Develop Bugs

[Q] HTC Music Player doesn't do well with WMA files after Android 2.2 update

Hello everyone,
I have an issue that is driving me CRAZY, and I hope some of you are having the same issue...or at least suggestions for how to fix it. I am running the new Android 2.2 update on my Evo. (It's just the normal, plain software from Sprint/HTC...nothing custom, none of that root stuff...just regular).
I always keep a few gigabytes of music (in WMA format) on my SD card. I noticed that after the update, the HTC Music player would no longer recognize (and sort) the music by Artist or Composer. The only things it could identify about each file were the Title, Album, and Genre. I miss the option of browsing through my music by Artist and/or Composer. This was not a problem with Android 2.1, but it is now. I even tried deleting all the music from my SD card and re-syncing it from my PC...same result. I also tried music from a different PC...same result.
So here's what I discovered this morning: If I convert my WMA files to MP3s, then the music player works just as before!! It recognizes all the ID3 tags within each file. This is a big problem for me. First of all, my music library is nearly 40 GB in size, and I do not want to have to convert EVERYTHING to MP3 before I sync. This is tedious and unnecessary. Secondly, the original specs/documentation of the HTC Evo state that it supports the WMA file format. I made sure of that before purchasing, because it was one of the big factors for me in making the decision to switch to Sprint and the Evo.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to solve this problem? I'm about to call HTC now and complain. Thanks.

Why are you so attached to WMA? IME/IMHO it's not a very good format because the quality of the mp3 format is a little better plus the DRM that gets embeded in the tracks. Every track that I have *ahem* acquired or even recorded myself has time bombed on me at some point. I should be able to play the music I record at any time!
/Rant
Don't take what I said too personally. I'm just pissed off at Microsoft. That said, I do not know what is causing your files not be played back properly as I do not have any to test.

Just a guess but, perhaps the new player in froyo doesn't read id3 tags from wma files correctly.
sent from my HTC evo

Well, that wasn't the purpose of this post, but since you asked...
I've been ripping my CDs to my hard drive for about 10 years now. Windows Media Player made it sooo easy to organize my music library. Way back in the day, you could only rip to WAV or different varieties of WMA. To rip to mp3, I would have had to use a different program, or purchase a plug-in for Windows Media Player. Only in the last few versions has Windows Media Player had the "rip to mp3" option built-in for free.
When I originally started my collection, I read about the differences between WMA and mp3. I got the understanding that the two formats essentially offered the same quality and features, but WMA generally used about half the file size for the same bitrate. So I chose WMA and stuck with it all this time.
Even when I buy music from Amazon or iTunes, I've gotten in the habit of converting it to WMA...just for consistency.
I just got off the phone with HTC, who says they haven't heard of this issue before. I was advised to perform a factory reset. But if I can't resolve the issue soon, I'm considering just converting every piece of music I have to mp3. (Sigh). But at nearly 40 GB, and various bitrates, who knows how long that could take!? (Sighing again). I wonder what program could handle that amount of music all at once. And I pray it won't screw up all the ID3 tags and the ratings I've so carefully given.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I have a couple of WMA files on my SD card. They have always been listed under "Unknown Artist" along with a few mp3's.
when I click on unknown artist, the files show up listed under their correct names. When I click on the wma files (both by the same artist), they expand into individual file names.
After updating to 2.2 nothing has changed. Everything works normally. That would suggest HTC's advice may work for you.
On another note, don't you love it when you post a question, and the first response is, "I don't know how to help, but I don't like that kind of file anyway, and neither should you!!!

Hmmm...and your WMA files were never fully recognized? Not even on Android 2.1? Interesting. I guess I'll attempt a hard reset tonight, or maybe tomorrow.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I had the exact same issue and can report that a hard reset had no effect. I'll be looking to convert my library to mp3 as well. Froyo has its quirks.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Wow!! Thanks, pstar...I was literally 3 minutes away from starting the hard reset process and restoring everything. What is we gon' do? :-(
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

helpwithmy8525 said:
Wow!! Thanks, pstar...I was literally 3 minutes away from starting the hard reset process and restoring everything. What is we gon' do? :-(
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's an idea: Go into a Sprint store with your Mini SD chip and see if they'll put in in another Android phone. See if it exhibits the same issue.

Good idea. I might try that tomorrow.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

ptsar said:
I had the exact same issue and can report that a hard reset had no effect. I'll be looking to convert my library to mp3 as well. Froyo has its quirks.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't resist finding out for myself; I also tried a hard reset, to no avail...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Funny, my wife is using the rooted stock froyo, first leaked build and all wma look fine with embedded art using HTC player. I am using cyanogen latest nightly and it still can't read wma tags at all. But I do like playing with the new DSP settings--worth the switch. As a workaround I converted the wma to mp4 and they read just fine.

