I see a lot of topics asking how to get the Artist BG Image in the Zune Player. I always reply with this solution and then, once I've replied, the threads always seem to die. This I guess suggests that not only does the solution work for me, it works for everyone else too.
I decided to post the solution here in a separate thread, as I've seen a lot of topics on the subject both here and in the WP7 forum. Hopefully this will stop new topics being made (as it will come up in the "Similar threads we found).
Anyway here's the solution:
1) Transfer your music to your phone
2) Play the music without the BG image
3) Click on the Artist's name... This will take you to the summary of the artist
4) All songs* of this artist should now be shown, below this you have a Marketplace heading with an Arrow, click this Arrow.
5) All songs* in the marketplace should now be displayed.. IF the artist has a BG image it should load up now
6) Press back to go back to now playing, the BG image should still be present and will be present now for all songs by that artist
7) Repeat the process for each artist.
*It may be albums that come first, I can't remember off the top of my head.
Known Faults:
- Incorrect tagging
For example, "Mr. Hudson" in the marketplace is "Mr Hudson" thus music tagged as "Mr. Hudson" wont display a BG Image. To identify this, nothing will load when you try and load Marketplace items for that artist. To fix, simply rename in Zune
- Certain Artists
While this has worked for 99% of my collection, there are 1 or 2 artists who have BG images when in artist view but then this image just wont copy over to now playing. I have no idea why and have no Solution for this.
I can't seem to replicate these steps.
Not able to find this step...
4) All songs* of this artist should now be shown, below this you have a Marketplace heading with an Arrow, click this Arrow.
Same here. Step 4 doesn't show anything. It will only display the albums I have of the singer. I'm using a track by Avril lavigne, which has already been linked via Zune social tagger. Again I think its somehow related to your region.
mankie said:
I can't seem to replicate these steps.
Not able to find this step...
4) All songs* of this artist should now be shown, below this you have a Marketplace heading with an Arrow, click this Arrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you play a song, click on the artist name in now playing.
You should get a summary of the artist. It should look like this:
ARTIST NAME
SONGS
IN COLLECTION
-A
-B
-C
Scroll all the way down and you should see :
MARKETPLACE
V
V
At the bottom. Click on that circle with the 2 downwards arrows in it.
knave said:
Same here. Step 4 doesn't show anything. It will only display the albums I have of the singer. I'm using a track by Avril lavigne, which has already been linked via Zune social tagger. Again I think its somehow related to your region.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless the Zune Marketplace is not available in your region then it should work in said region, it's simply a link to display albums of that artist in the marketplace.
brummiesteven said:
Unless the Zune Marketplace is not available in your region then it should work in said region, it's simply a link to display albums of that artist in the marketplace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried it several times and no dice. Searching for the artist in the marketplace shows results but doing it your way shows nothing. I'm pretty sure the mp3 files are tagged correctly, unless it's not only using the artist/album name and that's why it can't find a match.
I'm in Spain though, which might also be related, although we do have marketplace access here.
Spybreak said:
I've tried it several times and no dice. Searching for the artist in the marketplace shows results but doing it your way shows nothing. I'm pretty sure the mp3 files are tagged correctly, unless it's not only using the artist/album name and that's why it can't find a match.
I'm in Spain though, which might also be related, although we do have marketplace access here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean that when you click on the arrow under Marketplace nothing shows up? This means that there is something wrong in your tagging, check the Artist and Album Artist in Zune and verify that it matches the name of the artist exactly how it is in the Zune Marketplace.
The thing is that it doesnt work all the time...
I did the things that you wrote a few weeks ago from a different thread. It worked with some artists. I could hit the "arrow" button and then it would load after a second the available tracks.
But on some artists if I hit the button it shows that it's loading but then kind of fades away and there is no more option to press the button again. Seems like a bug to me cause some artists work this way. Or again, it could be some tagging problems...
BIG-Stan said:
The thing is that it doesnt work all the time...
I did the things that you wrote a few weeks ago from a different thread. It worked with some artists. I could hit the "arrow" button and then it would load after a second the available tracks.
