Wifi android device synching

[MrVain712]

Hey @all,

this Video helps me with Android 14: Youtube

This is important:
Fix If you don't see it the miexplorer stuff when the menu opens
go to settings ->components ->scroll down ->Turn document provider on, all done.

[Ephoras]

Amazingly the video provided by @MrVain712 helped, thanks for that.

But for Phones without an SD Card it's a bit more  work than in the Video.

After I installed the Mixplorer app (paid form the store, no idea about the description version) i had to do the following:
1. Turn on the Document provider from the Mixplorer settigs
2. Long click on my Music folder in Mixplorer and use the menu to add it to "Home"  and to Favorites (i think home is enough but i did both at the same time so not quite sure which one worked.)
3. restart my phone
4. start Musicbee wifi sync and klicked on sync. Now i had a menu icon on the top left (was not there before the restart and activation of document provider)
5. klick directly on music form the provided mixplorer Options and add it as a folder.

This worked on my Pixel 6A with Android 14 and the patched apk from two pages back.

[sibilla6]

Thanks for the guide, I was able to sync it but how do I sync back playcounts? I let a song play with PowerAmp, tried syncing again and my MusicBee playcount number didn't change.

[sibilla6]

I have both PowerAmp and GoneMad purchased and neither work with Wifi-Sync to update playcounts. Playing songs in PowerAmp does nothing, the app doesn't detect any changes at all. It's as if I haven't played anything.

For GoneMad, the app gives me an error message, saying "unable to retrieve statistics from GonaMad player", implying I have the non-unlocked version. The thing is, modern GoneMad doesn't use the unlocker anymore, you have to make an in-app purchase to get the full version, which makes me think that Wifi-Sync is outdated and can't work with the current GoneMad version.

I don't understand why this is so hard for MusicBee. Wired syncing for playcounts was standard in iPods in the mid 2000s, why is it so difficult for this software to do the same? I'm considering switching to MediaMonkey since they do have this feature but I'd rather stick with MB since the desktop client is near perfect. A lot of you may point out LastFM to me but that website is a while another can of worms that will reset all my MB playcounts and it has a bunch of problems if I have custom tags. I just want a proper local solution.

[phred]

I don't understand why this is so hard for MusicBee.

MusicBee is developed by one person. He has a life outside of MusicBee. He doesn't get paid for anything he does with MusicBee. MediaMonkey and Apple have many people on staff to develop and maintain their products. And they get paid.

If you wanted to take over the plugin's development and maintenance, Steven would probably make the source code available.

[frankz]

I don't understand why this is so hard for MusicBee.

Here's the source: Go for it sibilla6! Show us how not hard it is.
https://github.com/mayallst/MusicBeeWifiSync

[sibilla6]

Cute, but I graduated in a completely different field so it's not like I can actually contribute. All I can do is point out the flaws which have been around for 15 years so yes, it is frustrating.

I found a solution by the way, using an older version of GoneMad seems to have done the trick, but I had to buy the app twice (because the deprecated unlocker is a different purchase) so excuse me for wanting to vent.

Edit: GoneMAD version 3.3.17, just in case anyone else needs it.

[Xeknos]

To be fair, this isn't really Steven's fault. His wifi program worked great when using SD cards. The issue appears to be that most modern smartphone manufacturers have decided to move away from expandable SD card storage, and that android has apparently made accessing system files an absolute nightmare - even if you grant the sync program permission to access local storage, android throws a lot about it trying to access local memory. This is an android access control problem, not a Steven problem.

The solution would appear to be to allow the user to define which folder that wifi sync will uses, as the program is hard coded to require the folder to be in the phones root folder while android throws a fit a out "protecting privacy."

[phred]

Cute, but I graduated in a completely different field so it's not like I can actually contribute. All I can do is point out the flaws which have been around for 15 years so yes, it is frustrating.

There's nothing to gain by pointing out flaws that are out of Steven's control. As Xeknos, others, and myself have pointed out, the issue is because Google wants total control of where its OS can put files.

[sibilla6]

Excuse me for being skeptical, but I don't think the app being broken with the current version of GoneMAD is Google's fault, considering the old version works fine. PowerAmp's problem was also known at least since August (https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=39776.0) and the poor guy who reported it barely got any attention. As for the file permission thing, I don't have enough expertise to say how important the hardcoded requirement of a root folder is, but considering the fact that there is a workaround using Mixplorer I don't believe it's completely "out of Steven's control".

So I'm going to have to hard disagree on the your belief that "there is nothing to gain" from bringing these up. My suspicion is that this isn't getting much priority because the LastFM plugin exists, but please understand that that method is not a viable option for all of us.

[frankz]

The Android permissions issue is different from the issue you are complaining about.

The issue isn't "getting much priority" because Steven doesn't want to deal with it, as is his right.  Having created a plug-in to Wifi Sync doesn't lock him into maintaining it through whatever changes the developers of GoneMAD and PowerAmp decide to make to their apps in perpetuity.  He made the code available to anyone who is inclined to take that on.

