Incredible as a Music Player

[Contempt]

Not sure where this topic fits, but I think it is deserving of it's own thread.

I moved most of my music to my DInc and use it pretty much exclusively as my portable music player. I have an Ipod and a Zune HD and feel both devices are superior to the DInc as a music platform, however neither answer calls or surf the web quite as well as my DInc and I don't feel like carrying several devices wherever I go so I will suffer lesser performance for the "all in one" that the DInc can deliver.

I believe that while the DInc is inferior to other popular music devices as a music player, it has serious potential to be better than it is.

- Software upgrades
- Apps geared towards music and audio control
- Accessories
- Increased Memory
-The built in FM radio is often overlooked

So to start off. I would like to post some of the upgrades I have made to enhance my Incredible for music playback. I would love to hear other peoples setups and tweaks.

-Most of my music is MP3 and compressed to a bitrate of 128 (for space)

-I use "3" as my default player. I love the user interface.

-I use "Music Junk" app to download MP3's (that I own of course!)

-Shazam is awesome to tag new songs

-Radio apps I use: Pandora, Last.FM, and XiiaLive Lite is awesome!

-I use 2 pairs of headphones (earbuds are my preference)

Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 (ultra compact bluetooth earbuds)

Klipsch Image S4 (corded earbuds - sound great)


.... and in closing I would LOVE someone to write a Graphic Equalizer app for droid. Believe or not there aren't any I could find that were worth a damn.

 

[ikediggety]

-I use 2 pairs of headphones (earbuds are my preference)

Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 (ultra compact bluetooth earbuds)

have you noticed a difference in audio quality between the bluetooth headphones and the corded ones? i've heard a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that the dinc sounds better over bluetooth.

 

[Contempt]

Yes there is a difference, but in my case the corded s4's sound better than the bluetooth.

I think it is all based on headphones and not the DInc. My corded Klipsch have much better bass than the bluetooth Sony, but my Bluetooth set sound better than some of the cheaper corded sets I had laying around. In fact, each set of earphones I tried sounded different which is to be expected, but the difference in some cases were huge. I think it's going to be a issue of trial and error. Hopefully more people will post their successes on this thread and save other people the pain of learning the hard way.

If I were stuck on an island and only had one set of earbuds. I would hope it was the klipsch s4's. They sound good in every device I have tried cord be damned. I have 2 pair of them. The s4 and the s4i which I bought for my last phone.

Some ability to modify audio settings and a good EQ would go a long long way to get the perfect sound on the DInc. I would love to see it in a future software upgrade.

 

[Tommy360]

I was wondering if there was an EQ app myself.....

 

[ShadowFX]

I use mine to listen to music all day at work and was also wondering if anyone else experiences the horrible shuffle mode? It seems it plays the same songs over and over. I am using just the stock music player...what better ones are there?

 

[winstonoboogie]

As soon as I bought MixZing, the Incredible became my primary player, though I do still use my Clip+ for the gym because of its size (and the fact that it cost $35 compared to $170). You're not really very specific in what you don't like about the Incredible's music capabilities. I also own a Cowon S9, so that is my basis for comparison. Its EQ and format support are vastly superior to the Incredible's, but MixZing still does a helluva lot of things right. For one, the ability to add albums to a central Now Playing queue is huge. It also works great with my vehicle's bluetooth and comes with pretty good widgets. I'm looking forward to a future release which will add bookmark support for podcasts and audio books.

So, in the end, I just wish I could play my FLACs on the Incredible and have a bit more control over the EQ. Besides that, it works great for my music needs. Since we're talking earbuds, too, I use the Shure SE310s.

 

[freddyttt]

I use radiotime...... it kicks major azz.

 

[ChiTownJim]

I use it as my main music player, but my problem is no EQ (even my LG Dare had one and had better sound quality) , low volume compared to other music players

But considering it has all the great apps tied into it it's fantastic. FM Radio, Internet Radio Options etc...

I was really hoping it would have a good EQ program

 

[mrspeedmaster]

My concerns with music playback is how the stock and 3rd party players deal with Album art and playlist.

I've isolated my problem and it is something that is a major defect in the software: the music database (the sqlite3 database on the device) eventually gets corrupted. This problem is reproducible if you change playlists a lot and swap out microSDHC cards.

I have a about 30-40 playlists that I swap in and out of my DINC. When I plug the phone into the SDK debugger, I can see where it trips. It can't write to the specified paths; read the corrupted database,if the file name has a weird character, or long spaces, the apps can't write the thumbnail or store the data in the system's database. Sometimes when I play a track, it won't read the ID3 tag and display the correct meta-data, it will try to fetch it from the internal database. I suppose they do this to make the app feel faster and scroll through the tracks faster.

If you copy a folder of music and leave-it at that, you will be OK. But if you want to use the DINC like an iPod (changing out music all the time), forget it. If you want to avoid my problems I mentioned, it is best to format the card, copy the file into different directories so the software will re-write to the database. But it gets tiring to make folders: music_071010, music_060510, music_080110. If you're like a normal person, you would try to have just one folder called "Music" on your SD card. Unfortunately, it will get corrupted.

HTC just needs to hire better programmers. This applies to 3rd party app developers like: MixZing, Zimly, Doubletwists, etc..

