Database Info

Getting the touch flo app to see my music...

I've removed the supplied music and added my own selection to my memory card. The touch flo music app see's this in its library and, if I go through the pages to select and album and song, will show the album art etc. in the touch flo music player but it only shows that one artist at a time, not the stacked albums as with the original, supplied music.
How do I get the touch flo music player to build the stacked view of my artists?
Thanks...

Isn't touchflo3D linked to windows media player? If so, try going to start>programs>wmp right click>Update library. I haven't had this problem so don't know much.

I don't use WMP as such though and only want to synch some files from another location, not those my laptop has access to...

2nd poster is right, you have to find a link to windows media player then go into the options and update your library. It finds all music files and adds them, and they can then be accessed by going into the music tab and hitting Library in the bottom left.

Okay, cheers. Will give it a go and sort it out.
Thanks both.

That's weird. All I did was dump a load of tracks onto my SD card in a folder and they all appeared. I didnt have to do anything in WMP etc. TF3D picked them up pretty much straight away.
EDIT: Having read your OP again, I see what you are getting at. The view of "stacked albums" you are talking about is the "Now Playing" list. You have to add items into Now Playing before they will appear there. You will not see your entire music collection in that view unless you put them all into the playist that is currently playing.

Syphon Filter said:
That's weird. All I did was dump a load of tracks onto my SD card in a folder and they all appeared. I didnt have to do anything in WMP etc. TF3D picked them up pretty much straight away.
EDIT: Having read your OP again, I see what you are getting at. The view of "stacked albums" you are talking about is the "Now Playing" list. You have to add items into Now Playing before they will appear there. You will not see your entire music collection in that view unless you put them all into the playist that is currently playing.
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AH, I didn't even realize that lol... I thought he meant getting them into the library, and unlike yours mine didn't pick them up automatically. I had a folder full of files with "No program assigned" so I couldn't even open them until I updated my library.

i think that the original tracks gave you the wrong ideia. I used a diamond and i could only ear one artist at the time! the up and down only changes track.
But since you mention it, try messing with the settings and choose all albums. This should do the trick because with the original track they were like albums but with only one sample track each??
Should be getting mine soon to try it out

Yep, think I'm getting the hang of it.
Some confusion too. When I was referring to WMP I meant on my laptop rather than WMP on the Touch Pro.
WMP on my laptop wanted to synch a few hundred pictures as well... Stopped that and removed what I don't want leaving only the music I do want on the Touch Pro storage card.
Have now updated the library from within WMP on the Touch Pro (you have to first change it to look in the storage card) and now things are looking better.
Yep, agree that the supplied sample tracks give the impression that the Touch Flo music app can navigate between albums a flick at a time whereas this was because there was only a single track per each of these albums...
Have also seen that I need to get a selection made in order for the stacked album covers to appear...
Getting there slowly...

Further. Have added all my music to a playlist now and that makes all the albums come up in the stacked album view within the touch flo music app.
Not quite like what I thought it would be like though, i.e. you are limited to scrolling through your music one track at a time, the album flips to the next when you reach beyond the first or last track - you can't flip through albums at a time using the interface (unless the album has only one track) to select.

Can the Touchflow built in player read flac files? I have a feeling WMP doesnt...

NutsyUK said:
Can the Touchflow built in player read flac files? I have a feeling WMP doesnt...
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Click to collapse
I think it's just a re-skinned WMP, built around it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that why you update WMP's library and it shows up in touch-flo's library?

It is a crock, I am going to switch it off, all I want to do is browse the folders to add songs to the play list but all I get is a big long list of all the songs on there, I have multiple versions of some but I can't see which are which.......

kempas said:
Further. Have added all my music to a playlist now and that makes all the albums come up in the stacked album view within the touch flo music app.
Not quite like what I thought it would be like though, i.e. you are limited to scrolling through your music one track at a time, the album flips to the next when you reach beyond the first or last track - you can't flip through albums at a time using the interface (unless the album has only one track) to select.
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yes, if you have 10 songs from the same album, each gesture flick will flip to the next track but the album art doesn't flip since it's the same album.
I "workaround" by creating a playlist containing multiple albums, and then I sort them in such a manner that the album tracks are arranged randomly, or at least no two track from the same album are together side by side.