But on some artists if I hit the button it shows that it's loading but then kind of fades away and there is no more option to press the button again. Seems like a bug to me cause some artists work this way. Or again, it could be some tagging problems...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a bug, in my experiences that's definitely a tagging problem.
The reason why it fades away is because it couldn't find any trace of that artist in the market at all.
Remember the smallest things make a difference, Capital Letters, Accents, Dots etc etc
ok, makes sense... will look through my library but take for example dr. dre. There are not that many ways to mispell him I tried every possible combination. And still zune cant match him. Searching for him works though...Really weird stuff.
BIG-Stan said:
ok, makes sense... will look through my library but take for example dr. dre. There are not that many ways to mispell him I tried every possible combination. And still zune cant match him. Searching for him works though...Really weird stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try another Artist.
When I said this works for 99% of my collection...
Dr. Dre is one of the ones that for some reason it just hasn't worked, Will Smith is the other.
Hmm strange. Dr. Dre - 2001 worked for me
Yah, cause i'm in Canada, marketplace doesnt have any music so it doesnt sync artists
mankie said:
Yah, cause i'm in Canada, marketplace doesnt have any music so it doesnt sync artists
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just put your PC location as the US.
VonCrisp said:
Just put your PC location as the US.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't appear to work. I can browse US Zune content on the PC client after changing regions if I sign out of my Canadian Zune account, but even after creating a new US Zune account and logging in on my desktop client, backgrounds don't sync over to the phone (and Zune Tagger can't find any Zune music store content when attempting to link albums). It does still remember sync'd content between the phone and desktop client after switching accounts, and will sync still, but no information from the US marketplace gets to the phone. It appears that because the default phone account is linked to a Canadian Live/Zune account (needed to purchase WP7 apps), it blocks access to the US Zune marketplace info.
Have you actually tried this and had it work in a region that doesn't have any access to the music marketplace (like Canada)?
Another method
I had success to get all the artist images and stuff on my phone by right clicking any artist in the Zune Software on the PC and then choosing "More from this artist".
On the next sync, I had all the images.
The "More from this artist" menu entry does not show up for any artist in my list, though, so I haven't pictures for all of them. But the ones that don't are more or less some indie artists, that aren't even on the marketplace.
dodgetigger said:
I had success to get all the artist images and stuff on my phone by right clicking any artist in the Zune Software on the PC and then choosing "More from this artist".
On the next sync, I had all the images.
The "More from this artist" menu entry does not show up for any artist in my list, though, so I haven't pictures for all of them. But the ones that don't are more or less some indie artists, that aren't even on the marketplace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if I do that I get: Error, this item is no longer available at Zune marketplace..
I try with Michael Jacksons latest album "Michael". So it is a new album and I can find it in zune marketplace... So why can't I find info when I have michael in my own collection?
dodgetigger said:
I had success to get all the artist images and stuff on my phone by right clicking any artist in the Zune Software on the PC and then choosing "More from this artist".
On the next sync, I had all the images.
The "More from this artist" menu entry does not show up for any artist in my list, though, so I haven't pictures for all of them. But the ones that don't are more or less some indie artists, that aren't even on the marketplace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the same idea but just through Zune rather than on the handset itself.
Yup the above works although not all artists are supported. Good job.
Guys i'm from Malaysia but they don't have an account here so i created an American one..but i'm still nt 2 sure hw 2 do this..maybe a video..thanks..
Related
When I use the Dutty's 2.1rom, it is usually stuck (for example, the song stop for a little moment) when i use the manila player to play the music, is there any way can fix that? Thank you.
Hi,
check out all 25 pages of posts - there is no method that totally stops the stuttering
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=460100
could someone explain why the hell the manila music player cant play my files in the right order? it just plays a few tracks of an album, e.g. 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 12th track.
very crazy!! i tried all possible options but no way to just play in normal order. and it doesnt show any album covers which are in the same directory, jpeg files. is this program just trash?
