New: Windows Media Audio v2 (MTP, PlaysForSure) plugin

[algol]

Hello and please forgive me for being quite late to the party but I have found out about this plugin only recently after it had been mentioned in a German thread within the main section.

So I've started using it together with my Samsung Galaxy Note (Android 2.3.6) and a 32bit WinXP environment (TC_8.0-betax).

After experimenting with it for a while I have to say that it works quite nicely overall but I also seem to have run into a few problems.

Copying data from the PC to the phone seems to work - and vice versa, also the time-stamps seem to be ok.

Problems arise when I try to - for instance - edit a newly copied text-file on the handheld and then try to re-read the directory on the PC. Instead of synchronizing both sides to the altered version the plugin / TC-Panel crashes and the only way to sort things out seems to unplug the USB-cable and reconnect the device physically before re-reading the phone.

Also some strange things may occur on the PC-side while the handheld is connected. For instance the audio-player "winamp" hangs and can only be terminated via task-manager. Sometimes it can be started again after unplugging the handheld device, at other times I had to re-boot the PC.

Also USB-access to an external harddrive connected via USB went to "very sluggish" after such a winamp-hang-incident (although I have no direct proof of the problem being connected to the hanging winamp), even a re-boot of the PC was no remedy while the handheld was still attached to the USB-cable. Only after re-booting with the handheld disconnected I could access the drive normally.

Since then I have avoided using the PC a lot while the plugin was still active. I only activated the plugin for copying data, then closed the tab showing the phone and disconnected the handheld after the copy process. With these precautions I have not encountered further troubles so far.

Btw, is 0.7-beta still the latest plugin version? I will keep trying and will report new problems / phenomena, should they occur.

greetings
algol

[ghisler(Author)]

Problems arise when I try to - for instance - edit a newly copied text-file on the handheld and then try to re-read the directory on the PC.

The plugin expects that nothing is changed in a folder while you are browsing it. Try refreshing the list with F2 or Ctrl+R before doing anything to the folder. If this doesn't help, try to disconnect the plugin, then reconnect via history (Alt+Cursor down).

Why is it cached? Without caching, it would be horribly slow. Also mp3 players usually don't allow the user to change anything while connected via USB.

Also some strange things may occur on the PC-side while the handheld is connected. For instance the audio-player "winamp" hangs and can only be terminated via task-manager.

Some mp3 players also access this Windows Media Audio interface, since it was originally written to access mp3 players! Apparently Winamp gets into troubles when another program accesses the player interface at the same time.

External harddisks are often also seen by this interface, so Windows Media Player can access mp3 players which connect with a drive letter. I guess that you see the same Winamp bug here as with the handheld.

[algol]

[Try refreshing the list with F2 or Ctrl+R before doing anything to the folder.

No effect here. Even closing the tab and re-accessing the handheld via "Network Neighbourhood" doesn't help.

Only remedy so far, AFAIK, is unplugging the handheld and physically reconnecting USB.

Would be nice if - in the future - F2 / Ctrl-R on the PC-side would work - and if someone did try to mistakenly alter the changed structure, an error message would pop up instead of crashing. The best solution, of course, would be auto-detection of any change followed by an automatic refresh but I understand that might be complicated to implement.

greetings
algol

[charly_35]

Thks for your great job.
I use mediaaudio2 plugin to access to my GT-I9100 device.
The fisrt level is "GT-I9100" and under this one I have 3 choices :
\\\MediaAudio2\GT-I9100\Card\
\\\MediaAudio2\GT-I9100\Phone\
\\\MediaAudio2\GT-I9100\RenderingInformation\

What could be the last one "RenderingInformation" ?
Rgds Charles.

[charly_35]

Is there a way to see hidden files and directories with MediaAudio2 plugin ?
Thks Charles.

[ghisler(Author)]

2charly_35
Sorry, no idea what this "RenderingInformation" folder is - the plugin is just listing what the device returns. The same is true for hidden/system files - if the device doesn't report them, TC can't see them.

[dott]

A WPD_FUNCTIONAL_CATEGORY_RENDERING_INFORMATION functional object describes what kind of media files the device is able to render. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd389061%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

I own a sgs2 (GT-I9100) and a sgsl (GT-I9003), the plugin works fine with both phones but IMHO there is not practical reason to use it, this phones can be connected to pc through mtp or mass storage, I prefer mass storage and real control over files but that's me, anyway using mtp the phones appears on 'Computer'(MyPC) as device with the same functionality of plugin.

Never own a mp3/4 player so I don't know about that.

[ghisler(Author)]

There is no need for using the plugin with devices which support Mass Storage. It's meant for devices which only support MTP (media transfer protocol) mode.

[algol]

There is no need for using the plugin with devices which support Mass Storage. It's meant for devices which only support MTP (media transfer protocol) mode.

Even for devices supporting mass_storage-mode I wouldn't dismiss this plugin/tool out of hand.

My Galaxy Note - for instance - has to be put into a special USB-mode for that purpose first, involving unplugging USB and re-connecting, once having entered mass_storage-mode, and - even more cumbersome -, while in this "special mode", all PDA/phone functions are temporarily disabled and all you get to see on the phone is an amber-colored "droid monster".

Sure, data transfer is quicker and more stable then and also the file-date will remain at its original value. So this is clearly the choice for large-scale file management.

But for a quick transfer of small data-files or even an "app" that can be directly installed from the - still active - phone/device afterwards, this plugin _does_ come in handy for simple communication with the phone, without interrupting its normal operation or the charging process.

So, please, Christian, do not under-estimate your work on your own project here and - hopefully - we will see an even more robust and enhanced 1.0-version of this plugin in the future.

greetings
algol

[bugmenot2]

Can you please add "background" button for transfer dialog?

[ghisler(Author)]

Unfortunately the functions don't seem to be thread-safe.

[siburny]

I have a small problem with this pluging: some directories appear as files with size 4096, so I can't browse them.

TC 8.0, latest plugin, Google Galaxy Nexus (i9250)

[fg_2002fr]

Hi Christian,

I'm using your plugin and it works very well under Windows XP (x32) with TC8. but I have some problems under Win7 (x64) with TC8(x64) with the same device.
it starts to copy files but freeze and all I can do is terminate TC8.

[ghisler(Author)]

2siburny
Cannot reproduce. I'm just showing what the OLE interfaces report. Can you browse the same device in Explorer?

2fg_2002fr
What device?

[fg_2002fr]

What device?

it's a smartphone (Samsung wave II).