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Thunderbolt as a music player

R

Red Devil

Well-Known Member
How good is the Thunderbolt likely to be as a music player? I have a iPod Touch that I use pretty frequently and I was thinking of selling it once the Thunderbolt comes out.

How good are the Android devices in general when compared to the iPhone, iPod Touch etc when it comes to playing music?
 
I used to use my OG Droid all the time as a music player with MixZing (local files), Pandora, and Subsonic (streaming from my home server). It's awesome.

I don't see why the TB will be any different.
 
They are not as good and even I can say this without ever owning a android device or i'product. Just depends on how much of a stickler you are about album art and how used to the apple player you are.

Will you be able to play all the music you own on the TB? Sure. Quality I cant comment on because I have no clue. Also pay attention to how much space you will need for all your music. The TB will have 40gb total space. Thats TOTAL so think about photos/video's/misc. stuff that will also be filling that space. If ur a music freak you might wanna have both devices. If not, im sure the TB will work fine.
 
My Dinc and now my DX have made GREAT music players.... one of the main things I use them for. Wouldn't think about having a secondary MP3 player (I loathe apple so would NEVER own an i-anything). Mixing has a very nice EQ. Yeah, the album art gets messed up, but I don't care much. Main thing I dislike is losing all of my playlists if I ever want to revert back to stock, etc.
 
I primarily use the iPod Touch for streaming music, playing the odd game or two and for watching movies on flights. I am no connoisseur of music and I'd be pretty happy with a decent performance. The kickstand on the phone is something that I see myself using a lot especially while watching movies on flights.
 
I really see zero reason for using an ipod touch or any other mp3 when our phones will do that just as well IMHO. I like having everything in one unit too. Just a no-brainer for me personally I guess. I can be listening to music, browsing the web, taking a phone call, texting, on FB, etc.... on one device. No too shabby.
 
I currently have a two and a half year old feature phone that just about makes calls (if I get lucky with AT&T) and receives texts. Once I get the Thunderbolt, I plan to offload the iPod Touch.
 
I think I am gonna go against the wind here and disagree with some of the comments that have been made. Will it be a good music player? Sure. But, if you are an iTunes user like I am, then Android products just don't make good mp3 players for the sole reason that they can't play songs bought on iTunes. Is this their fault? No. From what I hear, Apple encrypts their songs or something like that so they can't be used outside of Apple products...but my point still stands.

There are apparently apps that will convert all your iTunes songs into straight up mp3 files, but in my experience, they take so long! Not my favorite thing to deal with.
 
Android plays all formats that an iPod does except for those laden with DRM, and those haven't been sold on the iTMS for quite some time.

I own an iPod, I use Macs, I drag and drop my iTunes music directly to my Evo. Tried doubletwist, yeah, works great, but drag and drop is better.

I use the Meridian player, most prefer the RockPlayer. Check those out if you're having trouble playing aac or m4a files on your phone.
 
Whats nice is if you get an app like music junk (free music search) and PowerAmp your set. I keep all my songs on my sdcard so all i do is download the song then play it in poweramp. I liked my phone (lg ally) as a music player better then the iPod as its easyer to manage my music and dont have to plug into a computer all the time. Not to mention im personally against carrying 2 devices at once lol.

Poweramp can be found in the market for free (its a trail) it has settings like EQ and LockScreen widgets. WinAmp for android is also okay.

So all these + thunderbolt = greatness
 
Mitchell4500 said:
I keep all my songs on my sdcard so all i do is download the song then play it in poweramp.
Click to expand...

I think this brings up a great point for me. I'm kind of and organization freak with media files of all types on my computers, and as a soon to be be first-time smart phone owner (TB) I am interested in learning best practices with file and app management. Music is something I was hoping to load on to TB. I am interested to know if others load their music files on sdcard or directly on your Androids. Are there advantages/disadvantages to either one?

Dan
 
By default, your music will go to the SD card; it's your data store.

When you plug an Android into your PC via usb, you mount the SD card as you would a thumbdrive.
 
