Tips on making the best of 10GB of storage space when storing music - HTC One S

Tips on making the best of 10GB of storage space when storing music on the HTC One S.
What doesn't work:
1) Dropbox, Google Drive ..... you can store files there but finding and playing them is a bag of hurt because the players are so rudimentary and the music is not cataloged like it is for stock Android player and PowerAMP
2) An OTG USB cable and a 32, 64 or 128GB USB Flash Drive. HTC could have saved this phone for music collections if they had implemented this feature, but they didn't. The microUSB port on the One S doesn't provide power, so for mobile listening of music it really isn't as option even it you hack OTG into your kernel.
3) Wifi based systems. With a bit of effort you could probably get a working system when your phone on your own home network, but chances are you use your phone for music when you are away from home.
The Good News:
The HTC One S has really fast internal memory, a good memory controller and the USB I/O is very fast. If you have a decent computer file transfer very quickly to the phone.
The HTC One S has very good audio quality and a good output.
What You Need
1) Your music collection, most likely quite a bit larger than 10GB
2) Media Monkey Software for your PC computer (http://www.mediamonkey.com) Forget about the HTC Sync software
3) PowerAmp for Android or Stock Android Player (PowerAMP has lyric support and is quite well laid out)
The reason I picked Media Monkey is that it has great cataloging features and a very powerful and customizable file sync with Android devices. My HTC Ones S shows up as a Hero but all the sync functions work. ( I have used this program for years) I am sure most of the other popular player software would work too
What to Do
The nature of the beast is that you are choosing which music to leave behind. If your music isn't cataloged then you can't possibly do this efficiently. This takes a lot of time and is best done as you get new music. You need at least the rating filled in for each track. I also have mood and tempo which really adds to your options. If you don't want to catalog then this advice isn't going to help you so you may as well stop here.
1) Catalog your music in Media Monkey (or other player software)
2) Plug in your HTC One and set to Disk Mode ...... it should show up as a HTC Hero
3) Using Media Monkey, set up a new collection filtered with for tracks having 5 star rating
Presumably you would only want to transfer your best tracks
If you have a smallish collection this may reduce the number of files sufficiently to fit on the HTC One S (skip to 4)
4) Set up another Collection filtered for being added to your library less than 30 days ago
Presumably you would like to listen to your new music
5) Click on the HTC Hero node on the library and select sync options.
6) Select only the above 2 collections for sync
7) Chances are that there are still way too many files to fit into 9GB, so select the option to randomly sync files to your device matching the above filters leaving about 500-1000GB left unused OR just manually pick the artists and albums you want to sync.
8) Autosync the phone (takes about 2 minutes for me)
9) Autosync again once in a while to get a new random set
You could tell Media Monkey to compress the files as they are moved to the player, but this hugely increases the time required for the sync and you may loose album art and lyric support depending on which format you pick.
It is far from a idea solution but it works

