Database Develop

What keeps Android apps from looking into specific folders ? ((music/pics/vids))

There's been ongoing discussions for a long time about the best way to "hide" certain media to keep them from showing up in media players.
Every 3rd party App Ive dled for Music/Movies/Pictures has had the same issue of scanning all the media in the SD card.
Is this some inherent mandate in Android ? Or lazy dev programming ?
I have podcast apps that only pick up podcasts. NYC subway map app that only picks up its MAP images...
Yes open up any media player and I see all of these included with my media.
Obviously the function is in there

add a file called .nomedia and Android will not index that directory

The no media trick does not solve the problem.
Android apps are scanning the entire SD for media instead of letting you pick a default directory.
I want to know if this is an android OS problem or an app development problem.

xManMythLegend said:
The no media trick does not solve the problem.
Android apps are scanning the entire SD for media instead of letting you pick a default directory.
I want to know if this is an android OS problem or an app development problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i wouldn't call it a problem.. it's just the way the mediascanner works... it scans each directory on the sdcard for media files.
and both the gallery and music app relies on the system mediascanner to fetch pics/videos/music: it's called intended design
There is no way to set a default location for those apps.
3rd party apps can be developed for scanning predefined dirs at the developer's liking.
so for the stock apps the only option is the .nomedia file trick.
note that if u put the .nomedia into a directory, all the sub directories are going to be skipped too.

just rename the folder with a "." in front of the folder name, this makes it a hidden folder and the gallery and what not wont search it.

rastacre said:
well i wouldn't call it a problem.. it's just the way the mediascanner works... it scans each directory on the sdcard for media files.
and both the gallery and music app relies on the system mediascanner to fetch pics/videos/music: it's called intended design
There is no way to set a default location for those apps.
3rd party apps can be developed for scanning predefined dirs at the developer's liking.
so for the stock apps the only option is the .nomedia file trick.
note that if u put the .nomedia into a directory, all the sub directories are going to be skipped too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANK YOU !!
I somewhat figured this out when I saw this option in Doggcatcher.
This answers my question.

making a folder invisible doesn't help me.
I have ringtones in one folder and when I playback music, I don't want to hear ringtones.

hmmm is there anyway you can adb push the ringtones to the ringtone folder on the system? So you wouldn't need to have it in your sd card?

download MixZing music player. It will let you select which folder on the memory card to scan for music. Select music folder and your done. No more ringtones playback

This .nomedia trick dosnt work 100 percent. I placed it in my music folder and yes it makes the album covers disappear in the gallery but it also makes the music disappear from the music player. I can no longer scroll through artists, songs, etc from within the music player...
I am not running a rooted phone just the stock firmware with the latest Android update.
Hooligan

*Hooligan* said:
This .nomedia trick dosnt work 100 percent. I placed it in my music folder and yes it makes the album covers disappear in the gallery but it also makes the music disappear from the music player. I can no longer scroll through artists, songs, etc from within the music player...
I am not running a rooted phone just the stock firmware with the latest Android update.
Hooligan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^bump^
I have the same issue - I don't want to see album covers in the gallery, but I do want the music to show up in my music app - any ideas?
Thanks

.nomedia works 100% and does exactly what it says - NO MEDIA. That includes NO VIDEO, NO AUDIO, NO PHOTOS, NO WHATEVER. All system apps looking for media ignore the folder and all its subfolders.
If the album art is in a subfolder inside the album folder - put .nomedia inside that subfolder. If it's outside with the .MP3s - then .nomedia won't help you.

If you're having issues with album art, you could always embed the album art into the mp3/m4a with an app like dbpoweramp.

