I'm looking to hear what people have done to get around the 8 or 16GB storage limitation. How have you managed large MP3 libraries, ROM backups, pictures/videos, etc.?
I'd like to hear your creative ideas! ie The Cloud, Separate iPod/MP3 player, keep a laptop close by, etc.
CaptainStrange said:
I'm looking to hear what people have done to get around the 8 or 16GB storage limitation. How have you managed large MP3 libraries, ROM backups, pictures/videos, etc.?
I'd like to hear your creative ideas! ie The Cloud, Separate iPod/MP3 player, keep a laptop close by, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a Nexus 4 yet, but I can tell you how I do it with my 16GB Nexus S. We had the same discussion everyone is having now two years ago.
I would make use of the cloud, but unfortunately there aren't any unlimited data plans in the Netherlands, and if there are, they're freaking expensive. So I'm stuck with 1GB a month. Which is perfectly fine for me, but not if I want to make use of the cloud.
I do have a larger MP3 library than 16GB. Probably around 30GB. What I did is I sorted all my songs. On genre, in playlists, with ratings. This makes it really easy to just copy small parts of my library onto my Nexus S. I change my mobile library like once in two weeks. I don't listen to all of the 30GB anyway. I want to have as many different genres as possible on my device, so I mainly sort the songs on rating. With this system, I don't even make 8GB, which gives me plenty of space for other things. I'm happy with it and I doubt that even with unlimited data I would use that cloud. Copying a new library to my phone twice a month doesn't cost me a lot of time at all. I would definitely use a service like Spotify, even though I don't have unlimited data. Streaming wouldn't be possible (1GB data cap), but for the times I don't have wi-fi I can use the offline modus. But I think Spotify Premium is too expensive, and what I hate about it is that when you stop after two years of loyal service, you have nothing to show for.
The rest of my storage I let fill up automatically. With apps and the like. I store pictures on my google drive. I don't really use ROM backups (I'm not that attached to a certain setup, because I like the tweaking more than actually using my phone), but when I do, I just copy them on my computer.
Would I use 32GB if I had it? Of course. But I'm totally fine with 16GB. What I don't really understand is why there's no sd card slot. There isn't really a logical reason not to implement one. It can't cost THAT much, right? Anyway, only once a year I'm annoyed by the lack of storage: when I'm going on vacation. I watch a lot of TV series/movies on vacation. I would use USB OTG, but... I can live with it. I bring my computer anyway so I can always copy new episodes on my phone.
It really isn't such a big deal to empty your SD card every so often. That's just my two cents.
I bought the 16gb version specifically to have enough room to transfer the pictures of my previous phone to it, only to find out that transfering a large amount of files is erratic and good luck if you plan to have the files sorted by timestamp.
I think you are pretty much forced to use the cloud, if you are okay with it; I wasn't, so I simply gave up and transferred nothing to the phone.
My apps take up most of my space unfortunately. I have over 50 gb of music in my computer and I'm only left with approx ~3gb on my phone. Which kinda sucks:\ not that I plan in putting all my music, but extra space would be nice. I also download a lot of stuff too. My apps are mostly heavy games though(battle bears, gta3 & VC, NFS most wanted, etc...) So the games make up for lack of music.
)
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I bought a 16 GB but its not enough for my full mp3 library, but nothing is as its over 80 GB anyways. Right now I have about 12 GB stored locally in 3 playlists, this is the music that I just absolutely can't live without. The rest is in the cloud on Google Music but I hate streaming it, playback quality sucks and I don't have the data plan to do it. Everything else, documents, pictures, files, etc are stored in dropbox and I can easily access them from anywhere and download what is needed. I also have a 50GB box account for storage so I never have a problem with access to files I need.
Just use a computer if you need more storage. People use the phone way to much if you need to use all that storage and internet data. How about exercising or going out on a date. Plus everything is going to the cloud.
yoyoz808 said:
Just use a computer if you need more storage. People use the phone way to much if you need to use all that storage and internet data. How about exercising or going out on a date. Plus everything is going to the cloud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In all honesty my last phone had 2gb internal and 8gb card and I didn't come anywhere close to filling it. So I said Ill get the 8gb. Really theres only around 5 gb usable when you get it. I installed just apps and 1 large game (gta vice city) I have close to 2 gb usable. After a few videos and a bunch of images it goes quick. Really just makes it so you have to manage your file system more.
i put all my video/mp3/pics on my NAS at home which is linked by CIFS. unfortunately you need a custom kernel with cifs support.
from office i connect via wlan and vpn to my NAS.
i dont know if there is a custom kernel to use a USB stick via OTG host cable?
yoyoz808 said:
Plus everything is going to the cloud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, and someday we'll all have unlimited fast data for $5/month. Until then, I want to be able to carry my music/videos around with me wherever I go. There are ways to do that (SD cards, portable hard drives, etc), but Google/LG decided to prevent us from using those methods with this device.
