Palm movie critic
The following letter was written in response to the article "Getting the most out of movies on your Palm device" in the February issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200102/tealmovie001.html.

I'm having a little bit of trouble understanding the point of distributing the article "Getting the most out of movies on your Palm device" except that it was purely an advertising ploy. The article was written by the developer of TealMovie, so of course his viewpoint will be a little biased. Nowhere in his article does he state that movies played back on a Palm device are choppy (at 10fps), grainy, and hard to see. He makes it sound like watching movies on the Palm device is almost perfect if you create the movies correctly. I find that hard to believe. Also, he specifically says "Musical soundtracks work well on the Palm device, and there are many sources for music suitable for this purpose."

Somebody should tell him that Palm devices do not have sound playback capability! I guess if you purchase an add-on speaker, but how many people have those?

Now, don't get me wrong, I have a Palm Vx, and I love it. It does everything I need it to do. But don't try to tell me that playing movies (with sound) is a viable option at this time. If Mr. Lee wants to sell his beloved TealMovie software, he should do it with conventional ads and not try to sneak it by in a how-to article.

Thank you for your time,
Bob Pfeiffer

Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz responds
Bob, interesting letter. Actually, Palm devices do have sound... otherwise you could never hear an alarm. As for why we asked Vince to write about his product, it's a practice we do from time to time with interesting products. We like to have the person who's been the closest to the product share with us some insights on a new technology, product, or idea. Frankly, the article got started because I asked Vince why anyone would care about movies on a Palm device. His answer was so interesting, I thought it would make the basis for a great article, and it did. However, when we do run an article by someone with a vested interest, we do an introduction like that in this article, so you know to look for the jewels of wisdom but understand the perspective of the author.

To be honest, I don't want movies on my Palm device, but I think you need to cut Vince Lee some slack in your letter. He's built something pretty darn incredible and deserves to have that innovation showcased.

Bob Pfeiffer responds to the response
Thanks for the reply, David.

You're right on all counts. I only reacted the way I did because I feel I was misled. When I read the title of the article, I made the erroneous assumption that the article would help me play movies on my Palm device. Having tried other movie players, I was always disappointed with the quality and the fact that there was no sound. (Yes, I know there is sound in my Palm device, but no speaker to allow for audio playback.) I was hoping to garner some info that would magically allow me to see decent quality video playback at 10fps on my small grayscale screen. All the article told me is that there is a new application that plays movies on the Palm OS (agreed, maybe a very good application).