Can now see Fairphone from laptop using MTP but can't play WMA audio files on my Fairphone

Help Fairphone 1
1

Hi folks - today’s problem is that I can’t see my Fairphone from my Asus Zenbook, which is running Windows 8.1. They’re connected using a micro-USB cable. I watched Joe’s video tutorial and I can see that my Fairphone is “Connected as USB storage” but I can’t see the Fairphone from my laptop. Any suggestions please?

Thanks, Alexis in London

2

After the latest OS update (1.6), the ‘USB Storage’ option doesn’t work any more - you’ll only be able to access the external SD card in your FP (if you have one). Try the MTP option instead! Should work fine with Windows.

3

Thanks. That worked in the sense that I can now see the Fairphone. But when I tried to transfer some WMA music files it wouldn’t read them. Anyone know if Fairphones should be able to read WMA files? I saw another Forum strand on that but it didn’t seem to reach a conclusion.

4

Here’s the WMA strand that didn’t go anywhere: https://fairphone.zendesk.com/hc/communities/public/questions/200738883--wma-audio-files?locale=en-us

5

Or am I maybe putting my WMA files in the wrong place on my Fairphone. I see there’s a Music app but it doesn’t seem to be showing the albums I downloaded yesterday. Thanks anyone for your help. Alexis

6

Hello,

maybe your Fairphone just hasn’t recognized that there are new Media Files on your phone. You can Try to refresh your Media Database with an app like this (or just by rebooting the phone). In general your device should rescann for media every time it becomes unplugged, but maybe Fairphone Os has a Bug here.

On the other Hand, I don’t know if the default Media Player supports WMA, have you tried an alternative Player like Power Amp that suggests to support WMA?

regards,
Shiny

7

Thanks but no, a reboot didn’t work. The WMA files are on my Fairphone - I can see them in the internal storage but I can’t play them and they’re not listed in the Fairphone music player.

It would be great if Fairphone could tell us whether WMA files can actually be read. And if not, why not? Surely most people will have some Windows Media Player files.

I guess I’ll try to download Power Amp.

Thanks, Alexis

8

@AlexisRowell

There are different solution to play your wma files on the Fairphone:

On the one hand you can copy the music directly to your phone and play it via VLC (Player recommended)
Downloads:

VLC in the Play Store
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.videolan.vlc.betav7neon&hl=en_UK
VLC in the F-Droid Store
| F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

On the other hand you can transfer your media files to the fairphone via mediago:
Download: Media Go - Sony Network Entertainment
Connect your device > turn on usb storage (or however it works on your device) > open mediago > select the title or album you want to transfer > right mouse click > add to > choose your storage

Mediago will tranfer your music using the mp3 format (smaller files and the stock player supports this format)

9

My old Sony’s stock player didn’t play WMA files, either. Probably a question of paying license fees to Microsoft…

Just get Poweramp! The full version is only 2,99 Euro, it’s a great music player an you won’t have to convert your WMA files to MP3.