JimG520 said:
Sure, and someday we'll all have unlimited fast data for $5/month. Until then, I want to be able to carry my music/videos around with me wherever I go. There are ways to do that (SD cards, portable hard drives, etc), but Google/LG decided to prevent us from using those methods with this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you buy this phone? you knew this going in. why would you buy this phone if you needed those things? i guess maybe the USB OTG thing was a screw up on their part though.
to answer OP's question. I only have apps installed that i need. and honestly regular apps take up nearly no space. I usually only have one or two games installed that are really big. I clear my cache every night with a Titanium Backup schedule. I use Google Music or the million other music apps to stream music. I'm not away from a WiFi connection long enough to consume too much data on mobile so it's not an issue for me.
I use Play Music for my library, and Dropbox and Box. Simple enough for me.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
efan3719 said:
did you buy this phone? you knew this going in. why would you buy this phone if you needed those things? i guess maybe the USB OTG thing was a screw up on their part though.
to answer OP's question. I only have apps installed that i need. and honestly regular apps take up nearly no space. I usually only have one or two games installed that are really big. I clear my cache every night with a Titanium Backup schedule. I use Google Music or the million other music apps to stream music. I'm not away from a WiFi connection long enough to consume too much data on mobile so it's not an issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am going to buy the Nexus 4, but that doesn't mean his complaints aren't valid. I can get by with 16GB, but I would use the extra storage if I had 32GB or a SD card slot, or even USB OTG support. It's weird that they left it all out. And unlimited data is virtually non-existent here in the Netherlands, unless you want to play like 100 euro per month.
Every phone has something you won't like. You have to weigh the pros and the cons. For me, the Nexus 4s pros easily win.
I bought the 8GB model and I did slightly underestimate how much space that I would need given the prepaid carrier I use. Straight Talk has an undefined data cap.
My biggest usage is music streaming. So, I try to plan out the music that I'm in the mood to listen to that day when I wake up in the morning. Most paid music streaming services will let you cache the music offline. I found that the cached music from Spotify/Sony Music Unlimited/Rdio/etc takes less space on my internal storage than my actual library from Google Play Music. Google Play Music also allows you to cache too.
That's my "creative" way lol.
Google play music works just fine as long as you have a decent data connection. In the settings of the app you can click on only stream high quality. As long as your mp3s are good and you're on a fast network, it'll do 320kbps. I've got about 60gb of music stored, most of which are 320 and they sound really good as long as you know how to eq using dsp or another mixer of choice. If you know you're going to be in a spotty area, pin a few playlists or albums to your phone via Wi-Fi before you leave your pad.
Oh.... and if your speakers/headphones suck, the music quality will too..
For other files use Google drive or Dropbox. If you have a g+, your photos can automatically upload to a private album. Or use one of the other photo services out there.
If you wanna pay a bucks, doubletwist can wirelessly sync to your computer over Wi-Fi... food for thought.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
yoyoz808 said:
Just use a computer if you need more storage. People use the phone way to much if you need to use all that storage and internet data. How about exercising or going out on a date. Plus everything is going to the cloud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I happen to use my phone to assist me when I go long distance running and for getting dates . As a matter of fact, being able to track my running via GPS is an essential function. And also listening to music when I run and work out. If anything, my phone has enabled me to be more active.
joeygbiz said:
Google play music works just fine as long as you have a decent data connection. In the settings of the app you can click on only stream high quality. As long as your mp3s are good and you're on a fast network, it'll do 320kbps. I've got about 60gb of music stored, most of which are 320 and they sound really good as long as you know how to eq using dsp or another mixer of choice. If you know you're going to be in a spotty area, pin a few playlists or albums to your phone via Wi-Fi before you leave your pad.
Oh.... and if your speakers/headphones suck, the music quality will too..
For other files use Google drive or Dropbox. If you have a g+, your photos can automatically upload to a private album. Or use one of the other photo services out there.
If you wanna pay a bucks, doubletwist can wirelessly sync to your computer over Wi-Fi... food for thought.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use G+ for uploading pics. It would be nice if it could automatically delete pictures after a successful upload.
I used to use Subsonic for streaming music from my desktop. But, I felt that I was wasting energy by keeping my PC "on" every day. That's why I like Google Play Music, it technically saves me money.
i just bought a "PQI Air Drive" wireless flash storage device:
http://recombu.com/mobile/news/pqi-...-ios-and-android-devices-photos_M16479-1.html
.. not because i particularly anticipate running out of my 16GB, but as an incurable gadget freak i couldn't resist it.
It should enable me -- and the rest of the family simultaneously -- to stream movies/ music etc. to our various phones and tablets.
cool device.
I have now a Kingston Wi-drive SSD 128GB. No storage problems anymore, but 160 € and only power for 4 hours...
p-d said:
I have now a Kingston Wi-drive SSD 128GB. No storage problems anymore, but 160 € and only power for 4 hours...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now you need a portable battery pack
I have unlimited data so my situation may be different.
