Database Users

Music Player question

I've jsut started to use the music player on my HD2 and have to say there's a few things that I'm disappointed in.
Firstly as already mentioned in another post, I don't like that there is no search function, or at least the alphabet down the side as in the contacts, to search through the albums/tracks much quicker. Instead I have to scroll endlessly through all of my music. Is there a fix for this?
Secondly, it isn't very easy to change the artwork (From hints and tips), and/or track title/artists. I had an iphone previously and it was much easier. You just clicked on what you wanted to change in itunes, change it and it automatically synced with the phone. I have a lot of albums where the artwork isn't automatically downloaded, and a lot of tracks where there are multiple artists and I would like to change it to just one. Is there a way to do this? I don't mind manipulating my files on the PC first, but to be honest I can't figure out how to do this on windows media once the CD has been ripped. I know how to change the track title/artists etc before ripping the CD, but I don't want to dig out all my CD's and re-rip them again. Perhaps someone knows how to change all this using windows media once it's ripped?
Alternatively is there a music player out there for my HD2 (preferably free) that allows you to do what I want, ie change artwork, artists etc? Preferably running the program from my PC so I can manipulate it on there.
Cheers

http://www.mediamonkey.com/

im using winamp on the pc for the artworks, and pocketplayer on my leo, it got searchfunction too, and awsome eq, and other settings, try it

Hi,
I've had the HD2 since before Christmas and generally it's great and for connectivity etc, it beats my lady's iphone, but to the subject in hand...
When i got the phone i put a 16Gb card in and stuck all 8Gb of music i had on my reluctantly let go N95 - i know they were looking dated, but it was sturdy as a brick, had GPS, good memory, battery life...
I immediately then had problems with the HD2, it couldn't play for more than 20 or 30 seconds, it was constantly trying to update the music etc, this is fairly easy to fix though, there is a free program for tag checking/fixing on this forum elsewhere. Once you run it on your files on your HD2s card, you'll find some do have errors, get it to fix tham and the HD2 will now stop endlessly trying to scan your music and play it.
Use MP3tag - free and easy to find on web - to correctly name your tracks and artists, this makes life alot easier in finding what you are after.
If you want the HD2 to display artwork - this took some working out - you can make it do so using the following steps:
1 - get the cover artwork you want, open it in Photoshop or equivalent, resize it to 256x256pixels, then save it out (resolution 72dpi, and save out at 6 in Photoshop, it's more than enough for tiny display covers) to the music album folder it needs to live in naming it hTC_AM_AlbumArt.jpg
Once it's saved, go to the folder, right click on the file, click properites, uncheck 'archived' and check 'hidden'. Bingo, this will make sure the artwork you want will appear. It does work, I spent alot of time sorting out my music over Christmas, as music is what i do and this kind of thing bothers me.
You can use HTC's auto artwork function and it does work ok generally for well known stuff, but if you need to plug artwork gaps, use the above.
Glitches in playing... I've found that if you leave Wi-Fi and Data enabled then it does cause pauses generally in quite a few apps, not just the music player, though it is obviously bloody annoying having a 5 second break mid song. Simply switch off Wi-Fi & Data (i'm not 100% sure which is causing it, but it's when the handset is trying to sync out). You'll find then you don't get any interruptions in your music. And let's face it, going to Wireless Connections only takes 2 seconds to switch them on and off. Though granted, HTC should REALLY sort this out.
Main problems i have with the HTC built in music player is the following:
1 If you wizz the Touch Flow album covers too fast, it bugs out and flips to whichever end it is closest to. Annoying.
2 On contacts you get the A to Z slider to speed up finding who you are after, why in hell not on the music player for artists etc???
3 If you go to an artist, say Janis Joplin, play a track, if you then go 'back' to the artist list, are you at J still, NOPE, you are back at A. Annoying. Scroll, scroll, scroll.
4 Why no function for you to choose artwork from a specific folder, which would save all the above fuss, plus an MP3 tag editor/fixer, hardly rocket science in this day and age.
There are other points that will come back to mind once I hit submit I'm sure.
Not related to the music player, but does anyone know if there's a fix for the really annoying way the cursor jumps from where you are when writing a text and you click on 'add symbol'. It jumps to the start of the text, which if u are only briefly above ground on the tube, is really sodding annoying. The keyboard isn't quite as good as the iPhone as it is - a point i'm loathed only to admit to other HD2 users ;-)
Hope some of this helps.
Cheers

Thanks I will check these out. Is pocket player free?

Also try Nitrogen player .. it's free.

