MortPlayer - Help


 
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Important terms and basics


Favorites
Favorites structure (update)
Changer Mode
Playlist Mode
Recently modified playlist
Selection dialogs
Open dialog
 
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Favorites


The favorites are a selection of directories and playlists, which are often played.
You can access them easily with the "skip favorite" buttons (usually <[]/[]>, left/right arrows on round buttons in the default MortVista skin) and the Open dialog.
Additionally, they're used for the Changer Mode. Please read there for more informations about the idea behind Favorites, Changer Mode, and Playlist Mode, too.

To simplify usage, by default a simple dialog is displayed, which allows you to select a directory (or playlist) for each music and audio books. This is the most common usage. Subdirectories will be included.
If you want to use multiple groups (see below), more directories/playlists, and so on, you can invoke the "advanced configuration".

There can be multiple groups, e.g. for different storage cards or usages (like one for the party, one for audio books, ...). But only one group will be used at a time.

Favorite usually means a single directory or playlist in a favorite group. This also regards included subdirectories (i.e. "\Music\GreatStuff" is a Favorite even if only "\Music" appears in the Favorites Management).
Favorites usually is a synonym for the currently active favorites group or its contents.

 
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Favorites structure (update)


To allow easy switching between paths and playlists, MortPlayer needs to scan the favorites structure.
Doing this, the player scans subdirectories, contained playlists, and the number of audio files (required for "Shuffle all").
By default, this is done at the first program start each day. In the settings ("Start and exit" - "Read favorites structure") or the installation wizard, you can change this to every program start or only manual updates.

A manual update can be done the following ways:
  • With the menu entry "Data for "Open" - "Refresh fav. structure"
  • Assign the update to the open button (in "Open/Favorites" - "Open dialog and button (adv.)" - "(Tap&Hold on) Open button does..."), best with Tap&Hold)
  • Leave the favorites management with OK

If there are multiple favorite groups, only the recently chosen one is updated.
 
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Changer Mode


The Changer Mode sounds more complicated that it is. ("Don't panic" in big friendly letters! ;))
If you're using a native MP3 player or a car stereo with disk changer, you're already familiar with the concept: When a folder or disk is finished, the next one is played. There are also options like "Shuffle directories", "Shuffle all files", "Repeat directory", and so on. So, to put it short: The Changer Mode is a playback only mode which allows to use the directories and playlist of the Favorites like you're used with your hardware MP3 player or car stereo.
Not so complicated, right?
So, what's different on a PPC (and thus in MortPlayer)? Basically three things:

1. You don't use the entire storage for audio files. Sure, MortPlayer could scan the entire file system, but this would take up some time, and you probably don't want your ringtones, game effects, PIM notification sounds, etc. played. That's why MortPlayer offers the Favorites. And since on a (P)PC playlists are possible, they're allowed in Favorites, too (though only in advanced configuration to simplify things for beginners). To unify naming, MortPlayer talks about a "Favorite" whenever a directory or playlist contained in the Favorites is regarded. (So, no "Shuffle disks/playlists/directories/whatever" but "Shuffle Favorites".)

2. There's a playlist which usually shows you all tracks to be played. But with lots of (sub-) directories or playlists and a big storage card (there are people using >100GB WLAN hard discs with MortPlayer!) this could get a bit crowded. In fact so crowded, the available memory wouldn't be enough, not to mention it'd be almost impossible to find a file. So, the playlist will show only the files of the current Favorite, but the player will also play the files in other Favorites - that is, unless it's prevented by e.g. choosing "Repeat Favorite". Of course you're also able to switch to another Favorite with special buttons (if the Skin contains them) manually, also see Favorites, which works even in Playlist Mode.

3. A PPC music player is able to create multiple playlist files and save them wherever you want. This doesn't quite fit to the "just play what's there" concept of the common hardware MP3 player or disk changer. Because of this, when you edit the playlist contents or load a playlist or directory not part of the Favorites, MortPlayer switches to the Playlist Mode.
 
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Playlist Mode


This mode resembles what is common in most other players. I.e., the shown playlist will not be left and can be modified.
This mode will be activated automatically if the playlist is edited in Changer Mode. Please read there for more informations about Favorites, Changer Mode, and Playlist Mode.
 
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Recently modified playlist


Changes to the playlist will be saved automatically to an internal "recently modified playlist" until the playlist is saved with "Playlist" - "Save (as)" in the menu or the corresponding button (if the skin contains one).
You can restore it by selecting "<Recently modified playlist>" in the Open dialog.
If another playlist is modified (e.g. a favorite or a new empty list), the old data will be overwritten.
By default, this is done without further query. If you want to avoid your work is lost accidentally, you can change this behaviour in "Queries and selection dialogs" - "Overwrite modified playlist" in the settings.
 