I'm surprised anyone had success with wma on any version of android. For me, on 2.1, wma files wouldn't play (but a few DID, which confounds me to no end). Now on rooted 2.2, I experience the same behavior. Just for fun, I used astro and simply renamed the file type of some wmas to .mp3. Surprisingly, it seemed to work. I thought I was on to something. Then I tries that with some Audioslave songs. No worky. So probably the ones I did 'get to work', were some of the few that for no discernible reason, to me, already worked.
I would like to hear more about this issue, actually.

Its a problem in Froyo with both WMA and AAC encoded files. Reported in Google Code, so please go there, sign in to google, then star the issue so it gets some attention:
http://code.google.com/p/android/is...ag&colspec=ID Type Status Owner Summary Stars

music & sd card / memory

I've been trying to figure this out on my own for a while and haven't made any headway. I have about 3gb of music on the internal memory and about 10gb on my 16gb memory card.
In general I am having trouble getting all of my music to be seen and to play. In the HTC music player most if not all of the albums show up, but are missing songs and the like. DoubleTwist doesn't see any of the songs in the internal memory and has the same issue with not seeing all of the songs on each album. The cubed media player shows 89 albums of "unknown" artist that contain a bunch of the songs that aren't showing where they are supposed to, but have a length of 0:00.
All of the music appears when I browse the card in astro.
I've tried using SongBird's FolderSync to copy the music and I've used doubleTwist, along with just dragging and dropping the music folders. It seems no matter what I have some set of the same issues.
What are people doing to actually get all of their music to copy and play properly?

me too...finally someone else who is seeing the same issue....EVERY 2.2 ROM has done.this and it DID NOT group almost everything into an (UNKNOWN) artist folder ...
I've noticed no media player will read artist folders properly..root explorer and astrology...(file managers) have no problem seeing the files and the proper names its just the phone and its media reader
1900 songs on my media card and 1700 of them are grouped as unknown makes media player almost unusable...
Also I've noticed that if u are looking at artists and go to album view it even reads those and orders those properly but still lists them as unknown artist
anyone have ANY insight would be awesome
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

I have spent about 2 days now tagging and retagging my music. I have about 2700 songs all on my internal storage and was upset when it went from being mostly, properly, sorted to all "Unknown Artist". I tagged and retagged and then tagged some more. I changed the album art and double checked all of it time and time again. I've formatted the memory, restarted the phone, flashed an updated ROM and have yet to figure it out.
I am currently using Virtuous 2.5. I had the issue using Virtuous 2.1 and 2.3 and Adrynalyne's Third Wave (but not his FrankenROM). It's pretty annoying. I am hoping that someone can shed the light on this issue. I haven't heard many people talk about it, but it is one of my main issues with 2.2 thus far.
I guess that I'm lucky to have a main gripe be something as trivial as the way it sorts the media, though.

Glad I'm not the only one, but really, did re-tagging help? I don't have the time to do all of that. A lot of my files won't even play, even though they appear on the card in Astro and have a reasonable file size. They show up in the media players as 0:00 length.
Anyone have any success? Is this a 2.2 issue? It occured on SkyRaider 2.5.2, 3.0, and the latest Virtuous ROM.

fastandlight said:
Glad I'm not the only one, but really, did re-tagging help? I don't have the time to do all of that. A lot of my files won't even play, even though they appear on the card in Astro and have a reasonable file size. They show up in the media players as 0:00 length.
Anyone have any success? Is this a 2.2 issue? It occured on SkyRaider 2.5.2, 3.0, and the latest Virtuous ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The extensive tagging did nothing. It made me feel better, because I know that everything is right, but little more than that.
It seems like it is a 2.2 issue of some kind, I'm just not sure of where or what it is. Which is why I came here. I don't see many other posts concerning this issue, so I assume we are either a minority or are missing something very simple.