MandrakeMan said:
Hi,
I've had the HD2 since before Christmas and generally it's great and for connectivity etc, it beats my lady's iphone, but to the subject in hand...
When i got the phone i put a 16Gb card in and stuck all 8Gb of music i had on my reluctantly let go N95 - i know they were looking dated, but it was sturdy as a brick, had GPS, good memory, battery life...
I immediately then had problems with the HD2, it couldn't play for more than 20 or 30 seconds, it was constantly trying to update the music etc, this is fairly easy to fix though, there is a free program for tag checking/fixing on this forum elsewhere. Once you run it on your files on your HD2s card, you'll find some do have errors, get it to fix tham and the HD2 will now stop endlessly trying to scan your music and play it.
Use MP3tag - free and easy to find on web - to correctly name your tracks and artists, this makes life alot easier in finding what you are after.
If you want the HD2 to display artwork - this took some working out - you can make it do so using the following steps:
1 - get the cover artwork you want, open it in Photoshop or equivalent, resize it to 256x256pixels, then save it out (resolution 72dpi, and save out at 6 in Photoshop, it's more than enough for tiny display covers) to the music album folder it needs to live in naming it hTC_AM_AlbumArt.jpg
Once it's saved, go to the folder, right click on the file, click properites, uncheck 'archived' and check 'hidden'. Bingo, this will make sure the artwork you want will appear. It does work, I spent alot of time sorting out my music over Christmas, as music is what i do and this kind of thing bothers me.
You can use HTC's auto artwork function and it does work ok generally for well known stuff, but if you need to plug artwork gaps, use the above.
Glitches in playing... I've found that if you leave Wi-Fi and Data enabled then it does cause pauses generally in quite a few apps, not just the music player, though it is obviously bloody annoying having a 5 second break mid song. Simply switch off Wi-Fi & Data (i'm not 100% sure which is causing it, but it's when the handset is trying to sync out). You'll find then you don't get any interruptions in your music. And let's face it, going to Wireless Connections only takes 2 seconds to switch them on and off. Though granted, HTC should REALLY sort this out.
Main problems i have with the HTC built in music player is the following:
1 If you wizz the Touch Flow album covers too fast, it bugs out and flips to whichever end it is closest to. Annoying.
2 On contacts you get the A to Z slider to speed up finding who you are after, why in hell not on the music player for artists etc???
3 If you go to an artist, say Janis Joplin, play a track, if you then go 'back' to the artist list, are you at J still, NOPE, you are back at A. Annoying. Scroll, scroll, scroll.
4 Why no function for you to choose artwork from a specific folder, which would save all the above fuss, plus an MP3 tag editor/fixer, hardly rocket science in this day and age.
There are other points that will come back to mind once I hit submit I'm sure.
Not related to the music player, but does anyone know if there's a fix for the really annoying way the cursor jumps from where you are when writing a text and you click on 'add symbol'. It jumps to the start of the text, which if u are only briefly above ground on the tube, is really sodding annoying. The keyboard isn't quite as good as the iPhone as it is - a point i'm loathed only to admit to other HD2 users ;-)
Hope some of this helps.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking the time to post this lengthy response. I did see the way you suggested to add artwork on the Hints and tips thread, but what a ball ache. I do't really want to be spending hours resizing pictures just so they can go on the phone, they really should be a way to do this much easier. It would be nice if they had a dedicated program like itunes to do all this kind of stuff. I'm hoping the programs mentioned above will solve my woes.
I can't believe with a phone so powerful that it pauses and has glitches in music playback, that is sooo poor, and inexcusable to me. Does that happen with all music players, or just the HTC sense one?
I've tried windows player that was preinstalled on the phone, but it won't locate any of my music. If I update the library it just fills it with all audio files from my phone (such as sat nav audio) but not my music, why is this and how do I get it to JUST update my music?
I have contacted HTC about the text issue and they tell me they are working on a fix.

Hi,
I agree, it's a ballache that we shouldn't need to do. It's more for those annoying odd one or two album covers here and there that don't get picked up or end up with the wrong covers when you request the handset to update artwork from the Gracenote database.
All these issues with the music player are pretty poor for a handset costing near £500. I should really forward my last post to HTC...
Cheers

Ok, so I've tried other media players and to be quite honest I don't like the interfaces, I like HTC's much better (except for the fact that you can't search). I have added artwork to my media on my PC now using monkeymedia, and jukebox, but when I transfer the music files to my HD2 there's no album artwork, why is this and how do I get it to transfer without going through the long winded process mentioned above?
I DJ and do a lot of my own CD's, and want to add artwork Can anyone help? Or is it just the HTC music player that won't pick up the artwork, and so I'm forced to use another player? If so is there a player out there that has a nice interface like HTC?
I've seen S2P, but which version should I download? Theres vga or wvga?