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Selection dialogs


There are multiple situations where the selection dialogs are used. The one which is probably used the most is the open dialog, others are available for Skins, presets, playback modes, ...

Even though the usage is quite intuitive, there are some possibilities you might not have noticed.
There are three ways to select an entry of the list:
  • The list: Just tap at the entry. It's immedially accepted.
  • The buttons: Highlight the entry with the arrow buttons, then press "Select" (these buttons might not be available in all skins).
  • The hardware buttons: Highlight the entry with up or down, and press the action or right key to accept.
When pressing direction pad to the left or pressing "Back", the dialog is cancelled. If you opened a sub menu (in the open dialog), you get back to the upper menu level. If the main selection is shown, the dialog will be closed.
 
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Open dialog


The Open dialog is entered with the open symbol (looks like a eject button), a button labeled with "Open" (might differ in some Skins), or the menu entry.
It allowes not only to open single files or playlists, like it's usual, but you can also select your Favorites (or even a whole tree of it), other directories (all supported audio files in that folder), streams, bookmarks, invoke their management dialogs, etc.

The handling is mostly like every other selection dialog. The main difference is that there might be sublevels, and "Back" puts you in the previous menu level before it leaves the dialog on top level.
It is possible to customize the Open dialog. This allowes e.g. to show the Favorites in a submenu, after the bookmarks, or not at all, or show all bookmarks directly in the main menu.
Additionally, there are some settings which influence its behaviour, esp. regarding Favorites. The most important of them can be set with the wizard, but you might want to check the "Open/Favorites" section in the settings, too.
 
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Handling, tips, and tricks

Setup favorites (default dialog)
Setup favorites (advanced configuration)
Customize Open dialog
Install a Skin
Install a Plug-In
Showing album art
Volume
Screen off and button lock
Tap & Hold
Device buttons
Bookmarks
Audio books
Streams and Podcasts
 
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Setup favorites (default dialog)


This dialog allows you to set the directories (or playlists) you want to use as Favorites.
Please read the informations for Changer Mode and Favorites, too, it will help you to understand the concept.

If you select a directory, MortPlayer will also include all subdirectories. For a playlist, this obviously isn't possible. So this option usually only is usefull if you use e.g. a single playlist generated by some 3rd party tool.

If "Show only subdirectories in "Open"" is checked, MortPlayer will omit the top level in the Open dialog. This is handy if you organize everything in subfolders. For example, if you've selected "\Music" directory, which contains subfolders for each artist, MortPlayer will list all artists in Open dialog, instead of showing only "Music".
You can enter two different locations for music and audio books (of course, both are optional), because MortPlayer activates some special features for audio books:
Stop doesn't reset the position to the beginning
Tracks are continued where they've been stopped
Playback order is set to "Don't shuffle"
In Changer Mode, these Favorites are separated from music, so they don't bother when listening to music. This is also possible for manual Favorite skipping, see "Open/Favorites" - "Audio books" - "Handling for manual/automatic favorite changes" in the settings.

The advanced configuration allows more options, like multiple favorites groups, any number of directories and playlists, playlist files contained in a directory, ignoring subdirectories, etc.
 
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Setup favorites (advanced configuration)


The dropdown and buttons on top allow multiple favorite groups (i.e. add, remove, select). See Favorites for more information about them.

To create a new entry (Favorite) in the current group (ususally there's just "Favorites"), press the "+" button next to the list.
Now a dialog is opened which allows you to enter or select a path or playlist, and there are some options:
  • "Only contained playlists"
    With this, only the contained playlist files will be used when creating/updating the favorites structure. I.e., if the path "\Storage" was set, "\Storage\something.mpl", "\Storage\test.asx", etc. will be used, but the not files in "\Storage" - of course except those which are contained in any of the playlists.
  • "With all subdirectories"
    Includes the subdirectories. I.e., subdirectories like "\Storage\Music\ASP\Weltunter", "\Storage\Audiobooks", "\Storage\Mix", etc. will become selectable, too. If "Only contained playlist" is checked, playlists in subdirectories (like "\Storage\Music\ASP\Weltunter.mpl") will be included.
  • "Show contained paths/directories on top level"
    With this, the Open dialog won't show the given directory but its contents. This is useful if you use a folder structure like "\Storage\Artist\Album" and you selected "\Storage" as path. If this option isn't checked, you'll have to select first "Storage", then the artist. If the option is checked, all artists are listed at once. Drawback: you won't be able to select "\Storage" to hear directly contained files or play the whole tree.
  • "Contains audio books"
    Activates some special behaviours for audio books:
    Stop doesn't reset the position to the beginning
    Tracks are continued where they've been stopped
    Playback order is set to "Don't shuffle"
    In Changer Mode, these favorites won't be used for automatic skips, so they don't bother when listening to music.
With "Edit" or a double click on an entry, this dialog is shown again for changes.
With "-", the selected entry is removed.
 