One more possible solution:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=4c95682562b36eca&hl=en

xManMythLegend said:
The no media trick does not solve the problem.
Android apps are scanning the entire SD for media instead of letting you pick a default directory.
I want to know if this is an android OS problem or an app development problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rastacre said:
well i wouldn't call it a problem.. it's just the way the mediascanner works... it scans each directory on the sdcard for media files.
and both the gallery and music app relies on the system mediascanner to fetch pics/videos/music: it's called intended design
There is no way to set a default location for those apps.
3rd party apps can be developed for scanning predefined dirs at the developer's liking.
so for the stock apps the only option is the .nomedia file trick.
note that if u put the .nomedia into a directory, all the sub directories are going to be skipped too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xManMythLegend said:
THANK YOU !!
I somewhat figured this out when I saw this option in Doggcatcher.
This answers my question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.... what? You argued with the first post, next post said the same thing, then you're thanking them??

r4zv4n said:
^bump^
I have the same issue - I don't want to see album covers in the gallery, but I do want the music to show up in my music app - any ideas?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, name the files right. AlbumArt.jpg

BTW, after putting the .nomedia, you will need to REBOOT the device for it to take effect and system media scanner will rescan after first start up.

I'm having trouble believing this is "by design" and adding .nomedia to EVERY FOLDER other than my music folder makes absolutely no damn sense... the other way around would make much more sense instead! ".media"
This issue has also been breaking my balls... I don't want my damn ringtones in my media library...

Kraion said:
I'm having trouble believing this is "by design" and adding .nomedia to EVERY FOLDER other than my music folder makes absolutely no damn sense... the other way around would make much more sense instead! ".media"
This issue has also been breaking my balls... I don't want my damn ringtones in my media library...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your ringtones should go into the following folder
/sdcard/media/audio/ringtones
And your notifications should go into the following folder
/sdcard/media/audio/notifications
Those folders are not scanned into your music library. There is no need for .nomedia files on those two folders, otherwise they will not show up in your notifications/ringtones list.
NOTE: /sdcard means your sdcard.... so on the root of your sdcard you should put a folder named media, then inside media folder you should put another folder called audio, and then the ringtones or notifications folder inside audio folder..... This should solve your issue.

zeus_chingon said:
Your ringtones should go into the following folder
/sdcard/media/audio/ringtones
And your notifications should go into the following folder
/sdcard/media/audio/notifications
Those folders are not scanned into your music library. There is no need for .nomedia files on those two folders, otherwise they will not show up in your notifications/ringtones list.
NOTE: /sdcard means your sdcard.... so on the root of your sdcard you should put a folder named media, then inside media folder you should put another folder called audio, and then the ringtones or notifications folder inside audio folder..... This should solve your issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works....Did this over a year ago when i first bought my N1...

[Q] Media Player Play list

I am trying to figure out how to backup my Samsung media player play list. Every time I flash a new ROM I loose my custom play list and have to redo it which is quite the pain.
I have tried creating a play list in Windows media player and syncing it to the phone along with my music. It copies over the play list file but media player does not recognize it. And I can not manually open the file.
I have also tried backing up the [PLAYLIST] Media Storage 21. and 2.2 in titanium backup. When restored it does not bring back the custom play list that I created.
I also poked around the file system and cant seem to find where Samsung stores the play list files at. Hoping that maybe someone else has had luck figuring this out. I have had this problem with stock, and cognition 1 and 2.2 ROM's.
Thanks in advance,

I haven't used it, but doubleTwist is something I recommended you look into.
Le link

FFJASON1 said:
I am trying to figure out how to backup my Samsung media player play list. Every time I flash a new ROM I loose my custom play list and have to redo it which is quite the pain.
I have tried creating a play list in Windows media player and syncing it to the phone along with my music. It copies over the play list file but media player does not recognize it. And I can not manually open the file.
I have also tried backing up the [PLAYLIST] Media Storage 21. and 2.2 in titanium backup. When restored it does not bring back the custom play list that I created.
I also poked around the file system and cant seem to find where Samsung stores the play list files at. Hoping that maybe someone else has had luck figuring this out. I have had this problem with stock, and cognition 1 and 2.2 ROM's.
Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I posted in one of the captivate forums - the playlists are stored in one of the databases - all music and media is listed in the data base and each playlist is stored in a table in the DB file.
The media scanner builds the DB and it includes the path to all the media. It should be possible to right a db script to build your own playlist or recreate one, but i have not had the time to look into it.
As for doubletwist - i found it very buggy, and more invasive then iTunes.