It seems earlier versions weren't the best but if you flash to one of the more recent roms the problems have mostly been sorted
cb8rwh said:
It seems earlier versions weren't the best but if you flash to one of the more recent roms the problems have mostly been sorted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you.right,for example,the dutty's 2.3 rom seems fix it, but I don't like the new start menu~and I find is use wmp it will never happen,seems it is someting wrong with manila......
If you use task manager to disable enlarge start menu service, you will see the standard start windows menu instead. This worked on both 2.3 and 2.4 roms.
Regarding the track order, the solution I have is to create playlist and store them under \storage card\playlists. Once playlists are generated, I can pick the album from the playlists and its in the correct order. I have a tool that generates the playlists by scanning \storage card\music folder. I can share if any one needs.
sproxy said:
If you use task manager to disable enlarge start menu service, you will see the standard start windows menu instead. This worked on both 2.3 and 2.4 roms.
Regarding the track order, the solution I have is to create playlist and store them under \storage card\playlists. Once playlists are generated, I can pick the album from the playlists and its in the correct order. I have a tool that generates the playlists by scanning \storage card\music folder. I can share if any one needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the advice of new star menu,but if you do this, when you show the program page in manila and tap any icon in the page the old start menu will jump out. Is there any way to fix it?
And could share the software you said for the music scanning?
Hi there,
I am not sure if I understood you correctly. When I disable the service named EnlargeStartMenu(EMX0: ) , the start menu returns to calssic windows one. The size is also reverted back to default start menu. To disable the service, I set it to start manually and restarted. The only side effect I have is that, since programs tab is not available in new manila, I loose the quick launch tab. However, I don't see it as a problem.
Regarding the playlist tool, I have attached the files here. PlayListUtilityApp.zip contans an exe you need to launch in your device. You can copy it to any folder. Then set the location of music files as well as playlist export folder. Then File -> Create Playlists will scan the folders and generate a playlist for each album.
The output folder \Storate Card\playlists seems to be scanned by manilla player, so once you export them, playlists will be visible in manila and track will be correct order.
This may not work for everybody because it requires the following layout in music flibrary:
Artist
-----Album
-----------01. Track
-----------02. another track
or
Artist
-----Album
-----------DISC 1(CD 1 or 1 as folder name is ok as well)
------------------01. Track
------------------02. another track
-----------DISC 2(CD 2 or 2 as folder name is ok as well)
------------------01. another track
------------------02. another track
also
Artist
-----Album
-----------d101. Track
-----------d102. another track
-----------d201. another track
-----------d202. another track
Over the years all my albums are stored like this in my hard drives therefore, a simple copy and paste makes them work for me.
The code for directory browser is from here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446567.aspx
I remember reading that they would allow for ringtone creator apps bein made available with the mango update, but just a few days ago there was news about having to use zune on the pc to make the ringtone and categorize the file as a ringtone then sync it over to the fun
which way will it be will we be able to cut our mp3s on our devices and make them into a ringtone or will we have to use the pc to do so?
why is microsoft so strict on downloading mp3 files from the browser and adding them to the zune library that way or even downloading ringtones through the browser and applying them as a ringtone?
deadwrong03 said:
which way will it be will we be able to cut our mp3s on our devices and make them into a ringtone or will we have to use the pc to do so?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming that there will be various options, and since Mango and the Dev Tools only just came out, you probably aren't gonna see any custom ringtone apps yet.
Pretty sure the PC option was for those who already had their own set of ringtones that they've made themselves on the PC (or those that know how). Considering Zune is the only way to transfer media from PC to Phone, makes sense that it'd be the way to get your ringtones to your phone as well.
deadwrong03 said:
I remember reading that they would allow for ringtone creator apps bein made available with the mango update, but just a few days ago there was news about having to use zune on the pc to make the ringtone and categorize the file as a ringtone then sync it over to the fun
which way will it be will we be able to cut our mp3s on our devices and make them into a ringtone or will we have to use the pc to do so?