Regarding album art.
I have added pics to albums that I have in WMP on PC. Synced those albums with TP. Some of the album arts does not show in TF3Ds music player, other does. However, album art shows nice when playing the same file in WPM on TP. Any clues???

Regarding album art, one foolproof way I've discovered of ensuring it appears is to make sure each album folder contains a file called Folder.jpg, then TF3D's music app will convert that JPG into it's own album art file when it next updates its library, which it tends to do either after a soft reset or after a memory card is inserted.
You may then delete all the Folder.jpg files if you want, to save space - they won't be needed any more.

Album covers - how to?

How can I make the Album covers appear in the "Music" Application? I ripped my audio CDs with Windows Media Player, transferred the Albums to the TP but the album covers don't show. Do I have to place the cover picture manually into the folders? If so, what file name / extension???

My album covers do show up, but I'm not sure why. ;-)
But I think it is because I placed the cover pictures into the folders named "folder.jpg". But since I use itunes it could also be the fact that I've additionaly written the cover into the mp3s id-tags.
Hope that helps!

Album Covers problem solved
1) For each album folder on the phone, put the album art in a file called Folder.jpg, in the same folder as the MP3 files belonging to the album.
2) Delete the phone's music library database (by renaming the file \Application Data\HTC\AudioManager_Eng\AudioManager_Eng.vol to some other name) [I'm guessing the "Eng" string might be different on some versions]
3) Go into the Music application, press the 'Library' option (bottom left on the screen) and wait while it rebuilds the library.
It will re-size all the Folder.jpg files, and rename them in its own cryptic way. After that, they will appear as album art.
If you synch using Windows Media Player, all this ought, in principle, to be done for you.
Hope this helps,
Jim

exclude folders?
I've a somehow related question:
Is it possible to exclude folders from being indexed into the library? I have some event-sounds, ringtones and so on on my sd-card and all those files all show up in the library as unknown artist etc. and I would really prefer them not showing up at all.

i just add the album arts via itune, then copy the mp3 to the memory card, works like magic

for some albums like indian (bollywood) music for me it is hard to find album art in that case or if you want to display a pic of yor own choice.
i have found that if i place the album art jpeg file into the same folder as the music file. then rename the jpeg to ~htc_"album name".jpg without the quotation marks seems to change the album art for me but this can be quiet tideous i guess

I got another solution for you guys
Hi folks!
The solution is to edit the mp3's ID tag and to put the cover pic on it.
Use a ID tag editor such as Zortam Mp3 Media Studio (free software).You select all the mp3s and you select the cover pic you want and it will includin it into the mp3s IDTag.No need to put the cover pic on the folder or some like that.Moreover, u can put a pic to each mp3s U want(if your a little bit maso ).
There are lots of free softwares for that so find the one for you!
I work well on my Touch Pro like in Windows Mediplayer, Itunes...
Hope it will help you.Bye

The easiest way is with this program http://www.mediamonkey.com/ the free version is sufficient.
It searches for the ID-tag and downloads the covers. You just have to choose the right one, save and copy to the Touch Pro...

hey there, again a related question:
my album art works, thank god so far. but it doesnt work like it want it to.
if you re just listen to 1 album (so all mp³s got the same cover-image) tf3d just puts one coverimage in the front of the player. so you dont see the covers behind. i know, this is not that important... but i want it that way, because i like this scrolling->switch to next track.
any ideas?

Yea but it's not pretty...
hasi_bär said:
hey there, again a related question:
my album art works, thank god so far. but it doesnt work like it want it to.
if you re just listen to 1 album (so all mp³s got the same cover-image) tf3d just puts one coverimage in the front of the player. so you dont see the covers behind. i know, this is not that important... but i want it that way, because i like this scrolling->switch to next track.
any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically, you will need to edit the attributes of each mp3 file with a UNIQUE album name and then put each song in its own folder with its own folder.jpg image. I found this out by mistake. It's A LOT OF WORK for any significant sized music library.
I personally just load lots of different artists and albums in their own folders and play from the Song List. TFL3D lists the songs separately and it looks great with high res pics. That way, I can show off the "image flipping" in TFL3D like you said.

