MMA Wireless and USB Sync

[Killjoy12]

Does MMA support switching between wireless and USB sync, or are you only supposed to pick one and stick with it ? If it supports both, should you start with a particular one for the first sync ?

[Lowlander]

I've used both without issue. I find it easier to start with USB as setting up sync in MMW is easier than in MMA and you have many more options (like auto-conversion) that can be set in MMW.

[Killjoy12]

Ok, thanks.

[BigInJapan]

I'm having a hard time with switching back and forth between WiFi and USB syncs. It seems to come down to my device showing up differently depending on how I sync.

FWIW, I'm using MMA on a Gingerbread Android device with an external SD card and syncing to MMW 4.1, and I'm trying to sync the music to just the external card

Here's what I noticed on my last go around:
1. I start out in MMA with Sync to Internal disabled and Sync to External enabled
2. Enabling Sync to External in MMA creates a profile in MMW. The name it creates on that profile includes "External" in the name. I execute a sync. The files are on the card.
3. I plug in via USB, and a new profile is created. This profile does not include "External" in the name. If I disable this profile and leave the "External" one enabled, MMW doesn't see a device connected. If enable the new one, MMW sees the device. So I leave it enabled. I set it to sync the same set of playlists that I had previously synced via WiFi, and I add one more playlist. I execute a sync. I tells me it's recopying all of the files, and when it's done, I get a message that some files couldn't be synced. They're all from the new playlist I added. Some of the files from that playlist synced over and some did not. When I look at the files in a file explorer on the device, they're still on the external card, the dates / times for most are from when I did the WiFi sync, not this USB sync. The few new files that did sync over are also on the external card with dates / times that correspond to the USB sync.
4. The next time I go to sync via WiFi, I find that Sync to Internal has been enabled in MMA, and the sync list includes the playlist I added during the WiFi sync. I let the sync run. The files that failed during the last USB sync are successfully copied over, but these ones go to the phone's internal storage rather than the external card.

It seems like MMA via WiFi wants to use separate profiles for internal and external storage. MMW via USB wants to use a single profile that spans both cards. The single profile that MMW uses is treated as the Internal profile by MMA.

In the Storage settings on my phone, there's a setting that says use either internal or external storage for Windows Media Sync. I have this set to external. I'm wondering if that would cause MMW to write to the external card for USB sync, while since MMA specifically associates that profile with internal, it will write there.

[captainmcl]

I am also having issues with the WiFi vs. USB sync, although I haven't been able to characterize them in as much detail as BigInJapan. The dichotomy between profiles is confusing. Yesterday I deleted a number of additional profiles that appeared to have been created for the internal storage and card on my phone, and left just those two that I could tell were for the WiFi sync (although I don't plan to sync to my internal storage).

I have yet to have a successful WiFi sync. Yesterday I finally got it past the "Connecting..." window (I brought this up in a separate string), but it ran for a couple of hours calculating the sync list, then began re-downloading almost everything that was already on the card, duplicating each song, so I killed it at about 261/6258. Working on it some more today; I'll post updates as I learn more.

[Lowlander]

Wifi Sync creates a profile based on the ID string is saves in the MediaMonkey folder (on both internal and external memory). This should also be used by USB sync (once present) and for me it has worked like that (http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=10524).

[BigInJapan]

I did a fresh test on this. I'm on MMW 1625 and MMA 1.0.4. I cleared all of the music files from my phone, refreshed Andriod's media store, deleted the MediaMonkey folders on the phone, and deleted all phone related profiles in MMW.

1. Plug in via USB -> Device is detected and a single profile called MB855 is created. The summary reports the device as having 38.7 GB capacity, which is roughly my 32 GB SD card + my 8 GB internal storage - the space reserved for Android. In other words, this profile spans both of my storage locations.
2. I set this to sync one playlist that contains 4 tracks and hit sync --> All four tracks are written to my external card.
3. Unplug, launch MMA, and give it a few minutes for the media store to refresh. The playlist and tracks are correctly reported in MMA.
4. Add one track to the playlist in MMW.
5. Hit sync in MMA (leaving all default settings) --> First it syncs Internal Storage using the criteria for the profile that was created in step 1. It copies all 5 tracks, and this time writes them to internal storage. Then it syncs External Storage. A profile called Sprint MB855 - External SD Card is created in MMW, but since no tracks are selected for sync, nothing is actually copied.

At this point, 4 tracks are on my device twice, once in external and once in internal. A 5th track is in internal only. So 9 files representing 5 songs.

6. Add another song to the playlist.
7. Plug in via USB, device is recognized as MB855, hit sync --> The song I added in step 6 is written to my external card.

At this point, the original 4 tracks are in both internal in external. The 5th track is in internal only. The 6th track is in external only. All from syncing to the same profile.

When I plug in via USB, MMW doesn't see my device as separate internal and external cards. It just sees one contiguous storage space, and the folder it writes to is on the external card.

When I sync via WiFi, MMA wants me to have separate profiles for internal and external, and it's seeing the one that was created during USB sync as the internal profile.

[Lowlander]

So the problem lies in MMW not recognizing both internal and external storage for which standard MMW debug logging should help: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... f=21&t=341

[BigInJapan]

Does it matter that Windows Explorer also sees my device as a single 38.7 GB device rather than as separate internal and external cards?

I'll work on getting you those logs. Might be a couple of days before I get to it.

[Lowlander]

Does it matter that Windows Explorer also sees my device as a single 38.7 GB device rather than as separate internal and external cards?

That may be the source of the problem and one MediaMonkey can't do anything about. It may be a good idea to contact the manufacturer as it may be a driver issue.

[BigInJapan]

I've determined that the problem I had in my Feb 25 post was due to connecting in Windows Media Sync / MTP mode. After I changed my USB settings to use USB Mass Storage / MTC mode, both Windows and MMW saw my device as two separate cards. On my first few WiFi syncs after that, the profiles matched up.

When I plugged in in MTC mode, two profiles were created called MOT and PATRIOT. MOT is the internal storage and PATRIOT is the external card. On the Options screen in MMA, under WI-FI Sync, there are two sync locations listed called MB855 Internal Storage and MB855 External SD Card. The settings in MB855 Internal Storage correlate to the settings in the MOT profile in MMW and the settings in MB855 External SD Card correlate to the settings in the PATRIOT profile.

All was good for a few days. Then one day I went to sync, and I got a message about this being my first sync. The settings in MB855 External SD Card no longer correlated to those in the PATRIOT profile, and a new profile was added in MMW called Sprint MB855 - External Card.

If I plug in via USB, MMW still sees the device as PATRIOT, and I can sync. But if I go to WiFi, it wants to use the Sprint MB855 - External SD Card profile.

[BigInJapan]

I deleted the PATRIOT profile in MMW and then connected via USB. Now MMW sees my device under the Sprint MB855 - External SD Card profile that was created the last time I viewed the sync settings in MMA.

I configured that profile with the same settings that I last had in PATRIOT, including selecting the same playlists for sync. When I hit the Auto Sync button MMW, it reported that it was copying all of the tracks again. It's churning through my 1,800 song sync list right now.

[BigInJapan]

Argh. I had the file naming structure different between those profiles, so now I have every song as artist/album/song and also as artist-album/song. Made a mess. Probably just clear out and start over.