I abuse Google + for storing up to 20000 photos and auto sync them then delete from device. I use box.com for anything else I need to store and have dropbox and Google drive for more storage. I stream all my music from Google play as I uploaded my entire library off my PC. It uses a surprisingly small amount of data compared to watching the GSL with the twitch.TV app. So far I've got all my favorite apps, about 12 games, and have over 10gb free.
I'm also thinking about using airdroid for easier file transfer to PC while around house.
Sent from my Nexus 4
Here in Austria we don't get official Google Play service, so the device has to be bought from a third-party vendor. Also, there's no movies, books, or music... i.e. no official Google Music app streaming.
I use CloudAround for that though, uploaded around 25GB of music to dropbox, and stream from there directly, though it also works with many other cloud providers. You can also use ZumoCast http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1276410, a great solution if you have a home server running windows.
However I have unlimited data with 8GB/month high speed (even LTE where available), with throttling to 64kbit/s when its reached -> enough for good quality AAC internet radio .
Only 16GB internal (~12GB effectively) is slightly low, 32 would be way better. Even my Samsung Omnia i900 in 2008 had 16GB internal, and I put in a 8gb card for a total of ~22GB effective...
@ the Dutch posters: Its a shame all the providers removed unlimited data. When I studied there in 2010, I got a contract from Hi with unlimited 3.6Mbit 3G. I was still grandfathered in until this year, but nobody wanted to buy it off me so I had to cancel it .
Related
So I got my Google Music beta invite and I'm trying to decide whether I should trust my music to the cloud with Google or Amazon.
Normally I embrace everything Google.
So far the only feature I have seen in Amazom MP3 that I like better is I can download a song from the cloud to my EVO from within the app, I haven't seen that feature yet in Google Music app. Does anyone know if it is something that can be done? Future build maybe?
Another thing that would steer me towards Amazon is the pricing, with Google Music still being in beta, there is no telling what the pricing will be once this service is officially launched. I know that if I buy the minimum storage capacity for $20 per year on Amazon I can upload unlimited music files.
Yet another question in my mind is will Google abandon Music? Not all of their products make it out of beta and remain supported.
So what is everyone else's take on the two services and the Android apps associated with them?
Has anyone else chosen one service over the other and why?
Just like to get a little feedback before I spend a couple days uploading my music collection to one service or the other
I've been trying both. I like Google Music a lot, but there's one big problem I have -- if you're not on a solid connection, it downsamples it instead of buffering until it can play it. To me audio quality is worth waiting for, so I need an option to not have it do that. Even worse, it caches that downsampled file, and won't try to re-download a high quality version unless you go manually delete it. And since it doesn't cache the files with descriptive file names, that's a problem too. Other than that, I like Google Music a lot. It does have an option to cache songs for offline play. Though not perfect, I like the app's UI pretty well.
I haven't used Amazon as much, in part because they initially rolled it out with limited storage. As you've said, they are now offering unlimited music storage for $20, though that is "for a limited time." I don't know what exactly that means, and I haven't started uploading my full collection there yet. I have a huge music collection (17,000 songs), and almost all are legitimately ripped from my CD collection. I don't buy a lot of MP3s, but when I do it tends to be from Amazon. Before introducing the unlimited storage option, the fact that songs you bought from Amazon didn't count against your space was a really smart move. I do plan to upload my full collection now that it's unlimited music uploads too. I haven't formed an opinion of their app's UI yet.
My solution before these came on the scene was Subsonic, and for the most part it still is. That has the advantage (and disadvantage) of streaming directly from my home computer. The advantage is that it's free (I can't imagine either Google or Amazon will give unlimited storage forever, though who knows). It has the disadvantage of going away if my home computer crashes or my home internet goes down, though neither of those happen often for me. The UI for Subsonic is passable, but not great (it's improved in the last few releases though). If Google fixes the audio quality problem, or if Amazon works out well, I could see myself shifting to either of those. But if in the future they decide to charge for tiers of storage (I need > 100GB), I'd imagine I'd head back to subsonic.
jackslim said:
So far the only feature I have seen in Amazom MP3 that I like better is I can download a song from the cloud to my EVO from within the app, I haven't seen that feature yet in Google Music app. Does anyone know if it is something that can be done? Future build maybe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when in the high level view, if you press the menu button you can choose items to 'make available offline' I think this is similar to what amazon does.
The main plus to amazon is the store front and instant availability to add new music.
I got an invite to spotify. For 9.99/month you get unlimited access and mobile app usage. They have a ton of music on there. I figure I probably spend about $10 a month on music, so why not put that towards spotify and get access to anything I want. The downside to this is that if I quite spotify, I get no take home. Kind of like renting vs owning a home.
I had my google music account for a couple months. To me, it's a complete disappointment. It's slow. real slow. a week to upload 2k songs. Plus the loss of quality over bad connections (which is all sprint has).
I finally said screw it and closed the account. I use AudioGalaxy on my server to stream music. It blows Google music out of the water.