Sirandar said:
Tips on making the best of 10GB of storage space when storing music on the HTC One S.
What doesn't work:
1) Dropbox, Google Drive ..... you can store files there but finding and playing them is a bag of hurt because the players are so rudimentary and the music is not cataloged like it is for stock Android player and PowerAMP
2) An OTG USB cable and a 32, 64 or 128GB USB Flash Drive. HTC could have saved this phone for music collections if they had implemented this feature, but they didn't. The microUSB port on the One S doesn't provide power, so for mobile listening of music it really isn't as option even it you hack OTG into your kernel.
3) Wifi based systems. With a bit of effort you could probably get a working system when your phone on your own home network, but chances are you use your phone for music when you are away from home.
The Good News:
The HTC One S has very good audio quality and a good output.
What You Need
1) Your music collection, most likely quite a bit larger than 10GB
2) Media Monkey Software for your PC computer (http://www.mediamonkey.com) Forget about the HTC Sync software
3) PowerAmp for Android or Stock Android Player (PowerAMP has lyric support and is quite well laid out)
The reason I picked Media Monkey is that it has great cataloging features and a very powerful and customizable file sync with Android devices. My HTC Ones S shows up as a Hero but all the sync functions work. ( I have used this program for years) I am sure most of the other popular player software would work too
What to Do
The nature of the beast is that you are choosing which music to leave behind. If your music isn't cataloged then you can't possibly do this efficiently. This takes a lot of time and is best done as you get new music. You need at least the rating filled in for each track. I also have mood and tempo which really adds to your options. If you don't want to catalog then this advice isn't going to help you so you may as well stop here.
1) Catalog your music in Media Monkey (or other player software)
2) Plug in your HTC One and set to Disk Mode ...... it should show up as a HTC Hero
3) Using Media Monkey, set up a new collection filtered with for tracks having 5 star rating
Presumably you would only want to transfer your best tracks
If you have a smallish collection this may reduce the number of files sufficiently to fit on the HTC One S (skip to 4)
4) Set up another Collection filtered for being added to your library less than 30 days ago
Presumably you would like to listen to your new music
5) Click on the HTC Hero node on the library and select sync options.
6) Select only the above 2 collections for sync
7) Chances are that there are still way too many files to fit into 9GB, so select the option to randomly sync files to your device matching the above filters leaving about 500-1000GB left unused OR just manually pick the artists and albums you want to sync.
8) Autosync the phone (takes about 2 minutes for me)
9) Autosync again once in a while to get a new random set
You could tell Media Monkey to compress the files as they are moved to the player, but this hugely increases the time required for the sync and you may loose album art and lyric support depending on which format you pick.
It is far from a idea solution but it works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Orr you can sync your music to Google Play and stream from there. IF you have the 2GB plan I almost never go over that, plus it only streams it the first play and stays in your cache for replay later. Best Solution for me, at least for Music. After that I have plenty of room for everything else and file With Drop Box and Box and Google Drive.

I usually just convert my files to ~40kbit (VBR quality 0.25) HE-AACv2 files. Unless you really really concentrate, you'll be hard pressed finding any difference between these files and CD quality. And I've got about 6,000 songs in under 7 GB.
I use dbPowerAmp for the conversion, and the Nero AAC codec.

djsubtronic said:
I usually just convert my files to ~40kbit (VBR quality 0.25) HE-AACv2 files. Unless you really really concentrate, you'll be hard pressed finding any difference between these files and CD quality. And I've got about 6,000 songs in under 7 GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy jeebus, 40kbit and you cannot tell the difference? Time for some decent headphones or a hearing check!

edscholl said:
Holy jeebus, 40kbit and you cannot tell the difference? Time for some decent headphones or a hearing check!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, have you even tried HE-AACv2? That codec is pretty legendary. Of course you can tell the difference but it's very barely noticeable. Try it yourself.

djsubtronic said:
Dude, have you even tried HE-AACv2? That codec is pretty legendary. Of course you can tell the difference but it's very barely noticeable. Try it yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Very f'in noticeably different at 40kbps.

Related

Looking for a media player (with some requirements)

I'm after a media player for WM 5.0 as it seems that my Univeral didn't come with a decent one (I don't consider WMP to be decent - lacks one of my requirements). I have two real requirements - might add some if I think of them:
- Must be able to play .mp4 files, .avi (DivX if possible), .wmv and .mpeg
- Important: must be able to skip through files one after another.
Explanation: the XDA2i which I used to have comes with an 'Album' program which can be used to view photos and videos. This had two great features; the ability to view photos and videos in one program (not a problem for me as I have an even better photo viewer now) and the ability to point it at a folder of videos and then watch them one after the other, skipping to the next just by pressing on the d-pad.
Can anyone name a good media player which can meet both criteria? I've looked at some comparison charts but none seem to specify what seems to be a small feature to them but is actually an important one to me.
I have tried TCPMP and that doesn't seem to meet the second criterion.
Suggestions?
Look at TCMP again, but this time look in the settings menu and configure some hotkeys to skip tracks, there are is no shortage of keys on the Universal when it comes to picking a hotkey.
I'm willing to have another go, but doesn't 'skip track' mean to just go to the next one in the playlist?
Due to the way I use my device (take lots of short videos when out with friends) I can't be constantly adding them to playlists. The number of files I deal with is too large for me to have to organise them myself.
TCMP's playlist idea is completly different to mediaplayer. Browse to your folder in TCMP's file selector and use the select ALL option to give yourself a temporary playlist with all the files in the folder. You can even use the DIR command to select your Media folder which may have further folders below it with music, pictures and video in them and everything will be selected for your playlist.
Ahh okay, I didn't realise one could do this. Going to give it another go then report back.
Thanks.
No probs, it will also play your images too so you've got everything your XDA IIi could do, and probably more
Seems to be okay, I'm a bit confused with the buttons but I have set it so they at least change the playing video. I also managed to get it to play all the files in a folder.
Its best to pick something you will remember, like 'N' for next and 'P' for previous.

