Make Your Pocket PC Look Like An iPod? (W/Pic)

by , 2:15 PM EST, March 9th, 2004

Folks love the iPod, but then, some folks like their PocketPC. The PocketPC is a Microsoft handheld platform driven by a specialized version of Windows, and it has been quite successful; both HP and Dell have released popular PocketPC models. Now a UK software firm called StarBrite Solutions has released software that will make a PocketPC look, more or less, like an iPod. The software is called pBop, and it puts a very iPod-like interface on a PocketPC's very large screen. From a report from CNet News:

A small British company has released jukebox software for Pocket PC handhelds that closely resembles the design and function of Apple's popular music player. Unlike the iPod, the $20 software, known as pBop, plays only MP3 files and not the AAC files that are sold by Apple's iTunes Music Store.

StarBrite Solutions, the U.K. startup, originally called its software pPod, but said it changed the name to pBop after Apple suggested that the original name might infringe on Apple's iPod trademark.

The company has also made other tweaks to the software in response to Apple's concerns, including altering the layout of the software buttons and including a disclaimer on all its marketing material that it has no connection to Apple or the iPod.

There's more information in the full story at CNet News' Web site. StarBrite offers the following image on its Web site:

You can find more information on the pBop at StarBrite's Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Very enterprising of the folks at StarBrite, and we are frankly stunned that Apple didn't just outright demand that the company stop distributing the software completely. Apple can be a tad vigorous when protecting its trademarks, copyrights, and industrial design.

Still, our thought is that pBop might actually help sell some iPods to PocketPC owners who decide they want the real deal, so more power to StarBrite.

CNet News Article