It's not a great situation for those who rely on that functionality, but it is what it is and complaining about it only irritates people, which I think is what phred was talking about.

Your options are to hope someone takes on maintenance of the app for free out of the goodness of their hearts, pay a coder to keep the app updated for you personally, or figure out whatever configuration you need to jerry rig to make Last.fm viable.

I use the Last.fm option.  If you don't care about last.fm stats on last.fm (matching their releases), then your tagging has nothing to do with whether it will work for you or not. MB sends the title, artist and album as you have them in your tags and then matches the plays back to those exact versions in your library (this is why I am so adamantly against the wishlist post that wants to change this - it would destroy this core functionality).  There is no issue there.

It will reset your play counts. What I did when I made the conversion was output my play history to a format Last.fm Scrubbler could read and then I used that program to upload my history to Last.fm.  I lost some play counts (each played song read "1" because MB only tracks the last play), but the last played dates stayed accurate at least within the time frame that last.fm would accept, which was all I needed. I lost some data but decided it was worth it to track my mobile plays.  Trade-off.

Everything is a trade-off.  This functionality isn't going to work for the foreseeable future, so you decide what the gimmes and gotchas are to each solution.  There are no gimmes to shouting into the wind about it or trying to figure out why it is the way it is.

[Xeknos]

I have been tinkering with the process of using mixplorer to get the sync app working, and believe I have refined the process somewhat, at least for Android phones:

Required Apps: Mixplorer Silver (This is available for download from the Google Play Store for ~5 USD)
The Musicbee Wifi Sync app found in either this post OR the Google Play store.

Mixplorer is essentially granting the Wifi Sync app access to the android file structure since it can't access it directly for whatever reason.

Steps:
1. Install both Mixplorer and the MusicBee Wifi Sync App.
2. Open Mixplorer. It will ask for permission to access the file system. Grant it.
3. In Mixplorer, tap on the three dots in the upper right. Then tap on settings, then tap on Components. Scroll down to the bottom of this list and turn "Document Provider" on. Once done, restart your phone.
4. When complete, you can open MusicBee Wifi Sync. The app will ask for admin access. You can go ahead and grant this.
5. The first time you open the app, it will prompt you for a folder to use. What Musicbee is looking for is for you to select the root folder of the device. This is why attempting to create a new folder and selecting that throws an error in the Wifi Sync App - it needs to use either the root device folder OR an SD card. And, of course, Android throws a fit about "privacy" if you try to use the root folder as is. But...
6. With document provider activated in Mixplorer, there will be a new sandwich menu available in the upper left of the folder select screen. Open this and select "Internal Storage", then "Use This Folder." It will ask for permission to access files again; grant it. As noted above, instead of accessing the root folder directly, we are now accessing the root folder through Mixplorer.
7. You should now be able to select either preview or sync now and sync your files.

A potential issue with Ephoras's walkthrough above is that he says you should add the music folder to home, and then select that when WifiSync asks for a folder. Depending on how you defined where MusicBee puts the files when initially syncing the phone (remember, phones need to be initially synced using a USB cable first; the default is /Music) then this can create a situation where the path to your music on your phone will be Root/Music/Music. Some users may prefer this (Root/Music/Music, Root/Music/Playlists, etc) but selecting the root folder should allow you to put your music wherever you want by manually changing the paths for the device settings in MusicBee itself. It will also allow you to use the default Playlists/Podcasts/Audiobooks folders that MusicBee assigned by default in the device settings page.

This is really two approaches to doing the same thing, but this one does not require you to add any files to home/favorites within Mixplorer itself and more closely replicates how the configuration used to be.

EDIT: after some extra testing, I've confirmed that this method actually also works with the default version of the WifiSync app available from the Google Play store. So for those of you worried about sideloading the APK, you don't have to worry anymore.

[phred]

@Xeknos-

Thanks very much for this. Previously I tried the compiled APK along with the instructions for MixExplorer (and purchasing it) and I could not get it to work. I uninstalled Mix and the APK, restarted the phone, installed the original WiFi Sync app and Mix. Following your instructions I can once again sync MB with my phone via WiFi.

I'd like to suggest you repost your instructions in the Tips & Tricks section with the Subject "WiFi Sync with Android OS 13 and Above" or something similar. Once that's done, I'll make it sticky.

Thanks again.

[cray]

@Xeknos-

Unfortunately, Mixplorer is able to copy files, but playcounts and ratings are not synchronized.      
Please update this great app

[phred]

Unfortunately, Mixplorer is able to copy files, but playcounts and ratings are not synchronized.      
Please update this great app

I'm not sure which app you're requesting to be updated. If Mixplorer, then Xeknos is a user of MB who figured out a way to get MB's WiFi sync working with any folder on an Android phone. I'm pretty sure he has nothing to do with Mixplorer.

If you're referring to MB's WiFi Sync app, the same pretty much applies. Xeknos has nothing to do with it. It was developed by Steven, the  sole developer of MB, and it appears that he's not willing to fight with Google every time they change something regarding permission to use certain folders. Understand that I don't speak for him, but that's my impression.