Related
Hi,
Had my HD for just under a week now and I must admit I wasn't overly impressed with it at first. Quite slow in general and video playback wasn't great...decided to hard reset it and start from scratch...before I did anything I followed the performance increase tutorial on here and now I'm happy as larry with the HD - it's exactly what I hoped it would be even the keyboard is good on the screen in landscape mode.
However there is still one problem that I can't resolve or find a lot of information about...it's the music tab in the touch flo....yes I know there's a lot of posts about album art etc - but none seem to mention AudioManager_eng.exe crashing when you try to use it...other people have mentioned this on other forums but no-one seems to know what's going on...does anyone know what causes this...??
Thanks,
Dan
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=463296
You might wanna track this thread and see what goes on here. Unfortunately no solid resolution as of now.
dangreen said:
Hi,
<snip>
However there is still one problem that I can't resolve or find a lot of information about...it's the music tab in the touch flo....yes I know there's a lot of posts about album art etc - but none seem to mention AudioManager_eng.exe crashing when you try to use it...other people have mentioned this on other forums but no-one seems to know what's going on...does anyone know what causes this...??
Dan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw that very early on when I started putting music on my HD.
By a process of elimination, I isolated it to a "rogue" music track, (or else my HD simply disapproves of Blondie ).
I suspect that although the music file in question played back fine on the PC, there was something about it that thoroughly confused audio manager to the point of crashing. I imagine that the meta tags are the most likely culprit, but never got round to conclusively proving that. When I removed the album in question and soft reset, the problems went away.
Note that you seem to need to soft reset the 'HD to make it rebuild the music indexes.
- Steve
fasty said:
I saw that very early on when I started putting music on my HD.
By a process of elimination, I isolated it to a "rogue" music track, (or else my HD simply disapproves of Blondie ).
I suspect that although the music file in question played back fine on the PC, there was something about it that thoroughly confused audio manager to the point of crashing. I imagine that the meta tags are the most likely culprit, but never got round to conclusively proving that. When I removed the album in question and soft reset, the problems went away.
Note that you seem to need to soft reset the 'HD to make it rebuild the music indexes.
- Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most likely cause still remains an unsupported file. Wonder why though
Hey thanks for the replies!
Well I bit the bullet yesterday....got myself a few bottles of beer lined up and went through all the music I had one the HD. I firstly set my PC to show protected operating system files and begun checking everything. On my HD I am using the folder structure Storage Card --> My Documents --> My Music --> Album Name.
In all of the album folders I left only the mp3's and the album art image which i renamed to folder.jpg. I went back to the Music tab and the same crash occurred. So I turned off touch flow...deleted AudioManager_eng.vol then fired up touch flo again...this recreates the AudioManager_eng.vol but the crash still occurred.
I then removed all music and started to copy the albums on one by one...started with Foo Fighters and happy days it worked! So I continued on with the others until I got to Nirvana - Nevermind....anyway the tags on the mp3 for track number were 1 - 2 - 3 - 4/13 - 5/13 - 6/13...etc. Set all the tags to just the single track number and hey presto everything works fine...I can just dump music into the storage card following the same structure, hit the music tab and there it is ready to play!! I now officially love this device! lol Sorry for the long winded explanation! Thanks again for your replies!
Now I am easy to please in terms of something "just working" enough to do what its intent is. But 2 things I've noticed about the default music app that I want to see if anyone else has noticed.
1) Whenever you are playing a song and have the window up, if you hit back to go to the playlist again, it will do the "window wipe transition" as if it is going back, but it stays on the same screen. It takes a second tap to actually go back. and
2) When you go to scroll through a playlist, if you don't move your finger instantly, I mean stall for even a second, you will have chosen a song, and are moving the order of that song in the playlist.
Has anyone else encountered this and/or know of a way of fixing it?
mrmartin86 said:
Now I am easy to please in terms of something "just working" enough to do what its intent is. But 2 things I've noticed about the default music app that I want to see if anyone else has noticed.
1) Whenever you are playing a song and have the window up, if you hit back to go to the playlist again, it will do the "window wipe transition" as if it is going back, but it stays on the same screen. It takes a second tap to actually go back. and
2) When you go to scroll through a playlist, if you don't move your finger instantly, I mean stall for even a second, you will have chosen a song, and are moving the order of that song in the playlist.