why is microsoft so strict on downloading mp3 files from the browser and adding them to the zune library that way or even downloading ringtones through the browser and applying them as a ringtone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can tell you what I did. I followed the instructions in the Mango Tips & Tricks thread. First you need to make sure your intended is less than 40 seconds long & less than 1 MB in size. Also, make sure it's a MP3 or WMA. To do this, used a audio editing software. I used AVS Audio Converter6 (Paid for app). Than load it into Zune by putting it in a folder being monitored by Zune for music. You can check in Zune settings which folders are watched & add or remove folders as needed. Now in the Zune software, find the file & right click on it. Click on Edit, than click the Genre field & type in Ringtone. Than just drag it to the WP7 icon at the buttom of Zune. On your WP7 device, go to the ringtones settings & it'll show up at the top of the list under "Custom". It'll be named by filename btw.
I gather this works only for ringtones and not SMS/Email alerts?
Can you remove custom ringtones?
Handala said:
Can you remove custom ringtones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would assume that you just remove them from your Zune media library and resync. I suppose you could also change the Genre from Ringtones to something else as well.
Wait ... you guys can sync your mango device ??? My Zune kind of detect it, but it's not. Then it ask for update but always failed with WMDU error or something like that.
Handala said:
Can you remove custom ringtones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touch and hold, then delete.
minori_aoi said:
Wait ... you guys can sync your mango device ??? My Zune kind of detect it, but it's not. Then it ask for update but always failed with WMDU error or something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to update your Zune software. From the main post detailing how to update, download the version of Zune sw needed for Mango
I am not seeing the custom ringtone. I did exactly as said in the tips and tricks. I used Audacity to cut the mp3 to 39 secs. Its 640 KB in size. Still won't show up in Phone.
drkfngthdragnlrd said:
I can tell you what I did. I followed the instructions in the Mango Tips & Tricks thread. First you need to make sure your intended is less than 40 seconds long & less than 1 MB in size. Also, make sure it's a MP3 or WMA. To do this, used a audio editing software. I used AVS Audio Converter6 (Paid for app). Than load it into Zune by putting it in a folder being monitored by Zune for music. You can check in Zune settings which folders are watched & add or remove folders as needed. Now in the Zune software, find the file & right click on it. Click on Edit, than click the Genre field & type in Ringtone. Than just drag it to the WP7 icon at the buttom of Zune. On your WP7 device, go to the ringtones settings & it'll show up at the top of the list under "Custom". It'll be named by filename btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the instructions.
BTW. you can still use RingRing7 to create a ringtone. When you are finished cropping your mp3 you can deploy. The application creates a temp folder in the ringring7 folder with your newly created ringtone. copy or move it to a save place (your ringtone folder). The application will give you an error. you need to copy/move the file before you click OK to the error message (just ignore it).
notebookgrail said:
I am not seeing the custom ringtone. I did exactly as said in the tips and tricks. I used Audacity to cut the mp3 to 39 secs. Its 640 KB in size. Still won't show up in Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just followed deadwrong03's instructions and it works fine here. try the ringring7 method in my post above.
notebookgrail said:
I am not seeing the custom ringtone. I did exactly as said in the tips and tricks. I used Audacity to cut the mp3 to 39 secs. Its 640 KB in size. Still won't show up in Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure the file is a mp3? i know audacity requires the lame_enc.dll for it to create an mp3.
A Dustman said:
Are you sure the file is a mp3? i know audacity requires the lame_enc.dll for it to create an mp3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes..It is and it's 128kbps. Interestingly, i extracted it as wma with audacity and that works.
minori_aoi said:
Wait ... you guys can sync your mango device ??? My Zune kind of detect it, but it's not. Then it ask for update but always failed with WMDU error or something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to have the pre-release Zune in order to sync. version 4.8.2098.0
Wheezle said:
I gather this works only for ringtones and not SMS/Email alerts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Annoyingly, yes, the new "custom ringtone" functionality only applies to actual ringtones, not any other alert tone. One of the formal MS support forums for Mango says that they're still looking into custom alert tones.
