realnig

The title says it all.
Why, oh why, the default android music player cannot simply play all files from a folder?
Why am I asking ? Because I like the default player VERY MUCH, even though there are many users who say it's no good at all. It seems ergonomic, customizable, and above all, well integrated into the system. Needless to say, many Android users are looking for this feature, which for me is a show-stopper (yes, I know about media libraries, media centers, ID3 tags and stuff, but still, the files are kept in folders, either we want it or not, and we are still bound by this).

Could someone knowledgeable (maybe an Android developer) please help me in answering this question?
I'm not expecting answers about workarounds (.nomedia files), about why I want this feature (because that's how i got used to store, sort and use my media files, that's why), about different alternative apps (for the moment I tried all of them - well, almost - and I kept only Player and Astro Player. Some of them are unbelievable - they allow so-called folder playlists, but they don't allow selecting the folders at will. Or you cannot easily go to the ongoing playlist, or weird stuff like this).

I just want to know if it's politics, or it's just an overlooked feature that will be implemented in next releases.
Thank you all !
PS I've been on Android for a couple of weeks and loving it!

Last edited by realnig; January 17th, 2011 at 06:44 PM.

sitlet

Media players have been designed to work based on id3 tags for years now. You if you want to play certain files, make a playlist, it takes about 30 seconds. If you want to play a whole album, you can sort your files by album and play it that way. If you want to play a whole artist, you can select only that artist.

hanseric

Just to chime in here that this is the EXACT issue I'm having. I have CD. I put CD in drive. Drag Music to Android (EVO 4G) and plop it into newly created folder with title of said music. Dismount EVO from PC. Seek newly imported music. Nada! Bupkis!

Why is this so hard? All the other core functionality in the Android is, for the most part. Of all things to make complicated: music?

Would very much like to understand this issue as well.

Meanwhile it would also be nice to have a workaround whereby I can load up a CD or two without having to sync iTunes (which I'm not using) to some other player. Just want to take an audio CD (sometimes it's not music--sometimes it's audio book or a lecture) and play on my phone. That is all. Such a simple request.

sitlet

ummm, you do know you need to RIP the music right? You cant just drag the files from an audio cd onto something else.

realnig

Thank you all for the answers. The question here is rather why this feature was not included in the stock application. My feeling is that the requirements were so. Why?
Do I expect to see this future in the future or not?

kflo01

two apps I know of can play folders

1) Poweramp....free for 15 days then you have to pay 4.99 for the full verison

2) Which I use
BoomBoxoid Music Player HQ


No where near as pretty as the stock music player nor Poweramp but does what you want it to do and that is play folders.

Demache

I've never used a phone that could play by folder. Of course, maybe its a dumbphone feature? My Nokia E63 couldn't (you could get apps that could, but the stock one couldn't), my Blackberry Pearl couldn't, and neither can my Eris. All smartphones of varying ages.

If you need this functionality, make a playlist if it can't be organized the way you want automatically. I just can't really imagine why you would need this functionality.

Rob_A

I use mixzing. You can specify folders for it to always look in or play certain folders right from the main menu.

I sure with stock player had these features.

mshine67

Maybe we listen to LOTS of different kinds of music, and its gonna take a lot longer than 30 sec to sift through all the song on my droid. Why not just have the ability to play the whole folder, you've already sorted them into. Now you know why.

JohnieK84

I think this should be included in music players, because look at it this way, I am constantly adding new songs to a certain folder ie. Trance 2011, and making a new playlist for 5-6 songs everytime can be a PAIN and has to be done through winamp, diverting you from simply dragging and dropping.
I could never understand why my X10 being so clever could not just let you do this, as where my W850 and W910i, you could simply play everything in a folder and not worry about genres crossing over through a shuffle.
Now it's not amajor problem just an oldskool remedy to the id3 smartass idea.

Last edited by JohnieK84; February 15th, 2011 at 08:26 AM.

kflo01

I agree it makes me VERY mad that the stock music player cannot do folder. I have my music setup by genre in folders and thats how I like to play it. I am old school. I dont want to do things by ID3 tags.
Plus I am the type of person I want to use whats stock on the system/phone first before adding a 3rd party app. The stock player looks great and is easy to use. Its just missing this one thing which is HUGE, a deal breaker for me. So I am using Poweramp now which is also awesome in its own right and plays via folders if you want it to.

cswake

Can Poweramp create playlists from folders?