SilverStone641 said:
I had my google music account for a couple months. To me, it's a complete disappointment. It's slow. real slow. a week to upload 2k songs. Plus the loss of quality over bad connections (which is all sprint has).
I finally said screw it and closed the account. I use AudioGalaxy on my server to stream music. It blows Google music out of the water.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
**** took longer than that for me, I actually had to stop it a few times due to the bandwidth is was hogging in my house to upload. If you have a decent connection its great, i haven't tried it on 3g as of yet since I have wifi at work.
Jfree3000 said:
**** took longer than that for me, I actually had to stop it a few times due to the bandwidth is was hogging in my house to upload. If you have a decent connection its great, i haven't tried it on 3g as of yet since I have wifi at work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! And i have a great connection, 24mpbs on Uverse and STILL it sucked up all my bandwidth. It just wasn't logical anymore.
SilverStone641 said:
I had my google music account for a couple months. To me, it's a complete disappointment. It's slow. real slow. a week to upload 2k songs. Plus the loss of quality over bad connections (which is all sprint has).
I finally said screw it and closed the account. I use AudioGalaxy on my server to stream music. It blows Google music out of the water.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an Asus RT-N16 router with Tomato, do you still have to have a PC on to use Audiogalaxy? I am assuming yes after doing a quick search.
Nick N said:
I have an Asus RT-N16 router with Tomato, do you still have to have a PC on to use Audiogalaxy? I am assuming yes after doing a quick search.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats correct. There's a small agent you have to install on the host computer. You point the agent towards your music directories and voila. it shares.
i've used both.
Google music is infinitely better.
My reasoning:
1. Currently letting you upload 20,000 songs for FREE
2. Integrates with the stock 3.0 android music player. so it blends your online and offline music perfectly.
3. Stock 3.0 music player is actually very well done. Amazon music player is ugly and not to intuitive
4. Since it runs off of google music app, you can scrobble what you listen to to last.fm.
5. The organization of the online interface is much cleaner than amazon.
6. You can sync folders on your computer or NAS to automatically update you're google music with no effort.
I honestly can't think of any reasons amazon is better.
I also usually embrace all things Google, but Google music, i've found, is running constantly in the background. I don't like that. I realize the program wants to keep synced with the server/home computer, but it could refresh upon opening instead of constantly running. The audio is questionable, and for some reason it seems to consume more than average power on my phone.
Amazon is okay, but as already stated, it is not very appealing or intuitive.
For streaming I tend to use Audiogalaxy. No storage charges because it streams from your computer. Works extremely well. The downside to something like Audiogalaxy is if for some reason your computer is down, no streaming music.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
I use both. If you buy one album off Amazon they upgrade you to unlimited storage for music.
I only have about 10,000 songs anyway.
I use subsonic primarily and Amazon if my PC or home internet goes down. Then as a last resort Google music beta.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
After trying both I can say that Google music is superior to AG in many ways. I don't mind keeping my 1000 watt rig off when I'm out or working. Took me four full days of uptime to upload 13k of songs on a 16mbps connection. when I add a new album the update is quick and painless. The only problem like someone said isGoogle music down sampling to the point of mono audio. In which case I got used to clearing the music cache and download Que on the app.
Sent from my non-rooted bloated 2.3.3 OG Evo using XDA App
Well one good thing about Google Music is you don't need to have your desktop/server running to play music. As mentioned before, my only gripe was the amount of time and bandwidth it took to upload my music.
bkrodgers said:
My solution before these came on the scene was Subsonic, and for the most part it still is. That has the advantage (and disadvantage) of streaming directly from my home computer. The advantage is that it's free (I can't imagine either Google or Amazon will give unlimited storage forever, though who knows). It has the disadvantage of going away if my home computer crashes or my home internet goes down, though neither of those happen often for me. The UI for Subsonic is passable, but not great (it's improved in the last few releases though). If Google fixes the audio quality problem, or if Amazon works out well, I could see myself shifting to either of those. But if in the future they decide to charge for tiers of storage (I need > 100GB), I'd imagine I'd head back to subsonic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked at optons like this before, but I don't have a home pc to leave running all the time. I do everything on my laptop, which I either close when I'm done with or at times is out and about with me. This is why a cloud service seemed appealing.
pandamaja said:
when in the high level view, if you press the menu button you can choose items to 'make available offline' I think this is similar to what amazon does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will have to check this out, this sounds like what I was looking for, if for instance I create a playlist while I'm out that I want to download and make always available on my EVO.
I ended up going with Google Music mostly because I have a soft spot in my heart for their services. So far the upload hasn't been too painfull. I'm currently about halfway through my collection of ~10,000 songs
google music
google music due to the instant playlist feature and also because its free for now
SilverStone641 said:
It's slow. real slow. a week to upload 2k songs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if this is an indication that the service isn't scaling very well. I got in on the Beta during week 3 and was able to upload 45GB of music in less than a week... let's call it 4 days to be safe, but felt more like 3.
jackslim said:
Another thing that would steer me towards Amazon is the pricing, with Google Music still being in beta, there is no telling what the pricing will be once this service is officially launched. I know that if I buy the minimum storage capacity for $20 per year on Amazon I can upload unlimited music files.
