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[seldenr]

Matt:

Great job!  I just picked up an AT&T HTC Inspire yesterday (2.2).  I only purchased it after the salesman demonstrated to me, on his Inspire, that he could play flac files (I had to give him one since he had not heard of them!!!) on his Inspire.  He did so, but only after I had him download the "Andless" app.

Quick question to you and others with this phone:  Have you been able to sync it to JR MC, and does it play your flac files and pick up all the tag information?

Thanks!

[JimH]

...  Have you been able to sync it to JR MC, and does it play your flac files and pick up all the tag information?

Why not plug it in and see what happens?

You may have to "Mount" the phone.  Pull the bar down from the top after you plug it in.

[seldenr]

Hey Jim:

Thanks for replying.  I tried to sync the HTC Inspire.  MC recognized the phone, and I added some 100 or so tunes to the sync location, but when I try to sync it says "Files not supported" for everything but the mp3.  That includes the mp4, wma and flac files I tried to sync.

I went into options and told it not to convert unsupported files, since I have no interest in mp3 files.  I only want to be able to sync flac files.  And MC gives me a message that they cannot be synced since they are not supported.

When I was in the ATT store the fellow just copied a flac file from my computer onto a memory chip then inserted it into his phone and he was able to play the file using the "Andless" app.  I also downloaded that app, but I don't want to have to move the MC files using the chip.  I would much prefer to sync using MC with the Inspire connected to the laptop.

I must admit, this is one area where Apple has the market cornered.  And not just cornered, but they are unique as far as I can tell. 

By the way, maybe I am doing something wrong, but I wanted to post this to the Android thread, but it seems to have been placed outside that thread.  Why is that?  The only option I have when reading a thread is to "Reply", which is what I did, but now I don't see my post in the thread, but I do see several more since I posted.  Curious.

Thanks Jim!

[JimH]

Use the options of Handheld Sync to set conversion.

I don't know about FLAC playback on the device.  If it works, you could add it in the same options.

[seldenr]

Jim:

First let me thank you.  It is so reassuring to have someone actually respond.  I know it takes time, but it is much appreciated!

I am hesitant to use the conversion feature since I understand that will convert the files to mp3 files.  I do not wish to listen to them since I find them irritating.  Personal preference I know, but I was once an audio engineer and still a musician, and crazy audiophile, so mp3 files are difficult for me to hear.

What I did was what HTC suggests:  I inserted the memory stick from the phone into my laptop and copied over several albums (their folders from my hard drive).

I loaded that back into the HTC Inspire.  Two things happened:

1.  On the native music player the folder appeared, with tags and artwork (and songs in their album order) just fine.  But not for any of the albums that were ripped as flac files.  True to advertising, the native player does not support flac, but it sure enough does support m4a, wma and mp3 (I did have one file from a friend that is an mp3).  Played them and sorted just fine.
2.  The "Andless" app found all of the albums, including those ripped as flac files.  However, none of the artwork appeared, and although the tags worked for artist and song, it would only list the songs in alphabetical order, not as found on the album.  The problem with that, of course, is that for classical music it won't work, and for certain albums that have songs that segue from one tune to another (oh, and not to mention soundtracks), it makes for a weird experience.

Well, I guess I can survive having to copy files as if the phone is a computer (instead of syncing), and it is certainly not MC's fault that Android will not (yet) recognize flac, but it would be nice if it were all as seemless as Apple has made it.  I am sure we will all get there, slow and steady.

Oh, you might send me one more reply and tell me if the "conversion" feature means it can convert flac to something like wma (which Android does recognize) instead of only mp3.

And thanks again!!!

[JimH]

It sounds like you could add FLAC as a supported filetype in MC's sync options.  That should get the file on the device.  Explore all options carefully and experiment a little more.

The 2nd problem seems like an Andless problem.  Perhaps a playlist of an album would work.

[seldenr]

Hey Jim:

New update.  I found a new app called Poweramp.  It works with Android based phones, and get this:  It plays flac files!!!!!  And it has a beautiful skin, great functionality, and syncs with MC.  The only issue I have found at the moment is that when I am in MC and transfer albums to the phone, the phone receives them, retains the artwork, album, song titles, etc., but seems to not keep the track number tags. 

For some reason on each album the tracks are in alphabetical order, not by track number.  I have told Poweramp to sort the songs by track number, and it does so fine if I use the MC conversion feature to convert the tunes to mp3 (all works great).

But the whole reason for me to use MC is because it handles flac files.  I have zero interest in mp3 files.  So, here is what I have found:

First, I had MC recognize my mobile telephone (an HTC Inspire), which worked great.  Then I dragged several albums  to the phone and they transferred fine.  Everything looked great.  Artwork, songs, track numbers, artists, albums, everything.  All albums were listed and all artists, with each album under their name.  When I opened an album the songs were in the correct order (by track number).  I was so happy.  Then I played some songs and noticed (1) the quality was not good, and then I noticed (2) the files were mp3 (Poweramp does a great job of showing what is playing).

So I went back to MC and noticed that file conversion was on, and set to mp3.  So I deleted everything from the Inspire, and re-transferred several albums to the Inspire from MC, this time using flac, i.e., the format in which I ripped the CDs.

Back to the phone.  Everything looks fine, the albums are there (but not recognized under "Albums") and the artwork and song titles, but when I select an album the songs are listed in alphabetical order, not by track number.  A real killer for classical albums, not to mention jazz.  The songs play just fine, but are in the wrong order.

So, simple question.  How do I get MC to tell the phone the track numbers?  It obviously can, since it did when they were converted to mp3.

Thanks Jim!!!!!!!