Since it's really only just a registry key, I'm not really sure why they made this new functionality so limiting. And, of course, none of the registry editors work anymore. <sigh>
Brad.
yea, i was bummed that it was only for the ringer and not sms/alerts. i hope they add that in a later release...
Mango on my Trophy and Zune 4.8XXXXX. This worked flawlessly, took one of the ringtones from my TP2 (one I used for my wife) and put it on my Trophy, flawless.
It's about time I can do a basic task like this on WP7....
notebookgrail said:
I am not seeing the custom ringtone. I did exactly as said in the tips and tricks. I used Audacity to cut the mp3 to 39 secs. Its 640 KB in size. Still won't show up in Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It won't show up in Zune on your phone, only under ringtones in settings.
I also could not see MP3 in Zune. When I took the MP3 file and converted it to a WMA and saved it back to the same folder that it came from, I showed up in Zune. I could then drag it down to my WP7 icon and it installed the ringtone and it showed up on the phone in settings / ringtones.
Cant seem to figure out how to find the MP3.
Frank
Hi,
here in Germany there is no Marketplace for Podcasts and podcast streaming.
I found a way to add Podcasts on your Device in non US Countries using WP7 Root Tools (So Samsung Only ATM)
Simply browse the registry under Local Machine/Software/Microsoft/Zune/Settings
There u find a String called XUID locale
change it to EN-US and exit Root Tools.
Open up Marketplace and go into Podcasts add the Podcasts u want to, configure them and leave Marketplace.
Change back the XUID via Root Tools and go into Music Hub.
Your added Podcasts are under Podcasts. U can still stream or download or change settings for them. To stream press the marketplace section and the the play button before the Episode.
For Custom Background images u have to work more and be patient
Open up Music & Video Hub
go into every artist an let the pic beeing downloaded.
In my case all those pic have been low low res
The Pics will get stored under My Documents/Zune/Content/0800
02/art is for collection
08/art is for the Artists under the new section
In these folders there are pics called
3a.jpg
3b.jpg
37.jpg
5a.jpg
and more
So u have to know wich pic belongs to wich artist.
Here is how.
Play a song from the Artist u want to change the picture
In root tools check the registry under
Current User/Software/Microsoft/Zune/MusicVideoHub
there is the path to the image from the Artist.
Lets say its 3a.jpg
Create an Artist Pic on your PC.
Resolution 960x800 looks best for me.
Use jpg Quality 9 in Photoshop to keep performance of the Zune Hub
Now download Filedeployer from Heathcliff and create the following folder on your PC
XX-XX-XX-XX-My Documents
in there create a few more folders
Zune/Content/0800/02/art
Follow the Tutorial in this Thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271962
and deploy the xap.
You have to do this for every artist pic but you can deploy them all in one filedeployer.xap
U can even add Pics to artists that doesnt have one, u just have to find out wich id the artist has on your device.
To do this create a dummy picture calle 10.jpg and deploy it to the zune content 0800 folder
Zune sets ID in sync Order (always letters first like 3a-3f then Numbers from 30-39)
Example
If you sync like this
1.Alice in Chains
.
.
5.Danko Jones
.
7.Tricky Woo
then Zune will set
1 to 3a
5 to 3e
7 to 30
Lets say all Artist between 1 and 5 doesnt have an Artist pic and the folder only contains 3a.jpg, 3e.jpg and 30.jpg
Copy your dummy file to this folder and rename it to 3b.jpg
Then Check the Artists synced after Alice in Chains.
If you found it write down id and artist.
Then rename to 3c.jpg and again check all Artists synced
between 3b and 3e.
Its a lot of work but you will have high quality backgrounds even on your lockscreen
Sorry for my Bad english
This is awesome. Some of the backgrounds Zune has on file are horrible quality and it looks really bad. I'll have to try this. Thank you.
Update on artist background
Thanks for the tutorial. It's really helpful. I decided to try and fill in the gaps in my collection and update a couple. A word of warning - it's a really time consuming endeavour and you probably have many more artists than you think.
I found a couple of differences (and builds) on the original article.
