[Cody Overcash]

A few weeks ago I covered PwnPlayer and iSoulSeek (now called MewSeek) and as of today both are out and available on Cydia. Let me tell you even though PwnPlayer is still in beta this public release version is dang good.

PwnPlayer is a great music player alternative for the iPhone already having a solid list of features in this public beta. Of course it has the basics allowing you to play your iTunes music database with coverflow and album art. The lock screen controls allow you to skip tracks and adjust volume without unlocking your phone (although I think these controls could use a bit of refinement). PwnPlayer also runs in the background allowing you to play your music and use your phone for other things.

Forget about the basics. What makes PwnPlayer a must have download are the extra features.

Search is included in PwnPlayer so you can easily look up a song or an album without having to scroll through the rest of your music. It's such a simple feature why doesn't the iPhone have Search as default?

The feature that matters most in my opinion and the reason you need to grab PwnPlayer off of Cydia is the ability to play music from file directory. What does this mean? It means that when you download music files to your phone with other great Cydia apps like dTunes or MewSeek you can play both your downloaded songs and synced songs from one application. You can also load songs onto your phone via sftp or programs like DiskAid and skip syncing music with iTunes all together.

To get PwnPlayer to recognize the files I downloaded from dTunes and MewSeek I had to change the file directory it was looking in for music from var/mobile/Media/Music to var/mobile/Media/Downloads by going to the "Featured" section in PwnPlayer and then clicking settings in the top left corner.



Once I did that I was good to go and able to use PwnPlayer to listen to my downloaded music with no issues.

While this beta release of PwnPlayer is quite good it still needs some more features. Video playback, a custom equalizer (the default ones are already included), and the ability to insert downloaded files into the iTunes database are all things I think that a third-party media player should be able to do on the iPhone. The good thing is errrick the developer already has plans to add some of the above and more in future updates.

If you want to read more about PwnPlayer you can check out the site. Otherwise just grab it off of Cydia.

edit: Somehow I forgot to mention the playlists feature which is excellent. Easily create your custom playlists on the go.

[WillyDavidK]

Hm, looking forward to an alternative to the iPod app on my iPhone. Not that I don't love it, I'd just like to see what some other developers can do with it yay, first post...

[CaptainChaos]

I love being able to create multiple playlists right on the phone and being able to save them. I don't have any issues with the lockscreen controls except for the volume handling. It should be able to turn the volume down more than one click at a time.

Other than that the player works great. Thanks errrick!

[MattMac]

Originally Posted by cash7c3

While this beta release of PwnPlayer is quite good it still needs some more features. Video playback, an custom equalizer (the default ones are already included), and the ability to insert downloaded files into the iTunes database are all things I think that a third-party media player should be able to do on the iPhone. The good thing is errrick the developer already has plans to add some of the above and more in future updates.

If in not mistaken, the reason PwnPlayer was made was becuase errrick couldn't workout how to put songs into the iTunes database...

All good though, although I'm a fan on stock... The lockscreen controls dont work at all for me, but I do have IntelliScreen, that might have something to do with it...

Been waiting for iSlsk for a while so its good to see the release of MewSeek.

Originally Posted by WillyDavidK

yay, first post...

[CaptainChaos]

Yes, Intelliscreen is it. You aren't missing much though. Just the ability to start/stop...fastforward/rewind...and volume up/volume down.

[reznor9]

Originally Posted by MattMac

All good though, although I'm a fan on stock... The lockscreen controls dont work at all for me, but I do have IntelliScreen, that might have something to do with it...

Same problem here.

And another thing. I dont like how coverflow sorts it alpabetically by album title, instead of by band name. he needs to fix that, cause now everything seems scattered around.

[Imahottguy]

Works great for me, though I have found two issues: I don't know if this release is supposed to have the 'double tap' controls utilized, because mine aren't. No matter how I try it, I cannot get those to work. Also, I can cause the app to crash in a couple of ways: Try to use the magnifying glass when you change the '/var/mobile/media/' to '/var/mobile/Library/Downloads/'. I was unable to get the magnifying glass to go away, let alone place the cursor at any spot (it freezes). I really like this app, and am glad it has reached a public beta! :-)

[sukrit]

yaa... jst downloaded it... an awesome must have!

[461am]

yeah, the double tap controls don't work. According to his site, we shouldn't expect updates for the next two weeks either. Otherwise, solid release.

[amandej]

whats the difference between MPlayer and this one???

[A.T]

Hmmm is it worth downloading if you have dTunes?

[Poseidon79]

I agree with cash.. the lock screen controls need a bit of tweaking. Universal video playback is also a must.

[tattoojack]

sweeeeet. cant wait till itunes is completely phased out.

[jmaddox]

Good beta but without the double tap have to uninstall will keep a eye out for the fix though.

[mrsidewayzz]

def dloading. sounds like the devs did a great job.