vB Easy Archive - music on 812SH?

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music on 812SH?
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Posted by: mrcrispin

So SoftBank upgraded me from a V801SH to an 812SH (and I didn't mind; the 812SH is a much better phone). So, I have no problem in getting my jpegs and midi ringtones on my new phone, but for the life of me I can't transfer music.

I read where it says that it has to be AAC files (so MPEG4, not MP3), the music files that I have are M4A files ripped by iTunes from CD (so no DRM). They transfer fine to the phone (either writing to the micro SD card directly, going through Bluetooth, or going through the bundled "Music Manager" software included with the phone). The phone also recognizes them as music files. But when I try to play them, the phone says "Cannot play."

As I said, these files don't have any DRM, and they play fine on my other devices. I did try a file that had DRM, and there was no change in behavior.

I'm stumped. Could it be because I'm not subscribed to S! Basic Pack?

Posted by: AL9999

No, S! Basic Pack has nothing to do with it. What are the characteristics of the music files you're sending? The 812SH can play files with a sample rate of 16 - 48 KHz, while bitrate has to be between 16 and 128 Kbps (96 and 128Kbps files must be in stereo or they won't work). VBR files aren't supported.

Posted by: mrcrispin

Quote:

Originally Posted by AL9999

What are the characteristics of the music files you're sending? The 812SH can play files with a sample rate of 16 - 48 KHz, while bitrate has to be between 16 and 128 Kbps (96 and 128Kbps files must be in stereo or they won't work). VBR files aren't supported.

As I said, they are files that I ripped from CD using iTunes on the Mac using the default settings. iTunes wrote .m4a files. As far as I know, they are 128K stereo files.

They play fine elsewhere: Mac, Windows, SoftBank X01HT, Nokia N800 Internet tablet, iPod, ... Just not on this phone.

The phone does some sort of validity testing of the data in transferring it, because if I change the extension to .mp4 and send the file it only goes part-way and then aborts. With the extension in the original .m4a, it transfers without problem but refuses to play.

Posted by: AL9999

Where you rip them from shouldn't matter - it's how the data is saved in the end that does. See if you can find out for sure what bitrate/sample rate they are, I'm sure iTunes has a prompt that tells you (I don't use it so don't know for sure).

I know Sharp phones are friendly with m4a files than mp4, although they're supposed to be capable of playing files with either extension.

Posted by: mrcrispin

I examined one of the files in question, and according to iTunes:

Kind: AAC audio file
Profile: Low Complexity
Size: 4.9 MB
Channels: Stereo
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44.100 kHz

The "cannot play" problem happens with all my m4a files, and it doesn't matter if the file is on the phone or on the memory card.

FWIW, it's "Tsubasa" by Honda Minako on the "Life" album, my favorite song by my favorite artist...

Posted by: AL9999

Ok no worries, so we've eliminated that as the problem.

Hmm, I'm at a bit of a loss here. Do you want to try ripping the CD using a different program maybe (if you can)? Or perhaps ripping them into MP3 first then converting to m4a just to see if they work?

Only other thing I can think of is, have you got the phone to complete the reprovisioning process? I'd say you would have because the phone bugs you to do it otherwise, but just in case... (you can't play music when reprovisioning isn't done).

Posted by: mrcrispin

Quote:

Originally Posted by AL9999

Ok no worries, so we've eliminated that as the problem.

Sir, you solved the problem! If you're ever in the Seattle area, look me up and I'll buy you a beer (and I mean real beer, not Budweiser or similar mass-produced rodent byproduct...).

For some reason, it hates files which were ripped directly to m4a by iTunes. So, following your suggestion, I ripped the song to MP3 in Windows Media Player on my laptop, then sent it to the Mac to be converted to m4a by iTunes and then off to the 812SH.

Worked like a champ.

Indeed, I thought that it might be a reprovisioning problem. Of course, I reprovisioned the phone as soon as I got it (and I had a nice strong SoftBank signal in Kawasaki). I wondered though if the phone had it disabled due to provisioning (after all, they have a history of disabling things like the camera, audio/video, 1seg, etc. without an active SIM), hence my question about S! Basic Pack. I'm glad to see that this is not the case.

Posted by: AL9999

Hehe no worries, glad we got it to work

I wonder what iTunes does to the files when they're directly ripped, very strange. Will have to find out one day...

Posted by: kaizoku_san

mrcrispin, totally unrelated, but I'm in Kawasaki as well