Music on my Android

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What is the best way for a(cheap) idiot to download and listen to music on my HTC?

- I have unlimited data, I can even easily hook up to my fast router, don't wanna buy apps, but...

- Where and how to hook up to music sources???

- I have some good earfonies.....

So step me through this. Go easy on an old guy.
 
Pandora is a cool app to listen to all kinds of stuff, though it's more of a customized radio station than a personal music library. You tell it a band or song you like, and it streams you songs from similar styles/artists.

I've found a lot of great bands I had never heard of in the progressive metal genre. Also, they have a small catalogue of stand up comedy that's great to listen to on a road trip. My MKX has streaming bluetooth and all that jazz, so it was nice not being confined by the music I had on hand and junky local radio stations on our 3,200 mile summer road trip.
 
There is a free app called XiiaLive Lite that lets you search and stream over 40,000 radio stations from all over the world.

At one point I was also able to point it to my home Squeezebox server too, so that I could stream music from my local music library, although it was somewhat cumbersome.

What I typically do though is just copy the music from my local music library using the USB cable directly to the phone's miniSD card and just listen to that. Sometimes I recompress it first so that it takes up less space on the phone, but if you have a large enough memory card, it's not really an issue.
 
You could use the Amazon MP3 Mobile App for Android if you want to buy music.

Also, you said you don't like Pandora. Have you looked at Pandora lately? They have updated the user interface, and I don't think they have monthly hour limits anymore.
 
Google Music will let you stream your computer's collection over the net to any of your devices -- no need to download it to the phone.

As for good headphones:
http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/hf5.html

Had their old ER-6i, they lasted me 7 years. Unbeatable sound quality, just read the reviews. The HF5 is the new model.
 
I found an app through the marketplace that allows you to download songs. It was just called Mp3 Music download. I have found I like it so far. It doesn't stream radio though if that's what you're looking for...
 
What's wrong with dumping all the music on phone's sd card? It's not like you have to go through creating libraries and then synchronizing, like on iphones.

Just mount the phone, create a music folder on the sd card, and paste all the music you want. Your phone's music player will recognize the music automatically, couldn't be simpler.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
What's wrong with dumping all the music on phone's sd card? It's not like you have to go through creating libraries and then synchronizing, like on iphones.

Just mount the phone, create a music folder on the sd card, and paste all the music you want. Your phone's music player will recognize the music automatically, couldn't be simpler.


Mount the phone? Geeze......on what?

I can plug my phone into my PC using a USB cable I suppose. Will it auto open a folder? Automatically play?? On what app?
 
Pablo, didn't see this topic until now, grab TuneIn Radio Pro, great for terrestrial radio stations across the country, time shifting too!

Then WinAmp, search from over 40,000 online music stations to stream....all for free.

See my last post in the other topic regarding Amazon App store. Free apps! woohoo!
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Mount the phone? Geeze......on what?

I can plug my phone into my PC using a USB cable I suppose. Will it auto open a folder? Automatically play?? On what app?

Yup, just plug the phone into a USB port. The PC should recognize your phone's memory card storage as a separate drive (such as a USB drive), which means you'll be able to create folders and move/copy files to it just as if it was any other external drive. Once you copied your music over, the built-in Android audio player should be able to recognize it. I am using an app called PowerAmp to play my music because I find the interface much better and it has more features. That is the only android app for which I actually paid. But for basic music listening, the stock android player should be sufficient.
 
Pablo - if you want Itunes for an Android look at DoubleTwist. Its free unless you want the one that can sync over the air. The free one syncs via a USB cable. It can even import all the Itunes music. Its not a source for music, just lets you manage and listen to the music you have.
 
Google Music(beta I think) and also Amazon's Cloud player allow a certain amount of your own music to get uploaded.

The cool part is if you float devices(computer, smartphone, etc) you can listen on the next device.

I would download both. They both allow for downloads of playlists too if you go offline and clean themselves up well.
 
I must be an idiot!!

I finally had a little time so I copied some .cda files over to my phone. Uh....OK....what will play them??

I'm still ignorant....I can see the files from my PC on my phone, I can move them to any file I want, but to play them?
 
CDA as in CD audio track? How did you end up with files like that? Are you trying to rip music from CDs? If so, you need to first convert them to some common audio format such as .MP3 or .WMA or .OGG or .M4A/MP4. They'll take up a lot less space that way, too.

It's also possible that the .CDA files are just .WAV files. Try to rename the files to .WAV and see if the phone will digest them then. But still, .WAV files are huge (uncompressed). You won't be able to fit much music on your phone like that.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
CDA as in CD audio track? How did you end up with files like that? Are you trying to rip music from CDs? If so, you need to first convert them to some common audio format such as .MP3 or .WMA or .OGG or .M4A/MP4.



I just copied files from a CD. I did just now (googlating) found out I'll need to convert. Poop.
 
What format and bitrate did you end up converting it to?

I found that the eq in the built-in android player was actually introducing some background noise, although you can only hear it if you turn up the volume and there is a quieter passage in the audio material. That's where PowerAmp shines - its EQ processing seems to be a lot cleaner, although I typically keep it off. The only time I really use it is when I'm biking and I want to boost the bass some.


eq-2.jpg


eq-1.jpg
 
wma @ 192bps

What other formats will it play?

The media player doesn't go any higher than 192bps.

I found an equalizer app. Seems to work pretty good. I'll look for Power amp
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
wma @ 192bps

What other formats will it play?

MP3, AAC (MP4/M4A), maybe OGG also.

Quote:

The media player doesn't go any higher than 192bps.

192 kbps should be plenty for portable audio purposes. I use AAC at 125 kbps and my ears can't tell the difference.

If you want to experiment with other CD rippers/converters, you can try Foobar2000. Once you download the necessary encoders, you'll be able to convert audio to MP3, OGG, AAC, and other formats. But it takes a moment to figure out. Probably not as intuitive as Windows Media Player which is what I'm assuming you're using now. Nothing wrong with WMA @ 192 kbps though.
 
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