Have you ever wished that you can see song lyrics on your Blackberry cell phone as the song plays?  Wish you could translate lyrics to a song?

There are some free applications, or apps, that can provide these and other  services to certain phones including Blackberry, iPhone, G1, and others. The app copies the music from your phone and shows lyrics to the songs as they play! One such service that I have tested is TuneWiki. So, what is TuneWiki?  TuneWiki is a next generation social mobile media player that:

• Displays lyrics as subtitles (karaoke style)
• Translates lyrics to up to 40 languages (although I don’t need this I can see huge potential for it’s use)
• Maps music being played according to location
• Lists Top 50 songs by country
• Displays album art

Here are the steps to getting and using TuneWiki on your Blackberry device.

Things You’ll Need:

• Compatible cell phone
• TuneWiki music app
• Music already on your phone (device memory, micro SD card)

Steps to use TuneWiki:

1. Check the TuneWiki website to ensure your phone is compatible with the service.  At the time of this article most Blackberry devices were compatible.  If you use a different type of phone or one that isn’t available, they will likely add new phones and models at a later date.
2. Store music to your phone. This can be done by transferring the music files to your device and by using a micro SD card that is made for your phone model.  It can also be done using the desktop manager and transferring your files to the phone.
3. Download TuneWiki Free to your Blackberry, iPhone, G1 or other compatible cell phone. For Blackberry users, this can be easily located and downloaded in the Blackberry App World.  There is also a TuneWiki Pro app that is $4.99, this comes without the advertisements.
4. Run your newly installed TuneWiki. It will then ask to browse your music on your phone and SD card if you have one. This process then creates a library of your music.
5. Use the categories to select and play a song or to shuffle your music. Once the song begins to play you will see the album work in the background and the lyrics in a bubble.

Just keep in mind, the availability of the lyrics really depends on what song, artist, or group you are listening to. If they aren’t available, you will see “No lyrics available” while the song is playing.  I mostly listen to music that isn’t played too often on the radio and saw “No lyrics available” a number of times which to me was understandable.  I’m sure the number of songs with available lyrics will continuously grow.

Tips & Warnings

• There are a few minor bugs that TuneWiki will constantly work on improving. For the most part, it runs well and offers lyrics to many popular songs.
• You can skip songs and even go back to previous songs.

Have you used this app?  Feel free to share your experiences and reviews in the comments below.

What size micro SD card can I use with my Blackberry?  What is a micro SD card? Here are some common answers and information to help clarify these cards and their expandable memory functions.

A microSD media card is a removable flash memory data storage device. When inserted into a BlackBerry smartphone, it can extend the memory available for storing media files such as videos, ring tones, pictures, or songs.  Some models have a memory card in the box while others require you to buy them separately.  Luckily the prices have dropped considerably over the past year or two and you can pick one relatively cheap.

So, which micro SD card can I use with my Blackberry?  The following table lists BlackBerry Device Software versions and the supported media card size.  As you can see, it depends on which device software you are using.  Make sure you always check to see if you are using the latest version available for your model.

BlackBerry Device Software Media Card Size Limit
BlackBerry Device Software 4.2.0-  Up to 2 GB
BlackBerry Device Software 4.2.1-   Up to 4 GB
BlackBerry Device Software 4.2.2-   Up to 4 GB
BlackBerry Device Software 4.2.2.196-   Up to 8 GB
BlackBerry Device Software 4.3.0-   Up to 8 GB
BlackBerry Device Software 4.5.0-   Up to 8 GB
BlackBerry Device Software 4.5.0.81 and later-   Up to 16 GB
BlackBerry Device Software 4.6.0 and later-   Up to 32 GB

How many songs will a 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, or 32 GB micro SD card hold? How many photos and video can it hold?   It really depends on the length and file sizes but here is a rough guide taken from Amazon’s product descriptions:

512 MB — Music: about 60 songs
Photos :  over 300 shots
Videos and movies — up to 1 hour

1 GB — Music: about 125 songs
Photos :  over 600 shots
Videos and movies — up to 2 hours

2 GB — Music: about 250 songs
Photos :  over 1,200 shots
Videos and movies — up to 3.5 hours

4 GB —  Music: about 500 songs
Photos :  over 1,200 shots
Videos and movies — up to 9.5 hours

8 GB —  Music: about 1000 songs
Photos :  over 1,200 shots
Videos and movies — up to 21 hours

16 GB —  Music: about 2000 songs
Photos :  over 3,000 shots
Videos and movies — up to 40 hours

32 GB —  Music: about 4000 songs
Photos :  over 5,000 shots
Videos and movies — up to 80 hours

So, how much do Micro SD cards for Blackberry phones cost?  Luckily as technology improves the prices continually drop and they have become much more affordable.  Here are the latest prices from Amazon, where I found the best prices along with great return/exchange policies.  Use the arrows to scroll to different sizes and click the image to verify the price, to purchase, or to learn more about the card.  And although there are different companies that produce these cards, I have personally always used SanDisk but feel free to shop around.

Blackberry App World lists both their top free apps and top paid apps based on downloads. Each month the Top 10 Free Apps according to them will be listed here. Here are the results for the end of September:

Top 10 Blackberry App World Free Apps

1. Blackberry App World- Blackberry app storefront.
2. Snaptu- Suite of social networking and lifestyle services including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, news, weather, and more.
3. BigTinCan BuzzMe- Custom LED and ring settings.
4. WeatherEye- Weather
5. Pandora- Internet radio
6. Interlecta Translator- Translate language text that you enter on the screen and incoming text/email.  Free for a limited time.
7. Color ID- Assign LED colors for SMS, emails, calls, etc.
8. ScoreMobile- Sports
9. Ka-Glom- Game, free for a limited time.
10. QuickPull Lite- Free your Blackberry memory by simulating a “battery pull” soft reset.

To learn more about any free app and to read reviews, go to your Blackberry App World and search for the app.