APP that supports WMP ratings?

I get ~500 new tracks per month and I heavily rely on Windows Media Player's 5-star rating system to keep track of the ones I liked/disliked. I'm looking for an app that has the ability to read AND add/edit the rating, aka ID3's "RATING WMP" tag, of mp3's that I will manually load onto sdcard. I've tried many different music apps but none fit the requirements... any suggestions?
Thanks!
I guess nobody knows and I'll have to figure this out myself... as always
ok, made some progress... found a way to seamlessly "sync" music libraries:
set up samba (windows) share on pc
used Mount Manager to mount that share on Evo as /sdcard/share/audio
reload media, all mp3s now show up in HTC Music as if they were physically on sdcard
ps: if i'm not on WiFi, just VPN into my home linux box and everything shows up as "local"
now all that's left is to find something that would write the ratings back into mp3s... i found this iSyncr app that does it but there are some quirks that needs to be worked out before its usable. will report back once that is done
wifi sync was a hassle and iSyncr froze my phone for 5 mins each time i remounted sdcard, and also wifi sync is much slower than traditional usb sync anyways so here's what i worked out instead:
set Songbird to monitor my "New songs" for mp3's
set Songbird to auto-sync music as soon sdcard is mounted to pc
unmount/eject and use PlayerPro to listed & rate music
once done, in PlayerPro, export song stats to xml (Settings > Media library >Export music stats > Songbird)
use Songbird's "RatingFile" addon to import ratings from that xml
since in Songbird i set 'songbird.metadata.ratings.enableWriting" to "true", it writes the new ratings to mp3's ID3 tag "RATING" field
use Mp3Tag macro to batch-move RATING field value to RATING WMP
viola... my new ratings now show up in WMP
long and tedious process but so far that's the only one where i managed to successfully sync new ratings back to WMP
PS: doubleTwist can do two-way ratings syncing WAAAAY easier with their AirSync addong but i haven't found a way to move the new ratings from doubleTwist to WMP... any ideas?
Did you ever come up with a clean solution to this problem? I have so much new incoming music all the time that it is a real pain to have to sit in front of my primary PC rating music all the time; it would be so nice if I could sync it to my phone or tablet, rate music as I drive, and then sync the ratings back to my computer...
get PlayerPro... that dev implemented the ability to read/write ratings to actual mp3 files. both WMP and MediaMonkey id3 rating system. then, to make sure the ratings are same on both your phone and your computer, install microsoft's SyncToy and set up a two-way folder sync.
frifox said:
get PlayerPro... that dev implemented the ability to read/write ratings to actual mp3 files. both WMP and MediaMonkey id3 rating system. then, to make sure the ratings are same on both your phone and your computer, install microsoft's SyncToy and set up a two-way folder sync.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks; I actually came across PlayerPro in the same search that returned your thread. The only problem I see is that I use WMP's autoplaylists to only sync 4 or 5 star rated items to my device. If I am using SyncToy to synchronize folders, that makes the whole dynamic rating thing kind of useless, doesn't it?
hmm, in my case i didn't have a need for dynamic playlists and PlayerPro fit the bill perfectly, so yeah, i'm not sure how you'd deal with syncing back the ratings from cell to pc... i manage my library using files and folders so i guess i lucked out here
I guess so. I have WMP setup to auto sort music into a folder structure that maps to Artist > Album > [Track Number] [Song Title], and then I only synchronize the songs I've rated 4 stars or higher. That way when it syncs to my car (using my phone as a storage drive), I can browse the file system by Artist, Album, etc., and I only have the songs I like synced up.
Great
Sick bro, love it.
SolusCado said:
I guess so. I have WMP setup to auto sort music into a folder structure that maps to Artist > Album > [Track Number] [Song Title], and then I only synchronize the songs I've rated 4 stars or higher. That way when it syncs to my car (using my phone as a storage drive), I can browse the file system by Artist, Album, etc., and I only have the songs I like synced up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for asking the question, I was looking for the same thing. Maybe I can help you out too. I don't know about the sync tool you use but MediaMonkey can sync songs based on dynamic playlists too. So you can create a playlist based on ratings (or more) and MM will sync it automatically. However you have to have the paid version but IMO it's worth the price.
octavia said:
Thanks for asking the question, I was looking for the same thing. Maybe I can help you out too. I don't know about the sync tool you use but MediaMonkey can sync songs based on dynamic playlists too. So you can create a playlist based on ratings (or more) and MM will sync it automatically. However you have to have the paid version but IMO it's worth the price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does MediaMonkey add anything I don't already get with WMP?
many things... with folder-sync being one of them
EDIT: Tl;DR
PlayerPro can modify and read the Windows Media Player star rating.
I've verified that tracks with less than 4 stars are removed from my device. However, I expected to see more removals. I'll continue to update here
I had an issue with PlayerPro, the 'stars' (rating) disappeared from the top of the screen. I solved this by tapping the track picture in the center of the screen. The star rating on top of the screen reappears after that.
---
Awesome threat.. Just got a Nokia 9, first Android phone
Same issue.
I manage my music with auto playlist and star rating since I had a HTC Wizard and Windows XP, I think
Anyway, PlayerPro seem the way to go.
The problem I now have is that I can't seem to change the star rating anymore, in PlayerPro.
This: https://www.aplayerpro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3305
.. seem to be hopeful but alas. I'll continue the quest on a later day and update here.

