Music on the Go

So how capable is the Nokia N97 with music?
For starters, it has 32 Gb + an optional 16GB of memory to store your music. If you want, you can carry extra memory cards with your music loaded on to it. This means that technically you can carry any amount of music with you. I dont know of any suceesful portable music player including the iPod where you can do this. 48 GB of memory translates to about 12500 full tracks of about 4 MB at 160 Kbps. Averaging track length to about 3-5 minutes you get about 1 month 4 days, 17 hours and 20 minutes of continous different music :) Think of it this way - You can listen to one hour of totally new music every day for 2 years and 3 months just by loading up the N97 once.
Dont forget that the N97 comes with a standard 3.5 mm jack so you an use your favorite pair of Sennheisers/ Bose headphones or plug it into your Yamaha ampifier ;) I wonder what makers of music systems are going to come up with next? The Nokia N97 has effectvely made music systems redundant. One only needs to buy an external ampifier to have the latest top of the line music system ready! Combined with the Tv-Out port you can watch album art and song information on your TV. Possibilities anyone??
Lets dig deeper into the design of the music player

Music Menu - You can play tracks by choosing Artists, Albums, Playlists, Podcasts, Genres or Composers. If your music is well tagged, finding the right track should be just a few taps away. It features search for tracks, so you can actually type in the track you want and it will find it for you.
One salient feature of the Nokia N97 is that you can just copy paste your music folder structure onto the memory card/phone and ask the music player to refresh the library. The N97 will automatically find tracks and put them in the music menu. So you dont have to be at a particular software's mercy every time you want to load tracks.
Support for file formats - The following file formats are supported in the Nokia N97: AAC, AAC+, eAAC, eAAC+, MP3, MP4, M4A, WMA, Mobile XMF, SP-MIDI, AMR (NB-AMR), MIDI Tones (poly 64), RealAudio 7, 8, 10, True tones (WB-AMR), WAV. MP3-files with various bit rates, including VBR! You can even take play protected DRM-files (Janus DRM) by synchronizing with Windows Media Player 11 or higher.And dont forget, it has full support for album art!
Equalizer - It comes with 6 presets which except for the default setting are all fully customizable - Bass Booster, Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock. You can adjust sound balance, Stereo Widening and Loudness in the settings section.
Music Store - You can buy and download the latest tracks and albums on the road by visiting the Nokia Music Store. I personally have been able to download tracks on my 5800 XpressMusic over the web without even using the music store. Just ensure that the tracks you download are legal to be downloaded free ;)
FM Radio - Features a full blown FM radio with support for visual enhancements and auto tuning.
Internet Radio - Dont like picking tracks and making playlists? Still want to be able to control which genre you are listening to? Try the internet radio. You can choose from a multitude of options and tune in to the perfect channel for your tastes.
Podcasts - The N97 has full support for podcasts. You can access Nokia's podcast catalogue or search and subscribe to podcasts over the internet.
Playback time - The Nokia N97 features an amazing playback time of almost 35-37 hours. You wont run out of battery power on this one.
All in all the nokia N97 has delivered the fatal blow to all music player wannabes in the market. There are other phones with music capabilities in the market but the N97 has raised the bar in terms of the complete solution it offers.