{"id":60175,"date":"2024-07-09T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T09:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=60175"},"modified":"2024-07-07T06:34:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T10:34:46","slug":"the-tecsun-pl-990-pl-990x-as-an-mp3-player-bluetooth-receiver-and-pc-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/the-tecsun-pl-990-pl-990x-as-an-mp3-player-bluetooth-receiver-and-pc-speaker\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tecsun PL-990\/PL-990x as an MP3 Player, Bluetooth Receiver, and PC Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Bob Colegrove, who shares the following guest post:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The Tecsun PL-990\/PL-990x as an MP3 Player, Bluetooth Receiver, and PC Speaker<\/h1>\n

By Bob Colegrove<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes after a medium wave or shortwave DX session I just like to kick back and listen to good music.\u00a0 Perhaps this is an age-related malady.\u00a0 I recently did a scan of the FM band and came up with 60 listenable stations in my area.\u00a0 By listenable, I only mean they can be received clearly.\u00a0 In practice, I only listen to a couple stations.\u00a0 Although, my tastes in music are quite varied, apparently, they do not coincide very well with local FM broadcast station formats.\u00a0 No matter, I can still indulge myself listening to diverse favored artists.<\/p>\n

The Tecsun PL-990\/990x offers a ready solution having both an MP3 player and Bluetooth connectivity.\u00a0 Actually, there are several compatible audio formats available on the player, but for simplicity I will merely refer to them as MP3.\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t buy this radio purposely for these additional features.\u00a0 I bought it as a follow-on to the PL-880, which I still like very much for all its well-known features as a multiband radio.<\/p>\n

I spent some time on the Internet reading all the reviews and watching many YouTube videos.\u00a0 Among useful things, I learned how to take the radio out of its box.\u00a0 The aggregate of all this information was thorough coverage of all the salient features of the 990 \u2013 all except the treatment of the MP3 player and Bluetooth connectivity.\u00a0 These generally appeared at the end of each review in a by-the-way fashion with little detail.<\/p>\n

I bought a PL-990x with expectations that it would be a good radio performer, and that has proven to be the case.\u00a0 During its setup and checkout, I realized the potential for its MP3 and Bluetooth capabilities.\u00a0 A few years ago, I digitized all our vinyl recordings and cassette tapes, so I had many hours of material readily available for inclusion on a micro-SD card, which can be inserted on the bottom of the cabinet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual<\/p><\/div>\n

The radio, MP3 player, and Bluetooth modes are available by toggling a single switch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual<\/p><\/div>\n

As an MP3 Player<\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, the display does not have a multi-segment set of characters for text.\u00a0 This is the way random RDS information is displayed on radios such as the XHDATA D-808 and Eton Elite Executive.\u00a0 So, selecting albums and tracks on the 990 is limited to numeric representation, which doesn\u2019t provide much of a clue identifying the musical selection.\u00a0 The user must either remember where favorite files are stored by number or keep some sort of number-title log.<\/p>\n

Files are stored on a micro-SD card having up to 128 GB in capacity.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of content.\u00a0 The radio comes with a 16-GB card, which will probably be large enough for many users.\u00a0 There are some details to consider when setting up the card.\u00a0 This information is lacking in the manual, but I have tried to fill in the blanks below.<\/p>\n

Some rules:<\/p>\n

1. There is no purpose in trying to alphabetize or otherwise edit album or track titles to locate them in a specific sequence.\u00a0 The 990 doesn\u2019t understand this.<\/p>\n

2. Generally, albums and tracks will be assigned numbers by the 990 in the order in which they are saved to the SD card by the computer.<\/p>\n

3. Albums equal folders.\u00a0 Tracks equal (MP3) files within each folder.\u00a0 You can mix and match the content in albums and tracks any way you want to.\u00a0 It does not have to conform to the publisher\u2019s album content.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Source: PL-990x Operation Manual<\/p><\/div>\n

4. An album\/folder can contain both its own tracks\/files and nested folders containing other albums.\u00a0 A nested album\/folder will be numbered in sequence after the containing folder.\u00a0 Any previously saved album\/folders will be renumbered higher in sequence.<\/p>\n

Rule 4 offers some flexibility.\u00a0 You can come back later and prioritize any album\/folder by simply nesting it with another album\/folder.<\/p>\n

The table below is an example of five different musical genres compiled into separate albums.\u00a0 On the computer, the polka album was transferred to the SD card first, then classic country.\u00a0 At that point, the polka album was A01 and country A02 on the 990 display.\u00a0 Later, Dixieland and waltz albums were added to the tracks in the polka folder.\u00a0 They then became A02 and A03 respectively, and the country album advanced to A04.\u00a0 Finally, the chorus album was added in the root directory and became A05.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n