Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

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sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

Post by sordup »

I just got a USB C card reader to add a micro SD card to my phone (Pixel 3a - does not have built in card slot) specifically for holding (some of) my music library onboard for MMA to play from when I'm away from home and computer.
I formatted the 256gb card with phone, loaded on what I could of my library on the computer, inserted card and reader into phone, and verified that the phone can read and access the files/music - it can.

However, when opening MMA and wanting to make this card the location for my library, or just including its music folder in MMA's list of folder locations, I cannot get this to happen. The card and folders thereon are not "visible" to MMA when I go to the "Choose library folders" option, so I am unable to include it.
I can open the folder(s) with Google Files and choose to "open with" MediaMonkey, but why can I not simply use MMA to access the files directly??
sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone

Post by sordup »

....Has anyone else had this problem, or has anyone successfully played audio from an SD card reader connected to their phone??
Why would MMA not be able to see the SD card?
Lowlander
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Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone

Post by Lowlander »

Does Folders from the home screen also fail to see the card?
sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone

Post by sordup »

No, Folders in MMA does not see the card. I forgot to mention that, but that is what I mean by MMW "not seeing" the card. I cannot add it to the library and I cannot read its folders with MMA . There is no indication anywhere within MMA that the card even exists.
I don't get it.
I can open the folders on this card, on my phone, with file managers; I can even open the folders, choose tracks and then choose "Open with..." and then MMA and have MMA play the files. But I cannot use MMA to see, manage, and play directly anything on the card.
What am I missing?
sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone

Post by sordup »

...Any ideas on this?
I got the card and reader expressly for having my MM library and player available to use on my phone and would love to know that is a doable thing. And then, of course, how to do it.
I had thought it would have been a straight forward thing....
martin.bohac
Posts: 241
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:23 pm

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone

Post by martin.bohac »

Hi,
the reason is that OTG storage isn't mounted as a standard build-in sd-card.
We will have to implement a new approach to solve this issue.
It is not currently supported by MMA, but we plan it to 2.1.0
Tracked as https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=12237
sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

Post by sordup »

Oh, wow. And it seems from the cases mentioned at that link, that this has been an issue for many years!
Not something we would likely expect to see tomorrow, then.
When you say "we plan it to 2.1.0", you mean MMA version number 2.1.0? Which, I'm guessing, will not be coming for quite a while yet, yes?

I'm sorry I did not understand the nature of external card storage for the phone. I was unaware of "OTG" before this.
sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

Post by sordup »

...As I read more about this OTG/external storage issue, I find that I really misunderstood what getting an external card would provide me! I am not so very hip to phone tech, obviously. I'm much more comfortable with "old fashioned" computers :D

So my question now is: Is it possible at all to use an external SD card as location to play media from? In other words, are there workarounds to this OTG situation? Different ways to format the card? A way of "fooling" the phone into seeing the card as Internal storage??
Has anyone out there managed to functionally play music from external storage on their Android phone (more than just one song at a time, as the "Open with" option I mentioned above)?? - and of course I mean without first loading the files from external storage to the phone, which is, of course, the whole reason of having external storage to begin with.
Peke
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Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

Post by Peke »

Hi,
I have tested on several of my devices today and the problem lies in Android OS itself where like Michal pointed OTG storage is excluded from Android events like File added, folder changed, Media Scanner. Reason for that is Battery saver and limiting background jobs OTG device saver

For example My Car headunit is on Android 9.0 and I have 3 USB connectors for example connecting OTG drives. I connected 1TB SSD to one and confirmed that MMA see teh drive and I am able to browse/play using Folders. So I added 5 tracks from drive and added 10 tracks from unit SDCard and Internal Storage. After 6th track not played from external OTG SSD my headunit powered down SSD and unmounted Storage. MMA skipped thru those tracks as once it tried to play tracks Android Mounted SSD but it assigned different PID so MMA paths to tracks were invalid. Same thing happened with Moto X4, but I was Able thru developer tools to disable power save on SSD which resulted faster Battery drain by 30% and instead of 28h I had only half a day (based on battery app).
Unfortunately our own solution and implementation can't be rushed because each version of Android OS and also free decision of Manufacturer (I have Google Nexus 7 Tablet that deliberately removed OTG drivers and Storage was not mounted at all even it can be supported when app compile own OTG drivers for that device) have own rules and workarounds.

If you connect OTG device use MMA folders Browser to navigate and play tracks.
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

Post by sordup »

Wow!
I guess having a way to simply have my own, large personal music library physically accessible by my phone (specifically for use in car, like your examples, @Peke) in order to play with MMA (or any other player) is profoundly more complicated than I thought! I naively presumed it would be an easy plug-and-play solution. Boy, do I miss my iRiver portable jukebox!

Does this have something to do with Google and other giants wanting to force folks to use (and pay for) streaming services or cloud storage and paid data plans (neither of which I use) ??
Peke
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Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

Post by Peke »

Hi,
sordup wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 5:07 pm I naively presumed it would be an easy plug-and-play solution. Boy, do I miss my iRiver portable jukebox!
That is why I bought Aftermarket Android Head unit in order that I can choose my preferred Media Player and also bought 128GB SDcard for storage.
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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sordup
Posts: 126
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:16 am

Re: Cannot play files with MMA from an SD card on phone [#12237]

Post by sordup »

So, trying to work through ideas...

Without wanting to spend money on a new stereo/head unit for my car, which is otherwise a fine, working unit, what options have I to bring my music library physically into the car? I do not want to use streaming services or rely on the cloud at all, and I am perfectly happy (prefer it actually) with connecting to my current head unit with the Aux 1/8" audio jack

I was naively hoping that a 256gb card with only my music library on it (which, unfortunately, is still not all of it, it being over 300gb at this point) , connected to my phone using MMA would be the solution.

Now that that is a no-go, I'm thinking my tablet computer with an external drive holding my library and MMW onboard. I have this already and can simply use this connected to the head unit. But it is a very cumbersome solution with tablet and cable to external drive needing to be stored somewhere accessible but not in the way - and even still this is not something I can control easily, certainly not while driving, like my phone mounted on the dash.

So, is there a way to use MMA to control or play from the tablet/MMW computer without being on the internet? Is there a way, for example, to set up a local network in my car between phone and computer in order to use UPnP so I could control playback from the phone and just have the computer stashed somewhere completely out of the way in the car?

Is there some other option that would essentially offer the same thing, like a hard drive media server that can be installed in the car and accessible wirelessly by MMA on my phone??

Forgive me if this is all, again, naive. I am a bit outside of my specialties here (onboard, computer based professional audio production), mobile and wireless audio not being one of them. :)
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