1. My 800 folder (where the backgrounds live) had two subfolders (15 and 16 in my case), both of which contained background files.
2. Mine were all of the format xx_bg_art.jpg the first two 'x's can be anything 0-9 and a-f (hex)
3. Mine exhibited virtually no recognisable pattern to fill the gaps. However I did come up with a ruse to find them. Using a file renamer, take a blank image and make 100s of copies and rename them to cover all the options 00_bg_art.jpg through to ff_bg_art.jpg. Dump these all on the phone (using the technique described above which is easier than it sounds) in all the folders that you have - you can figure this out using explorer in root tools. You'll be able to then read off background name for all artists using root tools and looking at the current background - again as described above. You then remake your set and copy them across (they will overwrite the dummy files).
(NB, there's currently no easy way to delete them again so keep the blanks really small).
I didn't do this but an even easier way to do (3) would be to include the file name in the image (perhaps using scripting in photoshop). These could then be read directly off the screen.
Oh, and before you do upload your batch to your phone, take out any where there already is an image downloaded, which you want to keep.
HTH.
Tom
UPS you are right.
They are called xx_bg_art.
As I wrote, the pattern is the sync order not alphabetical.
So when U sync Led Zeppelin and then Bad Religion it will give led zeppelin the lower id.
Anyways I think its worth the time cause the Zune Mplace pics are so annoying low red.
FWIW, the registry change (changing the locale) is possible on HTC and LG phones as well as Samsung, no problem.
The filesystem access is also possible on HTC phones, if you don't have the latest HTC update (because that update blocks the HTC filesystem acces DLLs used by TouchXplorer and such).
The best way I found to do this was reset the phone (erasing content in Zune didn't work) and then to sync artists in order and record the results along the way. When you reach an artist that has no artwork, add some to it.
Extra Notes: The number appear to be in HEX
Hope this helps people like me.
I have been downloading music so that is available to play offline. However, when I wipe my phone I need to re download all of my music(obviously). I was wondering if there was any way to back up the downloaded offline music. I have found the folder where the music is stored and backed that up, but Google Music did not pick it up when I moved the folder back over to my phone. If anyone could shed any light on the situation I'd be very thankful!
did you try titanium backup?
I use Google Music a lot recently. What I figured out to do is to move the music files (that I uploaded to Google Music) to the music folder on my phone. Since the file names, tag data, etc are all the same Google Music treats them as if you downloaded them from Google Music (no duplicates or any weird stuff). So you always have a back up on your PC. I have a folder on my PC with music I specifically upload to Google Music. It makes it easier to keep track.
I hope that made sense...
That solution is easy and makes a lot of sense. But how are you guys downloading your music from the Google cloud? I understand you can download the entire library with the Google Music Manager program on your PC and then copy the files to your device (a bit combersome), but I've never been able to figure out how to download individual songs.
I've tried to get "comfortable" with the whole Google Music cloud thing, but I've got to say, I'm about ready to throw in the towel and go back to the Amazon MP3 app. Amazon has cloud storage too, but it's SO much easier to manage on your device.
Robin M said:
That solution is easy and makes a lot of sense. But how are you guys downloading your music from the Google cloud? I understand you can download the entire library with the Google Music Manager program on your PC and then copy the files to your device (a bit combersome), but I've never been able to figure out how to download individual songs.
I've tried to get "comfortable" with the whole Google Music cloud thing, but I've got to say, I'm about ready to throw in the towel and go back to the Amazon MP3 app. Amazon has cloud storage too, but it's SO much easier to manage on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can "pin" tracks, albums, artists, or genres to the device so its local and not streamed. They're kept cached in a specific folder for Google Music's use only.
martonikaj said:
You can "pin" tracks, albums, artists, or genres to the device so its local and not streamed. They're kept cached in a specific folder for Google Music's use only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the "pin" I've been looking for. Still can't find it in ver 4.1.511. I guess, someday I'll take a few days off from work and do some extensive web research on Google Music. Then I just may find out how to use the dang app. They sure don't make it easy.
