,
Hey all - just downloaded and tried - sounds OK - but what do I know - I'm in the middle of a mall. LOL Anyway - I wanted to thank the pandora folks for the app AND the support here.
I'll probably try it out on my way home. My concern is that, in the car, using BT - Slacker will sound better.
Hey, I just wanted to add that I'm getting the song restart after a new message problem on OS .113 as well. I've tried pulling the battery a few times, but no joy. I'm not sure if it's enough to turn me off from the app seeing as how i've using the desktop version for a long time, but it is starting to get annoying. Has anyone found a solution?
