* Note: Turns out the beta isn't available for the Storm just yet. If you have a Storm and want in on the beta send an email to beta@pushlife.com and they'll get you the Storm version when it becomes available. Sorry about that! *
PushLife is a new music application for BlackBerry Smartphones that seeks to change how you listen to and manage your music on your BlackBerry. Managing music on mobile devices has never really been an easy task for me. It seems no matter how much effort I put into organizing and ensuring items are named and tagged correctly I always end up with a disorganized batch of music on my BlackBerry. After checking out PushLife, I'm liking what I see and it looks to be a way to keep my music better organized.
Now, the folks at PushLife are getting set to release their application via a major carrier announcement next month but as an exclusive offer to the CrackBerry community they've given us a slightly slimmed down version of what will be released for CrackBerry readers to check out (music purchasing disabled in this version). iTunes and Windows Media player synchronization, Twitter sharing of music, editing of ID3 tags on the go and more. That's just some of the features available in PushLife so read on for more information. As for getting in the beta, PushLife is going to limit to the first thousand beta testers, so visit pushlife.com/crackberry from your BlackBerry's web browser to download it now!
As I mentioned, PushLife will work with Windows Media Player and iTunes for synchronization. The synchronization process is all done through USB and allows you to pick and choose what in your music collection you wish to transfer to and from your device. Want that all 80's playlist of WHAM you created in iTunes on your BlackBerry? No problem just put a check mark in the box and it will transfer over to your BlackBerry. PushLife supports ACC, AMR, MIDI, MP3, WAV and WMA files so limitations on file types are quite slim with the exception of DRM music you may have in your collection. Those are not supported by PushLife or BlackBerry devices. If you have video files that are supported such as AVI, MP4 or 3GP those will be transferred as well if you decided to. Just keep in mind not all BlackBerry devices support all those formats of video.
In addition to the synchronization process which transfers your album art, PushLife after synching also brings something new to the table. Once your music is synched and checked from within PushLife, you'll find that all of your added files now have additional data available to viewed from your device. This is a service which PushLife refers to as "Jewel Case". The additional data added could be anything from artist bios to pics and even lyrics. All which provides insight to the music you're listening to by offering information from around the web to you.
Now you're good to go. Music at your fingtips from your own personal collections and play lists. The now playing screen allows for easy navigation back and forth through menus. No need to interrupt your already playing music to get at what you want. You can even rate songs, adjust playlists and much more from this screen. Here is where you may also access all that additional data that was transferred such as bios and lyrics.
So what now right? You got your music synced over. You got album art, pics and even biographies of artists available to you at your fingertips. What happens if you come across a song that is tagged or named wrong? No problem, with PushLife you can simply just edit the file on the go so that all is good in the world and you don't end up with the mess as shown above.
One of the final features of PushLife is the sharing option. Many of you all out there are now Twitter users and with PushLife you can Tweet to your friends what it is you are listening to. The Tweet sent will offer up a link to the PushLife website where the viewer can then read up on the artist you just tweeted about. If they do so choose, they can then purchase the music from within iTunes.
All in all, PushLife is a feature rich application with a great looking user interface. For me, I can see it replacing the built in media player on my BlackBerry simply based on the ease of usability. But, that's just me and that is why PushLife has offered the CrackBerry nation a free download. This version does not include the music purchasing option however, so keep that in mind when using the app.
Once out of beta, the application will then offer those services but for our purposes of testing they remain disabled. All needed instructions are included within the application. Download PushLife for free today and be sure to let us know what you think of it in the comments folks. Support is included for all devices running OS 4.6 and up. Storm users, sorry but it seems the beta does not apply for your device.