Robin M said:
That's the "pin" I've been looking for. Still can't find it in ver 4.1.511. I guess, someday I'll take a few days off from work and do some extensive web research on Google Music. Then I just may find out how to use the dang app. They sure don't make it easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just long press or hit the triangle in the bottom right of any category (an artist's name, for ex) and hit "available offline" checkbox. It'll then start downloading to the device for offline playback.
The way Google Music app stores the music files for "available offline", it doesn't save them in a normal folder as normal file.
It saves it in it's own random filename in the /android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music folder. So when you wipe data/cache, this gets wipe.
If you look in settings/apps/ you can see Google Music app itself taking huge space.
Sent from Galaxy Nexus (GSM)
Oops. Delete this.
martonikaj said:
Just long press or hit the triangle in the bottom right of any category (an artist's name, for ex) and hit "available offline" checkbox. It'll then start downloading to the device for offline playback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I see that option now. Thanks. You usually have to hit the back button once to get to that page.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Robin M said:
Yes, I see that option now. Thanks. You usually have to hit the back button once to get to that page.
Click to expand...
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Theres also another way. Couldn't tell you where the option is on the Galaxy Nexus, but using ICS (or GB, for that matter) on my G2, you can hit menu > "make available offline" and then check multiple artists, albums, or songs.
martonikaj said:
Theres also another way. Couldn't tell you where the option is on the Galaxy Nexus, but using ICS (or GB, for that matter) on my G2, you can hit menu > "make available offline" and then check multiple artists, albums, or songs.
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Yep, that works too. Now you're making me feel stupid. But you just earned another hit on the "Thanks meter" to bring you up to an even 360.
Robin M said:
Yep, that works too. Now you're making me feel stupid. But you just earned another hit on the "Thanks meter" to bring you up to an even 360.
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Nah you're not stupid. Some things like that are quite unintuitive to say the least. I'd like to see Google keep moving towards putting functions in the foreground rather than hiding them. They're doing this with Android 4 they just gotta keep going with it.
Google is probably holding back with Google Now, not wanting to scare people away by releasing too many features too soon that show just how much it knows about us. Here are my ideas:
1. Send to Now – As you browse the web or read a book, you could highlight words or people’s names to Google Now so it loads up information about them for you to read through later.
2. Photos – when you take a photo of a landmark, Google Now could load a card with information about the landmark. I think Google Goggles already does this but now would be a better platform.
3. People – when you take or scan a photo of a person or their business card, Google Now could load up a card in the background with their LinkedIn or G+ profile.
4. Things – scan a barcode or object and Now loads up information (price, retailers etc) about it. Again, just like Goggles but better.
5. Rules – Google could let us write rules to trigger cards. For example, I could ask Now to pop up a card reminding me to take my groceries from the fridge in my office when I start my car (connect to my car’s Bluetooth) at work on a Friday evening. I already kind of do this with an app called Automate It by the way – it’s similar to Tasker.
6. Networking – Google Now could load profile cards of people nearby who have opted in to the networking feature.
7. Second Screen – Google Now when prompted could listen to what’s playing on your TV and offer more information about the programme. It could even offer links to purchase products advertised on TV or radio.
8. Related Articles – As you browse the web, Google Now could build up a list in the background of other articles related to those you have read and you could later review the list at your leisure - rating, reading and/or discarding the suggestions as you see fit.
9. Conversations - This one is a little scarier than the others and I’m not sure I would opt in to it myself, but Google Now could listen in on your phone and email conversations and provide related information – links to products you discussed or articles about concepts or news mentioned. As I say, I think I’d pass on this one.
10. Custom Cards – Google could let retailers or even websites build custom cards that are loaded when you check-in to their stores or visit their websites. These cards could include special offers and promotions, best-selling items etc. I imagine Google could even charge businesses for such a service if it were so inclined.