Or, I propose HTC does something very simple... Have an option in the menu of the player to flush/reset the music database cache. HTC engineers, are you reading this??? I just want reliable, consistent working album art.

 

[Contempt]

Never said there was anything I didn't like about the Incredible as a music player, just that music players like the ipod, sansa, or zune are obviously better for Music Playback as that is their primary function. They sound better, in most cases play multiple file types, have more tools, and have more support as a music platform.

I think the Incredible has nothing but potential. I already use it for all my portable music and will never go back to a stand alone music player when I can have all of my media needs in one small package.

I would like to see more attention paid to this aspect of the Incredible is all. Hence the reason for my post.

We definitely need more control of the DInc's audio controls and an EQ would work miracles.

I know the DInc is a phone before it is anything else, but there is room for many aspects of this smartphone to improve and music player is one of them.

It's my opinion that the Incredible is the best smartphone currently available. Add a few more bells and whistles and it would become a fast fact. This phone has space and processing speed to spare.

I love my DInc.

 

[sabrewings]

I want a way to scroll through albums like I could on my EnV Touch...

In general, I miss the music app on that phone altogether. The DInc just doesn't do it as seemlessly.

 

[Excedio]

Has anyone tried Slacker Radio? I like it quite a lot, probably more so than Pandora. The reason being is that Slacker stays on my genre better than Pandora and because it's always free. However, there is an ad every so often, but they are few and far between.

Located 3 (a.k.a. cubed) finally, and it looks pretty sweet.

 

[Excedio]

Also, how is everyone setting up their music directories? Meaning how is everyone getting their album art?

 

[sabrewings]

Also, how is everyone setting up their music directories? Meaning how is everyone getting their album art?

All of my MP3's have integrated album art. It just reads it right out of the MP3 itself.

 

[ChiTownJim]

Also, how is everyone setting up their music directories? Meaning how is everyone getting their album art?

I use album art grabber believe it was $1 or $2 and it's fantstic, and about 90% accurate on album art.
There are a couple songs in my library that are way off but most are perfect

 

[Excedio]

All of my MP3's have integrated album art. It just reads it right out of the MP3 itself.

Hmmm...this sounds like the option for me. Now to figure out how to do this is mass...

I have all the art for my songs already.

 

[Contempt]

I used the album art grabber in 3 aka cubed =)

Of all the players I have tried, this one has been the best so far and gets better all the time.

 

[brandnewfunk]

I use 2 pairs of headphones (earbuds are my preference)

Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 (ultra compact bluetooth earbuds)

Klipsch Image S4I (corded earbuds - sound great)

I'm looking to purchase the Image S4 or S4i earbuds. Do the ControlTalk buttons on the S4i's work with your DInc? If so, is there full functionality (volume, play/pause, forward/back, accept a call)?

Or do these controls only work with the iPhone?

 

[yojoe600]

i like my altec lansing backbeat 903 for bluetooth music and i use slacker all the time since it plays music i like... i use my Dinc over my ipod bc of slacker and it does everything

 

[martirw]

Any way to fix the crappy shuffle it really has to.be the worst shuffle I have ever used

 

[Contempt]

I'm looking to purchase the Image S4 or S4i earbuds. Do the ControlTalk buttons on the S4i's work with your DInc? If so, is there full functionality (volume, play/pause, forward/back, accept a call)?

Or do these controls only work with the iPhone?

I am glad you asked me that. I had not thought to post it. Not all the s4i functions work with the DInc. I bought them for my previous phone. They will let you answer a call but the mic doesn't work. I use them because I keep my phone in a belt case and by the time I pull it out I usually miss the call. heh

My original post should have read Image s4 instead of the s4I. My intention was that people using a corded set would like them. I have both and use the s4i occasionally so I accidentally posted the s4I. (I edited it so that it will not mislead anyone).

So in summary, buy the Image S4. The s4i are buggy on droid. Hopefully they can fix it somehow or make a set dedicated to droid.

I can confirm all the functions on the Sony HBH-IS800 work with the DInc, but it has fewer functions.

 

[mo25]

128 bit quality will sound like shit even on headbuds. You need at least 320 kbps to get some decent sound quality. I'm waiting for android to support FLAC and for gods sake a freakin EQ. An EQ will DRASTICALLY change the SQ in your INC.

I"m really suprised that after almost 2 years of being on the market the EQ problem still hasn't been solved and FLAC still isn't supported.

 

[sillyrabbitt123]

why no music search within the app. thats what hate and wish it had. i add new files everyday and then when i am done with one then i want to go to the next one i need to

press the three lines on the left of the music player, then press the music note then finally scroll down to where the file is.

I have tried gesture but it doesnt bring up the file perfectly either maybe because the file has a date in them.

not sure a quick and easy way to get to the audio file i need without all the steps!

 

[mozetti]

128 bit quality will sound like shit even on headbuds. You need at least 320 kbps to get some decent sound quality. I'm waiting for android to support FLAC and for gods sake a freakin EQ. An EQ will DRASTICALLY change the SQ in your INC.

I"m really suprised that after almost 2 years of being on the market the EQ problem still hasn't been solved and FLAC still isn't supported.

The player AndLess is what I use to play FLACs. It's basic, but it does what I need it to do.

 

[makewayhomer]

the doubletwist app would be perfect except it wont read music from both the SD card and the internal storage, which is a dealbreaker