I just looked through my music more closely after a new sync using the new version of doubleTwist. It looks like the HTC Media Player is not seeing the first 4 or 5 tracks of my albums on the SD card. It looks like it is seeing most of the music on the internal memory.

fastandlight said:
I just looked through my music more closely after a new sync using the new version of doubleTwist. It looks like the HTC Media Player is not seeing the first 4 or 5 tracks of my albums on the SD card. It looks like it is seeing most of the music on the internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ran a Media Go (some piece of garbage Sony syncing software) and Windows Media Player sync today. I synced them right over the top of each other, hoping that at least one of them would work. I see a lot of album art and I see a whole lot of songs, but for some unknown reason the Artists are all "Unknown".
Every. Last. One.
I have them split into albums and I've got plenty of songs that seem to be set up properly and have the art that goes with them, but under the "Artist" tab, it refuses to recognize. I never had this problem when I first got my phone and I am sure it has something to do with the newer ROMs.
Again, I don't see many people talking about this... so, I have to be a minority or an idiot. Maybe both. Hopefully I can get the problem fixed. I'm going to go on a tagging spree and try to get a dozen or so songs working so that maybe I can spend another couple of days getting all 2700 or so songs working. =(

Alright.
I did some digging. It turns out that there are either more people with EVOs or they communicate far better than the Incredible community, because I found several threads pertaining to issues similar to this with the EVO.
Thread 747895 right here on XDA.
Android Central has a post about a similar issue - (32456) problems-music-player-after-update under the Droid Incredible section.
Basically, it looks like WMA and AAC files refuse to acknowledge their tags, properly. Sorting them by song name or into folders by album seems to help a little, but the tracks still seem to have issues recognizing artists and track numbers.
There are other problems, apparently, but these seem to be the ones mostly likely upsetting my music player.

Tagged for
Experiencing the same PITA
TIA

I first documented this issue here, but did not have info at the time that is also affects AAC files:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=773905
Go to the google Code reporting thread, sign into google, and star the thread so it will get some bloody attention.
http://code.google.com/p/android/is...ag&colspec=ID Type Status Owner Summary Stars
Update - I discovered that the doubleTwist player will read the ID3 tags properly, so it is obviously not depending on whatever item in Froyo is messing this up that the other players are. The one downside is that it currently does not ignore ring tones, alarms and notification tones stored on the SD card. This is supposed to be addressed int the next upcoming version.

timehunter said:
Update - I discovered that the doubleTwist player will read the ID3 tags properly, so it is obviously not depending on whatever item in Froyo is messing this up that the other players are. The one downside is that it currently does not ignore ring tones, alarms and notification tones stored on the SD card. This is supposed to be addressed int the next upcoming version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using Songbird 1.8 and the MSC plug-in, I transcoded my library to OGG and it is working perfectly. DoubleTwist no longer sees any music, but the HTC player is working well and cubed seems to be running well, except for not seeing any music on the internal memory.
The bug is clearly in how the music players are reading the MP4 files from iTunes. F-ing Apple.

Not sure why I can not view pics in the Gallery...

I recently flashed my EVO from CM6 over to the alpha Gingerbread Rom. No issues there, love the new ROM but one thing I noticed was that anytime I scroll over to my Gallery, it says I do not have any pics or vids to view. Same issue when i go to my music app, no music. But I can open up Linda Manager or File Manager and all my pics, vids, and music is there. Any help would be greatly appreciated because I am lost!

wtr1906 said:
I recently flashed my EVO from CM6 over to the alpha Gingerbread Rom. No issues there, love the new ROM but one thing I noticed was that anytime I scroll over to my Gallery, it says I do not have any pics or vids to view. Same issue when i go to my music app, no music. But I can open up Linda Manager or File Manager and all my pics, vids, and music is there. Any help would be greatly appreciated because I am lost!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What folder are they are in on your SD card? And when you take new pictures do they show up in the gallery or not their either? It may be that the Gallery is somehow not detecting pictures, or the old pictures are just not in a place where it can.

HELP!!
I am having this same problem with my phone. I am rooted with unrevoked 3 and now when I take a pic it will show up in my gallery until i reboot my phone then they dont. I can plug my phone up to my computer and they are in the DCMI folder on my sd card. When I unplug my phone from the computer and go back in to my phone they are not there. What would be causing this? I have not put any roms on my phone or changed any kernels.

It's probably a really odd SD card issue. Try going into settings & unmounting then mounting the sd card again. If that doesn't work it could be an issue with the media scanner. Download an app that lets you manually run the media scanner. I know Widgetsoid 2.x has a media scanner toggle. If you can't find another way, download the app & make a 1x1 toggle widget with the media scanner, apply, and tap it.
If that doesn't work, I'm stumped.

I tried that but I couldnt get the widget to actually do anything. Thank you though

I believe the sdcard is the cause, because I've had a similar issue myself and fixed it. I would suggest either re-flashing the rom, or backing up your sdcard and then formatting it, and copy it back over. Also, if you have, in particular, a folder with a lot of pictures in it, I had one with like 300+ because it was an animation, that too slowed it down.