Has anyone else encountered this and/or know of a way of fixing it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I've noticed these, but I'm pretty damn sure that google is conjuring up some kind of a new, reworked music app. They have been ignoring it in the past, and collecting user's feedback.
If I were to guesstimate, we'll have a new music app in 3.0 or so.
DarkDvr said:
I don't think I've noticed these, but I'm pretty damn sure that google is conjuring up some kind of a new, reworked music app. They have been ignoring it in the past, and collecting user's feedback.
If I were to guesstimate, we'll have a new music app in 3.0 or so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, I sure hope so. The N1 is definitely awesome, but all the other Androids get things written specific to them whereas we are "generic." Don't get me wrong, I love everything about this phone, I just hope having the Google Experience phone lives up to that, as it should be super awesome to begin with, not just barebones. Fingers crossed for 2.2.
Not many people really like (or use) the default music app, therefore hackers or app editors (and bug fixers, lol) have barely touched it. I rarely even hear it referred to theses days, and honestly I suggest downloading an alternative. I love music, and could not go on without it.. I had to download a better replacement quickly. Though, the Sense music app is still good, the app I use is still what I favor more. I've never even heard anyone make notice of any bugs it had.. (the default app)
Eclair~ said:
Not many people really like (or use) the default music app, therefore hackers or app editors (and bug fixers, lol) have barely touched it. I rarely even hear it referred to theses days, and honestly I suggest downloading an alternative. I love music, and could not go on without it.. I had to download a better replacement quickly. Though, the Sense music app is still good, the app I use is still what I favor more. I've never even heard anyone make notice of any bugs it had.. (the default app)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What music app do you use? I tried TuneWiki at one point, but I had trouble with my BT headset, and found that to be the problem so I uninstalled it.
mrmartin86 said:
What music app do you use? I tried TuneWiki at one point, but I had trouble with my BT headset, and found that to be the problem so I uninstalled it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear btunes is really nice (just stating a random alternative) very iPhone like, but I use RockOn (called 3 in the market, but you have to search RockOn) its very simple and barely has many options.. I just like it for some reason. People seem to love it also.
I'd personally recommend museek - topographical album mapping by genre, gestures, smart shuffle mode that adjusts what songs get played based on what you skip and what you listen to, and resumes music playback when you plug your headphones back in
Sent from my Nexus One using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
You can try MortPlayer music too
+! to OP about pressing back goes to the same screen twice sometimes... The thing that really annoys me is that there is no easy way to play music you want by folder, which is what I do on desktop computer.. E.g. I have a Kpop, rnb, rock, ost, electronic, folder
mrmartin86 said:
Now I am easy to please in terms of something "just working" enough to do what its intent is. But 2 things I've noticed about the default music app that I want to see if anyone else has noticed.
1) Whenever you are playing a song and have the window up, if you hit back to go to the playlist again, it will do the "window wipe transition" as if it is going back, but it stays on the same screen. It takes a second tap to actually go back. and
2) When you go to scroll through a playlist, if you don't move your finger instantly, I mean stall for even a second, you will have chosen a song, and are moving the order of that song in the playlist.
Has anyone else encountered this and/or know of a way of fixing it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the first problem isnt a problem it will wipe bac to the same screen as many times as you pulled down the window and touched the song now playing panel...everythime u pull the window over is like layering the same screen...and the second one is only if you touch the "lines" at the left of the songs its givin u an option to reorganize your playlist...[as far as i know]
Search for 3 music player.
Hey, thanks guys for the helpful thoughts! I got btunes and I gotta say, its pretty nice. The one thing I actually "like" about Apple being the music management (I'll overlook how bloated iTunes has become). The mimicry of the player is nice and easy to use. Worth $1.50.
Hi guys...
Regretfully I am close to giving up with the HD2 music player. Beaten! Long delays, failure to find any of my mp3s even after retagging... the list of bugs and annoyances is nearly endless, such promise in a phone, such incompetence in the software testing. My last effort was a rushed and irritated email to HTC. Pointless I know but its all I've got, I am now forced to use.... WMP
HD2 Music Player Issues.