[How to] put music on the Infuse from Itunes

1.) Download and install
For Windows iTunes Agent.
For Mac iTuneMyWalkman.
2.) Once installed, the application runs in the system tray and monitors iTunes.
3.) Plug the Infuse into your computer's USB port and mount it.
4.) Create a folder on the mounted Infuse called Music.
5.) Right-click on the iTunes Agent icon in the system tray.
6.) Click Preferences.
7.) Leave all defaults checked and click the New button.
8.) Give the device a name. (Infuse in this case)
9.) Leave Synchronize pattern: set to iTunes.
10.) Click the Choose button and select the Music folder you created on the Infuse.
11.) Click the Create button and select the Music folder you created on the Infuse.
12.) Click Save and then Close.
13.) Launch iTunes and you will see a playlist folder called My Devices, under which you will see the Infuse.
14.) Simply drag the music you wish to synchronize from your iTunes library to your Infuse into this playlist
15.) Finally, right-click on the iTunes Agent icon in the system tray and select Synchronize devices
You could do all that, which seems OK. Here's the easier version (none of this sync business):
1. Sort your music by kind. This will find your music that is protected. Convert your library from the protected format by right clicking on your library and converting to mp3 within itunes. I have about 2000 songs and it took about 30 minutes. This is good because it takes any DRM off of the files and allows you to put them wherever you want. Once done, I deleted the Itunes DRM protected versions so I wouldn't have duplicates in my library.
2. Drag and drop onto your phone. I created a music folder on my sd card.
This was the one task I did not want to go through when I swapped from my IOS to Android, but it was quick and painless.
hehe, or you could just download DoubleTwist on your Mac\PC, and DoubleTwist on your Android phone and it'll do it all for you... playlists, organization, etc. Takes about 1 minute to get it started the first time, and it's all wireless and totally automated. Not sure why anyone would go through the OP's laundry list of instructions, haah.
bella92108 said:
hehe, or you could just download DoubleTwist on your Mac\PC, and DoubleTwist on your Android phone and it'll do it all for you... playlists, organization, etc. Takes about 1 minute to get it started the first time, and it's all wireless and totally automated. Not sure why anyone would go through the OP's laundry list of instructions, haah.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Woah. Super polished software... Thanks for the recommendation! If i like it i might upgrade to airsync
bella92108 said:
hehe, or you could just download DoubleTwist on your Mac\PC, and DoubleTwist on your Android phone and it'll do it all for you... playlists, organization, etc. Takes about 1 minute to get it started the first time, and it's all wireless and totally automated. Not sure why anyone would go through the OP's laundry list of instructions, haah.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I have Double Twist, but this software is not seeing my memory card which is bigger than internal memory of My SGS II, is there any option which will allow me save my track there?
sugfawlo said:
Hey I have Double Twist, but this software is not seeing my memory card which is bigger than internal memory of My SGS II, is there any option which will allow me save my track there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Google music. Done. Install the Google music manager and then it will bring all of your music from your computer and sync it to the Google servers, and then you will be happy. If you want it locally, just plug in and open in mass storage mode. Done.
Thanks >>
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
why use bull**** apple software. iTunes may be the biggest piece of crap ever to come out of any major software company. apple should be ashamed of how ****ty it is especially with their reputation for stable quick software.