Music App Survey

Hello, what's up and good morning,
we are a small project team from HTL Rennweg Vienna and like to develop an Music App for Android. The project will last a half year. We want to implement the following features:
play music from the SD card
control a MPD server remotely
a Widget and a Lockscreen Widget
Artist Information
Lyrics
Albumcover
subscribe to Podcasts
Last.fm Integration
We are asking at several Android forums, which other features are needed and used.
We are looking forward for many ideas and comments
basti & the project team

Auto-start play and stop on BT/wired headphone connect and disconnect.
Car-view with only 3/4 BIG buttons and huge album cover background.
High-quality file format support (FLAC, APE, ...).
Speed-based volume control (the faster you go, the louder it gets).
I may add some more in future...
EDIT: like I said...
HUD-like mode to have the screen reflected in windshield, maybe with actual speed and time indication... I mostly need that for car use, could you imagine? XD

I'm probably alone here, but the main thing I miss using my phone instead of my ipod as a car media player is that I can't have music videos and normal tracks in the same playlist. So if you could include support for music vids in the same playlists as other media, that'd be fantastic
Other than that - what teorouge said. Add gesture support to, so I can swipe to change tracks, and I'm sold

teorouge said:
Auto-start play and stop on BT/wired headphone connect and disconnect.
Car-view with only 3/4 BIG buttons and huge album cover background.
High-quality file format support (FLAC, APE, ...).
Speed-based volume control (the faster you go, the louder it gets).
I may add some more in future...
EDIT: like I said...
HUD-like mode to have the screen reflected in windshield, maybe with actual speed and time indication... I mostly need that for car use, could you imagine? XD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would also like to see a day/night switch to automatically change skin or at least color set from light to dark, based on actual time or luminosity or both (you decide!) also for car usage improvement.
EDIT: actually don't care about...
play music from the SD card
control a MPD server remotely
a Widget and a Lockscreen Widget
Artist Information
Lyrics
Albumcover
subscribe to Podcasts
Last.fm Integration
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I would love to be able to stream internet streams (over wifi)
like .m3u streams. The stock app doesn't recognise ones I have tried

Biggest issues for me would be the ability to add only specific folders to the library, a media player that scans the whole SD card and loads crap like ringtones into the list is unusable. And secondly very robust tag and album art support. I have many songs that display titles and artist fine in Foobar on my PC and all my tracks have the album art imbedded but many of these do not display correctly on my HTC Desire media player.

The feature I most need is to sort my music by "album artist" and not only by artists.

[Q] Music on Android

I really want to buy an Android device ( d: ) , but I'm not sure if there is that big of variate of mods and programs to make listening to music easier on Android.
I am used to an iPod Touch (jailbroken) with music controls over the volume rocker (I've read CyanogenMod has that !) and a real fast/easy way to listen to music.
After researching on the net, I have found some really nice programs like PowerAMP, but since I don't own an Android device, i can't really tell how good everything works and what else there is.
Of course I'd read myself into how to root and so on, and I'd do anything to make my next phone a good music player !
So what do you think are really important mods/programs for making music on Android easier and better ?

In my opinion, PowerAMP is the best music player for Android. You modify everything on the equalizer. Of course you've got presets (this way is easier for my). The biggest problem with the application is its price !! you've got a free trial period, but after, you've got to pay...

the default music player on Android gets the job done it just doesnt look good. Id advise just buying a Zune HD or and iPod Touch for your music

Well I have an iPod Touch, but i HATE carrying both an iPod and a phone (a brick right now )
Would it be possible to get the volume-rocker control for music to work with PowerAMP (<-- i dont care if it costs a little. As I've said, I'd do almost anything ) ??

Music controls do work with the volume rocker, track up and down, with PowerAMP. I'm sure CyanogenMod has an impact on that feature though. I think the mod is the fact that the command for blue tooth track next is mapped to the long press volume function, same with the lockscreen controls.

So you are saying that skipping (short hold of up/down) and pausing (power button ?) songs works on PowerAMP "out-of-the-box" (without root ?) ?
And also if I'd like to put CM on my device, it's possible that the functions would interfere ?

No, like I said, not stock. I use trackball wake so I can't comment on that.

so what would i have to do to get the functions like that to work with PowerAMP ?

Root and install CM6x

I use Lithium Player and I love it. It has a unique UI and can fetch album art as well. The player allows you to make playlists and customize the color of the UI. The player also finds playlists from other music apps on the phone, so that you don't have to keep remaking playlists. If you have any problems or concerns, just email the dev and he will reply back in a timely manner. Me and the dev are actually working on something big right now, and if you want to help, please visit my site at futurinnovations.blogspot.com.

