How do you automate podcast reception with a Dell Pocket DJ.
December 12, 2005 3:21 PM 
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How do you automate podcast reception with a Dell Pocket DJ.
This is probably a bit too specific for askmefi, but I'm desperate enough to give it a shot. I'm trying to make a Dell Pocket DJ work like an ipod, where you plug in the player, run a program and the shows appear on the device.
I'm attempting to help a blind computer user (using window-eyes) in being able to enjoy the podcast experience. I'd been raving about it for some time, so he wound up with a Dell Pocket DJ as a gift. The thing is, unlike the ipod and most other players I've encountered, the driver software does not represent the Dell player as a virtual drive, but instead as a sort of custom construct in Windows Explorer.
This means I am unable to use his podcast client (Juice) to download directly to the Dell mp3 player, or even set up a simple batch file for him to move the received podcasts to the player (unless I'm missing something simple?). I've tried talking him through it, and while he can get it done, its simply too byzantine a process for it to be practical for him.
I suspect the root cause of the difficulty is that Dell is trying to force you into use of the execrable MusicMatch software, in order to tap into the revenue stream for buying music. There may even be a way to accomplish it with that program, but it is horribly designed for a blind user, and he was having trouble navigating anywhere within it.
I may be missing something (or many things) obvious about this process, as I am trying to accomplish this mostly over the phone (I visited at Thanksgiving and will again at Xmas). So, any advice is appreciated. I've spent a good amount of time googling for answers but without success.
I know it's a bit late, but the blind user's mp3 player of choice seems to be an Archos or iRiver with Rockbox. It has support for voice navigation, ie, the menus and playlists/songs/directories can be assigned audible speech or cues, and it has tactile buttons. This is also great for hands free operation by sighted users.
Regarding the Dell DJ, you could use something like Media Center, which supports the Dell through the Windows WMDM interface and also supports podcasts (new feature). Not sure of its suitability for blind use though.
Although I don't use it, could you use iTunes and its built-in podcasting with a the BadApple plugin to add support for the Dell. Of course, if the podcasts download as AAC I think you might have to transcode them into WMA or mp3 if the Dell doesn't support that format. Of course, since Apple's expertise is generally with visual metaphors, its software and hardware tends to be not especially suitable for non-visual operation.
posted by meehawl at 3:48 PM on December 12, 2005