Thanks for the suggestion on double twist. I have read a little about it but was hoping to avoid a third party solution. I really like the native Samsung media player if I could only backup the play list.
I'll see if and how double twist works out. Does anyone know how to write a app / script to backup the play list file? That is way beyond my skills.

Keep ringtones out of music player

Seems the .nomedia file trick works for keeping ringtones playing in the music player as well. The android music player, like the gallery app, searches and plays EVERY peice of sound file available on the device's memory.
But, once .nomedia is placed in the ringtone folder, you're ROM cannot find the ringtones anymore!
Any solution to this? Why can't these smartphones be "smarter"? Hell, blackberries had this feature ages ago...

You're telling the OS there's no media in that folder, thus it stops looking for any media there. It's not hard to figure out. Despite not being tagged songs, the mp3 or files are still viewed as media.
Does the media player offer some sort of folder exclusion for its libraries? I never use anything but Pandora, so I wouldn't know.

FEGuy said:
You're telling the OS there's no media in that folder, thus it stops looking for any media there. It's not hard to figure out. Despite not being tagged songs, the mp3 or files are still viewed as media.
Does the media player offer some sort of folder exclusion for its libraries? I never use anything but Pandora, so I wouldn't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I understood that, but that's basically what I'm wondering - if there's an exclusion folder made specifically for ringstones/notifications. You'd think there would be, in fact, there HAS to be...

There is a way. Search the forums I know its been posted before I just can't remember how. Also, check your gallery thread, try that solution for music, may work.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

I don't know about how you're trying to set a ringtone, but try removing the .nomedia file and rename the folder with a period in front (if it's named ringtones, rename it .ringtones, etc.). That should still exclude the folder from libraries, but it still might stop it from being found by whatever method you're using to set the tone.
Also, if you feel like dicking around with the phone's internal media, the ringtones there are stored in /system/media/audio/ringtones/; you can probably add a file there and keep it excluded.

use a different media player. i recommend doubletwist.

I have my ringtones in media/audio/ringtones on my sd and none of them show up in my music player.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

hungmung said:
I have my ringtones in media/audio/ringtones on my sd and none of them show up in my music player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is strange because I do too and they show up in the stock HTC music player. quite annoying

GroovyGeek said:
that is strange because I do too and they show up in the stock HTC music player. quite annoying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use cm7 so I haven't tried the htc player in a while sorry
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

Make sure the folder is named exactly as above. I originally fogot the S on ringtones. Once I added it my ringtones no longer showed up in my stock music player.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

[Q] Music Playlist...Froyo, Apex 5.3

Hi guys......I've been using Apex 5.3 and I've noticed something......You make a playlist in your favorite music player and then reboot the phone, after the reboot and the media scanner, you check the playlist and there are no songs in the playlist!!..............I've notted that it just happens in Android 2.2 Froyo, when i was whit a GB ROM It didn't happen...... I would like to know if there is any way to avoid this!.....It's annoying making the same playlist a lot of times!!! I would appreciate you to Help Me
And....sorry for my bad English ...........If you don't understand my words tell me please I'm just learning and i'm from Mexico!! Greetings

I have similar issue with mixzing. Playlists are lost after flashing roms. Any suggestion on how to preserve my playlists

mansared said:
I have similar issue with mixzing. Playlists are lost after flashing roms. Any suggestion on how to preserve my playlists
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your playlist are usually saved on your sd card as a little file. You could back it up and re-open it after flashing a new ROM.
Might be different with different player tho, I haven't tested it. Just my though on it as I don't use playlist

Do you know where I can find this file???

caddi234 said:
Do you know where I can find this file???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually would be in a folder created by your music player (with the name of your music player). Although, like I mentionned, I don't use playlist so I'm not sure where they would be placed