Youll have A TON of options. Different players with different feature sets etc.
Trackball/vole skip etc are all available. Dont be afraid to root. Most of the time your device will have a simple one or few step solution.
If youre on here then you are already part of a tremendous community and have a stack of info and help at your fingertips.
With PowrAmp options , the interface , the widgets , lock screen controls etc and most of all the custom EQ make it a much better music experience than an Iphone/Ipod.
DoubleTwist makes Itunes syncing easy if its a MUST.
Winamp features wireless syncing.
Again really a no brainer. Music/sound quality will vary from device to device.
If you just want the best sound neither Android/Apple offer that. Perhaps theres an Android device that does have some great sound hardware but all in all smaller portable players with better sound chips will be a better choice in audiophile terms.
Good headphones + Poweramp are the next best thing. Plus you get the best damn communication OS/devices available off a desktop so go for it.

Mortplayer
One really good FREE Solution to all the features i read about PowerAMP is
MortPlayer... (DL widgets separately).
- lockscreen widget, playing from folders, playlists, volume controls etc.

d.ward said:
In my opinion, PowerAMP is the best music player for Android. You modify everything on the equalizer. Of course you've got presets (this way is easier for my). The biggest problem with the application is its price !! you've got a free trial period, but after, you've got to pay...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you have a problem with price are you a broke ass?

Google Music. Will it be Android's answer to iTunes, or more?

I don't want this to be another "OMG, the video support on XOOM SUX!" thread, but rather a discussion about what you expect in the future from Google. Mostly just fun speculation, I suppose.
I know a lot of people do complain about the video support, but I'm an optimist, so I am eagerly awaiting what Google has in store for Android tablets. It's obvious they have SOMETHING up their sleeves, as we've seen hinted in a few articles here and there. Cloud syncing is one of the more recent little nuggets of gold we've seen.
Apple users have iTunes, which helps keep everything going smoothly for their music and video syncing. When Google finally gets around to unveiling its music service, what would they have to do in order to make it MORE useful to Android users than iTunes is to iOS users? That is, what can they do to make it more than just a clone of iTunes?
Obviously, cloud syncing would be one of the things that sets it apart. I'm really looking forward to being able to share music with my XOOM and my Android handset.
What I'm wondering the most about is weather the service will be a standalone app, or will it be tied to the market, like Books are? Which would you rather see? A separate system altogether, or the addition of "Music" and "Video" tabs alongside the "Android Apps" and "Books" tabs that we already have? I actually wouldn't mind seeing the latter. It just makes sense, really. And with the cloud syncing support suggested, it actually looks like this might be what they plan to do. However, there needs to be some things supported in the app, such as the ability to convert video files into XOOM formats without the use of a 3rd party app, and a better way to add album art and change info on sideloaded songs than what iTunes uses (That is, being able to edit the files directly on the mobile device instead of just on the computer.) I also hope that Google is working on a standalone video player that doesn't rely on the gallery, and hope they are considering supporting more video codecs.
[edit]
Also, I want to see a better setup for the PC side of the application. iTunes has a lot of crap to navigate through, and just seems messy to me. Again, the cloud syncing will make this so much better. It'll be great to drop a song into the program from my computer and have it pop up on my XOOM without having to plug the XOOM into the computer.
What do you want to see in Google's Music (and video) service? Speculate away!

[Q] Good app for browsing music?

Hi,
First, not sure this is the right place to post this, if not sorry !
I just got my LG G Watch R (and I love it !), but something is bothering me, I've seen some apps to control the music player, but nothing really great.
For example the stock app, when screen is "off" (not actually off, you know what I mean), you have to wake the screen, slide to the left and then you have the buttons to change the volume. Same thing to skip a song.
I'd like something more customizable, because I took a face for the watch where the time is displayed on the top of the scree so I have space not used, I could have a next song button, etc.
One other thing is the lack of possibility to browse through artists or albums, why ? I mean I get there's not much space, but with some thinking we could have a way to scroll through everything. In the end I have to use my phone everytime I want to listen to another artist.
So If anyone knows an android wear apps that at least browse through artist that would be nice,
and if they're none, I guess I'll just develop it myself !
Thanks.
Edit : After some digging on stack, it seems like this music card can't be removed, so I guess what I wanted to do is impossible.

If you're willing to use a totally separate app, stelio music player has the option to not trigger the default notification and it's own notification can be hidden like any other. You can also select music from the library with it, though when you select an artist it shows all songs by artist instead of artist > album > song. I've made the suggestion to add that and the dev has said he's working on it so hopefully that gets added soon. For some reason the app is not currently on the play store but the website is stellio.ru if you want to check it out.
Oh and I almost forgot but there is a plugin for poweramp that allows for browsing the library on the watch called Poweramp Remote that will allow you to browse but it does not get rid of the stock card. I know you're looking for a watch face but those two at least allow you to browse the library.