I am sure you are sick of these but you are gonna have to read another, please route these to some dev or something, I have already wasted too many hours with this dreadfully realised piece of music software.
I am baffled by HTC. The music player on the HD2 is simply not tested sufficiently. I work in testing so perhaps I am slightly more critical but the list of issues is staggering.
HTC are seriously shooting themselves in the foot, and when I am (frequently) am asked whether I recommend the phone I have to say no, because of the MUSIC PLAYER.
1. Firstly I reported the most incredible 'Genre & brackets bug' on the HTC forums last year and received NO response from HTC. A quick recap, if an mp3 ID3 tag has a ( or a ) in the genre field the music updater stalls FOREVER, yes regardless of tag format etc, its just coded badly. plain and simple, it has 'coded in china and tested in india' written all over it! The updating icon continues forever using up your battery and not updating the rest of the disk. My question to the technical team here is, well why not just skip the file you cant read after some specific timeout, that is 2 extra lines of code and an hugely (but not satisfactory) better user experience.
2. If you have a largish (more than 20) items in a playlist there is a considerable and extremely irritating delay EVERYTIME you go to the now playing screen. Why. Why. Why, who tested this app, who signed it off, how in the hell is it acceptable to have to wait 30seconds to open the music app if you have 400 songs in a playlist, answer dont use large playlists, ok but that leads onto the NEXT huge flaw..
3. When you return to a list (any list), you are always back at the start.. so you just clicked on ZZ Top and you then think oh actually I want to listen to Willie nelson, you are right back at A in the artist list, and it then takes 15 seconds of scrolling to get back to W, why is there no ABCDEG.. index like EVERY OTHER MP3 player.
If it were not for the other dreadful bugs one would have to conclude HTC intentionally crippled this device, what other explanation could there be? Were HTC paid off by Apple?
4. Here is a new one for me, just today I added 500 new Mp3s, to my 16gb memory card, now totaling 1300. Opening the music player sent the CPU to 95% (all manilla) for the best part of 15mins during which time nothing really could be used on the device. When it finally dropped a bit I went in to music player, there are ZERO artists, ZERO albums, ZERO genres but almost all the tracks listed in 'All Songs'. I then allowed the animation to continue for 30 more mins with no change, nothing added. By the way I have rewritten all the id3 tags to various different formats with no affect. I have a feeling that it is stalling on the 1st mp3, what is it stalling on I do not know, is there a log file with errors in it? Can't find one. Again terrible coding, using too much processor, not handling errors, falling over if the format is not exactly as expected. Bad all round.
This is completely unacceptable for a $500 phone.
Just spend a day with and IPod/IPhone and a HD2, that's all your technical team need to do to see what sort of job they have done.
There are loads more but I cannot be bothered now.
It seems HTC have responded to one bug that luckily did not affect me (the stuttering), please can you forward this to the most senior person you know, it really is a joke and whoever does your software testing needs a long vacation and you need to stop outsourcing.
Disgruntled user.
Tom Deloford
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I got Galaxy S3 after four years of using iOS. I really like the phone, SD card slot, and fantastic screen but I'm missing few features. I am sure that with open'ness of Android, someone has already made these things.
1. Music Player - when I scroll the album list, album covers seem to load on scroll, instead of being cached somewhere and appearing immediately - can it be fixed? Or maybe there is a different music player that is better?
2. I have used Easy Phone Sync to sync S3 with iTunes, but some albums got split into several albums - is there any way to edit tags of songs that are on S3 using Kies?
3. When I double click home button on a locked iphone, an iPod menu comes up, allowing me quick switching of songs - anything similar on android?
4. When syncing with iPhone backup, I copied over all of the photos, in the gallery they got split into two folders, 100APPLE and 101APPLE, is it possible to somhow combine them? I can't see folders with photos when I access the phone through My Computer
5. Any other good tips for a newcomer?
moa.1991 said:
Hi, I got Galaxy S3 after four years of using iOS. I really like the phone, SD card slot, and fantastic screen but I'm missing few features. I am sure that with open'ness of Android, someone has already made these things.