Just like to get a little feedback before I spend a couple days uploading my music collection to one service or the other
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does Beta net you free or reduced storage rates? Should have read more before I agreed...
Wow I actually got an education reading this thread! I had no clue about Google music...love the last.cm scribble! --- it's invite only? Anyone like to hook me up, please? PM me? ;D. I'd also never heard of subsonic. I'be been using Winamp remote, which is less than perfect. . Thanks dudes!
Since the Nexus doesn't come with an SD slot I was wondering what the best way is to use the cloud as a storage medium for movies and stuff like that. I know Google has things such as Google Music but those aren't available in my country.
I'm planning on getting an OTG cable and an app to mount an USB Flash Drive but if there's other ways I'd love to hear them.
The idea with the streaming movies is to buy them from the Play Store and stream them that way. I'm sure there are other websites, but the problem is with the flash player not being built in, you have to side load it which can be tricky sometimes.
If you want to use Google Music outside the US, there is a thread here about it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1757991
I recommend using tunnelbear. I tried various proxys for an hour and couldn't get any to work. Tries tunnelbear and sorted it in a few mins. Already uploaded 3,000 songs to it
Jon565G said:
The idea with the streaming movies is to buy them from the Play Store and stream them that way. I'm sure there are other websites, but the problem is with the flash player not being built in, you have to side load it which can be tricky sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, well guess OTG it will be than. The day I start paying for a stream of bytes without actually getting to own that stream of bytes is the day hell freezes over. I have an extensive movie (DVD) collection and I'm not about to buy everything again.
If you want to use Google Music outside the US, there is a thread here about it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1757991
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I tried that (using a SOCKS proxy to my hosting server in California), I could access music.google.com but apparently you need to install an application on your PC to use it, which might be a problem (linux user). Gonna look at it again later tonight.
Amon_Re said:
I see, well guess OTG it will be than. The day I start paying for a stream of bytes without actually getting to own that stream of bytes is the day hell freezes over. I have an extensive movie (DVD) collection and I'm not about to buy everything again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree totally. I've converted some of mine to AVI so that I can watch it on my PS3 external HDD without having to use the disc. So it's quite easy to just copy them to the N7 and use MX Player.
I do have another option for you if you own a Wifi direct phone. (Mainly android 4.0 +). It's called Wifi Shoot! : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.budius.WiFiShoot&hl=en. You can just pick the file you want off your phone and transfer it to the N7, like you would Bluetooth a file
If you can't do that, like me (Stupid Sony deleting that feature from ICS) you could use Airdroid. Get your phone to act as a Wifi Hotspot and connect to it with the N7. You can then transfer files as to your tablet the same way you would your PC if you use Airdroid. (It doesn't use any data and can transfer very fast). I used this when I was on Holiday and didn't have a laptop.
That app looks very cool, thx!
I, like most people, have a large music collection which goes beyond the onboard memory of a nexus 4.
It's clear that google is trying to push people into using their cloud services which is fine, as long as it works. Now I live in the UK and in my experience 3G coverage is good, and i'm lucky to be on the unlimited Three network which offers very generous data speeds.
Does anyone here rely on the play music service and does it do a good job? Do songs load up fast? Is it going to turn listening to music into a very battery intensive experience?
cheers guys
Nick
After you upload your music to the cloud, streaming is relatively painless. I'm on T-Mobile HSPA+ and its pretty much instantaneous. I'd still prefer a UI like Winamp, but I can deal with Google Music's. Also regarding battery life, of course it would take a hit as you're streaming mobile data, it seems to drain the same amount of battery as when i use Spotify on my S3. As for the N4, who knows
I'm curious about this. Wouldn't you need unlimited data for Google music?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
I'm in the UK too and I use Spotify for all my needs. You can combine your music collection with theirs, and easily change which albums are synced from your desktop/laptop to the pc for offline use. All of the Spotify music collection is also available for streaming use.
kefloxin said:
I'm curious about this. Wouldn't you need unlimited data for Google music?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlimited data would be great for it but not entirely necessary. I had high quality streaming on for about 2 weeks and used up just over 3 gb of data, and I'd say I did a fair bit of listening, probably at least an hour a day if not more. I'm trying turning off the high quality streaming now as I only have 6 gb of data, so far it seems to use a little less. Streaming is seamless though, even when I have only 1 or 2 bars of signal. it may take about 5 seconds or so for the song to start playing if you skip a couple songs (if you let it play the next planned song it usually does'nt take time to load as it already starts buffering before the previous song is finished).
Not for me. For some reason I ALWAYS get the wrong album art. It's always the same album cover for almost every mp3. It drives me nuts. After checking Google's bug pages, it's been a known problem for months, but no ones looked at it. Annoying.