the phone has an mpt transfer mode that works with kies full (available in foreign markets) and I've heard media player works as well. why not use media player? it comes with windows. or forget the slow mtp sync which I find annoying and just copy the files to the phone.
obviously android offers countless options in music, You can sync to the cloud with Google music, copy/paste over usb, mtp transfer with kies or media player, mount the phone as network drive via FTP, webdav, or other technique, play remote content over dlna or upnp or other options. not to mention the market apps. why in the hell are people working to make our device which is superior in this respect to work like the worst feature of the out dated and limited iPod with maybe the worst mtp application on the market.
why not explore the options that set android apart from the iPhone instead of atemting to use the things that limit the iphone. it doesn't make sense to me.
Dani897 said:
why use bull**** apple software. iTunes may be the biggest piece of crap ever to come out of any major software company. apple should be ashamed of how ****ty it is especially with their reputation for stable quick software.
the phone has an mpt transfer mode that works with kies full (available in foreign markets) and I've heard media player works as well. why not use media player? it comes with windows. or forget the slow mtp sync which I find annoying and just copy the files to the phone.
obviously android offers countless options in music, You can sync to the cloud with Google music, copy/paste over usb, mtp transfer with kies or media player, mount the phone as network drive via FTP, webdav, or other technique, play remote content over dlna or upnp or other options. not to mention the market apps. why in the hell are people working to make our device which is superior in this respect to work like the worst feature of the out dated and limited iPod with maybe the worst mtp application on the market.
why not explore the options that set android apart from the iPhone instead of atemting to use the things that limit the iphone. it doesn't make sense to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfectly said. Itunes.. Smd. Lol.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
I found for Mac, isyncr works really well too. I had at of issues figuring out how to get my phone working with Mac software. Such a pain in the a$$. Especially when it comes to flashing roms (or trying to get back to stock) anyways isyncr worked like a charm rip get my music from iTunes to the phone
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
Uninstalling itunes was one of the happiest days of my life.
Use Itunes and GMusic together
IMO ITunes is the best music manager for rating, tagging and searching. I use it to organize my music then point Google Music manager to upload the library.
BAM! Google Music has all my tracks with full info from ITunes. Now if Music had a better auto playlist generator....
iTunes was my primary reason for moving to Android.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
sugfawlo said:
Hey I have Double Twist, but this software is not seeing my memory card which is bigger than internal memory of My SGS II, is there any option which will allow me save my track there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI, I know on double twist's "airsync" app their is an option in settings to switch to external memory for saving music. It does warn that it is an experimental feature??
bella92108 said:
hehe, or you could just download DoubleTwist on your Mac\PC, and DoubleTwist on your Android phone and it'll do it all for you... playlists, organization, etc. Takes about 1 minute to get it started the first time, and it's all wireless and totally automated. Not sure why anyone would go through the OP's laundry list of instructions, haah.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the software recommendation, this will help save a lot of time.

