- BeyondPod has several options that are used very rarely (or are for
experimental use only) that don't have a User Interface to configure them. They
can be changed by manually modifying the Settings.xml file located in BeyondPod's install
directory on the device.
The easiest way to do that is to close BeyondPod, copy Settings.xml to your PC
and
use a Notepad.exe to edit it. You should probably try to open the file in
Internet Explorer before and after editing it to verify that the file is still valid,
before copying it back
to the device.
- Changing the UserAgent string - If your internet provider uses a proxy
that expects a specific User Agent string in the request headers, you can add the
following setting to the Settings.xml file:
<add key="UserAgent" value="Mozilla/4.0
(compatible; MSIE 6.0)" />
where the "value" contains the desired user agent. ("Mozilla/4.0
(compatible; MSIE 6.0)" is what BeyondPod uses by default).
- Turning Off the grouping when showing podcasts from multiple feeds - If you
use the option to see all the podcasts across all feeds in a given category,
(Menu > Show All In... in the Podcast Vview), there is a way
to turn the grouping on or off by changing the following setting to the Settings.xml file:
<add key="GroupByFeedIfShowingCategoryTracks" value="0" />
where the "value" can be 0 or 1. ("1" turns
the grouping ON and is what BeyondPod uses by default).
- Text-To-Speech integration - Starting with ver 3.0, BeyondPod
can expose the content of its feeds to an external Text-To-Speech engine, thus
allowing you
can listen to "text only" feeds. One of the popular text-to-speech engine for Windows
Mobile devices is available from Cepstral. This is a commercial software (each voice
is about $20). Cepstral offers many voices including several languages. (You can download a demo voice from
http://www.cepstral.com/cgi-bin/downloads?type=1152217432 to try it out.)
Each voice comes with an application called swifttalker.exe that is used to read
the contents of any text file.
Setting up BeyondPod to use it currently requires a manual modification of the BeyondPod's
Settings.xml file and adding the following line there:
<add key="TTSHandler" value="\Storage Card\Program Files\Cepstral\David\swifttalker.exe
-f %1" />
where the "value" contains the path to the switfttalker.exe application installed
by the Cepstral install. (As the voice files are quite big - about 20 MB - you probably
will end up installing it on the Storage Card). Once BeyondPod detects this setting
on the next start, it will add a new "Speak Content" menu item in the Feed Content view.
Selecting the "Speak Content" will extract the text content of all items currently
displayed in the Feed Content view and give them to swifttalker to read. The quality
is decent, and definitely requires some getting used to, but if you want to be able
"read" your text feed while driving - this is a viable (and cool) solution.
- Enabling GZIP compression - Many websites use compression to reduce the
amount of data sent to clients. BeyondPod can take advantage of this compression
to speed up some feed updates. If your device has v2 of the Compact Framework, you
can enable GZIP compression, by downloading the
SharpZipLib.dll file and placing it in the BeyondPod installation directory
on your device. If your device has v3.5 of the compact framework, GZIP compression
is already enabled by default. You can find what versions of the Compact Framework
are installed on your device by running *cgacutil.exe* located in the \Windows directory
of the device.
- Using www.skweezer.net with BeyondPod
- Skweezer provides a free service that reformats web sites so they are easily viewable
on mobile devices. You can configure BeyondPod to use skweezer (or any other similar
service) when you click on the feed items in the Content View. Starting with ver.2.6.10
both Skweezer and Google formatting engines can be selected using the Settings menu.
- Configuring what Player plays downloaded podcasts - BeyondPod internally
hosts Windows Media player as its internal player. By default, all file types that
Windows Media Player supports, can be also played using the internal player. Starting
with version 2.6.2.10, The Player page of the Settings menu has place to list of
file types (extensions) played in the internal player. For all file types that are
*not in that list* BeyondPod will launch whatever external player is configured
for that file type even if the Podcast Player is set to "Use Internal" in the Tools->Settings.
If the Podcast Player is set to "Use External" all podcasts will be played using
their respective default player and the internal player will not be used.
- Virtual Feeds - You can create 'virtual' feeds from the content of any
folder on your mobile device. Create a new feed, give it a name, leave the feed
URL empty, click on "More Settings >>" and select some folder in "Podcast Download
Folder". All audio/video files in this folder will appear as "virtual podcasts"
and can be played using the built in player. You can use this for your music files,
or voice notes (if you point it to \My Documents\Notes). If you don’t want BeyondPod
to automatically delete the “virtual podcasts” when they finish playing, make sure
you set the “Allow Podcast Deletions” option to “No” in the Feed Properties.
- Playing Internet Radio stations - You can use "virtual feeds" to set a
list of Internet radio stations. Create a folder on your device and put some Microsoft
play list files (.ASX) that point to radio stations. Create a virtual feed for that
folder and the individual play lists will appear as "virtual podcasts". Playing
any of those "podcasts" will stream the corresponding radio station. This is a list
of some sample radio stations:
BeyondPod_Internet_Radiostations.zip. Just unzip it, copy the entire folder
to your device and create a virtual feed for it.
