Problem launching files from outside of MMA

[BigInJapan]

I'm getting strange behavior when I try to launch a media file from outside of MMA.

I have two file explorers installed right now. One is the default that comes with the Motorola Gingerbread ROM. The other is Root Explorer. When I try to open an .mp3 file, I get different behavior depending on which file explorer it was, and neither is the desired behavior.

In either, my first two steps are to navigate to a folder that contains mp3 files and then tap a file.

In the default file explorer (just called "Files")
1. The "Complete action using" dialog comes up, I check "Use by default for this action" and then tap MediaMonkey
2. MMA launches, but does not start playing the file that I had tapped. Instead, it plays whatever the first track is in MMA's "Tracks" list.
3. When I go back to the Files app, the setting to use MMA by default for mp3 did not stick. The next mp3 I tap also asks me what app to use, and if I pick MediaMonkey again, the same thing happens. It plays the first track in MMA's "Tracks" listing.

In the app called Root Explorer
1. The "Complete action using" dialog comes up, I check "Use by default for this action" and then tap MediaMonkey.
2. MMA launches and starts playing the correct track, but it doesn't seem to see any of the tags. There is no art displayed, and in the track info section of the player, it shows the full file name (including the file extension) rather than the track title, and it shows (Unknown) where the artist and album info should be.
3. When I go back to Root Explorer, the setting to use MMA for mp3s does stick. I don't get the "Complete action using" dialog on the next file I tap. However, if I go back to Files app and try this again, I loose the setting again.

So selecting a file in one file explorer causes MMA to play a different track. Selecting the same file in a different file explorer causes MMA to play that file but with none of the tag info displayed.

[jiri]

I wonder, is the track included in MMA Library, i.e. can you play it directly from MMA?

Jiri

[BigInJapan]

Yes. The tracks I tried to launch in all cases were transferred to the device via wifi sync and are in the library.

[mcow]

In the default file explorer (just called "Files")
1. The "Complete action using" dialog comes up, I check "Use by default for this action" and then tap MediaMonkey
2. MMA launches, but does not start playing the file that I had tapped. Instead, it plays whatever the first track is in MMA's "Tracks" list.
3. When I go back to the Files app, the setting to use MMA by default for mp3 did not stick. The next mp3 I tap also asks me what app to use, and if I pick MediaMonkey again, the same thing happens. It plays the first track in MMA's "Tracks" listing.

FWIW, with stock JB 4.1 on a Galaxy Tab, the dialog in Files that pops up has "Always" and "Just this once" buttons. I tapped the MediaMonkey icon and Always, and the track I'd tapped started. I hit pause, set the tablet down, and... a moment later it started playing again. I woke it up, paused again, unlocked, and brought MMA to the front -- and the track started playing again.
The playlist, btw, consists of only that one track.

I hit pause again, browsed with Files to another track, tapped it, and MMA immediately opened without bringing up file-type-actions dialog at all. I let this one play through, then picked up the tab and woke up MMA again, and again, the track started playing.

I did get art displayed.

[BigInJapan]

Thanks for the response. That leads me to believe it's either an Android Gingerbread issue or I just have something uniquely borked on my end.

[BigInJapan]

I recently added Astro File Manager to my device. Launching .mp3 files from there works as expected. The song plays and all the metadata is there. If I go back to the default Files app though, it's still as I described before. Rather than playing the file I tapped, it plays whatever the first track in MMA's Tracks list happens to be.

This further makes me suspect it's a Gingerbread issue, and that Astro is simply able to work around that.