[Q] The features you miss in the TF101 (compared to a notebook)

Hello Guys!
I am planning to get one of the Transformers (probably 32G+dock) and sell my notebook (will still have a desktop computer).
Now, I'm on a performance notebook (with piss-poor battery life), but I do not use it - only for web surfing, chat, watching movies, sending stuff & downloading - and maybe some games (1x a month LOL)
So my question is - what are the features you like or MISS in the Transformer compared to a notebook.
Thank you!
1) Proper browser with adblock.
2) Proper audio player (like Amarok/Clementine/Exaile etc.).
3) USB port for attaching keyboard (I don't have the dock).
Better task swapping(alt+tab) or windowed view.
Text selection. Android NEEDS a better text selection desperately.
Other than that it makes a pretty good laptop replacement for simple things. Using remote desktop to a windows machine, greatly improves #1, and moderately improves #2.
Magnesus said:
1) Proper browser with adblock.
2) Proper audio player (like Amarok/Clementine/Exaile etc.).
3) USB port for attaching keyboard (I don't have the dock).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
firefox is available in android, and you can add the adblock plugin.
also a system-wide adblock via apps.
i have no idea what you would qualify as a "proper" audio player. unless you're refering stictly to that list as "proper", the stock player is also a proper player, as well as plently you'd find in the market.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
gottahavit said:
Better task swapping(alt+tab) or windowed view.
Text selection. Android NEEDS a better text selection desperately.
Other than that it makes a pretty good laptop replacement for simple things. Using remote desktop to a windows machine, greatly improves #1, and moderately improves #2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alt+tab works with the keyboard dock.
Windowed view won't happen until there is a significant increase in system resources available to these devices. Everything currently runs in full screen because 1GB of RAM is just barely sufficient for most of the current apps, and Android devices don't use swap, which means apps get flushed out of memory if the system starts running low on RAM. Windowed apps would crash or degrade under the current Android memory management scheme, which was instated because phones and tablets are so starved for resources when compared to traditional desktops and laptops.
Text selection requires a long press because click and drag on a touchscreen handles panning. I'm not sure what else you're expecting from text selection when many apps allow you to modify the size of the selection to your heart's content. Those that don't integrate nicely with Android's built-in text selection are the fault of the developers.
Thank you for the replies.
Well, Just as finalhit said - firefox has a plugin, and AFAIK Dolphin Browser, too. And by the way, Ad-free is not working on these devices? Like on my rooted Desire?
Proper audio player - I saw the transformer in action and the stock player is great, also have purchased PowerAMP for my phone and the developer says, it'll work on HC 3.2, too. Will see.
Carrying on with Text Input ~
Android needs to be able to support Rich Text in Browser Email Apps (e.g. Yahoo) and also Copy/Paste text into an Email.
Copy/Paste works in Gmail but not in say Yahoo Mail.
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
FrankRr said:
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like that too, I tried plugging my USB SoundBlaster in but nothing happened.
What I miss most is a decent productivity suite, WP & Spreadsheets. I am using the beta of SoftMaker Office & it will do the job when it's released, but at the moment it crashes a lot & isn't mainstream.
Printing isn't that easy either ....
1) Definitely better text selection/manipulation - it works, but it doesn't feel right
2) Right mouse button - yes, it has long press, but it's long press, meaning it's not very fast. Make the right track pad button function the same as long press, and it will feel almost like a notebook.
3) Better file manipulation/transfer speed. Copying and pasting/moving files is a pain and is very very slow. Astro works, but it's nothing compared to the ease of windows/linux.
Android has all the functions I want, a lot of them just don't feel natural, or are cumbersome to use.
I like my TF, but I think it can't replace a notebook, unless we can port windows 7 on it..
mikelt89 said:
I like my TF, but I think it can't replace a notebook, unless we can port windows 7 on it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows 8 might run on it, as it has arm support and the TF meets the minimum requirements that MS has released so far.
cottinghamm said:
What I miss most is a decent productivity suite, WP & Spreadsheets. I am using the beta of SoftMaker Office & it will do the job when it's released, but at the moment it crashes a lot & isn't mainstream.
Printing isn't that easy either ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Documents to Go works well (given the limitations of the input methods, screen size, etc.)
Printign is a major issue. There are paid apps that I hear do printing OK, but they require a server program to run on a computer already connected to the printer. I have yet to find one that works well with a networked printer (either shared through the native Windows functionality or a dedicated print server).
FrankRr said:
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can indirectly output to a DAC if you use the HDMI port. I have an Asus VH238H monitor that includes a SPDIF out, so I just hook up the Transformer via HDMI and have the monitor output the sound to my DAC.
For printing I use CloudPrint So far it works greatly (home & office) on my Desire - so that won't be a problem.
finalhit said:
firefox is available in android, and you can add the adblock plugin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firefox for Android is very far from a proper browser (in my opinion, proper browser is for example Google Chrome and desktop Firefox) and it's adblock is far from it's desktop counterpart. Maybe the new version will be better. In my opinion actually Firefox is worst browser for Android (the best being Dolphin Pad).