Adrianstudent said:
The easiest way is with this program http://www.mediamonkey.com/ the free version is sufficient.
It searches for the ID-tag and downloads the covers. You just have to choose the right one, save and copy to the Touch Pro...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did it this way and let it download the covers and put it in the tag. It works great, and TF3D automatically creates the ~hTC_AlbumName.jpg file.
I've noticed that while scrolling through music it can get painfully slow and act like it freezes up while trying to load the album cover.
Is there a "best size" for the album art image? I could resize them all to be the same optimal size.
I didn't notice these slowdowns when scrolling through music without album art, so I know its related to that.

I just take the whole album folder and copy/paste to my memory card. Then rebuild library. The album folder has everything, but its hidden when you look at it in Windows PC explorer.
If you just have sporadic, illegal downloads from WinMX, then create a folder with the name of the artist, place all your illegal mp3s for that artist there along with a album cover that follows the same naming convention for album covers htc~ something something. Copy paste the folder to your card and voila, its all good.

When using MediaMonkey, some of the images it downloaded were large, causing the music tab to hang for a few minutes.
It looks like the ideal size is 256x256. After resizing a few of my images to that size the music tab flows like it should now with no freezes or hangs.

Is there a way to download the covers directly on Raphael? I don't want to pollute my desktop mp3 collection with images, but covers on Raphael would be nice.

kocureq said:
Is there a way to download the covers directly on Raphael? I don't want to pollute my desktop mp3 collection with images, but covers on Raphael would be nice.
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You can save the album art in the ID3 Tag of the mp3 and it won't pollute your desktop mp3 collection because the image is stored in the mp3 file itself.

DeepThought said:
I've a somehow related question:
Is it possible to exclude folders from being indexed into the library? I have some event-sounds, ringtones and so on on my sd-card and all those files all show up in the library as unknown artist etc. and I would really prefer them not showing up at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DeepThought - I had this problem too. Basically I used Advanced Config and changed the music location to Storage Card\My Music and it only listed all my music in there. Hope that helps?
On another related question - is there a way to "purge" the music library? When I delete tracks they are still in the library with a ! as the album cover and when I flick through the library on T3D it shows the ! but skips by it and it's annoying!
Anyway to get rid of it?

mindfrost82 said:
You can save the album art in the ID3 Tag of the mp3 and it won't pollute your desktop mp3 collection because the image is stored in the mp3 file itself.
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Click to collapse
And how do I do it? Ay special software is required or just good old winamp?

kocureq said:
And how do I do it? Ay special software is required or just good old winamp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably the most easy way is to use the freeware Mp3tag (but also iTunes or WMP11 support adding cover pictures).
HTH

These solutions don't work for me. Windows Media player on the phone shows all my album arts. However the music player only shows a fraction. I've tried deleting the volume and resyncing but no effect.

alabij said:
These solutions don't work for me. Windows Media player on the phone shows all my album arts. However the music player only shows a fraction. I've tried deleting the volume and resyncing but no effect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a thread in the diamond forum that tells the name of a particular software that will do this for you automatically. Here is what I do, while it is a bit tedious it gets it don without cluttering up my desktop.
This is only if you have some album art there (ie in Win Media player only) you can navigate to the artist folder and create a copy of the album art file. It should be something.jpg Change the name of the copy to Folder.jpg. Soft reset and then Audio manager will create the *Htc.jpg file it needs to display the album art.
If you don't use Windows Media Mobile then you can skip the copying and rename the file to Folder.jpg.

sync song files to the charge

So if you use Windows Media Player and Sync song files to the to the Charge will they automatically save to the SD card...my last phone had a setting where you decided where you wanted stuff saved. Internal vs. SD..does this setting existin in the stock charge UI? If so where?

Drop the music wherever you like on the SD card. Android's media scanner will take care of the rest.

Cooll..I did this...worked Great..but it didn't sync any of the Album cover jpgs..instead every Album on my phone has this Stupid different color bubble jpg next to each Album..Anyway to change this?

