Kd player

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KD Player
Image:KD Player Version 5 - Orange EN.png
Screenshot of KD Player version 0.89 (default skin)
Developed by Knyzhov Dmitry
Platform Java ME
Available in Various[1]
Genre Media player
License Proprietary
Website http://www.easter-eggs.net.ru/KDPlayer/index.htm

KD Player is a free J2ME based audio player created by Russian developer Knyzhov Dmitry. It is designed for mobile phones running Operating System Embedded platforms. The program can playback audio files that are supported by the phone model, most commonly mp3 and wav files which the program fully supports. KD Player can be downloaded depending on screen display that a mobile phone would support. The current screen displays available are 128x160 , 176x220 , 208x208 and 240x320 for different screen displays.

Contents

[edit] Features

The software was developed with the idea of replacing the standard media player found on many modern phone's as described in the author's description. Playback options include Play, Fast Forward, Rewind, Shuffle and two Repeat modes (playlist repeat and single track repeat). The applications also hosts in built volume control separate to the volume of the mobile device it is running on. KD Player supports full reading of ID3-tag data (v1 & v2) in common mp3 files and the sorting of tracks by album, artist or title. The user can specify which folders to scan on either the mobile phone's in built memory or inserted memory card. KD player stores the scanned folders in a music library from which the user can further read and create playlists and similarly create bookmarks to audio files. Unlike the Walkman software player found on specific Sony Ericsson phones, the user must update the the library by the selecting the 'update library' feature in the main menu. For this feature to work the user must first define any necessary folders where the desired audio files are located in order for the scanning and updating to be achieved. Scanning of subfolders can be enabled and disabled in the 'preferences' option. In some models particularly Sony Ericsson JP-7 and later based phones, the player can be minimized and left working in the background. KD Player also supports the reading and display of album art as one of its primary features. An image file supported by KD Player (typically jpg, png, bmp) has got to be pre-placed in the folder of corresponding audio files which will serve as the album art image that is displayed, for example; folder.jpg. Reading and displaying of embedded images metadata for album art, which is commonly embedded in some mp3 files, is also supported KD Player and as expected images should be of a certain restricted dimensions and filesize.

[edit] Translations and updated versions

KD Player has already been translated into several languages including English, Swedish, German, Spanish and Italian. Translating KD Player is achievable by extracting the contents of the .jar file (the archive format of which is the installer) and then editing the language files located in the 'lang' folder which users can do themselves on own desire. Since the latest test version of 0.91 improvements have been to add the feature of the 'scrolling' of long tag names, increased support for more phones brands like Nokia and Motorola and a small enhancement in the display of id3 tags. There has also been another updated release (version 0.95) that is an update from the 0.91 release available in Russian, English, Slovak and other selected full translations. A changelog for all of KD Player's versions up until the latest can be found on the official website.

[edit] Skins

One of the most sought after features of KD Player is the ability to custom change the theme design by the use of designed skins created by users to enhance the player's visual look. Skins for KD Player have shown that the album art can be made bigger depending on the skin's layout. Skin's created are screen display dependent. The entire skin consists of a kdi and a kds in order for the skin to be used. The kdi file is a simple image file (typically a png) with all the necessary elements for the skin whereas the kds file is text file that contains code coordinates for where each element has to be placed to make up the skin.

Skins are available to download free of charge on KD Player's website and also found on various websites and online forums. A full tutorial for creating skins, that is written in Russian, is also available on the official website.

[edit] KD Player's requirements

KD player requires the presence of JSR-75 also known as File Connection API as well as the JSR 135 or the Mobile Media API(MMAPI) to access and play audio files from the Phone's File system to the Java Player itself. To utilize the player efficiently, the user must enable the file reading access rights that KD Player will request when any initail attempts to play or search for files is made.

The most recent version for KD Player (0.95) includes the much requested feature of an equalizer, the equalizer is only usable on certain phones; a full list of compatibility for the equalizer feature is available on the website.

[edit] References

  1. ^ KD Player translated into other languages from Russian. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.

[edit] External links