1. Music Player - when I scroll the album list, album covers seem to load on scroll, instead of being cached somewhere and appearing immediately - can it be fixed? Or maybe there is a different music player that is better?
2. I have used Easy Phone Sync to sync S3 with iTunes, but some albums got split into several albums - is there any way to edit tags of songs that are on S3 using Kies?
3. When I double click home button on a locked iphone, an iPod menu comes up, allowing me quick switching of songs - anything similar on android?
4. When syncing with iPhone backup, I copied over all of the photos, in the gallery they got split into two folders, 100APPLE and 101APPLE, is it possible to somhow combine them? I can't see folders with photos when I access the phone through My Computer
5. Any other good tips for a newcomer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which music app are you using?
For the quick control there is none unless you exit out the app, drag notification down and you will see some quick controls depending on app
I would not be able to tell you much about the albums, hasn't happen with me before
Download es explorer and move the pictures on your phone (kind of like you would on your pc/mac)
Have some patient you were open enough to buy a new device so make sure you try as much as you can before those 14 days, read a lot in the forums you will learn a lot
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Hi, thanks for the reply! I'm using the stock application, you recommend a different one? While we are at it, can you recommend some other good applications to replace stock ones? Downloading es explorer
jgalan14 said:
Which music app are you using?
For the quick control there is none unless you exit out the app, drag notification down and you will see some quick controls depending on app
I would not be able to tell you much about the albums, hasn't happen with me before
Download es explorer and move the pictures on your phone (kind of like you would on your pc/mac)
Have some patient you were open enough to buy a new device so make sure you try as much as you can before those 14 days, read a lot in the forums you will learn a lot
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read the OP and I was hesitant to reply - the questions were kind of naive and seemed almost troll like -
Album covers load on scroll - maybe standard android apps can't even do it. The loading of covers is fast enough not to bother me, but that's just me, being used to android lagginess on a flagship phone.
Itunes... Well, welcome here in the slavery free zone. If you can burn Itunes, please do so. Otherwise, please use some playstore app to do it for you.
There are a number of apps and utils that modify default android behavior. I wouldn't be surprised if you could set it up to call your mother in law every time the power button was pressed.
You can copy/paste/delete and do any file operations with android files - you have a full featured file system, just install an app like ES File Explorer.
poweramp is good for music. As for the merging of folders, do it manually by connecting a usb to your phone and manage it on your computer.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Poweramp +1
Kies has an option to import itunes music from one of the title bar menus...
moa.1991 said:
Hi, thanks for the reply! I'm using the stock application, you recommend a different one? While we are at it, can you recommend some other good applications to replace stock ones? Downloading es explorer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a lot music apps out there I use play music from Google to have cloud music, and usually power amp is my favorite one, the one thing coming from iOS to android is the yes android you can modify more but you need more time, watch videos on YouTube, learn about what limitations it could have, I think is funny I switch back to android back in May and I haven't used an iphone for 2 months yesterday my wife told me to text something while #he was driving and I felt the screen so small, it was hard to type at first lol
Stock keyboard sucks try ics keyboard is free
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vllwp.inputmethod.latin
And if you really feel like typing is worth $2-3 you can buy Swiftkey 3 best keyboard so far IMO
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
jgalan14 said:
There is a lot music apps out there I use play music from Google to have cloud music, and usually power amp is my favorite one, the one thing coming from iOS to android is the yes android you can modify more but you need more time, watch videos on YouTube, learn about what limitations it could have, I think is funny I switch back to android back in May and I haven't used an iphone for 2 months yesterday my wife told me to text something while #he was driving and I felt the screen so small, it was hard to type at first lol
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha I have the same feeling when I pick up my iPhone and it has been only 2 days! Thanks guys for all the answers, I realise I will have to learn, just like I did when I was jailbreaking my iphone and looking for interesting apps on Cydia. I'll try out this Poweramp app
Enjoy and welcome to the Android community
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
aye I too was a 4 year iOS user, but with this s3 i felt like I literally jumped 4 years into the future with ICS. The widget thing and why Apple has not put them on iOS is BEYOND me, and it goes without saying DAT screen size!