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Customize Open dialog


With the menu entry "Customize" in the Open dialog, or the corresponding entry in the settings, you can define for every entry, if, how, and where it should be shown.
This means: For example, you can omit the bookmarks (select "don't show"), show them directly in the main menu (like the favorites by default, select "in main menu") or in a sub menu ("<Bookmarks>" entry, select "in sub menu"), and the position can be changed (below/above the streams, favorites, ...) ("where"). Additionaly you can omit the "Manage" entries (like for example "<Manage bookmarks>").
For example, you could show the bookmarks to your recent audio books in front of the favorites, and the "Other files" entry you never use can be omitted.
 
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How do I install a Skin?


First, download a Skin. There are lots of them in the download area of www.sto-helit.de.

Now, copy the contents of the downloaded ZIP file to the MortPlayer installation directory on your PocketPC.
To do this, use the "Browse" button in ActiveSync or select the "Mobile device" folder in Explorer, then look for the MortPlayer folder. It should be something like "\Program files\Mort's MortPlayer" unless you chose to install it to a storage card. If in doubt, open the "Paths" section in the MortPlayer settings, and check the "Skins" path. If you want to, you can change it there to a different location (see below for more information about this).
Depending on the unzip program you're using, you can either drag&drop the contents of the ZIP file directly to the target directory on the device, or you have to unzip it to a temporary directory on a local drive and copy it afterwards.
Just watch out subfolders (usually one for the images) remain as contained in the ZIP file. Some programs might ignore them and unzip everything directly in the target directory. If this happens, MortPlayer won't find the required images and the skin will look quite ugly.

You can set the Skins directory to another path in the Paths settings, too. This might be a Skins subdirectory or a path on your storage card. You'll have to move the Skins (*.mps) and the required subdirectories to the new path yourself.
If you wonder why there's no Skins subdirectory by default: It's because of backward compatibility.
It would be a bit hard to move all existing skins (esp. the required subfolder) to the Skins directory at an update.
 
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How do I install a plug-in?


Most important: The plug-in DLL must be located in the Plug-ins directory that is set in the "Paths" section of the MortPlayer settings. By default, this is the "PlugIns" subdirectory of the MortPlayer installation, e.g. "\Program files\Mort's MortPlayer\PlugIns".
If you're using the installer of GSPlayer's plug-ins, it will install it to something like "\Program files\GreenSoftware". You can either set the PlugIn path to this directory or move the installed gspmidi.dll to MortPlayer's PlugIn directory.
After this, you should be able to see the plug-in(s) in the settings ("Playback" - "Plug-Ins").
GSPlayer's MIDI plug-in needs to know where the instruments (extra download!) are located. So, select the MIDI plug-in (if necessary), and press "Configure". Now, press the "..." button next to "Config file" and choose the path to which you copied the GM.cfg file and close the dialog. You have to use the system's file selection and OK button in this case, I can't modify the plug-in's dialogs. If GM.cfg isn't shown, you might need to copy it in "My documents" or a subfolder ("\Storage\My documents" or similar for storage cards). This is a limitation of Windows Mobile's default open dialog...
 
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How do I use album art?


Obviously, first of all you need a skin which supports it...

