I just got a shiny new bluespoon headset to go with my phone. So obviously, I was like, “yo, I want to listen to music with it.” Why? Because I can! So, I set out to figure out how. I came across the post you will find later on this page after hours of searching, on (of all places) the AT&T Wireless support forums. Who knew? So the cooler thing, is that I came up with a program of my own to effortlessly automate steps 1-6 below in a nice little program. I call that program bluetunes. I don’t think this program really needs any documentation. It does actually kill a running process on your phone, which you should never do. So, don’t run this program. If you do, don’t blame me if something goes awry. I’ll include the source code in the zip file for those of you who are interested. You should definitely sync your contacts and stuff with outlook before you run it. blah blah blah.
Incidentally, if you want to have your ENTIRE music collection available to you on your phone, download ORB. It is one of the coolest programs I’ve seen in a while. You should even be able to watch live TV if you have a TV tuner card on your computer!
Compatibility:
Bluetunes has been tested successfully on the following phone/headset combinations:
- Windows Mobile 5.0
- T-Mobile SDA / Nextlink Bluespoon AX
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Jabra BT200
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Jabra BT800 (fixes callerID issue too!)
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Nextlink Bluespoon AX
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Motorola HT-820 Stereo headset (but audio is still mono)
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Motorola HS810
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Motorola H500
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Nokia HS-11W
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Plantronics Explorer 320
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Plantronics M2500
- Audiovox SMT5600 / Platronics 640 Discover
- Orange C550 / Jabra 250v
- SPV c500 / Jabra BT200
- SPV c500 / Plantronics m3000
- SPV c500 / i.Tech BlueBAND stereo
- imate sp3 / Sony Ericsson HBH-60
- imate SP3i / Bluetake stereo headphones
- Sprint PPC 6700 / Jabra 250v
Windows Mobile 2003
The following phones have not been used successfully. If you have a different experience, please tell me.
- Motorola MPx220
- Sprint PPC-6601 (Audiovox XV6600)
If you find that it works with another combination, please let me know!
news
2007.03.01 – I found another similar program that costs about $10, called BlueMusic. It works with PocketPCs as well as smartphones. If BlueTunes doesn’t work, you can check out BlueMusic.
2006.10.10 – Tested with T-Mobile SDA, successfully! No need to pay $10 (see below) for what you can get for free!
I have found another program that seems to work EXACTLY like BlueTunes. The good news: it is said to work with WM 5.0. The bad news: 1. the program requires .NET 2.0 compact framework, 2. the author has decided to charge. If BlueTunes doesn’t work for you, maybe BlueCast will… Good and bad, here it is: http://www.simplesmartphone.com/BlueCast/
2006.04.28 – A WM5 user, Deon Paul, alerted me of a freeware program for WM5 (but specifically for HTC Wizard devices, like the Cingular 8125 or the Sprint/Verizon/T-Mobile MDA, not smartphones) that achieves the same effect as BlueTunes. Here it is.
the at&t wireless support forum post, prettified…
Yes, the quality is not terrific, but I like to stream the news and tech streams on my SMT5600. Here’s what I did per another post.. it is fairly well hidden so I thought I’d bring it to the top.
- Downloaded and installed SP Task Manager 2.0 (not signed) from http://www.binarys.com/download_en.asp You can use this app unpurchased indefinitely but its well worth the $5.
- Make sure your bluetooth headset is in handsfree mode (you’ll see the headset icon on the home page)
- Open SP Task Mgr EN
- Select Edit -> Show process list
- Select Edit -> Uncheck Hide system apps.
- Highlight cdial.exe in the list and select File -> Kill process
*In the future : Because this app remembers its confg, you only need to do steps 3 and 6 to turn this on again.
Now, if you press the button that usually starts the voice dial app (cdial), it will now play all sounds over your bluetooth headset. Pressing it again will return all sounds to the SMT5600.
Now, how about getting the Voice Dial app to work again?? I’m sure there’s a better way to do a quickdial shortcut to start cdial.exe, but this is the best way I’ve found to create a shortcut without editing an xml file.
- Open File Manager and go to the Windows folder
- Select Menu -> Options -> Uncheck : Hide hidden files, Hide system files, and Hide files in ROM and select Done.
- Scroll down and highlight cdial.exe (takes a while).
- Select Menu -> File -> Create Shortcut -> and put it in Temp (for lack of a better idea)
- Select Menu -> Options -> Re-check : Hide hidden files, Hide system files, and Hide files in ROM and select Done.
- Go to the temp folder and click cdial.lnk.
Now the next time you press your BT activation button, it will do the voice dial app again.
In the future: You need to click on cdial.lnk (wherever you put it) to restart the voice dial capability. If you put it in the start menu, you can create a speed dial setting for it.
Wish list for others to improve on:
- I noticed that while I’m streaming audio, I can go ahead and restart cdial.exe (or cdial.lnk) and it doesn’t stop the audio. If I press the BT activation button once, it stops the streaming. If I press it again, it starts the voice dial app. Perfect! Now, I just need a script or tool of some kind that does this all in one step: turn on audio to BT and set the voice dial to take over on next go around.