Itunes Match has been absolutely perfect for me since day 1.
amdhunter said:
Not for me. For some reason I ALWAYS get the wrong album art. It's always the same album cover for almost every mp3. It drives me nuts. After checking Google's bug pages, it's been a known problem for months, but no ones looked at it. Annoying.
Itunes Match has been absolutely perfect for me since day 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have unlimited data so I'm a heavy Google Music user, I haven't had any issues with album art. Also if I know I'm gonna be in an area where service is terrible I just cache a playlist.
amdhunter said:
Not for me. For some reason I ALWAYS get the wrong album art. It's always the same album cover for almost every mp3. It drives me nuts. After checking Google's bug pages, it's been a known problem for months, but no ones looked at it. Annoying.
Itunes Match has been absolutely perfect for me since day 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Delete your app data. That usually clears up the album art issue.
3G ain't fast enough in the UK to stream music. And that's before we even get onto the data caps...
I might have to up my data and finally do this.
If your data plan allows it (as in, you have unlimited) then Google Music is a great replacement for onboard storage. Even without an unlimited plan it makes it much easier to swap out albums on-the-fly when you're connected to WiFi.
My brother and I use Play Music more and more. On AT&T LTE I can stream music in high quality without any trouble. I got the 8GB Nexus so I am going to try to use it more and more.
amdhunter said:
Not for me. For some reason I ALWAYS get the wrong album art. It's always the same album cover for almost every mp3. It drives me nuts. After checking Google's bug pages, it's been a known problem for months, but no ones looked at it. Annoying.
Itunes Match has been absolutely perfect for me since day 1.
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You know you can correct that using the website right?
Google Music has been painless for me with the exception of the missing artwork and some tags not transferring.
Spent about 20 minutes on the website fixing it all and now all 18,000 songs are at my disposal regardless of device or local storage space.
Now if Google could do this with personal videos (no not broadcast to the world like YouTube.)
I just uploaded like 200+ songs to my Google Music storage. If anything, it is really convenient Although the 200+ songs I uploaded were .flac, and if I read right, all .flac audio higher then 320kbps, will be re-encoded to that. Can't say I hear a difference in sound quality at all though...
Songs will store on your device's storage as "cache" as you play them (depending on cache settings anyway). If you don't have unlimited data, you could possibly just let songs cache to your device via WiFi.
espionage724 said:
I just uploaded like 200+ songs to my Google Music storage. If anything, it is really convenient Although the 200+ songs I uploaded were .flac, and if I read right, all .flac audio higher then 320kbps, will be re-encoded to that. Can't say I hear a difference in sound quality at all though...
Songs will store on your device's storage as "cache" as you play them (depending on cache settings anyway). If you don't have unlimited data, you could possibly just let songs cache to your device via WiFi.
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This is exactly what I've been doing since I got the Galaxy Nexus. I had a bunch of music on an sdcard prior to getting the nexus so instead of dragging and dropping everything from my SDCard to my Galaxy Nexus every time I would flash another rom or get a new phone, I'd cache the music from Google Music. This is what I plan on doing with the Nexus 4. Haven't had a problem since using it full time a year ago.
Google Music works really well. It caches the most played songs and tends to cycle songs as you play them. I my current cache is 2 GB and I have uploaded hundreds of songs. I don't think it hits battery that much as Web browsing tends to be more of a drain due to the screen and processing the page. Here we are just retrieving a music file to play. I have the 2.0GB on tmobile and on the first month I got close to the cap but every month after that I was fine. You should cache some albums or artists over wifi if you are sure you will listen to them.
You could essentially have your entire collection on hand without the need for actual space. It's not like you will listen to everything that you will need it on your device but that you will eventually listen to it and that's where Google Music shines.
Also you will be able to log in on any computer and have your music collection ready to play.
Sent from my GT-P3113
Definite yes. The music manager on the PC seemlessly monitors your music folder and will upload any new files when added to the folder. Source of these files doesn't matter, legal or otherwise. The App experience on the phone itself gets the job done. You aren't going to find as many options for sound processing as you would from say Poweramp, but the convenience of cloud based music outweighs the features you give up. The play music app will mature with time as well, it gets better every update.
dcarpenter85 said:
Definite yes. The music manager on the PC seemlessly monitors your music folder and will upload any new files when added to the folder.
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Indeed. If you are planning on uploading music though, I might suggest properly tagging it with correct Artist, Album, and Naming, just so it looks good (and I think Google can grab song art based on those values)
I like it. It's worked perfectly for me. If you know you have a few tracks you like to hear often.. Click make available offline for the times you don't have reception. Seem less for me
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
I hate the Google Music app. The uploader also sucks, very very slow and you have to use a crappy website to manage things.
I could deal with the crappy uploader if we could use the library with other apps but for some reason Google wont make it open source. The Google Music app just sucks, unpolished hard to use UI and makes a mess of ID3 tags. Its one of those half assed Google projects that they started but wont finish.
If you dont care much about the player or dont know what youre missing since you havent used better then its a good option, but if you need a really simple and easy to use player because you only use it while doing other things and dont have time to deal with bad UI design then its not an option.