The cover image is searched in this order:
  • ...\path\track.jpg/png (e.g. \Music\CD\Track.jpg for \Music\CD\Track.mp3)
  • Image of type "Cover (front)" contained in the ID3 tags (JPG or PNG)
  • Image of type "Other" contained in the ID3 tags (JPG or PNG)
  • ...\path\cover.jpg/png (e.g. \Music\CD\cover.jpg for all tracks in \Music\CD)
  • ...\path\folder.jpg/png (e.g. \Music\CD\folder.jpg for all tracks in \Music\CD)
  • ...\path\path.jpg/png (e.g. \Music\CD\CD.jpg for all tracks in \Music\CD)
  • ...\playlistpath\playlist.jpg/png (e.g. \Music\MyPlaylist.jpg for all tracks in \Music\MyPlaylist.m3u; works only if the playlist is shown)
 
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Volume


The settings and the wizard offer you to choose whether the volume slider will modify the system volume (like the system's volume slider in the title bar) or recalculate the track's volume relative to this volume (like WMP does since V10). (Or modify the preamp, which is a special case...)
Independent from this, you can modify both volume types on program start, when the player's alarm clock becomes active, or when the player's closed (of course there's no way to modify a relative volume on exit). This way, you can set the system's volume to "full power" for the alarm clock, so you'll be woken for sure, even if you use the relative volume otherwise...
 
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Screen off and button lock


For this, there are four possible levels, which you can select in "Buttons and energy saving" - "Type of screen toggle" in the settings.
Default is "on where necessary", which turns the screen on whenever the player thinks it's necessary (dialogs, launching other apps/default actions, ...). It also allowes to toggle the screen back on with the power button (except on some old devices where the power button does it's default job even if the screen's off).
Then there's "On with every button" (speaks for itself) and two types of button lock. One locks all buttons ("Button lock"), while the other allowes player actions assigned to device buttons that will work without visual feedback ("Player control with buttons").

There are also additional settings. For example, you can switch off the display automatically after a given timespan, set an additional button unlock button (so you require two buttons to remove the lock: first turn screen on, then remove button lock), etc. Just check out the entries in "Buttons and energy saving".

Unless you use the "On with every button" option, it's recommended to assign "Screen on/off" to a button, because otherwise it might become a bit bothersome to get the screen back on.
However, there's a little trick, which isn't so easy to find: If you activate the button lock, don't assign "Screen on/off" to a button, but select a button to deactivate button lock, this button will also turn on the screen. This way, you are able to activate button lock and turn off the screen after a timeout, and then remove it with a button which is used for something else otherwise.
 
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Tap & Hold


Tap and Hold (i.e., tapping a button and holding the stylus down until the circle around the arrow is closed) is supported even on buttons. Some of them do different actions when "Tap&Hold"ed.
The buttons marked with "*" support the Tap&Hold even when the action's assigned to a hardware button (no circle there, you'll have to wait until the actions is done...)
  • * Next/Previous Screen -> Shows Screen selection
  • Screen selection -> Next Screen
  • Play favorites -> Play favorites shuffled (and vice versa)
  • Favorites management -> Play favorites
  • Open -> Favorites management (can be changed in the settings)
  • * Previous track -> Rewind (while playing)/Previous source
  • * Next track -> Fast forward (while playing)/Next source
  • * Prev./next source -> Prev./next track
  • * Shuffle/repeat mode -> Shows corresponding selection dialog (or not, if it's set as default in the settings)
  • Remove ("-") -> Remove all (clear playlist)
  • Move up -> Move to top
  • Move down -> Move to bottom
  • Exit -> Minimize (hide)
  • Minimize -> Exit
  • Changer -> Switches to changer mode (if not already activated) and starts playing
  • * Add bookmark -> Add bookmark without dialog (and vice versa)
 
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Device buttons


You can assign the device buttons in the settings. Select "Device buttons" - "Assign device buttons" to open the assignment dialog.
If you want to use the application buttons, you need to activate them in "Use upplication buttons?". Otherwise, these buttons would be handled directly by the system, i.e. the player wouldn't even be notified if they are pressed.
For some assignments, a different function is activated if you press the button for over about one second. See Tap&Hold for more informations.
A little trick: If the playlist selection was modified and you press the "Play/Pause" button, the newly selected track is played, instead of pausing the previous. If you assign "playlist selection" and "Play/Pause" to device buttons, it allowes you to easily switch to another track of the playlist.
 
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Bookmarks


Bookmarks are added with the menu entry "New bookmark". In some skins and the toolbar there's also a button for it. It can be assigned to a button, too.
Selecting a bookmark is done in the Open dialog.
With "Manage bookmarks" (available in the Open dialog or "Data for Open" in the menu) you can remove and modify the existing bookmarks.
 