i have no idea what you would qualify as a "proper" audio player. unless you're refering stictly to that list as "proper", the stock player is also a proper player, as well as plently you'd find in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using Amarok, Clementine, Exile or sth similar (or Foobar if you only have Windows, but it's quite bad looking). I tested most the music players in the market and none of them are even comparable. So I resigned from using Tranformer for listening to music and bought USB sound card for my laptop instead (without it the sound quality of my laptop was... well quite horrible ).
Amarok/Clementine/Exile have clear interface with your files or library on the left (you can use both) and a playlist on the right. You can add tracks to the playlist, remove them, shuffle them, star songs, generate playlists based on the stars, select to repeat a track or repeat the whole playlist, filter the library (for example - you type John and you get all John Williams albums listed), the playlist is created by drag and drop etc. Also they play all music formats (flac, mpc included). If you never used a music player like this - try them, they are really good.
Most (all of them?) players in android market are designed for playing one album at a time (no playlist), have interface more suited for phones than tablets and no ability to use folder view (some can but are regenerating the index every time I unmount my samba share - and it takes ages). If I'm wrong - and there is sth like Amarok on the Market - please tell, I'll buy it in a second.
Magnesus said:
Try using Amarok, Clementine, Exile or sth similar (or Foobar if you only have Windows, but it's quite bad looking). I tested most the music players in the market and none of them are even comparable. So I resigned from using Tranformer for listening to music and bought USB sound card for my laptop instead (without it the sound quality of my laptop was... well quite horrible ).
Amarok/Clementine/Exile have clear interface with your files or library on the left (you can use both) and a playlist on the right. You can add tracks to the playlist, remove them, shuffle them, star songs, generate playlists based on the stars, select to repeat a track or repeat the whole playlist, filter the library (for example - you type John and you get all John Williams albums listed), the playlist is created by drag and drop etc. Also they play all music formats (flac, mpc included). If you never used a music player like this - try them, they are really good.
Most (all of them?) players in android market are designed for playing one album at a time (no playlist), have interface more suited for phones than tablets and no ability to use folder view (some can but are regenerating the index every time I unmount my samba share - and it takes ages). If I'm wrong - and there is sth like Amarok on the Market - please tell, I'll buy it in a second.
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Just because the default Music player doesn't show the now playing and playlist views on the same page together doesn't mean you don't have such functionality. Remember what you're dealing with here; it's just a 10.1 inch screen. It doesn't take much to clutter the UI with a lot of menu options, especially when all the UI elements have to be doubled and tripled in size in order to be legible on the tiny screen.
Now, as far as the features of the default Music app, there's plenty to keep most listeners happy. Upon starting the app, in the upper left hand corner you have the ability to sort your music collection by New and recent, Albums, Artists, Songs, Playlists, and Genres. On the right, you can Search through all of your music, refining your results by the previously mentioned sort categories. Once you choose a specific artist, for instance, you can tap once on the "All songs" option to play all of the artist's selected music, or you can just select one album of theirs to play, either of these options taking you to a list of songs added to the queue. Long press will allow you to add the selected songs to the playlist of your choice. Once in the now playing queue, you can sort the songs by name or by album, or shuffle the whole thing. Then once you finally play a song, the now playing screen allows for toggling shuffle and advanced repeat functions just like what you're used to with other applications. The default player also supports mp3, ogg, and flac, and probably some other formats that I haven't tried yet. The only thing missing is the ability to "star" your music, which is a feature I always saw as pointless.
Seriously, why would you even bother with third party music apps at this point?
And what about the microSD slot on the tablet? I'm planning to get a 32GB A-DATA - will it work normally like with my Desire?
rtadams89 said:
Documents to Go works well (given the limitations of the input methods, screen size, etc.)
Printign is a major issue. There are paid apps that I hear do printing OK, but they require a server program to run on a computer already connected to the printer. I have yet to find one that works well with a networked printer (either shared through the native Windows functionality or a dedicated print server).
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printing works well for me, but yes, requires a server at this point -- free app: https://market.android.com/search?q=printershare&so=1&c=apps
I do use it as a laptop replacement. I find that 95% of the time I do not need to go back to my laptop; however, I do miss the ability to have more than one app on the screen at once (chatting and browsing at the same time is annoying). I also miss a full office program. I have tried DTG and polaris, and both work quite well by comparison to other office apps, but are not a replacement for MS Office or Libreoffice.
I also have a server in the basement for media serving running ESXi 4.1. I have 2 VMs on it: File/media server running ubuntu 11.04 and a windows VM for running various other things like video transcoding. I would not want to do either of those functions on an android tablet either.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