I have resisted the cloud to this point. I mean, Photobucket has a bunch of my pics, but my main backup is still a physical 2.5" HDD in an external enclosure. I always worried about security or a cloud server going down and losing my data (pics, videos, etc). With my recent order (which has been shipped), I am now interested in converting. The lack of microsd on the Nexus 4 forces my hand.
What are you guys using for cloud storage? Most secure? Most dependable? Storage (GB)? Cloud expense (free vs paid)? You cloud experts... send a little advice my way. Thanks.
I think Box offers the most free cloud storage. You get 50GB once they recognize you have a Nexus 4 (or any LG phone). You can only upload 200MB at a time, though...
Dropbox is the most popular. Starts you off with 3GB, I believe, and they offer a variety of ways for you to increase storage.
There's also Google Drive, which starts you with 5GB.
Those are the three I currently use. I jump between Dropbox and Drive.
BONUS: If you have a lot of music, you can upload 20,000 songs to Google Play Music. That's my favorite cloud medium, at the moment.
Also if you're going to pay, Drive has the cheapest price per GB. I'm running 100GB for $5/month, that with Google Music backs up everything but my videos (and those are, ahem, easy to reacquire). The Drive app for Android is nice and has native support for PDF, DOC, and XLS files.
I use Microsoft's Sky Drive. It's great.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Personally I use the following. All of which is free as well.
Google - Music and Books. I've been pretty impressed with Google Music, and have only just started using it recently (I converted because I had to as well, what with the Nexus 4's small storage). I choose both the above because I like the corresponding apps, and have been happy with prices of Google boobs on the play store. All my music is backed up on my home server.
Dropbox - Small files and some photos. I've been using dropbox for ages now, well before Google Drive came about. It's very easy to access (apps on just about every platform and a web browser interface as well). Truth be told, if I was to start now I would probably just use Google Drive, for consitency with the other Google services I use. One less password at the end of the day to remember. Having said that, I am satisfied with Dropbox. I wouldn't upload anything highly secure there pesonally, as these things can be hacked. Drop box kind of backs it self up if you use the desktop app, since it allows you to automatically download all your files from their server and just leaves it in a dropbox folder on your computer. I think Drive does the same thing mind you. I keep some photos on facebook as well, which I suppose is an option for keeping photos in the server.
I personally don't keep tv shows and movies in the cloud, the cost of steaming it would kill my bandwidth allocation. I keep these all on my home server, and if I go away for the weekend I'll either take them on a usb, laptop, tablet or my phone.
I use Google Music as the cloud service for my music. I use Google Picasa Web and Google + albums for my pictures. I use Play movies for my television shows and movies.
I use Amazon Kindle and Play Books for my cloud services for books. I use Box for the kitchen sink to save all my documents and pertinent information. You cannot go wrong with 50 GB of storage
Mostly all these services are free for me.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA
The only active cloud service I'm using at the moment is Google Music.
I also have Box and Drive accounts but I can't find a use for them really.
I honestly hope Google allows developers access for apps to use Google Music. Pretty annoying.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
The benefit of signing up for cloud accounts when they first come out?
I've got 20GB of Google Drive space.... for $5/year.
I've got 25GB of SkyDrive space.... for free.
I use SkyDrive, Google Drive and Photobucket for my photos.
I use SkyDrive almost exclusively for my documents, because Google Drive still just can't figure out how not to **** up Office Documents. I use Google Drive as a backup to store my documents saved to SkyDrive, but never work on documents out of Google Drive.
I use Google Play Music to backup my music. Although I keep about 5GB of my favorite music on my N4. I only use Play Music to stream a song or two on occasion.
I use a DVD player/Blu-Ray player for my movies. I mean, really, I rarely want to watch a movie so badly that I'll watch it on my phone. Tablet, maybe, but definitely not my phone.
If Box is offering 50GB for LG phone users, I'll be signing up for that too. That way, if it changes, I'll likely be grandfathered in.
ownCloud
I'm very keen on trying ownCloud.
It's not easy to set up but it's free and I feel a bit weird about paying a stranger to host my files.
My cable internet connection is very good and my home computer is on all the time.
The upspeed is obviously not as great but I don't think it matters that much.
Is anyone using it already or can share an experience with it?
I can't believe there isn't a way to drag songs instead of selecting a folder. What a pita, I don't want the whole album, I want to listen certain songs.. And more importantly I want to drag and drop from foobar instead of given gay choice itunes or WMP. Uhhh, Google...
I need help with Cloud Storage for my N4. I have an 8GB model and I have like 3 GB left of space, but I don't want to use that up since I have to leave some room for rooting with CWM, Titanium Backup, and a few ROM's. I want to put my music into cloud storage. How would I do that? What about my photos, documents, etc? I have Box and Dropbox for now. The music part is something that is important because I want to listen to my tunes on my phone.
nviz22 said:
I need help with Cloud Storage for my N4. I have an 8GB model and I have like 3 GB left of space, but I don't want to use that up since I have to leave some room for rooting with CWM, Titanium Backup, and a few ROM's. I want to put my music into cloud storage. How would I do that? What about my photos, documents, etc? I have Box and Dropbox for now. The music part is something that is important because I want to listen to my tunes on my phone.
