Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

http://www.olivetree12.com/handheld/products/NAB/index.html

God in Heaven, Three in One, thank you! OliveTree, thank you, too!

-- Skoobouy (skoobouy@hotmail.com), October 15, 2002

Answers

Thanks Skoobouy. Now if only I knew what a PDA was, I'd be set!

-- Glenn (glenn@nospam.com), October 15, 2002.

Most people today call them "Palm Pilots," but that actually only refers to an old unit--the Pilot--made by a company--Palm--that hasn't been sold for four or five years. The name stuck, kind of like "Band-Aids" or "Vasoline".

PDA means "Personal Digital Assisstant"--basically, a handheld computer.

Some of them have a shrunken version of Windows called "Pocket PC." They're sold by Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Dell, and a few others.

Some of them use something different than Windows, called "Palm OS". They're made by Palm, Handspring, and Sony.

Hope that helps. :)

-- Skoobouy (skoobouy@hotmail.com), October 15, 2002.

Skoobouy or anyone else, what about audio devices? Don't they have some small kind of walkman type thing that downloads MP3's?

I listen a lot, and thought it would be good to get something I could listen to while working instead of the same boring talk radio and music. I thought I could kill two birds with one stone if I could download some kind of MP3 and listen to some like Sheen (just as an example; I haven't listened to him and would like to).

How much play time could I get out of one of these things if it is full of data? Is this a plausible idea, and are there any such MP3's with Catholic content out there or would I have to make my own?

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), October 15, 2002.

First, a good thing to note is that the only PDA's that can play music are Pocket PCs (with the shrunken down Windows), and some Sony- brand Palms.

Second, if you want lots of music or audio content, you should look for a PDA with a slot to add memory in. Another consideration is that some kinds of memory are cheaper than others.

This rules out a few units. Sony "Clie" Palms use "Memory Stick" memory, which is expensive and limited in amount. Memory sticks look like half a stick of gum.

Pocket PC's, on the other hand, use "SD" (Secure Digital) cards or "CF" (Compact Flash) cards to add memory. SD's are a little bigger than postage stamps. CF cards are more like books of matches. CF memory is very very cheap, but it is becomming less common because all of the new PDAs use SD.

Anyway, I use a 512 Megabyte CF card with about 4+ hours of music plus all of my books, documents, programs, etc. and so on. For most people though, any memory card with 128 Megabytes will do just fine.

***

There's lots of good Catholic audio on CD that you can load into your PDA or MP3 audio player. So let's say you aquired Archbishop Fulton Sheen's A Voice From Calvary for yourself.

If you have the very latest version of Windows Media Player, you can simply load your CD into your computer, select "File --> Copy --> Copy from Audio CD" and boom, you have a folder of compressed audio files sitting on your hard drive. (Well, OK, you have to tweak a few settings, and wait 10-20 minutes, but that's technology).

Then you connect your PDA/Audio player to your PC and use another program to move all of the audio files to the device. Then you just pop in some headphones and enjoy.

Also, if you don't mind the sound of a computer-generated voice, you can use a program like TextAloud MP3 to take any text--like a favorite enyclical, perhaps--and turn it into an audio file that you can listen to on your PDA or mp3 player. I listened to Sacrosanctum Concilium that way.

Hope that helps! :)

-- Skoobouy (skoobouy@hotmail.com), October 15, 2002.

Cool; that's more help than I was expecting, Skoobouy. Especially the part about the TextAloud. That alone could make the rest totally worthwhile. Thanks!

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), October 15, 2002.

Let me press you further, Skoobouy. What software do I need to buy to produce a really good website and get it up on the net? Regarding the cost of your advice, have you taken a vow of poverty yet or should I wait til later? lol!

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), October 15, 2002.

Well, if you ask me, I never use individual programs; I'm a notepad purist.

But when I was getting started, I had the Netscape Communicator software suite, which is free from netscape.com. It includes a Website editor which is very user friendly. As far as getting it on the Web is concerned, well, that and many other questions are dealt with at this Web authoring FAQ.

Enjoy!

-- Skoobouy (skoobouy@hotmail.com), October 15, 2002.

I've been using the OliveTree BibleReader for the past 3-4 months on my Casio BE-300 Pocket Manager and it is FANTASTIC! For those who don't know, the BE-300 is a Windows CE-based device, that is similar to, but not exactly a PocketPC device. PocketPC's generally sell for between $300-$600... but the BE-300 sells for a mere $150.

Now that OliveTree has added the NAB, it will be a tremendous aid for our Catholic brothers and sisters. Great job OliveTree!

-- Thomas C. Perconti (tcperconti@hotmail.com), October 19, 2002.

For you PDA users out there, let me recommend the following service: MyAvantGo (formerly just "AvantGo").

MyAvantGo is a free service for PDAs. It's basically a repository (on the internet) that collects websites that are already formatted for various PDA screens. Then, using software you load onto your PDA, your PDA connects to the MyAvantGo server and "downloads" the mini- webpages to which you "subscribe" into your PDA's memory. Then as you carry your PDA around town, you can spend your time viewing whatever sites ("channels") to which you've subscribed and downloaded into your PDA. The MyAvantGo service (and thus all the channels) is free.

The reason I use the MyAvantGo service is because of a channel called MobileGabriel. A priest from Cleveland puts together the daily readings, daily scripture meditations, prayer requests, "Dear Pater," Religious News, and Catechism Clips. So I use my Palm Pilot to read the daily readings (often prior to daily Mass) and a daily meditation.

You can also subscribe to LOTS of other kinds of channels (newspapers, hobby groups, e-zines, etc) but I think MobileGabriel alone makes it worth the effort it takes to set up onto your PDA. It's such an easy way to have the daily readings right at my fingertips!

For an example of (kind of) what the MobileGabriel site could look like on your PDA, go to Mobile Gabriel homepage .

To sign up or learn more about MyAvantGo, go to MyAvantGo homepage .

Even though this might sound like an advertisement, I have nothing to do with MyAvantGo (nor MobileGabriel). I'm just a very satisfied user - and I know many other satisfied users of the service.

-- Greg Adas (gadas@familink.com), January 09, 2003.

Greg,

Thanks, I'll check out MobGabe at least. I never thought I'd get a PDA, but did (had some left over use it or lose it funds). One neat thing about AvantGo is it'll download Mapquest directions, which saves one the trouble of carrying around sheets of paper.

Frank

-- someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), January 10, 2003.

I also use Mobile Gabriel, mainly because it gives me the Mass readings for the current week and the following two weeks.

Please pray for the continued recovery of Fr. James Schmitz (the author of Mobile Gabriel). He had a heart attack towards the end of last year.

In Christ,

Mateo

-- (MattElFeo@netscape.net), January 10, 2003.

OK, sooo

Maybee some can explain how I can download the NAB for a Palm PC (M105)

thanks Dave

-- Davis "Gabriel" Staronowski (DStaron@comcast.net), May 28, 2003.