[Q] Managing music on an ipod shuffle ?

I have a Galaxy S3 (9300), and an OTG cable that allows me to manage files on external media. Are there any apps out there that will enable me to manage music/playlists etc on an ipod shuffle via this route ? I would love to be able to ditch iTunes, and this is one of the last remaining things I need to solve!
I'd like to be able to sync music to my S3 using DoubleTwist, and then copy it over to my shuffle by playlist.
Do you leave the Shuffle away from home and need to be able to use the phone for this ? Just unsure why you couldn't just use the computer to do this ? Seems simpler than managing on the small phone screen (could you copy-and-paste as-is ?).
I've never used DoubleTwist, do they not support iPods ?
Does the Shuffle specifically need something that is more than the usual music management ? I've never had one, so I'm not sure and perhaps this is the problem I'm not seeing.
Pennycake said:
Do you leave the Shuffle away from home and need to be able to use the phone for this ? Just unsure why you couldn't just use the computer to do this ? Seems simpler than managing on the small phone screen (could you copy-and-paste as-is ?).
I've never used DoubleTwist, do they not support iPods ?
Does the Shuffle specifically need something that is more than the usual music management ? I've never had one, so I'm not sure and perhaps this is the problem I'm not seeing.
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The Shuffle is the last ipod we have in the house, and I have migrated all of our music to Google Play Music. I would like to be able to ditch itunes totally. The files appear on the shuffle in a the right format, but the namings do not reflect the song titles. Also, I assume there must be a database on there to manage the playlists as there arent anything simple like .m3u files.
Since the Shuffle is so simple, it might be easier to just buy a cheap non-Apple MP3 player instead ($20-30).
I haven't used my iPod for a few months (I'm not even sure where it is), so I don't quite remember how it was set-up (and I never had a Shuffle). I'd check out, "manage iPod Shuffle without iTunes" or something. I use Winamp, and I think it can manage iPods, but I've never tried it (your music is still on the HDD, right ?).

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