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You don't need to leave room for rooting, just your backups.
Far as cloud stuff, Google Play Music. Can just stream all your music that way (as I got over 24GB of music, I wouldn't put it all on my phone but I can stream it no problem with google music. )
Music is probably going to be the bulk of your storage, aside from that probably movies, which I'd stream too, either from cloud or from home PC.
I wish the Nexus 4 was compatible with USB-OTG (without the extra power adapter) because then I would just use an 8GB Thumbdrive like I do with my Nexus 7 and TWRP Recovery (which supports USB-OTG), since it will save my backups directly to the thumbdrive, as well as install roms and such from it, no space taken on the device to do it.
kbeezie said:
You don't need to leave room for rooting, just your backups.
Far as cloud stuff, Google Play Music. Can just stream all your music that way (as I got over 24GB of music, I wouldn't put it all on my phone but I can stream it no problem with google music. )
Music is probably going to be the bulk of your storage, aside from that probably movies, which I'd stream too, either from cloud or from home PC.
I wish the Nexus 4 was compatible with USB-OTG (without the extra power adapter) because then I would just use an 8GB Thumbdrive like I do with my Nexus 7 and TWRP Recovery (which supports USB-OTG), since it will save my backups directly to the thumbdrive, as well as install roms and such from it, no space taken on the device to do it.
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How do I use Google Play Music to store it?
nviz22 said:
How do I use Google Play Music to store it?
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You have to download it onto your computer and sign in with your google account. It will let you pick which source it will sync and upload music from (in my case it takes from my iTunes library and uploads it into google). I think currently the limit is like 20,000 of your own songs on the cloud that you can stream to wherever you sign into be it the web or on google's music app on android.
If you go here: https://play.google.com/music/ you should see an "upload music" button on the top right, which on a PC or Mac will download the Music Manager.
It's similar to how iTunes match works, except free (but only supports Mp3, it'll convert aac and such to mp3 as it's uploading to the google cloud). You can set it to only upload that first time, or to upload each time you add new songs like if I add new songs to my iTunes library, it'll upload.
Just remember, on your phone if you "pin" an album, it saves that album locally to your phone so it will take up space if you pin it, but not if you just stream it.
kbeezie said:
You have to download it onto your computer and sign in with your google account. It will let you pick which source it will sync and upload music from (in my case it takes from my iTunes library and uploads it into google). I think currently the limit is like 20,000 of your own songs on the cloud that you can stream to wherever you sign into be it the web or on google's music app on android.
If you go here: https://play.google.com/music/ you should see an "upload music" button on the top right, which on a PC or Mac will download the Music Manager.
It's similar to how iTunes match works, except free (but only supports Mp3, it'll convert aac and such to mp3 as it's uploading to the google cloud). You can set it to only upload that first time, or to upload each time you add new songs like if I add new songs to my iTunes library, it'll upload.
Just remember, on your phone if you "pin" an album, it saves that album locally to your phone so it will take up space if you pin it, but not if you just stream it.
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Ok, thanks. 8 GB with no SD has people moving around to manage space. At least my apps don't eat up all my memory like some other people. I couldn't afford the 16 GB edition, but the 8GB model is fine enough for me. I love my N4 since I have been using it for just a week.
PS: The main annoying thing about Google Music is that they tend to add a "free" track/song to your library every so often. Which I guess isn't necessarily a bad thing, if it was music that I actually liked. But you can always go over to the left on their site to "Free and Purchased", and just delete the free tracks you don't want as opposed to sorting thru your entire library.
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nviz22 said:
Ok, thanks. 8 GB with no SD has people moving around to manage space. At least my apps don't eat up all my memory like some other people. I couldn't afford the 16 GB edition, but the 8GB model is fine enough for me. I love my N4 since I have been using it for just a week.
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Yea I know the feeling, I have both a 16GB Nexus 4 and 16GB Nexus 7 (I didn't have a choice on which Nexus 4 T-Mobile was selling, but 17/month for the phone ain't bad if you look at the 60$ higher price as interest on a loan).
For music on android, Google Music (I use iTunes Match for my iPad, but I haven't used it in a while since I got the Nexus 7, and I already have an iPod Nano 6th Generation that's 16GB).
For movies or videos, I usually stream off my home computer using Plex, it's rather handy once you get used to how to organize the folders and file names (Plex seems to prefer Files like "Movie Name (year)", and if there are any subtitles you just name them the same, TV series are usually "Show Name - s##e## - Optional Episode Name.avi")
But course now days a lot of people use stuff like netflix, hulu, crackle, etc, but plex is nice if it's something not available on those (plus it's free outside of the app for android/iOS/WindowsPhone).