In all of this it would be important that they are opt in only – opt out wouldn’t be good enough. Also, Google Now should always remain non-intrusive but perhaps one should be allowed to set which cards should pop up as notifications, cause the phone to vibrate or simply load in the background. I might want a reminder to trigger a notification by the way but for others I may be happy to ignore or review at my convenience. By the way, I haven’t seen or used Google Now yet so if I’ve completely misunderstood how it works or could work, this is my excuse.
Oh and I apologise in advance if this is not the right forum – I couldn’t immediately find a better one and I see others have posted about Google Now here too, I guess since the G Nex is one of only two devices with it on at the moment.
What are your ideas for Google Now?
How about more integration with GAPPS? (I'm looking at you Calendar!)
anton2009 said:
How about more integration with GAPPS? (I'm looking at you Calendar!)
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Isn't Calendar already integrated? I see reminders for my calendar entries in Now. Don't know about setting events via Now though, since it isn't completely functional in German / other languages than US english.
On topic, OP has some great ideas! Hope to see some of the less scary integrated
Really? I thought reminders were only within the alarm app... I will have to double check...
anton2009 said:
Really? I thought reminders were only within the alarm app... I will have to double check...
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I see a reminder for this evening right now, it's definitely integrated
there was a interview with matias, and he confirmed that there is calendar feature, only reading from it.
there isn't any feature to create a calendar entry from NOW. but he emphasise that the API exist and all down to developers.
maybe hinting that its possible for 3rd party developer to write some custom card that can be installed?
I would love to be able to teach Google Now how to pronounce my name, placenames in my area etc. so that dictation works better.
Having said that, I find the accuracy of the dictation to be outstanding for most other things. I love GN!
There are so many possiblilities to this feature. I can't wait to see how it evolves over time. I actually use it quite a bit more than I thought I would. It makes a simple task so much easier, such as setting an alarm! Being able to set calendar appointments would be amazing though!
qwer23 said:
I see a reminder for this evening right now, it's definitely integrated
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I think they're referring to that you can't use now to create a calendar event. If you want it to remind you of something, it can only set an alarm for you.
Music, it should tell you when an artist you like has a new single or album coming out, and if they are going to be playing a show withing X miles of your location. Or have just announced a tour etc.
Media, it should tell you when a new movie or video game is being released and give ratings for it and such.
I like idea number one, maybe adding in a dictionary for certain words, although that may be part of what your talking about.
That's one of the nice things I like about reading books on my Ipad. You can highlight a word in a book you're reading and, it will define the word.
WiredPirate said:
Music, it should tell you when an artist you like has a new single or album coming out, and if they are going to be playing a show withing X miles of your location. Or have just announced a tour etc.
Media, it should tell you when a new movie or video game is being released and give ratings for it and such.
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Well for the concert notification, I stumbled upon an app called song kick. Which will scrap your Google music and pandora ( maybe something else too) and email you when an artist you liked or own content from is touring near you.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
It should show a card every monday, wednesday, friday morning when I first unlock my device with the day's XKCD comic and the mousover text.
Keeping tabs on movie releasedates would be nice too. Google "The dark knight rises" and on the release day it shows up on a card with the theatre times for your cities movie theatres.
Connect with (Google) TV to give you a tvguide card when your watching tv.
Shows a card with directions to the nearest florists on your anniversary
BrianDigital said:
Well for the concert notification, I stumbled upon an app called song kick. Which will scrap your Google music and pandora ( maybe something else too) and email you when an artist you liked or own content from is touring near you.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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I will check it out, thanks!
WORPspeed said:
Keeping tabs on movie releasedates would be nice too. Google "The dark knight rises" and on the release day it shows up on a card with the theatre times for your cities movie theatres.
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Excellent idea. The more media related info the better imo.
One more feature I'd like to see is the ability to send a time or location based reminder to someone else. The person can then choose to accept the reminder or not. I suspect Apple will do this soon if they haven't already. The reminder could then appear in Google Now along with any notes the sender included.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Integration with Tripit.
Integrate with Tripit directly to send reminders of all the little tripit events you have, check-in, check-out, flights, etc.
I want there to be an actual notes app for which Google Now can create a note and save it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
A card to nearby news!