I'm going to go ahead and mention this now:
This is an issue relating to the media scanner. It is not specific to any one application, phone, or ROM. I've done a ton of searching on Google for an answer, and it is obviously not restricted and seems to come from the media scanner. Winamp, Songbird, PowerAMP, Instinctiv, Android Music, etc... all seem to have this problem.
As far as I know, there is no fix. Your best bet is to get an app that will let you sync playlists from your computer, and sync regularly. If you use an app that saves playlists as .m3u, you can create a new folder called .NoMedia, and media scanner will ignore it, and thus, not try to update it. If your app does not create playlist files, your playlists are stored in a database file and you're really out of luck.
Please, if anyone knows of a fix, please help!

rmikulus said:
I'm going to go ahead and mention this now:
This is an issue relating to the media scanner. It is not specific to any one application, phone, or ROM. I've done a ton of searching on Google for an answer, and it is obviously not restricted and seems to come from the media scanner. Winamp, Songbird, PowerAMP, Instinctiv, Android Music, etc... all seem to have this problem.
As far as I know, there is no fix. Your best bet is to get an app that will let you sync playlists from your computer, and sync regularly. If you use an app that saves playlists as .m3u, you can create a new folder called .NoMedia, and media scanner will ignore it, and thus, not try to update it. If your app does not create playlist files, your playlists are stored in a database file and you're really out of luck.
Please, if anyone knows of a fix, please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only solution I've found is FLASHING A GINGERBREAD ROM...I haven't had problems about this in Gingerbread........But I think they are still a little unstables!! :S

I'm having the same problem with FroYo and PowerAmp on my Captivate but the problem only occurs when I unmount and re-mount the SD cards and then the media scanner runs. If I reboot on the phone normally the scanner leaves the playlists in tact.
If you're using PowerAmp there's actually a 2 different settings that fix this, under Advanced Folder options: No System Scan For Folders, and Create /MusicFolders. For the first one you just select which folders you want to exclude from the scanner, for the latter it creates said folder (on both SD cards) and then you need to move your music to the MusicFolders folder(s). I suppose the former is easier if you have your music spread out over both SD cards or just don't feel like moving your music underneath another subfolder. The trade-off to this is that you lose use of the System Library and can only use Folder Playlists.
I used the Create /MusicFolders option, moved all my mp3s under it, created a couple of playlists with a few songs each. Unmounted/re-mounted the SD cards and also rebooted the phone and let the media scanner run both times and the Folder Playlists were untouched. Hopefully there's a fix eventually but for now, I can live with cumbersome functionality of using only folders since I only use playlists and very rarely shuffle all the songs on my phone. Not having to spend a half hour recreating playlists is more than worth the tradeoff.

Basic question about stock music player.

I have thousands of music files on my SD card. The stock music player seems to only be able to access and read ( when in shuffle mode under tracks ) some of my songs , meaning the ones only under tracks heading in shuffle mode. A little bit of research made me believe that the reason only half of my songs are listed under tracks is that the rest are within sub folders on the SD card and not accessible under tracks to be played via the shuffle method.
Any ideas on what I need to do to make all my songs accessible for shuffle play?
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

I've just been extracting my albums to the desktop of my cpu. Then dragging and dropping the album folders to the SD card with my n4 plugged in.

if you dont keep your music in folders, then it will be easier for them to be read by all music players..
not very organized, but, at least all your songs are available all the time, with every player..

wase4711 said:
if you dont keep your music in folders, then it will be easier for them to be read by all music players..
not very organized, but, at least all your songs are available all the time, with every player..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically I would have to dump all music files into one folder. Breaking up all albums and folders?
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Nope.

10-K said:
Nope.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK put albums in one folder and not make sub folders within a folder?
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Sorry you are having such trouble.
My albums are each in their own folder loose on my SD card. Maybe this pic will help more.
You can see a rom, a pic, and the album folders

10-K said:
Sorry you are having such trouble.
My albums are each in their own folder loose on my SD card. Maybe this pic will help more.
You can see a rom, a pic, and the album folders
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically you don't have folders within those folders?
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Yes

Thanks guys.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

just remember, every music player handles files differently, so keep that in mind when you do that..
for me, I just dump it all on my sd card in a directory called music, and always play them randomly anyways, so there is never an issue with any player I use by doing that