The problem is that you have album cover JPGs as separate files. Are you coming from iTunes? The way to fix is to embed the album art into the mP3 files themselves. This can be done with an ID3 tag editor such as http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ (free). If you have ripped CDs you can process whole albums at a time and it will import the album art from amazon or freecd databases on the web, and mash the picture right into the mp3s.

They are ripped CDs on my laptop...all I did was take them all drag them over to synch folder and the phone and Windows Media Player did the rest...so how would do this? Won't the ripped CDs have the pics inbedded in the wave files or whatever.
I didn't even associate the Album cover with the Albums Windows Media Player did automatically...so naturraly I thought if I just dumped them in the synch folder it would synch everything. So how do I do this?

well i do pretty much what you do, but i create an autoplaylist called androidsync which automatically adds everything to itself, then just always sync that playlist.
What you're doing should work - curious. ID3 tagging would definitely fix it though.. depending on how much music you have it can be a pain.

[Q] Android Music Database

I am looking for some clarification on how Android generates the Music DB and in particular how it displays track and album info and artwork. Right now I have some music in a "Music" folder on the root of my sdcard. There are several tracks directly in that folder, and some others organized into subfolders by artist or album. I'm having several problems getting the info to display properly.
My first issue is album artwork. Does Android display artwork that is embedded in the file? Some of them are showing up correctly and some are showing album covers from other tracks. Some of the things I've read suggested that everything be organized in folders by Album and to have an AlbumArt.jpg in each folder. While this is doable, I haven't gotten around to reorganizing my library and would rather the phone just read artwork from the file. I have checked the id3 tags of some of the problem tracks, both with an app on the phone, and from my pc, and everything (including artwork) looks fine. Both the stock music player and several 3rd party players are displaying the information incorrectly and identical so it seems to me like Android is caching the data incorrectly. I've tried to delete the albumthumbs folder on the sdcard as well as Settings->Manage Applications->Media Storage->Clear Data. It just gets regenerated incorrectly.
I think this is related to my next problem. It seems like the tracks that do not reside in their own album folders and sit directly in the Music folder are having the most problems. In particular the songs where there is no Album field in the id3 tags. The phone seems to think these all belong to the album "Music" - must be resorting to looking at the containing directory if no album is found in the tags. What's odd is that even though it thinks several tracks belong to this Music album, its now showing the same artwork for each of them.
What is the ideal way to organize music for playback on Android? Would sorting everything info folders by Album solve my problems? Do I need to make sure I don't have any blank Album tags?
On a side note, is anyone familiar with how iTunes stores its Album art? I'm looking for an easy way to maintain consistency between my iTunes library and what is on my phone. I'm thinking of developing a small application that can scan both libraries and detect differences to keep them synchronized. All of my music is on my old Macbook which I hardly use, but I listen to it pretty much exclusively on my Android phone. The problem is we also have an iPad that I'd like to keep the music on so I can't ditch iTunes entirely.
Thanks for any advice.

[Q] How do I embed the metadata that shows up in iTunes 11 on my Android 2.3 phone?

So I have around 1000 songs on iTunes that I want to transfer over to my phone since I just got a new SD card for it. The problem is, the ID3 tags that display correctly in iTunes show up as a bunch of jumbled characters on Android 2.3's default, as well as other music players including doubleTwist, Poweramp and so on. What's weird is that the phone only does this for certain songs. However, other songs using the same set of characters will display properly.
I've tried to sync my iTunes library with my phone using programs like doubleTwist and SnapPea already. Both produce the exact same result as dragging and dropping the files into my SD card's 'media' folder would--all they do is take the files from 'My Music' (the ones with the messed up ID3 tags) so the file titles are all messed up in the phone's music player.
For example, I have a song starting with the symbol 'θ' that will display properly on my phone but 'β' doesn't display... it turns it a Chinese character for some reason. I've used apps like ID3Fixer to no avail. Besides, it'd take too long for me to go through the metadata of 1000 songs... surely there's a way to fix this if iTunes can display them correctly? I've been looking for ways to forcibly embed the iTunes metadata onto the standalone files themselves (in 'My Music') but I still haven't found anything. In fact, the ID3 tags for these songs are messed up outside iTunes because I only edited their metadata in iTunes in the first place.
Any help at all is appreciated. Thanks.