So, the dude in the shop said 'its so east to do ANYTHING on a playbook' he lied.
Can you put itunes on it? If yes then how?
Can I get Vlc on it? If so how? If not what do I use to watch films, is there an app I can get that plays most media files?
Please help
Search, search, search... if that fails try the search button!
No, you can't load either iTunes or VLC on your PB, but, these are not the only media players in existence. The PB's Videos player will play most video formats, and most of the formats that it doesn't support are supported by Kalemsoft media player, available in App World. The PB's Music app will play most audio formats, and the ones it doesn't support or the features that it doesn't have are supported by Neutron MP, also available in App World.
Playbook has its own media player and will play almost any video file. The only issue with it is it does not play files with the ac3 audio codec. This is due to licencing issues. You would need to use a converter to convert and files with ac3 to one with mp3. There are other apps you can get I think for playing the ac3 files. Not sure what they are, but I am sure someone will pop in and let you know.
I don't think you can put itunes on it.
No one tablet does all things, so the store guy should not have told you that. Did you specifically ask him about these 2 things?
The video should not be a hassle, but for music if you are using itunes, it will have to go from your computer to your playbook after you have download from itunes.
I see pacoman has filled you in.
Search? I did look at a lot of posts but I do not understand most of what is said. I am not particularly good at all this stuff so find it all very confusing.
Ok, thats great so I wont bother getting frustrated trying to find out how to do that then :)
Oh the guy in the shop said it could do EVERYTHING. I took it back and spoke to the manager and he laughed at me and said his staff would never have said that and I should have looked into the product more before buying it - and he is right of course. However I am stuck with it now so need to figure out how to get it to do what I need it to do....which is.....play films and music and store files.
I just tried connecting it to my laptop with the usb cable to move a photo from my laptop to the pb and it said I could not do it as there is not enough space....its a 64GB and had nothing on it apart from what it came with - how is that possible?
Do you have any advice on what sites i can go to using the PB's browser to download films from? I would prefer to do it legally and dont mind paying for it, just need it to be easy to do ha ha!
THANK YOU so much for your help!!!
Evelyn
There is an app called itunes sync in app world, but note the comment about drm in the description. if you have older music you'll have to pay apple to remove it from those songs before you can sync and play on the playbook.
You can do almost anything with the playbook but you have to find the playbook way of doing it in another way.
I don't mind doing things the playbook way, just don't know how to find out what that way is....
You can watch movies for free by going to crackle.com in the browser, it's run by sony.
You can also download or rent movies from the video store on the playbook but that is not cheap.
When you connect to laptop, the playbook should show up as a drive, usually drive z: you probably also want to install blackberry desktop manager so that you can do backups of your playbook.
The playbook does not show up as a USB storage device like a pen drive. if it did anyone could access all the files on your playbook and RIM likes to make things as secure as possible. When you plug it in it should offer to install software which will create a virtual network device to connect to the playbook. You have to turn on file sharing in the settings menu to allow file access.
- Swipe from the Top Right corner toward the center of the screen to show the system bar at the top
- Click on the Gear icon in the top right corner
- Scroll down to Storage & Sharing
- Toggle File Sharing to On
- If you want a password toggle Password Protect to On and type a new password
You don't need to Connect a usb cable to download a picture my preferred way is with (print to go)this is already on the playbook, you just have to download print to go on your computer takes seconds. Then you can print anything from your Computer to your tablet works great documents Photos anything, thanks tony
Take a look at the sticky for hints and tips http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...upport-701402/
And download the Discover Now! 2.0 app from app world for lots of video demos on different features of the playbook.
ok, i just did everything you said and it did offer to install the software, which I did, but now I cant find it on my computer even when I search - i think I should give up ha ha
Who said, and what software? Disregard the Print to Go suggestion- it is far from ideal on so many levels and there are much easier and quicker ways to wirelessly transfer files to your PB.
Swipe left and right, if you see two or three little dots below the top row of icons (the dock) it is showing you how many screens/tabs you have.
Also try scrolling up,you aren't limited to the three rows of icons below the dock.
You can also transfer files using WIFI.
On the PB, swipe down and hit the GEAR (options/settings). Scroll down to find Storage/Sharing. On the RIGHT You can scroll. Turn on All (and choose a password if you want).
Then you will need the ip address of the pb. Found in the General at the top of the Gear options and then in the dropdown select Network.
enter that ip address into either a browser or into the Search in your Window laptop as //192.168.1.111 (or whatever your value was above).
Someone might have better instructions, I never remember to grab the link that folks reference.
Here's the thing. You gotta turn off wifi before you plug it in, or else, nothing will mount. It used to work with wifi on, not sure why it doesn't now with the update (at least for me)
Then, on your bottom right corner of your computer screen, there should be a popup saying that a playbook with xxxxxxxxxxx (serial) is plugged in, and initiating volume
Once it is finished, look under my computers, and you should be able to see it mounted as a network drive Z:
Just drag and drop. I haven't had a file of mine not play on playbook, either it be audio or video
For itunes, just use the m4a format, and it will work fine
For video, i suggest either mp4 (h264) or avi. They have the best quality and work great. I do believe HD mkv works also? Correct me anyone if I am wrong
Cheers
There are two ways to transfer files over wifi. One as noted in the posts above, is to use your PC to transfer files between your PC and your Playbook. The other way is to use your Playbook to transfer files between your PB and your PC. For your purposes, probably the easiest way to do this is by installing Ghost Commander (free in app world) and using its Windows Share function to access shared files on your PC.
OP is not techy. Maybe cloud storage is easier, like SkyDrive or Box. Have you used either of these methods to upload and access your files? Once you hear the PB sound quality, you will know you made the right choice for audio and video.
If you visit blackberry.com/playbooksupport it may be useful to watch some of the videos that explain how to do setup and other basic tasks on the playbook. The other option is to search this Site as many have suggested.
The playbook is flexible where you can drag and drop videos, music, and pictures from any mac or pc. This includes videos/movies you've converted to the proper format. I use mp4 for mine and have not had an issue using default playbook player.
There is a vlc android app located at goodereader.com along with other android apps you can sideload onto playbook. Search sideloading to get easy to follow instructions for loading android apps.
No VLC for Playbook. The app in goodereader is VLC Direct, which as far as I know, is used to stream videos from your PC to your PB, not to play local videos. Also, I'm not aware of anyone who has gotten this app to actually work on the PB. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong about this.
Lol..too much of information for the new guy. Hope he survives.
Apologize. I think he is a she.