I love music subscription services (Mog is my favorite), and I listen to them several hours a day at work. One of the reasons I'm so excited about getting an LTE phone is that Mog has said they offer higher bitrate streams for LTE. Their sound quality is already decent, so I'm looking forward to it sounding even better with the Thunderbolt. (This is also a reason I'm nervous about tiered data plans coming: I use 4 to 5 Gb a month mostly because of Mog, and with the higher bitrate for LTE I'm sure that will go up.)

Right now I still have an iPod Touch because IMO it has better sound quality than my Incredible. It's not a huge difference, but enough to be noticeable. I'm hoping that won't be true of the Thunderbolt, and then I can sell my iPod Touch, but we'll see.
 
The Snapdragon has always had very god sound and then finally exploited with rooted apps that allow adjustment of the DSP. The newer Snaps are reportedly even better, but I have not listened to one through headphones.

The one issue is the space on the TB. I would have expected 16gb internal. Sure, they are shipping with a 32gb, but there is 8gb max space less, regardless (lot less tunes).

My one year old Inc has the same total space and I am tapped out. A few movies, mp3s, neogeo roms, PSX roms, other game system roms, Android app data, etc- takes up space.

Still wild that the N900 shipped with 32gb. I had that loaded with a 32gb micosd as well (64gb total). Shame Nokia screwed the software side up.

added:

Some may think HTC is weird sometimes, but Nokia are kings of being nuts.
 
Naturally, the default player isn't anywhere near the ease of use as an ipod since that's not its main function, but it isn't bad. The only reason that I still keep my ipod is that I have an adapter in my car that I can control it with my stereo controls. I haven't seen anything that will allow you to do that with an android. So if you are used to using your ipod in your car or home stereo you may be disappointed by having to plug it into a 3.5 mm jack instead of the ipod accessory.
 
I plan on using it for some music, just so I dont have to lug my Zune around, but the Zune will still be my main music device.
 
jayishere said:
Why would you throw out a camera? unless you had a very low end point and shoot, no cell phone can compete with a moderate to high end one
Click to expand...

OK, not literally into the trash. They're still around here somwhere in a drawer or something. I think the DInc takes great snapshots, I'm no professional photographer.
 
I stopped using my ipod when I got my Incredible . With root and DSP manager along with PowerAMP music player I believe my Incredible has better sound and with a total 0f 38gigs of space I have over 20gigs of music on my phone . Plus I stream with Bluetooth all the time and it works perfectly . My only thing I have an issue with is that it's just one device so if obviously when a phone call comes in it stops the music . It's one reason why I am strongly considering keeping my Incredible to use as a home music player or getting a tablet with bluetooth

In the car and at the gym I love it and hands free calling along with wireless music is awesome

I also didn't even consider replacing my Digital Camera when it broke 6months ago because while not as good as the digital camera my Incredible takes great photos for what I use it for and the dual LED flash takes great night and lowlight shots

The thunderbolt I expect to be on par or more then likely slightly better in all areas
 
Heck, I recently got a 64gb iPod. Fits most of my tunes, tons of apps and is smaller than my Inc. Great music player (A4 has great audio funtion), but would not consider an iPhone- too much of a constraint for functionality. My Inc and iPod are the odd couple.
 
The only problem I have with using a cell phone as a music player is I use my MP3 player for working out and develop quite a sweat. As often as I've had to deny warranty claims to iPhone users for water damage, I dare not subject my phone to any moisture, and lets face it sweat is probably more corrosive than plain water. I have a set of bluetooth headphones, but the sound quality is not there yet as compared to a corded set of headphones, and this is with a $200 set of bluetooth headphones (jaybirds).
 
I've already planned that when the Thunderbolt finally comes out, i'll sock away the cash to replace my Incredible's broken screen and turn it into a wifi-only music player *laughs* I prefer to have a separate battery supplementing my music needs so that I dont run down my pocket-internet and phone capabilities.
 
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