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Audio books


There are several useful features available for audio books:
Bookmarks
Special features for audio book Favorites
Automatical continuation of the previous track (in the "Start and exit" settings, or use the wizard)
 
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Streams and Podcasts


Streams and Podcasts can be opened by different ways:
  • Add them to the streams list in "Manage streams" (available in the Open dialog or "Data for Open" in the menu) and select them in the Open dialog. This has the advantage of being easy to access without having unwanted data transfer when accidently opening a stream playlist (esp. if it's in the favorites).
  • Select "Other path/playlist" in the Open dialog, and enter the URL.
  • Only streams: Open any playlist which contains the stream's URL, e.g. a .pls file downloaded from www.shoutcast.com.
  • Only Podcasts: Save the Podcast as .xml and open it with "Other path/playlist".
Notice about Podcasts: The referred files will be streamed directly from the server, downloading them to listen them offline isn't possible currently.
 
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FAQ

License and donations
Features
Difficulties with handling
Other troubles
 
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License and donations

May I offer the program on my web side, magazine CD, ...?
How can I donate?
Why should I spend money for freeware?
Why not as Shareware?
 
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Features

Will there be support of WMA/ACC/any other sound format?
Why don't you display the entire network neighborhood?
Why do the titles etc. only scoll line by line?
Why aren't there any tag informations in the playlist?
Will there be a landscape mode for devices without WM2003 SE?
Why is so much included in the "Open" dialog?
Why all this strange "favorites" stuff?
How do I create an own Skin?
 
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Difficulties with handling

Why are the "Changer Mode" and list skip buttons disabled?
Why does nothing happen if I select "Tree -" or "All in Changer Mode"?
If I press stop, close the player, and start it again, the track is resumed from the position I pressed stop. Why?
Why doesn't "Always on top" exist in the menu?
 
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Other troubles

I often have breakups and interruptions. What can I do?
Why isn't the track position updated?
The player works very slow, if it's attached to a GPS power cord, but the navigation system isn't running. What's going on?
Why are there distortions if the preamp is over a certain level?
When the screen's toggled off, why is the screen on while I press a button?
 
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May I offer the program on my web side, magazine CD, ...?

Yes. There are only two conditions:
- Publish the link to this homepage (www.sto-helit.de) and my name (either my nick "Mort" or my real name "Mirko Schenk")
- Make clear it's a freeware program. I.e. no advertisements which look like it's a registered shareware program! ("full version", "unlimited", ...)
Not a condition, but good behavior, would be to tell me about it...
 
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How can I donate?

Most simply using PayPal. Go to www.paypal.com (or your locale, like www.paypal.de), register, and send the donation to mort@sto-helit.de.
On my page (www.sto-helit.de) you'll also find links to PayPal with some presets.

If you prefer to do a bank transfer, I can send you my account data. I just don't want to publish it on my page... Usually, this is only useful inside the EU, otherwise transfer fees are way to expensive.
 
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Why should I spend money for a freeware program (donate)?

For the same reasons, why other demand it. There's a lot of work in this player (and everything about it, like homepage, skins, support, ...), and it would be nice if this is honored in a financial way, too.
Others want up to $20 for an MP3 player - consindering this, some bucks aren't too much for a little "Thanks, good work", don't you think? ;)
 
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Then why not as Shareware?

Most obviously for license reasons, because the player contains foreign code, which is published under the GPL (and thus the player does itself, too).
But primarily because I don't want to enforce anybody to spend money. It's still a hobby for me.
I think donations are a very fair system.
For you: You can spend whatever it's worth to you and what you can efford, whenever you like.
For me: No (unwritten) promises I can't promise to hold, like support or updates. I do my best, but I'm only a single human, and not doing this a business... And I don't need to waste my time with license systems, user databases, etc.
 
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Will there be support of WMA/ACC/any other sound format?/b>

At least not from me, I don't have enough knowlege about audio codecs...
But MortPlayer supports GSPlayer plug-ins, so in theory, it's possible. There are already plug-ins for MIDI, WMA, AAC, and MOD tracker formats. However, they usually don't support DRMed tracks, and might have troubles with one or another file...
 
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Why don't you display the entire network neighborhood?

Because there's no official way to do this.
The function parameters common for (desktop) Windows don't work in Windows Mobile.
If anyone knows which tricks Resco did use, and there are no patents/copyright troubles, I'd be happy to know them...
 
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Why do the titles etc. only scoll line by line?

To save CPU time. Esp. on slower PPCs the constant repaints would put the device close to its limits.
But even newer PPCs would be pushed, esp. since MortPlayer in spite to many other players hasn't a single small label for all track infos, but in some screens many big labels (e.g. in most car screens). For those, almost half the screen would need a redraw very often. And the Windows routines to draw transparent text (i.e. without a fixed background color) are really slow - even without "Cleartype"...
 
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Why aren't there any tag informations in the playlist?

