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Android Enthusiasts...

Black Hole

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
I'm looking for a DJ app that can queue up and play MP3s directly from USB storage. As far as I know, nothing on iOS will do this - every app I've looked at accesses only the internal music storage, which has to be loaded through iTunes, and I assume this is a restriction imposed by Apple's policies.

Consequently I've been looking at Android. I can buy an Android tablet for the target application, and I have a small cheap tablet (running 4.1) I can use to experiment. However, everything I have looked at / read about so far seems to want to import the files before playing them.

Help appreciated.
 
On my devices the USB seems to be for charging or connecting the device as mass storage to a computer, whereas it seems you want the other way round. From what I've seen most Android stuff seems to only 'recognise' inbuilt memory and SDcard memory, and even the latter is quite often not permitted. (I believe security is one reason given, and Google have locked some things down like that.)
Android certainly isn't tied to anything like iTunes anyway. I just copy mp3s onto the device by USB or wifi and play them.

You might have more luck looking at a wifi connection, if that would do what you want.
 
Thanks for the info. There is a strong reason for wanting the library on external storage, and a WiFi-connected NAS could be a runner. Either that or start looking at a Windows Mobile tablet...
 
Black Hole said:
Thanks for the info. There is a strong reason for wanting the library on external storage, and a WiFi-connected NAS could be a runner. Either that or start looking at a Windows Mobile tablet...
Click to expand...

Google USB OTG cable, may or may not work with your tablet
 
I googled to find out what "OTG" means, and it isn't what I want.

An experimental scheme I have mapped out is the Neutron music player (which claims to play tracks stored on a NAS or by DLNA, and has a 5-day free trial), plus a TP-LINK WR702N connected to an Iomega NAS to provide the WiFi storage. I have enough hardware to test out this configuration without having to buy anything.
 
Indeed, I am aware of similar things. For a cheap test I have that modelled by the NAS connected to the WiFi router.
 
That's not what I want though! My understanding of "OTG" is "on the go" - meaning you can access content held on another Android device as if it were local storage. I want my MP3s to be on their own USB storage and to be played directly from there without being imported into anything.
 
Edit: @Black Hole. If you attach an external drive to an Android tablet with an OTG cable you can access the media directly from the tablet. You may need to supply power and use additional software. Please see below.
grahamlthompson said:
OTG cable and Nexus Media Importer plays mp3 on my Nexus 7 (latest version of Kitkat).
Click to expand...
Same here. If you use a USB data stick (UPD, to adopt Black Hole's preferred terminology) no external power is needed: it is powered from the tablet's micro-USB (B) port. On another thread here you have used a 2TB hard drive, presumably with an external power supply. I have also used a portable 1TB hard drive. This does require power: I used a cable like this plus a mobile phone or iPod charger to provide the power needed. You also need an OTG cable, of course.
The Nexus 7 does not have native OTG support. That is why you need to purchase the Nexus Media Importer (NMI) software. If you can find a suitable tablet with OTG support, you won't need the extra software and this should give you more flexibility: you may be able to play directly from the external drive using your chosen player app, rather than having to do everything through NMI.
 
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Is the problem that these devices only have slave USB ports, for connection to a computer as an external device rather than connection to an external slave device such as a drive? The iPad has it's 30-pin connector (or the Lightning connector on the newer ones), which can connect to a limited range of USB devices via a pinout converter, or as a slave device to a computer via the usual data cable.
 
That depends on whether or not the tablet has OTG support. You can search online for those that do. I've attached a screenshot. Apps like USB host check (there are others similar) can check an Android device and activate OTG support, if your device is rooted. My Nexus 7 does not have OTG support and is not rooted. The Nexus Media Importer provides a software solution and file explorer interface. You can explore the attached USB drive and then play etc. on the tablet directly. I don't know if NMI works on non-Nexus tablets, so I would either source a tablet that does support OTG or buy a cheap tablet that doesn't, root it and then enable support.
 

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MontysEvilTwin said:
Edit: @Black Hole. If you attach an external drive to an Android tablet with an OTG cable you can access the media directly from the tablet. You may need to supply power and use additional software. Please see below. Same here. If you use a USB data stick (UPD, to adopt Black Hole's preferred terminology) no external power is needed: it is powered from the tablet's micro-USB (B) port. On another thread here you have used a 2TB hard drive, presumably with an external power supply. I have also used a portable 1TB hard drive. This does require power: I used a cable like this plus a mobile phone or iPod charger to provide the power needed. You also need an OTG cable, of course.
The Nexus 7 does not have native OTG support. That is why you need to purchase the Nexus Media Importer (NMI) software. If you can find a suitable tablet with OTG support, you won't need the extra software and this should give you more flexibility: you may be able to play directly from the external drive using your chosen player app, rather than having to do everything through NMI.
Click to expand...

I use a dual power cable and connect the spare connection


to a portable usb rechargeable mobile phone charger. One of these in fact

http://www.thehut.com/electronics/p...UVZI0B8N3fscPyDGbYg0TU4zvgveGgB4GsaAuqF8P8HAQ
 
Black Hole said:
That's not what I want though! My understanding of "OTG" is "on the go" - meaning you can access content held on another Android device as if it were local storage. I want my MP3s to be on their own USB storage and to be played directly from there without being imported into anything.
Click to expand...

OTG cable is simply a short cable that plugs into the Nexus 7 micro usb socket and has a standard usb socket on the end. As already said you need an app to use it. With the app you can play back mp3's directly from a usb stick, there is no need to import the data.
 
As MET has indicated, I have done this for some time. I can't understand why it is unacceptable, BH.

It works on my Nexus and also Galaxy S2.
 
Because I understood OTG meant using the Android device as storage for another device and thus sharing its content by USB, but it seems the acronym is a bit of a misnomer.
 
But you said you were sticking with a WiFi NAS despite what everyone said, that is what was confusing. The cable is just a male microUSB to female USB converter. If your Android device has the drivers, you can plug in a USB ethernet adapter. Or a wireless mouse adapter or wired mouse or keyboard. The Wiki article is quite accurate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go
 
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