BeyondScheduler
BeyondScheduler is a companion application that BeyondPod uses internally for scheduling
updates. BeyondScheduler allows you to schedule multiple tasks that can run at specific
times. It currently supports Turning Flight Mode on/off, Turning Bluetooth On/Off
and Running BeyondPod updates.updates.
BeyondScheduler has also an experimental support for switching WiFi on/off (for
example on- before and off- after a scheduled feed update). Given that various devices
use different WiFi implementations, this task may not work correctly with all devices
(works on T-Mobile Dash and probably on some other HTC devices). If you want to
try it out you have to manually run BeyondScheduler.exe from the BeyonhdPod's install
folder.
- The current implementation of the WiFi task has a caveat that if you turn OFF
WiFi using BeyondScheduler, you will not be able to turn it on using the built in
Comm Manager. In this case, just use BeyondScheduler to turn WiFi ON, and then use
Comm Manager to turn it OFF. As long as you turned off WiFi with the Comm Manager
it will work normally.
- Also it looks like some devices (T-Mobile DASH for example) the device needs to
be "application unlocked" to in order for WiFi On/Off task to work. To unlock the
DASH I had to change only the first registry key as described in this post [url:http://amitranjan.wordpress.com/2006/04/28/unlocking-imate-sp5/]
and then I ran the SDA_ApplicationUnlock from [url:http://www.spv-developers.com/content/SDA_ApplicationUnlock.zip].
On some Pocket PC devices (for example on AT&T Tilt) scheduled tasks my not start
reliably (or not start at all). This has to do with a device registry setting that
specifies the time allowed to launch scheduled tasks while the device is in standby.
The key is under:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\Timeouts
If you set both: "BattResumingSuspendTimeout" and "ACResumingSuspendTimeout"
to something like 60 the tasks should start correctly.
NETCFv35.Messages.EN.wm.cab
Sometimes BeyondPod's Feed Update Log can contain a message that an error cannot
be displayed because the optional resource file NETCFv35.Messages.EN.wm.cab was
not installed. This file usually can be found on your PC in
C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\CompactFramework\v3.5
WindowsCE\Diagnostics directory. or you can download it from here
NETCFv35.Messages.EN.wm.cab. After you install it on the device, the
NEXT TIME
this error occurs the log should contain the real error message.
Versions of the Compact Framework
There are multiple versions of the compact framework in use today. Some are pre-installed
in the ROM of the device, some are installed as a CAB file. BeyondPod requires version
2.0 SP1 or later to work. You can find the version of the framework installed on
your device by using File Explorer on the device, and navigate to My Device / Windows.
Find and tap the program called *cgacutil* and a dialog will appear displaying one
or more build numbers. These numbers will tell you what version of the Compact Framework
is installed.
- CF1.0 RTM = 1.0.2268.0
- CF1.0 SP1 = 1.0.3111.0
- CF1.0 SP2 Recall = 1.0.3226.0
- CF1.0 SP2 Beta = 1.0.3227.0
- CF1.0 SP2 Final = 1.0.3316.0
- CF1.0 SP3 = 1.0.4292.00
- CF2.0 RTM = 2.??
- CF2.0 SP1 = 2.0.6129.0 - Installed by default on most WM5 devices
- CF2.0 SP2 = 2.0.7045.0 - Installed by default on most WM6 devices
- CF3.5 = 3.5.7283.0 - (latest known available)
It is recommended that you try to use the latest version if possible - currently
CF3.5. When installing the Compact Framework it is recommended to install it in
the Main Storage (not the SD card). The latest version (CF 3.5) can be downloaded
from
Microsoft Web Site. Keep in mind that multiple versions the Compact Framework
can be installed on the same device at the same time. (For example you can have
both CF2.0 SP2 and CF3.5 both installed)
Where are all BeyondPod settings stored?
BeyondPod uses 4 files to store all its settings:
- Settings.xml - various global (not per-feed dependent) settings, and the
global list of categories
- TrackState.xml - all feed subscriptions and related feed settings such
as spacesavers etc. (BeyondPod creates a backup copy of this file - named TrackState.xml.bak
- every time it saves it in case the primary file gets corrupted)
- BeyondPodHistory.bin - the podcast download history for all feeds
- BeyondPodItemHistory.bin - the read/unread status of the items from all
feeds
BeyondScheduler has only 1 configuration file:
- ScheduledTasks.xml - stores the information for all scheduled tasks
If you back up the files above you will be able to restore BeyondPod after a hard
reset. Keep in mind that the files above are not being removed during an uninstall
(so you don't start from scratch every time you upgrade). If you want to completely
uninstall/install BeyondPod - make sure you delete the files after you uninstall.
Useful Links