Did you check the folders to make sure there aren't .nomedia files in them? I'm not quite sure how they would get there unless an app put them there.
Have you removed any system files? If so, you could've removed something that keeps the media scanner from running, or possibly removed the media scanner altogether.
Last idea - have you tried opening the files from the sd card to their respective apps? Open the images with the gallery & maybe they'll show up?
Last, last idea - if you're using stock apps, try downloading a third party gallery and/or music player. I use QuickPic, it's fast & caches images so if you can get them to show up in app, they should remain after a reboot.
I'm tapped out of ideas :/

Hello.
After restarting phone i can not see pictures and videos in the Gallery. it's empty. I have seen there is no .nomedia file. Then i have captured some pictures and they are appear in the Gallery but old pictures not. i can see they from file manager. how can i return my old gallery??
p.s. i have no memory card
p.s.2 my phone is Motorola Droid Razr M - android 4.4.2

Issues with video playback,,,,,

Hi All,
I did a search and can't find an answer.
First off, I'm running stock build JZ054K with stock kernel and modem. I'm rooted and all, just decided to install stock stuff for now. Of course that's 4.1.2.
When I transfer video files to the phone memory or the SD card, I'm having trouble getting them to play back. I've tried MP4, AVI, Wave and have also let the phone convert them as they transfer. The AVI won't play at all, it just says this file won't play. The wave will but has terrible quality. The MP4 is really finicky. Sometimes they will transfer and play part way through, sometimes all the way and sometimes not at all. Could it be the stock video player? I also have MX player but it doesn't seem to do much better. In fact it general does worse.
Should I let the videos convert or should I just transfer them as is. I've even had videos I took with the phone that didn't want to play.
Any ideas?
Thanks.

When transferring files to your phone make sure to not convert... Download (and there are many more apps but my favorites are) MXplayer or DicePlayer and watch the videos through that... Not only are there options within each players settings that allow you to adjust playback options for optimization but then at least you don't have to convert files (a copy of a copy is quite like the original, etc)
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Music issue on MOAR v8

I recently did a clean install of MOAR v8.0 from v6.1 and have noticed that all the System .ui sounds ( .ogg ) are in the music folder in the My Files app., which means that they are also sent to the Music Player app. So when I was driving home yesterday and streaming the music through BT, all the system sounds like Alert_on_call.....Cam_Stop and all the others....plus all the sucky music like Birdsong, Fairy Fountain and such will start playing.
I have tried to delete them from the Music Player and the My Files apps, but they will not delete. I have also tried to move the files from the My File app to another folder, but they will still remain in the Music File.
Also, in the Astro File Manager, when I select the Music folder....none of the system files show up.
I have read and searched through the MOAR thread, but can't find an answer and I can't post there asking this, but How do I move the sound files ( .ogg ) so that they will not play in the Music Player app?

Well after 3 more downloads and clean installs.....it seemed to work itself out....I do still have the 'hangout' sounds in there. I can deal wit that for now though. :cyclops:

disc golfing said:
Well after 3 more downloads and clean installs.....it seemed to work itself out....I do still have the 'hangout' sounds in there. I can deal wit that for now though. :cyclops:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you download a music player from play store like poweramp etc you can specify your music folders to play from and then you wont get system sounds

disc golfing said:
Well after 3 more downloads and clean installs.....it seemed to work itself out....I do still have the 'hangout' sounds in there. I can deal wit that for now though. :cyclops:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah hangouts itself puts it in there, not much you can do about that
If you delete it, it will just keep coming back, but you can make a ".nomedia" file in there (without quotes of course) and it won't show up when you go to play your music (basically tells the media scanner to skip that folder)

avruma said:
If you download a music player from play store like poweramp etc you can specify your music folders to play from and then you wont get system sounds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea....I tried several different players but they all played the System Sounds. I did move my playlist to the external card and n7 player worked fine. Thanks
CNexus said:
Yeah hangouts itself puts it in there, not much you can do about that
If you delete it, it will just keep coming back, but you can make a ".nomedia" file in there (without quotes of course) and it won't show up when you go to play your music (basically tells the media scanner to skip that folder)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha....I didn't even think about .nomedia.
I read soooooooooooo many threads, posts and different topics on a lot of different forums that my head spins. LOL
So far I haven't heard the hangouts beeps, but if I do it's fine........I mainly wanted all the stupid samsung crappy songs/ringtones out of there.
I just ordered an AN-21 U about 2 hours ago, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2528349 ...... so hopefully I won't need to use my phone for music after next week. :fingers-crossed:
OhYea......THANKS for all you have contributed to MOAR !!!!