Definitely try swiftkey 3, or Swype beta
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Bowsa2511 said:
Definitely try swiftkey 3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most definitely try SwiftKey out... A few tips if you do.... go into settings and put when double tap space just insert space. And I also lower the time to longpress (access the secondary buttons like numbers and symbols) to like 200 - 250 milliseconds makes things much faster.
Moa said:
2. I have used Easy Phone Sync to sync S3 with iTunes, but some albums got split into several albums - is there any way to edit tags of songs that are on S3 using Kies?
3. When I double click home button on a locked iphone, an iPod menu comes up, allowing me quick switching of songs - anything similar on android?
4. I can't see folders with photos when I access the phone through My Computer
5. Any other good tips for a newcomer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. For editing MP3 tags try out droID3tagger it can automatically do it or you can manually change them https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.booleancorp
3. When on the lock screen you can swipe down the top notification bar and there will be prev. play/pause. next controls
4. You should be able to see your photo folders on your PC... Probably looking in the wrong place
5. There is a tips thread check it out
Sent from my Sprint GS3
Welcome to the family! I to came to android from ios... about a year and a half ago though. Android can seem a bit foreign at first but research and ask questions and before you know it, you will wonder why it took you so long to switch. This much I will say, apple is set up as they want it to be and is usually better out of the box... however, with a little fine tuning your android will run circles around any iPhone. These can do so much more than what you can imagine, keep up with it and you will not be disappointed.
Power amp is a sweet music player btw.
I prefer Skype to swift key but I think that's a matter of taste.
Es explorer is great... also check out root explorer if you ever get root.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Ok this was a productive day ^^ I have installed:
QuickPic: instead of the stock Gallery app. Drawback is that it does not show picasa web albums, but there are advantages: smoother operation, can switch files via swiping while zoomed in, and can sort files by filename.
Poweramp: I like it a lot more than the stock music app, looks much better, and songs are put together into albums, wheras the stock app had problems with albums consisting of songs by different artists.
ES File Explorer: Something like iFile on the jailbroken iPhone, useful
I also found the pictures folder, it's fine now
Also: ordering installs of apps to my phone via internet browser: awesome
I have still one problem: in the Messagess app, after importing messages from the iPhone backup, every message is repeated twice, and they are put in the opposite sides - i.e. messages I have received appear as sent by me. Anyone knows how to remove messages only and then sync messages only?
I can see you guys talking about keyboard apps - I thought something like swype is already installed?
Number 1 download poweramp so worth $5
Number 2 im not quite sure about any backup apps i use dropbox
Number 3 poweramp has a player in the drop down bar so unlock phone slide it down oh and poweramp also has a lockscreen player as well
moa.1991 said:
Ok this was a productive day ^^ I have installed:
QuickPic: instead of the stock Gallery app. Drawback is that it does not show picasa web albums, but there are advantages: smoother operation, can switch files via swiping while zoomed in, and can sort files by filename.
Poweramp: I like it a lot more than the stock music app, looks much better, and songs are put together into albums, wheras the stock app had problems with albums consisting of songs by different artists.
ES File Explorer: Something like iFile on the jailbroken iPhone, useful
I also found the pictures folder, it's fine now
Also: ordering installs of apps to my phone via internet browser: awesome
I have still one problem: in the Messagess app, after importing messages from the iPhone backup, every message is repeated twice, and they are put in the opposite sides - i.e. messages I have received appear as sent by me. Anyone knows how to remove messages only and then sync messages only?
I can see you guys talking about keyboard apps - I thought something like swype is already installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really like SwiftKey 3. Used it for a long time now. It actually learns what you type and customizes the predictions. For example, if you type everyday "Whats for dinner tonight?" after a while as soon as you type W the word Whats is going to come up. After the it's automatically going to suggest the next word is "for" without typing anything.
Look into lock screen music controls and which apps offer it. On AOKP ROM there are controls built in. While listening to music with the screen off you can long press the volume buttons to go to the previous or next track. Short presses on the volume raises and lowers the volume. Long pressing the power button SHOULD also pause the track. Long pressing it again should resume the track.