Imagine you're using the Playlist Mode with hundreds of songs in your playlist, and those are located on a slow SD card or even on a network drive. And now imagine how long it would take to open every single file and evaluate the tag informations...
 
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Will there be a landscape mode for devices without WM2003 SE?

No. The effort would be far too big, and there would be a problem with screens that aren't fullscreen: The title and menu bars can't be moved, which would look strange and leads to different usable screen sizes.
Apart from this, those devices are an endangered species anyway...
 
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Why is so much included in the "Open" dialog?

I wanted an interface which can be easyly used during travel without the stylus. Many small buttons would be too complicated. The menu in the open dialog can be used very good without a stylus (direction pad, big buttons, ...) and additionaly offers the possibilty to fit it to your own needs.
 
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Why all this strange "favorites" stuff?

Please read the informations about the Changer Mode, it also covers the concept behind Favorites...
 
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How do I create an own Skin?

The manual on my site includes a link to a skin manual.
Direct: www.sto-helit.de/downloads/skinhelp.html
(A nice PDF is planned...)
 
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Why are the "Changer Mode" and list skip buttons disabled?

You have to tell the programs which paths and playlists should be played in changer mode or skipped with the list skip buttons.
This is done in the Favorites.
 
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Why does nothing happen if I select "Tree" or "All in Changer Mode"?

Something does happen - it's just not very obvious. "Tree in Changer Mode" limits the changer mode to the chosen path and its subdirectories. I.e., the list skip buttons as well as the automatical list changes at playlist end or with "Shuffle all" only skip inside this tree. That's nice if for example you want to listen to music from all albums of one band.
With "All in Changer Mode", this limitation is removed.
 
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If I press stop, close the player, and start it again, the track is resumed from the position I pressed stop. Why?

First of all, because the option to restore the position is activated (in program start settings or the wizard).
It works for stop, because often the playback is stopped by it intuitively, and it would be annoying if you had to seek the last position e.g. of an audio book in this case. I think, in doubt it's more easy to press "back" to get to the beginning of the track than to seek the position.
That the position is set to 0:00 after pressing stop, instead of the stopped position like after program start, is because you usually expect a track to start from the beginning after pressing stop and play.
If a favorite is marked as audio book, the last stop position is restored even if "Restore position" is not activated. In this case, the position isn't reset after a stop, too.
 
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Why doesn't "Always on top" exist in the menu?

Because this option only makes sense if the player doesn't occupy the whole screen.
With a screen that only occupies a part of the display (e.g. the "Navigation bar" screen of MortVista), this option will exist.
 
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I often have breakups and interruptions. What can I do?

First step: Increase the buffer. Depending on the system, 500ms to 1s usually are fine.
If this is not enough, you can increase the priority of the playback routines. But this might slow down the system...
If even this doesn't work, check whether there are programs which are using lots of CPU time.
ActiveSync usually is a prospect for this...
 
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Why isn't the track position updated?

The track position isn't updated while MortPlayer isn't the active application (exception: "Always on top" is checked) because usually this only uses CPU time without any visible effect (since another program is shown).
 
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The player works very slow, if it's attached to a GPS power cord, but the navigation system isn't running. What's going on?

ActiveSync is going on. On some devices, it desperately tries to interpret the GPS data and by this paralyzes the PPC.
If the navigation system is running, ActiveSync can't use the port - and the problem doesn't exist.
In MortPlayer you can do something similar with the option "Lock serial port" in the program start settings. If you want to use your navigation system with this option active, you've got to start it before MortPlayer. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to get the GPS data stream (just like it's wanted for ActiveSync).
Btw, this problem isn't specific to MortPlayer. It just attracts more attention than if something resource friendly (e.g. a clock) is running.
 
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Why are there distortions if the preamp or equalizer is over a certain level?

If a song (or certain frequence ranges of it) is made softer or louder this way, the volume, i.e. the amplitute of the contained noise, is recalculated.
For example, a part with 50% amplitute (volume) will be e.g. 70%. The maximum volume is limited by the system's volume level, i.e., more than 100% is not possible. This means, everything above a certain level will be made 100%, wich modifies the sound characteristics in a way that causes the distortions (btw., it's the same cause that makes the sound of distorted guitars. This effect origins from overdriven speakers).
If songs are not set to maximum gain, this will have no or less effect.
 
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When the screen's toggled off, why is the screen on while I press a button?

The system turns on the screen during an application button is pressed. MortPlayer turns it off afterwards.
It could do that during the button's pressed, too, but it would result in a terrible flickering.