Walkman App - Music stored on external micro SD Card

[howden82]

I have the Xperia Tablet Z, 32GB version with WiFi only.

I have inserted a micro SD card, which i used the tablets settings section to format it.

I have a few apps that are using it to store their downloaded data such as:

A sat nav app - Maps Stored on micro SD - Working fine

Deezer - Synced tracks for offline play on Micro SD - Working fine

Inbuilt Camera App - Set to save photos on Micro SD - Working fine

Using Mac Bridge via USB i transfered some music from iTunes to the micro SD card, 

Using astro file manager i can view all the albums as MP3 files, and even selecting

indiviudual MP3 files i can get them to play back in the walkman app, one at a time. 

So everything is working, but the Walkman app is not showing any of the stored

music from the SD Card, only the six sample songs supplied with the tablet on the

internal memory.

I have tried recopying the music, i have restarted multiple times, the app just doesnt

seem to scan the external micro SD card at all.

Using astro file manager i moved a few albums to the internal storage and they then

showed up straight away in the walkman app. And as soon as i moved them back to

the SD card, they where gone again. 

Any Advice?

Steve,

[Rickard]

First make sure that you don't have a file called ".nomedia" stored on the SD-card. This is a hidden file so you need to set Astro to display hidden files/folders before checking.

If you don't have any file called .nomedia, try clearing data for the app called Media Storage under Settings -> Apps -> All and then restart the tablet.

[howden82]

Thanks for the quick response.

Intial check which i had already done once found no .nomedia file on the SD card, 

i have previously cleared the data from the app settings, did this again, with restart

and still no joy.

Looked again on SD card, this time into further unrelated folders and did find a

.nomedia file hidden in the deezer app data folder. Deleted this, cleared app data

again and restarted.

. . . . still no tracks.

I recall from past android devices that when you started up you always used to see

in the status bar something like "media checker scanning ext SD card" etc etc,

i have never seen this happen on my Xperia tablet Z, is that normal?

Thanks 

[Rickard]

You can have a .nomedia in folders that you want to hide but make sure there's not one in the root of the card or somewhere in the folder structure leading to your music.

Could you try reformatting the card and then transfer some music to it using Media Go and see what happens?

I've never seen any message about media scanning in my devices. I don't think we display any message about this. If you want to trigger a scan you could try a 3:rd party app for this like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.clypher.mediascanner.

[howden82]

I just tried that media scanner app, no joy there.

I have searched the internal memory of the tablet, and there are various .nomedia files on there, 

but none now at all on the external SD where the music is stored.

. . . is there a higher route than the primary list of what is on the external SD card that im not seeing?

ie Device>ExternalSD. . . ?

I will have to try formatting the card again later today, will post back any findings.

Thanks

[Rickard]

You don't need to look for a .nomedia above root of SD. Say you have all music stored in a folder called "music" on the SD-card you need to check that there's no .nomedia on the root of the card or anywhere in the folder/subfolders of "music".

If you have the same result after reformatting the card and using Media Go i recommend that you try updating/repairing the software in the tablet using PC Companion: http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/tools/pc-companion/

[howden82]

Ok latest findings, after formatting the micro SD Card, i moved an album from internal storage to the

freshly reformatted SD card, i created a folder on the SD card called music, and put it into there.

On opening the walkman app, that album had dispeared.

I then moved the album out of the folder i created call music, so the album folder was now at

top level on the micro SD Card.

This time it re-appeared in the Walkman app.

I have just tried this a few times now, the only successful way i seem to be able to get the

walkman app to see music on the external SD card is to first copy it to the SD card, and then

move it into the music folder on the SD Card.

As i use a mac, i am unable to try media go etc. The Mac bridge app by default transfers albums into

the music folder on external sd. So that seems to be why i couldnt get it to work originally.

My next plan is to buy another SD card and check if that helps for what ever reason. But at the minute

it seems to be something to do with how the Walkman app is searching the sd card.

[Rickard]

That's very strange. Moving to "music" directly should work fine.

Have you received the update to Android 4.2 so that you have the latest firmware?

[Mr_S1]

First of all Connect Ur Phone to the PC using MASS STORAGE from the Connectivity Options.

Move all of ur Data to the PC .. then Disconnect ur phone and Switch from (MSC) Mass Storage Mode to MTP(Media Transfer Mode .

Now connect ur phone again to the PC and MOve ur data back to ur phone .

THATS IT!! Album and Walkman will start working  ALWAYS USE THE MTP MODE..

[dosmanak]

Hi, have you tried little app scan media? It helped mě.