The biggest thing on Android to remember is that everything can be customized. Don't like the stock text message app? Install a different one. Different icons? Get new ones.
Luckily you came from a jailbroken iPhone which I can imagine helps a lot.
Oh...and you can also uninstall programs from the online Play Store now. Makes it awesome after you install a new ROM which is something else you will eventually get into.
Oh and don't forget you can upload up to 20000 to Google Music that you can access anywhere from any browser. You can also stream straight to your phone and any other Android device. I think I have almost all of my music uploaded and I don't think I'm even halfway to 20,000 songs.
And the free 5GB of storage space that Google offers with Google Drive.
---------- Post added at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------
master acehole said:
Number 1 download poweramp so worth $5
Number 2 im not quite sure about any backup apps i use dropbox
Number 3 poweramp has a player in the drop down bar so unlock phone slide it down oh and poweramp also has a lockscreen player as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You actually don't even need to unlock the phone. You can access the notification bar straight from the lockscreen.
you can also try doubletwist player which gives you a more ipod/iPhone experience and can also sync with itunes and use air sync
Sent from my SGH-T999V using xda app-developers app
I've been running official CM12 nightlies on my XT907 for a few weeks now. It's rock solid overall, but one issue has plagued me since I first flashed the ROM - the built in Music app (com.cyanogenmod.eleven).
I have given up on trying to actually play music with it. For every build I've tried, including the 2/15 build I'm on at this writing, the app:
crashes in the background, seemingly at random,
creates four entries in the music browser for every song,
crashes as soon as I tap a song (rendering me unable to play any music),
occasionally crashes in the middle of updating/loading the music database,
appears to crash while running, but keeps running.
(Note: "crashes", for this post, means that a pop-up dialog appears, saying, "Unfortunately, Music has stopped," and getting dropped back to my launcher.)
No amount of clearing the app's data/cache, disabling and re-enabling the app, or double-checks of my copy of the ROM .zip have provided me any hints as to the cause of the problem, let alone solved it or revealed a solution.
While I can always use another app (Google Play Music seems to work fine, if sluggishly), I'd really like to give the stock Music a proper whirl (that, and there's the principle of wanting a fully-working CM ). I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem, at least on other phones, so it is possibly just me and some weird configuration, or possibly a song file that the database scanner is tripping up on, or ... sheesh, I don't even know.
So, uh, help? Please?
Screw that Eleven player. I don't know what the hell CM is trying to do, but it's said to be not utilizing the media library properly, causing crashes. Even a phone with *no* songs inside it will still have it crash. Tried back in December and still isn't fixed by now.
I used to like Apollo a lot but now I'm forced to switch to NexMusic - nice experience anyway.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
AndyYan said:
Screw that Eleven player. I don't know what the hell CM is trying to do, but it's said to be not utilizing the media library properly, causing crashes. Even a phone with *no* songs inside it will still have it crash. Tried back in December and still isn't fixed by now.
I used to like Apollo a lot but now I'm forced to switch to NexMusic - nice experience anyway.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's nice to know that at least I'm not the only one experiencing issues. I'll give NexMusic a try and keep tabs on Eleven when I flash updates.
I found the solution to my problem. Long story short: Settings -> Apps -> All -> Media Storage -> Clear Data, then reboot and wait for the database to repopulate. Hopefully Eleven will work afterwards; it did for me.
The full story is thus: I did a factory reset at one point, wiping data and functionally starting over on CM12, and I found that the stock Music app ("Eleven") worked for once. I like the interface, and the fact that it responds much faster than Play Music (and seems to be less of a resource hog in general, when in the background, than both Play Music and VLC), so I started using it more.
Today, though, I copied some music to the microSD and found that Eleven crashed on startup - same problem as in February. So I tried poking around. Remembering that Eleven wasn't the only music app to crash on startup at one point during my search for an answer, I focused on the media database this time.
I didn't find anyone else with the exact same problem, but this thread on Android Central's forums sounded vaguely similar to me, so I decided to try their solution. Lo and behold, it worked, and I can use Eleven again.
I hope the kinks get worked out in Eleven, especially if a snapshot build ever gets released, but aside from this issue it works well enough for me.