Usta

The lack of folder playback in default music player is for me the primary reason for not using it. It's like it is missing a major feature!

Now I use alternative players like PowerAMP (paid) or MortPlayer (free).

byrnesasylum

Late reply I know but I've just joined this forum.
Double Ditto to posts above! I also prefer to organise my music myself without the help of mispelt tags created by anonymous dislexics! Many of my old vinyl rips don't have tags coz I can't be bothered and I prefer folder navigation anyway. Android 2.1 and 2.2 music players actually do have folder view (scroll top toolbar to left to expose folders button), but Android 2.3 seems to have dropped it! What the - who deletes essential functionality from a software upgrade!!!

Adauth

Yes. PowerAmp is the best music player on the market. Alot of people agree. Just check out the reviews.

chanchan05

LOL. Stock music player CAN play folders. If you are using TouchWiz stock that is. I am seriously finding new stuff in the stock TouchWiz player that has similar features as many third party apps. LOL.

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gero34

Hi, I tried to post on this thread but was bounced out as a newbie. I had to post something in the 'introduce yourself' section before being able to post here. Anyhoo, I am here now. I create a lot of my own audio recordings --

• I am a PhD student and record interviews with research participants
• I record lectures/seminars
• I record myself rehearsing academic presentations to see if I am interesting and coherent enough not to punish my audiences
• I have a pet parrot and like to record him (awww -- I am a big softie at heart)
• I am teaching myself piano (painful!) and like to record my efforts to see if I am getting any better (nope but I am enjoying it anyway and the parrot sings along so what the heck)
• Several of my friends are in bands and I like to record their performances (which are way better than anything I can do I hasten to add)
• I write comedy scripts as a hobby and like to record performances of my scripts and audience reactions to see where I am going right/wrong
• I have transferred old radio comedy across from cassette to my laptop and am building up an archive of 'comedy through the ages'
• I enjoy radio documentaries and have built up my own archive of old docs from previous decades and from around the world or 'docs through the ages' (I am one of those nerdy types who enjoys 1970s documentaries -- no, I don't go on many dates... how did you guess?)
• Apart from this, I also enjoy a wide range of music from around the world and have compiled my recordings into one archive of MP3s from all sorts of original formats

I keep my sound archives on my laptops (x2) and backed-up to disk. I carry around a changing selection of files on my phone and tablet. It is easiest for me to manage all this stuff if I do so in folders.

Because my stuff is in folders I need to have an audio player that plays by folder. Android Music Player does not do this. I found a free app called Music Folder Player on the market and it does the job well.

The original question was why did Android not have this built in? I think Android was developed to support passive consumption of products (e.g. downloading music to a phone). Now that tablets (and phones) are more sophisticated it is reasonable to try creating content on them (although I still find phones screens too small to edit on and even tablets are fiddly so I am not giving up my laptops yet!) I think Android will start to support people like me (and the original poster) who create content. Does that mean JellyBean will support playing audio by folder? We'll have to wait and see.

Hope this helps. Best wishes, Gero34

chanchan05

Samsung stock player can play folders.

Another option is to just label everything in a folder with an iD3 tag for albums or whatever tag your music player can see.

Or just get another music player. I seriously can't see the issue as to why you have to get rant mode over this. Just download an app.

Rustamus82

Totaly agree with realnig! And now if you turn feature view as folder in stock player then it shows all folder and subfolders in your face! And not like normaly you open main folder and there you can shoose some that you want - no! instead of 100 main folders it will show 600 ! If I knew that SGS2 will works this way, would never by this phone!


I do not want install 3d part player or so and don't want to maintain any playlists! Is that hard to understand?

PS. PDA:LP7 / Phone:LPS / CSC:LPH (XEH) ice cream 4.0 (and above)

Last edited by Rustamus82; May 15th, 2012 at 12:49 PM.

chanchan05

The main reason for having a smartphone is if it does not perform as well as you like it, download an app.

Or are you going to tell me that you still use MS Paint for photo editing not Photoshop on your PC? Same thing.