This book describes the portions of Palm OS® that provide multimedia capabilities. This includes the Sound Manager and the Multimedia Library.
IMPORTANT: The Exploring Palm OS series is intended for developers creating native applications for Palm OS Cobalt. If you are interested in developing applications that work through PACE and that also run on earlier Palm OS releases, read the latest versions of the Palm OS Programmer's API Reference and Palm OS Programmer's Companion instead.
Who Should Read This Book
You should read this book if you are a Palm OS software developer and you want to do one of the following:
- Play simple, monophonic sounds such as beeps or alerts in an application.
- Play or record stereo, sampled sounds in an application.
- Write an application that plays or records audio-visual media.
Beginning Palm OS developers may want to delay reading this book until they gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of Palm OS application development. Instead, consider reading Exploring Palm OS: Programming Basics to gain a good understanding of event management and Exploring Palm OS: User Interface to learn about events generated by standard UI controls. Come back to this book when you find you need to use the sound and multimedia services.
What This Book Contains
This book contains the following information:
- Part I, "Sound Manager," contains information on the Sound Manager:
- Chapter 1, "Sound Manager," describes how to use the Sound Manager to play and record sound.
- Chapter 2, "Sound Manager Reference," describes the Sound Manager API.
- Part II, "Multimedia Library," contains information on the Multimedia Library:
- Chapter 3, "Multimedia Applications," describes how to use the Multimedia Library to play and record multimedia content.
- Chapter 4, "Multimedia Library Definitions," describes common Multimedia Library API elements.
- Chapter 5, "Multimedia Codecs," describes the Multimedia Library API related to codecs.
- Chapter 6, "Multimedia Formats," describes the Multimedia Library API related to formats.
- Chapter 7, "Multimedia Properties," describes the Multimedia Library API related to properties.
- Chapter 8, "Multimedia Sessions," describes the Multimedia Library API related to sessions.
- Chapter 9, "Multimedia Tracks," describes the Multimedia Library API related to tracks.
- "Glossary," is a glossary of multimedia terms.
Changes to This Book
The Exploring Palm OS Series
This book is a part of the Exploring Palm OS series. Together, the books in this series document and explain how to use the APIs exposed to third-party developers by the fully ARM-native versions of Palm OS, beginning with Palm OS Cobalt. Each of the books in the Exploring Palm OS series explains one aspect of the Palm operating system and contains both conceptual and reference documentation for the pertinent technology.
As of this writing, the complete Exploring Palm OS series consists of the following titles:
- Exploring Palm OS: Programming Basics
- Exploring Palm OS: Memory, Databases, and Files
- Exploring Palm OS: User Interface
- Exploring Palm OS: User Interface Guidelines (coming soon)
- Exploring Palm OS: System Management
- Exploring Palm OS: Text and Localization
- Exploring Palm OS: Input Services
- Exploring Palm OS: High-Level Communications
- Exploring Palm OS: Low-Level Communications
- Exploring Palm OS: Telephony and SMS
- Exploring Palm OS: Multimedia
- Exploring Palm OS: Security and Cryptography
- Exploring Palm OS: Creating a FEP (coming soon)
- Exploring Palm OS: Application Porting Guide
Additional Resources
- Documentation
PalmSource publishes its latest versions of this and other documents for Palm OS developers at
- Training
PalmSource and its partners host training classes for Palm OS developers. For topics and schedules, check
- Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base is a fast, web-based database of technical information. Search for frequently asked questions (FAQs), sample code, white papers, and the development documentation at